Top Stories

USMNT falls 3-0 to Venezuela in final Gold Cup tune-up

Solomon Rondon

CINCINNATI, OH – In the last low-stakes test prior to heading into the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the U.S. Men’s National took on Venezuela at Nippert Stadium on Sunday.

Christian Pulisic and Michael Bradley did not appear for the hosts, who struggled once again losing 3-0.

Despite the intent to put in a better showing, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock and piled on early in the first half.

Venezuela opened up the scoring in the 16th minute after USMNT Goalkeeper Zack Steffen tried to escape danger a little too quickly, passing it straight to the Venezuelan backline. The combination of Yangel Hererra, Jhon Murillo, and Salomón Rondón respectively worked together to take an early lead with the striker finding pay-dirt.

Jefferson Savarino doubled the lead in the 30th minute, cleaning up his own ricochet off the post to beat Steffen with his left foot.

As the first half mercilessly continued, Rondón had another say in the 36th minute. Off of a counter by Venezuela, he danced around USMNT defender Aaron Long in the box and blasted one past both he and Steffen for a first-half brace.

Berhalter opted for two halftime substitutions bringing in Jozy Altidore and Walker Zimmerman. He also added Jordan Morris and Duane Holmes into the mix in the 62nd minute but neither seemed to help with the attack.

Aside from occasional chances, Venezuela remained on top of USMNT and continued to create moments.

Tim Ream made way for Daniel Lovitz in the 78th minute to round out the substitutions for Berhalter on the afternoon, but no combination of the team found a way to spark any type of inspiration.

Venezuela will face Peru in the CONMEBOL Copa América on June 15th at Arena do Grêmio in Brazil.

The USMNT looks ahead to its first match of Gold Cup Competition, squaring up with Guyana on June 18th at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Man of the Match

Salmón Rondón’s double was the biggest contribution for the winners, and he earns goals 25 and 26 in his 73rd appearance for his country.

Moment of the Match

Zack Steffen’s 16th-minute blunder set the tone early for both sides. USA would go on to play lackadaisical, Venezuela, clinical.

Match to Forget

After taking last week’s loss to Jamaica on the chin, Gregg Berhalter will need to put Sunday’s drubbing behind him quickly as the team was never in it after the scoring started.

Comments

  1. Adams and Pulisic were clearly sorely missed, as were Brooks and Yedlin who are unavailable, and McKennie may not yet be 100%. I agree that other European-based players wouldn’t necessarily have been better than MLS-based players unless they are playing regularly and in good form. I do wonder about Julian Green, who has often at least seemed energetic, and Ventura Alvarado, who has been starting in Liga MX.
    .
    My main question, though, is about the lineups. I’m no expert on tactics, but to me, on paper, any lineup like 4-1-4-1 or 5-1-3-1 not only looks peculiar, it puts a heavy responsibility on that 1 at DM. Especially if he turns out to be Trapp, who seems conscientious but lightweight at international level. And indeed, that’s how it looked some of the time — a large expanse of emptiness in the middle of the field, with clumps ahead and clumps behind.
    .
    It seems to me that if you know you have potential weaknesses at CB, then you need to put someone strong in front of them. If you don’t have one strong individual, you have to put runners who can close down quickly in packs, to help get balls out and stop balls coming in.
    .
    Partly they all just seem unsure of when to clump and when to spread out, and who should stay back and slide over when someone else goes forward. Time and practice may help a little with that, if only the “system” doesn’t have intrinsic empty spots.
    .
    I’m not sure asking Adams to essentially cover both DM and RB is the answer. I thought he played RB at Leipzig and was good there? Can Bradley and Trapp together, who at least have some experience with each other, be enough better than either one alone at that spot? What other options are there to strengthen the midfield, to give the whole team more spine?
    .

    Reply
    • That is, why can’t McKennie play back there? Isn’t that where he’s played most often with his club team, even though they’ve also used him to plug various other gaps?

