USMNT: Hold My Beer

Mr. Wednesday

Mr. Wednesday

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I thought Bradley was the least of the team's problems. It'd be nice if he won more balls in the midfield, but that is who he is---you don't play him at the six for his ball-winning. His passing was generally pretty good, and he largely maintained possession, which is more than you can say for most of the rest of the team after the U.S. went up 1 - 0. I thought McKennie was pretty poor in the second half, and Zimmerman had some pretty shocking passes.
 
Titans Bastard

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Mr. Wednesday said:
I thought Bradley was the least of the team's problems. It'd be nice if he won more balls in the midfield, but that is who he is---you don't play him at the six for his ball-winning. His passing was generally pretty good, and he largely maintained possession, which is more than you can say for most of the rest of the team after the U.S. went up 1 - 0. I thought McKennie was pretty poor in the second half, and Zimmerman had some pretty shocking passes.
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Bradley's passing and ability to maintain possession are usually somewhere between fine and very good. However, I view the bolded section not as an "oh, well" but as a fundamental problem. He's the DM. He need to do primary DM things well. If he can't win the ball or close down space in center of the park in front of the defense, that is a major issue.

I think Bradley's NT career and late club career have basically been wasted because he was always an 8 at heart, but Klinsmann used him as a 10 and then TFC and Klinsmann+successors have used him as a DM, a position for which his skillset is not well-suited. This is because Klinsmann+successors have had shit alternatives at DM once Beckerman went into decline.

It's truly a shame. Bradley is post-peak now, but on the whole he has a lot of talent and he's been a good soldier for club and country. He has not been put in an ideal position to succeed for a long time. He is not without flaws, but this reality will negatively affect his reputation and legacy.
 
DJnVa

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Pretty poor game overall, but teams do have games like that from time to time. We don't have to wait long to see if it's a one-off.
 
InstaFace

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At least the USWNT and USMNT aren't playing their semis on the same day. The women play tomorrow 3pm ET in Lyon; the men (vs Jamaica) at 9:30pm ET Wednesday in Nashville.
 
Mr. Wednesday

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Titans Bastard said:
Bradley's passing and ability to maintain possession are usually somewhere between fine and very good. However, I view the bolded section not as an "oh, well" but as a fundamental problem. He's the DM. He need to do primary DM things well. If he can't win the ball or close down space in center of the park in front of the defense, that is a major issue.
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I don't disagree, but I think that's more of a team selection criticism than a criticism of Bradley's performance. I thought Bradley had (by his standards) an excellent game last night. He might have been one of the negatives in the team's failure to regain possession, but by and large he was excellent in possession---there were a lot of other players who were very wasteful.
 
OCST

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DrewDawg said:
Pretty poor game overall, but teams do have games like that from time to time. We don't have to wait long to see if it's a one-off.
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That’s nice to think so but you’re being kind. I have no confidence in this side against good competition. If we were in a WC group I couldn’t see us going through.
 
Titans Bastard

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OilCanShotTupac said:
That’s nice to think so but you’re being kind. I have no confidence in this side against good competition. If we were in a WC group I couldn’t see us going through.
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Oh, 100%. The USMNT would be significant underdogs to get out of any WC group right now. And if we get to the final, Mexico is going to eat our midfield alive.

Taking a longer view, it's no surprise to see the US look underwhelming. Berhalter, of course, is not above criticism, but the die was cast long ago when a sizable generation of players just didn't develop. The US was always going to be some flavor of blah in 2019.

In terms of the player pool, it's all upside from here. Very few important players will age out between now and 2022, or even 2026 really. Our YNTs have been fairly successful for several two-year cycles now and there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic over the medium term. I don't think we'll see anything specifically on the USMNT level that will get people especially excited until 2021 or so.

I really hope we qualify for the Olympics in 2020. The U23 pool is deep and it could be a nice morale-booster and coming-out-party for a cohort of players who will completely take over the full NT soon. (Of course, the USSF has done a crap job of preparation for qualifiers this fall, as usual.)
 
DJnVa

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OilCanShotTupac said:
That’s nice to think so but you’re being kind. I have no confidence in this side against good competition. If we were in a WC group I couldn’t see us going through.
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Well sure. But we're 3 years away from that so it's understandable.

Our stumbles are on a different level...
 
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Pesky Pole

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Tonight's game against Jamaica in Nashville starts at 9:30. The start times for this tournament are killing me. My 10 year old could easily watch Brazil / Argentina last night but they can't watch the US even when the game is on the East Coast. US Soccer is such a mess right now.
 
DJnVa

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Pesky Pole said:
Tonight's game against Jamaica in Nashville starts at 9:30. The start times for this tournament are killing me. My 10 year old could easily watch Brazil / Argentina last night but they can't watch the US even when the game is on the East Coast. US Soccer is such a mess right now.
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Well, I get you, but Nashville is an hour behind, not really east coast. But yes, no reason at all they couldn't start this at 8 pm EDT, 7 pm local. Hell, or even 8:30 EDT, which still puts it at 5:30 west coast.
 
Titans Bastard

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Altidore or Zardes tonight?

Any betting men and women among you all?
 
DJnVa

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I'd go Altidore for 60-65 (whatever his limit is). It just costs you a sub when you know he can't go 90. Then Zardes or situation sub depending on game status.

I can see him going Zardes though.
 
Jimy Hendrix

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75min Zardes, 15min Altidore, 90min screaming about why you would only bring one healthy striker to a tournament (by me)
 
Mr. Wednesday

Mr. Wednesday

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Pesky Pole said:
Tonight's game against Jamaica in Nashville starts at 9:30. The start times for this tournament are killing me. My 10 year old could easily watch Brazil / Argentina last night but they can't watch the US even when the game is on the East Coast. US Soccer is such a mess right now.
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This isn't US Soccer's show. It's CONCACAF's show.
 
Titans Bastard

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Whew, glad to see Jozy starting. My faith was starting to waver.

I didn't expect so many other changes — Cannon over Lima, Miazga over Zimmerman, Morris over Boyd.
 
McBride11

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IS Jamaica missing their CB that much?? This is pressure I can barely remember from the US. Great passing, open spaces,.. it is weird
 
McBride11

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Long plays that square to Morris and easy goal when the Jam goalie dropped it, but hard not to shoot in that sequence.
 
DJnVa

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So is this one of those minimum of 20 minutes from last lightning in area delays?
 
McBride11

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WEll damnnnn.

I get the caution, but what is the realistic chance lighting strikes the pitch? They are surrounded by very tall metal structures that would seem to attract the strikes first.

And Joe - the scoreboard flashed a giant "SEEK SHELTER" message, the fans were 100% warned
 
Jed Zeppelin

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Arriola is such a classic USMNT player. We will spend years wondering if he is good or not.
 
Titans Bastard

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Jed Zeppelin said:
Arriola is such a classic USMNT player. We will spend years wondering if he is good or not.
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He's had a lot of good chances this tournament that he hasn't put away. But they have mostly all been on frame and not shanks, so I can't tell if he's been unlucky not to have a few more goals or not.
 
DJnVa

DJnVa

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Gonna be at least another 30 minutes I'd imagine. Each lightning strike resets the clock.
 
DJnVa

DJnVa

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If they do start at 11:30, that puts halftime at midnight, meaning second half ends around 1 am.
 
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