Gold Cup
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I've heard plenty of stories about him from friends on the team at the time. He obviously has some ability in terms of coaching & recruiting because he turned Notre Dame into a freaking powerhouse. And I found it odd that last week I heard his name mentioned during the women's world cup as he had been heavily pursued by one of the European nations to be their national team coach and he declined (can't remember which nation, maybe Italy?).
Speaking of, former TU GK Terry Boss is an assistant coach on Berhalter's staff (he's also the HC at Oregon State). You keep seeing former TU players pop up everywhere in the pro ranks as players and coaches now at all levels. Mac must be doing something right.
Waldrum hired Mac as GA and kept him on. Waldrum is the coach of the Houston NWSL Dash. It’s not odd he’s connected to the women’s game abroad other than its odd anyone would hire him. I guess he looks pretty good from 5,000 miles away I imagine.
Edit: I guess he’s at Pitt now. Insert your own punch line.
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I haven’t seen predictions this good since Billy Packer retired.
You have to make your chances when they are presented. And England did not take them. And they had several.
After the first goal, England dominated possession, passing and physicality. Check the stats.
The USA back line was exposed multiple times all along the line.
But for being one inch off sides and a missed penalty, USA would be out. It easily could have been 6-2.
They are great players, but they are playing on due to circumstances, not their own performance.
A repeat of this game and the Dutch might beat them. They should romp Sweden.
Terry Boss is the answer to my favorite TU soccer trivia question. Who is the only TU soccer player to make an appearance in a World Cup Qualifer? Boss for Puerto Rico.
lol, I was the God of indoor keepers in my own mind. I sucked outdoor, which is why I never played in college, although the NSU coach was interested after I made a
-ton of crazy saves and shut down his college boys one night at the old 63rd & Mingo indoor joint. I think I was a junior in high school, so I was probably high as a kite too.
Dodder was actually a pledge brother of mine. Cronk was definitely a badass keeper and was worthy of some scholarship money. But I think Randy had invested too much in Dodder, that no matter what happened, he was going to stick with him whenever he got back from injuries
I somehow ended up on an indoor team when I was maybe 28 or so and the TU keeper at the time was on the team as well. I think his name was Rob Beres maybe? Anyhoo, I'd play the first half and he'd play the second. He always asked me where I played my college ball and I'd just laugh.
Lavelle was dominant in this game until she got injured. I'm starting to get pissed at Jill Ellis and her going tactically to a turtle when they get the lead. Does anyone find that odd? You have the greatest collection of attacking MF/F talent in the world and your strategy is to go into a defensive shell? 1) Play to your strengths 2) PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!
The only reason England dominated 2nd half possession is because the US let them. Dunn was excellent keeping Parris and Bronze in check. The biggest problem was getting exploited between the 2 CBs and the amount of space they left. A coach friend of mine kept saying England could have switched from Bronze over to the left side on the long diagonals all night and the US would have been in a world of hurt, but England stopped doing it after the scored the equalizer.
And Huffy, let's be honest, the US should have scored a 3rd goal with ease on the bad distribution by Telford. Press should have fed Morgan at the spot and it would have been game over. And the US probably could have still added a 3rd in the last 10 minutes (87th forward) on the counters. They had gobs of space and they instead chose to hold the ball in the corner. BTW, the US women are among the best I've seen at holding the ball for 5+ minutes to close out games. What they did against France was clinical, and they were almost as good against England.
One last thing...this referee was awful. She lost control of the game early on. Tons of high arms, tons of cracked ankles/shins and she neglected to set the tone. Horan probably could have gotten a red for a couple of the elbows and rakes she inflicted, and England probably could have had at least one more sent off for the late challenges, studs exposed stuff.
HAHA. I used to ref a lot of intramural games. I remember one flag football game where the Sigma Chi'splayed the Kappa Sigs and they got so frustrated because they couldn't prevent the throw the ball high to Dodder play that one of them just picked Dodder up and suplexed him on Skelly. Had to toss him from the game.
