I’m guessing it had to do with his fitness. Otherwise I have no idea.
I love Adams and he steps up his game for International play but asking him to play 90 minutes a match as the only true CDM is asking for trouble.
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Yeah, I don’t think you plan to do anything but try to win and let the chips fall as they may. I was just laying out the various paths to the semis. The groups won’t finish in the order you might expect anyway.
Personally, I think getting to the round of 16 meets my expectations and anything beyond that is icing.
Also, a US-Iran match in the knockouts would be something else.
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To me they need to make the quarterfinals for this to be a successful World Cup. We’ve made the round of 16 plenty of times. Being at home should boost expectations by a round
We also have the most players, playing the most minutes, scoring the most goals, we’ve ever had in the big 5 leagues. Ditto the champions league. This generation of players has had the keys to the ship for 7-8 years at this point. They are in their primes. If we handle business in the group stage we won’t have to play any of the World Cup winning countries before the quarterfinals. If the US team is ever going to become legitimate this is the moment
Because there are 48 teams this year, the knockout round has a Round of 32… so an additional elimination round. Not good for the USA.
I think Pulisic stays a little higher up and works wide left at times, and then the 3rd midfielder (Tillman in my lineup, McKennie in yours - I’d flip him and Seb) works underneath the striker, as Dest probably has license to stay even higher up on the right than Jedi does on the left. I like Pulisic better when he’s not dropping too far back to get involved in the build-up and isn’t too central - he’s most dangerous running in the channel between the opposing CB and FB on his side.
Ream offers a little more on the ball. In the 2nd clip here (good look at our buildup, too), he’s able to work Jedi free and hits a line-breaking pass.
I could see that. Pepi was very good against Senegal and very connective in his play.
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Our round of 16 game will almost certainly be against a group winner. Group D doesn’t have a favorable bracket to the quarters. There’s a good chance that it’s one of Belgium, Argentina, Germany or France.
I’m not going to make that the deciding line for success.
No different than a 32 team world cup where a R16 would have been probably against a group winner unless we won our group. In this group, we should win the group over Turkey (if on neutral soil I wouldn’t say that’s the case. Guler and Yildiz will possibly/probably be the best two players on the pitch). Then to really show we’ve made progress, at home I’d want us to beat an aging Belgium squad. This isn’t the 2014 or 2018 Belgium squad, even if Doku would give me nightmares.
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Yea but that just creates more of an opportunity for our round of 16 opponent to be easier! Belgium could get penaltied by someone in the round of 32
If we all win our groups, the only possibility from that list is Belgium. Belgium is better than us. No doubt. But this ain’t 2018 Belgium. They are gettable
And fine if we play Belgium and lose a competitive match. But if we get dominated like we did in 2014 or in 2022 against the Netherlands that is a failure. This is a home World Cup and our core group are mostly 26-28! We need to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity
He’s just so slow. Maybe we can get away with him against Paraguay and Australia but he looked out of place in 3 of our 4 recent games against quality opponents
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I think I’d be more excited for the World Cup if it wasn’t partially in the US.
I have no intention of going to the games given the crazy pricing and absolute fiascos it seems like it would be to try and attempt.
The lead up has been incredibly rocky. I don’t doubt it will get even worse once they begin - pitch quality, weather, entry challenges, some dumb political item.
I’m sure once it starts I’ll be sucked back in but man it’s been tough to get excited.
Edit: it also seems like pressure from FIFA and broadcast partners finally delivered the death stroke to the TVApp. A fine time for me to have decided to cut the cord…
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I think we’re talking the same thing, mostly nomenclature, but against Germany (and to some extent, Senegal) Pulisic ranged inside a lot – into what I usually think of as a CAM role, behind the lone forward, shaded to one side or other, but really pretty central. You can call that a 3-5-2, but I thought when it was most effective in these past couple of games, it looked a lot like a 3-5-1-1, with the two wingbacks playing almost as traditional wingers level with CP and FB ahead of them. Let’s see if this translates:
CB --- CB --- CB
DM --- DM
M
WB -- CP -- WB
F
With CP and Tillman interchanging in that space behind Balogun (the F in those games)
In defense, it drops into a 4-4-2 or a 5-4-1 with the wingbacks dropping back to the rear line and CP joining the Mids.
The switch I made to your XI wasn’t McKennie for Seb, I Ieft McKennie in, it was Berhalter for Tillman – not a lot separating the two (Tillman a little better), but Seb’s set pieces are what sets him apart (and finally gets CP off corners – one of my greatest frustrations with CP and Poch. CP is not a particularly good deliverer of corner kicks, while he’s quite good at creating off them, so whyinthehell is he always taking them?)
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I’ve never understood why the last 3 coaches all insisted on having Pulisic take corners.
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He’s definitely slow, but I did not see exposed in our last two games – I’ve actually thought he’s done a better job staying home and not being drawn out to where his speed is a liability. The first Germany goal was not on him, it was on Robinson - worrying about his back shoulder and cutting Havertz loose.
His distribution is next level. I think I saw the clip AQ is referencing, and it’s a thing of beauty - he is thinking several steps ahead, which led to Dest’s goal vs. Senegal (by not passing to Dest, but sending him on while switching the field which created Dest’s chance).
So it’s a tradeoff, and I wish we had a better option – seemed like we had several young potential heirs in the last cycle, but all have faded away, so I’ll take the tradeoff.
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I don’t think they’re insisting on it, I think it’s more a matter of Pulisic thinking he is good at taking them and the coaches not having the moxie to tell him he’s not.
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1st Senegal goal. There were other errors on the play as well but you can’t run facing away from a guy for 40 yards without ever challenging him or even forcing him to the outside. Somehow only the third worst play by a CB (thanks Miles) of the week but it was straight up not a professional level attempt
McKenzie is also a good passer. At least that’s my understanding from reading previews. Can’t say I watch the French league
I didn’t pick up on that one. First half?
Yea late in the half. Play started with a Jedi turnover and some combo of Adams & McKenzie should’ve marked Mané better in the box but imo the biggest issue was Ream ceding so much ground without any sort of contest. Turned a 3 v 4 into a scoring chance
I think the hope is that Richards will be able to cover for things like that and Ream’s lack of pace.
World Cup starts out with a bang with 2x Red Cards.
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