World Cup 2022

[RedStickBrew]

6 minutes ago, homer said:

Pulisic is being taken to the hospital.

Sure looked like he took a hard knee to the gut on the fall.  Hopefully its just precautionary and he didn't develop symptoms later.

[Samurai Bucky]

You could certainly see a lack of play when Pulisic was out of the game.  Towards the end, there were a lot of long balls where the first touch was atrocious.  Also, I don't remember who took that off-balance shot at around the 97th minute, but he needs to take that to the corner and protect it.

It would be nice if all of the players could be Premier League worthy, but there are some that aren't.  When one of the announcers said that the Free Kick taker for the US had a similar kick in the MLS Cup Final, I literally said, "That really means nothing."  If it was in EPL, La Liga, or Serie A, I would have been a little more excited.

All in all -- they played harder than I ever saw them play.  For those wankers in England that say Pulisic isn't worthy, fit, or doesn't work hard:  suck it.  Yeah... that's it!

[GAME05]

I guess it was some hip contusion for Pulisic and he said out of his hospital bed that he'd play this weekend.

Sure was hard to listen to the game on the radio when you don't know the players. All I could do was listen for an Arabic-sounding name and go from there.

[Samurai Bucky]

1 hour ago, GAME05 said:

I guess it was some hip contusion for Pulisic and he said out of his hospital bed that he'd play this weekend.

In my non-medical-professional opinion, it was a contusion to his, um, how to say this in a forum, his manhood.  He got squared big time.  Not intentional for sure.  I don't know if anybody else came to the same conclusion.  When a guy gets hit in the nuts during any game, it seems like it is taboo to say where the player got hit.  Perhaps there needs to be a standard phrase when a guy gets hit down there?  ?

[homer]

18 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

In my non-medical-professional opinion, it was a contusion to his, um, how to say this in a forum, his manhood.  He got squared big time.  Not intentional for sure.  I don't know if anybody else came to the same conclusion.  When a guy gets hit in the nuts during any game, it seems like it is taboo to say where the player got hit.  Perhaps there needs to be a standard phrase when a guy gets hit down there?  ?

I don't get why it's such a big deal for them to say he was hit in the testicles. 

[Brewcrew82]

Mexico on the verge of bowing out of this tournament before the knockouts without a single goal. What a world. If we didn't already know who the best team in CONCACAF is after last year's Nations' League and Gold Cup finals. we do now. And no, Canada. finishing 1st in qualifying doesn't mean jack squat when the goal is to simply finish in the top 3...

[Brewcrew82]

May have spoken too soon...

[Brewcrew82]

Wow. Last 35 minutes or so was awesome. 

[young guns]

Curious about the tie breaker if Mexico doesn't give up that late goal.  Looked like they would have tied Poland in everything.

[Brewcrew82]

26 minutes ago, young guns said:

Curious about the tie breaker if Mexico doesn't give up that late goal.  Looked like they would have tied Poland in everything.

Poland would still have advanced on fair play (less yellow cards), 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Should be another wild window tomorrow afternoon with everyone having it all to play for in Spain's group.

Belgium-Croatia could be fun as well.

 

[pitchleague]

The USMNT are the Milwaukee Brewers of the international futball world.

Yes, I said it.

 

[Brewcrew82]

Quality really lacking on the Dutch half of the field. Weah and Dest brought their game. Other players, not so much...

[adambr2]

USMNT is cooked. Had some great chances near the end of the half but only one good shot on goal. Not only did they not get the equalizer due to some really sloppy ball movement, but to end up allowing another is a killer. Not built to recover from a 2-0 deficit. 

[sveumrules]

1 hour ago, pitchleague said:

The USMNT are the Milwaukee Brewers of the international futball world.

Yes, I said it.

 

More like the LOLMets or Angels given their resources and market size.

With admittedly little knowledge of FIFA, I’d say Croatia most resembles the Brewers.

Small country who is competitive with the big boys but slim chance to win it all.