      Reply
  2. Pretty terrible performance, as I said after the Jamaica match, trap, Roldan and lima are not usmnt quality. Also Zimmerman-miazaga gotta be the pairing back there. Terrible by steffen, wish we had another legit option behind him cough hamid cough cough guzan. Liked what I saw at times in the attack, good stuff from boyd but yeah all in all gotta be better or we’re gonna struggle to get outta that group.

    Reply
    • Bro Guzan is thrash?! Jesse Gonzalez is way better then him. Horvath is apparently injured. Guzan was part of the thrash defense who made us not qualify for Russia.

      Reply
  3. Lot of people with no clue on this thread.
    .
    Any failures of US soccer is a failure of ALL of US soccer.
    You people sitting on the sidelines aren’t BETTER because you did nothing except WHINE…..YOU are the worst part of it. No clue what you are talking about AND don’t even try to do anything except bring it down further.

    Reply
    • What will it take for you to realize the US soccer landscape, while evolving and growing, is still retrograde and not fit for purpose? I see failing to qualify for the 2018 WC from the easiest region didn’t shake your resolve. Nor was the failure to make any of the past 3 olympics with largely MLS packed rosters enough to provoke a few critical questions. The US men’s program struggles against nation’s with GDPs less than our smallest states. We have a population nearly the size of Europe but the best we can develop is Jordan Morris (speaking of which, does 21 MLS goals over 3 seasons really warrant a multi-million dollar contract extension and a big role as face of USSF marketing, or are we just rewarding mediocrity?). Will a group stage elimination from the Gold Cup nudge you to open your eyes? What happens if we go out in the knockout stages to the likes of Panama or Jamaica? Is that good enough? Or do we need to fail to qualify for 2022 to fully get you there?

      Reply
  4. GB was the wrong choice because the US Soccer front office had delusions of grandeur.

    We are not Germany, Spain, France, etc. meaning we do not have 50-100 players in our player pool that are international caliber players. If we did choosing a coach who wants to play a specific system and then finding the 23 players to fit that system would have made sense.

    We have, at best 4-5 international caliber players,a bunch of good players and another bunch of potentially good players. We needed a coach that could assemble the most talent players we have and then develop a system around them to maximize their talent.

    We need better players to play GBs system, players we aren’t going to have in the next 3 years.

    On a side not, I don’t think the players are buying in. There is definitely a lack of heart. This comes from the coach and the captain.

    Reply
  5. Was not impressed by Boyd. Only thing he was good at was taking good consistent corner kicks. Other than that not impressed.

    Reply
  6. The only thing that is more embarrassing than the latest results are comments to this article.
    The thought of being next to come of you in the stands later this month is disgusting. All many of you want to do is put down MLS. The excuse to do so is more important to you than the USMNT! It’s part of being cool.

    The losses have nothing to do with MLS. Everyone played poorly. MLS players and European players. We have always had a mix and it was never obvious that euro players performed better than MLS players. Furthermore, how about the fact that Venezuela had 3 current/recent MLS players themselves? One of them scored. How about Jamaican team made of MLS and USL players???

    How about our U20 team that had lots of MLS players and even more if you count those that recently left MLS academies to go to Europe, but got to a pretty high level before leaving???

    When we won GC in 2017 I don’t remember any haters saying: “let’s give credit to MLS”. I won’t be expecting this if we win again in 2019. It will be “we won despite MLS”. Pathetic!!!
    No other fan base that I know of takes so much price in ridiculing domestic league and there are dozens and dozens of leagues worse than MLS.

    Reply
    • Bro you are missing the point at why peopke are pissed! GB is choosing MLS players over European players who are an upgrade. So many other people could be in Roldan place. Steffen needs to get back to his old if he wants to make the bench of the Bundesliga team Man City is loaning him too. MLS has def stunned his growth. Also EPB had several offers from Europe his MLS team kept rejecting offers when he wanted to go to Europe. I could go on and on. Green should be on this team. Also Gall never got any playing time. He refuses to use Nova when he was not injured our forward pool is hella shallow ATM.

      Reply
      • Sargent should also be on this team. Chandler like others was saying was making the bench for the Europa games when they played Chelsea. Why waste Adams at RB when you had Lichaj and Chandler. His player slection is bad. Only thing I give him a break on is Pulisic not being released by Chelsea.

