DOHA, Qatar — The U.S. men’s national team kicks off its World Cup on Monday against Wales and Gregg Berhalter’s options for a starting lineup are plentiful, making his decisions far from easy.
There are key players coming back from injuries and not fully fit, like Weston McKennie and Sergiño Dest. There are possible starters who have been out of action for several weeks due to their MLS seasons ending a month ago, like Jesus Ferreira and Walker Zimmerman.
The good news for Berhalter is that he has options at every position to step in for those who may not be fully fit, but he must also strike a balance between deploying a lineup that is as match-fit as possible and starting a group that has some experience playing together.
Here is a look at the starting lineup we could see Berhalter deploy, and the squad he should consider playing against the Welsh on Monday:
Goalkeeper
Who will start: Matt Turner
Who should start: Matt Turner
Matt Turner is the favorite to start, and enters the tournament healthy and ready to go. Ethan Horvath has been playing more regularly for his club team in recent months, but Turner is the first-choice option with more USMNT experience.
Defenders
Who will start: Sergiño Dest, Walker Zimmerman, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson
Who should start: Joe Scally, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson
The Dest-Zimmerman-Aaron Long-Robinson tandem has played the most matches together of any possible group, but the inconvenient truth about this grouping is that only Robinson has played many minutes over the past month and trotting out a back four with that little action in recent weeks could be a recipe for disaster.
It is with that in mind that Ream is listed in the ‘Who Should Start’ section even though he and Zimmerman haven’t played together very much. Ream’s club form at Fulham, and his national team experience, make him a perfect option at left centerback. He is the only truly left-footed central defender on the roster.
In terms of fullback, Dest hasn’t played many minutes for AC Milan, though he did return to action in an impressive second-half cameo last weekend. Is that enough to merit plugging him into the lineup against a Welsh side with some dangerous wing options?
Joe Scally doesn’t have much national team experience, but he has become a consistent starter in the German Bundesliga for Borussia Moenchengladbach, and is the most match-fit of the four right-back options on the roster. Shaq Moore and DeAndre Yedlin have both gone a month since their last official match.
Midfielders
John Dorton/ISI Photos
Who will start: Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah
Who should start: Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson, Yunus Musah
The M-M-A central midfield trio has morphed into Berhalter’s first-choice triangle, but McKennie’s recent injury has kept him out of action for the past three weeks.
That should open the door for an in-form and fully fit Brenden Aaronson, who has been playing far too well for Leeds to not find his way into the starting lineup. That doesn’t mean McKennie couldn’t be worked into the opening match and then earning a start against England, but for right now it feels like it would be a gamble to go with McKennie over Aaronson given their current situations.
Forwards
Who will start: Christian Pulisic, Jesus Ferreira, Gio Reyna
Who should start: Christian Pulisic, Josh Sargent, Tim Weah
Ferreira has been Berhalter’s go-to striker for several months, but Ferreira hasn’t played a competitive match in three weeks while Sargent enters the World Cup match fit and fresh off scoring a goal in his final club match before the World Cup. Berhalter loves Ferreira’s work ethic, his ability to press, and combine, and he could decide that Sargent is a better option to start against England, where he is better-equipped to handle the physicality of the English defense.
Pulisic is locked in as the starter on the left wing, while the right wing is a bit trickier. Gio Reyna has been eased along by Borussia Dortmund, and while he has managed to play in 10 matches in the past five weeks, only one of those appearances was longer than 66 minutes.
Tim Weah recently returned from an injury of his own, but his two straight 90-minute shifts for Lille should ease any concerns about his fitness. Starting Weah, then deploying Reyna as a second-half substitute against Wales makes the most sense, especially with an eye toward starting Reyna against England in the USMNT’s second group match.
What do you think of the projected USMNT Starting XI vs. Wales? Would you rather see the SBI Preferred XI?
Share your thoughts below.
Final prediction. He shows a 433 on paper and at kickoff but quickly goes to 4231 on attack and defense.
