2017 Gold Cup: Our B team is better than your B team
- Thread starter AusTexSoxFan
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'He reached around and pinched his nipple'
Love that being uttered on national TV. Thanks CONCACAF
Love that being uttered on national TV. Thanks CONCACAF
This is looking like one of those games where, for the last 30 minutes, the only thing we should be rooting for is for none of our players to sustain a serious injury.
On the other hand, a better ref may have sent 3 El Salvador players off by now.
Really would love to see a team like Spain or England play through a Hex cycle, just for fun.
Ref's been pretty fair all around I think.
Bradley looks quite serviceable when he's not playing against a team that can expose his speed deficiencies. His passes have consistently had precise weight to them.
Bradley looks quite serviceable when he's not playing against a team that can expose his speed deficiencies. His passes have consistently had precise weight to them.
...and then hold Dempsey back from killing a few more. He's got the wild eyes. Gonna be like that Portland game a year or so ago.
Meh.
A mediocre performance in a very CONCACAF game.
The sloppy passing and the poor transition defense need to improve.
A mediocre performance in a very CONCACAF game.
The sloppy passing and the poor transition defense need to improve.
I thought the US defense has been a dumpster fire the entire tournament. All of them making boneheaded mistakes, lead by Omar who, despite good positioning in 1:1 situations should not be the #1 guy at CB. I'm disappointed Miazga remains MIA except for Nicaragua. Will be interesting to see if Bruce gives him a shot vs CRC b/c tonight's pair were a gong show.
I like Nagbe in the middle and thought Jozy did great work all night under tough conditions. Zardes vision is so bad he must be legally blind. So many time when a quick pass into the center would have opened up the field and he didn't see it and tried to bust up the wing unsuccessfully or pass it back. He's just an athlete.
I like Nagbe in the middle and thought Jozy did great work all night under tough conditions. Zardes vision is so bad he must be legally blind. So many time when a quick pass into the center would have opened up the field and he didn't see it and tried to bust up the wing unsuccessfully or pass it back. He's just an athlete.
I only watched the second half, but there is no way Gonzalez is an international level CB. He struggles with basic fundamentals consistently, such as not letting the ball bounce in the box on a cross. The fact that he appeared generally drunk for the second half means he has no place ahead of Cameron, Besler, Brooks, and likely a few younger CBs too (although Hedges didn't impress me either). Lichaj's goal was super nice and while he did have one fuck up on D in the second half, I've been really encouraged by his play. More so than with Morrow anyway. Bradley really needs a DMF behind him to play his best, which would be good in matches where Bruce wants to control the MF. Having Besler and Brooks at CB, with Cameron at DMF and Bradley at CMF would be a really strong spine. A 4-1-3-2 or a 4-1-4-1 could be effective with our personnel.
Certainly he's not threatening Cameron or Brooks for their jobs. But every time I've watched Besler I've been unimpressed. I'd rather have Tim Ream give it another go back there. But if Brooks is injured or off-form, I think Gonzalez will hold up better than you think he will. Omar had that fast-reflex save in the 2nd half of the Panama game (though his failure to close out partly led to Panama's goal), and he's got much better footspeed than most 6'3" guys. He's a starter for one, maybe two more matches in this Gold Cup, and against actually-good teams now, so we'll have much more direct evidence soon.
Lichaj's fuck-up in the first half was inexcusable and came from not knowing where he was or where the other players were. Tim Howard can deal with a firm back-pass, he doesn't need it rolled back to him like a five-year-old with a bowling ball. Maybe he caught his toe on the kick or something. But yes, aside from that he's looked very promising. And at age 28, it's now-or-never for him.
My player of the game, despite Dempsey's brilliant play to set up Lichaj's goal, was Darlington Nagbe. He had a plan with the ball every time he got it, had great control, and was beating opponents one-on-one all night long. It seemed like he was tracking back to help on every defensive possession, too, and cleaned up a lot of the messes that Zardes and Arriola were creating on the wings. I hope he gets some time on the field alongside Pulisic this fall, because that could be a relationship that really pays off for us.