      • You are just continuing with the same rhetoric. Who is clearly better than Roldan? The only one I would consider is Morales, but he had his chances for USMNT and didn’t do anything with them. Who else? The one I would agree with is Lichaj for Lovitz as I don’t see Lovitz as a high level performer in MLS.

        Again, in your view everything with an MLS label sucks and everything with a Europe label is great. Chandler? He was terrible in many US outings. It’s not even clear that he wants to play for the US. Stop with this “MLS stunting growth”. It didn’t stunt the growth of Almiron, Savarino (who scored against us yesterday), Urena (who scored 2 for Costa Rica against us at Red Bull Arena), Yangel Herrera, Long, Adams, Lawrence, Rusnak, Barco, and many, many others who play for other nations

      • Bro do you research Steffen was already in Europe came back to MLS. He is the only one I am talkinh abouy with that comment. He should have stayed and fought and developed more and made first team bench at Frieburg. Morales, Adams, Emerson Hyndman, Saief, Maybe, Canouse, Lleget should have started over Roldan. I can go on and on until ? graze the whole grass pasture.m

    • Lleget2, Holmes and Green would be on the roster over Roldan. I cant beilieve you cant think of people yourself. Anyone can name players we have in the pool over Roldan. Smh

      Reply
      • the only player i would put in over Roldan, is Nagbe. I’d love to know why he isn’t here and he’s an MLSer. Julian Green was given an extended run out with JK and Sarachan, and i don’t think he’s made the impact many thought he would coming from Bayern Munich and now he seems stuck in the Bundesliga 2. Novakovich is another player that was called in many times by Sarachan and by Greg, but saw very limited minutes, so my question to you is can all of these managers be wrong about these players ability to impact the NT, i mean theses coaches are in training with these guys for extended periods of time?!

        Gall, i agree should have gotten a bigger run out but there will be plenty of chances for players to work their way into the NT with so many different tournaments(Olympics, Pan Am Games)and the CC Nations League vastly approaching this year. Morales has never shown anything with the NT and again several managers have passed on him, including Jurgen, so is he biased towards Germans too? Fabian J is damn near retired, and the adage goes if you start talking about retirement before you’re actually retired, then you’re retired lol

    • couldn’t agree more with this take, are those folks are so jaded they can’t even see it. Nothing good will come out of trying to diminish MLS, it has always been and will always be a feeder league for the USMNT. What gets me is how some make excuses for why our euro players played bad, like blaming the manager and tactics, instead of being adults and calling them out too, but when it’s mlsers who have a bad game it’s because of the league lol. The ego of our fans is laughable, and i don’t know when we got this ego but it needs to dissipate quickly because we are a middling nation in world football, and until we fix youth development we will always have up and down results. Berhalter has been on the job 5 months, and people are expecting us to look like we’ve been on this rebuilding phase for 2 years. Measured responses is what’s needed right now, and if in 1-2 years we still look lethargic and toothless than i’d agree GB is not the right man.

      And for those saying there are better players in europe that havent been called in, please name them, because at best there are 2-3 that could be here but i’m more inclined to believe they have been passed over by players of similar ability

      Reply
      • Bro we lost to Jamaica. They are not a strong side. Venezuela is now just becoming a decent side they also lost to a Mexico that was missing 9 starters. I can see if we played England and Belgium or Argentina and Colombia. 3-0 and 1-0 to Jamaica and Venezuela is unacceptable. Jamaica lost to El Salvador recently. It was a home game for El salvador, but still they lost and So Salvador is hella weak. As a fan I will support USmnt this tournament if they continue to be thrash? I am not suppporting anymore.

  7. The last 2 games were beyond pathetic. No game-plan, no heart in the players, almost nothing positive at all to be taken away from these last 2 matches. I’ll give you that we are missing some players (Pulisic, Adams, Brooks, Yedlin) that would have improved the quality of the starting XI, but we weren’t facing top tier competition either.
    Will another 8 days training together and the additions of Pulisic, Adams, & Bradley help…YES. But what would help more is if Berhalter would stop calling sub-par players and put select a formation that best suites the talent he’s got.
    It’s too late to make the necessary roster changes now so we need to make the best of what we’ve got.
    Boyd & Holmes looked promising in their brief run-outs, so give them the starting nod. As for the rest put them in a position to succeed.

