The U.S. men’s national team placed one foot into the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals.
Ricardo Pepi’s first-half goal paired with Matt Turner’s two-save shutout helped Mauricio Pochettino’s squad earn 1-0 first leg quarterfinal victory over Jamaica in Kingston on Thursday. Christian Pulisic set up Pepi for the breakthrough goal after five minutes while the Americans defended valiantly to keep the Reggae Boyz off the scoresheet.
The win marked the USMNT’s first shutout win in Jamaica since 1994.
“The first step is done,” Pochettino said. “I congratulate my players because, in a difficult situation, they competed really well. I am so pleased. Of course, we need to improve in all the areas.”
Pepi made the most of his first USMNT start in 12 months by giving the Americans an early 1-0 lead. Christian Pulisic picked up a pass in midfield before playing a through ball pass upfield for Pepi to drill home.
It marked Pepi’s 12th international goal across all competitions.
Jamaica had a golden opportunity to tie the match in the 14th minute after Matt Turner brought down Shamar Nicholson in the box for a penalty kick. However, Turner dove to his right to punch away Demarai Gray’s effort to keep the Americans in front.
Pochettino was forced to his bench before the 30-minute mark as midfielder Johnny Cardoso was substituted off due to an apparent injury. Cardoso, who entered camp on a strong run of form, will now wait to learn his diagnosis ahead of Monday’s second leg.
Jamaica began to up its offensive pressure as the first half continued, with Kasey Palmer being denied by Turner in the 36th minute.
Renaldo Cephas and Issac Hayden both missed on their second-half opportunities while Nicholson and Mason Holgate had chances blocked by the USMNT. Holgate’s effort was blocked by a racing Yunus Musah, who tracked back and bailed out the USMNT backline.
Jamaica’s comeback chances took a hit before stoppage time as Holgate was sent off after receiving a second yellow card.
The USMNT would hang on for a slim road victory, putting one foot into March’s semifinal round. Although Thursday’s performance was anything but dominant from the Americans, Pochettino admitted he was pleased with the road result.
“I think we defend well in the second half,” Pochettino said. “We concede some chances that maybe Jamaica can score, but I think overall I am happy in the way that the team competed. We didn’t concede. Now we need to prepare for the second leg in St. Louis. It’s going to be tough because Jamaica, like today, they show it today that they have very good players.
“It’s easier [to learn] when you win the games,” he added. “You can learn fast, but I think yes, tough game. We need to be pleased and now try to design all the strategy and recovery and be ready for Monday.”
St. Louis’ Energizer Park will play host to Monday’s second leg between the USMNT and the Reggae Boyz.
the game on Monday night will tell us a lot about Poch’s team. I am very interested and excited to see what happens
Props to Javier Aguirre El Tri’s manager struck in the head with a beer can at the end of the match blood streaming down his face still goes thru with his post game handshakes and acknowledgments as both staffs are trying to give him medical attention. From the video I saw Honduran players were trying to get the Mexican players and coaches safely off the field but fans didn’t really seem to care who they were throwing objects at. Oh Concacaf!
JR,
That beer can had to be at least mostly full if it came out of the stands. Aguirre is lucky it wasn’t worse.
that was brutal. Can’t stand Aguirre but not like that, and I have a new respect for him in how he handled it. This is why cans of beer should not be sold, or bottles…geez, what genius
We play on this upcoming Mon, not Tues my bad all.
Our 1 – 0 win is starting to look really good right about now…..lol
Canada struggled to beat Surname 1 – 0, then Luis Palma (from Celtic) comes off the bench AND ONLY BECAUSE BRYAN ACOSTA GOT HURT to singlehandedly give Honduras 2 goals……think about it, THIS MAN WAS CHILLIN ON THE BENCH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y70Ur7NKiLs
Honduras 2-0 México got to love this beautiful game where anything can happen lol
The second leg of Mex-Honduras is a must watch. Mexico needs two goals and a clean sheet to tie it up…if Honduras scores it would take four!
