USMNT WCQ Thread
- Thread starter TU_BLA
- Start date
He's 100% a left fullback. Berhalter's style is predicated on the 2 fullbacks forcing defenders wide and opening space in the middle for the creatives like Pulisic and Aaronson. (And I forgot about him too)
Which also places pressure on our CBs because that high double pivot leaves acres of space. It’s insane we don’t know our backline or tactics 60 days out.
I've been worried about those acres of space on the right side in previous quals & friendlies. If Beer?halter continues with this, those acres of space will be filled by opponents attacking our net.
Jordan Pefok scores today to help Union Berlin to the top spot ahead of Bayern Munich & Dortmund in the Bundesliga. That's fine because Beer?halter prefers Pepi who hasn't scored for anybody in a year & a half.
Gio Reyna gets about 50 minutes for Dortmund. By November, he should be ready to rock. I would prefer to see him forward on the right for at least 1 start and alternate with Aaronson in that position.
Earlier this weekend, Pulisic & Dest get a whole 12 minutes each for their clubs. It looks like more of the same for CP & his new coach.
Jordan Pefok scores today to help Union Berlin to the top spot ahead of Bayern Munich & Dortmund in the Bundesliga. That's fine because Beer?halter prefers Pepi who hasn't scored for anybody in a year & a half.
Gio Reyna gets about 50 minutes for Dortmund. By November, he should be ready to rock. I would prefer to see him forward on the right for at least 1 start and alternate with Aaronson in that position.
Earlier this weekend, Pulisic & Dest get a whole 12 minutes each for their clubs. It looks like more of the same for CP & his new coach.
The US is struggling right now vs Japan. The ESPN announcers (Twellman and the Brit) have railed on the condition of the field saying the grass length is high and the pitch is rolling slow. The US hasn't adapted well and is finding it hard to connect passes.
Long and Zimmerman in the back will be a complete disaster. They've already shown several cracks and Japan is up 1-0. I'm hoping outside of Long and Vines starting that this is mostly the group who will be the starting 11. Reyna appears to be starting in place of Weah. Aaronson is starting with Ferreira up top as well. De la Torre started in place of the injured Musah but he could be more of a late sub on in WC.
Long and Zimmerman in the back will be a complete disaster. They've already shown several cracks and Japan is up 1-0. I'm hoping outside of Long and Vines starting that this is mostly the group who will be the starting 11. Reyna appears to be starting in place of Weah. Aaronson is starting with Ferreira up top as well. De la Torre started in place of the injured Musah but he could be more of a late sub on in WC.
That was a disaster.
At one point I would have blamed the officials for not disclosing theVAR, missing a red card, and awarding a yellow that was no worse than all the tackles the last 20 minutes. But then there was the last goal.
Our team is tough and physical. I saw none of that today.
The only positive I can find is that Reyna is back. But he probably shouldn’t start.
Sargent is useless. But so is everyone else we have at that position.
Were they saying at the end these games are leaving ESPN? If so, great, their broadcast is horrible. I tried to find the game on satellite radio driving to work today and Al I could find is commentary. All ESPN does is spew bull crap. I’ll watch whatever broadcast has Dempsey. He’s fantastic. Reminds me of Barkley.
I agree with the four years and a day comment. I don’t know what we do differently. We have some nice players, but little cohesion. It retrospect, some of those close Concacaf games were a tell.
At one point I would have blamed the officials for not disclosing theVAR, missing a red card, and awarding a yellow that was no worse than all the tackles the last 20 minutes. But then there was the last goal.
Our team is tough and physical. I saw none of that today.
The only positive I can find is that Reyna is back. But he probably shouldn’t start.
Sargent is useless. But so is everyone else we have at that position.
Were they saying at the end these games are leaving ESPN? If so, great, their broadcast is horrible. I tried to find the game on satellite radio driving to work today and Al I could find is commentary. All ESPN does is spew bull crap. I’ll watch whatever broadcast has Dempsey. He’s fantastic. Reminds me of Barkley.
I agree with the four years and a day comment. I don’t know what we do differently. We have some nice players, but little cohesion. It retrospect, some of those close Concacaf games were a tell.
Last edited:
Oh my goodness! It looks like Beer?halter's System chickens have come home to roost. That is, I flashed back to the beginning of qualification with the "build from the back and counter attack system & him telling his players that they will keep the opponent with little of the ball & wear them out.