    —————————–Jozy————————–
    —Boyd————-Holmes—————–Pulisic—
    ————McKennie————Adams—————
    —Ream——–TBD ———–Miazga——Lima—
    ————————–Steffen—————————

    TBD: Long or Zimmerman
    Subs: Arriola, Zardes, Morris, Bradley

    The rest of the team may as well be sent back to their clubs now, and will hopefully never be called up to the USMNT again.

    Reply
  8. This was a forgettable game. It was clear even before the teams took the field that the US was going to be in trouble. Of the guys everyone is hoping or expecting to do well in the GC, Pulisic, McKinnie, Adams, Bradley and Altidore only Mckinnie was slated to start. In addition to that, Long was making his first competitive appearance in 5 weeks due to injury, Boyd and Holmes were just getting their first taste with the USMNT. Beyond that, the fullbacks and midfield choices who started were never going to be good enough.

    Steffan surprised by coughing up the first goal and made a 2nd mental mistake to come out and get a ball he head no real chance at; it was only luck that kept the ball out of the net.

    I believe things will be better in 9 days, when Pulisic, Adams, Bradley, McKinnie and Altidore will likely be starting (never mind Adams will be at RB, he will be better there than Lima. Long will be sharper than he was today and paired with either Miazga or Zimmerman will be solid CBs. LB is still an issue for which the US has no clear answer. The wings: probably Boyd and Zardes or Holmes.

    Steffan better get his act together! Luis Robles is, I think, a better keeper, one who seldom makes mental errors and he has done well against PKs, an indication, he still has the reflexes to make tough saves. Miller may be young, but he is the keeper for the MLS team with the fewest goals against this year. Either would be a solid/better choice. (Robles is not on the roster, which is a shame.)

    In any case the group stage of the GC does not really offer any team as good as Venezuela; probably the toughest opponent is Panama, who come up in the 3rd game, that should give the US some time on the ball and some time to form some cohesion as a team before a serious challenge..

    Reply
    • At GK, don;’t forget Horvath. Since he got his job back at Brugge he seems to have been outstanding based on the scores we’ve seen. Since he got back between the pipes it seems like they have won two-thirds of their games. I seem to recall he had a knock and that’s why he wasn’t brought in, but he deserves a look in the future.

      Reply
  9. USA soccer remains in a sad state. Is the Coaching stupid. The talent is there. GB chose to exclude better talented players off the roster. Bruce let his ego out weigh the interest of this Team. He left some of the German Players off and went with MLS Players. It ended in failure. Greg is repeating the same mistake. The USA will fail miserably because Greg is over his head and has to use subpar players. The USA deserves more. Dave did a better job as an Interim Manager. The players played organized with heart and a sense of purpose. No, Pulisic will not make a difference.

    Reply
    • again, who are these players that are head and heels above the players called in? Only one i can think of that is sorely needed is nagbe.

      Reply
  10. we waited a whole year FOR THIS?? i need some alone time. maybe a bubble bath. some bon bons. some pampering. i just feel so vulnerable and confused.

    Reply
  11. Sooooooo I recorded the match…been a fan since ‘94…should I watch? Or will it ruin my year?

    Reply
  12. This team is perhaps less talented than they have been in the last 20 years. Yeah we use to gut out defensive matches where Dempsey or Donovan had to do something special. At least we had an identity and knew what we were.

    Reply
  13. Worst defensensive us team ever. Probably the best defensive team was bob Bradley who at the time struggled for a natural left fullback but managed things tactically with Bocanegra in 2009 confederations cup and had Ricardo Clark and a more athletic Michael bradley as two defensive midfielders with bradley having freedom to create at times. This current us team was better under sarachan.Greg should have chosen Reggie cannon for right back for this tournament bc Tyler Adams will be needed in the midfield without question. Bradley may have vision and passing ability but no speed. Will trap has shown neither. It was shown that we have a shaky back four with still no true left back Antoine Robinson was the perfect match yet wasn’t chosen. I don’t expect much from this team. And to think that Greg was trying to learn to play a back three geez. At this point a very defensive back 5 would serve us well.

