2022 World Cup Thread

[Zeno]

he's a player I enjoy to watch. Pepi and Pefok are others. We also have a young player at FC Rangers who is not really known, Malik Tillman who is scoring big goals there. Dike had injuries that I think killed his chances of making this team. I still look at the Jordan Morris selection and wonder if one of the other young players who were left off could have had an impact, but I just wonder if Berhalter was trying to get some experience into this team where he could.

Tillman isn’t a striker, he’s a Midfielder, he pretty much plays the Musah/Reyna role.

Pepi has a chance to develop but the Dutch league isn’t exactly known for their defense, best case for him is he scores lots of goals gets confidence and he gets recalled from his loan and continues to develop in the Bundesliga.

Pefok will be 30 years old the next WC, I think what he is now is about what he will be in 4 years. We need better.

 

[cardpa]

Set pieces and corners were crap throughout the entire tournament. Why Berhalter has Pulisic taking those is beyond my comprehension. First goal totally on Adams not getting back on defense, second goal on Dest for ball watching instead of being aware of where his mark was. Third goal total confusion and chaos, but really the reason was no pressure on the player crossing the ball so he was able to take his time and play a great ball in.

I am so sick and tired of seeing the same defensive mistakes over and over.

Is it just me or does anyone else see this, how much better other countries are on their first touch and passing accuracy? Why is the US always lacking on these rudimentary skills. When I say this I mean things like pace of passes, passes that play to another player so they don't have to slow down because it's a little behind or a little slow getting there. Passes to the foot away from the defender, not to the foot closest to the defender. First touch so the second touch, the player is now making a positive move with the ball still not settling the ball with the second touch. All these little things make a difference.

Another thing does anyone agree that Pulisic never seem to get any power in his shots on goal? Weah at least struck some shots with power. Wright didn't impress at all. His goal was one of luck more than skill. Not only do we lack a competent striker but one with real skill and a def first touch and quick strike on the ball.

I still want Berhalter replaced as the coach but that will not happen, especially since they moved on to the knockout round unless the team falls apart over the next two years.

 

[Russ Smith]

That 2nd goal at the end of the half really changed the whole game for the US. Pulisic had the point blank shot early but it was so quick he didn't really have any time to get full swing and the goalie blocked it. But if we don't allow that 2nd goal at the end of the half it's 1-0 and the Haji goal ties it up.

But in the end they were just better than us, as Zeno said most of their chances ended up in the back of the net, only one of ours did.

 

[Zeno]

I noticed the lack of power on the Pulisic shots, not sure if that was due to his injury or what, we’ve seen him generate power on his shots before.

 

[Russ Smith]

Set pieces and corners were crap throughout the entire tournament. Why Berhalter has Pulisic taking those is beyond my comprehension. First goal totally on Adams not getting back on defense, second goal on Dest for ball watching instead of being aware of where his mark was. Third goal total confusion and chaos, but really the reason was no pressure on the player crossing the ball so he was able to take his time and play a great ball in.

I am so sick and tired of seeing the same defensive mistakes over and over.

Is it just me or does anyone else see this, how much better other countries are on their first touch and passing accuracy? Why is the US always lacking on these rudimentary skills. When I say this I mean things like pace of passes, passes that play to another player so they don't have to slow down because it's a little behind or a little slow getting there. Passes to the foot away from the defender, not to the foot closest to the defender. First touch so the second touch, the player is now making a positive move with the ball still not settling the ball with the second touch. All these little things make a difference.

Another thing does anyone agree that Pulisic never seem to get any power in his shots on goal? Weah at least struck some shots with power. Wright didn't impress at all. His goal was one of luck more than skill. Not only do we lack a competent striker but one with real skill and a def first touch and quick strike on the ball.

I still want Berhalter replaced as the coach but that will not happen, especially since they moved on to the knockout round unless the team falls apart over the next two years.

Agree on Pulisic taking the corners and set pieces, he's a great player but that doesn't seem to be his strength at all. They kept saying the guy taking those shots has to beat the first defender and give others a shot, pretty consistently the first defender deflected his corners.

