The media’s fault, guys like Ives and especially Wahl who has a huge reach need to start holding players/coaches at fault and not play kiss up to make sure their feelings aren’t hurt….
Would you rather have a generation of players who played at a World Cup against the best in a competitive/adversarial situation or have them playing video games all summer?
So one of your forwards gets injured and your whole team is screwed? Than that’s down to the coach bringing the wrong players in. One striker should not change things that drastically.
On top of that, it’s up to the manager to have instilled a team dynamic that would of allowed a different formation to utilize the players he had i.e. 4-4-2.
Share Bradley’s insistence on consistency at all costs.
Rongen continues to prove that he can’t produce wins when they count. His choices throughout the years have been somewhat questionable but for whatever reason…he continues to coach……..
Agree with subbing Salgado. Not saying there’s a conspiracy at all against the US. I’m just saying the qualifying process sucks. It’s almost as if the group games become meaningless in a way. Why not have the 4 group winners play eachother for 2 automatic spots. Then have the losers of those games play the winners of the 4 second place team’s games for the other 2 spots. That would be fair. As far as playing on another country’s home field, I’d equate it to an NFL team going 14-2, then having to play a wild-card team on the road. Sure, they should still win, but it’s just not fair. Putting all that aside, the US has to win games like this no matter what. There’s no excuse.
At the end of the day, hopefully the kids will look back and get something out of it. I truly believe that this devastating loss will help each and everyone of them in the future for club or country.
Wrongen is a nothing coach who has not delivered, repeatedly. Nice guys DO finish last in international soccer. Get someone with savvy who can prepare the team for the big games. This was an ill prepared team that got full of itself against a bunch of lowly teams and fell apart at the first sign of pressure.
That doesn’t make any sense. The countries that are in the competition are the only ones with the infrastructure to host. Maybe we should let another country host the Gold Cup as well to make our guys battle hardened but that woul kill the golden goose for Concacaf.
So then pretty much every CONCACAF qualifying tournament would be held in a country other than US, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Trinidad…. so basically Belize year after year?
Somebody has to play the home team. There isn’t any conspiracy to get us. We finished 1st and they finished 2nd. That’s how Round Robins work. These guys choked and Rongen should have subbed in Omar Salgado at the start of the 2nd half.
Not that I’m going to defend Rongen much, but he said Wood being out really tied his hands since Salgado was the only attacking player he had on the bench.
The coaches felt Salgado is more of a true forward and not a winger, so they moved Garza to left wing and brought in Moises Hernandez at left back.
With Gatt, Ruelas, and Agudelo not being released, Wood’s injury kinda screwed them.
That said, there was more than enough talent on the field to win the match.
What’s more disconcerting is that MacMath, Boss, and Rowe are three top prospects, and all three made crucial mistakes. And Guatemala, like any team should, punished the US for those mistakes.
How much can we blame Rongen for three of his supposedly best players making critical mistakes in a vital match?
U20s…ZERO bearing on the Sr team. While I would have liked to see the US win and advance, it’s pretty irrelevant in the big picture.
Looking back at the last U20 Wcup, Adu was an absolute animal. However, these under age tournaments have little bearing on how one will perform as a pro or how the Sr team will play going forward. Just saying…
Rongen also made the decision to play Greg Garza, who is just passable at LB and easily beaten by faster players, up top, for some inexplicable reason.
Really at the end of the day this is the #1 event that cost us the game.
What the **** was Kelyn Rowe thinking??
That’s the downside to these guys who try to play a more finesse game, they don’t always know when to stop trying to be fancy and just kick the ball into the back of the net as hard as possible.
Gale Agbossoumonde, aka “BOSS” (all caps for Ives) made a similar mistake for his new Swedish team where he jumped up to head a ball, missed, and gave up a goal. There were very few people in attendance, so I’m not sure the stress / hostile environment excuse will fly.
Agbossoumonde is undoubtedly talented, but maybe he has a ten cent head? I’m not saying he does, just saying that’s also a possibility.
