The U.S. men’s national team’s second Copa America group stage match will certainly be tougher than the first, especially with a CONCACAF rival opposing them at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday.
Panama awaits the USMNT in Atlanta, Georgia in the first head-to-head matchup since July 2023. Thomas Christiansen’s squad eliminated the Americans from the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals last summer, which ended the USMNT’s hopes of repeating as champions of the tournament.
Many of the current USMNT squad were also part of a 1-0 World Cup Qualifying loss to Panama back in 2021, the first for the U.S. ever on Panamanian soil. The USMNT will be favored to get a result on Thursday, but knows how tough the matchup will be.
“They bring man-to-man pressure,” USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner said of Panama. “They’re a team that has a lot of really talented players and athletes. It’s to be expected, a physical game, really competitive.”
“We don’t know which Panama team we’re going to get,” winger Tim Weah said. “We’re just going to come out 100% and not take anything for granted, put all our cards on the table, and make sure we execute.”
The USMNT edged Bolivia 2-0 on Sunday in Arlington, Texas, using first-half goals from Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun to earn three points. Matt Turner was rarely troubled by the Bolivia attack, while Pulisic, Balogun, and left back Antonee Robinson were among the bright spots in Gregg Berhalter’s squad.
Panama however suffered a 3-1 loss to Group C favorites Uruguay despite being down by one goal up until the 85th minute. Plenty of their key leaders will need to be important against the USMNT including Aldaberto Carrasquilla, Edgar Barcenas, and Michael Murillo.
The USMNT now has three matches under their belt this month and after earning their first victory, confidence is high among the group as they try to exact revenge against Panama.
“We’re honestly just sticking to the plan,” Weah said. “We’ve had this gameplan since day one. We stay true, we’re intentional with the way that we play. We’re a team now that understands each other, and I think we’re starting to see that a lot more as we’re getting into these other games and as we’re getting older as a group.
“We don’t shy away from physicality,” Berhalter told reporters. “We like that in matches, and that’s never a problem for us. For us, it’s just about embracing whatever a particular match brings, and if it’s physicality, we’ll be fine, we’ll be able to deal with that.”
Told you all when it was Barton assigned to this match it was going to be wild.
cheers JR!
you’re on the spot most often than not
How is a guy that open with 5 backs
Well they are going to have to pull off a big task against Uruguay. Weah I’m sorry man you doomed your team tonight.
agreed, pulled a Dest
Well that sucks.
I don’t know who to sacrifice yet, but this situation screams for Aaronson to get some minutes
Robinson for me but idk man
they will try to pin a 2nd yellow on him
it’s a terrible option all around…he can’t spaz out
i didn’t like burning 3 subs at half when this is bound to be an endurance contest.
we are also not possessing or getting very far out of our end since they switched from 441 to 531.
what an actor! hahaha
the clown show continues…VAR to the rescue
Most logical decision is to pull Reyna and put Musah on for the RM position at half. Need more counter attacking speed and defending in the second half.
I like Musah, not sure for whom. others will be needed too.
no matter what, cannot commit numbers forward to do it…that is exactly what they want to counter back once we’re stretched. maybe down the stretch but careful man
send 2 or maybe 3, seriously and everyone else has defensive counter attack responsibilities first
Got to win this game. Can’t tie. Odds are we don’t beat Uruguay. Panama will beat Bolivia.
I’m hearing you DowninTexas!
play CCV and ream middle, push richards wide left, push jedi up in a 441, and let jedi just run down the line with the ball. all that’s working has been just dribbling out of our end — like pulisic just did — which can’t last forever.
Difference between controlled aggression and not controlled. This team obviously was hyped up for a physical match a bit to much.
they responded to the hit on Turner, which went uncarded, lol
if not for the ref immediately losing control none of it happens imho
Turner lucky he’s ok…ref shows he doesn’t care…now what player? come on man
I’ve come to understand the most important team to the beautiful game so it can be beautiful is a earnest officiating crew which is also competent
as much because they are rare as because without them, it’s terrible
there is an art to measured payback. 2 shots to the head is not measured payback. what you do is get a little extra stuck in on a legit soccer play, or run into the sucker on a corner kick. you don’t clock someone in the open field in the VAR era and think no one is watching.
please trust me when I say I know that
come down from upon high, at least look me square in the eye
oh, and I’m not excusing Weah but I am calling out all of it
the euros have kicked this tournament’s butt. these games are thug ball with clown show biased refs…they can’t help it, it’s part of the soccer culture
talk to me about it
dude, the whole world cup group round for us was blood and guts. i think we have some image of world class soccer departing from reality.
also, been watching italy any? what the US hasn’t learned is how to hold your temper, take some fouls, and let the other team collect the cards. they started out too soft and have maybe swung over too far the other way.
dude, I understand why it’s part of their soccer culture, and believe we’ve earned it
dude…to deny it is not reality
talk to me about it some more
it’s about knowing when to shut up and precisely what you can get away with physically. there is a line they are failing to ride.
