The U.S. men’s national team has had a tough time against Panama in recent time but needs to put those results to the side ahead of Thursday’s latest encounter.
Mauricio Pochettino’s squad faces off with Panama in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals, seeking a return to the tournament final. The Americans haven’t enjoyed many winning results against Panama in the last few years, losing in three of their last four competitive matches across three different competitions (Copa America, FIFA World Cup Qualifying, Gold Cup).
However, the USMNT did get back on track against Thomas Christiansen’s squad last October, capturing a 2-0 victory in Pochettino’s first match in charge. Thursday will be Pochettino’s most important match in charge of the program so far and the Argentine revealed his hopes for the latest showdown.
“We want to destroy Panama,” Pochettino said in a press conference this week. “When I say we destroy, it’s in a sport way.”
While the match itself will be centered around the star players for both teams, both countries have been in the news in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, United States President Donald Trump confirmed his plans to reclaim the Panama Canal as part of the country’s national security. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino hit back at Trump, stating that the Canal would not be recovered by the Americans and later calling the 78-year-old “a liar”.
Pochettino didn’t get into detail about the recent issues between the two countries, but urged his team to represent themselves with pride.
“We need to play for us,” Pochettino said. “We need to feel proud to defend our flag and our badge. We need to play for our country, but always on the pitch trying to be better, to beat the opponent. And I think it’s a big mistake if we talk about politics because I think people is not waiting for us to talk in this way.
“That is why I think, always. [It] was my way. That doesn’t mean that I am not strong and I have my values and my vision about the situation, but I think being respectful and being a very clear and a strong guy is….to say nothing and to be focused only to help the player who performs and try to win.”
Should the USMNT win in Los Angeles on Thursday, it will be their first competitive win over Panama since 2022.
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So … these games aren’t televised ***at all*** in English, only on streaming? How sad for all the young people and families who used to be able to follow the USMNT as a matter of course in their first language.
Yet how much more we may all now appreciate Univisión, who lost significant quality to the Telemundo takeover, but are at least still covering American soccer, like Ilia Calderón and Félix de Bedout are still bravely covering news. For now, knock wood.
If Dani Nohra is too frenetic and high-pitched, remember it’s possible to turn the sound down and the closed captions on.
Attendance is, er, sparse. Why was this scheduled on a weekday afternoon again?
Marcelo Balboa was already concerned that the US was so slow starting out. Couldn’t connect passes, low energy, etc. /-:
Apparently they’re missing Robinson? I can see how his absence might have cast a pall, but …
Oh, at least a chance or two, and an offside. Whew.
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Zendejas is the most disappointing overlooked lefty the US has! He’s that dude!! O, I definitely got more on lefties. I’ll leave yall alone now. Enjoy the match Go USA!
IO2T,,
About 10% of the world’s population is left-handed.
The same % goes for the US population.
About 1% of the same population set is ambidextrous. While not always true, left handed soccer players usually have a dominant left foot.
The fact that most soccer players in the world start out as right footed should surprise no one.
I don’t know about y’all but as a kid my coaches stressed the value of two footedness. Not everyone stuck with it but I wouldn’t say failing the two footed test held you back. On the list of skills to be developed, two footedness was not a dealbreaker.
You refer to the Europeans. I would say that they probably have been superior to the US in terms of the quality and the quantity of their coaches, though we appear to be improving significantly.
I’m happy to hold Gregg Berhalter responsible for everything that is wrong with the world but in this case it is possible that you are being overly harsh on the man. His players were well set in their ways long before he got to them.
If you must have someone to belittle, crucify and disparage, you can blame the many high profile star players, going back to at least the 1950’s or more who are and have been unapologetically one footed and proud of it. They set the “bad example”.
If you look at the iconic 1970 Brazil team they had a number of one footed stars who were perfectly comfortable shooting or passing with the inside, the laces or the outside of one foot. Shooting with the outside of their right or left foot from either wing and bending it in was more or less routine for those guys.
There are too many to list but when you have the strictly left footed Arjen Robben spend most of his entire career on the right wing, it is hard to tell people that inverted wingers don’t work.
