In his first press conference as the U.S. men’s national team head coach on Friday morning, Mauricio Pochettino emphasized the belief he intends to instill in his squad as they prepare for their primary 2026 World Cup objective.
“We need to really believe in big things,” said Pochettino. “We need to believe that we can win, that we can win not only a game, we can win the World Cup.”
Concerns remain over the short time frame ahead of the tournament as well as the lack of competitive matches available to Pochettino as he prepares his team for the biggest sporting tournament in the world but the man himself set a tone of accountability from day one.
“What I wanted to tell you is that I am in the opposite side,” Pochettino proclaimed.”I believe that time is enough. I don’t want to put an excuse. I don’t want to create an excuse for the player to say, ‘Well yeah, but no, now we don’t have time to buy the new idea, the new philosophy.’”
Beyond the time constraints, implementing a change in culture is a focus of the USMNT as stated by captain Christian Pulisic following the team’s recent 1-1 draw against New Zealand. Once again, Pochettino was clear on what that would look like.
“We are a coaching staff that the first thing is we love the aesthetic in football and for us, it is really important. We want to play good football, exciting football. We are in USA. I think to convince our fans that showing us is about to attract and the aesthetic is really important. We want to play nice football, good football, exciting football, attacking football.
“And then, of course, if we want to have the possession — because we are coaching staff also the philosophy is to have the ball — we need to run, we need to move, we need to give options, good angles to your teammate.”
That on-the-field change remains interconnected with off-the-field change.
“To translate, to create this platform that when they come, [when] the players arrive to the national team they need to know exactly what we need to do, how we need to compete, how we need to behave like a team. The potential is there, the talent is there. It is only to create the best platform for them to express themselves.”
Part of that process will be opening the player pool to look at players who may have been previously skipped over. Pochettino promised the door will remain open for every single American player around the world to find a spot on the USMNT.
Contrary to prior reports, Pochettino also indicated he plans to live stateside but will regularly travel between Europe and North America as he examines every player at his disposal.
“I think putting all of these things together; his great soccer acumen, great leader, great person, great motivator, and his passion put all that together led us to believe that we have the best person in the world for this job,” praised USSF president Cindy Parlow Cone after stating, “There is nobody who deserves more credit than our sporting director Matt Crocker.”
Crocker, who spent time with Pochettino at Southampton in 2013, leveraged his past relationships with the manager and sporting executives at Chelsea to not only ensure he wanted to join the USMNT but that his former club (who he was still under contract with) would allow him to go.
“It was really important to us: a coach that matched our ambitions as we work and move towards 2026,” said Crocker. “I’m confident that we have secured not only the best coach, but the best person and the best leader to take our program forward”
In shouting out USWNT head coach Emma Hayes who Pochettino also spent time with in the Premier League at Chelsea, the new USMNT head coach perfectly exemplified both the personality and ambition Crocker refers to.
“Now we have Emma [Hayes who] is the best coach in the world and the women’s team in history won everything,” Pochettino prefaced. “I think we need to match them.”
These are precisely the ambitious quotes USMNT fans wanted to hear from their new head coach. Intent, confidence, passion, and most importantly belief were all at the core of the most monumental press conference in recent USMNT history.
While the focus remains on the trajectory of this team going forward, before we turn our attention CEO of U.S. Soccer JT Batson reminded us all to savor the moment and give ourselves a pat on the back for our contribution to the historic hire of Pochettino.
“This is something that everyone who has been involved in soccer in America should be proud of. You, whether directly or indirectly, made today possible.”
re poch’s picks, story i got is pinched wingers, wingbacks endline to endline in their own little chalk channel, MF to win the ball and get in transition quickly — and hit passes to the correct team. 6 who mops up and can double as a CB when he switches to 5 backs. i also suspect he won’t fart around long with iffy keeping and CBs.
at which point, this is probably job security for jedi. pulisic and reyna can probably play pinched wingers. can also probably play MF roles to hit passes in transition if they will work on defense. he’d like adams if healthy.
i suspect the rest of this would be fairly open. free for all at keeper and CB. he will likely reopen CF up after recent windows’ struggles. i think some AM turnover, the position has been so sloppy and very little creation other than play a U16 diagonal lead ball towards the flag. weston does crash the box but that’d be more useful as a pinched wing than a transition mid who needs to be able to put a pass on feet. i’d be curious if he’d see weah more as a wingback if wing is a more interior/pressing position. i think he’d like half of dest but not all of it.
people keep mentioning the WNT, well, they got swanson back, dropped morgan, redid 2/3 of the MF, and swapped out a back. 4/11 new. and based on how horan was being pared and pared back, she’s on the way out. i’m not saying unrecognizable. but i am saying if you realize we lost and there probably is a reason, some people get benched or dropped. GB also tended to develop favorites and seemed to pick off either paper or practice and ignore games. i expect poch to nicely encourage people and then nicely bench the ones who don’t get the regime changed.
now, i would rip the bandaid off after this summer but the people saying smugly it’ll be the same, tune in next year. and i’d expect some plugs immediately pulled. unlike the women this has just been consistently crap and not just slightly disappointing.
Berhalter used pinched in wingers as well. Like all the time, Jedi and Dest were always overlapping that’s why they were “caught too far up” you’re acting like this is some new wonderful tactic so if it works you can not look dumb for trashing the same ideas that failed under Berhalter. Hopefully the difference will be movement. As has been discussed our line of 5 and MF in the 3-2-5 or 2-3-5 would just stand and then Ream or Richard would have no one to pass to. We’d then either turn it over forcing it into the standing MF or play up the sideline usually to Jedi. Either it would then go to Pulisic who went 1 on 1 or to Jedi who would try to beat his man to endline then cross. Dest, Wes, and Weah were a little better at creating a triangle and playing off each other but the ball rarely went that way.
——————-
How will Poch make it better if he’s using the same basic idea?
– movement: not allowing the defense cover in their set defense. Making runs through zones and between lines
-interchange: past Poch players like Son and Palmer found space by interchanging with other attackers, causing confusion over which player to mark
-pace: Berhalter wanted the pace slow get everyone together to run the pattern. Pochettino teams get it and go first then let’s recycle if nothing is there
———————————-
Think of it like a science experiment, if Poch changes tactics and players all at once he doesn’t know what made the difference. Fairly similar roster, it works it was tactics if it doesn’t new players. No one rotates their rosters 25-40% a cycle. Sorry doesn’t happen. I gave you an 11 not a 23/26 there’s certainly room for Aiden and Marlon to get more looks. Poch likes runners and Morris will run until his legs fall off. My XI was if fully healthy and Adams does that but with better bite. I think we’ll see some rotation at CB I just don’t think we’ll see many new faces. Gregg actually tried a ton there. I think Ream is probably done but I’ve thought that before. At striker I think it will keep rotating until someone claims it, Haji on the wing reminds me of how he used Son at Spurs so that was my thinking. I also thought Pukstas could get a shot. Split denied him a lot for YTs so why not bring him in. I do agree friendly windows need to see more minutes for backups, closer to how Varas rotated. I think if Sargent wasn’t a little hobbled he would have played against NZ.