i was fairly physical, it’s about self control. the game allows certain things and punishes others. i got 1 red ever, when i got taken down by the opposing keeper on consecutive breakaways and the ref made the mistake of saying, what trip.
you don’t keep yelling after a yellow. and you can bang a little but you don’t go to the head. basic stuff.
more adventures in defense with jedi and ream, do tell me when you all catch on
what a goal
haha same as it ever was
La Copa! lol
everybody, and I mean everybody, take a run at their keepers, plural as they get injured?? so stupid
worse than CONCACAF? wow that’s saying a lot but whatever
clown show
they are getting a bad dumb pattern on the discipline problems
the judicial system depends on the team, not the crime
bb: to be fair, how is that yellow they just got into scally that much different than weah’s
I wasn’t talking about that foul IV, I think you know that, to be fair
and I am very fair friend…to a fault probably
Concacaf ref, same ref from Mexico v US semi two years ago when Wes and Dest got red cards
Shoukd have switched out Weah for this game. Has never looked good against Panama. Now a stupid red card
did not like the way he came down on that shoulder
coach needs to get off his ipad and campaign the refs for the card that deserves
No changes to the starting 11. “Sticking to the plan” I guess.
In F. Jerry Balogun we trust!
then understand where i am coming from when i feel that (a) we were exhausted before we got to holland at the world cup and (b) we seem this odd blend of arrogant and insecure such that we are very sure about “the plan” — despite colombia — and yet scared to rotate the team executing it, which cumulatively causes problems when the colombias of the world arrive in the more serious rounds.
i think couva has done a number on the team’s good sense. but then as i said in my comment below, we should have done just enough to win panama in 2017 and saved the blowout squad for must-win in couva. we instead continue to favor the showy win over the bigger picture calculation.
uruguay beat brazil and tied colombia. i think it’s a miscalculation to assume they won’t care if they finish first and be satisfied with clinching and then rest people and hand us a result. my guess is they will ease past bolivia and save their powder for us, knowing brazil or CR is a nicer crossover.
we need to get over being scared little babies and get where we can take a calculated risk. we should assume we can advance. we should do as little as panama takes. we should set this up where we can beat uruguay, take the group, and get the preferred crossover. if you are still “scared” of brazil you didn’t watch the game last week or their opening game the other day.
It really doesn’t matter who we put on the field as it does how we play. If we play slow and let them get set in their block, play their style it will be a battle.
Ivan Barton the referee tonight. Reffed the 5-1 qualifying victory for US over Panama in 2022. Also was “in charge” of the NL semi with Mexico with the four red cards. Recently caught heat for adding 12 minutes additional time allowing Mexico to score in the 101st to advance to NL semis over Honduras. In other words he fully embraces Concacafness!
Comparing this current US Team to the B Team that lost to Panama in the Gold Cup is not comparing Apples to Apples. We have our A Team which means we have some depth. I’d make two changes from the Bolivia game. I want to see Sargeant, but not on this field in Atlanta. I’m saving him for 45 minutes against Uruguay. Same with Adams. With the questionable field I’m not risking him either. We need him in the knockout round. So, I’d give Balo 45 and Pepi 45 and I’d go with either Johnny or Musah, for Adams. Everything else stays the same and we get another 2-0 result and a birth in the knockout rounds secured.
Only 3 guys from last summer on this roster and two haven’t played a minute in the three matches this month.
you’re missing my basic concern here. i think it is wise to rotate the team for this game. but you’re then leaning on the bench to get the panama result so we can use the starters for uruguay. all self-serving bs about “this is A, that was B” aside, do you really trust our subs to get the panama result. reminding you that the A bench mids include johnny LDLT malik. exactly. thanks. your argument is cute but you are inattentive to the actual quality of the players involved. do you see any of them scoring on panama? and i don’t mean as a hype state or “because they are US A team.” i mean do you actually think they are that good in the shirt. cause i don’t.
people have fun at my expense but there is a reason why i’d prefer to be sitting here with green, holmes, maloney, sands, at least some of them mixed in, and not pretending malik or LDLT can do a thing in rotation where we can rest people AND get anything out of this.
i don’t expect our coach to rotate much — setting up the same sort of tired starter problem we have had at tournaments like the world cup — precisely because whether he admits it publicly or not — he agrees with me. he doesn’t trust his own bench to be the equivalent of “benny and holden” off the 2010 bench — quasi-starters who can be trusted to hold a result or even produce a goal when needed. these guys are a mix of overrated or never wases that cannot be depended on to snag a winner or hold a result.
they are filler the coach likes but then the same coach is scared to rotate them in that much. which is oddly self-contradictory.
JR can then vaguely compare numbers of players like an analyics department without actually using his scouting brain to compare the quality of the people involved. as in, do you really believe that set of guys is any more likely to score the goals we need in the 80th minute of a 0-0 game with panama much less germany or colombia (and not bolivia or curacao), or to hold that 0-0 to the whistle. i would expect to see poor LDLT tossed about like a dog with a chew toy, and his assists are all against the equivalent of St. Mary’s School for the Blind. which doesn’t help when you need a goal on an athletic and ok panama squad.
but let’s make fun of advocating at that point that maybe have around the guy who got clutch goals on france and belgium. hmmm. makes complete sense.
the good news is if you hurry up and get a ticket, after making this argument, maybe malik will mis-kick you a souvenir shot up in row Z.
