MNT's 2021

[ZooCougar]

 

[ZooCougar]

Zardes did not touch the ball in the attacking 1/3 for the entire first half they said. Why was he in for the second? Gregg Out!

He should have never been hired. He had never won a trophy and he was maybe a tick better than mediocre in MLS.

And basically he was the only person interviewed seriously despite Oscar Pareja, Peter Vermes and Tata Martino being interested.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Next month comes Mexico and Jamaica away, likely with Leon Bailey and co.
Wednesday is very important

Must-win, no question. It's not too early to look at the table.

Mexico should cruise to one of the berths.

Jamaica, El Salvador, Honduras probably don't have enough.

It's going to be us, Costa Rica, Panama, and Canada for the 2 auto-berths and the 1 inter-confed playoff.

Costa Rica has been underwhelming (tied Panama, Jamaica, Honduras, while losing to Mexico and beating El Salvador at home) and with a win we'd be 5 points ahead in the standings.

With a loss, we'd be behind them and Canada and/or Panama, with the toughest part of our schedule (Mexico home and away, and Costa Rica away) yet to come.

 

[SubbaBub]

You play everyone twice. You would assume the auto qualifiers will win all of their home games against the also rans and take at least one point on the road.

The spots will be sorted based on head to head amongst the top 4/5. We just dropped points (1 or 3) against one of our main rivals for qualification. Beating Panama at home is now a must. Beating Costa Rica at home is now a must. We would also need to match/better their results against Mexico.

The current standings mean nothing until everyone cycles through the top teams and we see who drops points to whom, especially at home.

Mexico is going to cruise and we have made our path more difficult because GGG can't manage a roster.

There were zero lock starters in the XI last night unless you count Turner. At least half won't make the final 23. That's what you put out in a critical road game?

As I said at the start, fireable offense, playing for a 0-0 draw. Zardes shouldn't be seen again, Weah is on his way out too.

 

[businesslawyer]

Next month comes Mexico and Jamaica away, likely with Leon Bailey and co.
Wednesday is very important

Next month, hopefully, we have close to a full complement of players.

Thought Dest picked up a knock at the end of Jamaica?
Yesterday would have been a good game for KLDF up the wing. Instead we get an overdose of Paul A and Lletget

Lletget has been doing fine for us. Again, enough to blame Berhalter for without blaming him for players who have been doing well not showing up.

As for Bello, saying "I never want to see them again" means this cycle. If he's able to play at the level we need in the next cycle, that's fine. But he's not there yet. If Vines is out for a while and we don't trust Dest on the left, which I get, time to give Scully a shot.

 

[LIuconn]

I think confusion about roles, teammate expectations and even talent level can be interpreted as not playing hard or with heart. If guys don’t trust one another or know where to be, well, shouldn’t really happen at this stage of the game.

and lletget loves to go backwards and sideways when he has avenues to push forward. Doesn’t give possession away and pads the passing stats Greggdiola loves but he doesn’t offer much. Can’t start him and arriola together. We’re playing short handed then

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think confusion about roles, teammate expectations and even talent level can be interpreted as not playing hard or with heart. If guys don’t trust one another or know where to be, well, shouldn’t really happen at this stage of the game.

and lletget loves to go backwards and sideways when he has avenues to push forward. Doesn’t give possession away and pads the passing stats Greggdiola loves but he doesn’t offer much. Can’t start him and arriola together. We’re playing short handed then

Gregg seems to love guys who prefer back passes, and sideways and don't push forward. I'm almost surprised he hasn't trotted Michael Bradley out. His approach is such a terrible fit for the players we actually have. I'd accept a cautious defensive team if we had a strong counterattack, but we halt many of our counter attacks and send the ball back.

It's infuriating to watch this team.

 

[Viet Vet]

The conventional wisdom that you need to "win at home and draw on the road" is misguided. If you won each home game, and drew each road game you would accumulate 2/3 of all possible points (20 of 30 over the six-team hex). And everyone would be happy, right?

So let's take a closer look at the current three-game pod. We already had garnered three points with the win over Jamaica. So........GO FOR THE WIN AT PANAMA to get to six points by PLAYING YOUR BEST SQUAD! Now, even if some of your A-players are tired, perhaps you grind out a draw, maybe a win, at home versus Costa Rica, a bonus. If you lose, you've still attained the 2/3 (six of nine) goal.

