OT: USA vs. Columbia

[rurichdog]

We seem to lose a lot of meaningless games. Isn't it also meaningless to the opponent? They cared enough to drop a 5-spot on us. Maybe we should look at the matches with a bit more importance.

 

[Doctor Worm]

We seem to lose a lot of meaningless games. Isn't it also meaningless to the opponent? They cared enough to drop a 5-spot on us. Maybe we should look at the matches with a bit more importance.

The purpose of the Colombia and Brazil matches is to prepare for Copa America. Nothing more, nothing less. Obviously this result does not bode well for the important competition to come. The poor performance is significant. The final score is not.

 

[mildone]

You think USA is going to win Copa?

I told him to lay off the crack...

Haha. No, I don’t think they will win the tournament. It was the crack. I’ll fix it. 🤣

 

[mildone]

The purpose of the Colombia and Brazil matches is to prepare for Copa America. Nothing more, nothing less. Obviously this result does not bode well for the important competition to come. The poor performance is significant. The final score is not.

That’s right. Also, I think Colombia has a ton more quality depth than the USMNT. That was a factor because these games are used to evaluate players, and in both cases, players are playing for spots on the roster and in the starting lineups.

You said it just right. The performance was bad, but the final score wasn’t reflective of how things would likely go in a meaningful game.

 

[HPNJRUfan]

I'm not sure if anybody else notices this stuff, but the clickbait nature of soccer articles on ESPN particularly are worse than any other sport IMO. A headline will be something like "Ten Hag on being "convinced' he will stay at United." And then the actual quote will be something like "I'm neither convinced nor not convinced I will stay."

Soccer media (whether it be ESPN or any other outlet) is the absolute worst for clickbait headlines, its a daily thing as a Liverpool fan.

That being said - losing to Colombia 5-1, friendly or not, is not a good look.

 

[jaydogsmooth1]

Ugggllllyyyy game
Stadium sucks and the drive wasn't fun

Columbia fans... interesting bunch
Encompassed ~80 % of the crowd and brought the energy
Definitely won't say "not a passionate bunch" or "know how to act civilized" on their tombstones

As for the game, wow
Looked outclassed in every aspect

Bad giveaways
Followed by more bad giveaways
Followed by awful defending
Followed by more awful defending

Barring a minor miracle, GB is out after Copa
Can't have a squad looking this bad going into WC on our home turf

 

[DJ Spanky]

To say nothing of the shark infested, terrorizing water hazards

FIFY.

 

[Doctor Worm]

Barring a minor miracle, GB is out after Copa
Can't have a squad looking this bad going into WC on our home turf

If USA gets out of the group (Bolivia, Panama, Uruguay), I would be shocked if Berhalter is sacked.

Even if they do not get out of the group, I don't this his dismissal is a given.

 

[mildone]

If USA gets out of the group (Bolivia, Panama, Uruguay), I would be shocked if Berhalter is sacked.

Even if they do not get out of the group, I don't this his dismissal is a given.

I think you're probably correct, although it's always tough to predict what other people might do, so I wouldn't bet any money on it. And, as we all know, the head coach of any sports team is, ultimately, the one responsible for the results.

But it's doesn't look to me like it's, technically, GB's fault the D is struggling right now. To the contrary, over the past 4 years or so, I've seen the USMNT mids and backs improving in transition, improving in holding their shape at critical moments, and improving at numbers-down defending, making USMNT group defending generally better than when he first got there. Which sure seems like evidence of good coaching.

In this past game, bad as the outcome was, there's no real evidence of specific coaching "mistakes" (that isn't overly speculative or ignorant). But there were obvious examples of individual mistakes made by players. GB can only field players from the pool of talent he's given, and that pool isn't great, with half the starting back line not playing (one out with an ACL injury), another one being past-his-prime, and the remaining guy, a typically reliable defender, making multiple uncharacteristic technical mistakes.

So, I wonder what it is that people think some other coach would've done differently that would've magically prevented those 4 players from making the mistakes they made. Will be interesting to see if M Robinson plays on Wednesday. I did a web search to figure out what's up with him, but came up empty.

Where I think some criticism may be warranted (it's hard to know this definitively) is the team's lack of progress in generating good scoring chances against strong defending teams. Except he's clearly stated, a couple times over the years, how he would like to see the team improve the attack. But, for whatever reason, the team just isn't consistently doing what he's said he wants them doing. Without being in the locker room, it's hard to know why. But, IMO, the mids and forwards have the talent to be more productive in the attack if they just do what he wants.

It's his responsibility to get them doing that. So... yeah, he needs to sort that out.

It looks to me like he's trying. Given the relative weakness of the pool of defenders, it sure seems the attacking play must improve, especially with Dest unavailable since his long attacking runs were one of the puzzle pieces for USMNT scoring chances. The biggest weakness in the final third is the number of missed chances. Colombia had two chances and scored twice to mostly seal the game. While a coach can get the team's group attacking to improve to produce more frequent and higher percentage scoring chances, he cannot finish the shots for the players.

Anyway, let's see what happens in the group stage games. I expect more tinkering and resting of players against Brazil, so not gonna judge anything from it. I hope the defenders have a better game, though.

 

[BHSPCRU]

The best things about our trip down to the game were the regional sports bar Glory Days by BWI airport after the game and somehow leaving in the 90th minute right when Columbia scored their 5th goal somehow got us out of lot e and on BW parkway in about 10 minutes…

Got to the parking lots around 1:25 and they opened the parking gates at 1:45 for all of the cars waiting in line so not so bad…so many Columbia fans was 80/20 as mentioned above…

American Outlaws pregame was meh… always nice to see old friends from around the country but the pizza sucked no hamburgers and hotdogs….the march in was ok not many participated maybe 100…

We had 18th row in the center section of the US/ AO supporters section….some decent chants….almost a fight 2 rows in front of us but it worked out…won’t go into the details but I am pretty sure we are the only country in the World where fans of the opposing team are allowed in the Supporters section…hopefully no brawls will break out in the future especially during the World Cup…

Getting out so quickly changed our mood and then having really good chicken wings at late night happy hour pricing and great local MD beer at the packed Glory Days BWI eased the pain 😂…good banter with the locals and bartenders…then the short walk back to the Doubletree BWI which was ok to stay at…decent beds…

Ride home in the morning with a stop at Royal Farms to get a breakfast chicken biscuit was really quick…let’s put this match behind us and go US vs Brazil on Wednesday….