 

[Samurai Bucky]

I know it is somewhat "apples and oranges," but when I watch high level club teams from EPL and La Liga, there is often a pass and move component to it.  Weah did that and Dest(?) found him on a 1-2 which was huge.  During most of the first half, even in the attacking third, it was:  receive the pass, stop the ball, and then decide what to do with it while a lot of your teammates stand around.

Maybe they watched the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team.  But I digress...

When you do that in the mid or even towards the defensive side, you let the Netherlands regain their shape.  There was rarely any dynamic play.

In the second half when they were in the offensive zone more, the US did what they have done so many times -- played U7 soccer.  Your teammate has the ball at the top corner of the 18 and what should you do?  I guess the answer is to get 2-3 other US attackers within 5-10 feet of the ball because that is what they did.  When you do that, you bring your defender with you and even Lionel Messi couldn't dribble through that.

During the next four years, US team members need to learn how to take a good one touch in the box to create space... and then strike it WITH POWER!  Most times when they were in the box, they didn't seem to have a plan.  They were not prepared and subsequently failed.

Robinson had maybe 2-3 good touches or plays?  I don't care if he is as fast as the Flash -- if he constantly gives the ball away on the first touch, he shouldn't be on the field.  Very poor 

Now, there were some good things, I thought.

Matt Turner is very good.  Is he Tim Howard, good?  Not yet.  He is the backup at Arsenal... I wonder if he will be transferred to some other club where he can be the primary GK.

Christian Pulisic is the real deal.  The weight on his passes is almost always spot on.  The power on his shots needs to improve, but I think he was nursing his injury.  He has GUTS and he either needs to play at Chelsea or needs to go somewhere else (Norwich or Man U from what I heard).

Tim Weah impressed me today.  I was surprised they subbed for him.

Looking forward to following the players on their club teams.

[owbc]

The US are what they are, but the Netherlands are clearly superior to England. Those counter-attacks were beautiful. 
 

A team made up of a few decent players and a bunch of mediocre MLSers will never compete at that level. We need to send as much of our national team as possible to play in Europe, which will never happen because propping up the minor league MLS is more important than winning these games. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

The biggest gap the US has when compared to traditional soccer powers, at least in my largely worthless opinion when it comes to soccer, seems to be a lack of skill and creativity with the ball - particularly when play gets into the scoring range where it requires players to beat 1 or 2 defenders in very small spaces on their own to generate quality scoring chances.  Watching teams like Argentina, Portugal, Brazil - you can see how much faster they can move the defense and get the ball into dangerous spots because of how effortless they are with the ball and how many different ways they can execute precise passes - they don't always have to have the ball settled onto their strong foot without a defender near them to make a quality pass.  I think that many of the European and South American soccer programs spend almost all of youth development on individual skills/striking, while I feel like the US program is more focused on team match play...for a long time the US U-17 teams have had really good success at the international level, but that organized team quality just doesn't translate to WC success once other countries develop team match play after their focus on individual skill is completed at those younger ages.

This current US roster also desperately needs a striker/finisher to pair with Pulisic on the front line that can win headers in the box and just be a matchup problem who could capitalize on limited scoring opportunities generated by the current US tactics of trying to control the game in the midfield.  They need more than Pulisic up front to create more quality chances.  4 more years until the next WC and this team is very young - hopefully they can build on this showing, but we've heard that following many other WCs that saw the US crawl out of the group stage only to be exposed in the knockout rounds.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

US, as a team, had run a marathon more than the Dutch coming in to this match. I thought that showed. 

The defending was bad. Adams jogging and trailing on the first goal and no one coming up to cover Memphis. 2nd goal Dest completely fell asleep. Inexcusable that close to half and, again, the defense reacts poorly to a quick throw in. 3rd goal, I could have scored with that much space for that much time. 

The finishing, as others have said, bad. Wright scired accidentally but looked real slow and non-threatening. Ferreira was totally uninvolved. 