Jamaica beat Honduras away in Honduras and tied at home in Jamaica. This hella muy fuego🔥, these Concacaf matchup’s. Cannot wait, we need to be smart and tread lightly and not be big headed against the likes of Trinidad and Tobago, whom has humbled USMNT a lot. Cant wait for Mon, I am confident it will be 0-0 or 2-0 USA tieing or inning by a brace.
Honduras outplayed Jamaica at home in October, but both sides only needed a draw to advance so they kind of both stopped playing the last 30 minutes. Jamaica rested some players that game too. Last year Honduras took a 2-0 lead into Azteca and started time wasting in the first half. Ref signaled like 8 mins added time, but just let it run until El Tri tied it in 101 minute. Honduras has to try to play this year because Concacaf really needs the El Tri fans to fill the stadium for the semi and finals. The way I read it only quarterfinal winners are guaranteed Gold Cup spots. Concacaf can’t have El Tri out of Nations League and Gold Cup, they’ll go broke, going to be 14 on 11 on Tuesday in Mexico. I’ll be shocked if Ivan Barton isn’t the ref for that one.
Thanks for the breakdown of advancement JR. I see us advancing and meeting Panama, then Mex or Can.
Canada needed an 82 min goal to escape Suriname 1-0. Although they did have one in the first half hit both posts and stay out.
JR,
People are making a mistake in seriously underestimating McClaren. If he can get enough of these duals they have a good chance at making the World Cup.
If they could have gotten Gibbs-White they would have been in a really good spot, but England was too in on him.
Could you imagine the possibilities if they HAD Mason Greenwood, Ellis Simms (can rep. England, Poland or Jamaica), Morgan Gibbs-White, Max Aarons, (Jamaican descent through his mom), Jonathan Rowe, Tyrick Mitchell (Jamaican descent and expressed interest in Jamaica) and Dane Scarlett (Jamaican descent)
They had dibs Ivan Toney and Raheem Sterling!!!! When it comes to dual nationals they would be the powerhouse in CONCACAF hands down!!!!
Well they could still get Scarlet he hasn’t exactly put up Three Lions numbers. Most of your list will never play for England so Jamaica still has a shot.
Vac, he has a good chance of winning the 2nd leg and advancing to the Nations League semis. If the US plays the way they did in Kingston, they will probably lose but I think, but mostly hope, they will play much better.
That pitch was so poor it’s hard to read too much into it. As I told Gary below it could have easily been 3-0 15 minutes in and if Vazquez doesn’t flub a chance and a half chance late it’s still 3-0. So both teams could have had more on a different night. Should be a good game though and the US will have to play well. Weah should add a new wrinkle, but we really miss the creativity of Dest and Reyna.
Tele57,
The fans might be but I can’t see the USMNT being complacent.
St. Louis is just the second half of a game we are leading 1-0.
$ They did just enough and rode their luck to win but it was close and I guess they shouldn’t play the way they did in Kingston then.
$ Lots of teams lose 1-0 leads, why should the USMNT be any different?
$ One of the most notable things about the win in Jamaica was that it came off of an early goal and a bright start, which got sidetracked by Johnny going down.
Going back to at least JK if not farther, the USMNT rarely has a good game first time out when they come back from a long layoff. They tend to do better in the second game. You can look it up. That would seem to indicate that Pochettino is more intense and focused than Gregg was and is more capable of translating that to the players. The fact that they started out well is very positive.
$ They still look and play a lot like Gregg’s team because they still are Gregg’s team. Three games did not change that.
Pochettino’s job is to make some adjustments and see if he can’t get Gregg’s team to eliminate the more egregious stuff and play more like a real adult team instead of a Select team of Euro underachievers coming home for a break. Berhalter’s Spa.
I think Pochettino , like most neutrals, felt that Gregg did a good job getting this team to a certain point but then hit a wall and needed a reset.
There are at least two ways to reset this team:
1) Get IV’s lists, call up everybody with a US passport and reform the team in the image of IV’s select team.
2) Work with “Gregg’s” core team and clean up their act. If the guys had stopped listening to Gregg someone with the new guy’s credentials and power certainly has their attention now. That was evident in Kingston. Is the transformation complete and permanent? Fuck no. CP and Jedi aside, these players aren’t that good just yet and it showed in Kingston. But whatever Pochettino did with them, it was just enough to get them over the hump.
I think Pochettino chose approach #2 because:
* the timeline is very tight.
* the team is talented but young ( most are under 28) and that means they can be improved. American players are supposedly “coachable”.
Pochettino is taking the faking it until you make it approach with these guys. At some point they will realize that they just aren’t that good as Pochettino makes them think they are. But hopefully, by then it will be 2027.
So, regardless of how ugly they play, they HAVE to win in St. Louis. They are trying to build something Gregg never could, a positive identity, a belief, a swagger.
I think they have to win, not lose or draw, every single game they play going forward. I haven’t heard it said much but Pochettino is from Argentina. They love their football but they don’t mind doing whatever it takes to win.
Vac, I think your glass is a little more than half full if you think poor performances in Kingston on Thursday are because Gregg coached the team the last 6 years. That is the first time I can ever remember thinking the team was outplayed and deserved to lose against Jamaica (except maybe Klinsmann’s team losing in the GC but certainly not the qualifier Gregg’s team played on Kingston against them before the last WC). Gregg wasn’t able to get the players to not consistently do the bad things on display again against Jamaica like horrible giveaways, not winning 50/50 balls, not being able to create scoring opportunities, horrible defending, etc… and maybe Poch will be able to, but blaming Gregg when he hasn’t been the coach for about 4 months or more is kind of like Spinal Tap saying they were still booing when they got on stage.
+1 Tele…Poch’s team. Spinal Tap, lol at the reference
Tele,
For better or worse the USMNT that the new guy is trying improve has Gregg’s fingerprints all over it and will for some time. To look at it any other way is unfair to Gregg.
If you’re trying to sell me on the idea that if Gregg were still in charge they would have won this game and “performed” better I will say maybe but we’ll never know.
Pochettino is three games into trying to change how Gregg’s players play.
They are Gregg’s players because, maybe I missed someone but I didn’t see one player (Kochen?) who wasn’t brought in by Gregg. and the core players were his.
A lot of people wanted to bring in their shiny new favorites in some kind of ruthless purge and that may eventually happen but, right now, positive purges take time the USMNT doesn’t have.
What I know is:
Jamaica lost.
We won.
It’s a 1-0 lead in the first half. It is possible that we lose the second half and fail to advance.
Anything is possible but we get Weah back and they lose Colgate which is a good thing for the USMNT.
Both teams can play better than they did in Kingston and probably will. But I really did not see anything in Kingston that made me think Jamaica should be favored to win and advance in St. Louis. Still, it is possible and that is a good thing for the USMNT because they might otherwise get big headed and complacent.
We’ll find out on Monday.
Vac, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this. IMO, this isn’t Gregg’s team and his fingerprints aren’t on it. Players are developed at the club level, not the international level (one of your frequent arguments with IV). These aren’t his players. The fact that two completely different coaching staffs have come to the same conclusion about the best players available in the pool is a pretty good indication that those are probabaly in fact the best players available in the pool. The coaches job is to get the most out of those players, pick formation and strategies that minimize the other teams ability to expose player’s weaknesses and expose the other team’s weaknesses. That is done on a game to game basis. Poch may be able to do it and I hope he can, but he wasn’t able to in Kingston. Right now, there is a 1 game sample size for Poch. Gregg really wasn’t able to do it consistently and there is a pretty large sample size to base that on, but he is gone. Gregg doesn’t deserve any credit for anything this team achieves moving forward but he doesn’t deserve any blame either.
Tele,
“Gregg doesn’t deserve any credit for anything this team achieves moving forward but he doesn’t deserve any blame either.”
You are mostly right but saying he “doesn’t deserve blame” implies that Gregg did nothing wrong that needs to be corrected.
If that were true he would still be here instead of Chicago.
National team managers do not develop players. But they do build and develop TEAMS. The team Pochettino took over was not just about the players. They had a style of play (naïve, undisciplined and disorganized) an attitude (soft), tactics (questionable), etc…, etc. ad nauseum.
Gregg was around for six years. His player pool was young and inexperienced and they “grew up “with this team.
Gregg was responsible for who played, how much they played and what they learned about how the USMNT goes about their business.
In other words, the team had an identity. And that affects how players play. Gregg left the team with a flawed identity and sorting that out takes time.
When evaluating the team that Gregg built and developed, the debate is what percentage was the players and what percentage was Gregg?
Pochettino can only come up with so many USMNT virgins but, more than anything, he can improve the identity. Will it be enough to make a difference? I do not know.
I do know that if the USMNT were a club team Pochettino would have had a lot more time with his team to prepare them for his first three games.
We have all seen in sports that many teams get a “new Manager bounce “. I do know that what little substantive info we can get from these first three games is mostly positive.
But overall, it is too fucking early to tell what will last.
“Musah as a winger is giving up that side of the field in attack. Love him but he poses no threat on goal and his distribution from there is a nonfactor.
You may think that. And it may even be true, even though I don’t believe it . But Jamaica have to respect the potential threat anyway, especially because Yunus is usually aggressive and pretty active.
“Weah will be an improvement. ” No doubt and I’m really curious as to how he will be deployed.
Can we talk about Vazquez not finishing a couple good chances?
the dribbler one timer right to Blake was rough
he did very well getting into spaces tho, including the 2 on 1 when CP played him out of the pocket, thought that one was going to be a goal. he did get Colgate red carded off the field
Was it Holgate that got away with a yellow when he put his studs in Busio’s thigh? For those dismissing Jamaica in years past losing a CB to red card would have meant somebody from USL or Jamaica PL. This squad’s likely replacement is former ManU Academy prospect and 3 yr starter in The Championship Di’shon Bernard. Let’s not forget Canada took a +1 aggregate into last year’s quarterfinal second leg and lost 3-2 in Toronto. The Reggae Boyz also beat Panama for 3rd last March so they are better than their Copa America performance might indicate.
JR,
People are making a mistake in seriously underestimating McClaren. If he can get enough of these duals they have a good chance at making the World Cup.
JR, my memory isn’t that great but I don’t remember thinking the US held on by a thread for the tie in Jamaica during qualifying. I checked the stats, which can be misleading, but US had 65% possession and outshot Jamaica during that game. Yesterday is probably the first time in over 20 years that Jamaica outshot the US. I’m just pulling that out of the air but even with the weak team US fielded in Gold Cup they significantly outshot Jamaica and had 65% posession and I can’t rememeber them ever being outshot by Jamaica. My recollection is that I thought at the time a draw was a pretty fair result. I think the US was fortunate to not lose yesterday. The things I didn’t like about the Gregg era were all on display last night. Bad central defending, horrible giveaways on all parts of the field including the defensive third, Homer Simpson being able to count legitimate scoring on opportunities on one hand, and needing the goalie to do something special. To me, yesterday’s game was just like watching the team the road the past 6 years.
Tele: maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but the US scored early in qualifying and then had only one other shot on Target all the rest of the match. Jamaica didn’t generate much either, but Jedi scuffed a clearance right to Bobby Reid who was goal side on Miles 5 yds from goal and Wondo’d it over the open net that should be a goal 9 times out of 10.
——————————
As for the GC, the Icelandic manager was full into the bunker counter. Once Jamaica got the lead off the free kick, they really sat off. Most of the US shots came in the last 20 minutes.
Except for the goal, I thought the US looked pretty average. There were times whn they could not seem to complete a pass and repeatedly gave the ball straight to Jamaica in the US half. Jamaica won most of the 50-50 balls as they seemed to be much stronger on the ball. McKenzie is fast, but he failed to win the ball multiple times in the first half, he did improve in the second half and made a couple timely interventions. Ream avoided getting into any foot races and made some good tackles.
The reason there was less passing the ball around is due to more to that too many bad passes gave the ball to Jamaica than it was to a decision to be more direct. The lack of shots for the US was a result of the poor passing.
agreed, had some troubles with the pressure, then holding if we connected, or playing successfully from one side to the other thru the midfield. why not man mark our midfield in these matchups, got smacked around in there 2nd half; I get why BA didn’t play in this one
it looked very much like similar us soccer grit with a different attacking idea that was hard to pull off under the pressure most of the time, but the goal was awesome and got me out of my chair!
Sup, Striker,
HAVING a great week. How about you, bro?
The game was mild entertaining. W on Tuesday TBD.
Peace, right back at you, hermano.
Going good Papi Grande, cant wait for Tues! I noticed Antonio was missing for Jamaica like Larry Henry said, but I am confident we will get another shut out. Aint worried bout nothing(French Montana voice)! Thanks for explaining Poch tactics and the formation, I was confused why it was switching attacking vs defending.
Going good Papi Grande, Enjoying my National Native American Heritage Month and chilling with the Taino Caciques ancestors. Cant wait for Tues. I noticed Antonio was missing for Jamaica like Larry Henry said, but I am confident we will get another shut out. Aint worried bout nothing(French Montana voice)! Thanks for explaining Poch tactics and the formation, I was confused why it was switching attacking vs defending.
So far this new era is boring. I fell asleep after the pen save. I am not saying have the team play like an EPL, La Liga, or Serie A side, but gosh darn, can we get some more exciting soccer and more goals. Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra, Landon Donovan, Jay Demerit, Oguchi Onyewu, Jozy Altidore USMNT would have beat this team 3-0 or 4-1 We almost tied. I am done with Cardoso, of course Poch favorites him cause he has South American ancestry like Cardoso, smh.
Jay Demerit . . . wow that is a fairly obscure reference to a past defender and scorer of an important goal for Watford FC. Shout out to Green Bay, WI
Whoo
lol
Those OGs lost in 2012 at Jamaica 2-1, and drew both home and away in 2004. Neither of those Jamaica teams had the firepower of this years squad. It’s really hard to compare generations. We just don’t usually play away against Jamaica.
One difference I noticed was the lack of endless side to side passing between the center backs. In possession, there was a concerted effort to move the ball forward to Johnny or tessman first…even if the next pass went to the other centerback. It seemed to help create more space and kept the Jamaica press a little more honest. The field looked awful, players slipping all over the place and I factor the conditions into the scoreline. A win on the road in concacaf is not nothing and Jamaica looked the team more likely to score from about the 60th minute on until the red card. Good job to keep a clean sheet and escape with a W.
if that was supposed to be an inspiring performance and give hope for the future, I missed it, although I still hope. the idea that there was no idea for a year until now finally, is off target. some ideas are different, that’s all. Hopefully they will pan out in the end, we’ll see.
I’m glad for the result, but if not for McKenzie’s emergency defending, it’s a tie or we lose. Hanging on down the stretch and for most of the 2nd half and gritting it out is hardly an improvement, it’s us soccer, but I’ll take it
beachbum,
” if not for McKenzie’s emergency defending, it’s a tie or we lose. Hanging on down the stretch and for most of the 2nd half and gritting it out is hardly an improvement, it’s us soccer, but I’ll take it ”
??? Good thing McKenzie ( and Musah) were playing then wasn’t it?
If Pete Carrol, at the end, gives the ball to Beast mode the Seahawks win another Super Bowl. But he did not and lost. He threw it away.
If talent counts for anything the USMNT should always be favored vs Jamaica. But they haven’t always gotten a good result because we have failed to execute.
This young team needs to learn how to win. Especially away. On a horseshit pitch.
This was progress.
if you say so 😉
I want to believe Vac. we’ll see what the next match reveals, and as I said, I still hope.
it’s a horseshit pitch often, as you know, not news at all, and as I also said, gritty hanging on by the hair of our chinny chin chins IS us soccer (paraphrased, haha )
beachbum,
All the flaws of the last 5-6 years were on display. Did anyone think they would not be?
Pochettino has some bad habits to break. And it will take more than 3 games to morph from The SYSTEM to Pochettino’s side.
And this was a better drilled, more organized, very English looking Jamaica than I’m used to seeing. It was like watching a lower level EPL side take on a Championship team in the FA Cup.
McClaren is not elite but he’s not an amateur either. We’re not talking Jason Kreis here. And in Bailey, McClaren had a real difference maker who was dangerous until the end. And of course Jamaica were happy to turn up the physicality.
Most any team who wins 1-0 is lucky but they also earned their luck. For example, Matt saved a penalty. That saves two points right? He also did very well to stop Bailey’s almost Olympico corner and Musah’s block on the line was unreal.
So they weren’t exactly sitting around watching Jake Paul/Tyson on netflix.
Pochettino understands that winning is a habit.
All the USMNT players last night were here under Gregg and showed it.
But there has been new guy change. Pochettino is trying to habituate these guys into being more intelligently aggressive.
I can’t see Gregg starting Johnny and Tessman as a combo last night.
And I can’t see Gregg replacing Johnny with Tillman.
And I can’t see Gregg making that 71st minute Vazquez/ Busio sub for Pepi/Weston either.
All these moves were hit or miss but mostly hit.
Yet the USMNT won anyway.
Gregg draws or loses this game.
If you were hoping for a better product than what Gregg put out, then I guess that depends on what you were expecting and on your level of patience.
Is Pochettino a better manager than say manager X if you put him in charge of this team? That depends.
The 6 million and his credentials bought you instant respect from the players and it bought Pochettino time and patience from his bosses.
If you pay me 6 million bucks to do something I own you because if I fail you look like an idiot.
Manager X may, in fact, know better than Pochettino how to rebuild Gregg’s project but he’s going to have to convince the players of that and that may take some time that the manager does not have. The schedule is very tight.
In other words, as far as I am concerned , the USMNT absolutely had to win and had show some progress last night otherwise doubt begins to creep in and Pochettino needs total buy in from everyone on the team.
He’s bought some time for now.
While there is still a lot of work to be done, considering the context of the game, that was the beat performance by a USMNT team in a very long time.
Finally there was the heart, hustle, drive and determination by most of the team that used to be a given with a USMNT team. That was great to see.
Whatever you want to call it – tactics, movement off the ball, patterns of play – gave some dynamic fluidity to US’s possession but they weren’t dogmatic about it and would play direct when the game called for it.
Yeah, it wasn’t perfect. An away game in CONCACAF is a tough place to try to – in a third game with new coach – implement a new system but you could see the plan revealing itself.
The goal needs to be bottled. That was a plan working perfectly. The way the ball was worked up the field and the rotations being carried out was straight from the white board.
Yes, after that, especially after twenty minutes when Cardoso went out, the play got real choppy. Pulisic was running around without purpose and getting in teammates space. It was like he took an Aaronson pill or something. Contain yourself man. Other than one turnover (a bad one) Cordoso distribution from his double pivot position had been positive and he looked up to it. He was very good connecting to the attackers. Once Tillman replaced him (I get why but I don’t want to see him as a 6 deep lying 8 ever again) the progression play dropped with lots of back and lateral passes and he played a gear lower than the rest of team – lackadaisical even.
Musah as a winger is giving up that side of the field in attack. Love him but he poses no threat on goal and his distribution from there is a nonfactor. Weah will be an improvement. Musah could have been moved back when Cordoso went out but depth on the wing was an issue due to suspension, illness and it basically being Zendejas. (However the goal did come down that side so what do I know – lol)
Overall this was the best I’ve seen the US play in possibly a year. There is a tangible reason for optimism beyond a fancy head coach. There is a recognizable plan and the players seem to be energized and ready to implement it in a way that wasn’t understandably apparent last window. They brought the game to Jamaica. They were ready for a physical game and didn’t back down or lose their head (it was close once or twice with Pulisic the one in danger of pulling a Dest or Weah – unexpected). Well done! On to St. Louis!
Come to think of it the goal came down the middle. The only help Musah gave was providing width which gave some space for Pepi
Betinho, they beat Mexico 2-0 in March in the Nations League finals. Are you forgetting about that game or do you think they played better yesterday?
I did remember that game but for some reason thought it was in November. In any case it was the best performance since before the Copa.
“Musah as a winger is giving up that side of the field in attack. Love him but he poses no threat on goal and his distribution from there is a nonfactor.
You may think that. And it may even be true, even though I don’t believe it . But Jamaica have to respect the potential threat anyway, especially because Yunus is usually aggressive and pretty active.
“Weah will be an improvement. ” No doubt and I’m really curious as to how he will be deployed.
Hardly an impressive performance. We usually do better against Jamaica. Too many misplaced and misplayed passes, they got most of the 50/50 balls and they really dominated the 2nd half. Hopefully they will do better in St. Louis.
We do not usually do better against Jamaica in JAMAICA. Jamaica, has a decent coach, and has added to their squad through dual Nats. Of course I want to be better but US fans have overestimated our team playing down there since the 80‘s.
It never fails, and neither do the rationalizations.
J did what all teams will try to do to us now, which is physically punk us, and boy do they have the players to do that. We have come across as soft for years and that ain‘t changing over night. I was told by someone that this was only our 4th away win in 11 years. One was against St. Vincent and one Grenada. I will actually try to look that up but what‘s scary is that I am certain that number will be super low no matter what. That is reality. We bad anywhere on the road. We bad on tough fields against physical teams. Just the way it is and that isn‘t changing IMO. Scheduling and region have a lot to do with it but let‘s not make believe this was a horrible performance. In context it‘s what we are and will be for a while. At least guys fought back a bit. That is the reality.
I can see where you are coming from but when was the last time you saw a USMNT team play this well? To me the last two windows and the Copa were far below this performance. This was a step in the right direction.
TK and Bethino, I wonder what the reaction would have been had the goal come in the 85th minute instead of the 5th? Pitchforks would have been out. Certainly better than losing at TnT, Panama, or Costa Rica. A little funny that we forgot already hanging on for the draw in qualifying two years ago at Jamaica.
I don’t subscribe to the view that we should be happy with this performance. We easily could have and probably should have drawn or even lost 2-1. Yes, it’s not easy to win in Jamaica, but Jamaica still are using players like someone in the USL. Except for GK because of Blake and maybe Leon Bailey, we have better players in just about every position. Maybe some fans are okay with a performance that is less than what it should be, but if you have low expectations and the team reflects that, we are never going to make it very far in the World Cup. Jamaica bossed us like Holland did in the last WC. That should not be acceptable since much of that is lack of intensity. Our players get ridden off the ball much too often and much too easily. We were saved because they failed to convert their golden opportunities.
Gary,
Nicholson (Ligue 1 last year, Russia currently)
Palmer (Championship Hull City)
Latibeaudeiere (Championship Coventry)
Bailey (EPL Villa)
Gray (Saudi formerly Everton and Leverkusen)
Leigh (Championship Oxford)
Lowe (formerly MLS, Saudi this year)
Bell (Championship Luton)
Holgate (Championship West Brom after 8 yrs as regular in EPL)
Lembikisa (Wolves loanee, Championship starter last year, Swiss League this year)
Blake (MLS)
Bench:
Hayden (over 100 EPL appearances out of favor at Newcastle but only 29)
Cephalon (Turkey)
Gray (MLS former US U17 with Gio, Pepi, Busio)
Then we get to Williams and McGee from USL.
Most of those guys are very experienced ten year pros a lot of them. In the past Jamaica was disorganized and turnover prone in MF, this group keeps its shape and plays with a higher soccer IQ. I’m not sure about the “this was our best performance in years” crowd but they didn’t play thru us like the Netherlands either.
