OT: We may win the World Cup in 2026
- Thread starter brad1218
- Start date
Japan pressuring us leading to many sloppy turnovers. Could easily be more than 1-0. Japan the much better side in half one.
He was a-weah. Injured and not in camp. Expected to be back for WC
A-weah. 😀
Without him, it seems like the USMNT tends to play very poorly for some reason. Not even just in attacking, but all over the field. So much so that I wonder if he’s a leader in the locker room.
Effort level today was severely lacking.
berhalter can't get the combination of lineup and tactics to work together. but it is concerning that weston kept giving away the ball.
No Mussa, No Puli, no Weah - lots of skill not on the pitch.
at least we know Turner’s feet are working again :)
at least we know Turner’s feet are working again :)
What I saw today was all about player effort level. If you view the play away from the ball, that's the tell - are the players off the ball working hard in support of the first attacker or not. Today, they were not. The team-wide work-rate was just awful.
Very unusual for this team, whose effort level is rarely so questionable. But it happens sometimes, to all teams. When it does, it will pretty much always piss a coach off.
The miles Robinson injury is killing us in so many ways
And yeah...this is the poorest we have looked in years
And yeah...this is the poorest we have looked in years
This is hardly your average friendly. Guys are playing for roster spots and the rest should be fine tuning. At least they should be.
Not when they're the last matches before a WC and a lot of the players are fighting for roster spots.
do you really think that adams, mckennie, dest, reyna, aaronson are worried about making the roster?
I didn't know soccer was played with only 5 guys.
when more than half the guys on the pitch play disinterested ball, it has knock on effects to others. c'mon, you know better than to think that it doesn't.
Yep, that injury is clearly going to be a big factor. Don't want to judge things just on today's game. But he was obviously a pretty big part of the defensive strength of the USMNT.
I was doing other stuff but had it playing on my iPad. And I lost interest by the end of the first half because the players clearly weren't super-interested themselves - it was ugly play by the US. Japan looked good, and might be pretty good. But mostly the US just made it easy for Japan.
I read about all the giveaways in the defensive end. This is just unacceptable. If the tactics aren't working, change the tactics. That might mean Route 1 football (basically, long kicks to the midfielders and forwards - bypassing the defenders) or something else. Maybe Triple G is just trying to dampen expectations.
I don't think the poor performance was tactics-related. That can definitely happen, but in this case, having seen it on my own teams over the years, I think it was just a low-energy game by the players. It happens sometimes.
Zimmerman was a beast...with miles.
When you play 4 in the back, the CB pairing is everything. And what we have had since miles went down is not working
Long is not the same since his Achilles injury...G3 hates Brooks, and Richards has been iffy when called upon
Mckenzie and CCV are roster fillers at best
Bottom line is we need our CBs to have the tournament of their lives...or Turner to stand on his head like Howard did vs Belgium
Otherwise, things are gonna get ugly
Completely disagree. This was all tactics. Japan dared our CBs to make plays knowing they aren't strong passers and it worked perfectly. They let them have the ball and cut off passing lanes and pressed as soon as it got to the midfield. We kept trying to play the ball on the ground in the same way over and over and Japan was ready for it.
The scary thing here is Japan just gave the blueprint on how to beat the US.
Team will look better when we get Jedi, pulisic, weah, musah, Richards back but it was still bad.
Poor off ball movement and checking to give options to pass to as well
Team will look better when we get Jedi, pulisic, weah, musah, Richards back but it was still bad.
Poor off ball movement and checking to give options to pass to as well
having Yunus back will help a lot. Same with Jedi, and - captain obvious comment coming - puli.
dont get me wrong...the way we played (not so much the result) was shocking
but I have to believe we'll look a lot better when guys are back
I can't state enough how badly we miss miles. we're a different team.
Nope. You're missing it.
You're talking about passing lanes as if they were a static thing and defenders could somehow position themselves in a spot and make it too hard to pass the ball in control on the ground. But soccer is very dynamic, highly fluid, and passing lanes are constantly created and recreated all over the field all game long by the proper movement of second and third attackers off the ball.
With proper support play, the second and third attackers make well-timed runs into positions with the proper angles and distances of support to the first attacker. The proper positioning varies based on what the defenders are doing, but there's always a correct place to be at a correct time no matter what the defenders do. That's fundamental small group attacking tactics and it's up to the players to do it correctly.
Good attacking play, at the national team or pro level, is as intuitive as breathing. But it's super hard work, particularly against a team that is playing a high defense. It requires the entire attacking team to be constantly in motion, constantly shifting to align themselves properly to support the first attacker, or to support the second attacker in anticipation of the next pass. It takes a huge amount of energy to do well.
And the US just wasn't putting the requisite energy into their support play this morning. When you've seen it enough, coached it enough, the lazy pattern of player movement away from the ball all across the field is an instantly recognizable dead give-away. And it's the sort of thing that feeds on itself as players become frustrated at not being well-supported when they're on the ball and they start making impatient decisions resulting in loss of possession.
No strategy of any kind can survive a poor work-rate by the players. Japan played with lots of energy. The US didn't. It's that simple.
No they didn't. The US could come out and beat Japan tomorrow with the exact same players and using whatever strategy GB fed them prior to the game, and with Japan using the same approach to the game. The only thing that has to change is the work-rate has to be there. Then everything that looked bad would suddenly look great.
If the US had played with good energy, then Japan would've been forced to back off, much like when other teams have tried and failed high press against this latest rendition of the USMNT.
I agree the team will look better with some of the missing key players back. And in part, it's probably because some of those players like Weah and Musah provide a ton of energy the rest of the team feeds off. Energy in soccer (probably in other sports) is contagious. Lack of energy too, as I wrote just above.
And I'm gonna agree w/you about that a second time. It's a pretty big deal. The US has historically struggled mightily against strong opponents due to personnel issues at the back. It seemed like this team finally had a decent solution. But he is a big, big part of that solution and I don't know who can replace him.
Agree the work rate and off ball movement was really bad, but the US attack was predictable and they tried to play the exact same way the entire game. Gregg's system is predictable. Japan had it well scouted and their strategy was excellent. Both are true. If you don't think the Japan gameplan had anything to do with it I don't know what to tell you.
Gregg was completely out coached. He made an adjustment at halftime to go to a back 3 which helped, but he needs to make adjustments quicker and not waste the entire first 45
Gregg was completely out coached. He made an adjustment at halftime to go to a back 3 which helped, but he needs to make adjustments quicker and not waste the entire first 45
Not sure why you are bothering honestly. You made good points earlier above. Our CBs will be the among the worst in Qatar. Not good enough defending, not nearly good enough with the ball at their feet.
WC will be interesting for sure especially because of the calendar holding it during the club season.
Still optimistic we can get out of the group but we need to grind out wins.
Still optimistic we can get out of the group but we need to grind out wins.
This team is sadly trending way way down heading into the WC. Pretty much all of our players are injured and/or not getting regular starts for their clubs and not in form.
Would love to see some better performances at their clubs between now and the WC to give more hope.
Good news is England and Wales have also been struggling big time.
Hopefully we bear Wales game 1 and give us a confidence boost. That game will be massive. We need to get 3 points
Would love to see some better performances at their clubs between now and the WC to give more hope.
Good news is England and Wales have also been struggling big time.
Hopefully we bear Wales game 1 and give us a confidence boost. That game will be massive. We need to get 3 points
Just saw Alphonso Davies has muscle tear. Assume it puts his WC in jeopardy. Lots of guys falling out d/t injury.
Hope they never have a wi tee WC again.
Hope they never have a wi tee WC again.