i never said it was new. i think i posted someplace else it wasn’t — that it was like a pre world cup version of our tactics under GB. when i was concerned if poch is that different. you seem to be bouncing back and forth on whether you believe his change is that dramatic.
my point is simple. this is what he plans to do. players who fit that are more likely to be called. basic logic. i expressed some i thought do fit. i think some others like weah fit less. reyna got his first starts wide during the pinching era. reyna moved in when we ceased to care about wide guys stationed at the box edge, and had the wingers out with the wingbacks on the chalk. weah is more of a wide raw speed thing.
likewise, if the idea is tag a pass long from a ball win in the MF to a forward to try and score in quick transition, i don’t think that helps musah or weston.
you’re trying too hard to be disagreeable. my final point was then that if we are currently starting or favoring a few misfits, then the misfits probably lose their jobs under poch, either right away if he realizes it now, or over time as they fail to execute his scheme. since we know a lot of the usual suspects and their pluses and minuses, their misfits can be predicted.
eg i think jedi is brought back in despite the fact his defending is meh, because he fits the scheme. is this leaving a key weak link, gone after by elite opposed attacks, in place? hmmmm. i have never been beefing to beef.
lemme put it this way. ordinary circumstances i’d say 20% noobs. 5 guys in a 25. cameo in the A game, start in the B game. real minutes for a real decision. 4 years to make full pool decisions down to a 23. or really more like the first 2-3 years. then gel the final result.
but you’re neglecting the shrinking finite amount of time poch has to operate. if he has to fix this in maybe 1-3/4 years, one big tournament and then several windows, the initial experimentation needs to be more dramatic. the 25-40% i suggested. 6-10 of a 25. if you compare that to above, we’re really talking 1-5 more fresh faces per opportunity. we’re still talking 15-19 usual guys — more than enough to start a usual suspects unit — if we wanted to waste our time.
otherwise the process inherently protects a unit that has sucked hard for about 2 years. the sacred cows should be fewer. the competition should be higher. both on results and the fact we don’t have time to do your edge-nibbling. if we start the usual people. if we call 20-22 of the usual guys. then this isn’t going to change enough or fast enough to do a freaking thing.
i think this comes down to confidence levels in this unit under a new coach. i don’t have it. i think keeper is a mess. i think MF is a mess. i think back is a mess. i think forward is a cool mix of striker quality and wing talent, including some kids coming up. you barely want to change a thing which i see as unjustifiable outside of if adams magically heals and the frontline.
fwiw hayes churned the women 36% (4/11) within a window plus a tournament, relative to WWC one year before. you’re mocking 25-40%. and i think we lack names like girma or naeher in the back that justified the 7/11 continuity. i think we are closer to the women’s frontline and not much else.
and even there y’all crazy people are trying to convert strikers into wingers (including some of the more productive CFs) when we have a bunch of age groupers coming up good on a wing. and it’s a bunch of monkey see monkey do stuff where someone else moves our guy ergo we have to move him too. my personal experience with both HS and college was i often played different spots for select than them. there is a slight adjustment period but this world cup will allow a long camp.
but i am going to reiterate one point of mine. i feel like a lot of y’all folks make the decisions on paper before the calls are made. limited pool. favored starters. limited position competition.
to me it’s call a bunch of people who seem talented above a standard, then see who can handle the NT level of ball, or have a knack with their teammates. to me it’s not necessarily who you think or who is on the best club teams.
to me more of this needs to be decided on the US fields and less on paper. we’ve been doing y’all’s “paper” favorites for 6 years now and i think it’s stifled the team and mis-chosen the rosters.
and even if i am wrong on some, that should get decided on a field rather than on paper, because some of the noobs will be helpful, and you only see that if they get their shot.
last point, to me i take the tournaments more seriously. so i found this summer particularly embarrassing. i see the friendlies as varying in seriousness or effort. they bother me less as long as we try things and win our share including some punch upwards upsets. so to me it’s try things in the windows, when you can only teach them a week anyway. then make more permanent decisions in tournaments where we see guys a month and as many as 6-8 games.
last last point but it befuddles me the supposed must win folks haven’t been as upset as i have been at how little we do that, the absence of punching upwards, and that it didn’t seem to get to y’all until it spread downwards this past “european” year. i am as serious as y’all about we need to win the big ones and that alone was telling me this was wrong. and that maybe instead of starting the usual people to show off and win certain games 6-0 or 4-0, try some things, use that margin.
to me the US used to be a lot better at sensing what the margin we had was, and playing with that margin. like we can destroy this team with the As, so maybe call some Bs. i think it was some mix of klinsi and couva this thing lost its confidence and sense of self where we seem scared to tinker lest we lose a friendly or NL game. we then repeat usual suspect units not winning the big ones. it’s not working. we need to land on a different concept of an A and that involves giving more B opportunities. at least for a period. find the right guys and only then bother gelling.
V: you don’t get it. just like JR doesn’t get it with his lineup above that looks almost like GB or callaghan or varas. we have tried your ideas. they don’t win. and the most annoyingly stubborn part of looking at a JR list is like morris or fossey can look great and he’s gonna, what, either pretend that was an abberation and bring them along slowly still, or worse, we’re gonna continue to believe the bs that the starters are fine and keep doing the same, which is like definitional insanity. no, i do not expect poch is going to xerox existing hierarchies and lineups, nor do i expect he will play meek “follow the leader” and just do whatever the club teams are doing, eg, start wright wide.
when your status quo ideas don’t win, novelty ceases to become the risk it is often framed as around here. people pretend we made the world cup final with GB’s team or something. “can’t do better.” if we can’t beat NZ, lose to canada and panama, the supposed risk of fresh faces has to be analyzing in comparison to the current dumpster fire, not pretending like we are messing with the team on a world cup finalist. and yes, any given set of trialists may contain some crap mixed in with some surprises.
i have zero problem with that crap being dumped, any more than crap regulars being dumped. this is all about broader opportunity meets NT performances. but the idea is over a set period of experimentation, you rotate some bodies in and out, and find a better roster than we currently use. based not on perseverating about theory or club form, but who fits the scheme and performs on NT game days.
i am not advocating complete new rosters, i am thinking mess with maybe 25-40% of the team each time. not a whole new team. always some core elements playing a set style we are teaching. but not very few new people and many don’t even play a minute. by messing i mean they get to play some minutes, not we call in josh sargent to trial then sit him the whole time. they remain free to bench or drop guys who are embarrassing in practice or below standard on fitness, effort, quality. but generally speaking the idea to friendlies is get guys minutes and see what happens.