Cronk is a good friend of mine. I ask him for some tips to pass on to my son. We keep trying to get our coach to bring the team to a Dallas area tournament so we can meet up but my son's coach "can do without going to Texas and dealing with the crazy parents". He played with the indoor version of the Roughnecks in the mid 90s for Ali. He was the most naturally athletic person I've ever met. Pick up a golf club for the first time and shoot 80. He would routinely kick 60 yard FGs on Skelly just messing around before flag football games. He hated basketball but he could grab like 15 rebounds in a row off his own missed layups (he was terrible at shooting). Good memories
GOLD CUP Semi #1
Mexico wins 1-0 on a questionable PK given in Extra Time. There was contact but it didn't affect the play at all. Raul Jimenez went down like he had been shot with a high powered rifle and then rolled around and screamed as though he had lost his leg.
Haiti didn't generate much attack at all and weren't too interested in pressing Mexico, but they did a great job at not really allowing Mexico many clean looks. The Haitian GK (Placide) was fantastic. I'm not sure why he is not playing in a top league somewhere. IMO he'd be a great addition to MLS.
Haiti had a few chances generated off of counters but did not really test Ochoa. They did hit the right post/crossbar joint in the 118th minute on a shot from the top left of the box. Ochoa stood and watched it. If it went in he had ZERO chance.
US vs Jamaica tonight. Whoever wins this game has a slight advantage going into the final IMO. Mexico's last 2 games have gone extra time and the Gold Cup has a shorter turn around between games than most tournaments of this magnitude. I think the US is in good shape for tonight...they didn't expend much energy against Curacao on Sunday.
Mexico wins 1-0 on a questionable PK given in Extra Time. There was contact but it didn't affect the play at all. Raul Jimenez went down like he had been shot with a high powered rifle and then rolled around and screamed as though he had lost his leg.
Haiti didn't generate much attack at all and weren't too interested in pressing Mexico, but they did a great job at not really allowing Mexico many clean looks. The Haitian GK (Placide) was fantastic. I'm not sure why he is not playing in a top league somewhere. IMO he'd be a great addition to MLS.
Haiti had a few chances generated off of counters but did not really test Ochoa. They did hit the right post/crossbar joint in the 118th minute on a shot from the top left of the box. Ochoa stood and watched it. If it went in he had ZERO chance.
US vs Jamaica tonight. Whoever wins this game has a slight advantage going into the final IMO. Mexico's last 2 games have gone extra time and the Gold Cup has a shorter turn around between games than most tournaments of this magnitude. I think the US is in good shape for tonight...they didn't expend much energy against Curacao on Sunday.
She goes to the shell because she can see the weakness and is trying to cover.
The more relevant question is why the USA is playing a fourth choice striker at left back and why neither the men’s or women’s teams seem to be able to develop serviceable left backs. Could it be cultural? Could it be we have a collective arrogance that defenders are inferior players and never develop them because they are always last choice well into their teens? Or perhaps we place our best defenders at the 6 and 8 well into their teens to cover. Or we run drills and play in offenses that de-emphasize the backs until kids get to college and then make them switch. Why aren’t we finding more left footed players in a country the size of the USA?
Starting to think the only significance of this tourney is the chance for MLS and LigaMX to get free scouting on players like the Haiti GK
Be honest, it was 6 inches off side, about half the Brit's foot was in front. And why did all the English players look like caricatures from Family Guy?
All really good questions. I know at the youth levels, you typically hide kids on defense and put the more skilled kids up top. Until the last 2 years, my son's defenders were always a little bit slower and not as skilled, but they had big legs and could clear the ball.
That's exactly what they've been doing since the late 70's. Need to change that attitude.
Semis: US wins 3-1 conceding their 1st goal of the tournament. US came out flying with some new faces starting. Altidore played decently and commanded a lot of attention from the Jamaican D. Jordan Morris doesn’t need to start over Tyler Boyd IMO. Reggie Cannon made a good showing in the right back role. Creates a dilemma as to who starts in the final vs Mexico. Miazga also started alongside Long as the CBs. US really started the 1st 15 min strong and came out with a McKennie goal on a nice buildup play. US probably had better chances to add a 2nd one early too before a 1 1/2 he rain delay. Jamaica picked up the pace after the rain delay getting several good chances that were easily handled by Steffen. Jamaica seemed to change tactics and pressed a lot higher and basically played a man defense against Michael Bradley cutting him out of bringing the ball out of the back.