Lichaj's fuck-up in the first half was inexcusable and came from not knowing where he was or where the other players were. Tim Howard can deal with a firm back-pass, he doesn't need it rolled back to him like a five-year-old with a bowling ball. Maybe he caught his toe on the kick or something. But yes, aside from that he's looked very promising. And at age 28, it's now-or-never for him.
My player of the game, despite Dempsey's brilliant play to set up Lichaj's goal, was Darlington Nagbe. He had a plan with the ball every time he got it, had great control, and was beating opponents one-on-one all night long. It seemed like he was tracking back to help on every defensive possession, too, and cleaned up a lot of the messes that Zardes and Arriola were creating on the wings. I hope he gets some time on the field alongside Pulisic this fall, because that could be a relationship that really pays off for us.
It would be nice if there was a legitimate path to sanctioning the entire El Salvador squad for this behavior. This is just next-level shit that might be considered acceptable gamesmanship in their leagues or nations, but there's no excuse for it to be tolerated or ignored on more civilized stages.
CONCACAF just allowed an ineligible player to play in a game in their continental tournament (and only penalized the team because they took a point in that game) and continues to allow Mexican fans to do a chant FIFA has clearly taken a stand against (their hypocrisy, notwithstanding). I wouldn't hold my breath for anything more than a slap on the wrist.
I want Croatia or Romania; Spain would get beat up and score a bunch of goals; England would lose on penalties. (It was right there.)
There's a better than decent chance that there is a full scale brawl, a la The Longest Yard, in which there are 11 1-on-1 fights and a bench clearing donnybrook if Croatia and Honduras square off.
Hey now, CONCACAF makes the team captains talk about not using words to hurt, so that chant problem is totally solved.
I'm looking forwards to the 2019 monologue about not using teeth to hurt.
well at least I won't be tempted to stay up to see if Honduras can steal it against Mexico. 4 minutes in, defense completely switches off on a pinball play within the box, 1-0, thanks for coming Honduras.
edit: and the CONCACAFery by Honduras has already started. This isn't ending 11 on 11. Dunno why anyone who isn't a fan of one of the two teams would want to watch this.
edit: and the CONCACAFery by Honduras has already started. This isn't ending 11 on 11. Dunno why anyone who isn't a fan of one of the two teams would want to watch this.
Good thing we don't have to play them anytime soon in a game that matters, like, say, away at Honduras on Sept 5th, or anything!
Posting this because I enjoyed it so much, so out of nowhere it was at the time
Honduras may be the dirtiest program in CONCACAF.
In the CONCACAF U20 final back in March, Honduras was actively trying to injury US players towards the end of the game and were successful in doing so. It was unbelievably cynical.
No Keylor Navas. Joel Campbell was injured earlier in the tournament and isn't on the roster.
Barstool Sports has a preview that gave me some smiles. I hadn't actually seen footage of the titty-twister.
Barstool Sports has a preview that gave me some smiles. I hadn't actually seen footage of the titty-twister.
Nagbe on the wing will hopefully stabilize possession in the midfield. His ball security is very good and Zardes'....isn't.
I'll also be looking at how the Morris/Altidore partnership works out. Jozy and Clint both tend to drop deeper for the ball. Perhaps Morris will be able to complement Jozy's skill set better. Dempsey doesn't have the legs to start a game every few days, anyway.
Villafaña vs. Bryan Ruiz could be an issue.
I'll also be looking at how the Morris/Altidore partnership works out. Jozy and Clint both tend to drop deeper for the ball. Perhaps Morris will be able to complement Jozy's skill set better. Dempsey doesn't have the legs to start a game every few days, anyway.
Villafaña vs. Bryan Ruiz could be an issue.
Everyone looks like they're bossing this game so far, even Zusi at RB. Altidore has had some bad touches.
...but also some good ones. Dayum.
...but also some good ones. Dayum.
Jozy wasn't aiming for Acosta there in the middle of the box, who was well-covered, he was aiming for Morris, completely unmarked and crashing in on the far side of the box for a near-certain goal. It was close enough to Acosta that he could pivot and touch it, but if not, that goes through and probably is 1-0.