we are so obsessed with posturing about winning next week — even when that posturing doesn’t actually get wins — that we run a crap process to get there. historically a USMNT wouldn’t just hand the jobs to guys. friedel and keller would duke it out all cycle. take turns starting. a guy would earn a starting job over a longer time by NT performance. not before he kicked a ball based on club streaks/analytics or the coach’s whims.
to me the idea would be, do some tinkering a few windows, pick a point you want to start arriving at a roster and final lineup, and until then try some personnel. say, we want to be settled by gold cup next year. until then we are installing system and trying people. and trying some in new roles. you have until then to impress me. next summer arrives, then you start making decisions building towards the world cup.
but right now we act like it’s world cup day 1 of the cycle and then the funny thing is we don’t win that much being so naively decisive. and then we often spend half the cycle backpedalling out of every decision we were so sure about day 1 — turner, balogun, adams, reyna, all the sure things.
so maybe stop it. slow down. let the players compete. let the players show they understand the tactics and bed them in. then at some milestone next year, start actually setting the team.
setting the team right now has more to do with coaches’ and fans’ egos than actually preparing the best unit for the world cup. and ironically history has shown that these lineups you are so sure are the best chance to win right now, don’t end up that way, and you should even know it right now.
IV,
WTF are you talking about?
“i feel like a lot of y’all folks make the decisions on paper before the calls are made. limited pool. favored starters. limited position competition.”
“setting the team right now has more to do with coaches’ and fans’ egos than actually preparing the best unit for the world cup. and ironically history has shown that these lineups you are so sure are the best chance to win right now, don’t end up that way, and you should even know it right now.”
Bullshit.
You have not capped one single USMNT player. You also have never left one single player off of a USMNT roster.
None of us, you, JR, me, anyone, have. You got a problem with past USMNT lineups? Take it up with Gregg.
The USWNT:
Comparing the USMNT to them is Apples to kielbasa. It’s a completely different situation. Emma is fantastic but she also had to deal with a very different set of circumstances than what Mauricio is dealing with. They have nothing to do with this other than embarrassing the USMNT and the USSF by showing the world how fucked up the USMNT is in comparison.
Their ongoing excellence, along with Gregg’s vacuousness, along with the 1.1K kilo gorilla in the room, 2026, maybe it finally forced the USSF to the deal with the men’s situation in something approaching a professional manner.
Emma and Mauricio are home run hires. But they don’t erase years and years of fecklessness. Not yet anyway. Nevertheless those two are shining lights in a sea of bullshit and I believe in them.
Why? In Mauricio’s case, he said a lot of rah-rah feel good coach speak stuff that all new guys do. And normally you take all that with a huge grain of salt.
But I find it all very credible because, in this situation:
1. Pochettino and his staff are the most technically accomplished staff we’ve ever had. And they probably match up with well with anyone we could have hired. They might know more about soccer than even IV. Maybe.
2. His approach ( focus on what we can do, not on what we can’t) is the only approach that might work
Is it possible for the USMNT to win the World Cup?
Yes.
Is it probable?
Probably not really, but how probable depends……..
In our control is how Pochettino and the players prepare and respond over the next two years.
Out of our control are injuries and the draw.
“to me the US used to be a lot better at sensing what the margin we had was, and playing with that margin. like we can destroy this team with the As, so maybe call some Bs. i think it was some mix of klinsi and couva this thing lost its confidence and sense of self where we seem scared to tinker lest we lose a friendly or NL game.”
That’s because the difference between A’s and B’s , worldwide, is not a great as it was even as recently as 2017. We’re still the best team in CONCACAF. We still should win every CONCACAF game. But it was never easy and it’s getting less easy. So yeah, if everything goes right, we COULD win the World Cup. It’s unlikely but you have to aim high because there is absolutely no reason to do otherwise. Other than a lot of sweat equity and probably x amount of money, aiming to win the World Cup costs nothing.
The previous expectation was Gregg, advancing, winning the knockout and getting to the quarterfinal game and then the semi. If you can do that, then you have a shot and there is no reason to think that Pochettino’s team won’t outdo Gregg’s team expectations.
Whoever Pochettino assembles and plays, they may be less talented that Gregg’s boys but it doesn’t matter. They are not trying to win promotion or a top place in Europe. They are trying to get out of their group (3 games) and then another 4 win the World Cup. There are new rules now so it may be 8 wins not 7 but regardless, at most, this is an 8 game, two month project. Sheer talent is just one part of what will be needed.
“i have zero problem with that crap being dumped, any more than crap regulars being dumped. this is all about broader opportunity meets NT performances but the idea is over a set period of experimentation, you rotate some bodies in and out, and find a better roster than we currently use. based not on perseverating about theory or club form, but who fits the scheme and performs on NT game days.”
Real simple. Any idiot can do that. You say that like no one else thought of that and that you invented it. I’m pretty sure everyone here would willing dump our starting eleven, except CP, if you could promise that the replacements could play better.
But it has to be better ON DEMAND. If a player is outstanding in a game in October of 2024, he will have to be equally outstanding for the games that count over the next two years.
Can you promise that? Every player is different. Some need 2-5 games to settle in, some need none, some need more. Ferreira got 22 caps and never settled.
“ we’re gonna continue to believe the bs that the starters are fine and keep doing the same, which is like definitional insanity. “
The actual quote, whoever said it, is: THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY IS DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND GETTING THE SAME RESULT, BUT EXPECTING A DIFFERENT ONE. You don’t understand that quote or teamwork.
Play a different opponent, even with the exact same USMNT lineup as the one you are referring to, and it is no longer “the same thing”.
Play the same team again, but change one player on your team, and it is no longer “the same thing”.
In fact, even if you play, for example Mexico, twice at the same time of day, a week later, with all the same players and coaches, on the same field, it’s still not “the same thing”.
A game between the USMNT and El Tri? It happens once and then it’s gone. We drew 0-0 with England in Qatar.
If we had played them instead of Jesse and Canada, want to bet they would have ripped us a new one?
That definition of insanity does not apply to the situation you are talking about. Like most national teams the USMNT is a dynamic, short-term team. It changes, sometimes dramatically, between games and definitely between tournaments.
“no, i do not expect poch is going to xerox existing hierarchies and lineups, nor do i expect he will play meek “follow the leader” and just do whatever the club teams are doing, eg, start wright wide.’
What’s wrong with Wright starting wide? He’s not his club’s #9. He does very well starting out wide.
Where is your limit for how many caps it takes to be certain that player x should be a regular? Does it matter to you if that player’s nice run of 5 games comes vs. Belize, Grenada, T& T, Cuba, and Vietnam?
“i am not advocating complete new rosters, i am thinking mess with maybe 25-40% of the team each time. not a whole new team. always some core elements playing a set style we are teaching. but not very few new people and many don’t even play a minute. by messing i mean they get to play some minutes, not we call in josh sargent to trial then sit him the whole time. they remain free to bench or drop guys who are embarrassing in practice or below standard on”
You’re trying to make a living being vague. You don’t have a plan. You have “concepts”? Your concept assumes that the USMNT has a consistent level of competition against which they can compare your 25-40% change in personnel. They don’t.