This is silly. Granted, they should of won the game. But this qualifying process is so stupid. For it to come down to one game against the HOME(!) country is downright unfair. It’s a shame because this was one of our better U-20 teams. I’ve seen this too many times. When qualifying for the 2004 Olympics, the US ran into the same situation in which they won their group, but had to face a HOST Mexican team who had just happened to finish second in their group. The US, of course, lost and didn’t qualify for the olympics. Just because of one loss after winning their group. Then, just this past year, it happened to the Women’s national team in which they breezed through the group and then faced the HOST Mexicans and lost and then were forced to play in a play-in game and almost miss the World Cup. The point is that all these teams won all their qualifying games before losing just ONE game. Granted, the US should of beat Guatemala, but the process is majorly flawed and completely unfair.
At what age do we start holding players accountable for their play? Yes, it seems Rongen made some questionable decisions with subs and it is up to him to develop a style to execute, but soccer more than any sport, is up to the players. This isn’t pointy-football where the coach is telling you what to do on every play, or B-ball where you can call a timeout and ask the coach what to do next…Soccer is 90 minutes of players executing their style of play and responding to constantly changing circumstances. From what little I’ve seen of them, this team had a good style they were playing but failed to execute individually and collectively last night. They’re teens and they were in probably the most hostile environment of their young lives, but they didn’t play well…I just hope they take this slice of humble pie and digest the lesson that you never underestimate anyone.
I still feel like 9/10 the US crushes them. They were just poor this game. I hope that not playin in U-20 WC won’t turn some players that are dual-citizens away from playing for the USA.
Dealing with this type of environment in Central America and Mexico is a major obstacle for our national and MLS teams. The hostility, general chaos and mayhem are not things we’re accustomed to in our culture. We need to find ways to train for it to remain calm and composed without becoming lax. It’s difficult. Kreisdid relatively well with his team the other night.
Saw the same thing; nothing thru the middle with no calming presence (Luis Gil??) and everything thru the wings. Other times Gyau double and triple team with no outlet in the middle to pass Breakaway situations have to be converted especially early or else eventually opposition and crowd will eventually come into play. In this game no matter what age group is thatall it takes is just a couple mental lapses to occur; seen and played in it time and time again.
These guys have serious talent, but yes, that was a MAJOR hostile crowd, the other team was seriously amped, and our guys seemed a bit discombobulated. Missing so many clear goal scoring chances killed us. A few major defensive blunders did as well. Do we not have a game through the middle of the field? This is the first time I’ve actually watched these guys and everything was on the wings or over the top. With all the pace and skill we have, I didn’t see much play in thee middle.
Overall, these guys are good, but they should have played much better, with fewer mistakes.
Just wanna say that playing Guatemala in Guatemala in front of a big hostile crowd is a tall order, especially for 19 year olds. Sure we’re favored big on a neutral field, but we might win expect to win this one idk 60% of the time? Crap happens. Also the goals we gave up were due to individual lapses in concentration/poor decision making on defense you see when guys are stresses in hostile environments.
Us sux
The media’s fault, guys like Ives and especially Wahl who has a huge reach need to start holding players/coaches at fault and not play kiss up to make sure their feelings aren’t hurt….
Would you rather have a generation of players who played at a World Cup against the best in a competitive/adversarial situation or have them playing video games all summer?
It’s important for growth.
So one of your forwards gets injured and your whole team is screwed? Than that’s down to the coach bringing the wrong players in. One striker should not change things that drastically.
On top of that, it’s up to the manager to have instilled a team dynamic that would of allowed a different formation to utilize the players he had i.e. 4-4-2.
Share Bradley’s insistence on consistency at all costs.
Rongen continues to prove that he can’t produce wins when they count. His choices throughout the years have been somewhat questionable but for whatever reason…he continues to coach……..
Anybody can do that. Plus only altidore and bradley are starting from the u 20s
Rongen should be fired when the U20s stop feeding talent to the senior usnt.
I like to see our kids do well, but really who cares about winning a youth trophy?
Just continue to identify prospects and give them a chance to familiarize themselves with a national team enviroment.
