soccer soccer soccer

[stitchface]

Wasn’t the whole reason they kept Horan on the bench against Spain was so she didn’t pick up a yellow and be forced to miss the France game?

 

Ellis got away with it but it doesn’t seem smart.

 

 

I have rationalized this to the following: The US "knew" that France prefers to not have possession and play on the counter. So they gave up the ball and Ellis thought Mewis was the better defensive option. Now Horan is rested for England. Crappy schedule for US where in both quarters and semis opponent gets an extra day of rest.

[jersey cubs fan]

I regret not going to this game

[Transmogrified Tiger]

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[stitchface]

I regret not going to this game

that was a great game.

[jersey cubs fan]

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[UMFan83]

How fun going from watching the women dominate to watching the men get dominated *sigh*

[Thurman Merman]

One day the men will be able to possess the ball like a team like Mexico. One day...

[Thurman Merman]

Just turnover after turnover after turnover.

[UMFan83]

This has to be Bradley’s last match for the USMNT

[Banedon]

Header chance aside, Jordan Morris looked pretty bad last night, imo. Seemed like so many first half opportunities died once they got to his feet.

[Banedon]

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[Transmogrified Tiger]

That was a frustrating game to lose, but on the whole I'm encouraged by the state of the USMNT this summer. I think a lot of folks haven't internalized how significant the lost generation in the player pool is. For example, if you think back to the starting 11 to start the 2014 World Cup, and compare it to whatever your current best 11 for the USMNT is, I think a fair assessment is that the current version comes out on top in 3, maybe 4 positions. That's a big drop, and some of the best players that could make up that 11 couldn't play in the Gold Cup either. To have this group show improvement, Berhalter to establish a consistent, if imperfect, style of play, and outscore teams 15-2 and only lose 1-0 to Mexico in a hostile environment is a job well done.

 

Just need the young guys to get minutes and stay healthy, and by the time the games matter more things should be rounding into form. Sargent, Weah, McKennie, Adams, Pomykal, Cannon, Gloster, all of them could reasonably be first choice starters by 2022, and for various reasons only 2 of them played in the Gold Cup. We also shouldn't expect *all* of them to hit, but then again there's also Ledezma, Mendez, Llanez, Dest, Konrad, Yueill, Reyna, etc. and there's no shame in having a dogfight between Arriola/Morris/Boyd or Lima/Ream/Lovitz for a single spot either.

[stitchface]

Need better forwards. How many times did Pulisic have to do something creative due to lack of options. Morris was awful.

[Banedon]

Need better forwards. How many times did Pulisic have to do something creative due to lack of options. Morris was awful.

 

Yeah, and after Altidore was subbed for (why??) he had even less to work with.

[wolf stansson]

Morris seems to at least make the runs that Pulisic wants, probably a result from playing with Nico Lodeiro in Seattle. Boyd hogs the ball and checks back to the middle too much to have great chemistry with CP.

 

Overall there were signs of progress and life but ultimately we're still a tick below Mexico in ability and didn't get the right bounces we'd need to beat them. A game changing striker could open everything up, I just don't know who that is at this point. Altidore is still the best we've got and it isn't all that close. We'll see where Lille deploys Weah and if Sargent can take a leap.

[chopsx9]

Didn't realize there was a soccer thread until I just saw it on the "Actives Topics" so this a bit late but this is my niece scoring the only goal Team Jamaica managed in its first ever World Cup Tournament! Can't say I contributed to her success in any way, shape, or form but I couldn't be prouder!

 

 

 

 

[wolf stansson]

That's very cool!

[17 Seconds]

Didn't realize there was a soccer thread until I just saw it on the "Actives Topics" so this a bit late but this is my niece scoring the only goal Team Jamaica managed in its first ever World Cup Tournament! Can't say I contributed to her success in any way, shape, or form but I couldn't be prouder!

 

 

 

 

 

my niece just learned how to use the toilet

[stitchface]

Didn't realize there was a soccer thread until I just saw it on the "Actives Topics" so this a bit late but this is my niece scoring the only goal Team Jamaica managed in its first ever World Cup Tournament! Can't say I contributed to her success in any way, shape, or form but I couldn't be prouder!

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome!