I’m in agreement with those saying you go for the win tonight, and rotate heavily against Uruguay if we get the win tonight. That said, rotating two or three starters for tonight is reasonable, say Pepi/Wright/Sargent at striker, one of CMs, maybe a CB. Rest the stars in the Uruguay game if we have locked up advancement.
tournament math, dude. inasmuch as we are sitting on 3 points with uruguay, with an uruguay win we would do no worse than finish even in the standings, and likely beat them on GD — regardless what happens with panama. they might be on 6 and us 3 going into the game, but we win we catch up and it goes to tiebreaks. this is the same error we made with the panama game before couva. nothing was going to be decided in that panama game, either. we went all in, tired the guys we needed for the TnT result. got the game we didn’t need. lost the one we did.
my concern for panama is GB can’t pick teams so his bench and B teams suck and are less reliable to get the needed result. ie we already lost to panama with the Bs last year.
BUT maybe we get the result, or even at least a tie where a uruguay win takes the group without a tiebreaker. and in any event, we beat uruguay with the first choice and the deficit goes away. tournament math. you always rest the middle game if your last one is the big matchup for the group win, since a win in the big one wipes out whatever happens game 2 and gives you H2H on tiebreaker.
and to me you put off colombia as long as possible and hope some other team does that job for us, or someone gets hurt, or we figure out something in the interim. but if we beat panama then lose the group then draw colombia, we’re done early IMO.
The tournament math tells me that three points against Panama guarantees advancement to the quarterfinals unless Bolivia beats Uruguay, which isn’t happening. Despite the difference in the friendly matches between Colombia and Brazil, there is no telling which of those two teams we will face if we advance, so guaranteeing advancement and not relying on a result against Uruguay, where we will be underdogs, is what they should do and what they will do.
Unlike the Panama/TnT comparison, a win tonight would allow us to rest players for the Uruguay game and be as prepared and fresh as we can be for the monumental task of facing either Colombia or Brazil in an elimination game.
TS: which makes more sense? (1) chase group leadership.
rotate panama, see if we get a result, full power uruguay and chase first place, if we win we get brazil or CR probably, who we have tied and beaten respectively. we likely advance and only then see colombia in a semi. worst case: 3/4 game. best case: see what happens in the knockouts.
(2) chase rest at the expense of the group or controlling opponent. pat ourselves on the back curbstomping panama with the As. because what we need is more hype. rotate uruguay, lose. 6 points finish second. face colombia, lose again. out in the first round.
and i think the likely GB pattern result is we don’t rest much of anyone anytime.
“but we clinched advancement earlier.” pffffft
to me if we called the right backups we wouldn’t be sweating panama. the backups are where this team is still a little “zardes.”
I agree maybe start one of Aaronson , Pepi, or Wright then you can start either Johnny or Yunus. Win this game and lock up advancement. It’s not like the quality difference between Brazil and Colombia is giant. There’s also no guarantee Uruguay is going to play their best if they’ve qualified for the knockouts either.
are you kidding me it’s not like there’s a difference. did you and i watch the friendlies, or their opening games, or what???? one team whooped us 5-1 and won their opening group game. the other game tied us 1-1 and drew their opening group game with a meh costa rica team.
look, from a player’s perspective, i am just going to have to beat whoever shows up. but from a calculating perspective, i want the bracket to part open for me. the discrepancy here is HUGE and you want brazil and not colombia first. yes, we may eventually have to top both, but only an idiot is ok with finishing second group and drawing the equivalent of holland again.
basic tournament soccer. win your group, ease your path, then win your knockouts. rest people when you have an easy match to do so. the soccer gods don’t care if you win 5-0 or 1-0. we have too much affection for curb stomping bad teams with the starters when they should be rested for the games that decide where we stand. but that requires having a bench who can carry their own water as opposed to a bunch of weirdo subjective picks and guys coming off injuries we don’t know we actually want to play.
agreed jb.
can definitely rotate some guys, but all with the idea of the best 11 for this matchup and the tactics we will employ to assure advancement. Colombia or Brazil await? whatever, both are tough AF…no preference
vs. waiting until game 3 against the toughest opponent in the group still needing a win, etc. literally no one does that
This really is a trap game, and a must win, so you put your best squad out there and go for it.
I “think” the coach has hopefully learned from the world cup that waiting till the 80th minute for your subs wasn’t an effective strategy.
Weston is sitting a B.S. yellow so maybe he starts Musah but I dunno…
I’d start Balo too, I don’t like a few of his fancy attempts at dribbling but I DO like his confidence despite the negative feedback.
I think there was probably enough guys saying Hey dude, great job on the goal but you’ve got a lot more in you to overdo it, just play.
Either way, the success of this group is gonna be getting the midfield right.
i agree it’s a trap game but feel like this is the sort of bridge game we should be able to handle if the system worked and we had quality bench depth sorted.