2nd half US picked up some pace again. Morris actually made a nice turn and hit a rocket forcing Blake to just make the save...rebound landed at Pulisic’s feet and he just tucked it in nicely. Jamaica got in the board after a substitution on a nice cross and header. Long gave him a little too much space. US comes back and scores another goal after a nice play to Arriola and Arriola tips a shot to the far past that Blake gets his hands on and once again it falls to Pulisic who tucked it in. Pulisic absolutely made the Jamaican backline look silly in this game.
Against Mexico the US will have chances to score. Mexico’s backline has been pretty blah this tournament and has also looked a bit disorganized. US backline will have to beware of Mexican flopping as pretty much any contact results in a Mexican paper player going to ground. They are soft like refried beans. Hopefully we get a non-Latino referee and ARs for this one. Maybe a Jamaican or Canadian ref.
2nd half US picked up some pace again. Morris actually made a nice turn and hit a rocket forcing Blake to just make the save...rebound landed at Pulisic’s feet and he just tucked it in nicely. Jamaica got in the board after a substitution on a nice cross and header. Long gave him a little too much space. US comes back and scores another goal after a nice play to Arriola and Arriola tips a shot to the far past that Blake gets his hands on and once again it falls to Pulisic who tucked it in. Pulisic absolutely made the Jamaican backline look silly in this game.
Against Mexico the US will have chances to score. Mexico’s backline has been pretty blah this tournament and has also looked a bit disorganized. US backline will have to beware of Mexican flopping as pretty much any contact results in a Mexican paper player going to ground. They are soft like refried beans. Hopefully we get a non-Latino referee and ARs for this one. Maybe a Jamaican or Canadian ref.
That’s interesting. My daughter’s club also puts the most skilled players in the wings and up top. They then take the fastest and most athletic girls but with lesser skill and place then in the back end. They figure ball skills are easier to teach than speed and athleticism. So they choose athleticism and then work on skill in the back.
Mind predicting a Mexico win real quick? I’d like to see if this superpower works for the men’s team or if it’s specific to the women.
They closed up the back line and pushed back when fouled. It wasn’t a repeat of the England game. In particular, there were several retaliation fouls when Rapinoe was repeatedly jacked by the Dutch centerbacks. In past games, they just swarmed the referee and bitched, sometimes during the run of play. More so than other games, the forwards in particular were shielding the ball and initiating contact. It’s the first game in the knockout stage they played that way. Despite the mythology spewed by the broadcasters, the USA was out muscled in most of these games. It could have bitten them badly against Spain, France and England. But they played a different style and had the talent to overcome ceding the physical initiative. In this game, they conceded nothing. They were the better team and deserved to win. If you don’t believe or understand what I am talking about, go back and watch the games from the all 22 angle filmed from behind the goal. You’ll see things the tight shots and side view of the main broadcast is unable to show. USA players being knocked off the ball like billiard balls and stopping their run. In some cases not even challenging for the ball back which was a huge problem against France. None of that nonsense today. I thought France MIGHT beat them. They won. I thought England WOULD beat them. I was wrong. I thought Holland COULD beat them and it took VAR and a penalty before the Dutch were chasing the game. These are not uninformed opinions. There’s a lot of professional pundits with the same views
I appreciate your willingness and ability to break down the game in advance and tell us what you think the USA will exploit to win or what vulnerabilities might be uncovered during the course of the game. I’ve been pretty busy so I must have missed those posts before the women’s game, but you’ve still got five hours to pick a winner for the men and tell us why.
I have no idea who Berhalter will play so I do not have the faintest clue what the result will be. I frankly don’t care. I’m just going to enjoy the game and the atmosphere of game day here in Chicago. I stopped trying to figure out this team driving back to the hotel deep in the rain forest after that 4-0 loss in Costa Rica under Coach Chinos.