What do you mean ‘We don’t have those players, we don’t have them?’ Let me address the past, Lovitz appearances needed to be split in half with Chase Gasper, who’s also a natural lefty and has better foot speed than Lovitz & Ream. Kellyn Acosta , who’s not a lefty needed to get minutes at LB until Jedi & the depth was available. Ream got burned by Diego Llanez trying to perpetrate as a LB. Does Ream have an assist from a cross outside of the 18? Sam Vines, who’s the perfect complement to Jedi for a backup was injured leading up to ‘22 Winter Cup. I would’ve gave him 30 minutes; 10 minutes a match during the group stage to spell Jedi. He doesn’t do anything spectacular. He’s like Daley Blind, solid. George Bello is a really good player has been overlooked since ‘21. He’s more experienced than any lefty that Poch just got called up and has better foot speed than any lefty I can name. Indiana Vassilev is left footed, you had to remind me last year but he’s not even remotely close to a scorer, shooter, or a facilitator. He’s just like having right footed Musah or Weah at RW. CP doesn’t run with Jedi ever. He’s waits to get the ball in a standing position. Why you keep pushing this Claiban coaching lie, I don’t know why. Dest doesn’t use his left foot as LB so he rarely ever got the ball to CP, when he was playing LB for the US. Julian Gressel isn’t even left footed. You’re not even trying now, c’mon JR. Alex Mendez & Alan Sonora would make good RWs in a 4-3-3, just because of their set piece ability. They’re both are a liability on defense just as much as CP. You did a awesome breakdown on Caleb Wiley last year, JR. He’s a shooter. Biggest difference between a fullback and a winger. Then there’s KP, who flops trying to draw fouls and hurts himself. We have more lefties coming from the youth setup. If the coach doesn’t give them a chance, then it seems as though we don’t have any. Perception is a mf. The perception that we don’t have left footed players playing or that left footed players we do have aren’t good is a lie. Trusty was healthy last international window. Ream started. Who’s in control of gets selected and who starts? Lund is another lefty. He’s similar to Trusty. I view him more as a LCB in a 3 man back line, then I do as LB or a wingback. I’ll be back to explain again like this for 15 time.
I really thought Gressell was left footed, the one time I don’t check. Vines broke his leg before Qatar so he wasn’t available and took a couple years to get back to form. He had a good year last year but is hurt again. Bello was awful defensively both with US and Bielefeld, I honestly haven’t seen him since going to LASK. I haven’t seen much of Lund but he doesn’t strike as being great defensively. More in the get forward category than the defensive awareness mode but I’ve seen maybe 180 minutes of him. Trusty has been in camp with now 4 or 5 US managers and he never gets picked. Like right footed EPB if you keep getting camps and never see the field that tells me there’s something wrong with you, but we’ll see. I did forget Zendajas.
Some notable super left footed players- Messi, Di Maria, Mo Salah, Erling Haaland, Antoine Greizmann, Bernardo Silva, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Olise. Less lefties in the world of soccer & in general- low supply high demand now, in soccer. I didn’t say left footed players are better, just more creative. US needs to compete with the rest of the world. The rest of the world has multiple left footers on its rosters. Simple. Now, some players are kept on rosters simply because there’s no one to take set pieces like a Luke Shaw, for example. You have a Daley Blind for the Netherlands, that’s not set piece taker, but is there to balance out the right footed players the Dutch have. You have players like Camavinga of France, that played LB for a 1/3 of a season for Real Madrid because of the injuries to Mendy & David Alaba. He helped win a Champions League trophy, if I’m not mistaken. He isn’t a LB for France. They’ll call left footed Lucas Digne before they put Camavinga at LB for France. Zinchenko of Ukraine plays in the midfield, primarily LM for country. (Today’s match he’s in RM). In the EPL, he doesn’t have the foot speed to play in the midfield so a LB for Man City or Arsenal.