Turner
Moore-Zimm-ReamArov
Adams-Musah
Aaronson-Pulisic-McKennie
Weah
Ughh, just saw we’ve been assigned a Qatari officiating team for the match with Wales. Prepare for the referee to play a big role in this match.
LOL
and it starts…….
A Koman Coulibaly 2.0
Berhalter says screw this goes with 3-5-2 with Pulisic sitting underneath Weah.
Turner
—Long, Zimmerman, Ream—
Dest————————- Robinson
—————Adams———————-
——Reyna———-Wes————
————Weah—Pulisic————
By the way 0.01% chance this happens.
JR – I think your odds might be a little too high.
JR – I don’t really want to see a 3 centernacks. I think that is the weakest position on the team and leaves a better player off the field. I see best players as Pulisic, Aaronaon, Weah, McKennie, Musah, and Adams. Best way for the most of them on field together is the 4231 you have been preaching as best I can tell.
I was just trying to think of what’s the craziest yet plausible formation for fun. I don’t really think formation matters all that much any more beyond 2 CBs or 3. I’m a Crew fan we were generally bad when Gregg used a 3 back setup as the NT has been as well. Which is somewhat ironic because Gregg’s pinnacle as a player was taking over when Agoos went down and we switched to 3 CBs in 2002. Most teams use different formations during different phases. US has been defending in 4-2-3-1 for awhile Musah drops next to Tyler. Part of the reason Japan was so bad was Wes was trying to do that but that isn’t in his wheelhouse. I think a lot of posters just think back to their playing days with their coaches yelling at them to keep their shape, professional teams just don’t play that way much anymore.
After 8 years and being left off the roster AGAIN…
My system will be a 4-3-3;
4 Bud Lights followed by 3 Jack and cokes and 3 flaming Dr Pepper shots…
But I may alter my system once the game starts
Yikes!!
haha. MY MAN! Big ups. I’m going with the 0-0-11 with all IPAs up front at forward.
if 4 3 3 pressure, then CP left, Weah right, and ??? at the 9, with Aaronson and Musah above Adams, Jedi Long Zimm and Yedlin (or nother RB) in front of Turner. So McKennie, Gio, one of the other 9s all supersubs
if it’s something more defensive, looking more to hold and counter, then maybe Ream for Long and someone next to Adams, with Weah and CP looking to spring and Aaronson and Musah doing it inside, whatever system
Vs Wales
CP, Morris, BA
Ferreira, Adams, McKennie
Jedi, Long, Zimmerman, Dest
Turner
Subs- Yedlin (Dest), Sargent (Morris), Weah (BA, CP moves to RW), Musah (McKennie), Acosta (Adams)
Cut this get your best players on the pitch BS out. WC winning countries don’t have a ‘let’s all are best players!’, even if it means out of position. You need players to come of the bench. That’s why no one in the comment section can name the last 3 WC winning LBs. Spain, Germany, & France didn’t put their 2nd best RB at LB because they wanted to get their best players on the pitch. Why are so many Americans stuck in the 90s soccer? Or loyal to the German formation of a 4-2-3-1?, which was created in the 1970s. Yes, let’s keep calling for 1950s 4-4-2, or the 1970s 4-2-3-1 and never ever use a modern formation or even play modern day futbol.
if you look at previews of the world cup teams the big picture is actually headed back towards 433 being a minority formation that eventually will dwindle back towards holland and spain and maybe even just holland. if players stay in their channels — as the US is prone to do –your passing lanes become square instead of triangles. it’s hard to defend the formation without almost turning it into something else like a 442 or 451 on defense. which if you do that you lose the high wing field position for transition outlet balls. i always saw it as hyperaggressive and risky. the way we play it isn’t even that attacking aggressive as we kind of play the ball 2 beats early like keepaway, too much to the corners, not enough direct to goal. i feel like we’ve devalued combo play, taking people on, or even using a pass to commit defenders. as in wait for you to come to me and play it behind you to put our guy in space.
