Lol that Ecuadorian player was about to start rolling and yelling until he realized he didn’t get the call. Then stands up and runs off
Our cb depth must be poor if Keita kept his place all tournament. No tactical solutions at all from coaches today.
Ecuador is really fuckin good tbh. South African champions. Sucks but they were just a little better.
James Sands has been starting and playing great for NYCFC, but even with McKenzie being rusty he’s a better option than Keita. But the overall depth at CB was always a concern.
Thought that we’d be able to hold possession better with that CM, but Ecuador definitely exposed Durkin and Mendez’s lack of athleticism.
This tournament really made me question how much I rate Durkin, sadly. He seems to be pretty much the exact same player he was 2 years ago.
He’s definitely a system player. Can play in the MF like he does with DC United because Canouse covers so much ground. Long term he might be better off as a CB.
Positives from the tournament as a whole: -Richards is a boss. There are zero- smaller even- weaknesses to his game. Never had a CB prospect I can remember who is this good on the ball, this sound defensively, and this athletic. -Love Pomykal and Weah. Both of them cover an insane amount of ground and are just so quality. I think those 2 and Richards need to be at our next MNT camp. -Big fan of Soto and Dest.
Lack of athleticism in the midfield killed us, Mendez and Durkin gave us nothing. Some stuff to be optimistic about, but feels like one step forward, one step backwards every time
For me Durkin was by himself against two better athletes, which is why he struggled. Mendez was pushed forward mostly and not really doing much closing down.
I think he's the 2nd best prospect of the entire 99/00 class just behind Adams, and I don't think he's that far behind Tyler either. I think Chris can legit become a regular starter for Bayern down the road.
Durkin's lack of mobility was exposed, but he wasn't helped out today either as Mendez just doesn't try too much when he doesn't have the ball.
Was out all day so I just watched. Almost every good point was hit on this page, nice job for a change tmb. Just a friendly reminder, we were stuck with the France-Ecuador gauntlet because tab refused to play Soto match 1. As I said before the match, I want to know why McKenzie was named team captain before the tourney than sat the whole time. Wanted to see Aruajo, he’s looked great this year so far and with him announce he’s thinking about flipping to Mexico we should of at least got him a sub. Where was Cerrillo? Disappointed Llanez and ledesma didn’t get more time. Llanez and Mendez have been training together since they were 12 and have great chemistry, how many minutes did they see together? Durkin didn’t have a great tourney. He’d really excel in that hybrid CDM/CB role in GGG’s system if we ever find a LB that can allow us to run it. Also calling my shot. Within two weeks Tab announces he’s stepping down, will probably take a USL gif to start. Then we’ll promote Wicky to U20s which is very good. He would of had a blast with the attacking talent on this team.