USMNT: To Rüssia With Love
- Thread starter Titans Bastard
- Start date
This really is the best game to get Pulisic in there. You're not a CONCACAF player until you've gotten screwed on a call, and been cheapshotted by an overweight washed up vet.
It's a good taste of life in WCQs, although I wonder if we won't regret him not being with the U23s before the night is over.
Well, this assumes Dortmund would have released him for the U-23 team. Which I thought was at least questionable.
I'm not 100 percent sure Clint was passing there. I think he might have been trying to touch back to himself.
Either way, I'm glad Jozy kept it under the bar.
So...that went about as well as it could have. Should have been 5-0 (Finlay scored and the ref took it away, unfairly) and Pulisic is cap-tied. Beckerman turned in a thoroughly professional performance, as did Zusi, and Bradley had his best game in a USA shirt in a long time. Altidore scored. Dempsey scored and set up goals that showed he might be a potent super-sub in two years. Cameron had a BEASTLY game, setting up the first goal and scoring off a set piece, and being rock solid in defense. Yedlin looked solid at RB. Zardes showed his potential. Even Guzan looked comfortable.
So...this is was great. And while they were not NEARLY as good tonight as the final score looks like they were - they were also not nearly as bad as the scoreline looked on Friday night.
Good night to be a USMNT fan, no matter where you were on the state of the program at 7 PM EST tonight. They came to play, they pressed, they looked good. Nothing solves a problem like a win.
So...this is was great. And while they were not NEARLY as good tonight as the final score looks like they were - they were also not nearly as bad as the scoreline looked on Friday night.
Good night to be a USMNT fan, no matter where you were on the state of the program at 7 PM EST tonight. They came to play, they pressed, they looked good. Nothing solves a problem like a win.
Bradley has played in just enough countries and learned just enough languages that he has a hint of a very strange accent.
The part that's bizarre to me is how terrible the USA was in the air on Friday, and how dominant they were tonight. Every 50/50 ball went to Guatemala Friday and there were USA players jumping and missing all over the field despite what seem like height differences, but tonight, they were right on everything.
Long term one question is what do we do at DM? The team plays much better with one (as long as it isn't Bradley), but Beckerman can't cut it now against good teams so forget 2018. Cameron seems the logical choice, but he's also one of our two best CB,
Indeed. I believe we will win!
As for @Cellar-Door question - I'm watching Will Trapp really closely tonight, even if he's not aligned there. He is one of the names @Titans Bastard has mentioned as a possible solution in the midfield, or DM, in 2018, if he blossoms.
This is the big question.
Tonight was yet another lesson that the Beckerman role is crucial. And while I maintain that Kyle Beckerman has been criminally underrated for a decent portion of his career -- he's the Mark Bellhorn of the USMNT; people have been so obsessed with his limitations that they can't see what does well -- he's now in the phase of his career similar to when Bellhorn lost his bat speed. He's fine against AA competition like Guatemala, but he's gonna get burned in the Hex and beyond.
One of my beefs with Klinsmann is that he's done a piss-poor job trying out new blood at DM, instead focusing on Bradley (who isn't ideal at #6) and even more hopeless projects like Diskerud and even Bedoya. I think when everyone is healthy, you have to go with Besler/Brooks at CB and move Cameron to DM. Meanwhile, take a good look at others - Dax McCarty and Wil Trapp come to mind - and if one pans out you can look at putting Cameron back in the mix at CB.
Trapp is a better technical player than Beckerman, but he's not as tough a player. You commented earlier about Beckerman's tiff with Carlos Ruiz, but honestly one of Beckerman's "small ball" skills is that he's a master of the dark arts of the game. He's the sort of guy who knows just how to take out the 2nd or 3rd runner on an opposing breakway without getting called for the foul...that sort of thing. Trapp isn't necessarily soft, but he doesn't have the same bite as Beckerman. It's something that he can work on and it's not necessarily a dealbreaker anyway, but he'll have to compensate for it in some way. I'd hesitate to pair him with a soft #8 like Diskerud. Bradley isn't going anywhere, but you can understand what I'm trying to say. Trapp works well in Columbus with more of a bruising #8 like Tony Tchani.
Already been a couple of scary moments.
Sometime it may be better to just boot it downfield instead of trying to play it out.
Sometime it may be better to just boot it downfield instead of trying to play it out.
Concacaf would have 0.5 more spots than Conmebol if Brazil were not the host? Who came up with that, Chuck Blazer?
Feels like a set piece may be our only chance to put one in tonight.
WTF Horvath?
Made up for the poor decision with a great save.
WTF Horvath?
Made up for the poor decision with a great save.
Thanks for this. Definitely something worth watching. Lacking a purveyor of the dark arts is a problem - it is why, right now, I'd prefer Geoff Cameron age VERY slowly and be in a position to own the #6 role in 2018. He has developed his dark arts skills while at the world's best finishing academy for the dark arts, Stoke.
Horvath having himself a GAME thus far.
He's one of our better GK prospects. Took over at Molde after they sold their starter to Ingolstadt last summer and has done fairly well, with a few youthful indiscretions you'd expect from a 20 year old GK. He got a ton of European experience last year - 13 games against teams like Fenerbahce, Ajax, Celtic, Sevilla - and they did well enough that they got out of the group stage.
I could see him maybe as our #3 by 2018, and hopefully a real contender by the 2022 cycle.
That was the kind of clown show goal my Premier League team finds a way to concede on a weekly basis.
Both teams are committing so many men to the ball that there's always a possibility of a goal right now. US have had some golden openings but have over hit passes or not seen the pass. Plenty of time for this to even up
Both teams are committing so many men to the ball that there's always a possibility of a goal right now. US have had some golden openings but have over hit passes or not seen the pass. Plenty of time for this to even up
I know Beckerman is as slow as evolution, but I can't help but like him. First, do no harm, and it seems like he's always in the right spot, and doesn't do stupid things. I know he's on his last legs, but we could use more guys with the skill of not screwing up.
It's also important to keep guys like Beckerman engaged with the team at this stage of the cycle. Assuming we get to the next round, it takes a lot more than 11 to get through the hexagonal. Yellow card accumulation, injuries and everything else makes experienced guys who can plug in pretty valuable.
Edit: Meanwhile the kids lucky to still be playing with 11.
There's a special place in hell reserved for guys who grab their heads to draw a call when contact was nowhere near.
It's also a skill not taught on American soil so we are perpetually on the wrong end.
It's also a skill not taught on American soil so we are perpetually on the wrong end.
Ok, back in business.
Does the away goals rule apply to goals scored in the extra time if they end tied at 2-2 in regulation?
Does the away goals rule apply to goals scored in the extra time if they end tied at 2-2 in regulation?
I love the cut of your jib. Good call, DDB.
And speaking of dark arts, these announcers are genuinely offended that Parker wasn't red carded. Makes you wonder if they've called a CONCACAF game before...?
The kids really are trying to play some possession football and creating triangles and moving this half. They unfortunately can't seem to properly weight a pass but there's some hope in this for me