Pressure was on the U.S. men’s national team to deliver a victory against Japan on Tuesday night and Mauricio Pochettino’s squad answered the call.
Alex Zendejas and Folarin Balogun both scored goals as the USMNT defeated a rotated Japan squad 2-0 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio. Christian Pulisic and Max Arfsten registered assists in the result, and goalkeeper Matt Freese finished the match with a five-save shutout.
It is the USMNT’s first victory over a Top-25 ranked team since defeating Mexico 2-0 in the 2024 CONCACAF Nations League Final and the result also marked Pochettino’s 10th victory in charge of the program.
Freese was up to the test early, denying Junya Ito’s dangerous cross from nestling into the bottom-left corner. Ito was waiting for a Japanese teammate to finish off the cross, but instead almost came close to celebrating a breakthrough goal.
Balogun was denied twice by Japan goalkeeper Keisuke Osako, coming close to finding the back of the net. Pulisic’s through-ball pass led to Balogun’s pair of powerful efforts but Osako repelled both of them to keep the score level.
The USMNT’s growing pressure though would lead to a first-half lead in the 30th minute. Arfsten created room on the left flank before delivering a cross into the box, allowing Zendejas’ one-time volley to fall into the bottom-left corner.
It marked Zendejas’ second international goal.
Freese kept the USMNT in front with a point-blank save in the 35th minute, denying Ito’s redirected effort in the middle of the box.
After being denied by Osako early in the second half, Pulisic would have a say in the USMNT’s second goal, teeing up Balogun for a 2-0 lead. The 26-year-old’s upfield pass snuck behind the Japan backline, allowing Balogun to drill a low shot across Osako and into the bottom-right corner.
It was Balogun’s first goal since the 2024 Copa America.
Substitutes Jack McGlynn and Damion Downs were denied efforts to add to the scoring with the crossbar repelling McGlynn’s left-footed curler and Osako stretching to reject Downs’ potential first international goal.
However, the USMNT would hang on for its first win since the Gold Cup semifinals, claiming a second all-time victory over Japan.
After a 1-1-0 September window, the Americans will return to action this October against Ecuador and Australia respectively.
Much better performance overall. It looks like Pochettino’s efforts to create competition for spots on this team is taking shape.
The formation change played to the strengths of the players that started and the tactical wrinkles added by Pochettino paid dividends. Having said that, the game could’ve ended in a 2-2 tie or a 4-0 win for us. In short, things are not as bad as most on hear were pontificating about after the loss to South Korea, nor are things great after this win against Japan.
About the players and formation –
3 CB’s provided cover for Ream and Blackmon. Richards played well, but is still a concern playing the ball out of the back.
Arfsten still a major concern defensively, but his cross on Zendejas’ goal was top shelf. Freeman played well and ran tirelessly on the right, but is too raw going forward.
McGruber, you nailed it on the head…Adams and Roldan pair were a beast. If Roldan stays in form, he is going to have a chance of making the roster. Aside from two bad turnovers in the 2nd half, one which led to Japan rocking the post, he distinguished himself last night. In the interest of competition, if Aidan Morris continues to perform well at Middlesbrough through the October window, it will be interesting to see if he gets a call up.
Pulisic with a quiet first half but he started to get going in the 2nd half. Zendejas showed up. That spot in this formation is made for him. It allows to him to excel at what he does best…use his technique, quickness in tight spaces, and operate between lines. His finish on the goal was also top shelf with a very high degree of difficulty.
The key to Balogun’s goal was the physical separation he created with the Japanese defender by using his left arm after running off the defenders back shoulder and into the channel. Sargent gets to that same ball, but does not create the physical separation with the defender.
as long as Poch isn’t telling me what to think or feel, I’m good 😉
Japan looked unready for system change even if they’d seen it last 2nd half from us, the overloads on the flanks were not dealt with many times. you can scheme to address that so I wonder in the Paraguay Uruguay games what we’ll see next from their defenses.
agree on Zendejas, and he’s just so hungry, always been high on him, but this time he finished, too, instead of flubbing his chance
re. the competition, if I were one of the guys left out to dry in the first half vs. Korea, I’d be a bit bummed; no doubt the formation change was key for 3 of the 4 in the back there lang with the addition of our best CB in Richards, and a structural and personnel implosion before the change
Beachbum,
“as long as Poch isn’t telling me what to think or feel, I’m good 😉”
Ha!…after the loss vs South Korea, that was just lip service from Poch meant to throw the wolves aka the media off of his scent! LOL!