He's 24 I don't know peak for soccer but he'll be there or just about at the next WC hopefully we have some better strikers then to play with him. Wright is 24 too so he'll have a chance to be back but I agree he's not good enough.

In this game I thought Dest was our best player and he's only 22, Adams is young, so we have some pieces but we need more talent obviously

 

[Zeno]

Agree on Pulisic taking the corners and set pieces, he's a great player but that doesn't seem to be his strength at all. They kept saying the guy taking those shots has to beat the first defender and give others a shot, pretty consistently the first defender deflected his corners.

He's 24 I don't know peak for soccer but he'll be there or just about at the next WC hopefully we have some better strikers then to play with him. Wright is 24 too so he'll have a chance to be back but I agree he's not good enough.

In this game I thought Dest was our best player and he's only 22, Adams is young, so we have some pieces but we need more talent obviously

The team as a whole is young, Musah turned 20 the other day, Adams 23, McKennie 24, Robinson 25, they all should be in their soccer prime at the next WC…add Reyna who is 20, Aaronson who is 22 we have a solid core. We desperately need to develop a striker, we have such solid young core in the MF they need someone to feed and feed off of. That has to be US soccer priority number 1 going in to 2026 identifying and developing a striker, someone like Brian McBride from years past would have thrived with this type of MF behind him.

 

[Lorenzo]

Why bring off Weah?

yeah I wonder about that. Dest as well, he had a great WC and is also the type of player that needs to be playing 90 mins. Wright did flick the goal in so I guess it worked out. Wright had a couple of great chances and Pulisic missed one that will keep him up at night. the last goal was communication breakdown by all of the USA defenders. Just some awful moments of defending let the team down today. It looked like they switched off mentally several times in this game. I think they looked tired.

If you haven't seen Matt Turner's post game comments, he had some brutally honest takes on this game. good for him.

 

[cardpa]

I'm just frustrated right now and I think Berhalter is a sub standard coach. Here is an example, he played a 4-3-3 formation. I wondered why when it keeps players on the bench who should be on the field. The team's strength right now is an over abundance of capable midfielders so why not play a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1 and get as many of your best players on the field at one time. Pulisic, McKennie, Musah, Adams, Reyna, de la Torre, Acosta, Aaronson, all midfielders. That is the stregnth of the team, use it to you advantage. Forward is the weakest area on the team yet he tries to run 3 of them out there.

 

[cardpa]

That 2nd goal at the end of the half really changed the whole game for the US. Pulisic had the point blank shot early but it was so quick he didn't really have any time to get full swing and the goalie blocked it. But if we don't allow that 2nd goal at the end of the half it's 1-0 and the Haji goal ties it up.

But in the end they were just better than us, as Zeno said most of their chances ended up in the back of the net, only one of ours did.

I agree they were the better team today.

 

[Lorenzo]

The team as a whole is young, Musah turned 20 the other day, Adams 23, McKennie 24, Robinson 25, they all should be in their soccer prime at the next WC…add Reyna who is 20, Aaronson who is 22 we have a solid core. We desperately need to develop a striker, we have such solid young core in the MF they need someone to feed and feed off of. That has to be US soccer priority number 1 going in to 2026 identifying and developing a striker, someone like Brian McBride from years past would have thrived with this type of MF behind him.

good points. the good news is we have MF players who look comfortable on the ball and can move forward creating chances. I think the Netherlands exploited that today and waited for our players to switch off and make mistakes rather than build out of the back and play with the ball.

 

[Lorenzo]

I'm just frustrated right now and I think Berhalter is a sub standard coach. Here is an example, he played a 4-3-3 formation. I wondered why when it keeps players on the bench who should be on the field. The team's strength right now is an over abundance of capable midfielders so why not play a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1 and get as many of your best players on the field at one time. Pulisic, McKennie, Musah, Adams, Reyna, de la Torre, Acosta, Aaronson, all midfielders. That is the stregnth of the team, use it to you advantage. Forward is the weakest area on the team yet he tries to run 3 of them out there.

yeah I think that was his biggest issue, he wasn't able to really get the right combo of players to get goals. he really tried to force sargent and wright into roles that they just couldn't fill. Wright had some chances today that a quality #9 should have taken. he had a walk in chance, so did Pulisic. that's really the difference.