i think the 433 obsession is fairly old dutch/spanish stuff and they have a single world cup between them, which was a miracle alignment of la masia products. we don’t call players technical enough to tiki taka end to end and i think it’s naive arrogant stuff to premise your offense as passing through a press. no wonder we have tons of giveaways on our own end.
i think more balanced or varied formations are coming in to fashion. i think the 433 was just a fashion that’s had its day and been figured out. we have more athletes than technicians and i am not sure why this isn’t still a balanced formation team with a more fast twitch approach. to me it’s odd to turn this bunch into a 30-pass slow build. this bunch is a lot like 2002 or 2010 in qualities. defend hard as a team, get it wide, get it upfield fast, and get it to the few technical players to finish at the end. unleash the creative players and let them have fun.
i think we have improved technically and gotten the ball on the floor but so has el salvador and about everyone else. we only have so many strong technicians compared to other teams. the idea on tactics is play to strengths. we may have caught up a little on skill — and have the U14s still working on it — but it’s not actually an advantage yet. most teams don’t play aspirational tactics of what they wish they become. here is what the team is now, leverage that. i think the fear is we’d go back to kickball but we’d progressed past that by klinsi’s tenure. i think it would be faster and tougher defense, fewer passes per chance, more chances less keepaway, less show off, but that’s actually what wins many world cups.
IV -We are both on the same page, when it comes to overvaluing club play but Champions League, English Premier, La Liga, MLS 2 years in a row, Ligue 1 were all won by teams, who played the 4-3-3.
i do like that your choices, while not my taste, are unapologetically attacking. if you’re gonna play dest and jedi at their defensive risk then why not commit to offense entirely. put a bunch of attacking guys out there and go hunt goals, try to win 3-2. to me if we start ream and the wingbacks we may very well ship 2 goals so you might as well pour gas on it and go end to end. GB’s issue is he’ll toss attacking wingbacks on then have sloppy defensive mids. the defense is compromised but the attack isn’t exactly jet fuel.
so pick one. the two summer tournaments we won were all out offense then all out defense. this has unfortunately settled in between, but we don’t yet have the quality to grind games out and score when we want to.
agree with what you’re saying
it’s a TEAM so Weah for me on the right, CP the left, and the 9 is a tossup? if Wales sits back like we think, Sargent or even Haji for his power in the box, you know?
but if we press 4 3 3 no Haji then, Josh maybe yes
Aaronson will probbly get the nod oat RW as he has under GB, but for me, since he already plays above Adams at Leeds…just keep him there! with Yunus, and McKennie can play significant minutes off the bench.
same idea with starting Jedi and Ream together on the left
Gio as a supersub seems perfect to me for him
Morris? At CF no less! Against a team that isn’t likely to leave any space in behind. I get the Ferreira as an AM, but tell more about the reasoning behind Morris starting as the 9.
Have you heard of the ‘hammer & nail principle’? Nail goes first, then use hammer. Sargent is the hammer!! There needs to be a nail. I would use Sargent as the hammer in the group stage and start him every match in the knockout and use Morris as a hammer. Ferreira is out as my 9, and starts as my LM & rotates with LDT. Morris played CF in college & 1st 3 seasons for the Sounders until his 1st injury. (Dempsey signed in a coinciding move). Example- Chopa-Moting (Bayern Munich) isn’t better than Lewandowski, and isn’t dynamic like Mane but he’s a better CF than Mane. Since Munich has started him, he has scored in every match. Mane isn’t disciplined enough to stay central, neither is Mbappe, Jesus Ferreira, Weah, CP, or Reyna. Even though Munich doesn’t play a 4-3-3, the 4-3-3 still needs a player in the front 3 to stay disciplined enough to stay in front of goal. Morris has no lateral movement but his vertical leap is still good. Examples- goal vs ES (mud game), Nations League. Jesus goal vs Grenada, Jesus used his left foot, Morris sees this and jumps up so he doesn’t block the ball. I noticed it instantly. Morris also has 11 goals in a US jersey, tho Wikipedia hasn’t added his goal from the mud game. Each goal he has scored for the US has some significance, exception Uruguay ‘19, tho Uruguay used the exact same squad in ‘22, exception Cavani off the bench. I don’t think Sargent would be effective in the knockout stages if he starts all 3 matches in the group stage. Morris may not be your cup of tea, but he will put pressure on the CBs if he plays centrally.
