Lucky I bumped into the game on TBS. NJ.com has the game listed as being broadcast on NBC Universo. Or a free trial on fuboTV.
USA leads 1-0 at the half.
USA leads 1-0 at the half.
OT: USA-Jamaica
- Thread starter Kbee3
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Incredibly boring. My wife kept asking why we were watching this snooze fest.
Lucky for the US that their goalie saved that penalty shot. And that Jamaica wasn't awarded a second one later.
I can't believe the US had only four shots.
And yes...the field was awful.
Lucky for the US that their goalie saved that penalty shot. And that Jamaica wasn't awarded a second one later.
I can't believe the US had only four shots.
And yes...the field was awful.
That's what I love about soccer. The defense could be atrocious and you can still shut out the other team.
It wasn't boring for me 'cause I could see some players who haven't had any/much playing time with the USMNT. And as a coach, I entertain myself mentally drafting training sessions to improve things. There were a lot of things that needed improvement in that game.
It was a poor performance by the US, at least during most of the second half. Very low energy for some reason.
I've got some friends who grew up in Ecuador who are always telling me about all of the exciting stuff going on besides the goal scoring. They grew up with soccer.
I don't see it. But then, I grew up in a football crazy town in New Jersey.
No comparing the two sports IMO.
I don't see it. But then, I grew up in a football crazy town in New Jersey.
No comparing the two sports IMO.
US looking good early in this game. I don’t watch much like you all but the team seems more sound with the little stuff like touch and passes and even a little creativity on that sequence that led to the shot off the post on Jamaica.
And just as I type that they get a goal 1-0 US
And just as I type that they get a goal 1-0 US
2-0 after a deflection
Whether successful or not in finishing, I feel like the vision, passing, feel, awareness and touch look better than I can remember.
This is the first game I’ve watched under MP, is it his influence making a difference?
Whether successful or not in finishing, I feel like the vision, passing, feel, awareness and touch look better than I can remember.
This is the first game I’ve watched under MP, is it his influence making a difference?
Announcers were saying best 45 minutes for the US in the short tenure of MP.
For a casual observer who doesn’t watch too much outside of the big tournaments, I’d say best 45 minutes I’ve seen a long time.
I can’t remember a time where I’ve seen flow, vision, awareness, purpose, skill, touch etc..exhibited by the team. It’s not even the 3-0 score as much as those things. Score is just a byproduct imo.
For a casual observer who doesn’t watch too much outside of the big tournaments, I’d say best 45 minutes I’ve seen a long time.
I can’t remember a time where I’ve seen flow, vision, awareness, purpose, skill, touch etc..exhibited by the team. It’s not even the 3-0 score as much as those things. Score is just a byproduct imo.
USA easily cruises to semifinals.
Meanwhile, Mexico lost 0-2 in their first leg to Honduras. The cherry on top was the Mexico coach getting beaned with a beer can while shaking hands with the Honduran coach. Gotta give him credit for barely flinching. Second leg is tonight. Would be glorious to see Mexico lose.
Meanwhile, Mexico lost 0-2 in their first leg to Honduras. The cherry on top was the Mexico coach getting beaned with a beer can while shaking hands with the Honduran coach. Gotta give him credit for barely flinching. Second leg is tonight. Would be glorious to see Mexico lose.
Humanity at work. People can really suck sometimes.
I remember growing up and watching the World Cup ‘94.
I cheered so loud when that Colombian scored an own goal against the US.
My friends and I would even make fun of each other on the basketball court at his expense. Whenever one of us messed up, we said that person “pulled an Escobar”.
Just a few weeks (days..?) later, we learned he was gunned down for that mistake.
It was at that moment that it really hit us just how crazy some fans can really be.
In England, gangs of otherwise ordinary people (typically drunk) roam the streets before and after soccer matches, looking to beat up people wearing the wrong colors. Or at least they used to - it might've been cleaned up some.
Did you see the game yesterday? What did you think of how they looked?
I’m just a casual pedestrian watcher but I was quite impressed, specifically the first half. It wasn’t so much even the score I was impressed with as much the flow, feel, intention and intangibles that seemed as good as I can ever remember a US team playing like that.
I didn't watch it yet. Hoping it's available on one of the various streaming services.
It was on TNT last night so just took a look at Max and it’s on there.
Cool, thanks for the info.
I have stuff to get done in my office, so I'll pull it up on one of the monitors and watch while I work.
I suggest reading Among the Thugs. A deeply disturbing book about English soccer hooligans. Well written - It’s a good read for learning about how fervent and insane soccer supporters can be.
I heard the South American fans can be even more ardent - if that’s even possible.