Then, the System came along with attacking down the channels with a wingback forward in the attack. Then, a high press System with constant pressure & attacking through the middle. And all the while bringing in new personnel looking for those "System" guys. Not to mention Beer?halter claiming that it didn't really matter what form you were in, but rather how you fit in the "System" to justify not calling up certain people.
The USA loses to Japan, 2-0. In the 1st half, everyone on the team, no exceptions, was giving away the ball with poor passes. Over twenty times. Ferreira has one shot close in & heads it well over the bar.
Yeah, I know, several of our best players are either hurt(including CP) or on the bench or NOT called up. But no excuses. This was a beatdown with Japan controlling the action & the US with zero shots on goal while "building from the back". Turner was the only player worth a flip, despite giving up 2 goals. A giveaway by Wes McKinnie led to the first, and Cannon & Vines had a great view of Japan's 2nd. If guys such as Long, Vines, de la Torre, Morris, Cannon, McKenzie, etc. happen to make the final roster for Nov., one wonders who they replace and can only hope they never get off the bench. I imagine Pepi will get the start vs Saudi. We'll see how that works out.
Then, the System came along with attacking down the channels with a wingback forward in the attack. Then, a high press System with constant pressure & attacking through the middle. And all the while bringing in new personnel looking for those "System" guys. Not to mention Beer?halter claiming that it didn't really matter what form you were in, but rather how you fit in the "System" to justify not calling up certain people.
The USA loses to Japan, 2-0. In the 1st half, everyone on the team, no exceptions, was giving away the ball with poor passes. Over twenty times. Ferreira has one shot close in & heads it well over the bar.
Yeah, I know, several of our best players are either hurt(including CP) or on the bench or NOT called up. But no excuses. This was a beatdown with Japan controlling the action & the US with zero shots on goal while "building from the back". Turner was the only player worth a flip, despite giving up 2 goals. A giveaway by Wes McKinnie led to the first, and Cannon & Vines had a great view of Japan's 2nd. If guys such as Long, Vines, de la Torre, Morris, Cannon, McKenzie, etc. happen to make the final roster for Nov., one wonders who they replace and can only hope they never get off the bench. I imagine Pepi will get the start vs Saudi. We'll see how that works out.
Last edited:
Morris brings zero to this team. At least Sargent provided a little bit of a hold up and target in the center, something Ferreira doesn't. Long was awful. Aaronson looks much more comfortable on the left. The crispness and cohesion just wasn't there and with only an 8 day window between the end of domestic club matches and match day 1 for the WC, it makes me worry. And now after a couple months of club matches, many of our players are starting to show nicks and dings and makes me worry more for whether or not we'll have an actual lineup or one cobbled together from whomever is healthy.
It’s worse than that. I need to watch it again and pause and rewind, but not only was the strategy and tactics poor, but the players were manipulated within those tactics. That is to say Japan was so confident in the high press and their ability to manage the wide play that they could see that Long was unable to play forward off his left and that Jesus was not saintly with his ability to win the long ball. So they took everything else away and forced Long and Zimmerman to play out of the back. Which would be fine if a) we hadn’t tried that and failed repeatedly over the last three years and b) our two best defenders who can pass out of the back aren’t even in the pool because they can’t play chalk to chalk because our coach is a simpleton committed to one strategy and naive tactics. But hey, two months before the World Cup, let’s have a guy sit and spray two touch passes against a high press because he’s playing out of position to some kid who isn’t going to make the roster. They lost possession more than 50 times in the first half. No shots the entire game. Jesus terrible back foot jumping and poor timing on the only half chance he got. If we do what we saw the other night, both Wales and England will score in the first ten minutes and low block for the remainder of the game and dare Gio to try to break us down.
WHAT ARE WE DOING?
Last edited:
Huffy is obviously referring to John Brooks & Tim Ream. Yes, at their age, they are slow. But so experienced in the Big Leagues and so accurate in their passing out of the back. Do we need experience vs top competition back there and accurate passes after yesterday? Is the Pope Argentinian?
Beer?halter said we needed more "personality" in our play. Huh? What we need is to dump the pretenders of the 26 called up & get the Best Players Available. Of course, it's much too late to get the best players, not the best Beer?halter system guys, together to mold them into a viable team to compete at the highest level. Yes, injuries didn't help the cause, but everyone sucked who played and the injured guys (in camp) would have made no difference.
Although Aaronson & Sargent were active, as always, they got no service. And poor Aaronson. This dude was beat to a pulp. One very hard foul deserved a straight red when the defender was late & raked his calf with a high boot.