“Should” be… I agree
go to go for the win vs. Panama, all out, leave nothing up to the final group game vs. Uruguay imo. the Panama game is the key to advancing, got to go for it all in
If we don’t rotate some starters, Gregg has learned nothing. Hopefully the plan was explained to everyone already, and it involves some player rotation.
yeah, it poses a slight conundrum, though. my thought process is you sit some people for panama so we can play the first choice for uruguay and chase an easier bracket game (brazil, CR, etc.). that pushes colombia down the road.
BUT what happened when we played B teamers against panama. hmmm
the alternative is you use the A team to ensure your panama W then rest them for uruguay. but unless you get a B team result against uruguay, or some quirky result between uru-bol, that might help uruguay take the group and we get colombia — albeit more rested.
this, to me, is where it matters who exactly we call — my personnel concerns. i wouldn’t trust us to get a result with LDLT malik johnny against anyone. it’s a paradox where the coach picks these people but then perhaps confronted with this roster and must-win games, then reflexes back to his favorites, giving them little or no rest. that itself should hint at a critique of his own choices. who makes “safe” repeat picks he then apparently doesn’t think he can trust chips on the table?
good soccer teams build up a 15-18 guy list of bona fide studs they can trust. for example, when we had guys like holden off the bench. if they have to start, no big whoop, because we had this itch to maybe start them anyway.
last point, repeating myself from below — i think this would have been a good game for vazquez. panama seems vulnerable in the air. your rotate in vazquez for crosses and deadballs. his specialty suits the night. because it’s a considered choice it’s not just nervously running out some of the B team.
I wouldn’t rotate yet.
Yes, I would like to beat Uruguay, but that game is at best a toss-up. If we take care of business against Panama we’re through into the knockouts…at which point I wouldn’t just rotate my starters against Uruguay, I’d literally switch all 11 of them.
Because at the end of the day, barring some extreme weirdness, we’re going to be seeing Colombia or Brazil in the first knockout game, and then one of the others – or Uruguay again – in the semis. I have zero preference about any of those.
Winning the group would be lovely, but at the end of the day I’d rather be able to rest my entire starting lineup while giving the backups some potentially invaluable tournament experience and the Uruguay result is what the Uruguay result is…because in terms of advancing it really does mean nothing. If we’ve taken care of business, that is.
I would play our regulars but…….
I don’t think playing our backups would definitively give Uruguay a win. I’m pretty content saying our backups are better than Panama’s first team, and Panama showed well for long stretches but they lack the quality that our depth pieces have. That’s not to say that Uruguay didn’t dominate the game and created way more chances, but i think our bench could make a game of it, ultimately losing however
I’m really not satisfied with Bologun up top. While he did score one, he looked pretty bad before that. I think we need to give Sargent a chance, or
Wright.
Sargent isn’t healthy. Hasn’t played a minute yet. Don’t think he will start. Far more likely Pepi gets the start if Berhalter rotates a few players for the Psnama game. I could also see Wright start over Wrah on the right. I would start Musah over Mckennie.
it is just nonsense to be carrying hurt players you either can’t use or have to pitch count. sargent in particular has been of such low value i don’t see the point other than perseverating that club form maybe finally translates.
but anyhow, the point is, 4 games into this stint it shouldn’t be, is he even up to getting into a game. setting aside i just wouldn’t call hurt people, he’s not adams, the upside isn’t that high on the risk and the delay.
i mean, basic good sense. do you see england or france calling a bench level forward, with few NT goals, who isn’t even healthy? the whole point to these sort of “last roster slot” choices is pick em healthy and hot and set em lose. if you carry weight it should be some proven team star in a world cup where if we can just get him healthy it pushes the odds up. this, it’s meh odds he is cleared, meh odds anything comes of him ever seeing the field. so what. call a healthy body. this isn’t even hard.
“it is just nonsense to be carrying hurt players”- have you seen his medical reports and scans? He cooked your guy Chris Richards in practice last week, video all over Twitter. So it doesn’t seem he’s as inept or as injured as you say. We all know it’s just your troll speak anyway. Had the US brought Vazquez you’d be complaining about what we really need is a hold up forward like Sargent. If this was a 23 man roster I’d probably agree, but this roster has 3 extra players so you can afford to carry four forwards when you only play one at a time.