 

[Zeno]

I'm just frustrated right now and I think Berhalter is a sub standard coach. Here is an example, he played a 4-3-3 formation. I wondered why when it keeps players on the bench who should be on the field. The team's strength right now is an over abundance of capable midfielders so why not play a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1 and get as many of your best players on the field at one time. Pulisic, McKennie, Musah, Adams, Reyna, de la Torre, Acosta, Aaronson, all midfielders. That is the stregnth of the team, use it to you advantage. Forward is the weakest area on the team yet he tries to run 3 of them out there.

They may call it a 4-3-3 but in reality he plays a 4-3-2-1 with 2 attacking MFers (normally Pulisic and Weah) it’s pretty much a more forward thinking 4-5-1. It isn’t like he is running Sargent, Wright and Ferreira up top at the same time at the expense of our best players. I just think the US deficiency at striker is killing us more than the system we run.

 

[Lorenzo]

Tillman isn’t a striker, he’s a Midfielder, he pretty much plays the Musah/Reyna role.

Pepi has a chance to develop but the Dutch league isn’t exactly known for their defense, best case for him is he scores lots of goals gets confidence and he gets recalled from his loan and continues to develop in the Bundesliga.

Pefok will be 30 years old the next WC, I think what he is now is about what he will be in 4 years. We need better.

ok I thought Tillman was a forward or lined up there for the USA at some point if I recall correctly. not a striker though.

 

[Lorenzo]

They may call it a 4-3-3 but in reality he plays a 4-3-2-1 with 2 attacking MFers (normally Pulisic and Weah) it’s pretty much a more forward thinking 4-5-1. It isn’t like he is running Sargent, Wright and Ferreira up top at the same time at the expense of our best players. I just think the US deficiency at striker is killing us more than the system we run.

yeah and he did play a 4-4-2 at times against England and it got 0 goals. striker or not at the end of the day the team had multiple chances today to score goals and they missed. Tim ream had a point blank chance on a corner, Pulisic and wright both had walk ins.

 

[Zeno]

yeah and he did play a 4-4-2 at times against England and it got 0 goals. striker or not at the end of the day the team had multiple chances today to score goals and they missed. Tim ream had a point blank chance on a corner, Pulisic and wright both had walk ins.

Yeah, a prime Donovan or Dempsey would have buried one of those chances today.

 

[Lorenzo]

Set pieces and corners were crap throughout the entire tournament. Why Berhalter has Pulisic taking those is beyond my comprehension. First goal totally on Adams not getting back on defense, second goal on Dest for ball watching instead of being aware of where his mark was. Third goal total confusion and chaos, but really the reason was no pressure on the player crossing the ball so he was able to take his time and play a great ball in.

I am so sick and tired of seeing the same defensive mistakes over and over.

Is it just me or does anyone else see this, how much better other countries are on their first touch and passing accuracy? Why is the US always lacking on these rudimentary skills. When I say this I mean things like pace of passes, passes that play to another player so they don't have to slow down because it's a little behind or a little slow getting there. Passes to the foot away from the defender, not to the foot closest to the defender. First touch so the second touch, the player is now making a positive move with the ball still not settling the ball with the second touch. All these little things make a difference.

Another thing does anyone agree that Pulisic never seem to get any power in his shots on goal? Weah at least struck some shots with power. Wright didn't impress at all. His goal was one of luck more than skill. Not only do we lack a competent striker but one with real skill and a def first touch and quick strike on the ball.

I still want Berhalter replaced as the coach but that will not happen, especially since they moved on to the knockout round unless the team falls apart over the next two years.

a lot of good points. I think sometimes it's just mental errors that are hurting this team. lack of concentration and communication. there are a lot of simple passes that don't connect or simple touches that are missed. Zimmerman is a good scramble defender and can win air duels, but he really struggled passing out of the back and gave nothing on USA corners. good point on set pieces. We don't have anyone who is really a set piece specialist. most elite countries have 3 or more. we also don't really have someone who is an aerial threat on corners, I thought McKennie would do more. John Brooks is someone who I would have liked to see on this team because he can score goals as a defender and he can play out of the back. it seems to fit a need that this team had, but for whatever reason he fell out of favor.

