Here he is.also, Free Hoppe!
Calvo is known to do his best work late on matches.@67YAZ we can't even get a solid autogolazo from Francisco Calvo this game?
Was a terrible diagonal ball right to CR fullback (?) who heavy touched it right to Dest. Chicken salad out of chicken shit.Wow. That came out of nowhere.
They got old.Are CR no longer CONCACAF upper tier? Look ordinary
This is sick.2-1 Canada on an amazing Davies individual effort, wow! The Panamanian defender thought there was no chance Davies could play the ball before it crossed the touch line for a Panama throw-in, but Davies kept it in by an inch.
I liked what Busio did too especially after a kinda poor summer. After seeing some good ideas but poor execution, it was great to see some perfectly weighted balls into space. Combine with him getting good minutes with his club, I hope he can play a bigger role next window.Great shift from Busio.
I know they were preserving a lead but every pass or throw back had me holding my breath.
Yeesh Weston should consider resigning here.
They have 4 points in 3 road games, and 7 points in 3 home games. 1-1-1 on the road, 2-0-1 at home. Keep that pace up and they'll be more than fine.They seem to be about where they should be in the table. They need to find a way to get 3 points on the road somewhere. In their first two three game cycles, they played what I considered two must have 3 point games in home to Jamaica and home to Costa Rica last night. Way too early to have games that mean this much. Finding three points on the road somewhere will allow for a home tie that doesnt result in armageddon for the program. Things will get real again quickly if they doent at least get a point out of the match in cincy vs. Mexico. Get three points at home against Mexico and you put yourself in a great position where you could lose in Azteca and still be in a good spot. Need to show up on the road. Canada and Mexico have done it, the US has not.
Except their poorer performances have come when a bunch of the talented youth are riding the pine. They laid an egg with Lleget and Accosta being a black hole in the middle against Panama. Until we see a core 9 or so play consistently in a window it's hard to call them inconsistent, because it's not even the same team game to game.Fair to say that they're the kind of young and talented team that on any given day has enough quality to beat a good team or inexperience to lose to a bad one?
Yeah, CR looked like me - old and slow. They also looked disinterested.However, I'm a bit worried it's more of a reflection on CR than US prowess. IOW, the US looked energetic, organized, and skillful, but they were going up against the equivalent of a 40+ pub squad.
Additionally, at some point we should acknowledge that:Some of that can also be flipped in that we haven't had a healthy squad either, between Pulisic, Reyna, Dest, McKinnie we've had a handful our best players unavailable or injured as well though for quite a few matchups.
Incredibly, Pulisic, Reyna, Adams, Dest, and McKennie have still never all been on the field at the same for the USMNT.Some of that can also be flipped in that we haven't had a healthy squad either, between Pulisic, Reyna, Dest, McKinnie we've had a handful our best players unavailable or injured as well though for quite a few matchups.
This is a great question and I would like to expand on it. Assuming full health/form what do people think the optimal lineup is for this US squad. If everyone were healthy going into the Mexico game and we didn't have to worry about a game 4 days later, what lineup would people want to see?So just as a hypothetical, is there a reasonable formation that would get Pulisic, Reyna, and Aaronson all on the field together? Maybe a 4-2-3-1 with Reyna as the 10 and Adams and McKennie in a double pivot?
In just about every possible way.Yeah, high variance seems to be the right way to describe them.
I mean, I guess. But to me while this is a young team, it's young because this is by far the best and deepest pool of young talent USMNT has ever had, they should dominate CONCACAF (except MAYBE Mexico, who have good talent too despite a bit of a down cycle). There is a big talent gap, and to me, I don't think recent play has really been very good for that talent gap. They ended up with results which is good, but those aren't/shouldn't be real tests.Additionally, at some point we should acknowledge that:
--in the last 14 non-friendlies, we've won 11 and drawn 2.
--Berhalter's teams allow fewer goals/game than any USMNT manager in history and his teams score more goals/game than any USMNT manager who was in charge more than 10 games.
All that is being done with the YOUNGEST USMNT ever.
Things are okay folks.
"Missing half their squad" Jamaica walked out of San Pedro Sula with a win. They've been better without the European players.My general feel on this team is they have some talent, but it's not a very good team or a well coached one, and we've been very lucky in qualifying with opponents having their best players unavailable or injured. Navas plays the whole game last night it's probably a draw. Jamaica would have been a lot tougher if they weren't missing half their squad.
I don't think that's true. Grant has been one of their most important players, and played a key role against Honduras. Also... they haven't had Antonio at all, which is pretty massive considering he's probably the best pure scorer in CONCACAF, he brings something to them that none of their other strikers do."Missing half their squad" Jamaica walked out of San Pedro Sula with a win. They've been better without the European players.
Their non-Euro guys barely missed out on a draw in the Azteca, and then their Euro-based guys, including Antonio, got wrecked at home by Panama.I don't think that's true. Grant has been one of their most important players, and played a key role against Honduras. Also... they haven't had Antonio at all, which is pretty massive considering he's probably the best pure scorer in CONCACAF, he brings something to them that none of their other strikers do.