JR: non-effing sense. i have been saying over and over leave sargent off. i am the opposite of swaying with the wind. it takes me years to say hmmm maybe not horvath anymore. you’re projecting.
you’re also ignoring my tactical explanations, (a) that we need more tactical diversity available on the bench — so we can shift gears — and (b) that if we’re going to be crude why not call at least one player trained in finishing that style of crudeness. an all-star hodgepodge picked for league pedigree or decontext numbers is not suited to executing a system.
some point we need to figure out we need to leverage the team with a system that makes them shine, and if that system means too many stars would sit it’s the wrong system.
like i said above, i think this coming game screamed vazquez. but this is water under the bridge. i will nonetheless moan and complain at the bridge rail.
uruguay got joy from panama off dead balls and crossing. i would run out our best aerial striker. i am not sure which that is from this list. might even be mckennie or pulisic but we’re not that creative.
i generally like wright most — big game goals — but i believe in horses for courses. some point we’ll figure out you game plan for opponents.
re balogun, it was a tidy finish, but he is constantly AWOL to progress the ball upfield. game here or there i am ok with a disappearing act punctuated by a goal in a win. it’s a production position. but i personally felt like the offense was sputtering the whole bolivia game as opposed to on-song. and it’s a pattern. and you can’t have that pattern every night.
personally i would be giving pulisic some 9 time, though maybe not this game. wright shows up. pulisic often enough shows up. pepi and balogun are inconsistent. sargent does jack. i would try pulisic up high and see what happens. he has been productive and he would figure out a way to show to and get on the ball. i feel like him at AM or 9 would get the attacking value with less impact from ball hog tendencies. to beat better teams we need the 9s integrated in the offense, better service, more efficiency, less ball hogging/iso work, more of a team game plan on offense.
Arriola scored on a header in qualifying I don’t think we need a target forward if Paul can out jump them.
are you seriously comparing vazquez, wright, and pulisic to arriola? vazquez is a poor man’s mcbride. a target guy good in the air who understands, unlike pepi, not to hit his headers and shots into the keeper’s gut.
to be fair, i wouldn’t play vazquez a ton, but he’d be out there for a purpose in games where we are stuck whacking crosses in.
otherwise, if you want to put sargent in where if the ball is a foot wayward he’s too slow to get it — and mayb at risk of pulling or tweaking something if he tries — have at it.
it used to be common coaching sense to have around the one big lunk striker if you got stuck and needed to go dead balls and aerial play. i am sorry you missed this. i know this era is like just keep doing the same thing for 90 and hope, but this is not progress. and if we’re whacking crosses in some approximation of mcbride or at least jozy or gordon being available is common sense.
costa rica 0 brazil 0 — i feel like we have lost all sense of broader context on the hype train.
the tournament starts for real with the uruguay game.
panama is a trap game with an athletic opponent where we see if they are motivated this time, or if their coach has another bright idea that night. but at home we should handle it.
i don’t think it’s helpful to keep hyping the less telling games as proof of concept.
I mean seriously who has hyped Gregg’s proof of concept? I mean besides the players at press events where everyone just answers in cliches and no actual information is gleaned.
not sure where i am getting it from. couldn’t be the headline. couldn’t be the coach. couldn’t be how he has programmed his kids, eg, “We’re honestly just sticking to the plan. . . . We’ve had this gameplan since day one. We stay true, we’re intentional with the way that we play. We’re a team now that understands each other, . . . We just have to continue positive performances.”
in other words, we keep doubling down on the hype from the portion of the schedule with positive performances against second and third tier opponents, when we should be taking lessons from how colombia or germany or holland went.
basically the telling pattern on this team is we lose to canada, should fire the coach, he then wins the home canada game and we think we’re fixed. we do the equivalent of that over and over, win some easy game and spare the pink slip earned in the hard ones. we are going nowhere until there is accountability for the big game results.
1. USSF execs don’t come here for advice from us.
2. As I said player/press hyperbole.
3. I’ve listened to most of the US based pundits not too many were impressed with the Bolivia performance.
4. Larry didn’t hype Gregg in the title either, just quoted from the press conference.
IV,
“not sure where i am getting it from. couldn’t be the headline. couldn’t be the coach. couldn’t be how he has programmed his kids, eg, “We’re honestly just sticking to the plan. . . . We’ve had this gameplan since day one. ……………………………..basically the telling pattern on this team is we lose to canada, should fire the coach, he then wins the home canada game and we think we’re fixed. we do the equivalent of that over and over, win some easy game and spare the pink slip earned in the hard ones. we are going nowhere until there is accountability for the big game results.”
?? IV, WTF are you talking about with this bullshit?
Do you know what firefighter arson is?
https://www.nvfc.org/firefighter-arson/
Long story short you’re acting like a firefighter arsonist. There’s no fire here except the one you are setting. It’s the same old BS. It’s just that this time, It MIGHT work. If you throw shit on a wall long enough and often enough, eventually something will stick.
Right now this team is where you’d like to think it should not have taken 5 and half fucking years to get to. But we can bitch about that later because that is mostly in the past. I’m no fan of the current team situation. There is not a lot of consistency and stability to this team but at the moment it feels like the rest of the competition just might be coming down to the USMNT level. If everybody sucks then what do you get? Parity.
One other thing that is working for them is most of our guys are not great with their clubs so the USMNT represents a chance for them to prove everyone else wrong. CP could not get arrested at Chelsea but he was always an automatic choice with us. This is a temporary situation which, if it were permanent would eventually provide diminishing returns but it is working for them right now.
And beside the arguments it appears you are presenting are bogus anyway because you keep acting like the USMNT are some kind of club built for the long haul. They are not. They are a team who make their living playing tournaments which is completely different from what a club team like Liverpool or Columbus has to think about. But we can shit on your arguments in greater detail later.