Betinho, I agree with you. We didn‘t perform that poorly given history/circumstances and US Nat fan embedded elitism with regards to our region…which is completely unjustified on the road is what I responded to. I was responding to Gary‘s post about how horrible we were. We clearly were not if you put it in real/factual context. Something people have a hard time accepting/doing. IMO, things started really changing when Johnny came out. That is a big data point. The way our team lets Pulisic get beating up continuously is shameful. Embarrassing to be honest. There finally was some pushback but to little to late. One hard tackle on Bailey and that stops. We are beyond soft. Embarrassing. We did OK overall for the Office. Our history shows that. It was a good step, but just a step. I am not high or low….lets see what happens next. Folks just need to stop with the BS when we head on the road. Nothing factually says we should be playing so much better. It‘s fantasy and delusion along with an unfounded arrogance we haven‘t earned in the slightest that burns you. Hell, I think J will be more dangerous on a quality field with the players they now have. That crap field didn‘t do them any favors either TBH. This tie is not over.
Sorry I was actually replying to Gary. I absolutely agree with all you said. Personally I’m surprised at the critique of the game from USMNT fans out there. I assumed the Berhalterderrangementsyndrome crowd would be all flowers for anything a Poch team did – spinning it any direction possible to make him seem like the second coming. I’m pleasantly surprised there seems to be some rational folks among that bunch. Obviously this isn’t prefect or a finished project as was (obviously) true under GGG either.
TK,
“One hard tackle on Bailey and that stops. We are beyond soft. Embarrassing.”
This team has been soft for the balance of the Berhalter era.
I’ve said in the past that our guys are mostly wussies but that’s not entirely accurate or fair.
A big part of that is that Gregg was not ruthless, demanding an eye for an eye from his guys.
Another is we don’t have anyone who makes a living as an enforcer/ master of the dark arts, no Jermaine Jones our best psycho or Kyle B., my favorite dirty player. Two guys who were also really good footballers.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Jermaine+Jone+tackle+Neymar&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS864US864&oq=Jermaine+Jone+tackle+Neymar&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyBwgDECEYjwIyBwgEECEYjwLSAQoxNTM2OWowajE1qAIIsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5b37ed09,vid:OGKcBrWchqI,st:0
JJ did that because Marcelo was continually playing around humiliating us in a 4-1 loss back in 2012. At the time I thought it was a remarkable tackle. It looked awful ( Neymar is very dramatic) without actually breaking anything. Tell you what , Marcelo calmed right down. But it takes a lot of skill to do something like that without getting a red. And a lot of balls.
Gary to put it another way on a better field Jedi scores in the 10th minute and Pulisic scores a couple minutes later and the US is up 3-0 15 minutes in. Soccer is a game of small margins. The next 75 were a bit hairy of course.
A W is a W. But attack was not good. 4-3-3 isn’t a good formation for this group.
2tone,
A 4-3-3??? You continue to show your lack of soccer knowledge. Can someone help this kid?
Forget it, I will. It is a 4–2-3-1, when defending, and a 3-2-4-1, when in in possession.
Oh, and since you are the guy that said Pulisic is as good as Vini Jr., I’ll help you some more…not even close.
Sup Papi, have a good week bro. Hope you enjoyed game and we will get the W on Tues. Peace Hermano
Papi, if you only watched Vini Jr. this summer for Brazil I could see how 2tone could have that opinion. He’s been pretty pedestrian for Brazil, but Ancelotti puts him in spots to be special at Madrid. Sadly, Mbappe currently is hurting him at Madrid, but Vini Jr is the best in the world and I’m not sure it’s that close!
Vini Jr. did not look that good vs AC Milan.
Dennis, Mbappe’s addition has seemingly left Madrid confused as to what they want to do.
Lol. Somebody is triggered.
Didn’t know I was living in your head rent free.
In peace I leave you.
JR
“Dennis, Mbappe’s addition has seemingly left Madrid confused as to what they want to do.”
I just remember PSG when they had Neymar, Messi and MBappe not always looking as good as you might expect.
There is only one ball.