I only saw the first half, but the team seems to be playing with more freedom and fluidity than under GGG. I LOVE that the team isn’t forced to constantly build up the attack from the back. There seems to be more trust in the players to do the right thing.
From the coach’s mouth … I love this approach. What a refreshing change in tactics.
That book was where I first learned about English hooliganism. I was lent a prepublication copy by a publishing executive friend of the family who knew how involved in soccer I was.
And yeah, I remember it being pretty disturbing.
My thing about ARob is that he's very good at working his way upfield, getting the ball in space and using pace to get all the way up to the final third. But something I noticed about him is that while he can get the ball up into the attacking third with relative ease, his ability to continue the attack from that point is weak. His crosses are often way off target.
Opposing coaches also apparently noticed this and had wing defenders or mids drop off ARob in the final third, intentionally giving him extra space to encourage him to attempt a long cross which, far more often than not, resulted in giving possession back to the opponent's defenders. Many wasted possessions due to that problem.
It seems like maybe Pooch or an assistant has watched film and identified that (it's super obvious) and made some adjustments. In one of the recent Pooch-era matches, instead of always trying to drive a cross into the box, ARob was dropping easy back passes to either an attacking midfielder or one of the forwards who'd dropped back, thus maintaining possession in the final third.
ARob's a great athlete so I would think some additional technical development might help turn him into a more reliable, more threatening entry passer . But while we wait on that, it sure seems wise to provide him with alternatives where the US maintains possession in the final third by getting the ball to players who are skilled at making entry passes in the final third.
Opposing coaches will spot that adjustment for what it is and get their second and third defenders to try to close down passing lanes to US support players when ARob has the ball in the final third. It looked at times like that was already taking place some. But that can pull the defenders out of proper shape which creates either space to attack with combination play or with through passes to well-timed runs by forwards or mids.
Soccer attacking tactics are all about unbalancing the defense using combinations of approaches. Most of the approaches involve doing something that forces the defenders to choose between two bad choices. Using a well-known weakness of ours (ARob's inability to make entry passes) against opponents to pull the defense out of shape in order to create space in the area vacated by the defender(s) is turning a weakness into a strength.
It creates a bad choice where the defense must either keep their shape (thus allowing an easy drop pass to one of our better passers) or press a bit to force ARob into making a harder pass that he's not great at, which will pull them out of proper shape some and creating space that can be exploited by other US attackers who potentially wind up in even more dangerous positions.
A key to all this is having intelligent players who are very well versed in small group attacking tactics. The coach can train it, but the players have to recognize and adapt it to the conditions on the field at the time, which always vary. It requires strong tactical fundamental understanding by all the players involved.
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Yes. ARob might be the "worst" attacking player I've ever seen - given his physical talent. Amazing player - a no doubt starter for us/club, but yeah. Crossing is subpar at best.
Just watched the first half of the Jamaica game.
First observation is that this game adds yet more evidence that the most consistently impactful player for the USMNT is Weah. Not saying best player, although one could make a case for it. Just saying that, when he's on the field, the USMNT consistently plays at a higher level than when he's not on the field.
He didn't have a perfect game, missed on some through passes. Made a good shot early that just missed off the post. But even when he personally has an off game, the rest of the team just seems to play better when he's there.
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ARob sliding from wing defender to wing mid in possession (not sure that's how the coach would describe it) is very interesting. It takes advantage of his ability to maintain possession under pressure, which is neat. But having him sneak up even further into a high attacking position at times, with an apparent option to work either the middle or out wide was unbalancing the Jamaica D quite a bit.
I mean, what better way to eliminate all the bad ARob crosses then to have him working lots of short ball passing in the middle of the field in combination play with mids and forwards. A really nice and so far successful experiment that helped facilitate the US attack in the first half.
One thing, though. ARob probably shouldn't try to take one defenders 1 v 1 unless it's the last defender. It's just not his thing. 😀
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On a very happy note, we saw more combination play in just the first half of this game than in the last dozen or maybe two dozen games.
I know GB was pushing for more combo-play. But it just wasn't happening. In the first half of this game, it was happening and it made a big difference in US attacking. Just lovely.
I hope that this game is not just a one-off and that lots of combination play becomes a regular component of the USMNT's attacking style going forward. I really don't understand how any pro of international team plays without it, but the USMNT has been doing without it for years.
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This style of attacking play is fun to watch, but seemed exhausting for some of the USMNT players. Weah in particular got noticeably winded a couple times. His energy and pace kept coming back, though. Gonna have to see how things go in the second half.
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I liked McKennie playing the role of wing forward at times in this game. IIRC, he did that in the last game and wasn't quite as comfortable. A side note, his individual skill level is really incredible, very, smooth.
