The U.S. men’s national team roller coaster ride of a comeback win against Honduras in Concacaf World Cup qualifying is all American soccer fans can think about, and it is the headlining topic on the latest episode of The SBI Show.
Episode 328 takes an in-depth look at the USMNT win in San Pedro Sula, from the forgettable first half, to the outstanding second half.
Host Ives Galarcep looks back at the players who struggled in the team’s awful first-half performance, as well as the important halftime and second-half changes Gregg Berhalter made to help turn things around after his lineup and tactical choices left the team in a tough spot after 45 minutes.
Americans Abroad action, as well as the long list of USMNT players who will miss time in Europe due to injuries, is also covered in Episode 328.
Lastly, Ives wraps up the episode talking MLS, and his picks for the weekend’s biggest matches in the league.
You can listen to The SBI Show on Spotify, Soundcloud and the Apple Podcast App, and you can listen to Episode 328 right here:
Agree 100% on player evaluation, especially with younger players. In the case of A. Robinson I was convinced of his value after watching him play in a number of EPL games. In one of those games he shut down Mo Salah. That to me was an important indicator since most every team in EPL is better than most every CONCACAF national team. Some posters here don’t seem to consider that young players can improve. A bad game and it’s off with their heads (rhetorically of course). There have been a few occasions when the first time I saw a player it was a revelation and I knew they were something special. My first view of Messi was in a youth World Cup and he hadn’t become a regular for Barcelona yet. It was like he was running on grass and everyone else was running in sand. For US players it was Pablo Mastroeni. My first thought was, who is this guy?! He shone from the very start for me.
He just had never really done it for the USMNT. Even in the CR game with little defensive pressure this Summer he had some just bad giveaways where he kicked it straight to CR or out of bounds. He looked much better this window maybe he’s just finally comfortable. He’s not a great combination guy to work with Pulisic which is why I think Dest started out in the left. Given his improvement and Dest’s continued regression at LB I don’t know how he wouldn’t be the first choice at LB in October.
Couldn’t we hold a U20 camp in October and then you’d have guys already released from their club training in Berhalter’s system in case of injuries or Covid. It would show interest to our younger guys that haven’t had chances because of Covid. You’d probably want to keep them separate for Covid reasons maybe play somebody or scrimmage some nearby college.
Ives, you will think I’m nuts, but I think all 3 halftime subs and moving Adams to 6 replacing Sands at 70 minutes were all planned before the start of the game. Not good coaching, but those 3 would have started if he thought he could have gotten 90 out of them. I think he was trying to shorten the game to 45 minutes which he thought they all had (this was his own doing with the roster selections). Adams runs way less at fullback and prob only way he can play full 90. Only thing I think he didn’t plan was taking Brooks off instead of McKenzie. Made for a horrible half of misery for US fans …
While Greg hasn’t done anything to keep his naysayers at bay with some of his decisions tactically(it was bad in spots)and roster size(although who would’ve predicted that 3 of our top players would get injured in the same window and another disciplined for recurring stupidity/immaturity), I don’t see enough people criticizing the players for just bad play and not taking their chances. 2 of our games wouldn’t have even been in question if our players score their wide open headers and don’t hit the post of in open play, so while I like where we’re at talent wise, there needs be less excuses for certain players and more holding them to account when they are not performing since we are so hell bent as USMNT fans on crowning young players the next greatest when they haven’t earned those monikers yet!