Fire Rongen, hire Caleb Porter
Agree with subbing Salgado. Not saying there’s a conspiracy at all against the US. I’m just saying the qualifying process sucks. It’s almost as if the group games become meaningless in a way. Why not have the 4 group winners play eachother for 2 automatic spots. Then have the losers of those games play the winners of the 4 second place team’s games for the other 2 spots. That would be fair. As far as playing on another country’s home field, I’d equate it to an NFL team going 14-2, then having to play a wild-card team on the road. Sure, they should still win, but it’s just not fair. Putting all that aside, the US has to win games like this no matter what. There’s no excuse.
I hear guadaloupe is beautiful this time of year.
At the end of the day, hopefully the kids will look back and get something out of it. I truly believe that this devastating loss will help each and everyone of them in the future for club or country.
Thanks for the correction. I guess I should’ve known better ha ha! See, you don’t necessarily HAVE to use HAVE.
Wrongen is a nothing coach who has not delivered, repeatedly. Nice guys DO finish last in international soccer. Get someone with savvy who can prepare the team for the big games. This was an ill prepared team that got full of itself against a bunch of lowly teams and fell apart at the first sign of pressure.
Ditto for Bob Bradley
Isn’t it time to move on from Rongen? Turn the page
That doesn’t make any sense. The countries that are in the competition are the only ones with the infrastructure to host. Maybe we should let another country host the Gold Cup as well to make our guys battle hardened but that woul kill the golden goose for Concacaf.
Your example makes no sense because Adu is the most important member of our senior team.
So then pretty much every CONCACAF qualifying tournament would be held in a country other than US, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Trinidad…. so basically Belize year after year?
questions need to be asked…not acceptable result.
Untrue–hold the championship in a country that did not qualify.
I know Rongen likes the 4-3-3 formation but it requires a team to spend a lot of time practicing it and not an easy formation to just throw guys into.
Also I really don’t get why Lletget is used on the outside. He should be in the middle he’s by far our best play maker.
Somebody has to play the home team. There isn’t any conspiracy to get us. We finished 1st and they finished 2nd. That’s how Round Robins work. These guys choked and Rongen should have subbed in Omar Salgado at the start of the 2nd half.
Not that I’m going to defend Rongen much, but he said Wood being out really tied his hands since Salgado was the only attacking player he had on the bench.
The coaches felt Salgado is more of a true forward and not a winger, so they moved Garza to left wing and brought in Moises Hernandez at left back.
With Gatt, Ruelas, and Agudelo not being released, Wood’s injury kinda screwed them.
That said, there was more than enough talent on the field to win the match.
What’s more disconcerting is that MacMath, Boss, and Rowe are three top prospects, and all three made crucial mistakes. And Guatemala, like any team should, punished the US for those mistakes.
How much can we blame Rongen for three of his supposedly best players making critical mistakes in a vital match?
Agreed. Especially since big crowds go both ways. It’s also pressure for the home team and they are 19 as well.
Theoretically, what would it take for Rongen to get fired? Certainly terrible results aren’t enough.
Can Sam’s Army please unfurl a banner calling for his firing at the next friendly? This is just getting ridiculous.
U20s…ZERO bearing on the Sr team. While I would have liked to see the US win and advance, it’s pretty irrelevant in the big picture.
Looking back at the last U20 Wcup, Adu was an absolute animal. However, these under age tournaments have little bearing on how one will perform as a pro or how the Sr team will play going forward. Just saying…
After reading that all I have to say is: SHOULD HAVE. Have, it’s a word, use it.
definitely missed a few easy goals that would have hurt Guate’s momentum and confidence.
Rongen also made the decision to play Greg Garza, who is just passable at LB and easily beaten by faster players, up top, for some inexplicable reason.
Really at the end of the day this is the #1 event that cost us the game.
What the **** was Kelyn Rowe thinking??
That’s the downside to these guys who try to play a more finesse game, they don’t always know when to stop trying to be fancy and just kick the ball into the back of the net as hard as possible.
Gale Agbossoumonde, aka “BOSS” (all caps for Ives) made a similar mistake for his new Swedish team where he jumped up to head a ball, missed, and gave up a goal. There were very few people in attendance, so I’m not sure the stress / hostile environment excuse will fly.