    Reply
    • Just. Stop. It. Now. Ricardo Clark? Nice gaffe against Ghana in 2010 knockout game. Robinson? Did you actually watch how terrible he was against Jamaica?

      Reply
  14. Said this earlier this week when the GC roster was announced:

    ‘My opinion is that there are better options than Roldan, Trapp, MB, Lovitz, Lima, OG, Arriola, Lewis, Morris, Zardes, and Ream.’

    None of these players need to be on this roster we have better options at each position most of which play in more competitive leagues.

    Morales or D Willams for Trapp. Green or Hyndman for Roldan. FJ and Chandler for Lima and Lovitz. FJ for Arriola. Wooten or Sargent for Zardes. I could go on but my point is there are more talent options than the players being called in.

    This is not a new problem. BA chose to use Zusi a converted RW at RB instead of even calling Chandler when Yedlin was hurt during two qualification windows in the Hex, not even to be a backup. JK wasted Klestjan’s best years when he was racking up minutes at Anderlect and got enough minutes to become second in Champions League minutes played behind only JJ prior to Pulisic emergence. Wasted because he didn’t ‘partner’ right in MF with MB. BB started Ricardo Clark over Maurice Edu in each WC match in 2010 only to learn a player racking up minutes at Rangers and in Champions League too was better half way through the Round of 16 match with Ghana when Clark gifted Ghana the first goal. BB also started Robbie Findlay(gasp) over Eddie Johnson and Hercules Gomez.

    I concede managers will always have favorites or players they feel don’t work for thei style or system they are trying to make work, but talent is talent. If a player has more talent but struggles to start and finds himself fighting for minutes somewhere in Europe that is NOT a reason to stop seeing him as an option for the NT.

    I’ve said it over and over again and I’ll say it once more, success at the MLS level has a low correlation to success at the international level. The two just don’t correlate well with the lone outlier being LD. A much higher correlation is minutes played in Champions League. Look at the Belgium NT in the past 3 WC cycles their is a direct correlation between the number of minutes their eligible players had in Champions League and their WC finals finishes cumulating in a Semifinal appearance. No we don’t have the same type players but the point is the level of league competitiveness your players play in correlates with their success at the international level and MLS is low on that statistic. Hope it gets there one day but I’m being a realist here.

    Our issue is with management and the Federation being complacent in using mediocre MLS quality players to make up our NT rosters at the expense of more talented US eligible players playing in Europe. I’m not going into SUM but most of you have read in the past my rants over SUMs influence.

    I was upset from March with the roster decisions and I said so. I also said at those times I was hopeful that this system would function and give us the style of football we wanted to see. It hasn’t at all. This system makes us look far worse than I remember us looking under Sarchan or JK and is about even or even worse than BA 2.0. They’ve been selling us this system since the hire. The system is supposed to generate chances and mismatches by disorienting their defense but I’ve seen none of that. The system lost AT HOME to Jamaica and got blitz AT HOME to Venezuela neither are great soccer nations stacked with top talent although Rondon is pretty good.

    I’ve given the system time to show me something and it hasn’t. It certainly doesn’t warrant playing a star CM out of position either. Or warrant the inclusion of Trapp or Zardes because they’re familiar with the system.

    I’m beginning to be convinced that GB is way over his head and has his head in the sand on talent. The other option is he actually rates Trapp higher than Morales or D Williams or rates Lima over FJ. If that’s the case I have no hope.

    Don’t let them sell you the narrative that we don’t have better talent and there is this giant talent gap and we just ‘need more time’. Don’t let them off the hook for Couva and don’t let them off the hook now.