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USWNT- first they were aggressive to win 50/50 balls and like England and France before, the Dutch were pretty impatient in trying to build up and wanted to play the ball over the top to the big striker (Niedadam?). The US advantage in this game is having a high 5 that is the most skilled group in the world collectively. Usually a backline has to deal with 1 or 2 players but with the US you deal with Rapinoe, Morgan, Heath, Lavelle, and Mewis and of things are really working well, you’re dealing with Dunn and O’Hara as well. The Dutch D was good but they couldn’t handle the top 3 and were lucky the game wasn’t 2 or 3-0 by halftime. The Dutch GK was outstanding. I hate that the ref didn’t call the PK in the course of play b/c it gives everyone something to bitch about with VAR. The call was absolutely correct and deserved. The offending Dutch player didn’t gripe about it but some of her teammates did. The 2nd US goal was a pretty clear result of poor communication between the backs as Lavelle literally split the two of them and they actually anticipated the layoff passes to either side and no one closed her down.
The Dutch striker had a chance before that to at least get a shot off but like you see with youth players, she refused to use her left foot to hit a shot and there was no space back inside. That was literally the scariest run of attack the Dutch had all day. The US backline played great today. Dunn was a freaking monster.
US Men- if we sit back and let Mexico hold the ball we lose. We have to press. We also better hope we get a Caribbean or Canadian ref crew because if we get a Central American crew (Costa Rican or Honduran) we are screwed. They like to reward the Mexican diving beans with fouls and PKs. I’m not sure what Berhalter will do w/ his lineup. Need to see Boyd out there instead of Morris. Maybe leave Cannon out there. If we see Trapp at all, I’m turning the channel to the Harry Potter marathon.
The Dutch striker had a chance before that to at least get a shot off but like you see with youth players, she refused to use her left foot to hit a shot and there was no space back inside. That was literally the scariest run of attack the Dutch had all day. The US backline played great today. Dunn was a freaking monster.
US Men- if we sit back and let Mexico hold the ball we lose. We have to press. We also better hope we get a Caribbean or Canadian ref crew because if we get a Central American crew (Costa Rican or Honduran) we are screwed. They like to reward the Mexican diving beans with fouls and PKs. I’m not sure what Berhalter will do w/ his lineup. Need to see Boyd out there instead of Morris. Maybe leave Cannon out there. If we see Trapp at all, I’m turning the channel to the Harry Potter marathon.
My prediction for tonight is a 32-0 victory for the US, led by 19 from Zardes, who scores on deflections off every individual body part listed in chapter 7 of Merrill’s Atlas of Anatomy. Immediately after the final whistle, Wells Fargo debuts an ad featuring Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who professes his undying allegiance to US Soccer.
It’ll be hard for Zardes to score 19 from the bench. Berhalter going with the same starting 11 as he used vs Jamaica. I am Ok with most of it just don’t think Morris is a better option than Boyd. I’m OK with Altidore starting for the reasons I’ve mentioned before.
Exciting first half. Both teams had great chances and by all rights it should be 2-1 US instead of 0-0. Steffen is scaring the crap out of me the way he’s playing with the ball in front of the net until the Mexican player is on him. Bradley is back to giving the ball away but at least he’s not doing it on backpasses yet.
I’m hoping we will push forward more in the second half.
I’m hoping we will push forward more in the second half.
Through the 1st half the US has looked good on the attack minus finishing. The defense has been solid. Miazga and Long have been solid in the middle forcing Mexico wide. Cannon has been great. McKennie has been missing. Pulisic is better than Mexico’s best player right now.
Who takes charge in the 2nd?
Who takes charge in the 2nd?
Agree on Boyd and he’s missed out there in the first half. Morris is a bigger body and we usually try to bruise it up against Mexico
Did a great job of finding the space and seams left by the gaps created upfield by Mexico’s high press. If we move up field as suggested above we lose the ability of having numbers available in the midfield to both exploit that space but also defend their best trailing runners. We are getting plenty of chances by exploiting space and looking for situation where Jozy can defeat three or Pulisic can dribble around three. No need to press up and expose our middle as long as the score is tied, especially with a 20 year old at RB who would be forced into covering their best player 1v1 if you move Bradley or Mckinnie up higher.