Agbossoumonde is undoubtedly talented, but maybe he has a ten cent head? I’m not saying he does, just saying that’s also a possibility.
Because despite his mistake on the first goal, he’s pretty damn good?
US soccer reported the crowd at a little less than 14k. Unfortunately, It was a choke job. No excuses.
I should say beat and not crush them
This is silly. Granted, they should of won the game. But this qualifying process is so stupid. For it to come down to one game against the HOME(!) country is downright unfair. It’s a shame because this was one of our better U-20 teams. I’ve seen this too many times. When qualifying for the 2004 Olympics, the US ran into the same situation in which they won their group, but had to face a HOST Mexican team who had just happened to finish second in their group. The US, of course, lost and didn’t qualify for the olympics. Just because of one loss after winning their group. Then, just this past year, it happened to the Women’s national team in which they breezed through the group and then faced the HOST Mexicans and lost and then were forced to play in a play-in game and almost miss the World Cup. The point is that all these teams won all their qualifying games before losing just ONE game. Granted, the US should of beat Guatemala, but the process is majorly flawed and completely unfair.
At what age do we start holding players accountable for their play? Yes, it seems Rongen made some questionable decisions with subs and it is up to him to develop a style to execute, but soccer more than any sport, is up to the players. This isn’t pointy-football where the coach is telling you what to do on every play, or B-ball where you can call a timeout and ask the coach what to do next…Soccer is 90 minutes of players executing their style of play and responding to constantly changing circumstances. From what little I’ve seen of them, this team had a good style they were playing but failed to execute individually and collectively last night. They’re teens and they were in probably the most hostile environment of their young lives, but they didn’t play well…I just hope they take this slice of humble pie and digest the lesson that you never underestimate anyone.
Yeah, based on those highlights, MacMath looked terrible.
Great crowd….
Poor poor poor goal keeping on the first goal and poor poor defending on the second.
My eyes….my eyes!!!!! Torture this morning for the fan…
Ya exactly. That was the silver lining I suppose.
I still feel like 9/10 the US crushes them. They were just poor this game. I hope that not playin in U-20 WC won’t turn some players that are dual-citizens away from playing for the USA.
Dealing with this type of environment in Central America and Mexico is a major obstacle for our national and MLS teams. The hostility, general chaos and mayhem are not things we’re accustomed to in our culture. We need to find ways to train for it to remain calm and composed without becoming lax. It’s difficult. Kreisdid relatively well with his team the other night.
Good to see Doyle kissing the patch after his goal. Hopefully that’s a good sign against him ever switching over to join Ireland.
Saw the same thing; nothing thru the middle with no calming presence (Luis Gil??) and everything thru the wings. Other times Gyau double and triple team with no outlet in the middle to pass Breakaway situations have to be converted especially early or else eventually opposition and crowd will eventually come into play. In this game no matter what age group is thatall it takes is just a couple mental lapses to occur; seen and played in it time and time again.
These guys have serious talent, but yes, that was a MAJOR hostile crowd, the other team was seriously amped, and our guys seemed a bit discombobulated. Missing so many clear goal scoring chances killed us. A few major defensive blunders did as well. Do we not have a game through the middle of the field? This is the first time I’ve actually watched these guys and everything was on the wings or over the top. With all the pace and skill we have, I didn’t see much play in thee middle.
Overall, these guys are good, but they should have played much better, with fewer mistakes.
Seeing the highlights, I really can’t say that we were outplayed on the night. I really think Guatemala got lucky.
Yikes.. what a blunder on that first goal
i cant even…
How did he not go for goal on that first one?
I just wanna say why the hell did the Union draft a 19 yr old goalie with the 5th pick in the draft. Still baffles me.
Doyle taunting the crowd only to lose the game. Lesson learned.
also would help to score on breakaways
Just wanna say that playing Guatemala in Guatemala in front of a big hostile crowd is a tall order, especially for 19 year olds. Sure we’re favored big on a neutral field, but we might win expect to win this one idk 60% of the time? Crap happens. Also the goals we gave up were due to individual lapses in concentration/poor decision making on defense you see when guys are stresses in hostile environments.