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The defenders set offside traps up near midfield. Don't recall seeing that much over the past few years. Is risky, but worked at least once in the first half.
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On to the second half...
First observation is that this game adds yet more evidence that the most consistently impactful player for the USMNT is Weah. Not saying best player, although one could make a case for it. Just saying that, when he's on the field, the USMNT consistently plays at a higher level than when he's not on the field.
He didn't have a perfect game, missed on some through passes. Made a good shot early that just missed off the post. But even when he personally has an off game, the rest of the team just seems to play better when he's there.
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ARob sliding from wing defender to wing mid in possession (not sure that's how the coach would describe it) is very interesting. It takes advantage of his ability to maintain possession under pressure, which is neat. But having him sneak up even further into a high attacking position at times, with an apparent option to work either the middle or out wide was unbalancing the Jamaica D quite a bit.
I mean, what better way to eliminate all the bad ARob crosses then to have him working lots of short ball passing in the middle of the field in combination play with mids and forwards. A really nice and so far successful experiment that helped facilitate the US attack in the first half.
One thing, though. ARob probably shouldn't try to take one defenders 1 v 1 unless it's the last defender. It's just not his thing. 😀
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On a very happy note, we saw more combination play in just the first half of this game than in the last dozen or maybe two dozen games.
I know GB was pushing for more combo-play. But it just wasn't happening. In the first half of this game, it was happening and it made a big difference in US attacking. Just lovely.
I hope that this game is not just a one-off and that lots of combination play becomes a regular component of the USMNT's attacking style going forward. I really don't understand how any pro of international team plays without it, but the USMNT has been doing without it for years.
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This style of attacking play is fun to watch, but seemed exhausting for some of the USMNT players. Weah in particular got noticeably winded a couple times. His energy and pace kept coming back, though. Gonna have to see how things go in the second half.
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I liked McKennie playing the role of wing forward at times in this game. IIRC, he did that in the last game and wasn't quite as comfortable. A side note, his individual skill level is really incredible, very, smooth.
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The defenders set offside traps up near midfield. Don't recall seeing that much over the past few years. Is risky, but worked at least once in the first half.
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On to the second half...
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Completely agree with your comments on the combo play and I also hope it’s not a one off. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen play like that from a US team and it was fun to watch.
Some second half notes...
The early takedown of Puli; it was interesting to see how the USMNT maintained it's composure. Seemed potentially an intentional attempt to take US players off their game. But it didn't work. So that was good.
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Weah's finish on that early goal in he second half... wow. His second shot on goal, where he tried a shot from 10 yards or more outside the box, was either ridiculously optimistic or else pure genius. The difference is in his intent. If he intended to shoot a low skipping shot in the rain, that was genius 'cause it's the sort of shot that is very hard to save for keepers, being slippery with unpredictable hops due to the wet condition. But who knows if that was his intent. If not, was just overly optimistic. 😀
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I still think the USMNT needs an extra pass or three in the final third, a bit more patience and composure. They had that in the first half. In the second half, not so much.
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Defending is clearly, by far, still the biggest issue w/this team. It's... really not good.
If the team stays healthy, then poor defending will be the issue that holds this team back unless Pooch finds some better players or players that work better together. Some kind of fix, anyway. I'd call ARob a big asset and the other 3 positions need to somehow be better or be replaced.
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Attacking play was less creative and composed in the second half. Combination play evaporated. I can only recall one wall pass and no other combination play in the second half at all. Horrible. Ball movement was plodding and vague where, in the first half, it was very quick and precise.
I don't understand how a team fails to employ combination play as a constant part of its game in virtually every game except when dramatically overmatched.
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Vasquez needed to put his first open shot on frame, and put the second open shot in the back of the net. At least he does if he wants to earn a spot on a WC roster. Those were bad shots at this level.
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Busio is doing some nice things out there, on and off the ball. Both in the last game and this one. Showed good vision on defense. Showed a good work rate. He overcommitted as a first defender a couple times, but that's easily corrected. His positional discipline and awareness was really good, IMO, at least when I was watching him.
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Depth is still a big issue. Didn't really see much in the subs where they might challenge the starters. That's not an ideal situation. Much better to have it be a tougher decision about who to play. I saw only very very easy decisions, at mid and forward at least, and with ARob at the back. I'm unsold on all the other defenders I've seen. I don't know what's up with MRob who I thought was great prior to his injury in the last world cup and lead-in to the WC.
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Was a fun game to watch in the first half. Less so in the second half.
Jamaica is not who we need to measure ourselves against, though. So other than some interesting experiments by Pooch, I am not taking much away from this game.