None of us know what Pochettino will do. In his initial interview Pochettino pulled up his own power point explaining what he and his assistants’ proposals for improvement were.
I would kill to have access to that laptop. I’ll bet he does a better job of analyzing our players than anyone on SBI . Maybe even you. But that isn’t possible is it?
Maybe he does a complete sweep. Maybe he goes recent MLS and Liga MX and brings in Vasquez, Cowell, Lucho, Luna, Djorde, Schulte etc. It’s all good to me. I want to see Wil Trapp, Nick Lima and Gyasi back. Oh and Lovitz.
My point?
Gregg isn’t here anymore. All the copy we’ve all put out on that guy is now largely irrelevant.
The Berhalter Crew Core, his edition of the USMNT, is relevant to Pochettino only as a point of reference. Unless those guys come back right away to near their very best, their futures are shaky.
CP, Jedi and maybe Weston are probably safe.
Everyone else is on notice because they have “proven” themselves “losers”. Pochettino’s rep was built, in part on making a team like Southampton, in very short order, rise to their best finish in the EPL maybe ever. And this is with players nobody knew at the time and probably still don’t. Guys like Adam Lallana, and Jay Rodriguez.
Gio, Adams, Matt, Ethan, Richards, Weah, I can see them having played their last USMNT game.
A lot of the guys you have suggested, like your Duane Holmes, of course he’s wonderful. You don’t play, you don’t make any mistakes. No mistakes, everyone loves you. Like the backup QB. No interceptions but no TD’s either.
Whatever approach it should be fun to watch.
If everyone is healthy this the lineup I see as Poch’s preferred.
————-Balo————-
Haji——Reyna—Pulisic
———Adams-Musah—-
Jedi-Richards-?—Dest
———-Schulte———-
I think the backups is where we might see some change. No idea on 2nd CB because honestly not one CB had a good summer or September.
Most of that looks pretty plausible…except I think Diego Luna winds up our starting 10. (Yes, that means I truly do think he’s better – or at least, better at performing consistently for an extended period – than Gio Reyna.
Heresy, I know.
I personally think Reyna winds up off the squad at some point fairly early for the 2026 cycle unless he gets on the field for Dortmund and stays there ASAP. There’s going to be some early statements made upon taking charge that the old pecking order is done and it’s all up for grabs and Poch does not have time to faff about. He’s going to look for somebody who’s present and who delivers, right now…and Reyna is still struggling for PT and consistent health. It could end up being Tillman as our starting 10 but Tillman seriously needs to start performing when he’s in the shirt and for whatever reason he’s generally struggled with the US squad. And once Luna’s in, IMHO, I don’t think he’s coming back out. I also think Aidan Morris or Johnny Cardoso end up starting alongside Musah, personally. No, they are not the athlete or eraser Adams is. But they’re far better on the turn and more complete players.
Also, alongside Richards, I agree with the notion that all CB’s are struggling…so put me in the camp that thinks if Tanner Tessmann gets a look as a ball-playing 6 he’s going to grab a starting spot and never give it up.
The real fascinating spot is going to be the bench. I think a lot of guys that were lock starters or key bench players for Gregg could well wind up on the fringes with Poch, and I think we’ll be surprised at who some of them end up being.
we know poch watched the most recent 2 games at least. i would assume those 2 games would have outsize impression on the coach. maybe he will watch some historical matches going back a year or two.
based on what we know the coach saw, (+) pulisic balogun lund morris, fossey, schulte. (-) ream turner wiley. (neutral) everyone else. and anyone not called last time including reyna.
adams and reyna to me are in awkward spots. both struggle to stay healthy. if you’re not healthy you may get pushed aside. i expect we will do a much more thorough and analytical look at 6-types. i expect there will be fewer favorites and more rewarding performances. adams does usually play well when he holds together. his problem is health.
reyna is more complicated, there are consistency and fitness issues. he will be the best guy in camp one time. he will loaf another and be invisible. he will leave hurt another. i expect his quality keeps him rostered when healthy. but i could see poch looking at other 10s. both as CYA since he can’t stay consistently healthy and playing well. and because unlike GB i expect he will get this team needs some central, transitional., impetus other than reyna. he will look for some guys who can get on the ball and get upfield in a hurry. then hit an incisive pass. that isn’t going to be tank musah or sloppy weston.
i do expect this coach will be less of a star-humper or putting all his eggs in one basket. i expect he will identify a few guys he likes each slot. i expect he will put them against each other some and see who wins out over time.
Luna: Diego is one of my favorite players I see two problems: inconsistency (I blame some of that on RSL and its revolving door of attackers, each week he’s alongside someone new). I’m not sure he’s going to put in the running Poch will require. That being said Pulisic, Reyna, and Tillman aren’t known for being big runners either. Both Aaronson’s and T.Booth possible as well. If Gio is healthy and motivated he’s our best 10, but those are big ifs. I don’t think Cole Campbell is far away either, and could play wing or 10 but plays wide for BvB more consistently. I’ve actually watched some of his matches not just going on some highlights. I haven’t seen him with BvB II yet so I’d still like to see how he holds up physically against men not boys and if he’s speed translates.
Q: Lucho Acosta could also be an option if his citizenship goes thru. He said last week it’s expected in January or February.
JR: re acosta, i thought if you left the country without a passport yet that your 5 FIFA years reset. that we could give you the passport but you’d need to wait for the 5 years in-country to count for FIFA. acosta went to atlas sans passport and didn’t come back til 3/21. so i am lobbing around he may be off limits til one of the last couple windows pre-WC 2026, ie, just barely in time.
if people have forgotten what i am talking about, look up richard rodriguez and nicaragua. uruguayan playing in nicaragua and earning citizenship. he goes back to uruguay for a chunk of a year, the same year he gets naturalized for nicaragua. nicaragua plays him. protest made. player declared ineligible and nicaragua kicked out of the gold cup where i think they were going to be in our group in 2021.
he’d be an interesting add but i am not sure he’ll be eligible until almost right before we’d start, because he’d be naturalized and need to finish his 5 years.
IV,
“JR: re acosta, i thought if you left the country without a passport yet that your 5 FIFA years reset. that we could give you the passport but you’d need to wait for the 5 years in-country to count for FIFA. acosta went to atlas sans passport and didn’t come back til 3/21. so i am lobbing around he may be off limits til one of the last couple windows pre-WC 2026, ie, just barely in time.”
“if people have forgotten what i am talking about, look up richard rodriguez and nicaragua. uruguayan playing in nicaragua and earning citizenship. he goes back to uruguay for a chunk of a year, the same year he gets naturalized for nicaragua. nicaragua plays him. protest made. player declared ineligible and nicaragua kicked out of the gold cup where i think they were going to be in our group in 2021.”
