USMNT: Don’t Screw the Poch
- Thread starter rguilmar
- Start date
With the condition of the pitch, that was a tough watch. Good to get the win. Hopefully the return leg gives some better insights into the new vision.
Wasn’t pretty at all, but it was an away CONCACAF win which are rather rare for the USMNT historically.
First time I remember seeing Vazquez. He did not impress, making two very poor shots on two prime opportunities.
It’s been pretty consistent that under Poch Joe Scally has not been asked to do too much attacking while Jedi was doing his thing in attack. CP was allowed to slot inside (which is just as well because he and Robinson do not seem to work that well together) while Musah stayed outside. Weston played a bit toward’s Musah’s side allowing Christian to get central more often where he set up Pepi’s goal. Defensively, the US set up in a 4-4-2 with Pepi/McKennie pressing the rest dropping back. In attack, it was more of a 3-2-4-1 shape. Per usual, Jedi did a lot of running.
I like what Pepi brings. He was often on an island against 3 Jamaican defenders, yet was able to hold the ball up often for teammates and caused a nuisance of himself in the counter press. It won’t be too hard to find times when he wasn’t able to hold it up or got muscled off the ball, but given the field conditions and how alone he was, I thought he did an admirable job.
I’m biased, but control of the game seemed to shift when Cardoso went out. The US looked really good in attack up to then, creating a bunch of great chances (the goal, Robinson’s 1v1, the pullback to Puli that he missed). The penalty was given away during that time, but that was a series of errors by Scally (bad pass), Ream (got roasted), McKenzie (lost 50/50), and Turner (conceded the pen). Afterwards the US seemed to struggle getting a grip. Tillman and McKennie swapped a few times, which seemed to indicate that Poch was trying to fill the hole left by Johnny. It didn’t look to me like Tillman was doing that poor of a job, and Tessman got better, but something was off positionally or in what Poch wanted Tillman to do. I don’t know how I feel about Musah out wide. He seems to be falling into a “jack of all trades, master of none” type of player the way he’s being used.
The X/Twitterverse has a stat going around from Alex Calabrese that this win gives Poch as many away wins in CONCACAF play as GGG (1). That can’t be right though, can it? I remember the comeback win in qualifying down in Honduras pretty vividly, but that can’t be the only one. I’m happy for the win given that winning in Jamaica has been difficult for the US, especially by shutout. I’ll hope for a more controlled win in the return leg. The US midfield should really boss the game.
I like what Pepi brings. He was often on an island against 3 Jamaican defenders, yet was able to hold the ball up often for teammates and caused a nuisance of himself in the counter press. It won’t be too hard to find times when he wasn’t able to hold it up or got muscled off the ball, but given the field conditions and how alone he was, I thought he did an admirable job.
I’m biased, but control of the game seemed to shift when Cardoso went out. The US looked really good in attack up to then, creating a bunch of great chances (the goal, Robinson’s 1v1, the pullback to Puli that he missed). The penalty was given away during that time, but that was a series of errors by Scally (bad pass), Ream (got roasted), McKenzie (lost 50/50), and Turner (conceded the pen). Afterwards the US seemed to struggle getting a grip. Tillman and McKennie swapped a few times, which seemed to indicate that Poch was trying to fill the hole left by Johnny. It didn’t look to me like Tillman was doing that poor of a job, and Tessman got better, but something was off positionally or in what Poch wanted Tillman to do. I don’t know how I feel about Musah out wide. He seems to be falling into a “jack of all trades, master of none” type of player the way he’s being used.
The X/Twitterverse has a stat going around from Alex Calabrese that this win gives Poch as many away wins in CONCACAF play as GGG (1). That can’t be right though, can it? I remember the comeback win in qualifying down in Honduras pretty vividly, but that can’t be the only one. I’m happy for the win given that winning in Jamaica has been difficult for the US, especially by shutout. I’ll hope for a more controlled win in the return leg. The US midfield should really boss the game.
this article lists the matches and results so yes: https://the18.com/soccer-news/mauricio-pochettino-has-already-tied-berhalter-concacaf-away-record/138851?amp?
The US also beat Grenada 7 - 1 in Grenada last year, but that was in between Berhalters so was Anthony Hudson with the win (playing very Greggy ball with Gregg's staff, to be fair). We absolutely ate shit away from the US in that WCQ qualifying cycle though.
Your brain might be thinking about the 1 - 1 at the Azteca which was a great result to the point where you can practically classify it a win, but it was not literally so.
Your brain might be thinking about the 1 - 1 at the Azteca which was a great result to the point where you can practically classify it a win, but it was not literally so.