The early takedown of Puli; it was interesting to see how the USMNT maintained it's composure. Seemed potentially an intentional attempt to take US players off their game. But it didn't work. So that was good.
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Weah's finish on that early goal in he second half... wow. His second shot on goal, where he tried a shot from 10 yards or more outside the box, was either ridiculously optimistic or else pure genius. The difference is in his intent. If he intended to shoot a low skipping shot in the rain, that was genius 'cause it's the sort of shot that is very hard to save for keepers, being slippery with unpredictable hops due to the wet condition. But who knows if that was his intent. If not, was just overly optimistic. 😀
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I still think the USMNT needs an extra pass or three in the final third, a bit more patience and composure. They had that in the first half. In the second half, not so much.
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Defending is clearly, by far, still the biggest issue w/this team. It's... really not good.
If the team stays healthy, then poor defending will be the issue that holds this team back unless Pooch finds some better players or players that work better together. Some kind of fix, anyway. I'd call ARob a big asset and the other 3 positions need to somehow be better or be replaced.
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Attacking play was less creative and composed in the second half. Combination play evaporated. I can only recall one wall pass and no other combination play in the second half at all. Horrible. Ball movement was plodding and vague where, in the first half, it was very quick and precise.
I don't understand how a team fails to employ combination play as a constant part of its game in virtually every game except when dramatically overmatched.
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Vasquez needed to put his first open shot on frame, and put the second open shot in the back of the net. At least he does if he wants to earn a spot on a WC roster. Those were bad shots at this level.
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Busio is doing some nice things out there, on and off the ball. Both in the last game and this one. Showed good vision on defense. Showed a good work rate. He overcommitted as a first defender a couple times, but that's easily corrected. His positional discipline and awareness was really good, IMO, at least when I was watching him.
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Depth is still a big issue. Didn't really see much in the subs where they might challenge the starters. That's not an ideal situation. Much better to have it be a tougher decision about who to play. I saw only very very easy decisions, at mid and forward at least, and with ARob at the back. I'm unsold on all the other defenders I've seen. I don't know what's up with MRob who I thought was great prior to his injury in the last world cup and lead-in to the WC.
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Was a fun game to watch in the first half. Less so in the second half.
Jamaica is not who we need to measure ourselves against, though. So other than some interesting experiments by Pooch, I am not taking much away from this game.
I found the first half fun to watch. Not the second. And, unfortunately, the combo play went away in the second half. 😟
Didn't something similar just happen when an Israeli team played.. in Europe? Netherlands?
Also, I recall an episode of Wrexham that covered Hooliganism... yeah.. S1E10 "Hooligans"
It is just nuts.
I saw a headline about something in Europe with sports and Israeli athletes. But didn’t read the article.
Hooliganism has been around for awhile. I suspect the recent thing was less hooliganism, though, and more along the lines of misdirected violent protest. Humans behaving badly, unsurprising given the resurgence in extremism seemingly everywhere.
Yea I didn't think the second half was good but that was a damn nice 4th goal. I was wondering if the heavier rain might have contributed to the poorer form in the 2nd half but maybe not.
This was the first US game I've watched in quite awhile and also the first under MP so I got quite a shock (the good kind lol) in the first half but you make it sound like it's more of an aberration. Too bad. But if it happened once, never know it could be a start of something more later.
That first half was the best half played under Pooch (by a large margin). The earlier games have been more like the second half, or worse.
We can only speculate as to why the second half play was different than the first. Could be that the rain caused Pooch to back off the attacking intensity given the 3 goal lead, wanting the team to eliminate the risks of playing certain players so far upfield. Field conditions seemed okay, but it was raining hard enough to make things a bit more treacherous for the players.
When we subbed, that had a marked effect on quality of play. So that was a factor. But the team started the half with far less energy and intensity, so it obviously wasn't about the subs until later.
I think I mentioned in the first half post, the style of play was clearly exhausting for some of the players. It's possible, although I'd be surprised if true, that the team just ran out of gas. In my experience, playing in light rain is energizing but playing in a downpour becomes tiring quickly due to a the slightly different use of leg muscles on a very wet field. It's a subtle effect, but not entirely insignificant over a full half.
I don't know. Wasn't a pretty second half though. The first half attacking intensity somewhat masked the poor defending by keeping the ball away from Jamaica. The second half brought back that problem in a big way. It's hard for me to understand just how bad our national team defending is right now.
Anyway, the next game is in March '25, so we have a long wait to see if the first half was a repeatable thing. I hope it is because it's not just more fun to watch, it's a better approach to scoring for the US who need that type of play to get good scoring chances since we don't, IMO, really have a deadly striker type player.
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