The U.S. men’s national yeam kicked off its 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup with a win on Sunday, and The SBI Show breaks down everything from the top performers, to biggest strugglers and much more.
Episode 310 of The SBI Show takes a close look at Sunday’s 1-0 USMNT victory against Haiti, which featured a goal by a defender, three national team debuts, a few disappointing performances, and an encouraging finish from some new faces.
Host Ives Galarcep breaks it all down, including the players who impressed the most, and those who may have earned a one-way ticket out of the USMNT starting lineup.
We also hear from Gregg Berhalter’s post-game press conference, what left the USMNT coach disappointed, and what impressed him about Gianluca Busio’s debut, Shaq Moore’s Man of the Match performance, and more.
You can listen to The SBI Show on Spotify, the Apple Podcast App, and Soundcloud, and you can listen to Episode 310 here:
A couple of things. Somebody coming out and playing well, especially for just part of a game, against Haiti really means very little. So, while Busio looked good against Haiti for 20 to 30 minutes, it doesn’t mean he’s ready for prime time. People get way too carried away sometimes. You need to see a guy for a whole game against a quality opponent before you anoint him to the first 23. Secondly, the US often looks kind of poor in opening tournament games especially when the players haven’t played together much yet. That’s why I’m not yet concerned. Third, if a player doesn’t do well against poor teams, you can probably forget them. My exception to that would be Yueill because he has shown well before against better teams than Haiti. He seems to be going through a bad patch. Maybe he has off field issues going on or something. I would give him another chance sometime.
As for the Busio vs Yueill debate, I agree we need to see more Busio this tournament. However this is three matches in a row that Jackson has looked more like Will Trapp than Yueill 2019. It’s a month till qualifying starts and I don’t think you can even think about including Jackson in that 23 at this point. It’s kind of Busio’s to lose, De La Torre passed, Green’s club asked to keep him and he’s not a like for like, Clark missed out because of his injury and not like for like. I don’t think anyone is really anointing him but Busio is definitely in a good position to find a spot. I think we probably see 26-28 called in September so we may see all of those guys this fall. A matchup with Mexico or Jamaica will tell us more about Busio the other front running sides have mostly MLS midfields.
Your take is about as logical and having perspective as they come, so I couldn’t agree more. Tbh I dont think Yueill has a place on the team if/when Tyler Adams is healthy anyways, so its really unfortunate he couldnt take hold of a possible back up role at that #6 spot during an injury plagued year or so for TA. The upside for Busio is tremendous, so I think Greg has to play him more to see if that upside can become reality on this stage, with the pressure of the entire fanbase watching
Good listen, really well balanced takes. Fun weekend watching with both the Italy and Argentina wins.
I’m not sure Jackson has recovered from the disappointment of not qualifying for the Olympics. He has not been very good for San Jose and he hasn’t looked up to his level for the NT from 2019. I’m not sure a new coach in SJ wouldn’t help too. His story seems to be shaping up a lot like Acosta a few years ago when he fell off and ended up traded and in the NT wilderness.
——————————————
I appreciated the clip from the presser I hadn’t gotten really the depth of Berhalter’s frustration from the other clips out there.