I think you put out best (healthy) 11 against Wales and go for 3pts, rotate for England knowing it will be tough to get pts, then should be mostly best 11 again in 3rd match. So for me, both Weah and Aaronson need to start against Wales, Reyna as supersub. With Reyna being questionable for 90min, I think you bring him as a sub the first 2 games, then hope he can go 90 in the third. Sounds like Dest fitness is questionable, so go with the experience of Yedlin. Can’t see Zimmerman being benched after being the defensive workhorse for the entire two years of qualifying. So if its Zimmerman and Ream, I think we have to go with the 4-2-3-1 and sit Adams and Musah as dual 6s. This also allows for Aaronson to play centrally ahead of them to get both Weah and Pulisic on the wings. That would then allow Ferreira to play the false 9 he is most comfortable with. Sargent, Reyna, McKennie, Dest as subs allows flexibility to sub in and change formation as needed, and can rotate in as starters 2nd/3rd game. I literally can’t remember a single game in the last 4 years where we actually had this many healthy players to build lineups from. Lets go USA!!
Food for thought:
……does anyone else see a problem here?
Brenden Aaronson –
Kellyn Acosta DM / CM / RB
Tyler Adams DM / RM / RB
Luca de la Torre CM / ACM / RM
Weston McKennie CM /RM / DM
Yunus Musah CM / ACM /RW
Cristian Roldan CM / ACM / RM
….no dedicated Left Midfielder in the line-up. The USMNT doesn’t have a player that ACTUALLY trains and plays as a dedicated LM?!! What? No wonder the 4-3-3 falls apart against top opponents. Dest has played in the overlapping LB position for Barcelona, so can definitely play in the LM role, but he is never even consider for that position.
I think a 4-2-3-1 would be a better fit and get us out of this group
–
————————-Sargent (CF)————————–
–
Weah(LW)——-Aaronson(ACM)——Pulisic(RW)
–
———–McKennie (CM)—–Adams(CDM)——–
–
Jedi(LB)–Ream(CB)–Zimmerman(CB)—Dest(RB)
–
———————–Turner(GK)————————-
–
Dest if he is healthy, if not, Scally
–
Starter or Substitute???……..hmmmmm
Aaronson(ACM) or Reyna(ACM)??
Sargent(CF) or Wright(CF)??
McKennie (CM) or Musah (CM) ??
Zimmerman(CB) or CCV(CB)??
–
…..bbbbbuuuuutttttt since we are going to be in a 4-3-3 line-up I really do not know what GB has in store for us
The USMNT is 36-11-9 in 56 matches under Berhalter, a 65.4% win rate…….so lets see
Sorry…sorry…..sorry…..the comment “we don’t have a LM in the line-up” is inaccurate. Brenden Aaronson CAN PLAY as an attacking central midfielder, Central midfielder OR A LEFT MIDFIELDER. I guess this could work
–
——-WEAH————-SARGENT———–PULISIC——–
–
——AARONSON——–ADAMS———–MUSAH———
–
JEDI———–REAM————-ZIMMERMAN—–YEDLIN
–
——————————-TURNER——————————–
–
Musah sometimes plays as a RW so he’d be a dangerous on the wing as a RM. The CM role in a 4-3-3 can go to either Adams (more defensive approach) or McKennie (a more offensive approach). Yeah sorry about the inaccurate comment…
LDT, Reyna & Jesus Ferreira can play LM, BA spends a lot of time in RM but isn’t disciplined enough to stay put as a midfielder in a 4-3-3. McKennie, Musah, Roldan, aren’t effective in left midfield in a 4-3-3. Acosta isn’t bad at LM, WCQ v Canada home, he played LM and was adequate enough to get a hockey assist that led to BA’s goal. Any player that plays a traditional 10, (see Spain 08-12), can play in LM, but u lose defensive prowess. I truly want to see Jesus, McKennie, & Captain Adams v Wales. Julian Green was my pick in ‘18. I believe Jesus can bring balance to the midfield. MMA isn’t bad, but as you pointed out Musah or McKennie disappear when in LM.