Midfield was okay, just not superhuman like it has been. That makes all the difference.

I think, with this group, the US needs to learn to play without a true striker. Aaronson and Reyna are just better players by a longshot than any of Pefok, Pepi, Ferreira, Wright, etc., and that really hurts you against teams like the Netherlands.

Set pieces also were bad. Pulisic is great, but he cannot be taking corners and free kicks that often. He didn't really play a good one all tournament. 

Wth the right coach, 2026 could be special, but Gregg ain't the guy. He was a steady hand and deflected a lot of criticism for a young player pool. Job done there. He did the bare minimum to consider this cycle a success. Good job. I mean that. But it's time for someone who is more tactically sophisticated and more experienced in Europe. Marsch is the obvious name, but I highly doubt he leaves Leeds. I honestly think you could do a lot worse than Australia's manager. I know US soccer is down on foreign managers after Jurgen, but this is the most diverse and global the player pool has ever been...I go outside if it's my choice.

World Cups are often random and influenced by small samples and c., but I'd say anything less than a QF appearance in 2026 would be a disappointing result.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

One of my favorite sports that I don't get a chance to discuss often. 

 

This one stings, but is not surprising. I thought if they lost it would pretty dominant, and it really wasn't other than efficiency. Not just today, but USMNT has had so many games where they are dominant with possession, but just. Can't. Score. 

 

They need a striker so desperately. I think they used 4-5 different ones in the tournament just hoping to find lightning. 

The second goal was painful. You just can't do that in short time. Had to get that game to half 1-0. 

When NED got possession, even without scoring, the looks were always better. The first two goals had some horrendous defensive efforts from Dest and Adams, both inexplicably stopped running and watched the game, something you expect to see in youth league. 

NED is just too good to allow for those lapses. This isn't Iran. Shortly before we did score, we had another good look and Wright went outside when he really should have just taken a damn shot. It was such a clear choice to make and he biffed it. I've seen that SO MANY times with this team. 

Feels like we say this every WC, but USMNT is so, so close. They really aren't getting run out of the building by these teams. I didn't expect this group to get out of this round regardless of opponent but it would have been cool. They really have a chance to do something in 4 years.but what happens between now and then is everything. They need that 9 to come from somewhere, anywhere. 

[Brewcrew82]

8 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

One of my favorite sports that I don't get a chance to discuss often. 

 

This one stings, but is not surprising. I thought if they lost it would pretty dominant, and it really wasn't other than efficiency. Not just today, but USMNT has had so many games where they are dominant with possession, but just. Can't. Score. 

 

They need a striker so desperately. I think they used 4-5 different ones in the tournament just hoping to find lightning. 

The second goal was painful. You just can't do that in short time. Had to get that game to half 1-0. 

When NED got possession, even without scoring, the looks were always better. The first two goals had some horrendous defensive efforts from Dest and Adams, both inexplicably stopped running and watched the game, something you expect to see in youth league. 

NED is just too good to allow for those lapses. This isn't Iran. Shortly before we did score, we had another good look and Wright went outside when he really should have just taken a damn shot. It was such a clear choice to make and he biffed it. I've seen that SO MANY times with this team. 

Feels like we say this every WC, but USMNT is so, so close. They really aren't getting run out of the building by these teams. I didn't expect this group to get out of this round regardless of opponent but it would have been cool. They really have a chance to do something in 4 years.but what happens between now and then is everything. They need that 9 to come from somewhere, anywhere. 

Agreed. Time to pay close attention to the continued development of Ricardo Pepi. He's already showcased what he can do in that amazing run of form last year, and he seems to be snapping out of his long funk in the Eredivisie. So much potential with him. 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

2 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

One of my favorite sports that I don't get a chance to discuss often. 

 

This one stings, but is not surprising. I thought if they lost it would pretty dominant, and it really wasn't other than efficiency. Not just today, but USMNT has had so many games where they are dominant with possession, but just. Can't. Score. 

