USMNT - ‘23 and beyond

[efil4stnias]

This is not something the US used to be capable of against a side like Brazil:

Had it not been for the strength of Weah on the ball at the very beginning of that clip, that would have been quite dangerous give away.

But in agreement that the USMNT skill level is best we have ever had.

 

[superchuck500]

Had it not been for the strength of Weah on the ball at the very beginning of that clip, that would have been quite dangerous give away.

But in agreement that the USMNT skill level is best we have ever had.

If my mom had balls she would be my dad.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

This is not something the US used to be capable of against a side like Brazil:

Yes it’s an incredible sequence- I just fear that greggg is going to take away the wrong lesson
This should be plan C
Plan A should be the Weah to Scally to Wes to CP sequence I mentioned earlier

Ream and Turner should not be central to our distribution plan

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

If my mom had balls she would be my dad.

2 dads?

 

[IceHot]

Yes it’s an incredible sequence- I just fear that greggg is going to take away the wrong lesson
This should be plan C
Plan A should be the Weah to Scally to Wes to CP sequence I mentioned earlier

Ream and Turner should not be central to our distribution plan

A solid Plan A. In this case it was a concerted 5 man-press. I am just glad they were prepared enough to creatively Rondo their way out of it instead of forcing a Plan A or going with old Plan B (go over the top into a 1-on-5).

 

[Beast]

Nice win over Bolivia to open Copa America, but probably should have had 3 or 4

 

[44slayer]

Nice win over Bolivia to open Copa America, but probably should have had 3 or 4

Or 5. xG was 2.40. Thought it would be higher, but -.40 still isnt good considering competition.

I'm glad that I'm back to the long standing tradition of complaining that we lack killer instinct in front of goal. Those chances have to find the back of the net if we are going to compete with the elite or semi elites.

Some days, you just cant get them through. I believe Pepi had 3 chances he could have sent home and all 3 were pretty decent saves. Usually he would finish 1-2 of those. The offsides prevented another Flo goal as well.

 

[efil4stnias]

Or 5. xG was 2.40. Thought it would be higher, but -.40 still isnt good considering competition.

I'm glad that I'm back to the long standing tradition of complaining that we lack killer instinct in front of goal. Those chances have to find the back of the net if we are going to compete with the elite or semi elites.

Some days, you just cant get them through. I believe Pepi had 3 chances he could have sent home and all 3 were pretty decent saves. Usually he would finish 1-2 of those. The offsides prevented another Flo goal as well.

he just needs to get "sighted" ( think of firing weapon ) in front of goal. All 3 shots were directly at the GK. Not one to either side. Thats simply a lack of playing and getting the feel for finishing.

I think once he nets one, he will have a better feel and finish better.

Example was Folarin goal- he picked out right post without looking up and it was placement vs power - thats the awareness Pepi needs to dial up. I suspect it will come. But in meantime, Folarin opening his tab is a good thing. Id like to see Wright get going too.

 

[Beast]

Or 5. xG was 2.40. Thought it would be higher, but -.40 still isnt good considering competition.

I'm glad that I'm back to the long standing tradition of complaining that we lack killer instinct in front of goal. Those chances have to find the back of the net if we are going to compete with the elite or semi elites.

Some days, you just cant get them through. I believe Pepi had 3 chances he could have sent home and all 3 were pretty decent saves. Usually he would finish 1-2 of those. The offsides prevented another Flo goal as well.

On one of Pepi’s, I think he had the right idea but was a tad late. Basically dink it into the far corner but being late, it went wide.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

he just needs to get "sighted" ( think of firing weapon ) in front of goal. All 3 shots were directly at the GK. Not one to either side. Thats simply a lack of playing and getting the feel for finishing.

I think once he nets one, he will have a better feel and finish better.

I think Pepi is our best poacher - he was just uhn-luhky last night

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Interesting

 

[efil4stnias]

Interesting

writing on the wall?

I would have had him in the short list of replacements.

The more I read ( just read a piece from 6 years ago, penned post- TnT loss about the whole Klinsmann/Gulati/Arena/US Soccer debacle ) the more I return to issues with culture and the prior "reputational fight" between MLS and the European big 3 leagues.
I think part the "culture" aspect stems from the long standing feeling of US Sports in general that if we decide to play a particular sport, that it is just preordained, we will dominate. That somehow the US athlete will find a way to rise to the top echelon internationally. Couple that with MLS attempting to "fast track" itself to a preeminent competitive professional footballing league ( internationally ), there had been an element inside US Soccer that saw itself as the main protectors and advancers of that league. To the detriment of competing internationally - especially player development.