Agreed, Japan did not look ready for the formation change and tactical changes that Poch made. Having said that, given the 11 player changes from their game vs Mexico, there was a definite drop-off in their level of play.
I anticipate a very interesting clash in November vs Uruguay. Lots of reasons for this, including how Uruguay and Bielsa will scheme against USMNT and Pochettino.
some belief earned, who doesn’t love that. we’re all there, well done
first off, the whole team played with an urgency, not just Diego Luna, that’s an overstatement on purpose, but big difference in this game, and a lot of that is on Poch for putting the team into a system playing to their strengths, specifically Freeman and Arfsten, and they responded. Zendejas balling out makes me smile. Balo in a good matchup was dangerous, and once Mochizuki was exposed on our left flank, the sharks circled and fed. also lots of good chances for Japan (leave them for another day) but great response from the USMNT last night
Poch going with the 3 back, that’s what opponents will game plan for now, no more wondering, hasn’t been the case up to now. If Balo still roams free we’ll see, but a 9 who stretches the D consistently clearly makes a difference, and definitely for this team
i thought part of the problem with the 433 was it ended up with fairly linear passing angles. the guy ahead of you is in a line in front of you, and the next. not just the marking defender on your back but anyone in between point A and B can step into the passing lane and pick off a pass straight upfield. and so we ended up trying to work the ball slowly down the sidelines. and no one was moving off the ball. just everyone in their L/R/middle channels, mostly turned back to goal.
i think they need to ponder personnel but 343 creates 2 or more triangle options. the man next line isn’t in a straight line ahead of you. the triangle setup encourages some actual off ball running to make the angles. the angle look makes it harder to defend, do i mark, do i play passing lane, do i stay straight upfield.
to me they need to find some CBs and wingbacks who will do their whole job. ream and blackmon can’t get beat because anything 3 backs runs the risk your wing gets caught up and you have to end something numbers down. the wings need to track back consistently and arfsten didn’t. if you go with arfsten you have to just make a bet that helps more than it hurts. he can hit a winger cross, perhaps even more accurately than jedi.
i also think we can do better than that at mid, and zendejas would not be my pick at RF.
you saw on richards’ turnover that nearly got finished by ream’s man, a 3 man backline can get torched in a hurry. i thought japan was fairly meh and you need 3 guys back there who can stay home and island defend. arfsten also can’t get caught up.
that and there was a play or 2 adams and roldan got caught up high, same thing. personally i wish we quit pressing because my experience the fix for some of the risk of a 343 or 352 is you hunt in packs and the next line up helps backwards rather than chases forwards. you don’t dive in upfield. you hold your position and wait for the forward or mid to come back and help while tracking the passing angle past you.
in soccer/hoops terms, you swarm and “trap” back as opposed to “press” high. i find the press overrated as unless you go as a group you pull all out of shape and if i see it fast enough i just dribble into or pass to the shape holes.
some good thoughts here IV
whatever we do, ALL must do it with some kind of acumen to their roles, and desire to perform them
that has not always happened, and I think mostly but not only it’s because of the former, which translates to uncertainty in play and performance at times. this window is not the only example of this under Poch, see Johnny and other examples, but the tinkering and experimenting has also led to some guys being unlocked, see Malik and Jedi and more
anyway, no one’s perfect, but if you’re one of the guys where the experiments didn’t work and you were on the field when chaos breakdowns occurred, it sucks if that was your shot. from all the years reading your posts, you’re a player’s perspective seems to me, I think you get this
normal operating procedure of course as well. I’d like to see Josh get to play with the 3 back system attack and see how he does, for example. maybe that’s in Poch’s plan, or developing plan, idk, we’ll see
Not perfect but MUCH better. Richards is definitely the number 1 in that defense. The 3 man back line definitely gave them much more control of the midfield. The players didn’t look as stoic as you could see Pulisic, Balogun, Roldan, etc., dropping deep to get the play going and then transition. Loved Zendejas’s fiery style of play as it’s very similar to Luna’s. Hope he continues to get called. Matt Freese! Definitely it’s his to lose. Other than being frozen and lucky on that long range shot off the bar by Japan, he didn’t put a wrong foot anywhere.