?? That’s all well and good but it turns out that Nicaragua and Uruguay are not the United States of America. It might interest you to know that they have different laws than we do. Who knew?
Acosta got his US green card ( permanent residency) around January of 2018 when he was with DC United. Once that is official you start to count down to five years before you are eligible to apply for your American citizenship and the passport that comes with it. And the USMNT eligibility that comes with that.
Green card holders can work outside of the US and retain their status as long as they show proof that they intend to come back( like keeping his house which he bought when he was with DC as a residence) and generally don’t stay away longer than 6 months straight. Atlas being in Mexico and all it would not have been too hard for Acosta to arrange a week or two back home over the course of a year, just to keep his status valid.
Don’t take my word for it; if you have a computer you can get on it and go to this thing they call google and look all this up. Verify the details. I may be off on some of the dates. I wouldn’t want you to think I was making this malarkey up like you do.
Long story short, Acosta is either already eligible for his US citizenship or soon will be. If Pochettino wants him he just has to ask.
Mine if game was tomorrow and if using 4-2-3-1 as described as Poch likes it. Excluding Dest, Adams, and Reyna for injury.
_________Pepi________
Aaronson__Pulisic__Paredes
______Morris__Musah___
Jedi__Richards__McKennie__Weah
________Schulte________
Unless Weston gets a move where he plays as a CB regularly I’d have a hard time putting him there in International windows. That’s a lot to ask someone. Pretty sure Paredes is injured as well.
IV: I misunderstood your comment about Fossey after I read your other thread it made sense. Everyone loved Weah and Reyna, stop with your nonsense. (Although I did have a discussion with an ATLU fan who was sure Andrew Carleton was better than Tim). Tim was left with U20s so that he could get a move, whereas the Gold Cup wouldn’t attract a lot of scouts. Reyna was left to go to the U17 WC which we thought we had a chance of winning with Reyna, Scally, Busio, Pepi. We didn’t. Gregg had him on the list for March, Covid shut everyone down until October or November when he was brought in. Gregg started him every match for the next 10 months (except CR after NL, which he was one of the few regulars to play). You weren’t the only one who liked those guys or Richards etc…etc…
———————
Side note: Cole Campbell did not play for U23s, U19s, or BvB first team this weekend. I could not find any indication why or notification of an injury. Best guess/scenario is they are resting him for Wed. Opening round of UEFA Youth CL.
The comments I loved…..
— “Our initiative is always to win, respect our values and try to evolve.”
— “Friendlies aren’t friendlies,” Pochettino said. “Show your best for your country… that is everything. ” (2:00 below….absolutely love this!!!!).
https://www.goal.com/en-us/lists/five-things-learned-from-mauricio-pochettino-first-usmnt-press-conference/blt9ecf2ea7c3636478
— “We want all players that arrive Day 1 in training camp to think big.”
— “We are here because we want to win. We are winners,” Pochettino said with confidence. “We are successful, very successful coaching staff.”
…….Already set to eliminate and eradicate, the weak, mediocre and entitled mindset of players (and some fans lol) when in comes to the National Team. WORLD CUP, GOLD CUP, NATIONS LEAGUE, COPA OR FRIENDLIES…..it doesn’t matter when you step on the field to the USMNT…..in any competition, WE PLAY TO WIN!!!!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT
you misunderstand the best way of winning your games. you don’t win if, as you have seen under GB, you pick the wrong people, get stubborn about it, and don’t rotate to keep the team fresh.
i was never advocating try to lose games. i am saying to a little more experimentation and rotation of faces to seek the optimal unit. you risk an occasional loss up front but the idea is don’t land on the wrong final unit, which helps you win more as you pick up speed.
the US used to win plenty of games experimenting and rotating. trying to win while trying things just means scouting better, a routine scheme that actually works, and player motivation.
as it stands the lineup is fairly static and playing to win doesn’t work often enough, because they are poorly chosen, scheme doesn’t work, team unmotivated.
my select team would regularly rotate players during league and tournaments, and have guest players trial at tournaments. it keeps the team fresh and motivated, and if you scout and roster the right folks, well chosen, doesn’t really impact winning. we rarely lost. i’m not advocating losing or being ok with losing. we try to win every game. you just try to do it with more varied groups of people.
IV,
“the US used to win plenty of games experimenting and rotating. trying to win while trying things just means scouting better, a routine scheme that actually works, and player motivation.”
That’s not exactly how things went. You are making these sweeping characterizations that fit your narrative. You position yourself as “IV the authority on USMNT history” but every USMNT game can be looked up and there are a lot of holes and exaggerations in your post. Your simplistic, boilerplate solutions look good on paper but the reality is often very different and it is unlikely that things are easy.
One reason “we rarely lost” (how many draws were there?) was that on the whole the USMNT usually plays/played crap teams.
And usually in friendlies.
Friendlies are not useless or meaningless but their utility can only be truly appreciated by “insiders” like the coaching staff and the players because the final score is often not the main point of their exercise.
So for outsiders like you and me the problem with friendlies is that there’s no way to tell how seriously the opponent, regardless of how good they are, will take the game.
Pochettino is in something of a unique situation here in having a compacted schedule so, right now winning every single game going forward should be SOP because it matters much more than normal in terms of building the kind of culture Pochettino will need.
A lot of “process” you advocate depends in instant results.
For example, “just means scouting better” would mean taking BVB’s Campbell, the phenom that you claim to have discovered, inserting him into a IV approved scheme (that “actually works”) with the USMNT and having the team get a great result against a tough opponent right away.
One game, saviour found and the American Cole Palmer is anointed. IV is a genius.
And of course, there is a need for more than one new player so this “process” would have to be repeated numerous times. Lucho , then Luna, Julian Green, Duane Holmes etc…..It would be difficult if you were a club team and even more so for a national team for very obvious reasons.
All of that said, if they went about things following your IV plan could it work?
Sure.
But it isn’t likely to be as easy and straight forward and you make it seem.
You frequently confuse possibility with probability. I don’t believe Pochettino is consulting with you but you’ll claim credit anyway. Regardless, he is very probably going to have to do something along the lines of what you suggest.
And at this stage I remain hopeful that he has a good chance to achieve some measure of success.
Why? Because:
1. Pochettino and his staff are not perfect but we’ve never had a manager and staff of their gravitas and quality here to address the issue. He is the heaviest hitter we have ever had.
2. Given the stakes, at this point Pochettino and his staff will get whatever support they need from the USSF and the community in general.
3. Pochettino and his staff have nothing to lose but a lot to gain given the high profile of the project.
4. They should not have any trouble getting total buy in from the player pool and their families. Pochettino is not perfect but he’s just about the best we could possibly have brought in.
