I’ve been pretty critical of Gregg, especially recently, but I thought he was actually one of the big reasons the US beat Jamaica. Solid starting lineup given the options, nice tactical change at the half dropping Busio back a little, good subs- though sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good when it comes to subbing off Hoppe (if the ball had gone out anytime in the few minutes before the goal things might’ve looked different).
I would guess that we will see something similar tonight, which of course means we won’t. Gregg might consider starting Zardes over Dike because Dike didn’t offer much. Possibly Roldan over Arriola because of the assist, and maybe Cannon over Moore. I thought Moore along with Busio were most impacted by the field itself. They seems to be surprised pretty often by the bounces.
I’ll continue to hope for Williamson over Lletget, and it won’t happen. On some level I get it. Williamson is a creative player who makes things happen at the risk of a bad giveaway. Lletget is a solid player who cannot create but won’t make mistakes. Well except for three weird giveaways in a 45 second span. I actually prefer Lletget in the A squad because he’s laying the ball off to Pulisic, Dest, Reyna or some other creative force to do something with the ball. In this team, he’s not. Moreover he’s where the US counter goes to die. Every time the US gets a turnover and has numbers going forward, he seems to pull it back and make the safe play passing it back (killing any attacking advantage). This team isn’t going to pass it around 30 times and create chances. Chances will come with speed and space. It just irks me.
Things I’ll be looking for tonight:
1. Acosta was great against Jam minus some errant passes. It‘s not the first time we’ve said that though. The last time he followed that up with a total dud against N Ireland. Will we see any game to game consistency from him?
2. Will Hoppe be as aggressive? I know I’m not alone in seeing that Dempsey swag in him. It led to one or two bad giveaways but also lots of good things.
3. Can we pretty please have Busio taking the set pieces?
4. The D and Turner haven’t given up a goal from open play and they have looked great. Robinson was my MotM, Sands had some hiccups but has been consistently good to great, Vines has been as good as he can be (except for a couple of defensive lapses late against Jamaica). Will they keep Qatar from scoring? Qatar play a very conservative style so it’s definitely possible.