I agree right now Freese gives me the most confidence. Had some real good saves in this game and also against S. Korea.
And I will correct my comment from the other day. Ream was going forward and passing forward a lot more than I figured he would. Good stuff there. Richards is the #1 and Freese has solidified his grip in goal. Nobody is perfect but there was intensity all game long from everybody. That made me happy to watch.
In fact my only “criticism” might be of Pulisic, his great intensity this game. He seemed to be trying a bit too hard at times to do it all by himself in the first half. To me that’s no criticism at all. Keep at it all of them!
Build from here
Love how fans always try to minimize anything good the USMNT does. They win and now we get oh well that was Japan’s B team. Hmmm most of Japan’s starters came on in the second half. Oh and by the way this wasnt considered USMNT A team either.
“Love how fans always try to minimize anything good the USMNT does.”
pochettino agrees and wants to know why those so-called fans hate their country.
“Oh and by the way this wasnt considered USMNT A team either.”
how do you know? does anyone know at this point?
Yes. Tillman, Jedi, are definite starters. More than likely one of Cardoso, Mckennie, or Musah will be starting. Plenty of talented players still missing. And Pepi is an absolute upgrade over Downs and Sargent. So no this wasnt close to a possible A team.
Nate,
As far as I’m concerned if you show up and play you are the A team.
An “A” teamer sitting at home is about as useful as a bedpan.
The team that started for the USMNT in the Japan game was the A team.
We can’t control who Japan decides they want to play so as far as we are concerned, whoever they play against us is the A team.
As far as forecasting who the starting 11 will be on Opening Day, given that it is about 9 months away, barring unforeseen circumstances the only person I’m sure about is Pulisic.
Nine months is an eternity in soccer.
I didn’t believe the sky was falling after the Korea loss and I’m not convinced everything is hunky dory after this game. But it was definitely a much much better performance, the players looked confident and more comfortable. Defensive frailties still exist but the offense was really humming. Balogun’s hold-up play and Roldan’s discipline made a huge difference, really unleashed Pulisic and the wingbacks. And hate to break it to everyone but it sounds like Poch might not quite be done experimenting, he made it sound like October will be heavy with Europe guys not here this window.
Totally agree with everything you said. Refreshing to see someone who sees more than just the score (2:0 was very flattering to Korea) and can analyze the performance of players without separating them into MLS vs. Europe (although to be fair this is more of a feature of couch “experts” on social media than this site)
jb,
“And hate to break it to everyone but it sounds like Poch might not quite be done experimenting, he made it sound like October will be heavy with Europe guys not here this window.”
Hate to tell you but Pochettino, who is not as dumb and lazy as he has been portrayed, planned this before the Korea game.
1. A lot of those euro guys are currently recovering( Jedi, Pepi, Patrick) or getting settled with their teams (Jonny, Musah, McWeston, Gio) and should be in decent shape by October
2. MLS guys will be heading into the end of the season and playoffs. many of them might not be so available available on October.
as others have noted, and at the risk of sounding like a debbie downer, japan’s starters last night were not who we’d see at the world cup (barring a lot of injuries). that said:
no matter the opposition, playing well is better than playing poorly, and no matter what the coachspeak is (results don’t matter, etc.), a win is good for morale, builds belief in the “process”, and can be contagious.
things i saw:
– the back 3 formation has potential. would love to see it with other players (mckenzie, maybe ccv or banks). nothing against blackmon, but not sure why he was the one picked for that look.
– roldan is good enough to stand up to the lesser opposition we’ll face in the cup, although we may have already known that.
– ream’s lack of pace has become a real liability unless strictly playing stay-at-home defender. even against lower competition, he gets caught out easily. (it sucks for him; it’s not his intelligence that’s letting him down, he just can’t move anymore.)
– freese is a legit option.
so as always, we should temper our reactions (remember people raving over tillman’s and luna’s performances against trinidad et al this summer? do we have to go over this every cycle?), but i feel like this was at least a step in the right direction.