They don’t play a left midfielder because the play 3 cms with ADAMS guarding the backline. The flanks are to be covered by the outside backs and the wings. DUH
i like the dest idea. i thought he had more of a wing’s toolbox than a back’s. barca plays him a handful of times a year up there. beyond that i think there is an unaddressed question of whether the ajax/cruyff/barca axis should be the template. pretty bridesmaid soccer. i thought we were after trophies. most trophy teams are technical, but also organized and tough. think germany or italy. barca is the team that lights up everyone else in aesthetically pleasing fashion until an equally talented but more organized bayern or whatnot sends them home 4-0 in a UCL semi just the same. soccer is a 2 team sport. part of it is stopping the other team who as the level goes up gets harder to do.
But Bizzy is saying play him for McKennie as an 8. McKennie isn’t playing in wide spaces like he does for Juve with the US.
I would start. Sargent-Wright Pulisic-Musah-Adams -Reyna
Robinson-CCV-Zimmerman-Yedlin Turner
Yelling and Turner are not both in goal 😂 my formatting got messed up when the comment posted.
Striker, 4231? If so, I would prob put Musah next to Adams. Pretty interesting that I don’t think we really have an idea what lineup or formation Gregg is going to use. Hopefully, Wales doesn’t either!!
Yes Tele57, I agree that Musah and Adam’s combo compliments each other very well, as Weston coming back from injury and we can rest him for England.
How are you lining up Weah, Pulisic, Wright, and Reyna? Who are the 9 and the 10?
turner
yedlin long zimmerman moore
adams musah
weah reyna
pulisic ferreira
4222
or
turner
yedlin long zimmerman moore
adams musah
weah reyna aaronson
pulisic
4231
to me if you can’t decide who the 9 should be to the point we start talking lazy club form theories, then you go “DempseyLandon.” pick a leading player with a forward-like skill set who could do some striking and put balls on cage. i don’t see GB being that bright because he’s mr. analytics which tends to channel choices into conventional patterns. the debate becomes “how often does he play it in club” as opposed to does he have the skillset to pull it off. if you ever played both LB and RB that debate sounds silly, ditto if you played up and back, wide and middle. some players have builds and skillsets where they only fit one space at an elite level. some like weston, weah, and pulisic are both athletes and soccer players and could probably, with some training, play anywhere. but for our purposes here, i am sure pulisic would be as good or better than any conventional 9 in camp.
Aaron Long is God awful and has zero reason to be on the field much less the roster…
to be real, if everyone was healthy, my choices would be miles and richards, zimmermann next, then EPB vs Long for the last slot. was a CCV fan but his recent caps were poor. ream, brooks, and miazga can keep up with their men and i think we overrate the value of defender distribution. i like the hockey +/- stat where players are judged by does the team net out ahead on score with them on the field. i think with the wingbacks and some CBs the + per game is exaggerated but they seem to associate with – games where we allow 2+ goals a night. it’s like people have forgotten eg, the swiss, english, brazilian, and colombian games. there is a common snob notion of playing the best all the time that is less possible in the Nations League era. take or leave that but IMO any value to a kick butt schedule lies in letting the action and results correct any delusions we have. if you bring the players back who cost you in those games you didn’t really learn a thing.
i think we need to work on the back position for next cycle if we want big dreams. i think a lot of the golden generation talk skips whether we have a competent defense behind the attacking talent. i don’t see long being part of that. i see him as a one eyed man being king of the blind sort of thing. we don’t have many healthy backs who mark well.
Just watched Conrads podcast, said Dest was still training on his own. Said he was active and moving etc, but Yedlin is looking more likely
the way they rostered the team is like they have 3 LBs or RBs and he doesn’t really have to play if he’s not ready. i think they are taking a flyer he works through it to be useful later on. i kind of doubt you toss a guy out there jogging on the side, he’d have to graduate to scrimmage work. personally i’d like to see him tried as an offensive wing because i think he can create havoc in the attack, but when defending particularly on the left side, makes schoolboy level mistakes. flinches at fakes, gets megged and doesn’t use his body.