The point is the USMNT are in a decent spot. The tournament games are shaping up nicely in that we go from sub USL ( Bolivia) to lower to mid MLS (Panama) to vicious ( Bielsa). With luck, by the time Bielsa comes up both teams will already be in the next round.
Can they get lucky and beat Uruguay and then have to most likely face a somewhat diminished Brazil? Will Bielsa rest some guys? Well, hopefully the USMNT will score a lot of goals vs Panama because Goal Difference may be a big deal if we can tie Uruguay.
V- you don’t know what you’re talking about. we reached the semis this tournament last time. i expect us to get at least knockouts this time, even with the parking brake on. as i have said 20 times on here, i think the real tournament starts with uruguay. we will get 2 Ws if half competent on panama — who we have drubbed at home.
just like we managed to emerge from a fairly easy world cup group with iran and wales. which should have been 6 points but became 4 points.
you’re not getting it. my point is we should know from “colombia” that something is wrong. we even will likely have to beat colombia in the brackets to get any further than last time — which is the definition of improving. and it would be can we improve upon a 2018 cycle team THAT COULDN’T EVEN MAKE THE WORLD CUP. if we go out quarters or semis after that team made semis — is this program going anywhere?
you can pretend that’s firefighter arson, it’s not. it’s i think this is no further along towards the goal of being a finalist or winner in these tournaments, of going deeper in world cups. and the reason is because we pay ALL ATTENTION to tying bad brazil or beating bolivia, and then BLOW OFF losing badly in the sort of team-defining games like colombia that decide where our actual ceiling is.
i dunno, you’re pretending like this is awesome and i am being fake and not like COLOLMBIA SHREDDED US JUST DAYS AGO and where common sense says maybe don’t get a big head over bolivia then.
call me when we beat someone good. period. that’s not firefighter arson. that’s the fire marshal saying you have a faulty fire alarm, flammable stuff left casually around, and the place is going to burn down. and based on holland germany etc., i am not wrong.
IV it’s apples and oranges though. 2016 we faced Ecuador I the quarters. They also didn’t qualify for the 2018 WC so defeating them wasn’t as big a task as beating Colombia or Brazil. Yes, Brazil is down but they did just beat England and draw Spain who both won their groups at the Euros so they’re not exactly Puerto Rico. Colombia also beat us rather easily twice in 2016 so not sure even by your logic how that’s going backwards.
They need beat Panama first. It will be a tough game.
we put 5 past them with money on the table at home last game of qualifying last cycle. 6 against them in 2020. uruguay put 3 past them,
if we had vazquez in we’d destroy them. uruguay was crossing on them all night but they had people in the box who could put headers on the posts for a difference. i vaguely remember a bunch of set piece and header goals in successful matchups with the A team.
we should get no less than the 4 points we got last time we played both these teams in 2022. really should be after 6 if this is progressing at all.
I’ve:
2022 WC qualifier
1-0 Pulisic PK ( Godoy choke slams Zimmerman and then handles the ball off corner)
2-0 Arriola header off Jedi cross (Vazquez probably not needed if Arriola was beating them) Pulisic got taken out dribbling towards endline Jedi collected it and just hit it into the box.
3-0 Ferreira tap in from Arriola
4-0 Pulisic PK (Godoy again gets his hands in the face of Miles off free kick)
5-0 Pulisic pirouettes through the box and scores from 8 yards out
5-1 Godoy scores off header off corner
Our front line that night was Pulisic-Ferreira-Arriola. DLT even started for Wes.
IV,
“we put 5 past them with money on the table at home last game of qualifying last cycle. 6 against them in 2020. uruguay put 3 past them,”
That was then. This is now.
“if we had vazquez in we’d destroy them.”
Then why didn’t we bring him?
“we should get no less than the 4 points we got last time we played both these teams in 2022.”
Should is one thing. What actually happens is another thing.
We’re better than Panama. We should beat them 6-0. But if this game ends up 0 -0 or worse for us, I won’t be surprised.
No sport rewards dominance of one side over the other LESS than soccer.
This is not high school or college or select team anymore.
you’d be a horrible scout. URU had repeated header chances put past the post on PAN, plus goals 2 and 3 were a volley off a blocked header on a cross, then a header. on that basis alone, referring to history is some odd attempt at distraction.
but even taking your history at face value, game last summer, our goal is cross in, morris header flick, ferreira volley. going back to 2020, you don’t like soto so i guess you’ve forgotten him getting 2 header goals in 10 minutes on panama in 2020.
then arriola with a header goal in 2022. we also got the 2 PKs but you seem to neglect WHY we’re getting PKs off CROSSES when their desperate defenders fall over our TARGET PLAYERS. duh.
between the URU game and our 3 matches, that’s several goals off volleys or headers by my count, plus PKs where they basically started clambering over our players because they couldn’t stop it.