One more thing. Not only is Beer?halter a joke as a coach, dude is a slob and an embarassment on the bench. Maybe no one has noticed, but his attire consists of a T-shirt and a 4-day growth of beard, always, and yesterday was no exception. Classless & clueless. (this post edited)
Last edited:
We have a lot of talented players but we have no “team” and that’s on the coach. Yes, lots of players that would start or get minutes were dinged up for this match but what about the previous dozen matches where a consistent line up could have built some cohesion and team play. You can’t keep bringing in this dude and that rube for “evaluation” right up to WC kickoff and expect to win anything. The other countries know who they’re going to put on the pitch and play them so they will be able to play together as a team. That was an absolutely disgusting performance.
Saying the players need to bring their personality to the game is like JK saying to Landon in the middle of the game when he asks for guidance: “Express Yourself”. In other words, I lack the ability to advise you on man marking and tactics in the middle of the game. I have to rely on adjustments developed by my underlings or the original plan without any changes. So don’t ask me, it’s up to you. Which is ridiculous. Dude, this is so bad. So bad.
When I was a youth player the rule that goalkeepers could not handle back passes did not exist yet.
Passing back to the GK was the safety valve in any pressure situation. It covered up for a lot a fundamental ball control deficiencies - including mine. And goalkeepers did not have to be too skilled with the ball at their feet. The new rule came in when I was around 20 I think.
I am regularly amazed at the level of skill among central defenders and goalkeepers in the modern game.
Last edited:
Neuer is now the standard and GKs have to be 4 tool players. Shot stopper, decision making, distribution, and 11th field player to play out of the back.
My son is a keeper and one summer he had the opportunity to work with Donovan Ricketts 2x a week for the summer. They spent probably 75% of the time on his feet. Because 90% of a GKs involvement in the game these days is with their feet. Most GKs are asked to face maybe 7-10 shots on goal (and that's when one team is much better than the other). Shot stopping may make up 5% of the game now (albeit an important 5%).
The biggest problem with the US GK program is they're all about shot stopping. Steffen can stop shots but the other 90% of his game is pretty bad by professional and international standards. Turner is fantastic with reaction and shot stopping and his distribution is better than Steffen's BUT his play out of the back is questionable at times (but this has to do as much with his CBs playing back and then not repositioning themselves as options for Turner).
Saudi Arabia tomorrow. Who will Beer?halter run out? At least Pulisic is named and Ricardo Pepi. Beer?halter wants to check him out, again, to see if he can find the net a year later. Kind of late to be looking at players, but that's part of Beer?halter's strategy. Over the wk-end, England ties Germany 3-3 but hasn't won in 7 straight. Wales loses to Poland and unfortunately, Iran beat somebody in an Asian tourney.
If Beer?halter's plan isn't working at halftime, who will demand a change in tactics? My $ is on C. Pulisic. Dude is no stranger to controversy lately. Has anyone heard about his new book out? He rips Herr Tuchel. He also snubbed some Chelsea fans and, of course, they mostly hate him now. There is talk of a move to Juventus for around $35 million, half of what Chelsea paid for him.
Whatever happens tomorrow, there needs to be numerous changes to the final line up, not to mention Beer?halter's tactics.
If Beer?halter's plan isn't working at halftime, who will demand a change in tactics? My $ is on C. Pulisic. Dude is no stranger to controversy lately. Has anyone heard about his new book out? He rips Herr Tuchel. He also snubbed some Chelsea fans and, of course, they mostly hate him now. There is talk of a move to Juventus for around $35 million, half of what Chelsea paid for him.
Whatever happens tomorrow, there needs to be numerous changes to the final line up, not to mention Beer?halter's tactics.
It’s worth noting that Tim Howard has stated publicly that if the system isn’t working, it’s on the players to do what’s necessary to win and beg for forgiveness later. His take: if the players aren’t doing that, they either lack the technical aptitude to make in game adjustments on their own to press the advantage and/or we have much larger problems than a brainiac coach trying to play club football with unsuited players.
Basically what Dempsey has been saying but without the brooding. And what Wynalda was saying back when both of those guys were still banging cheerleaders.
Basically what Dempsey has been saying but without the brooding. And what Wynalda was saying back when both of those guys were still banging cheerleaders.
There won’t be any changes to the lineup.
Look for Weston to stay deep in no man’s land while the front four press the pipes. That all they can really do to increase the pressure with Robinson out and CP tied to the chalk line because we have a right footed player at LCB and possibly LB.