As much as is possible, it should eliminate the question “is it Gregg or the players”?
also “playing to win” as opposed to “hoping to win” requires some rigor about which players win more for the US or whether the tactics actually work. anyone saying this past year we were “playing to win” with the xeroxed tactics and teams is putting zero teeth in the sincere thought they will actually win.
I really think you’re going to be disappointed at how few guys turnover. I used to coach middle school American football a long time ago. I had an assistant who every Monday came in with a new play from the Broncos game we had to use. He knew the outline of the play and could get the kids moving somewhat the same pattern, but he didn’t have the nuances for the play, how long do you hold this block, what’s the first read, how do you look off the safety. The plays that the Broncos scored on never seemed to work for us. Gregg felt a little like that guy to me. He knew where everyone should go, but not the way they should get there or what they should do if they get there and the defense was there. He’d watched possession football and even talked with managers that ran it effectively, but he didn’t have the whole picture. There is chance that I’m wrong and you’re right but that probably means Gregg was a misunderstood genius and Poch cuts a lot of chaff because they are uncoachable. That Gregg had set them up correctly but they were capable to understand or execute.
————————————
CB obviously needs some evaluation, figuring out the striker situation the biggest areas. However, I don’t see a lot of turnover at striker just not bringing all of them. MF might see some changes in starters but I don’t see a lot of change. Maybe a spot or two. The WC to Copa roster was different by 9 players (some injury related at both events) so I doubt many countries turnover too much more than that from cycle to cycle. Poch loves offensive wingers even more than Gregg so I don’t see your least faves Dest and Jedi leaving anytime soon. Cremaschi being Argentinian with a high motor would be a guy I could see get a bigger opportunity, but they’ve using him pretty sparingly since the Olympics. He’d be a guy eligible for January that could put a good foot forward. I think if Cole Campbell can get a few appearances at BvB, Poch might like him. He’s young a moldable and has a good motor in the matches I’ve watched. Pochettino likes his 4 attackers to interchange and Cole has played both wing positions, striker, and 10 for Dortmund’s U19s.
Interesting to read all your comments, and I’m looking forward to seeing what actually happens in October. (Should I even possibly buy a ticket for Austin, when I’ve never been to a live soccer game in my life, and don’t much like crowds or noise, or want Covid? Hmm …)
On a tangent: Can anyone explain to me why all the British commentators and analysts, and even Emma Hayes, who is surely seriously multicultural, keep saying “Mau-ritz-io,” which seems basically … just wrong?
Assuming his family were of Italian origin, they might have named him “Maurizio,” which would be (sort of) that pronunciation. But they didn’t? (But he did name his — Spanish — son that? Hmm …)
Is he perhaps known for using the Italian version regardless, just out of choice? Not unlike, say, Manuel Sol of Telemundo (*sigh* what a beautiful voice …) who apparently goes by “Manolo”?
Or is it just that in general, most British speakers (with some notable exceptions, like Kate Abdo) flatly refuse to even try to approximate correct pronunciation in languages like Spanish? That’s certainly been my impression so far — but if American networks are paying them, couldn’t someone … have a word?
And that’s not even to consider continental Spanish “Maurithio” (I confess I find that accent, and the machine-gun pace, a lot harder to follow, e.g. on Telemundo), vs. American Spanish “Maurisio.”
Or if he’s been living in Barcelona, is there yet another Catalán version? Ayayay …
Whichever it is, I would just like for us to get off on the right foot and make him feel welcome in the US — like we at least know his name and are willing to make the effort to get it right. (Or else just say “Mr. Pochettino” — which might not actually come amiss, in these days when every callow pool reporter seems to think they’re on a first-name basis with world stars.)
Maybe any journalists reading this could follow up.
Tejana,
“Emma Hayes, who is surely seriously multicultural, keep saying “Mau-ritz-io,” which seems basically … just wrong?”
Wrong to who? You?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8w6SeqfYaM
Pochettino lived and worked in England a long time. Emma worked with him. The British commentators , at some point, usually get the correct, preferred or at least tolerated pronunciation from the man himself.
My assumption would be that they took their pronunciation from Pochettino himself.
Tejana, live soccer is always better. Wear a mask if Covid numbers are up, maybe bring some noise canceling earplugs, get to your parking lot really early before traffic gets too heavy (not sure it’s possible to avoid traffic in Austin). Bring a good book to read in the car while you wait for the game and to enjoy while you let traffic clear out a bit after.
In a tournament who would you rather see leading the line, Jordan or Brandon Vazquez? And age doesn’t matter because it’s just for the tournament.
you start whatever CF scores the most for the US and wins you the most games. duh. right now either wright or balogun.
my deal is just that we often turn into a cross-whacking team, or need a late goal, and historically the US has had a tactically-diverse forward bench with at least one “banger” who wins headers, eg mcbride. even elite NT usually have their crouch/gakpo rostered for such situations. we’re getting beat by better NT that do it.
to me a lot of it is the national soccer IQ has regressed even as our career options progressed. games like jamaica where we are flexible on tactics and personnel to try and catch up, are rare. we are supposed to play one way for 90 minutes and assume it’s the bestest thing ever. and we’re supposed to field the statistically best club players even if they don’t play together or fit scheme.
to be fair, we might need a target striker less if we gave groundball service and won by margins but we barely manage any goals while often whacking crosses in the air.
you don’t need 3-4 forwards with similar builds and games. you need some variety. the game doesn’t always go as you planned and playing the same way for 90 when it’s not working is just stubborn.
JR,
“V: if Gio doesn’t want to run, C&D are not going to be very happy with Poch because Gio won’t play.”
Gio will want to run. He’ll even track back. I’m absolutely certain about that.
The question is, will he be able to.
C & D will want Gio to play but the good news is that Karina Pochettino never dated Gregg ( far as we know) so Danielle won’t have anything on Mauricio.
Poch my guess will be very interested in convincing Koleosho to rep USMNT. Scored the lone winner against Leeds.
Let’s be honest Gregg was pretty interested in Koleosho.
I want to believe
Just telling me to do it, or the players, won’t cut it though.
No way.
You want belief? True belief? Only way to do that is to earn it. Words and talk won’t get it done. When the poop truly hits the fan, which is inevitable, the smoke and mirrors disappear.
Bielsa had Leeds believing first, because he is who he is, the guy has pedigree. Posh does too. Second, because he taught them things that worked, and so their initial desire to believe was confirmed, with evidence on the field. Love him, one of my all time favorites. His teams are fun to watch, games get up and down.
Poch has to do that second part, which will only be confirmed through results on the field.
I want to believe.
Make me!!!
Says to me we will see Jordan Morris again who is having a very good season at striker. Could end up being his best goal scoring season. On 11 goals and counting. Especially considering how woeful that position continues to be.
In a tournament who would you rather see leading the line, Jordan or Brandon Vazquez? And age doesn’t matter because it’s just for the tournament.