I am curious. Why would you bench Anthony Robinson and Joe Scally? Moore has never played LB for club nor country. He has only played RB/RWB.
i generally believe in starting cycles experimenting a lot — more than many — but i believe in ending them relying on the players who proved themselves over the cycle. scally to me had 1 good cap out of 3 and while debatably enough to make the team — cannon looked bad lately — i’m not yet comfortable. and i say that as someone who was awed by the highlight reel stuff before he showed up a nervous wreck for caps 1 and 2. as i said on this other comment i think jedi CAN defend if told to sit back, but i think we have a compulsion if he plays to send him and dest forward which exposes the defenders on the counter. dest then can’t mark and jedi often just gets caught up 20 yards behind his man. i think that pairing — which i see as the likely choice — is a potential quick exit. i think it’s going to be a tough group and you need to be fundamentally sound and let the front 6 do their job. i trust them to create more than wingbacks anyway.
Oh I see, thanks for explaining The Imperative Voice.
IV – I guess you are down on McKennie. I can’t see him not starting even in a 4231 as a wing, which he has played for Juventus. I don’t want McKennie with Adams as the 2 though. I do hope to see the wingbacks defend first as you preach. Interesting that you took Moore over Yedlin but not really considering Moore was generally considered by most to have been better in MLS and is very familiar playing with Zimm.
i think moore is a good stay at home defender who can actually get the odd assist or goal in a pinch, but does his job. yedlin has a history of going to sleep and getting backdoored on the weak side the past 2 cycles (it’s like with a couple years people forget the precise reason why a player got dumped before, and set themselves up again, eg, brooks, ream). i actually believe jedi can defend his slot if he stays back, he has the foot speed and can mark, but the coaches that use him seem to want him pushed 20 yards cheated up where he can be countered. that then exposes any CB weaknesses as the other team flies down the wing unmarked and we scramble.
i was also somewhat convinced by a game by game breakdown that suggested our group will be very defensive.
re mckennie, he has been hurt, and more pointedly, i feel like our MF is very sloppy. the question gets framed up as “but he starts at juve” except i think we need a pure technical 10, which he’s not. so i’d invert the triangle to give us better MF defense — 2 DMs — and then favor the more technical Reyna as the 10, which might help us create and possess better. Reyna is “Dortmund,” Pulisic “Chelsea,” Aaaronson “Leeds,” so i don’t think putting down the club card ends the game anymore.
personally i see weston long term as a swiss army supersub who could play anywhere from F sub to 6. he is productive on deadballs and crashes the box. perfect guy to throw on in a tight second half. i just don’t see him as a guy who plays 90 and completes a bunch of passes. i see him as more a swashbuckler who pulls a rabbit out of a hat in a tough situation then drives you insane with giveaways in between inspired moments. which to me is more a sub than a 10. i am even more of a “create chances” over “possess the ball for the sake of possession” guy (which i see as filibustering keepaway that stops both teams from doing anything), but he’s just too sloppy to run an offense through. i think US fans at the moment are kind of status quo and club snob oriented and fight more change, but i think as we add more “Dortmund” and “Leeds” and whatnot merely tossing down a “Juve” will mean less as this team accumulates young talent. at a point that starts to cancel out and it’s back to talent and skill sets.
side point — i’ve pointed out to ream jedi fans what fulham’s numbers look like — high GA overcome by a nearly equally potent offensive GF. well, on juve, offense is not their strong suit. they are 3rd, not 1st, overall. they have similar offensive GF to 6th to 8th place teams like udinese and atalanta. weston has 1G 1A in league play, not setting the world afire. what is carrying them at the moment is defense — they are the best serie A defense at about a half a goal per game, 7 total. so you have people touting a player who for us plays offense, limited production on an OK offense, team is really being carried by the defense. not the ad people think.
i kind of also think weston has an issue where he’s like a complex of talent who doesn’t quite have a position, and team sports you need people who can play a role within a concept. which is part of why i say sub.