    Reply
    • I agree with most everything you say, with a couple of exceptions. I think Zardes can play an important role, but as Klinsmann used him. Here’s why. He isn’t good enough at striker internationally. But, he is good at winger because his speed stretches defenses and opens channels and he is good at getting to the end line and passing back to players arriving in the box. He can create chances that way. Also, because he is good at help defense, he can help the outside backs when necessary. He is better at these things than Morris, Arriola, or our other choices at winger. Berhalter’s preference for MLS players is getting ridiculous. In addition to the European based players you mention, I think Alvarado should get a look at CB since he has started playing regularly in Mexico. Liga MX is still noticeably superior to MLS. I wrote something the other day at the end of comments that was probably not seen, but seems more and more ;true as time passes. I think the problem with both USSF and Berhalter is that they go with what is comfortable instead of the best available. Berhalter wasn’t even the best American coach in MLS. Bob Bradley is.

      Reply
    • You are spot on. The roster decisions are not based on talent at all. They are based on marketing decisions and MLS. Playing Tyler Adams at right back has to be the dumbest decision I have ever heard. Especially after watching him in the Bundesliga this winter.

      Reply
    • Joe Dirt. I appreciate your takes but Jesus man your bizarre need to say “if you will recall, I said….” and “I’ve been saying this for months….”. It’s the internet buddy. Nobody cares what you said 5 months ago. You will never be handed a trophy for “being right” for any reason. Trim an extra 30% off your posts and stop wasting your time with this. And yes, Gary Page, we get that you preferred Bob Bradley. He’s a great coach. So is Pep Guardiola. Who cares? Move forward.

      Reply
      • Actually I preferred Tata Martino, but Stewart was adamant that we had to have an American coach and then he didn’t even get the best one. And that is symptomatic of our problems that has been carried over in Berhalter’s player selections.

    • this is sports, not an office gig….any system worth anything and that has a new manager needs more than 5 months, especially when the manager can’t work with the players everyday…it’s really disturbing that US fans have no sense of perspective or cannot be semi-measured with their criticisms. i get the stink of not qualifying is still around but we have to move on from that and be better, more logical fans than this…..geez

      Reply
  15. It was just a year ago we almost beat World Cup Champions France in Paris. We don’t have half of those players on the team right now. Seems like player selection is the biggest issue. At least Sarachan picked decent players.

    Reply
    • We did not beat them. We tied.
      More importantly, can you not differentiate between performance and luck? That game could have ended 5:0 for France. Today, we were actually somewhat unfortunate. Not saying we played well, but we did not play well in France

      Reply
      • yeah i don’t know how anyone could come away from any of those friendlies last summer and fall feeling confident, we lost almost every game handidly except i think Bolivia, and there was clearly no plan in place for those youngsters. It seemed more like Sarachan was introducing youth for the helluv it, which i’m not mad it because youth should be served soon.

  16. I have followed the USMNT since the early 90s long before most folks even knew we had a national soccer team and I have to say these last two games are without a doubt the worst 2 displays of soccer by the USMNT during that entire period. The player pool is shockingly shallow. I know that people will be upset that Michael Bradley rapidly slowing down as he approaches 32 is / will be the starting defensive mid for USMNT but really who is better. Tyler Adam is a better destroyer but he does not yet, at least, have the passing skills that GB wants from that role. Trapp is just too slow and doesn’t have the athleticism, speed, and strength to play at the national team level. Our outside backs are getting burned and I can see why GB wants to play Adams in that hybrid role since it gives him cover on the outside and strength to support Bradley inside when moving into that 2nd De-Mid role on the attack.

    I just don’t see the US doing much in this cycle at least for the next year or so. What disturbs me the most is the passivity, lack of organization, athleticism, and fight with this team. They used to be hallmarks of our team. We have been hearing this drumbeat of playing pretty more technical soccer. Ok but somehow we have lost our underlying strength on top of which the technical side was to be built. We seem to be in the no man’s land in which we have lost our competitive identity but have not yet progressed to a more technical style. And we seriously passed up Tata?

    Reply
    • Your first sentences took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve been watching since Italia ’90 and I can’t think of two performances this breathtakingly terrible. Nothing likable at all. I’ll give Berhalter through the Gold Cup before I write him off, but this is bad bad stuff right now and the disorganization/lack of effort is really troubling.

