USMNT
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A friend recommended this podcast about the 1998 USMNT : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/american-fiasco/id1389231303
I haven’t listened yet, because he recommended another book that I’m currently listening to which has been very good thus far:
Masters of Modern Soccer by Grant Wahl, narrated by Grant Wahl: https://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B07CBB873S&source_code=ASSORAP0511160006
The first few chapter is an extended interview with Pulisic
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Really a must win tomorrow.
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They have to do work before their last set of 3 games with Mexico and Costa Rica on the road during that set.
I’m looking forward to what Musah will bring to the table…especially if they play him with Adams and McKennie up the middle. They still haven’t played a game with Pulisic/Reyna/McKennie/Adams/Musah all on the field. Talent is there.
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We have talent, just need to make it in this time. If we get in, we can shake things up. We need to be bullies now, instead of being bullied.
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@focojayhawk IMO the biggest problems we have are on The defensive third. Brooks and Ream are too old and slow. Dest hasn’t played up to his potential recently. The robinsons have been good, I think. McKenzie has had problems. Zimmerman and Cannon I think have been decent.
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I think we have a nice pipeline of offensive players. We looked good offensively without Pulisic in that game he went out. Granted it wasn’t a good opponent but we looked balanced. These kids are ready to step up when the offensive leaders aren’t present.
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Oooh I’m scared! Let’s go!
No Pulisic. No Reyna. Need something from Aaronsen and McKinnie
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I like saying Miles Robinson like Nandor says “Colin Robinson” in What We Do In the Shadows
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Turner with the start. Did he win the starting GK role?
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No VAR is some shit
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For real.
Dest is looking bad again.
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Turner was ready for that. Nice strike by Jamaica
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You have to finish chances like that omg
Edit: Or, I mean, take them in the first place
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Kellen Acosta should be in the game. Need his deep ball threat
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YESSSSSSS
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The plan is an inverted weave: diagonal back passes as we work for the zero zero draw
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Ok! I’m behind you! Pepi! And I can stop talking smack about Dest now. Nice delivery. Totally redeemed all his bad touches with that beautiful chip
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Insurance! Nice
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Feeling good about getting 3 pts now
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Dest back to bumbling around with the ball and lead foot first touches. Maybe we should have subbed him after the assist
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Weah looking electric off the bench
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Wow nice run Weah
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Solid second half.
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It was a good win. I’m a new soccer fan, but stand by my assessment that we need to be more aggressive defensively. We can’t always just outscore opponents, need to stop them from scoring. Alot of that may be due to our youth.
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Good showing last night. The opponent helped, but it was good to see a solid win. Pepi won’t score every game, but he seems to find himself in a position to score pretty often…more than we can say for Sargent, Pefok, et al. Musah brings another element to the team as well. Love the midfield of Musah/Adams/McKennie. The back 4 still are shaky, but I liked the performance.
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@focojayhawk agree that Pepi has a knack in the box and > Sargent . I liked the guys we rolled with, only minor complaints are Dest and Zardes. Zardes was ineffective as usual and Dest looked sloppy save his huge assist to break the tie. Hope we stay consistent with this group plus the missing stars.
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@approxinfinity First off…thanks for the heads up on the American Fiasco podcast. Listened to it in one sitting at work. Fascinating.
I agree on Dest. He is obviously skilled with the ball, but he turns it over a ton and he’s a defender who doesn’t defend. I’m not the most nuanced soccer fan, but I just don’t see it with him. He starts for Barca so what do I know? He and Robinson bring great skill/speed coming forward, but Robinson at least tries on D which seems like a bit more than Dest.
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I watched but didn’t really watch last nights loss. Long weekend of soccer, and I was ready to turn off my brain when I got home. Anyone have some insights?
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I have a lot of thoughts…
–Berhalter did a lot of talking about not looking ahead and treating every game on its own. Then he switched out 7 starters hoping to get a draw to set them up (in theory) for Costa Rica. Made no sense.
–Pepi is hot as a pistol and he sits…for Zardes? Zardes scored at least…except it was for the wrong team. Adams sits…for Acosta…who then takes every free kick? Aaronson sits. All of those are questionable on their own…never mind that they’re already playing without Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie because of injury. Just unforgivable.
–I can’t see it with Bello, Acosta, Zardes, Arriola or Lletget. IMO none of them should even be on the team much less playing in a game like this. They had so many other options both on the squad (De la Torre, Richards, Hoppe, Busio) and left off this set that are so much better.
–Lletget seems incapable of ever playing the ball forward. There were countless times when he had openings forward only to pass the ball back to the center backs. Musah didn’t play great tonight, but he at least tries to push the ball forward. His reward for pushing forward was to be replaced by Roldan (really?). Sadly Lletget is just a Berhalter guy and outside of him getting hurt or stealing Gregg’s wife, there’s little he can do to be taken off of the squad.
–It’s a missed opportunity that will be largely forgotten if they get 3 points against Costa Rica on Wednesday.