It made no sense to risk a loss at Panama by playing the JVs. ALWAYS play to win the next game, ALWAYS, unless qualification is already in the bag.

 

[LIuconn]

 

[CardiacAndre7]

You play everyone twice. You would assume the auto qualifiers will win all of their home games against the also rans and take at least one point on the road.

The spots will be sorted based on head to head amongst the top 4/5. We just dropped points (1 or 3) against one of our main rivals for qualification. Beating Panama at home is now a must. Beating Costa Rica at home is now a must. We would also need to match/better their results against Mexico.

The current standings mean nothing until everyone cycles through the top teams and we see who drops points to whom, especially at home.

Mexico is going to cruise and we have made our path more difficult because GGG can't manage a roster.

There were zero lock starters in the XI last night unless you count Turner. At least half won't make the final 23. That's what you put out in a critical road game?

As I said at the start, fireable offense, playing for a 0-0 draw. Zardes shouldn't be seen again, Weah is on his way out too.

Nah Weah is good. One of our only true 1v1 threats. The Panama game he just didn’t get many chances to touch the ball

 

[Palatine]

Nah Weah is good. One of our only true 1v1 threats. The Panama game he just didn’t get many chances to touch the ball

Agree. Also when Weah had the ball on the wing in the final third Zardes never gave him a target.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Arriola looked like someone who won a contest to play in a WC qualifier.

jamaica is the weakest team in the bunch and they were missing half their squad. This was always going to be a W

would love to see Pepi go to a Dutch factory or La Liga if he can get time there.

Dest was so good playing 1-2 touch against Atletico and I think he sees the US squad as his place to show off a bit

Dest's skills going forward are proven and getting better. What he needs to work on is getting back to play defense.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

That first paragraph made me LOL.

One thing that makes me optimistic if we qualify is how young the team will be. That can be a huge advantage. Also given that Qatar is a postage stamp, we don’t have to worry about getting screwed over travel.

It's FIFA, the US will be assigned to the one stadium whose AC is broken.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

The US was never going to score anyway but what's the point of extra time with a referee like that? I mean, that last 7 minutes was madness.

Maybe the ref just decided that this US team was not going to do anything anyway so might as well call it at the 7 even with all the multiple ball shenanigans and fans running onto the field. But--it's a good tactic for the future. Have your ballboys clutter the field, get your bench to kick balls around when they go OOB, have fans run onto the field.

CONCACAF is a joke. The big whigs pad their pockest, but won't spend money on VAR for each country's national stadium. The refereeing is abysmal. And the shi! that goes on at these games, especially when the US visits, should get these countries banded from hosting international games of any level until they clear their act-up whether it be the ball boys in Panama or that chant that Mexico has been told not to do 100 times now.

That said, Greg did everything in his power to set this team up for failure in Panama. You don't wait for the next game, go for the kill when you can.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This is just a perfect microcosm of our team. When we finally opened it up vs Jamaica, we started scoring. I think the right lineup and an aggressive approach nets at least two goals @Panama.

 

[outlaw]

Positives & negatives from the USMNT loss at Panama – and what to expect vs. Costa Rica

TLDR; no positives.

Important to keep in mind;
"Berhalter has taken a lot of criticism for the heavy squad rotation he employed for this game and, given both the performance and result, I understand why. But:

1. The biggest thing we learned about three-game windows last month is that teams that don’t rotate in games 1 & 2 get pumped in game 3, and...
2. Home games are more important than road games.

If the US just protects home-field advantage from here on out and doesn’t take another road point the entire time, they’ll make the World Cup. The Costa Rica game is more important than the Panama game was, and that’s how Berhalter’s approached it. He was damn near explicit about it."


Bottom line; we NEED to win tomorrow night.

 

[LIuconn]

We are rotating players at a higher clip than Canada and Mexico

 

[HuskyHawk]

Positives & negatives from the USMNT loss at Panama – and what to expect vs. Costa Rica

TLDR; no positives.

Important to keep in mind;
"Berhalter has taken a lot of criticism for the heavy squad rotation he employed for this game and, given both the performance and result, I understand why. But:

1. The biggest thing we learned about three-game windows last month is that teams that don’t rotate in games 1 & 2 get pumped in game 3, and...
2. Home games are more important than road games.