 

They need a striker so desperately. I think they used 4-5 different ones in the tournament just hoping to find lightning. 

The second goal was painful. You just can't do that in short time. Had to get that game to half 1-0. 

When NED got possession, even without scoring, the looks were always better. The first two goals had some horrendous defensive efforts from Dest and Adams, both inexplicably stopped running and watched the game, something you expect to see in youth league. 

NED is just too good to allow for those lapses. This isn't Iran. Shortly before we did score, we had another good look and Wright went outside when he really should have just taken a damn shot. It was such a clear choice to make and he biffed it. I've seen that SO MANY times with this team. 

Feels like we say this every WC, but USMNT is so, so close. They really aren't getting run out of the building by these teams. I didn't expect this group to get out of this round regardless of opponent but it would have been cool. They really have a chance to do something in 4 years.but what happens between now and then is everything. They need that 9 to come from somewhere, anywhere. 

I think, honestly, a big problem is the same thing most women's sports have to deal with. There's plenty of media coverage and attention and focus around big events like the World Cups and the Olympics. But the day-to-day media coverage and fan involvement is just not there (I think that's changing for women's soccer and maybe a few other sports, which is good!), and that makes it very hard to sustain success and build real momentum on the international level.

US soccer faces real fan pressure once every four years. I think that has to change heading in to this next cycle. You just have to make the right choice with the manager. It's so, so important to get that right. Tactics matter so much in a situation where every game means as much as it does. 

Jurgen had those tactics, but he was culturally clueless (though I wonder if he would've meshed better with this player group). Bob Bradley was good enough at both. It's really hard to find a good international manager, and US Soccer has problems at the upper levels of the org too, but you can make up for a lot by getting this choice right. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

I think another issue the US faces is that they chase different styles of play based on the tactics that the most successful international teams employ without realizing most established soccer powers maintain their style of play long enough for young players to develop in those systems - and the US as a whole just doesn't have the 2-3 world-class players that would excel in any tactical system to be a truly elite soccer power.  Bouncing between different tactical systems on an international level every few years just doesn't let a national team lay a solid foundation that can identify players who fit that specific system to develop as quality depth, so there's at least a solid baseline of talent that is available to draw from - having that in place would make the US squad an auto WC qualifier out of CONCACAF and solid bet to advance to the round of 16 every cycle.  Then the job becomes finding and developing 2-3 transcendent talents to turn the team into an actual threat to win a WC.

The US men's team as a whole always seems to be not quite balanced - this cycle's version is a strong midfield that had a solid defense who played off them well, but not nearly enough striking talent or skill to take advantage of turning midfield possession into quality scoring chances.  That talent gap led to the US midfield getting exhausted as the matches unfolded and they fell apart in key situations against the Netherlands because of it.  US teams of a few cycles ago had better striking/scorers but lacked midfield quality and had shaky defenders who were bailed out by elite goaltending.

 

[owbc]

The USMNT is the baseball equivalent of team Canada in the WBC. Two or three all-stars in the lineup (Vlad, Freddie Freeman) with a bunch of fillers. Eventually they might get lucky and make the semifinals, but that’s the ceiling. 

Think of what it would take for Canada to develop a team worthy of competing with the US or DR or Japan on a regular basis. 
 

This isn’t a matter of coaching or strategy we’re talking about here. The Dutch would have had an answer for whatever combination of players and tactics we threw at them. 
 

This is about where soccer is as a priority in the US and how the pipeline works here (NCAA scholarships being the primary objective). We didn’t develop Pulisic. 
 

Perhaps people will take action when our women’s national team meets the same fate as the men — as is already beginning to happen. 

BTW I’m just paraphrasing what had written by people who know better than I do. 

 

[Fear The Chorizo]

Most international teams aren't capable of doing what Brazil is doing to South Korea at the start of their match even if they were playing on a field with no defenders.

When Brazil gets cooking it's incredibly entertaining to watch.