So the guys that were subbed in in the second half for Japan….when we subbed in MLS players and dominated them? Those were Japan’s starters.
see i don’t think we dominated them after their subs came in. we scored the second goal and that’s a big positive, but there was a distinct dropoff after that point. maybe because we decided to preserve the lead, maybe because the quality of players had changed, maybe because the second half of a friendly is generally garbage time.
in any case, it doesn’t really matter. i’m happy about the performance and the result, just trying to head off the inevitable “max arfsten is now world cup-ready” takes. some might call that minimizing, i’d call it contextualizing.
Nate,
However you wish to put it, Max is probably making the World Cup team.. It seems we will need wingbacks and right now his only serious opposition is Weah, who might not make the team.
Ahhhh!
The kids are alright!
Much better.
Good things are coming, good things.
Would have been nice to see the US tested against Japan’s A squad but a win was needed and the got it.
Looking forward to “next window” (again) when the experimenting is over. Fun to see a win but not sure how the experiment will translate into “the plan”. Time will tell.
Nice exhibition against a fully rotated team of back ups fighting for their WC roster spots.
Betinho
That wasn’t the USMNT A team either. You can argue that the B team Japan players were motivated to try to get themselves upgraded. A or B distinctions tend to fade away in friendlies especially after half time.
There are 8 games and about 6 months left. That’s an eternity in any sport let alone soccer. Most of the players should not be getting too comfortable with their status.
The next most big deal event will be the Dec 5 draw.
Vacqui-
That was second a string Japanese team.
The USMNT team was experimental. Pochettino said so himself. How are we supposed to draw any conclusions from this?
I thought there were only six games left before the WC.
You’d think at this point in a WC cycle the team would want to be comfortable with their status. How else will they know each other’s tendencies if they don’t know who they will be playing with?…cohesion, chemistry, whatever…it’s missing and will be if they don’t know they will be playing or who they will be playing with…or even what freaking formation they will be playing.
I know you would never think ill of Pochettino but one win vs a heavily rotated Japan doesn’t wash away all the crazy that came before it for me. I have a memory that goes beyond the last game.
Betinho,
“That was second a string Japanese team…The USMNT team was experimental. Pochettino said so himself. How are we supposed to draw any conclusions from this?”
The USMNT does not see it as their job to make it easy for you to draw those conclusions. If the USSF really wanted you, the fan, to draw informed conclusions about this “project”. they would have a “Hard Knocks” style program where someone from SBI like IV for example would be imbedded with Pochettino and the team, attend games, sit on the bench, and be involved with all the training sessions, meetings, practices, etc., etc.
As far as I know I see none of that.
No one ever said the circumstances were perfect. Pochettino came in late and missed what might have been the most revealing part of the cycle, Copa America. Maybe it’s too late for him? He says no, I say yes but we’ll see. I still think we will get grouped.
“I thought there were only six games left before the WC.”
Four that I know of;
Oct. – Ecuador and Australia
Nov – Paraguay and Uruguay
That still leaves us with Dec., Jan., Feb, March, and April.
Host nations have to submit the roster in May. My rumor mill ( and the TNT broadcast) tells me they are working on getting another 4 games crammed in there somewhere. Stay tuned.
“I think at this point in a WC cycle the team would want to be comfortable with their status. ”
We don’t always get what we want.
“How else will they know each other’s tendencies if they don’t know who they will be playing with?…cohesion, chemistry, whatever…it’s missing and will be if they don’t know they will be playing or who they will be playing with…or even what freaking formation they will be playing.”
The Japan game was September 9. The next game is Ecuador Oct 10.
One month.
What do you expect?
If a club team, for example Man City, played a Newcastle yesterday and then did not see each other or practice together until Oct 6 and then had two, three days of training, (and changed about 30-40% of the lineup) would you be surprised if they did not show a lot of cohesion if they had to face Newcastle again?
In October the Euro kids will hopefully be healed (Jedi, Pepi, Patrick) or settled down with their clubs( Jonny, Musah, McWeston, Gio). A number of MLS guys will be playoff bound and won’t be available..
We’re going to need to look at some of those guys.
It won’t be the same USMNT players but even if it were, cohesion would be very basic. At this point most of these guys have some familiarity with each other so they will just have to make the most of it
With international football, this is the nature of the beast. Ruud Gullit, Ballon d’or winner and the only Captain to ever lead the Netherlands to a medal (1988 Euros) was capped 66 times scoring 17 goals. He wrote that he never once felt comfortable in the national team. Something was always wrong or uncomfortable, whatever. But he kept on showing up because he saw it as his patriotic duty. His Netherlands teams were a monster but even they were really just a patch work creation..