If the US just protects home-field advantage from here on out and doesn’t take another road point the entire time, they’ll make the World Cup. The Costa Rica game is more important than the Panama game was, and that’s how Berhalter’s approached it. He was damn near explicit about it."


Bottom line; we NEED to win tomorrow night.

I get resting people. Playing games in Central America is no picnic, and for reasons that escape me, we played in the 90 degree Austin heat the game prior. But the choices were poor, as was the strategy. If we going to do this, bring Sargent back. Zardes is about our 8th best striker.

If he wants to sit back and defend on the road, fine, deploy as much speed up top, on the wings and in CM as possible and play a counter game. Instead we had a slow clumsy roster and didn't press our chances.

 

[SubbaBub]

Positives & negatives from the USMNT loss at Panama – and what to expect vs. Costa Rica

TLDR; no positives.

Important to keep in mind;
"Berhalter has taken a lot of criticism for the heavy squad rotation he employed for this game and, given both the performance and result, I understand why. But:

1. The biggest thing we learned about three-game windows last month is that teams that don’t rotate in games 1 & 2 get pumped in game 3, and...
2. Home games are more important than road games.

If the US just protects home-field advantage from here on out and doesn’t take another road point the entire time, they’ll make the World Cup. The Costa Rica game is more important than the Panama game was, and that’s how Berhalter’s approached it. He was damn near explicit about it."


Bottom line; we NEED to win tomorrow night.

That's only valid if you can count on winning all your home games. We can't, never have. The US missed in 2014, precisiely by dropping points in games they should have won or drawn. Other than the Concacaf W t F loss that occurs every cycle, the only loss that we should accept is at Azteca.

Losing to Panama or drawing at home to Canada are dropped points. You can also consider a draw at minnow El Salvador as dropping points. Depending on your opinion of that, we've dropped 3 or 4 points in 5 games this cycle. 3 or 4 points could be the difference between qualifying and not especially since we gifted the to Canada and Panama, teams who are also on the bubble. If we drop points to Costa Rica tomorrow, we are in real trouble and will have to run off a bunch of road wins and defend all the home fixtures.

 

[Palatine]

1. the biggest thing we learned about three-game windows last month is that teams that don’t rotate in games 1 & 2 get pumped in game 3, and...
2. Home games are more important than road games.

But if you win games one and two, you end up at the top of the able.
And given the competition, we are unlikely to get pummeled in any game even #3.

 

[LIuconn]

Game day. I predict if all our squad guys are healthy a more “normal” lineup. No arriola or lletget. Score 2-1 for the good guys. 2 goals off set pieces

Gregg will go for a pregame jog around the city he had a .500 record in like he’s Rocky Balboa. Will wear high top dunks during the game and complete 2 behind the back passes of 10 yards or longer.

 

[outlaw]

thinking back to the USA Mexico game in Columbus in 2013 - one of the best atmospheres I've ever been apart of. wishing I was there tonight - we need this W !!
Go Go USA

 

[upstater]

Steffen may very well be a better goalie than Turner but if you're not wondering what would have happened if Turner were in there early tonight, are you comatose?

 

[ZooCougar]

Outside of the first minute. This is some of the best play I have seen from the USA in a long time.

 

[SubbaBub]

Steffen may very well be a better goalie than Turner but if you're not wondering what would have happened if Turner were in there early tonight, are you comatose?

Whatever Steffen's ceiling might be he's already shown he can't be counted on to be sharp for the USMNT. Turner is #1 until Steffen gets regular club work. I've made up my mind on that.

Dest is going to be maddening. Absolute quality but gets in trouble trying to show it off and is a liability on defense.

Arronson has proved his worth and is the #1 backup on either wing behind Pulisic and Reyna. Weah isn't a winger. Give him a shot at striker.

Adams, McKennie played a horrible first 20 minutes and the entire squad is heavy on the first touch.

I'm liking Pepe, but I don't think we can count on him every game at his age Need to find another good option, but he's the leader for that spot now by default. Wusah ia showing quality as well but I'm not sure I like 2 attacking mids ahead of Adams. I prefer 2 holding mids behind McKennie, but it's a good thing to be have the option to change gears. Wusah still needs some polish, a bit sloppy with the ball as are many others.