One item was the friction between US Soccer ( read Garber ) and Klinsmann- the latter, basically challenging USMNT players to play in Europe, get out their comfort zone and play for clubs that will challenge them. Whereas MLS wanted those players to remain domestic to "further" MLS reputation. But for Klinsmann, he felt that having players dominate MLS wouldnt translate into players getting better rounded for international competition. This created a pretty large chasm within the entire structure of US Soccer/MLS. ( Klinsmann wanted supreme powers to dictate the future of US Soccer on down to youth leagues- something US Soccer was simply not going to give up )

I think that whole episode has now lead us to this point- where US Soccer is OVERLY protective - circle the wagons type - for ANY coaching hire that MIGHT want to come in and not only coach, but look to a systemic change of US Soccer and how its run, its youth programs/leagues and ultimately continue to pit MLS vs Euro teams, that is detrimental to MLS and its ability to grow ( read- money ) into a real powerhouse league.

I just feel like MLS and the powers that be figured within 20 years, they would rival leagues like La Liga/Bundesliga/EPL - tried to fast track it to prominence and it doesnt work that way. Especially in a country where soccer/MLS is the 5th pro league and not a "US SPORT" like NFL/NBA or MLB.


At some point, US Soccer will have to divest itself from MLS- they simply cannot be intertwined with executives that are MLS success driven. We cannot compete internationally when decisions on coaching, players etc come from folks who are internally designed to protect the domestic product.
US Soccer will have to stand alone in regards to international play and focus its efforts on developing players and allowing them the opportunity - be it domestic or internationally - to make their own decision on where to play.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

writing on the wall?

I would have had him in the short list of replacements.

The more I read ( just read a piece from 6 years ago, penned post- TnT loss about the whole Klinsmann/Gulati/Arena/US Soccer debacle ) the more I return to issues with culture and the prior "reputational fight" between MLS and the European big 3 leagues.
I think part the "culture" aspect stems from the long standing feeling of US Sports in general that if we decide to play a particular sport, that it is just preordained, we will dominate. That somehow the US athlete will find a way to rise to the top echelon internationally. Couple that with MLS attempting to "fast track" itself to a preeminent competitive professional footballing league ( internationally ), there had been an element inside US Soccer that saw itself as the main protectors and advancers of that league. To the detriment of competing internationally - especially player development.

One item was the friction between US Soccer ( read Garber ) and Klinsmann- the latter, basically challenging USMNT players to play in Europe, get out their comfort zone and play for clubs that will challenge them. Whereas MLS wanted those players to remain domestic to "further" MLS reputation. But for Klinsmann, he felt that having players dominate MLS wouldnt translate into players getting better rounded for international competition. This created a pretty large chasm within the entire structure of US Soccer/MLS. ( Klinsmann wanted supreme powers to dictate the future of US Soccer on down to youth leagues- something US Soccer was simply not going to give up )

I think that whole episode has now lead us to this point- where US Soccer is OVERLY protective - circle the wagons type - for ANY coaching hire that MIGHT want to come in and not only coach, but look to a systemic change of US Soccer and how its run, its youth programs/leagues and ultimately continue to pit MLS vs Euro teams, that is detrimental to MLS and its ability to grow ( read- money ) into a real powerhouse league.

I just feel like MLS and the powers that be figured within 20 years, they would rival leagues like La Liga/Bundesliga/EPL - tried to fast track it to prominence and it doesnt work that way. Especially in a country where soccer/MLS is the 5th pro league and not a "US SPORT" like NFL/NBA or MLB.


At some point, US Soccer will have to divest itself from MLS- they simply cannot be intertwined with executives that are MLS success driven. We cannot compete internationally when decisions on coaching, players etc come from folks who are internally designed to protect the domestic product.
US Soccer will have to stand alone in regards to international play and focus its efforts on developing players and allowing them the opportunity - be it domestic or internationally - to make their own decision on where to play.

Hopefully Liga MX is enough of a cautionary tale that yoking national players to domestic clubs does not create competitive teams

MLS’s main problem is owner oriented vs player oriented
They are fine with parity as long as they get to handicap themselves to hard spending controls
That’s fine in other US sports where the league is either dominant or singular, but trying to compete against EPL, et al while handcuffing yourself financially produces predictable results

 

[St. Widge]

Hopefully Liga MX is enough of a cautionary tale that yoking national players to domestic clubs does not create competitive teams

MLS’s main problem is owner oriented vs player oriented
They are fine with parity as long as they get to handicap themselves to hard spending controls
That’s fine in other US sports where the league is either dominant or singular, but trying to compete against EPL, et al while handcuffing yourself financially produces predictable results

Yeah. MLS is just an inferior product that is seen by the rest of the world as a place for older European players to go to retire. I've tried to watch it but even to my amateur eyes it's clearly inferior to any of the European or even South American leagues. It seems to be played on the level of NCAA Soccer which isn't good.

And a lot of that is the fact that it's a capped league that can't compete for talent with the teams in the big leagues like La Liga, EPL, and even Ligue 1. The problem is that I don't see U.S. owners giving up that cap or doing something like relegation since U.S. owners expect to make money from owning sports teams.

As a result, USA Soccer really needs to divorce itself from MLS because it's really being used as a way to showcase MLS players instead of developing players for the USMNT by having them player wherever they need to play to develop properly.