DByrd2

What a match.

Is Casemiro actually injured here, or just wasting time? Had to take my eyes off the match for a few…

The Congo Comeback. What a final 20 minutes to save their knockouts life.

quote:

---

Yes Cavan Sullivan.

---

Also:

Cole Campbell
Damion Downs
Diego Kochen
Gabriel Slonina
Mathis Albert
Noahkai Banks (should he choose us over Germany)
Zavier Gozo
Jack McGlynn
Benja Cremaschi
Caden Clark



Those are names that have either been called up in January camps or are up-and-coming talents not yet called up to participate as a regular member of the senior U.S. Men’s National Team.

Edit to add: We also have a sticky for Players Abroad at the top of the SB thread page.

quote:

---

OK. I'm not saying anything negative, but I was thinking he could be more of a scoring threat than he has been in this WC. I do like his dribble and his speed

---

Understood! I didn’t think you had any negativity in mind. :cheers:

My takeaways from yesterday night’s match:

- Trusty may well be the future at LCB. In a back three for us. He spent a lot of the match barking at McKenzie/Robinson to get them to step earlier and help him cover so that Turner didn’t get exposed. He is vocal, his positioning is largely fantastic, and he is physical and pace-y enough to compete against most anyone. His football IQ is what shines most, though, alongside that vocal quality.

- Sebastian Berhalter can both win and lose us a game in the knockouts. His set piece play is elite, and we knew that. His motor is crazy good, and he is an attitudinal spark plug that I think needs to see some time against more physical opponents. The problem will be when said physical opponents are also technically gifted and good with spacing/positioning… He can’t hang at the technical/spatial level quite yet.

- McKennie is a flair player in our system. Our system seems to legitimately revolve around him, regardless of who else is on the pitch. Our attack was still decent, last night, and it was almost always him moving things forward and popping up in new places. He was the only real creative attacking threat that we had, and we still had a good amount of chances. His pairing with Malik Tillman (another creative threat) is why our “A Squad” is such a menacing presence offensively. They pull the strings to our wings and our striker up top, and having five players or more in an area is hard as frick to defend.

- Unless Trusty is able to go, any further injury to our back line that isn’t Ream likely results in us getting bounced from the tourney. Miles Robinson, Mark McKenzie, and Joe Scally are just not at the level that we need to be solid all match long from this point forward. All of them are highly mistake prone, and you WILL get punished for mistakes in the QFs and beyond.

- Weah had a stinker, but he was kind of thrown to the wolves. He very clearly is uncomfortable on the left, and I think it was just a tactical thing to keep our attacking prowess on the left viable. It backfired, though. He can shoot with his left, but he can’t pass with it. Also, I don’t think he was slow, I think the RB for Turkey just has great pace.

- Pepi wasn’t necessarily “bad”. This kind of goes back to the point about McKennie being our only creative threat, but you have to think… If a striker is only getting service from the keeper and ONE midfielder, and the wings are not giving supportive play (or anywhere near linking up with him or the midfield), it’s pretty obvious he won’t be able to make many plays at all. It’s why he kept dropping into midfield. There was ZERO linkage to him, so it’s hard for me to think he just had a shitty game. Strikers need support, otherwise they get shut down.

- Turner is an amazing shot-stopper, but good grief he is a spaz with the ball. I don’t know that his quality will ever change in that realm.

- We have a few young talents that are VERY promising for us taking another step forward on the world stage in World Cups to come. If Berhalter can improve his technical and spatial ability, he is a potential future captain. If you saw him in the prayer circle after the match, he was VISIBLY pissed. That’s the player I want with the armband, should he improve those qualities. Outside of him, the following players give me hope for the future: Trusty, Freeman, Richards, Tillman. Two World Cups minimum left in almost all those guys, and they all either are already solid players or have an incredibly high ceiling… And most of them are more defensive players, which is a huge deal considering our current defensive state. Add to that the up and coming attacking players in the youth system, and the fact that our current attackers are already both good and relatively young, and the future looks bright!

- Building off that last point… It is absolutely IMPERATIVE that we land a damn good manager for the upcoming cycle. We can’t go back to our MLS-level “tacticians” like Gregg. We absolutely must grab someone who knows what they are doing and will build in the same vein that Poch has. This team has unreal potential in the next two cycles, and there is an opportunity here to build us into a potential football power. A flub of a manager hiring in the next cycle could sink our potential if he isn’t up to snuff.

_____________________________________

All that said, I feel like if we get Egypt in the second KO match, we have a way less than “zero” percent chance to make the semis. One upset would be all it took, and Spain has had some head-scratching moments. I don’t think it is just a “puncher’s chance” for us to beat either them OR Portugal in the quarterfinals. Obviously we wouldn’t be favorites, but I like the chances we have.

If we play Belgium in the second KO game, we can definitely win that game. I don’t know exactly how we’d do in back to back matches against big names like Belgium and Spain/Portugal, but I think quarterfinals is floor in that scenario with a slightly lower ceiling.

If we get to the quarterfinals against Spain and somehow win, watch the frick out. Regardless of the path. The confidence level of this team outlines how well they play, so barring injuries, we have a puncher’s chance against anyone not named France in this tournament.

quote:

---

I think it's big for them to finally show themselves and the world that they can beat a UEFA squad, but historically, the last group match hasn't really had a momentum affect on our first knockout round match.

Hell, the one time in the modern era where we actually won in the knockouts, it came on the heels of us getting absolutely dominated by an already-eliminated Poland squad.

---

I hear you. I agree, even. It just feels a bit different this time around. I know confidence matters across the squad, so if our rotated squad plays poorly against Turkey I feel like it could hurt their mentality if we need to turn to them against a squad like Germany or whoever.

I think the angle I am coming from is that we trust our starters for sure, but between the depth in certain spots being not great and the internationally (meaning for Country rather than Club) “unproven” players like Berhalter, Arfsten, and Zendejas, I think there’s a clear delineation of who is value depth vs. bench fodder.

If that becomes obvious within the group, it hurts. That’s all I am saying.

I do believe that these guys are professionals, though. The likelihood of the problem being mentality instead of talent isn’t really huge.

quote:

---

That truncated cycle would also increase the likelihood that lawsuits would get fast-tracked to SCOTUS

---

This has been what I explain to folks who scream about “Trump hasn’t done anything about XYZ”…

Throughout his tenure, he/the administration has been forcing the USSC to hear cases and make decisions because the liberals have been deliberately using legal grey areas to advance their activism and agenda nationwide.

There have been a lot of formerly understood and established political standards that fell victim to this strategy (birthright citizenship being one of them), and this administration has routinely filed suit and gotten rulings from the courts that establish modern precedents via the rulings.

There’s a reason the progress is slow, but you bet your sweet arse it is measured in application.


Btw… Great to see all you wonderful bastards again on this subject matter in one place!

Salah vs Ream = Do Not Want :lol:

quote:

---

Ok, keyboard tough gay. You sound like a pussy who would be crying over some words directed towards you. Hell, you are crying about an innocent post of mine saying it’s “edgy”. I was just explaining what actually happened for the rule to be created. Are you ok now? Wanna cry some more, pussy? - That was typed without my hand over my mouth too FYI

---

Irony, everyone. :lol: