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USMNT to face Jamaica in CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals

The U.S. men’s national team will face Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals.

Steve McLaren’s squad will oppose the USMNT in the final eight of the annual competition, CONCACAF announced Wednesday. The two-legged series will begin in Kingston, Jamaica on Nov. 14 before second leg play occurs at CITYPARK in St. Louis, Missouri on Nov. 18.

The USMNT holds a 19-3-10 all-time record against Jamaica. The Americans last faced the Reggae Boyz last March in the semifinals of the 2023-24 Nations League, defeating Jamaica 3-1 in extra time.

Jamaica is currently ranked as the No. 6-best CONCACAF nations following the newest FIFA Rankings.

November’s pair of matches will be the USMNT’s first competitive fixtures under new head coach Mauricio Pochettino.

All eight teams for the quarterfinal round have been determined following Tuesday’s group stage action.

Here is a breakdown of the four quarterfinal matchups:


Panama vs Costa Rica
United States vs Jamaica
Canada vs Suriname 
Mexico vs Honduras

Comments

  1. And I am going to I say it: Diego Luna is better than Brendo Aaronson. Better dribbler, better passer, better at riding challenges, and more effective at scoring.

    And don’t give me well MLS is worse than the Championship argument. Because it’s not a viable argument.

    I think Luna could be very effective in that half space Aaronson was playing.

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    • I agree as Luna is a real challenge to knock off the ball. Luna reqiures more than a touch foul to go down. They are equal in the other areas except the passing where I think Luna is a bit better.

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  2. I’m all about experimenting with this 3-4-2-1 more. Just need a better player than Aaronson. Perhaps Reyna or Weah will be back and playing that role next to Pulisic. Seems likely eventually we see Mckennie and Adams as the starters as the 2 CM’s. RW/RWB we could see Weah out there until Dest is healthy.

    And then it becomes who plays in that role next to Pulisic. Weah or Reyna.

    And I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Weah tried at the 9.

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      • Richie cannot defend, the speedy Jamaican wingers will blow by him. He can serve as PSVs RB because they have the ball 70% of the time. Juve exploited him over and over and over. I love Richie but he can’t play RB at that level. I watch PSV almost every week.

    • One issue this window was we had no speed over the top. Aaronson, Sargent and Tillman couldn’t test Mexico to get behind their backline. The only time we played behind them was when we sent Jedi. I’d be up for trying Reynolds at RB or even Shaq if you just want him to stay home, but we need Weah’s speed up top. I don’t think Jamaica will pressure as high up the field so Scally’s lack of ball progression should be minimized some. It doesn’t sound like Reyna will be available, I’d be ok with Pulisic as the 10 if Gio isn’t available. I’d also be ok trying Luna, Ferreira or even Campbell. Tillman needs some motivation.

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  3. TK,
    “This will be a close one.”
    Why?
    Jamaica is not Mexico.

    If you assume that McClaren and Jamaica can perform like Aguirre and El Tri did the other night you’re also assuming that even if the USMNT play better than they did vs Mexico, it won’t be enough. Has McClaren worked some kind of mircale down there.?

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    • Matches w Jamaica have historically been close. They physically match up with us. Any injured guys we get back will have played limited soccer. We always struggle in Kingston. The book is out on us. We are soft and not all that fast.
      Yeah….considering where we are right now I think it will be close. Not a leap IMO.

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      • Between March 2024 going back to March 2021

        US 3- Jamaica 1
        US 1- Jamaica 1
        US 1- Jamaica 1
        US 1- Jamaica 0
        US 4 – Jamaica 1

        Anything is possible but I’m not worried about it.

  4. Will still be without a lot of our better players due to injury, and if some get back they will barely have played. This will be a close one.
    Time for reality to sink in.

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    • I watched Jamaica vs Honduras this week. The Reggae Boyz were very unmotivated by the 30 min mark everyone in the crowd were just looking at their phones and many started filing out about 75 minute mark. They had already clinched advancement and Honduras only needed a draw so that probably had some to do with it. They seem less organized under new manager Steve McClaren and their midfield had trouble control even the easiest of passes. Reid didn’t play and Leon Bailey is still not playing so that probably colored the MF choices some. They’ll be more motivated and the crowd will be more lively I’m sure in November, but they certainly look worse than they did the last 18 months.

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      • I want the last hour of my life back. I went looking to try to find out how the who the US would play if they advance to the semi -finals and finals. I could not find a clear answer. Did you know the CONCACAF website is as terrible as you would think it is?

      • Mob: it’s like they haven’t improved it or maybe even updated since 1997. I half expect it to have a Geocities address anytime I go there. It’s alway my last resort Wikipedia is better.

    • 💯 I’m flabbergasted he keeps getting called up, let alone starting. He’s constantly getting knocked off the ball and then complaining to the ref. Our forwards aren’t scoring because our midfield can’t hang onto the ball.

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      • DC Josh,

        A lot of the USMNT players were getting knocked off the ball. You notice it with Brenden because people are looking for it now.

        His problem is he is a “sidekick” player.
        He needs CP, Weah, Gio, Weston and Tyler around him so he can be their sidekick.

        Once those guys are back and up and running well , Brenden will be fine.
        No problem.

      • His problem was that ref wasn’t calling fouls. In England, most of those would’ve been whistled. Concacaf refs are ok with rugby-soccer, and slide tackles from behind, and top players getting injured in meaningless friendlies.

        BA is a relentless nuisance pressing the opposing D, and he does it better than anyone we have. Even in this game, he was the only one I remember who actually caused/created a couple turnovers. He has quick feet, good technically, sees the field pretty well. If every player on the USMNT is healthy (will never happen) he may not be a starter, but even then, he would be one of the first off the bench. He should continue to be one of our more important players.

        Yes he gets pushed off the ball, but so did everyone else we had out there. I mean if I was Tillman I would be embarrassed by my lack of impact in this one. Completely bullied out of the game. At least Aaronson never gave up.

      • More for Vacqui

        Why is one of these a sidekick and the other not:

        an offensive player who doesn’t track back (Pirlo-Gio) v.
        a more ball-winner/water-carrier (Makelele-BA)?

        Obviously, this comparison is not in-depth. In my opinion, for the USMNT, Gio is a luxury player (blasphemy warning: maybe so is CP – until this year).

        The USMNT doesn’t have enough quality horses to allow Gio to focus purely on creating plays – especially with CP on the field. Perhaps if we were playing a regular season 1 game per week, then Adams (if healthy) and McKennie (if motivated and healthy) could recuperate so that they can cover the ground they need to do every game. But an international tournament is a game every 3-4 days, at a high level, and those two (often) run and run and run. That doesn’t allow for them to recover and therefore it doesn’t work for the USMNT. The best we can hope for is to get out of group with a 1-1-1 record, which is how we have progressed out of group in the last few WC.

      • Midwest Ref: a sidekick- does everything well but not great, can score when the defense is focused on the star, but isn’t going to create much for themselves or when covered by the best defender. When Brenden is the first or second option it’s hard for him to get into scoring positions, when he’s the 4th or 5th option he can poach some goals. Let’s say Reyna and Dest are out there with him. He can play a 1-2 with Gio and Serge pulls wide to draw a defender Brendan can get behind and have a decent chance to score. He’s out there with Scally and Tillman. Tillman isn’t in position because he doesn’t recognize the urgency, the defense is allowing the pass to Joe because he hasn’t connected a pass all game. Now Aaronson has to try to go one on three, one slows him, another runs into him shoulder to shoulder and the third guy picks up the ball and breaks the lines with one pass to CF. We’ve seen Reyna Or a Pulisic or even Weah breakthrough one on three but Aaronson doesn’t have that in his bag.

      • midwest ref,

        There’s nothing wrong with being a sidekick. In American sports they call them glue guys. In Europe they call them water carriers. Every one needs them. But the whole point of their existence is that they allow the difference makers to do what they do best. They do the running and the dirty work for them. BA makes life easier for them.

        Deschamps of France? He was one of Zidane’s water carriers.

        CP may not be Zizou but he is our one and only legit difference maker. He is our only proven top flight player. Everyone else is a question mark.

        That is why one of Pochettino’s priorities is to find a way to remedy that situation. The Mexico game gave him some idea of what he is dealing with. As it is right now, w/o CP, there is no point in the USMNT participating in the 2026 WC because they ain’t beating anyone worth anything.

        Americans love Brendan because he allows all of us non-talented people to imagine that all it takes to be a USMNT regular is a bit of skill, an awful lot of hard work and to run all day long forever.

        But Brenden does not score consistently enough.
        He needs his difference makers friends on the field.

        Mexico highlighted that. They fouled him all game long. You stop a train by blowing up the locomotive. But , if you watched carefully, they also fouled every other American all day long. Which is boring. The only time I enjoy US vs Mexico is when it reaches the heights of low comedy like the Miazga, Lainez, tall/short brouhaha.

        We all understand that refs don’t call fouls in CONCACAF.

        But that has been true since way before Elon Musk acquired his American passport ( 2002)

        It does not look like anything is changing anytime soon, if ever. Is it asking too much for our veteran players like BA to learn how work with or around that reality?

        Otherwise maybe BA should just sit out CONCACAF games?

      • Meh, BA was hyped up as “Medford Messi” and he’s basically a Championship-level player that Leeds overpaid for. I root for the guy and no one can question his effort and commitment, but we have better players for our starting 11.

      • Dc: I don’t think anyone actually thought he was the next Messi, just good for someone from Medford at least on the men’s side. Shoutout Carli Loyd.

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