Great win. Loved every second. Both teams are very talented. It’s impossible to forecast future success from U20 wins or even U20 talent display. Most senior teams see 4 maybe 5 players from their U20 at the senior level whether it’s USA’s disorganized approach or Germany’s or Spain’s painstaking investment. Brazil doesn’t even compete at this level, or at least they didn’t last time I cared.
I was at the game. Josh Sargent played, one of the recent big hopes. Unremarkable. But that’s to be expected in a warm up friendly. Have a kick about, don’t get hurt, do enough in 1v1s to prove you belong on the Gold Cup roster, be a good guy in the locker room. Those are the goals. Nobody was trying to win the game. Heck the team arrived in town 3 hours before the game. Heckuva screamer from the Jamaica player tho.
All fair points. Brandon Servania, who has been playing a major role on this team, played in Tulsa last year for the Roughnecks on loan ( from FC Dallas I think). The 99s may have been the US' golden generation but we are now getting into the generation of kids who started playing when youth soccer absolutely exploded in the US because of the 99s, because of Landon Donovan, Damarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey. It's only going to get better. I like the way this USMNT plays. There is some really good skill from the MFs and Fs. We are still suspect in the center back area. France's U20s had a TON of speed on the edges and through the middle attackers and our defenders simply couldn't keep up with them, especially Diaby. He was killing Gloster. Ran by him w/ the ball like he was standing still. BUT this US team is extremely creative up front. Quick counters are what led to the US scores.
It wasn't too many MLS guys. It was too many guys who've never played in a CAP before. I think once you get Pulisic, Weah, Sargent, McKinnie on the field together, you will see some lights out stuff for the US. I am concerned about Trapp. His pace of play and decision making just doesn't seem to be at the level it needs to be at this level of competition. Say what you want about Bradley, but he could play at this level, he's a passing machine, and he has excellent vision.
At this point I'd take Sargent over Morris who isn't even playing that much for Seattle these days. The injuries have sidetracked him and he just doesn't seem fit enough to play the minutes or the pace he will be needed to play at. Where's Bobby Wood? He and Pulisic have some great chemistry together. And Zardes has a ton of talent and a ton of potential...he gets to some balls that no player should be expected to get to or win...and he can score some absolutely absurd goals. He's one of the few guys (Arriola is the other) that can put a ton of pressure on the back because of their speed. You can play a high press with those 2.
We may see those guys later. They can make six roster changes before the knockout. Wood might be absent because his club won’t release him. They don’t have to for the Gold Cup if my memory is right.
The Gold Cup could get really really ugly. I like our coach and his commitment to the way he wants to play, but there’s some disconnect with the players I can’t put my finger on. In some cases it is simply talent and, sad to say, conditioning deficits. Jordan Morris is not an international player. Period. Full stop. The only thing useful about him being in the pool is that it fuels proof of the rumors, which may be true, that he was promised a certain number of caps for staying home and playing for Seattle.
Arguably the best American coach, Bora, was not American and barely spoke English. That isn’t lost on people. But the two most recent foreign coaches, Jurgen and Pia, were both disruptive and fell short of expectations. That also isn’t lost on people.
We were idiots for firing Bora. Take the hit and hire a separate administrator. We should have kept him for the next couple of world cups and built the program.
What’s troubling is that the parts of what he wants to do that the young guys are struggling with are pretty basic tactics to average players abroad but we still can’t seem to get out of the mind set that we only play the bucket and hope for a counter attack opportunity.
Totally agree. Yes, Beer?halter hasn't had much time with this group. He also is alleged as " a great tactician". This doesn't mean squat if you don't have the best or most experienced players that can implement his tactics.
Jurgen had some obstacles, like not being able to take all the players he wanted to take and having to take a certain number of MLS players to boost the league and Gulati and Garber's pockets.
Trapp needs to go effectively last December. McKennie was impressive the other day, but I also thought Boyd was extremely effective. Our attack and build up were not the problem against Venezuela ONCE we got the ball out of the back. The problem was getting the ball out of the back. And I'm not quite ready to dump Arriola...his speed has proven to be a thorn and he seems pretty adept at finding space in the attacking 3rd.
They’ve already caught up on the field. They had caught up when Pia was here and that’s why she struggled as a mediocre in game tactician and motivator. She ignored the Solo problem. She was just a mediocre coach.
That's a different perspective on Pia than I had. The team that lost to Japan had a number of internal team issues as well and was also seemingly stuck to some aging stars when its plenty apparent there are always some young new US stars ready to take over. This year Carli Lloyd is unhappy about coming off the bench. Is she still good...of course. Is she better than the current starter...probably not and she's probably not able to go 70 minutes at full pace anymore.
Yeah, this is the way most American youth coaches teach the game and it works at youth levels because there is usually a good deal of variance in size and speed from player to player. It doesn't work against players who have all filled out and developed and trained where the differences are much smaller. US Soccer usually puts the bigger, more lumbering kids in the back, they don't develop great technical skill and usually just boot a ball over the top. Watch Kompany and Virgil Van Dijk. They are big and physical, but they also have pretty excellent technical skill. They move the ball quickly. Miazga and Ream are good one on one defenders but when it comes to technical skill and moving the ball, they're a step slow. And this is why Trapp doesn't work for the role Beerhalter has him in right now.