 

[Zeno]

a lot of good points. I think sometimes it's just mental errors that are hurting this team. lack of concentration and communication. there are a lot of simple passes that don't connect or simple touches that are missed. Zimmerman is a good scramble defender and can win air duels, but he really struggled passing out of the back and gave nothing on USA corners. good point on set pieces. We don't have anyone who is really a set piece specialist. most elite countries have 3 or more. we also don't really have someone who is an aerial threat on corners, I thought McKennie would do more. John Brooks is someone who I would have liked to see on this team because he can score goals as a defender and he can play out of the back. it seems to fit a need that this team had, but for whatever reason he fell out of favor.

Brooks was terrible his last few times playing for the US, then he went from being a starter in the Bundesliga to a guy who comes off the bench in Portugal.

 

[Lorenzo]

Yeah, a prime Donovan or Dempsey would have buried one of those chances today.

absolutely and someone else mentioned McBride earlier...highly underrated American striker. talk about a guy who was good in the air and was willing to put his body on the line for a chance to score. I wish berhalter would have given weah and Pulisic that chance to play forward and got Reyna/Brenden on more instead of forcing wright and sargent. maybe it wouldn't of made a difference, but gio needs to play more.

 

[Lorenzo]

Brooks was terrible his last few times playing for the US, then he went from being a starter in the Bundesliga to a guy who comes off the bench in Portugal.

yeah I think his issues not playing for his club probably did him in. I think the last time I saw Brooks play was the nations league final vs. Mexico? that's the last time I can remember he and Tim Ream playing for the USA and they both played poor in that game, but they had moments playing the ball up out of the back.

 

[Lorenzo]

That 2nd goal at the end of the half really changed the whole game for the US. Pulisic had the point blank shot early but it was so quick he didn't really have any time to get full swing and the goalie blocked it. But if we don't allow that 2nd goal at the end of the half it's 1-0 and the Haji goal ties it up.

But in the end they were just better than us, as Zeno said most of their chances ended up in the back of the net, only one of ours did.

well said. If Pulisic buries that early chance it could of been a different game. not sure we win, but it would have taken them out of their game plan that they executed brilliantly. The Dutch were very good today and could have scored more than 3. USA were outclassed and out coached today.

 

[cardpa]

They may call it a 4-3-3 but in reality he plays a 4-3-2-1 with 2 attacking MFers (normally Pulisic and Weah) it’s pretty much a more forward thinking 4-5-1. It isn’t like he is running Sargent, Wright and Ferreira up top at the same time at the expense of our best players. I just think the US deficiency at striker is killing us more than the system we run.

It still comes down to not getting our eleven best on the field at the same time. I don't think any team sees Wright, Morris, Sargent or Ferreira up top as dangerous scoring threats.

 

[Zeno]

It still comes down to not getting our eleven best on the field at the same time. I don't think any team sees Wright, Morris, Sargent or Ferreira up top as dangerous scoring threats.

You can’t just plug players in positions that they don’t normally play though and expect success. Pulisic, Reyna, Weah aren’t strikers, they don’t have the type of game to be target forwards— I don’t think any of them played that role for their clubs and I know none of them played that for the youth national teams. Do you honestly think Walker Zimmerman is one of our best 11? You aren’t taking him out and replacing him with someone with no experience at CB, it’s no different with striker.

 

[Lorenzo]

It's interesting that there are many teams that have this issue with lack of production at central striker. it's probably the reason why Tomas Tuchel got fired at Chelsea. Pulisic played every position in the attack for Chelsea over that period. I would say it kind of hurt christian and the other Chelsea players because they were moved around so much and never knew what their next role would be. has nothing to do with our squad, but it is important not to play your players out of position for the sake of getting your best 11 out there.

 

[Zeno]

Australia is really turning it up late in the second half but Argentina leads 2-1

 

[MigratingOsprey]

That was a crazy goal to make a seemingly comfortable game into a scramble

Can't believe how badly Martinez just missed the net