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Retired US Soccer / World Cup Thread (RIP)

BillBrasky said:
Could have sworn that he was coming in from the left the 2 or 3 times I've seen of him playing for Seattle this season. But I may be wrong.

Regardless, he was pretty meh tonight.
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You’re correct, he came in off the left on one goal this season. Think he actually has one front the left, one from the right, and a chip from the center. He definitely interchanges wings for Seattle though
 
In trying to take my mind off the dumpster fire, Aaron Long played an excellent game last night. He and Brooks were very solid out of the back. Tim Ream has been playing pretty good ball in England, but damn, he was off last night.

The way the team and formation set up, it lends itself to 0-0 matches as Brasky mentioned. Clear chances have to be finished, and Arriola has to bury the chance he had. The lead up to it was beautiful, but if you can't finish from 12 out on goal, this team can't succeed. Really lucky break with Zardes goal, but I just don't see Zardes, J-Mo, and Arriola creating goals out of nothing every game.
 
I'm torn because you all know how much I hate boring and slow side-to-side possession, however I'm glad there is a plan and it seems like we'll be more a consistently decent team under this system.

Aesthetically I might be a tough grind too. Pep's system takes a year+ and $500M in transfer kitty to implement, neither of which Berhalter has. Definitely gonna start betting the under on USMNT matches.
 
I also still believe that our strengths are much more suited to a high pressure, rapid counter attacking system. Either a diamond midfield or a 3/5 man backline with FB/WB's who can bomb up the wings. We have a solid young core of CMs, fullbacks who are better going forward, and CP10 who should thrive in a free role that finds him space.
 
I thought we looked pretty good for a team that hasn't played much together in that system. Our short passing and control was the best I've seen in a long time. Arriola should have finished (it was a decent save though) and it wasn't clear anyone was offside on the goal called back. Trapp made a few beautiful long diagonal balls. We got 1 v 1 options on the wings a few times and didn't attack, would have preferred Yedlin, Pulisic or a more selfish option in place of Morris out wide.

Defense was solid apart from Morris losing his man and a couple odd, unnecessary turnovers that put us under some pressure.
 
Player grades from https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...-adams-hybrid-right-back-role-pays-dividends:

Sean Johnson (6) — There's really nothing to critique when your 'keeper can practically put his feet up and watch a movie.

Tyler Adams (6.5) — Playing in Berhalter's hybrid right back role for the first time, Adams covered a ton of ground. It wasn't always a great idea to roam so much and his teammates were called on to cover a few times when he got caught up. That said, the RB Leipzig youngster generally moved the ball forward and forced a few turnovers across midfield, which is precisely why he drew the quirky assignment.

Aaron Long (7) — Though Ecuador rarely threatened going forward, Long was most often the guy who turned them away. The Red Bulls man again showed why he's an ace at defending on the run and reading the imbalance when he has to slide over to cover for a caught-up teammate.

John Anthony Brooks (6.5) — The Wolfsburg center back wasn't pressed into much duty, but did succeed on a few solid physical challenges when Ecuador tried to lob up to their forwards. Brooks also moved the ball efficiently, with no missed passes over the final hour of the game.

Tim Ream (5.5) — The veteran was largely steady at the back and even picked up an assist on the winner. However, there were a couple of major hiccups in his corner, both on and off the ball, that might have been punished by a better opponent.

Wil Trapp (7.5) — The Columbus skipper was easily the best US player in the first half, and not just because he was having a ton of fun pinging excellent diagonal balls to the wingers. Trapp also kept Ecuador from advancing through lines up the middle with positioning and pressure against potential passing targets.

Weston McKennie (7) — The young midfielder started slowly, but quickly grew into the game to display why he's such a handful to play against. His movement and combo touches gave the visitors some final third headaches.

Christian Pulisic (6) — The Borussia Dortmund playmaker asked some decent questions of the Ecuador defense, even if they generally had the answers on this night. Pulisic's early set piece deliveries were troublesome, but that area of his game fell off from there.

Jordan Morris (5) — It was a pretty quiet attack night from the Seattle speedster, who seemed hesitant to run at defenders. Morris also got away with napping in his own end on one occasion.

Paul Arriola (6) — The D.C. United winger caused some stress for Ecuador when he found space to receive long diagonals, but was mostly unable to find the right final ball. Arriola's grade is knocked down to average for somehow managing to hit the Ecuador goalkeeper when he ran onto a glorious open chance in the 25th minute.

Gyasi Zardes (6.5) — Never mind the goal, which required a silly turnover, a fortuitous deflection and some wacky footwork from the flailing away netminder to sneak its way under the bar. Zardes does get credit for some nifty combination play around the area on a night when his touches were few and far between.

Coach Gregg Berhalter (6.5) — Yes, the hosts succeeded at keeping the game in front of them all night (as Berhalter's teams tend to do), and against a somewhat better foe than those faced during his first camp in charge. Now the boss needs to iron out the final third plan to create more good chances. For instance, it might have been better to have Arriola and Morris switch sides to accentuate their best talents. But hey, we're early in the transition phase and this was his first go with most of the top selection available. Baby steps, to be sure, but they remain headed in the right direction.

Subs:

Michael Bradley (6) — Aside from one sloppy giveaway, Bradley generally continued the simple glue work done by Trapp.

Sebastian Lletget (5.5) — The LA Galaxy man didn't try anything fancy, but maybe could have.

DeAndre Yedlin (6) — See Lletget. The Newcastle right-sider needs to be a bit more aggressive if used up the wing.

Cristian Roldan (5.5) — The Sounders midfielder did try to get some passes through the Ecuador back line, they just didn't connect.

Jonathan Lewis (6) — The youngster only had one touch before Zardes scored and the game moved into the "back it into the garage" phase.
 
@BrianSciaretta: The U.S. U-20s rally from an 0-2 deficit to draw a tough French team 2-2. U.S. goals from Konrad de la Fuente and Uly Llanez: 2 players who are also age-eligible for the 2021 World Cup.

Konrad de la Fuente could very well be the real deal, soon.
 
Our U-23s just getting destroyed by Egypt. Not even sure we have a shot on goal. Really the only saving grace here is "I think" they split up into 2 groups of 11 and went 45 mins for each group. The starters appears to be split between the two groups, but hard to tell with no commentators and names on jerseys.

2-0 85th min
 
Netherlands with 2 second half goals to tie things up against Germany in the 64th.
 
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