      Reply
    • Another veteran who started following the Nats just before 1994 World Cup, and echo the sentiments. I am tuning out the men this summer and focusing only on our women. They have earned it and deserve it. Ever since MLS pulled back our top players with lucrative contracts in the last WCQ cycle, the quality of the player pool has really dropped, and the veterans have become complacent. Even worse in my eyes is the lack of fight and effort as seen in these last two games. Arguably the worse display of soccer from a US team that I can recall going back decades.

      The only positives I saw are Tyler Boyd and Duane Holmes are upgrades for the current pool, but that is it. One cannot help but notice they challenge themselves in Europe, and that difference is noticeable. The U20 put on a good WC against tough competition. Here’s hoping a few get offers to challenge themselves in Europe and make an impact come next WCQ cycle.

      Reply
      • Is MLS really the problem here? And if it is, are we going to advance the cause of our national team, by having young Americans travel the world, looking for better competition? Mexico seems pretty happy to keep their young players in Mexico, and even young players that do go abroad, they start out in mexico. Mexican club teams win their continental championships pretty regularly. The best correlation I have seen over the years to international success, is to look at nations domestic leagues. Countries with strong domestic leagues, are countries that do well internationally. In 2014 Germany won, the year after Dortmund and Munich played in the champions league final. 2010, Spain won, guess who won champions league that year? 2006, yep ac Milan won champions league and Italy won in Germany. Has Brazil really been helped by sending their players to Europe? I tell ya, it sure doesn’t look like it, but go look at how well Brazilian club teams were doing in libertadories around the last time Brazil won a World Cup. Sounds to me, like this argument is cutting off the nose to spite the face. Everyone likes to credit Gus hiddink with south koreas success, but check out their club teams performances leading up to the 2002 World Cup. For Christ sake, you can fly from Manchester airport to Brussels in like 35 mins. London to Brussels can’t be much more than an hour. If you want a real kick in the teeth, go see who won the euro cup, the top club competition in Europe back in 1988, the year the Dutch won there one and only major trophy.

      • Before its current team, England for the last 20 years or so has been known for under achieving. There has been speculation that it was because they all play in England, are lionized, make a lot of money, and are quite comfortable just doing enough. In short, they were complacent and lacked desire and real fight when playing internationally. Now, I don’t know how true that was, but perhaps this same situation is beginning to infect US players, especially those who have it easy in MLS. Just speculation, but this team the last 2 games doesn’t look at all like prior US teams when it comes to fight and desire. The U-20’s showed a lot more fighting spirit than the senior team.

  17. What happened to the real Zac Steffen? The imposter that started the last 2 matches just gave up 3 goals in 4 shots! And the first one that completely turned the game is a mistake I would not expect out of my 12 yr olds. The wide play (on one side) was actually better, but the end product is completely missing. Transitional defense is a major problem. If it isn’t cleaned up then we will crash out of the gold cup and calls for Berhalter firing will begin. Experiment time is over Greg. This team and fanbase need some results.

    Reply
  18. Turns out Jermaine Jones was right. Complacency is rife through this squad. 80% of the players are just not good enough at senior level. They’re “MLS All-Stars”, though. LOL

    Reply
  19. Long time coming. More soccer players than any other country but more garbage coaches at all levels. Kick and run soccer no creativity. Sadly I think the Dempsey/Donovan/Howard etc was out golden generation. MLS with their crap coaching and crappy player development have ruined US soccer.
    Who thought Berhalter was going to be a crappy coach? Oh yeah everyone

    Reply
    • Agreed. What’s the use of having a bunch of talented players across Europe if they never get called up.

      Reply
  20. When this roster was released I commented that this would happen. I don’t want to rehash everything I already posted on a previous thread, but we’re getting eliminated in the first knockout game of the gold cup. The only reason we’ll get out of the group is due to how poor CONCACAF is. Absolutel shambles.

    Reply
    • He won’t be fired for the same reason he was hired in the first place- his brother is a bigwig at US Soccer.

      Reply
  21. One team was playing like they have a continental tournament coming up, showing heart and hustle, fighting for places. The other was the USA.