Good vision and possession in traffic by everyone. Pulisic looks like a skinny sober Gazza at times.
Arriola. Boulders. Huge stone balling out there.
Morris is mentally not there at times and it shows in delayed physical reactions that have been miscues. Might sit him at 75 if it continues.
The ignore feature on this board is excellent.
Good vision and possession in traffic by everyone. Pulisic looks like a skinny sober Gazza at times.
Arriola. Boulders. Huge stone balling out there.
Morris is mentally not there at times and it shows in delayed physical reactions that have been miscues. Might sit him at 75 if it continues.
The ignore feature on this board is excellent.
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I can’t believe they are selling Mexican products in the on air announcements as well as those ball boys holding ball when the USA players call for them on the break. That’s bull. I understand why they needed to schedule this game in Chicago, the third largest Mexican city in the world - if either team lost early it’s the only city that would likely still sell out. But playing at “home” against a 80-20 fan split doesn’t mean you have tolerate a dual broadcast team or ball boys gaming the rules for the visitors.
. I understand why they needed to schedule this game in Chicago, the third largest Mexican city in the world - if either team lost early it’s the only city that would likely still sell out. But playing at “home” against a 80-20 fan split doesn’t mean you have tolerate a dual broadcast team or ball boys gaming the rules for the visitors.
Heard it here first. Beaten by a late runner because our middle was exposed pushing up. Didn’t see the weird substitutions and formation change to 4-4-2 coming tho.
Altidore shouldn’t be the starter but there’s nobody else. He was too beat up physically to go 75 or 90 minutes. That ain’t good. First 20 minutes some of the best in his career. First time I’ve seen him consistently hold one man with his butt, freeze or fake another with his eyes and then either dribble, angles or muscle around a third. A lot of that freedom and running toward goal you saw early was because the team was playing 9 v 7 or 9 v 6 because of Jozy. Might have been different if he could have gone 90.
Insult to injury: beaten by one of those MLS players you guys say can’t play. Some can and some can’t. Dos Santos def can.
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Yeah, they did way better than I thought they would after being destroyed by Venezuela. Then again this wasn’t really the team we fielded against Venezuela. Some bad luck and great saves by Ochoa kept us out.
For all you Ream lovers out there: please explain why Tim, with the ball at his feet, goes 1001, 1002, 1003-& when his synapses finally start to fire, he attempts to kick it upfield-sometimes to ours or theirs or gets it blocked(twice). Oh well, Beer?halter loves the guy so we're stuck with him. We're also stuck with Altidore & Zardes, when scoring a goal is pretty important. Will we get it figured out with this group by quals time, with 90% of the same guys?
Unless we develop someone else who can be a target and hold the ball to distribute, Altidore is the best option right now. Maybe Sargent when he matures in the game some.
Impressed by Reggie Cannon. That kid can play and frustrated Pizarro all night which is why they switched Pizarro to the right side after half time and he exploited Ream’s lack of athleticism out there. Arriola can obviously play with a lot of pace and he caused issues. Pulisic was the best player on the pitch for either squad. McKennie needs to find ways to get the ball at his feet. When he gets the ball in the middle 3rd the US becomes very dangerous. Mexico took him away for most of the game. Bradley is too nonchalant at times. I think Miazga and Long are the CBs moving forward with Zimmerman another option. Boyd is a better option on the right than Morris is much the same way Kristen Press was a better option than Rapinoe because you get defense out of both those players whereas with Morris and Rapinoe you’re not getting the same defensive commitment.
The US dealt with the aerial crosses from Mexico well. They didn’t deal with the low pull backs very well at all. I don’t think I’ve seen so many crosses along the ground that just went all the way through the box unmolested as last night.
Steffen- he’s OK. I personally thought he should have at least made an effort to get to the goal scored as it wasn’t a screamer.
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