I get the sense by the lack of runs and movement off ball and over emphasis on hopeful switches that GB had our guys in a tactical straight jacket. Might have worked well for the MF but stifled chances in the final third. From what he said I expect a lot more movement off ball and emphasis on passing to feet and linking with triangles. Addd up to more creativity in the final third which should lead to more chances, however, I do worry that could hurt the defensive organization in MF leading to more chances against. That all pretty much summarizes a Bielsa type style of play. I’m more than fine with this and think we come out better for it. Aggressiveness suits us as a trait. I’m hopeful he can get this group organized.
Yeah. They were absolutely locked in place, and rigidly trundling up and down the railroad tracks in stodgy, predictable, ponderous patterns.
There’s nothing wrong with conservatism if focusing first on defensive solidity is the way you decide to go, and Berhalter always seemed like a low-risk guy. But there is a point at which it becomes stifling and overcontrolling and he was well past it…and for all the rigidity the US’s defending was inconsistent at times too, owing mostly to how poor Turner was with his feet and how poor every CB not named Tim Ream was in distribution, both of which were really accentuated by Berhalter’s desire to always build out of the back.
To be fair Turner is pretty poor at kicking it long too. Just off hand I can think of goals by Brazil and Canada due largely to Turner not getting distance on his goal kicks.
JR,
Are you saying that , those guys HAD to play out of the back because Turner’s “longer range” distribution sucked?
I’ve seen that before so I have to say you’re probably right.
when i saw ACM’s version of pep-ball last year, they were equally interested in having the wingers curl back inside and be fed between the backs behind the defense. so different runs, not everything going wide around the perimeter. even when we play someone behind the defense it’s tended to be to the flag and not interior.
what i get poch is into the pinched wingers thing, of leaving the chalk lane for the wingbacks, and maybe that links up with the pinched wingers inverting more instead of heading to the flag.
poch also apparently at PSG freed up that high talent group of forwards to just interchange slots. i tend to like defensive soccer but one of my disappointments with GB and this path was utterly static and positional this was. some of that to me, is go past even the ACM version of static, “you can cut in and not just out,” and just do more like a 460 or clockwork orange, flowing, just show to each other in triangles and far runs, someone covers back.
personally i think they have stayed within static positional because they are scared how bad this US team would get countered if no one is explicitly responsible for being back and keeping shape. that our formation is in fact already risky and so they freak out and try to make it more defensive to compensate. which to me undermines the offensive value. it’s too easy to predict square balls straight upfield.
anyhow, to me this needs to either get riskier in the attack or get more serious about defense. 433 is not a defensive strategy and all the “sliding” (eg defend as 442) is papering over that. you want defensive play a more solid formation with more bodies back, and play counter soccer. you want attack, loosen it up and dump the two way mush.
the vibe i got from listening to him on a podcast was more “new agey” empowerment for the undermotivated than some taskmaster for the discipline issues.
what i read/listened to says similar formation but pinch the forwards on offense and defense (don’t so much chase wide as clog central), some teams more positionless at forward, little more transition oriented but still basically possession, 4 backs but with wingbacks who go down the wings opened by the pinched forwards.
i’ve seen people throw around hopeful 3 back stuff but it sounded like default is 4 and that’s “3” is more he’s willing to drop the 6 with the CBs when he wants to throw bodies back, which is really more like “5.”
Poch has kind of a weird rep. He’s know for demanding hard work from his players in training and they routinely lead their leagues in distance covered, also known for getting rid of players unwilling to do that work. Then there’s all the new age and mystical philosophy stuff.
———————
On paper the ideas don’t seem drastically different from 3G. On the pitch it’s like saying a Mustang and a Focus are the same cars because they’re both Fords. Player movement, finding angles to receive passes, pace, willingness to take risks all things that have been absent from the USMNT for awhile are hallmarks of Poch’s teams. Poch’s reputation opens doors for these players across Europe are they going to want him to say “player A is coachable and works hard” or “he’s lazy and unwilling to work for his teammates”. They want his recommendation.
———————
Poch has used a pretty similar style going back at least to his Southampton days (couldn’t find much from his Espanyol time). Pretty much anything someone throws at him he’s seen before. He’s been willing to adjust his formations over those years though to match his players. In the past to get his 3-2-5 build out he’s used 3 CBs, 2 CBs with 1 FB staying back, the DM dropping as you described, last year he tucked Cucarella inside in possession as the 2nd MF.
———————
Nothing is guaranteed, but they got the best available manager outside Kloppe who seems pretty set in his taking a break. It seems pretty certain camps will no longer be about lowering your golf handicap and getting a fresh cut from the team barber.
JR,
You know who else has that “weird rep”?
Bielsa, Pochettino’s mentor.
That reference matters because when Leeds got back into the Premier League their talent level was average but Bielsa had them believing they could beat anyone, so they did or got real close. Those guys were my favorite EPL team to watch the last few years.
Pochettino probably does not go to the same extreme as Bielsa but the point is someone is finally is thinking of them as a team and not as bunch of individuals.
From what I have seen of Mauricio, we finally have a full blooded, top level professional manager. He’s not a wannabe.
He says a lot of great things, a lot of coach speak, but he says them well and really understands how to handle the media.
And, to top it off, he is a charmer. And where that matters as the head coach is that if he can get the players to buy into his approach that is a huge part of the battle. If he can get the kind of buy-in that his mentor, Bielsa, got, then that will go a very long way to fixing what ails the USMNT.
Pochettino seems to have done his homework on the situation. He’s pragmatic and whatever you say about his style, it seems he will do what it takes. He isn’t some religious tactics idealogue geek like IV. It seems like he realizes that tactics, formations. etc., are just words on a page. And what matters are the players who are asked to make them work.
It’s early but already he seems to be taking the only approach that might actually work in this situation. And that is, he looks like he’s going for it balls to the wall. After all he’s got very little to lose. And after working in the kind of political snake pits and with the huge egos in places like Spurs, PSG and Chelsea he probably feels liberated to be the Alpha in the room.
I bet you he’ll even win over Claudio and Danielle.
Dang. That last sentence made me laugh.
hey Vacqui,
agree with most but would add some seasoning to this part
“It seems like he realizes that tactics, formations. etc., are just words on a page. And what matters are the players who are asked to make them work.”
