OT: Copa America 2024 Thread
- Thread starter Zak57
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Balogun has been meh so far. Really need a 2nd goal and we've had so many opportunities.
Edit - ok Balogun redeemed with that goal. 2-0. Nice.
Edit - ok Balogun redeemed with that goal. 2-0. Nice.
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Looked to me like the Bolivian keeper was too far right on both goals, i.e., shading too much to the short side - if had been a half step further left on each goal, maybe he makes those saves.
Really needed that 2nd goal before the half, considering how many opportunities we were creating.
I'd say worse than meh. Balogun's first touch the entire half was terrible. Even on the goal it wasn't great but he made up for it with a beautiful strike.
Some other thoughts FWIW:
I think we've found Reyna's position. I love the idea of him feeding Pulisic from deep. That led to the 2nd goal. If I'm Musah I'm worried how I start with a healthy Adams/Mckennie/Reyna.
This team is way better with Adams. I don't think that is major news. But if I'm penciling in a lineup it's Pulisic/Adam's 1 and 1a.
Pulisic is now IMO one of the best players in the world.
Weah is close to an automatic starter himself. He brings an element no other player on the team brings.
Turner with the ball at his feet continues to make me nervous.
You can almost predict who we will lose to. If the other team has world class attackers on the right, we've got a shot with the Fulham duo. The other side I'd be worried (although I think they are both talented).
Also negative- yes 2-0 but we didn't create many shots or great chances. I'm not sure why but doesn't bode well against better teams. This is not a new thing either - if you're into analytics our expected goals isn't much better now than a few years back.
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I’m happy with our uni’s . Have to fix our colored ones. Ridiculous. Keep them plainer like the white ones.
Strikers can be all-around terrible, but all is well when they score.
Bolivia’s formation is the opposite of compact. I want the USA to press the hell out them as Bolivia tries to build out of the back.
Love the enthusiasm, but pulisic is not one of the best players in the world. He's very good, but he's not elite.
As for the game so far...a better team than Bolivia will give our transition defense fits. Jedi gets way up field, which is fine, but the rotation behind him is slow to react... which is strange since Ream is his club teammate.
Disagree. And I've been very hard on Pulisic when I thought he deserved it.
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Come on. Lalas is a Rutgers graduate.
This 10-year old article describes Alexi's 26-year long academic journey at Rutgers. (WARNING: POLITI WROTE IT)
Lol.
He's better than Vinicius, Mbappe, Leao, Son, Luis Diaz, Martinelli, or Kvaratskhelia? And that's just left wingers...
Weird post. I said right now IMO he's "one of the best players in the world." And he is to me. That is a comment on his talent but most importantly his form right now... we should all just enjoy it. Your retort is to list 7 (which is an odd # - did you run out of gas finding 3 more?) left wingers that you think are better. Ok. Let's accept that as true. So he's then the 8th best left winger in the world which would... I dunno ... make him "one of the best players in the world."? SMH.
And you further list Leao... I guess your point is Puli is obviously not as good as him since Puli plays right wing for the same club. But I can just as easily say Puli can play left, right or as a 10 (which he did this year for Milan). And who was better for Milan this year between the two? And Pulisic just had a screamer for a goal and an assist as MOTM in the Copa opener. Leao in the Euros has a suspension for diving and has done nothing. Again weird post.
To me, world class means top 5 at your position. He's not that. If you want right wingers, he's not top 5 there either. I think it's weird that you're trying to believe the Alexi and Carli hype train.
Literally 5 posts up I called Alexi soccer's dumbest commentator. Let's move on please.
Reyna had a good game, IMO. Some very good penetrating passes.
Lalas is quite possibly the worst commentator I’ve ever seen. He’s either babbling about irrelevant feel-good nonsense or else he’s being wrong about something.
IMO, the US played poorly in that game. The back line, except Jedi, were pretty awful at times and if they don’t tighten up their play, the US will not beat anybody with a pulse. Richards had an awful game, giving the ball away comstsntly. Jedi had a strong game and finally made a couple decent entry passes. He’s peaking at the right time.
The attack was okayish at midfield, and Reyna made some great passes. But there was a serious lack of cohesion in the final third. I counted just one instance of organized combination play. Very disorganized up front. Lousy job of finishing through many opportunities.
Puli and Balogun had nice scores, but Balogun was open at the far post several times and the other players missed hm. Weah was solid, but has played better.
Pepi can’t keep missing shots.
Hope we bring a better game on Thursday.
The attack was okayish at midfield, and Reyna made some great passes. But there was a serious lack of cohesion in the final third. I counted just one instance of organized combination play. Very disorganized up front. Lousy job of finishing through many opportunities.
Puli and Balogun had nice scores, but Balogun was open at the far post several times and the other players missed hm. Weah was solid, but has played better.
Pepi can’t keep missing shots.
Hope we bring a better game on Thursday.
It's frustrating as I think Carli and Clint do a good job, but don't get the same time.