I’m not sure I was thinking of any game in particular. I thought that Gregg must have had a big win over a minnow in the Nations League, probably the 4-0 win over Cuba that the article @wade boggs chicken dinner posted reminded me was actually a neutral site game.
While technically accurate, I think this is an unfair characterization, as we absolutely deserved to win a few of those games and there's really only one game I can agree we "ate shit".
- Draw 0-0 in El Salvador. Hugo Perez parked the bus on us, xG was like 1.4 to 0.1. Gio got hurt.
- Win 1-4 in Honduras, where we banished John Brooks at halftime - permanently, it turns out
- Loss 1-0 in Panama, on a fluky header off a set piece. We generally played like shit and got out-xG'd, although bringing Adams on for Acosta at halftime made for a better 2H.
- Draw 1-1 in Jamaica, after Weah scores an early one on a nice play, Mickail Antonio ties it with a golazo from like 30 yards out. Was a weird game we deserved to win.
- Loss 2-0 in Canada, on an icy field in January. Turner makes a bad distribution turnover and Larin makes him pay, then weirdness at the end, but while we were outplayed it wasn't as bad as it looked.
- Draw 0-0 in Mexico, where Gio got introduced late and so wowed the crowd with a slaloming run that beat like 10 guys that they were cheering for him by the end. We basically dominated this game and were unlucky not to win. The Azteca booed their own team at the final whistle.
- Loss 2-0 in Costa Rica, where we'd basically already qualified, we sat some starters, and didn't give a shit.
So of those 3 draws, I think we were pretty unlucky not to win 1 or even 2 of them. And if we needed a result in Costa Rica we probably could've gotten it.
My main conclusion going back over that is that Tyler Adams is a massive difference-maker for us. He was MOTM in many of our wins and even some of our draws. Captained 7 of the 14 Ocho matches. We get him (and Richards, and Dest, and maybe even Gio... but especially Tyler) back and operating, I feel like we'll be a different team.
Pinnock, Antonio, and Kaheim Dixon did not travel to the US for the second leg. Pinnock is hurt. Antonio and Dixon lost their passports.
View: https://twitter.com/usmntotaku/status/1858205770342404173?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
View: https://twitter.com/usmntotaku/status/1858205770342404173?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
Is "lost their passports" code? I know Antonio had a falling out with the FA, or was that Bailey?
Bailey is the one who's had a constant feud, but nobody there seems to love their FA. Could be code for "they said nah", could also just be incompetence, which is one of the reasons players dislike the Jamaican FA.
My pet "it's code" theory is that is has to do with Ravel Morrison being recalled, who at least some people on that squad hate judging by the Andre Blake segment in the "Captains" documentary he was a part of.
Johnny has already returned to Sevilla to work with the Betis medical staff. The hope is that he will be healthy in time for Barcelona’s visit to the Benito Villamarin in early December. He made his debut for Betis last season in that very same fixture.
Oh, and everyone remember that the return leg in St Louis vs Jamaica is tonight at 8pm ET. So like in 2 hours.
Starting 11 is out. It’s the names many people predicted, probably not in these exact positions. Let’s see if this is how they look in practice.
View: https://twitter.com/usmnt/status/1858662326519390363?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
View: https://twitter.com/usmnt/status/1858662326519390363?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
Not so sure it'll actually pan out the way that graphic shows it, but I guess we'll see. When I just read the lineup, I thought it was a front three of Puli/Pepi/Weah and Musah in the midfield.
Right on thanks was looking for this.
Love to see Pepi getting the start again with so much A team talent
(I'm a little behind).
That was fun to watch - you could see that Puli's run was perfect, and then the ball was there, and the finish is so damn good.
That was fun to watch - you could see that Puli's run was perfect, and then the ball was there, and the finish is so damn good.
Pepi for goal #3.
I know it’s only Jamaica, but wow they look good. Fluid, fast and lots of great passing.
I know it’s only Jamaica, but wow they look good. Fluid, fast and lots of great passing.
That was a fun 45. Jamaica decided to play the role of the Washington Generals, but it was still impressive.
GGG had most patterns of play fully scripted, which was complicated and led to predictable attacking moves. That’s not to say that Poch doesn’t have some of that, because he does, but it’s much less joysticked. Pulisic is given a lot of freedom. McKennie too, it seems.
A couple hours ago I took pride in this guy leading the USMNT. He's just Christian Fuckstic now. Shitheads gon' shithead. What an age.
Oh. I figured it out. Had no idea that's what that terrible dance was. I mean, I kind of knew who he was anyway.
People are saying that the goal celebration for the first one was some sort of MAGA dance?
I dunno man, I am almost 40 and do not have mental space for this discourse.
Very annoying that we had the best half of soccer the US have played all year tonight and that’s gonna be all the chatter coming out of the match.