All of that stuff matters greatly, they are not mutually exclusive at all, and in fact, Poch’s job will be to fuse those two along with the locker room into the winning formula he wants…whatever that is
and disagree with this part:
“but the point is someone is finally is thinking of them as a team and not as bunch of individuals” GB did this too and made them a team again, despite his shortcomings, the biggest of which was garnering ZERO respect from the powers. But the locker room was remade under him, dominance over Mexico executed with great joy in the TEAM…they all take about it, remember? and it needed remaking badly
actually, i am primarily a talent/personnel guy. hence i get worked up at call sheets that look weak sauce or take no risks. hence my emphasis on get experiments run in and out of camp and figure out what all you have in the pool. you truly round up the best players you have and that’s 4/5 of the way there.
people beef about me pouting over player choice every time, then are like, wow, i like fossey or reyna or whatever. to me we aren’t anywhere near the best unit under GB and the Caretakers.
tactics, to me, are a marginal final 1/5. make a team better or worse at the edges. win or lose you the close ones where sheer talent doesn’t walk to victory 6-0. our tactics have been making us worse for as long as GB was around. the question is going to be is poch either sharper on the personnel or different enough on soccer that the results improve and it looks better.
re the “new agey” discussion, it’s whether you think this bunch of underintense underperformers undisciplined needs more of an encouraging buddy or a taskmaster boss. can a nice guy get them playing hard or curb the red card problems? or is a nice guy what the unmotivated need?
re “looks better,” i don’t mean aesthetics for looks’ sake, i mean the players have more rapport together — unspoken understanding — and whatever we are trying to do looks oiled. results usually followed smart ideas well oiled. this hasn’t been well oiled in about a decade.
IV: maybe Fossey proves useful, maybe he doesn’t. But one good performance against New Zealand is hardly proof of concept. Not unlike Lund, Cardoso, or Horvath who were your glorious heroes after a match and have been tossed in the dust bin by you because they weren’t consistent. Never mind others here tried to tell you Cardoso was soft, Lund isn’t a great defender, and Horvath is more gaffe prone than Sean Johnson. I’m not sure which is more interesting that you think you can evaluate talent better than soccer professionals or that you really believe you discovered Gio Reyna?
V: if Gio doesn’t want to run, C&D are not going to be very happy with Poch because Gio won’t play.
beachbum,
“but the point is someone is finally is thinking of them as a team and not as bunch of individuals” GB did this too and made them a team again, despite his shortcomings, the biggest of which was garnering ZERO respect from the powers. But the locker room was remade under him, dominance over Mexico executed with great joy in the TEAM…they all take about it, remember? and it needed remaking badly”
He did remake the locker room but he only got them them to where they were the dominant team in CONCACAF, which is where they were/are supposed to be, even at the worst of times.
Given the USMNT’s superior talent, money, power and resources, being the best in CONCACAF is the rock bottom absolute bare minimum you would expect from any manager given the circumstances.
Gregg gets exactly the amount or criticism and praise that he deserves.
I see what you’re saying about Mexico. But after beating us in 2019, El Tri has pretty much been domesticated. They’ve been reduced to just a hard CONCACAF win , one that we are expected to win. This is the lamest , most beat down, leaderless El Tri I’ve seen since at least the 2013 bunch that had to go to playoffs to get into the 2014 World Cup. Even now, they remain a very tough out but beating Mexico is not a signature win. We’re better than them.
You’re right. I should have written that Gregg did put together a team, just not a very good one. He was fired because even the USSF finally realized that the team had plateaued and where they were was just not good enough. Gregg had shot his wad and it was time for someone else to finish the journey.
IV,
“actually, i am primarily a talent/personnel guy. hence i get worked up at call sheets that look weak sauce or take no risks. hence my emphasis on get experiments run in and out of camp and figure out what all you have in the pool. you truly round up the best players you have and that’s 4/5 of the way there.”
You consider yourself more of an authority on the player pool than Gregg and his staff. Has Pochettino contacted you yet? It would save them a lot of time and money.
“people beef about me pouting over player choice every time, then are like, wow, i like fossey or reyna or whatever. to me we aren’t anywhere near the best unit under GB and the Caretakers.”
By people I presume you mean others on SBI. This is just a guess but I think that what they are “beefing” about is that they do not believe you are a better talent evaluator than the USMNT staff, who are much closer and have more data on the situation than you do.
“tactics, to me, are a marginal final 1/5. make a team better or worse at the edges. win or lose you the close ones where sheer talent doesn’t walk to victory 6-0. our tactics have been making us worse for as long as GB was around. the question is going to be is poch either sharper on the personnel or different enough on soccer that the results improve and it looks better.”
Over the years what I notice about the USMNT is that whatever the tactical schemes, etc. they always seemed to play better when they had seemingly bought into the plan, whatever it was, and were far more aggressive, confident and faster, more assured.
Gregg’s teams were often sluggish and tentative. I interpreted that as them not being entirely sure about what they were doing. This is why I tend to not be so concerned with the tactics the USMNT uses as I was concerned with whether the players were actually 100% behind Gregg’s plans. Tactics are great but are nothing without 100% player buy in and ability to execute.
“re the “new agey” discussion, it’s whether you think this bunch of underintense underperformers undisciplined needs more of an encouraging buddy or a taskmaster boss. can a nice guy get them playing hard or curb the red card problems? or is a nice guy what the unmotivated need?”
What Pochettino is saying in English is “we need to play with a chip on our shoulder’. This something the USMNT used to do without getting carded to hell.
“re “looks better,” i don’t mean aesthetics for looks’ sake, i mean the players have more rapport together — unspoken understanding — and whatever we are trying to do looks oiled. results usually followed smart ideas well oiled. this hasn’t been well oiled in about a decade.”
In English, chemistry. What they don’t always say though is that it isn’t enough to have that chemistry with your fellow players. You need to have it with the manager and his staff, meaning you act on the field like the coaches would want to you to act. Landon said that was the difference between the USMNT and Ghana back in the 2010 WC. They had more “savvy” about the game than we did .
JR,
“V: if Gio doesn’t want to run, C&D are not going to be very happy with Poch because Gio won’t play.”
Gio will want to run. He’ll even track back. I’m absolutely certain about that.
The question is, will he be able to.
C & D will want Gio to play but the good news is that Karina Pochettino never dated Gregg ( far as we know) so Danielle won’t have anything on Mauricio.
JR: read the fossey thread. i already said he only passed the first pop quiz. i already said any noobs need to string performances together.
all due respect to your crap talking, but reyna and weah proved excellent. horvath is still around because once in a while dude stands on his head for us, and relative to the competition, that keeps him viable despite the gaffes. i would go in another direction but they need to try some other keepers and play them to cut horvath. you don’t seem to get how the short xerox pool protects the horvaths of the world.
and similarly all due respect to your “they need to show up” stuff, but an experiment with 1 good game is 1 good game more than some that keep getting called, eg, tillman, johnny. the pecking order should be about how consistently and well they execute and excel.
my point is i am right often enough that your reticence just makes this worse and sandbags better options. normal USMNT process is, yeah, we make sure january stars or one-friendly-wonders can ever do it again. i am not saying dude should go straight to starting or be immune from the same performance expectations as the people we know. i am simply saying they get their minutes so the competition is on the field rather than you turning up your nose where they never get called or it takes years to get capped.
and then it’s, “wow,” and then it’s also dude’s now 26 and i’ve been watching crap RBs all year. you did both.
Why even play if you don’t play to win? It’s ok to lose but step on the field to win. Now I am excited about Ponche.