I’m sorry I was unclear. They did announce Pepi in for Jesus a few days ago. And I knew that. That is a change in the lineup. I meant no changes in tactics and game plan when I wrote that in frustration. We are at the last game of the cycle and still looking for players who can play in this system. Insane.
I was unclear, too! I meant changes to lineups & tactics in late Nov.
Very uninspiring effort today. The US looked like a mid-tier U12 competitive club team who has some really good players up top so the defenders kick the crap out of the ball hoping it lands at one of their feet and they can beat the defender 1 v 1. It was a brutal display of soccer on the US' part.
I'm beginning to wonder if we'll even score in the group stage. Because, even if Jordan Pefok continues to light up the Bundesliga for Union Berlin, I'm convinced he'll never set foot in Qatar. Beer?halter has his own Boyz such as Pepi and Ferreria who can't find the net. But they will, eventually (likely in the 2026 cycle).
Even Josh Sargent, playing not at his best position(9) but on the right vs Japan, will likely be left at home. Will A. Robinson, Weah, Musah and maybe Chris Richards make that much of a difference with Beer?halter's System, that build from the back masterpiece? Maybe, but doubtful.
There has to be some reason that our Golden Boys: Pulisic, McKinnie, Adams, Reyna and Weah et al. continue to play like crap. Is it Beer?halter's system that has them playing in positions not suited to their game? is it that Beer?halter has lost the team (which would not surprise me but somebody has to get in Beer?halter's face, NOW)? I don't know. With all this talent, although young, you just had hoped for something better.
Even Josh Sargent, playing not at his best position(9) but on the right vs Japan, will likely be left at home. Will A. Robinson, Weah, Musah and maybe Chris Richards make that much of a difference with Beer?halter's System, that build from the back masterpiece? Maybe, but doubtful.
There has to be some reason that our Golden Boys: Pulisic, McKinnie, Adams, Reyna and Weah et al. continue to play like crap. Is it Beer?halter's system that has them playing in positions not suited to their game? is it that Beer?halter has lost the team (which would not surprise me but somebody has to get in Beer?halter's face, NOW)? I don't know. With all this talent, although young, you just had hoped for something better.
Last edited:
I was reading an article the other day that speculated that Berhalter was blowing off this WC and wouldn’t be calling up mature players such a Pefok in order to prepare younger players for the 2026 cup when North America is hosting.
If true that's just asinine. The young players he is 'preparing' won't be that much better from him calling them up.
Maybe that's what Huffy was referring to when he made reference to the 8 year plan that Berhalter would only be around for 4 and a day.
Yes. The core of the ‘88 Olympic team was selected with the idea that they would form the core of a team that would train together for six years and would be respectable representatives for the 1994 World Cup. Alan Rothenberg and others got together the idea that they needed a showing in the 89 qualifiers that would solidify FIFA’s belief that the USA could host the event AND put a team on the field that wasn’t hapless. It was critical we qualify in 1990 so FIFA could avoid the embarrassment of defending their handing an auto bid to us in 1994 and then laying an egg.
So all the big names we know now were picked out of college obscurity: Harkes, Vermes, Wynalda, Vanole, Meola, Caliguri, etc. With the idea that they would take the place on the ‘90 roster of more capable players and they would get the experience of playing now and be ready for ‘94 after essentially training as a full time national team for 4 years. And it worked!
It really is amazing the pressure they were under as undergraduates. The entire World Cup bid, hundreds of millions of dollars was on the line if they lost more than one home qualifier and failed to advance to the 1990 World Cup final. FIFA was legit threatening to pull the bid and the players knew it.
The game day operations man and van driver for that team was a graduate student who needed a part time job, Sunil Gulati.
Fast forward ten years and Gulati is now the number two guy at US Soccer. He reasons that the new MLS league has players under age 22 who could be playing and aren’t because veterans and foreign players are taking up the playing time. He sees the risk that 4 to 8 years from now we might not have the World Cup team we could have if these young players do not get growth opportunities now. (This criticism continues to this day in MLS.)
