We found that we have a left back and goalkeeper at minimum. We also found out that quite a few of those guys weren't intimidated (some were though, obviously).
1. There's no reason to play with the intention of stealing a point when we don't have a meaningful game for a long time. I don't care about moral victories right now. I care about building for the future. 2. Giving up 19 shots, 8 on net, 9 corner kicks, and 70% possession- and getting a tie, is an anomaly. Steffen was superhuman today and that's great, but we pulled a tie in spite of our play, not because of it. 3. This safe, "pragmatic," low skill brand of soccer is part of the reason we're in this predicament to begin with. It might sneak a tie against a tough opponent away on occasion, but it allows less skilled teams to keep up with us. It leads to ties and losses against Panama, Honduras, and Trinidad. 4. I don't want the federation to get any ideas about Sarachan being the guy for the job because we got lucky in a game in which we were dominated. 5. I didn't say I wasn't encouraged by how the young guys played.
1. The guy who was just brought in as GM to do something new and innovate to some degree to move us forward isn’t just gonna hire Sarachan. 2. Don’t you think the next time these young guys are playing in a big game they’ll be comforted and a little more confident knowing they walked out of France with a point against their WC starting 11? This is probably a huge bump to their confidence and will help them ease into a starting role down the line. If they got worked 5-0, they’re probably going into the next match thinking they don’t belong.
-The way the GM job is set up (Very narrow responsibilities, basically being a middle man between the manager and the heads) doesn't give me a lot of confidence that he will have much autonomy. -Confidence is such a fickle thing. We could go into our next match and get hammered and it's all gone. Being unhappy with the result is not what I said. I simply don't want the idea reinforced that this is the primary way we should be playing.
I think almost all of us agree. Doesn’t change that today was a good day for the federation. Most were predicting a huge loss and we got a draw.
You could be right about the GM role, but he made it sound in the interview during the game that he decides what the playing style is, who the manager is, and how everything runs. Obviously he answers to someone but it sounds like he’s being given some autonomy unless he was just full of shit in the interview.
Defense was very solid going up against some of the best attacking talent in the world. The tactics were never going to give us a chance to produce any offense. Adams was a pest to Pogba all match. Showing why Leipzig, Monaco, etc. want him.
Nope. Monaco supposedly had scouts there today to specifcally watch him. Still we be shocked if he ends up anywhere other than Leipzig.
Any reminder to the fucksticks who run this program that there is no value gained in the short or long run in playing Bradley, Zusi, Gonzalez, etc. ever again is a good result
Some of you guys take this shit too seriously. We tied a top 5 team on the road against their A squad. I was speaking to the score showing a tie. That’s what it showed. If you read what I was replying to, that was fairly easy to pick up. Yes, there is a lot of shit wrong with a lot of facets of USMNT, but at the end of the day, young guys played their nuts off, gained valuable experience, and showed they can battle. That’s still worth something to me without getting into the 7 layers of everything else.
So correct Think about this game if you were French. You’d be pissed and worried that a young group of nobody Americans held you to one goal at home on the eve of a World Cup
it's kind of silly to cling to the result of a match where the result was meaningless. there are certainly some positives to take away but overall that was not a good performance.
I gave up hope when Sane who is significantly better than any US player ever was cut Will support our boys and good result today but us winning even a Copa is like buying a lottery ticket
CB and CM moving forward is extremely promising, but obviously gonna need to produce more Pulisics in the attack to have a chance on the world stage. Hopefully kids like Sargent, Konrad, Taitague, Weah, Llanez, Gio Reyna can get to that level. Then looking at even younger there's very high hopes for Moses Nyeman, Evan Rotundo, and Dantouma Toure (who played in the USSDA U19 Division this season as a 13 y/o).
In these types of matches I usually look more for individual performances. Throwing out a ragtag young side with an interim manager against a France side looking for a scrimmage before the WC is not exactly the frame of reference we want to use to evaluate the overall program.
Still annoyed Weah didnt play. When we couldnt get it out to relieve pressure the last 20 he would have given us something there.
Mathis and O'Brien were great talents. O'Brien was never healthy after this WC and Mathis had shit work ethic.
Not that he really factors into the US team anymore, but Tim Ream was named player of the season for Fulham. For a guy that has been much maligned, including by me, he really had a great season.
For shits and giggles. The year is 2022. Based on what you know now and expect to occur, give me your starting lineup.
Weah—————Sargent—————Pulisic ——-——Keaton——-McKennie ———————Trapp (C) Robinson——-CCV——-EPB————Yedlin ————————-Steffen
Thought it’d be interesting to see what page 1 had on the earliest lineup of this cycle we have ITT (November 2015 so still about 1.5 years later than we are now)
I just assumed that Zach Steffen was so good that as a degree of difficulty he was starting outside the box in 2022