At this point I think our formation is more important than who is actually starting.
The GB SPECIAL, 4-3-3, leaves our team lacking slightly in defensive areas, placing most of the burden on the CM (Tyler Adams) particularly when our full-backs are pushing up highmin the formation to create pressure and press, or aid in the attack. Yes, I know the formation is attack oriented and we are not going to the World Cup to just sit back and take shots in the face all day, but as we have seen in our last 2 games, if any of the players aren’t playing their role effectively as needed, we fall flat and lose control of the game……fast and in a hurry.
–
No friendlies to fine tune the team, some players just coming off injuries, MLS has been over for a minute…….if GB pulls this one off then I don’t know what to say.
–
LLEEEETTTTTTTSSSSS GGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
I liked landon’s lineup on that podcast..
No hesitation he said Gio on the left, Aaronson on the right, Pulisic as a false 9.. Get your best players on the field.
He also said he’d start Yedlin over Dest..
Wales will sit back, so Dest isn’t going to be that useful. Wales will counter with Dan James and Bale. We need speed and 1v1 defending. I start Moore at RB, unless Yedlin is somehow still faster (Yedlin hasn’t looked that good at Miami recently). Maybe Scally if his speed is closer to Moore. I also start Sargent at the 9 for physicality and versatility.
That was Donovans take..
I wonder if Dest will be ready, I saw that he was the only one not training with the squad yesterday, wasn’t even in cleats, just running shoes.
I also saw the Q and A with Weah, he was all talky and smiley, then the last question was If he had been training at all at the #9, and he got a bit quite and said something like I think that’s a question for the coach
a commentator i read who went game by game suggested we will probably see teams sitting back the whole group round and either have an answer to escape the 3 games or not. england had low GA in the euros. iran is a tough defensive team. we should already know from the first wales game that just whacking flag crosses in is a recipe for struggle.
hey Bac,
if CP plays a false9, then that crowds Musah’s space on the turn. I just don’t think so, at least not as the main idea.
I don’t know everyone’s fitness, but Weah on the right would be nice imo, that’s where he plays and he gets up and down, with CP on the other side, and Ferreira I bet as the starting 9 but maybe Sargent. So Gio supersub.
that leaves Musah Aaronson and McKennie for 2 spots in the 4 3 3 with one a super sub off the bench.
but this ALL depends on the tactics GB chooses…who knows?
if we go more holding and less pressing, whatever the system, that will dictate the backline choices, and again, who knows what that will be given the late Ream selection?
I think Landon was saying thats how you get the best 11 on the pitch at the same time..
As I have watched every youtube/podcast that I can find the last week one thing is clear:
Everyone is saying basically the same thing that Wales will sit back, GB has to figure out to break down a team looking to sit back & give up most possession blah blah blah..
Im starting to think that Wales is gonna try to press the shit out of us until we can prove we can break the press, and no matter what GB better have plan A,B, & C ready…
I’ll tell you who had a great question was Colin Cowherd interviewing Cobi Jones a day or 2 ago- his question was something like: technically this is a golden generation blah blah blah, but his biggest question was are the tough enough (In every sense of the word)
It seemed like Cobi was giving PC answers working for Fox & he kinda side swiped the answer…and I thought back to the conversation we had after those two friendlies… we could use a Jermaine Jones infusion..
That seemed to be the same thing Landon was saying also, get your best 11 on the field, and someone needs to step up and become that guy who can “will” their way to a win because none of these guys knows what that real WC intensity can look like
SOO… that is why for me its the 4-3-3: 4 bud lites, 3 Jack & cokes, and 3 Dr Pepper shots (sung to George Thorogood one bourbon one shot & one beer)…
well here goes Ives again thinking people will pay for this material….There are 15 mock lineups floating on the internet that are 95% identical. I’ll go read a free one.
aggravating isn’t it