So he tells the MLS clubs that he has a Project 40 (later slightly changed and called Generation Adidas) whereby his list of 40 best players in MLS will be made available for weekend games in what we now know as USL unless they are on the game day roster. So literally, an 18 year old Tim Howard playing for MetroStars would find out on Wednesday hes playing a game Friday in El Paso with teammates some of whom he’s never met. The idea being that these players will get accelerated development and preference with limited resources to enable us to win the 2010 World Cup. And again, an amazing experiment that paid off. You name the player, they were Project 40. Beas, Boca, Timmie, Conor Casey, Dunni, Ben Olsen, Josh Wolfe, Clint, Jozy, Chuck D. Ever wonder why Edson Buddle and Rico Clark were last minute weird additions to the 2010 roster? It’s because in 1999 they agreed to be Project 40 players aimed at just that.
So US soccer based on that success has built a reputation of anointing kids early. And they need to because of our size and unique soccer culture. Most of our national team is in the pipe by age 14. Not because they play in the developmental system, that just exists to find a diamond missed here and there, but because they’ve been tapped as having unique potential. USSF watched CP play at age 8 and began tracking him.
So with that background on player selection culture, and our allegiance to a system that might work if and when we get elite talent, if you think Gulati is a genius or a greedy grifter out to ruin US Soccer for his oligarch friends, it’s easy to conclude that seven years ago a bunch guys got in a smoke filled room and said let’s spend 11 years and build something special like we did when we shocked the world in 94 and 02 and 09 when we beat Spain. And if we have to throw away a cycle to do that, fine, it’s a lot smarter to do that, than throw away a cycle on a bunch of over the hill guys that sell tickets and are just good enough to hold young players back but not good enough to be elite like we did in 2018.
So all the big names we know now were picked out of college obscurity: Harkes, Vermes, Wynalda, Vanole, Meola, Caliguri, etc. With the idea that they would take the place on the ‘90 roster of more capable players and they would get the experience of playing now and be ready for ‘94 after essentially training as a full time national team for 4 years. And it worked!
It really is amazing the pressure they were under as undergraduates. The entire World Cup bid, hundreds of millions of dollars was on the line if they lost more than one home qualifier and failed to advance to the 1990 World Cup final. FIFA was legit threatening to pull the bid and the players knew it.
The game day operations man and van driver for that team was a graduate student who needed a part time job, Sunil Gulati.
Fast forward ten years and Gulati is now the number two guy at US Soccer. He reasons that the new MLS league has players under age 22 who could be playing and aren’t because veterans and foreign players are taking up the playing time. He sees the risk that 4 to 8 years from now we might not have the World Cup team we could have if these young players do not get growth opportunities now. (This criticism continues to this day in MLS.)
So he tells the MLS clubs that he has a Project 40 (later slightly changed and called Generation Adidas) whereby his list of 40 best players in MLS will be made available for weekend games in what we now know as USL unless they are on the game day roster. So literally, an 18 year old Tim Howard playing for MetroStars would find out on Wednesday hes playing a game Friday in El Paso with teammates some of whom he’s never met. The idea being that these players will get accelerated development and preference with limited resources to enable us to win the 2010 World Cup. And again, an amazing experiment that paid off. You name the player, they were Project 40. Beas, Boca, Timmie, Conor Casey, Dunni, Ben Olsen, Josh Wolfe, Clint, Jozy, Chuck D. Ever wonder why Edson Buddle and Rico Clark were last minute weird additions to the 2010 roster? It’s because in 1999 they agreed to be Project 40 players aimed at just that.
So US soccer based on that success has built a reputation of anointing kids early. And they need to because of our size and unique soccer culture. Most of our national team is in the pipe by age 14. Not because they play in the developmental system, that just exists to find a diamond missed here and there, but because they’ve been tapped as having unique potential. USSF watched CP play at age 8 and began tracking him.
So with that background on player selection culture, and our allegiance to a system that might work if and when we get elite talent, if you think Gulati is a genius or a greedy grifter out to ruin US Soccer for his oligarch friends, it’s easy to conclude that seven years ago a bunch guys got in a smoke filled room and said let’s spend 11 years and build something special like we did when we shocked the world in 94 and 02 and 09 when we beat Spain. And if we have to throw away a cycle to do that, fine, it’s a lot smarter to do that, than throw away a cycle on a bunch of over the hill guys that sell tickets and are just good enough to hold young players back but not good enough to be elite like we did in 2018.
Last edited:
Usually one can find something good to say about 1 or 2 players' performance in a match at a minimum.
Just finished watching the Saudi match and I cannot think of a single positive observation about anyone's performance.
Even when the long passes were finding their targets early, first touches were just a little off and we lost advantage.
Just finished watching the Saudi match and I cannot think of a single positive observation about anyone's performance.