[stitchface]

Morris seems to at least make the runs that Pulisic wants, probably a result from playing with Nico Lodeiro in Seattle. Boyd hogs the ball and checks back to the middle too much to have great chemistry with CP.

 

Overall there were signs of progress and life but ultimately we're still a tick below Mexico in ability and didn't get the right bounces we'd need to beat them. A game changing striker could open everything up, I just don't know who that is at this point. Altidore is still the best we've got and it isn't all that close. We'll see where Lille deploys Weah and if Sargent can take a leap.

 

I was impressed with Altidore in the more false 9 sense holding the ball up at midfield. In all honesty, US wins the Gold Cup if they could finish. They had four point blank opportunities that couldn't find the net. McKennie wasn't sharp either. I definitely feel a lot more optimistic after that tournament. I was starting to wonder if we were even the third best team in concacaf.

[wolf stansson]

McKennie wasn't sharp either.

I forget who it was, but it was some us soccer twitter account who tweeted the total transfer value of the starting lineup, and the average value for each player and the only reason they were close is because of Pulisic and to a lesser extent, McKennie, who inflated the US lineup's value to be almost equal. They were the two highest value players on the field and he tweeted something like, "in order to win, they're going to have to be the two best players on the pitch." CP was the best player in the game but McKennie was too lax on his touches and not sharp. I did love his fire and physicality though. It's all there if he puts it together.

 

And btw, in addition to missing high xG opportunities, Tyler Adams completely changes the game. I mean, he does whenever he plays for club or country, but specifically that game. I'm a long-time Michael Bradley defender, and I still think he's got a little left in the tank to offer this team, but the space his lack of pace leaves open in the middle of the field just isn't there when Adams is there snatching souls. Yes, Mexico was missing key players too, but none as good or impactful as Tyler Adams, who on his best days is the best player in the entire region imo.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Concacaf announced the new qualifying format for the 2022 World Cup: https://www.concacaf.com/en/world-cup-qualifying-men/article/concacaf-announces-format-for-the-2022-fifa-world-cup-confederation-qualifiers

 

As far as I understand it, this is the short version:

 

- The Top 6 teams by FIFA ranking in June 2020 play a round robin like the old Hex in late 2020/early 2021, the Top 3 teams automatically qualify for the World Cup

- Simultaneously, rest of Concacaf is broken into groups of 4(one group of 5) and play a round robin with their group. The winner of each group makes a knockout tournament, and the winner of that knockout round plays the 4th place team for the right to make the playoff with Oceania for the remaining World Cup spot(last go round Honduras lost to Australia).

 

 

This is mildly good news for teams that aren't in jeopardy of falling off the Top 6 in FIFA rankings, like the US, Mexico, and Costa Rica. They weren't at much risk for not making the hex anyway, but now they don't even need to bother with the minnows.

 

This is bad news for teams around that border: Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Canada, Curacao. Right now the latter 3 would both get relegated to that minnows tournament as their only shot, but the gap between them and the line isn't very big, especially since the current FIFA rankings don't include the gold cup, where Panama, Curacao, and Canada advanced and both Honduras and El Salvador failed to do so.

 

As a result, this means the Nations League games this fall and next spring that involve those teams should be really, really important.

[wolf stansson]

No more stat padding v Barbados? Lame.

[wolf stansson]

Looks like Tyler Boyd signed with Besiktas, not MLS. Good, good.

 

This is an excellent breakdown of where we are with the MNT after the Gold Cup:

https://sports.yahoo.com/usmnt-gold-cup-2019-takeaways-pulisic-berhalter-084439845.html

 

My #1 wish for this upcoming club season is that David Wagner brings Weston McKennie some positional stability because I think that will help his consistency issues a great deal. Last season was absurd. His versatility is great, but a 20 year old needs to be refining his game at his best position.

[wolf stansson]

Gio Reyna is really impressing at Dortmund. The hype train is saying he has a real chance to be the youngest player in Bundesliga history this year.

 

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https://en.onefootball.com/giovanni-reyna-made-a-big-impression-lucien-favre/

https://sportbild.bild.de/bundesliga/vereine/borussia-dortmund/bvb-borussia-dortmund-giovanni-reyna-wunderknabe-63557550.sport.html