i guess your logic i should not hit the crosses, because we will just magically get the PKs without doing what caused them. hmmm
i don’t know what the silly “not _____ anymore” ad hominem is about. i just pointed you to like 4 PRO games AGAINST THIS SPECIFIC OPPONENT where the strategy worked. i think you’re the one stuck back on JV talking theoretics. i am saying based on game tape here is how you beat panama.
and the irony is, i am not pro-whack balls in, usually. but if you scout a team and you watch some crude approach work very well, that they are bad in the air, that they lose people in zones, that they will pull down our players under pressure, you don’t get cute and insist on your theory approach. “nah, we’re a passing team now.” you take full advantage of the “cheat code” uruguay showed and your previous games have even used.
one of the problems with the “theory” being pushed by fanboys was anyone who played the various levels you made fun of, knows SOME NIGHTS YOU DO WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN. you bang your head against the wall your way. i will pump the balls into the box this particular team has not figured out how to stop.
it won’t be how to win next week, or the big ones, but this game they have a specific problem and a half bright team would go after it.
IV: what Panama shows is you don’t need to bring in a one trick pony target striker like Pefok or Vazquez. The two US goals scored on headers were Arriola and Ferreira. Uruguay’s goal scorer on a header 5’10 LB? Our two guys that drew penalties CBs on corners. You’re also ignoring in your scout how frequently Uruguay turned Panama over in their own half with pressure. So an active striker like Darwin Nunez that can lead the press would make more sense than Vazquez. Sargent, Wright, or Balo fits better with that plan. If the US plays slowly when they turn them over they’ll miss the boat though. Uruguay was aggressive in transition. Gregg’s “transition” could best be described as slow and steady leads to nothing so who knows. Only 4 players from either the 2022 WCQ and the 2020 Friendly started against Uruguay and only Coco and Murillo started all three.
IV,
“you’d be a horrible scout.”
No national team is stupid enough to pay either me or you to scout for them.
“ URU had repeated header chances put past the post on PAN, plus goals 2 and 3 were a volley off a blocked header on a cross, then a header. on that basis alone, referring to history is some odd attempt at distraction. but even taking your history at face value, game last summer, our goal is cross in, morris header flick, ferreira volley. going back to 2020, you don’t like soto so i guess you’ve forgotten him getting 2 header goals in 10 minutes on panama in 2020…then arriola with a header goal in 2022. we also got the 2 PKs but you seem to neglect WHY we’re getting PKs off CROSSES when their desperate defenders fall over our TARGET PLAYERS. duh…between the URU game and our 3 matches, that’s several goals off volleys or headers by my count, plus PKs where they basically started clambering over our players because they couldn’t stop it…i guess your logic i should not hit the crosses, because we will just magically get the PKs without doing what caused them. Hmmm”
Your pants are on fire.
A. You’re saying Panama is vulnerable through the air based on games vs the USMNT and Uruguay
B. You mention Morris,Ferreira, Soto, Ariolla. as canal busters.
C. You say Panama can’t stop headers so they are “clambering” all over players resulting in PK’s.
Your point is Gregg is a moron for not bringing BV to slay Panama or at least have them “clamber” over BV and concede PK’s.
Is that about right?
Because
• You know who is good in the air? Pepi, Josh, Wright, Richards, Weston, None of those guys will embarrass the USMNT in the air. Do you know if Panama only concedes through the air? This is not college. The USMNT don’t have those NCAA rules that allow subs far more liberally than they do in the Pros. Most teams can’t afford strict a aerial specialist like Vasquez appears to be according to you.
• The USMNT and Uruguay are significantly better than Panama and have been for a long time. Do the research and tell me how many goals Panama has conceded to the US over the years, and what their record is against us.
• Morris, Ferreira, Soto, Ariolla. were not picked for this roster. Gregg can’t use them vs Panama. I am confident that Gregg was right to leave those guys out even though I’m sure you would have picked them precisely because they have scored vs Panama. I like Soto. He has good fashion sense and the team needs that since Mix has dropped out. No one in Europe agrees with me so I can’t justify picking him over any of the forwards on this roster.
Honestly the last Panama – USMNT that I remember was a 4-0 thrashing in 2017 WC qualifier with goals scored by Pulisic, Jozy ( 2, 1 penalty!!) and BWood:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37535057/us-jozy-altidore-bobby-wood-handful-panama-bruce-arena
Gregg could have gotten Jozy and BWood on the roster and then we’d be assured of winning the game , by your logic.
Still, if Gregg wants to bombard them aerially, we have other players who might be able to, aerially, play as well as those four and Jozy and BWood.
• Teams “clamber all over opposition players resulting in PK’s” when they can’t stop them legally. It could be because they are short and weak but it could also be that they are too slow and unquick, or that they are inferior and thus the ball is in their box like most of the time. This increases the odds that a penalty might happen or that a goal is scored.
• The US and Uruguay are significantly better than Panama so if the canaleros concede either goals or penalties to either team don’t be surprised.
You always act as if there is some proven scientific formula to all this and that only you have found it.
There may be a formula but you don’t have it.
You are basing your approach on a bunch of random games played by sometimes completely different people, for different reasons, over a significantly long period of time. Games played, even as recently as 2020 are largely irrelevant when discussing today’s USMNT. Not only is the Gregg’s USMNT a transition model, so are most of their opponents.