    Reply
  22. I generally like listening to Stu Holden (admired him as a player), but I laughed when he went on about how Bradley is head and shoulders above every other #6 in the player pool. I guess even he’s bought into the garbage ‘philosophy’ that Tyler Adams is a defender. Heck, even Sarachan’s selections were better than Berhalter’s. But I’ll buy it… Michael Bradley is the solution.

    Reply
    • Since Berhalter has classified Tyler Adams a RB, Stu isnt wrong. Bradley is the best #6 option. Who’s a better option? Thats an indictment on player development in US Soccer

      Reply
    • Stu is right. Michael Bradley is the last of our war horses. I’d take him, and Dempsey and some of the other mean MFs with a chip on their shoulder that turned the US into a respectable program, any day over these soft impersonators. To hell with technical ability in the first instance, bleed for the jersey. Soft. Just soft.

      Reply
    • The point wasn’t that MB is the solution. The point is that MB is not the problem. People have been fixated on MB as the problem because he isn’t a superhero central mid. We have no one better and we have issues in all 11 positions. We lost to Venezuela.

      Reply
    • Bradley is a steep upgrade over Wil Trapp, even at his age. The US has always relied on a tough, aggressive battler at that position, and Trapp is too weak and too soft, and has reached his ceiling. Look for Adams to fill that slot in another year after another year in Germany.

      Reply
  23. Embarrassing. This team and program are going backwards. I, too, was thinking of how the U-20’s probably would have done better. They are better coached and move the ball a lot better.

    Reply
  24. Roldan is absolutely useless.. is he suppose to be create attacking opportunities from the advanced midfield position? Has anyone ever seen him do that at the international level? Horrific. A complete waste of space.

    Trapp was garbage again too.

    Zardes? Contrast him with Rondon. Dude has the touch of a piece of masonry. He is awful.

    Berhalter really going to keep rolling out his Columbus guys and Roldan? Yikes.

    Arriola? Terrible. He took the money and went to DC instead of Europe and his progression has stalled/peaked. Not good enough for this level. Same story with Morris. Has he improved at all since 2014? Doesn’t seem like it.

    Sad how untalented this player pool is.

    Reply
    • It doesn’t help at all that Berhalter, IMO, makes a number of questionable selection decisions. His seeming favoritism towards MLS players is not helping.

      Reply
    • I was upset too but Roldan had a header that was going in if it wasn’t for Morris getting in the way and he set up Arriola nicely for a shot that the Venezuela keeper saved. Roldan created chances so he’s not the problem. We lost 3-0, so I’d hardly blame someone for the loss who was playing in an advanced position.

      Reply
      • No Jordan Morris had the header and Roldan no talennt slow self screwed it up by getting in Jordan Morris way. Jordan Morris even called for it and Roldan still went for it. Smh. Roldan Is awful. Arriola has declined too. When he was in Liga Mex he was better when he played for Xolos. I knew he chased the money but if he had of stayed in league Mex or went to Europe he would be diff. He probably wouldnt be on GB team since he has favoritism and love for MLS players.

    • I’m with you on Roldan. This guy has had loads of looks now, and the idea that he is a credible creative player at this level is just silly. When we have him in a CAM role, we create exactly nothing through the center channels. Zero. He’s decent enough defensively, but all in all our entire midfield was trash today. Probably the only decent midfield player was…. Altidore. Yuck.

      Reply
  25. That was like watching keystone cops. If you played a drinking game and took a shot every time the US won a 50 50 ball ypu would be sadly sober. Lots if differimg opinions here usually but i think most will agree this team is painful to watch.

    Reply
    • Venezuela 3 MLS 0 yeah! I think at this point GB may not be the coach to help us improve. Karma is a bitch hope Josh Sargent watched and learned from Zardes’s excellent play. Captain Will will be replaced by the best #6 in our player pool, so all will be well. Yeah MLS ! I’m done with this horseshit.

      Reply
  26. Pathetic. U20 US tram could have competed better plenty of talent there. We are very predictable all opportunities came from the right side of field. We have no creator in the midfield sure there is pullisic but he will need help also.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Mysterious Cancel reply