Not sure that Gregg is the guy, but don’t think he’s going anywhere sadly. I’d still love to see this team with Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie, Pepi, Aaronson and Adams as their front six. So much potential there. Not much with all of the MLS guys Gregg keeps calling up. We’ll see
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nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh fuck that
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This team with a better coach could have a bright future.
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Dest looks much better tonight. That strike was money
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@approxinfinity very good player. This team has a lot of talent playing for good Euro clubs. Big key.
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Whew, got the 3 pts
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Outside of the first minute, that was as enjoyable of a half of soccer that I’ve seen the USMNT play in years in that first half. Moved the ball well. Attacked on both sides. Created plenty of chances. The right side with McKennie/Musah/Dest was so good and so dynamic. Bogged down a bit in the second half, but it felt exciting to watch them push forward more. Some of that was going a goal down and some of it was the opponent, but it at least showed that they’re capable of it.
Dest is such a talent going forward. His goal was awesome. He’s also why they gave away the goal as he let his guy behind him. He fits their team as a right back, but there are going to be 3-4 times/game when he gives the opponent a great chance to score. Last night it bit them.
Overall a good win I think. Hopefully they’ll have Reyna and Pulisic back next month when they get Mexico.
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@focojayhawk thought mckinnie and a Robinson looked sloppy and I didn’t like the Steffan over Turner call. Thought Weah deserved the start and didn’t understand why Arriola was playing forward anyway, when they said he was a late scratch replaced by Weah. Glad that happened as we neeeed Weah. Glad Zardes didn’t get on til stoppage time. Team played well, really liked what Adams, Aaronson, Dest and Weah provided
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How many more matches do we have to win to qualify for the World Cup? I mean, for real, it’s like it never ends. Serious… How many more, we’ve beaten damn near all of Central America but for one, how many more?
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Not yet halfway through the third round of CONCACAF qualifying. It is indeed a long process.
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@approxinfinity This is a fun one so far
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@BShark how great was Pulisic coming in and blowing it open? What a cross by Weah. Our roster was exactly what I wanted save Dest missing and Steffan in goal. But Steffan was solid and so was Yedlin.
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Musah/McKennie/Adams in the midfield for the next 5-6 years? I’ll take that any day. Pulisic/Aaronsen/Reyna/Weah as options on the wing? I’ll take that too.
It’s so fun to beat Mexico
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Weah is why you want guys in Europe. His soccer iq is off the charts due to being in the PSG youth system.
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@focojayhawk undoubtedly, and they play dirty against us. We need to get a little tougher.
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@BShark oh yeah, no comparison, not even close. A little over halfway there now right? Qualifying?
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Btw as we approach Thursday’s resumption of qualifiers I wanted to call out that Total Soccer Show podcast is USMNT every day podcast gold https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/total-soccer-show-usmnt-champions-league-epl-and-more/id327466681?i=1000548981909
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Anybody watch the El Salvador game last night? Nothing wrong with three points. But plenty wrong in the final third. Yikes.
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Not the best performance for sure. Ferreira was an interesting choice up front. I wondered if that was to save Pepi for Canada. As KU fans, we can also acknowledge that the key to lasting success sometimes is winning when you don’t play your best so the three points is all we probably ought to consider for now. If it bleeds into the Canada game, we’ll be writing something else here on Monday morning.
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Ferreira was looking like a really bad call until he had that header to connect to Robinson’s goal. That point blank shank was rough.
Antonee Robinson was a beast, I didn’t know he could be like that… Really impressive.
Zardes also wouldn’t have been my call for subbing in at the 9.
Pulisic looked like he was trying too hard. Hope playing for Tuchel who has had him out of position at Chelsea, sometimes playing wingback this season, hasn’t screwed with him. Bringing on Aaronson was the right call, but was hoping to see Pulisic play through his struggles and find form. There’s still time.
Musah was really good. Mckinnie has had better games. I think he gets a long leash right now because he’s a star at Juventus, but he hasnt really had an amazing game for the USMNT in a while.
Game could have easily been 4-1 or 5-1. I’ll feel much relieved to see Pepi find the back of the net once or twice in these qualifiers.
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Yup, I think we’d feel differently about this game had we actually put three goals on the board. That would have eased my complaints about sloppy play near the goal — a bit.
Musah. So funny you thought he was really good, Approx. I thought he was mostly invisible, which probably means he was doing the dirty work.
Pulisic wasnt involved much. All analysis I read blamed his play on great game planning by the opposing coach. He was surrounded at all times. Do you guys think Pulisic has lost a step or two? I’ve noticed that in EPL play. Injuries catching up to him?
McKennie was very involved. He had his moments. Held on to the ball way too long a few times. Skilled though. Him and Adams are the present and future.
My usual complaint was highly visible…our crossing was mostly awful.
Zimmerman was great. Not sure I like the Weah/Dest combo on the right. Didn’t allow Dest to shine down the wing. Guess that could be true with any combo.
The Canada game is gonna be tough.