If you are a Brazil or an Uruguay you have a national identity for your team and once the new players are blended in, the expectation is usually that the new team will reflect that identity. Bielsa is presiding over such a transition in Uruguay and Brazil is doing the same.
One of the criticism’s of Gregg was that the team had no identity (see Steffen, Zack) . It didn’t then but now we can see the outlines of an emerging identity. As a team, they are soft, boring, not overly savvy, cautious and tactically vanilla , but talented enough that if things go a certain way, we can challenge the adult teams.
They are very much a ”work in progress”.
That’s why the USSF is highly unlikely to axe Gregg. Because they can see that if things go a certain way, an identity could begin to emerge by the end of this tournament. The cheap USSF bastards want to see what their small amount of money has bought them.
If this team backslides the rest of this tournament then I can see the USSF maybe pulling the plug but I won’t believe it until I see it.
IV
“i don’t know what the silly “not _____ anymore” ad hominem is about. i just pointed you to like 4 PRO games AGAINST THIS SPECIFIC OPPONENT where the strategy worked. i think you’re the one stuck back on JV talking theoretics. i am saying based on game tape here is how you beat panama.”
Not all pro games are created equal.
In fact, not all USMNT vs Panama games are created equal.
I can think of very few things less informative than game data from a previous USMNT vs. a given CONCACAF opponent. If Paul McCartney’s career was based on such data , he’d be playing open mikes or doing karaoke in some bar in Fairbanks, Alaska while trying to keep warm.
“and the irony is, i am not pro-whack balls in, usually. but if you scout a team and you watch some crude approach work very well, that they are bad in the air, that they lose people in zones, that they will pull down our players under pressure, you don’t get cute and insist on your theory approach. “nah, we’re a passing team now.” you take full advantage of the “cheat code” uruguay showed and your previous games have even used.
”
one of the problems with the “theory” being pushed by fanboys was anyone who played the various levels you made fun of, knows SOME NIGHTS YOU DO WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN. you bang your head against the wall your way. i will pump the balls into the box this particular team has not figured out how to stop.”
You’re way overthinking this.
“it won’t be how to win next week, or the big ones, but this game they have a specific problem and a half bright team would go after it.”
A specific problem? What problem? Their B team lost a fucking Gold Cup game vs Panama? That’s the problem? So they bring in BV to sink Panama. The next game is Uruguay. You think the Uruguayans are scared of BV?
This USMNT is not the same team that lost the Gold Cup game to Panama. If they can’t beat Panama then fuck them. They don’t deserve to wear the shirt or get interviewed by Stu Holden.
They have enough talent to beat Panama. What they have to do is to make sure they learn something from beating Panama to help them beat Uruguay.
IV, well I’m glad you’re not on the team because taking teams for granted is the best way to lose a game you shouldn’t. If Panama scored their chances and Uruguay didn’t, Panama would have won the game and I am certain that will be the case today as well. Your Vasquez comment is supported by the fact that he started and played the first 74 minutes against Panama in the Gold Cup and score 5 goals less than 5 in that time.
Tele: “he scored 5 goals less than 5” that is one of my five all-time favorite comments. +100
i am sorry but coaching 101 is not have all your strikers with the same exact style of play. i am sorry but coaching 101 for decades has been have at least one big dude who can score headers well. ergo BV is not just for panama but for any game where we have to hoof balls in. as it is we routinely lapse into crossing balls — without anyone to finish them.
you can pretend we’re banging in headers every night with our aerial monsters — but we’re not. being capable of doing it sometimes is not the same thing as being specialized in it. kind of like LDLT is not the same kind of “skill player” reyna is. this is not hard to grasp.
having big backs or mids who can be thrown forward on dead balls is not the same thing as them being parked there run of play as the striker. this too is not hard to grasp.
last, are you seriously comparing how he would function with the B team with how it would go with the A team? it’s a little different when you’re waiting on service from gressel or cowell vs. from pulisic, reyna, or weah. suggesting it’s the same and the only outcome is 0 goals with that improved support — is clown stuff. or did you miss this is the A team this time?
btw you folks are basically proving my point on these late comments about how we “stick to the plan” despite negative results. based on these comments your idea of how to beat colombia is just run these same guys out because they are so awesome at whatever is asked and no one could be better at any task.
proved my point for me which is funny because up top in the comments you were suggesting i was imagining things that anyone wants stasis or overrates results on weak teams. you then bury your affection for precisely these things down here attacking any changes i propose.
i see it as we have progressed in terms of our ability to place our players abroad in glamour jobs for their careers but since we have gone fanboy about scheme and selection, have regressed at grasping how to coach soccer teams to actual wins, particularly hard ones.
the flow of play is meh, the chances less than they should be, the defense semi-porous against good teams, and if you suggest mixing in some new guys with specialty uses, people go crying for their “blankie.”
you feign thinking the coach is bad then effectively checkbox individually every dumb decision constituting that whole. does not compute.