Cliff particularly handled the Lalas "Reyna was invisible comment" like a pro saying something like "I would like him to be a little bit more impactful.... but he did draw two yellows on Bolivia in the attacking 3rd."
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Very unsatisfying feeling to only win that game 2-0. We let so many opportunities slip away and it easily could've been 4-0 or worse. Let's hope that improves Thursday night. It'd be great to win that one so advancing is clinched before we play Uruguay.
Yep. And, to me at least, even more concerning is realizing that if our D makes that many mistakes against a half-decent team, we'll be giving up goals left and right. Richards in particular was very weak. There's little doubt teams will be attacking that side of our defense a lot.
The attack can be fixed. Or at least the players can develop more chemistry together.
Nothing much can be done about the defense except finding better players, which seems unlikely prior to the WC. I find it difficult to believe we don't have more talented defenders anywhere in the nation. Makes me wonder how the identification process is implemented and why it's not working better.
If I were GB, I'd seriously consider moving Weah back, which hurts the attack but might be necessary. Then I'd figure out how to productively replace Weah (not with Reyna, who is already on the field and should continue to be a more centrally located figure for the USMNT, not a winger).
Agree on Richards (and Ream) giving the ball away too much, which will be punished by better teams, and also thought Robinson played very well. Love watching his runs up field with his blazing speed and thought Puli fed him on those very well several times, resulting, eventually in some nice crosses, which we didn't do so well with for the most part.
And yes, our finishing was poor, but from a glass half full perspective, it was nice to see us have so many opportunities created which could've been goals - we could've easily had 5-6 goals. Agree Pepi must do better and while Balogun scored a nice goal he fumbled several other opportunities. Pulisic, though, was fantastic.
Overall I would say we played decently not poorly (and not great) and if we play like that against Panama, we should win, but it won't be good enough against Uruguay or most other teams in the elimination rounds.
I personally think the US will grow into the tournament. This is good since the competition will only get better from here. Panama is a step up in quality from pitiful Bolivia and they typically play the US tough.
Interesting commentary from McKennie on the lousy field conditions at Copa, contrasted with the fields used in the Euros.
“I think what Martinez was saying was completely true. It’s frustrating, especially as a player. You know, whenever you do come here to America you play in a stadium that can fit 70,000 people but 25,000 show up. You don’t really have an atmosphere. And then you’re playing on a football field, with laid grass that’s all patchy and it breaks up every step you take. It’s frustrating.”
“If you look at the Euros, they’re all playing on great fields, great grass, football-specific stadiums, soccer-specific stadiums, and you see the quality of the football.”
“You can play a 1-2 without wondering if the ball is gonna bounce up before you hit it. You can pass the ball back to the keeper not being afraid that it’s going to bounce over his foot. You see a different type of soccer.
“I was just watching Netherlands-France right now and I was joking around — the center back was dribbling and he played it into the midfield, the guy played it back to him and then he played it back again. I’m like ‘that can’t happen here, because that ball, the second one might end up at the head.’”
(via The Athletic)
“I think what Martinez was saying was completely true. It’s frustrating, especially as a player. You know, whenever you do come here to America you play in a stadium that can fit 70,000 people but 25,000 show up. You don’t really have an atmosphere. And then you’re playing on a football field, with laid grass that’s all patchy and it breaks up every step you take. It’s frustrating.”
“If you look at the Euros, they’re all playing on great fields, great grass, football-specific stadiums, soccer-specific stadiums, and you see the quality of the football.”
“You can play a 1-2 without wondering if the ball is gonna bounce up before you hit it. You can pass the ball back to the keeper not being afraid that it’s going to bounce over his foot. You see a different type of soccer.
“I was just watching Netherlands-France right now and I was joking around — the center back was dribbling and he played it into the midfield, the guy played it back to him and then he played it back again. I’m like ‘that can’t happen here, because that ball, the second one might end up at the head.’”
(via The Athletic)
Richards has played better games for us. I don't think it's all on him. I think Scally being horrible feeds into that. Guy is positionally lost in defense, has no ability to get forward like Dest, and doesn't present himself as an option for Richards to play the ball out to. This all culminates in Richards having to rush over to the wing to cover, and when he does win the ball, not enough options to pass to, leading to some of those turnovers.
I get what he's saying and I understand how it affects the overall quality of play, to some degree.
However, all these international-level players are more than capable of dealing with poor playing surfaces. Their individual skills are easily up to the challenge or they wouldn't be on the team. And it affects the Copa America teams playing on a bad field equally; it's not a competitive disadvantage. Coaches of teams, used to perfect practice fields, will often prepare by training on rougher surfaces just prior to these games/tournaments.
I've coached teams where we trained on perfect artificial turf or grass fields. I had a set of specific warm-up exercises that helped younger players adapt to a field where the ball would behave unpredictably. And by about age 15, players had no problem at all making the adjustment (I'm talking higher skilled players).
Nobody likes crappy fields. And we fans would have a prettier game to watch w/better field conditions. But it's not that big a deal and I kinda view it as a bit of unnecessary whining by WM.
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