Even when the long passes were finding their targets early, first touches were just a little off and we lost advantage.
Turner was solid. Yedlin was solid. McKennie had his moments although I think he played outside the system because he knew the system wasn't going to work with the players they ran out there.
Musah seems to be the lynchpin for this group. He's the connection point between Adams and the front line attackers. He's really good technically and can beat the initial defender 1 v 1 and once that happens the US is away. I thought de la Torre could be an adequate replacement but he didn't look good against Japan. Japan of course was way more athletic than I anticipated and they really forced the issue against the US. Saudi Arabia didn't have much and seemed to play very narrow which plays into the US strength on the outside.
Does anyone think Berhalter is sabotaging certain players? I mean the game vs Saudi Arabia would have been perfect for Carrot Top to be in the middle. With Pulisic, Yedlin, and Dest finding space wide, Carrot Top and his ability to win in the air was what was needed in the middle. Pefok would have also been a great choice to be a 9 in this game. It was just weird. And I'm really worried that Berhalter has already decided that Zimmerman and Long are his starting CB pairing. This is worse than any of the combinations of Besler-Miazga. Zimmerman is serviceable as a defender but he's not the leader (IMO) a CB needs to be to organize what's going on back there. That's where a Ream becomes invaluable as it is apparent we have all underestimated him (and the fact that Klinsmann played him out of position). Same with Brooks although I believe his benching vs Honduras was warranted. He was really bad in that game. Is Berhalter really banking on Richards being back there with Zimmerman? Seems dicey considering they haven't played much together and communication and relationship between the 2 CBs is key to making that partnership work. You only get that by playing together. I think there are 3 guys I'd have back there before Long. Richards, CCV, and Ream. Also, Scally played well in his minutes yesterday. Active, solid defending, and could really get things moving forward. I am happy with the 5-6 guys on the outside (Dest, A Robinson, Scally, Yedlin, Vines, Cannon).
Yedlin had a bad giveaway in the first half but played ok otherwise. Zimmermann was ok and made some very nice long passes early in the match.
Perhaps the lack of a crowd was a factor in the low energy and intensity. It really felt like two teams scrimmaging during practice.
Perhaps the lack of a crowd was a factor in the low energy and intensity. It really felt like two teams scrimmaging during practice.
After watching this team's exercise in futility this past week, I understand Huffy's frustration perfectly. Beer?halter has squandered the best talent in perhaps our nation's history with his "System". Injuries didn't help to several of our top players, but you wonder if even they would have had success with this "build from the back" fiasco, IMO.
I will try very hard to concentrate on football and forget about futbol until Nov. 9th when Beer?halter names the final 26. I'm pretty certain the only changes will be to add the 4-5 guys that we all know about that have been hurt, with no changes to his plan of attack. At this late stage, the dude seems to be doubling down on playing his Boyz (you know who they are & I will name them if asked) as well as his System which the whole world knows how to defense.
An illegitimate coach, with a mediocre record in MLS, with zero int'l coaching experience outside of concacaf, and apparently an ego a mile wide, convinced of his infallibility while throwing the players under the bus. That's what has led us to this sorry state. Classless & Clueless!
Ream played the 3, 5, and 6 for Bolton during the time he played the 3 for the USMNT. He wasn’t “out of position.” As a practical matter we rotated to a narrow three man back line to get Yedlin forward and Bradley sitting quite often so he was even less “out of position.” It’s why he was out there at 3 in the first place.
Notwithstanding his Billiken heritage, respect his gegna. He cancelled his honeymoon to make the team sheet against Chelsea.
Last edited:
Long needs to go in my opinion, I’ve see nothing that makes me think he can defend well in a World Cup or move the ball forward successfully. That appearance by Scally was really the first time I was able to watch him play and I liked what I saw. I think he would be a serviceable sub on that wing.
That cannot ever be an excuse to play poorly at this level. I'm all for players having bad days or bad matches but it should never be due to lack of motivation
Hopefully when
Yep, wait till Nov 9th, and the first world cup game to see if this guy suddenly plays it differently in tourney. Not a lot of hope right now. Leopard not changing his spots and all.
Not USMNT related but when Haaland was acquired by Man City I said it would be fun to watch him get service from the likes of DeBroyne but he has surpassed my expectations so far. With a hat trick today against United he’s scored 14 goals in 8 league matches and another 3 in two CL matches. He even assisted on two of Foden’s goals today. The guy has been amazing.
Similar threads