Part 2 – ‘Are the left footed players not good enough?’ … I think the US has plenty of left footed players good enough to play the national team. I think there’s two parts to this. The number of players and the roles/position that they’re playing. For example, Trusty & Jedi are out, both are lefties. Poch calls in 3 lefties after 2 are out. Mcglynn likes to play in RM so he can consistently possess the ball with his left foot. In the MLS, clubs get by (see Anibal Godoy never uses his right foot as a 6). Mcglynn is better served as a LB. Poch plays a 3-5-2, if he puts Mcglynn as RWB. I’m ok with it because of Mcglynn’s passing. He’s starting position is higher. His foot speed defensively is negated by his passing and the athleticism we have inside. Example- Cambiaso (Juve) would get subbed in for Weah on the right sometimes, not all but some last season. He’s left footed. So his passes with the left were going into the 18, better more effective than Weah who rarely uses his left foot on the right side.
This is neither here nor there, but I can’t get my head around how a pro player doesn’t develop both feet. I guess it’s true — you guys are apparently watching pretty closely. But I developed my left foot get on my 8th grade travel team (it worked). I can’t understand how these guys who have bet their lives on this sport wouldn’t develop their versatility enough to even put in crosses with their weak foot.
I’m a lefty myself and I tried out for U11 select team, because I had no one to teach me the game of soccer. This was 30 lifetimes ago in ‘91. The coaches at that time said if I can’t use my right foot I could not be effective. I remember that to this day. I played other sports as a kid. Most of my life, I used to think all pro soccer players were able to use both feet at an extremely high level. Until I truly started observing that is. When I was 11, at that time, I was also under the impression that only Americans from Cali should wear the USA jersey to represent America. Until Tab Ramos, Claudio Reyna that is. At this age, Im just glad I have the ability to evolve my knowledge.
Dave: I think it’s probably their weak foot just isn’t the quality of their strong. So either they’ve been told not too use it, that it’s not strong enough to take on elite defenders, and or because their strong foot was so good in their youth that they didn’t see value in the work to develop it. I’m shocked by the number of NBA and WNBA players that can’t make a left handed layup.
Berhalter did try both Daniel Lovitz (vs Mexico ‘19 friendly) and Tim Ream (vs Canada in Toronto NL group) as left footed LBs, but their lack of athleticism was a hindrance, as you recall. I think he put Dest there (who has played LB for Ajax, Barca, and PSV) because he thought his skill would combine better with Pulisic. Jedi often frustrates CP with his lack of creativity, but mostly Serg and Pulisic just ended up trying to cut into the same space.
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As McGlynn has never played as a FB or WB I’m not sure if his lack of athleticism could be made up for by I assume Adams and Richards.
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I still stand with my there are not a ton of left footed players being shunned by NT managers. There just aren’t as many playing at high levels. I’m going to stand by that playing Weah on the right with his right foot is stronger for the team than Vassilev playing on the right with his left. I wish Chris Gloster and Alex Mendez had developed but one is in the USL and one sits on the bench for a mid table Liga Mx team. Pomykal has hamstrings of glass, the promising left footers haven’t progressed. Look thru the list of top assists or scorers in MLS there is just no left footed Americans besides McGlynn and Gressell (who gets a lot of assists from passing it to Messi and Suarez).
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I agree if we have left footed players we should use them at LB and RW but if we don’t have those players we don’t have them.
Yes, US coaching staffs for generations have been selecting right footed players over left footed players. The Europeans have been utilizing left footed players at RW, LB, LWB on a consistent basis since the late nineties. The Spaniards with the 4-3-3. The Germans with their 4-2-3-1. The Italians with their 3-5-2. The Dutch with their 3-4-3. GB was the most recent coach to show a lack of aptitude for lefties. He slowed the development of every left footed player Jedi & company by having Dest & Scally play at LB. He consistently put right footed players at RW & watched these players only use their outside foot so the ball never goes to the goal like a lefty would at RW.
‘Are we choosing right footed players over left footed players? … ‘or are the left footed players not good enough?’ @johnyrazor -you said you seriously wanted to know.
@johnnyrazor March 10 2024, there was a discussion I had with you @nkh when I said left footed players are more creative… article got buried with comments unrelated to yourself, nkh and my thread of left footed players. You asked me a question so I decided to wait a year and 10 days to answer. I’m an information junkie not a comedian.
I am so pumped and excited for tomorrow! Let’s go, I believe in USA!