At the highest Word Cup level with a team like for example Argentina, France or Gullitt’s Netherlands they are cohesive not so much because they have all played a million games together ( though some of them have) but because they are such high level players that they have all the basics covered and that allows the Messi’s and MBappe’s of the game to go out and do what they must to beat a tough opponent. When France won the 2018 World Cup they liked the 4-2-3-1 but usually were in a defensive shell with a 4-4-2. Deschamps just tried to keep it simple, shut the other team down and let his stars do a little magic on the counter to win it.
“I know you would never think ill of Pochettino but one win vs a heavily rotated Japan doesn’t wash away all the crazy that came before it for me. I have a memory that goes beyond the last game. ”
Learn to let go. It’s better for your health. My Attitude? It’s not about Pochettino for me. Pochettino is being paid to clean up what I see as a fucked up mess. I think he’s been doing whatever he needs to clean it up and make it better. The difference between you and me is you think he should explain what’s going on every step of the way while he is doing that. And I don’t;
1) I don’t care
2) He may not have answers yet.
I’d rather leave him to it and have him get back to me when he has something to show me that is not fucked up, makes sense and is an indicator of progress.
The games he’s been managing? Practice. Experiments. Fishing trips.
I was in a number of musical plays in college. Do you think we charged admission for all those rehearsals?
We did not.
The music performance sucked. The choreography was all over the place and people were getting hurt. There were fights between the director and the cast. Kids were busted for a variety of things and were kicked out.
Then at some point things clicked and rehearsals started getting better. While opening night was not award winning or anything, it was a quantum level better than all those shit rehearsals.
You want to remember a bunch of crap games? I get it. I remember watching Pulisic and Gio freezing out Seba Lletget because he was slowing down the offense.. The disgust on their faces was memorable.
The World Cup is when the curtain goes up for Pochettino and his team. That’s when I will start to remember the games and hope that he and the team do not fall on his face.
Since it has always been very clear that Pochettino was not going to be fired, my stance on Pochettino is let the man do his work. He has a track record of developing teams let him show us why he has that rep. What he was actually doing, I have no fucking idea.
But the Japan game was where for the first time, I think the way he plans to rebuild this team is finally starting to emerge. Regardless of what anyone says, he will still be working on it until May.
The guy subbed in in the second half were most of their starters.
Double pivot of Roldan and Adams was beast.
Now that this window is closed and Poch has basically said the experimental call ups are done:
Lightning round who gets called in next camp:
( I’m assuming Jedi & Weston automatically)
Turner
Steffen
CCV
Mckenzie
Trusty
Scally
Tillman
Musah
Cardoso
Gio
Roldan
De La Torre
Aaronson
Zendejas
Pepi
Sargent
Dempsey
?
The 2 goals were the result of excellent plays by the assist maker and the scorer. They were individual excellence rather than real team play. There didn’t seem to be a good interchange among the players like I have seen in the past (before this year). When the first group of subs came on–McGlynn, Luna, DLT and Dest, I thought we played better as a team. McGlynn was just unlucky not to score and the give and go in the box that led to Downs almost scoring was nice to see. Freese was excellent and it was troubling to see 2 such bad turnovers deep in our territory, one by Richards (before that I had been thinking how Richards was such a rock in defense) and I didn’t see who was responsible for the other. We were lucky they didn’t turn those turnovers into goals. I think we still need to work on dealing with a high press. All in all, a much better performance.
As far as subs playing better as a team, I’d say on Saturday we looked generally better when most of tonight’s starters came on for tonight’s subs. So maybe it’s just game state, how the staff prep the subs, or just random. As far as facing the press. I think if you switch Blackmon for McKenzie, Dest for Freeman, Jedi for Freeman, and Musah/Wes for Roldan you take care of a lot of that problem.
———————-
When you look at 3-4-3 playing against a 3-4-3 you are going to end up looking like a lot of one on one. Especially if their pressing, it’s going to basically turn man to man all over and Puli was definitely feeling like no one could stop him driving thru the midfield.
To my eyes Roldan actually did shockingly well against the press and he stayed connected to Adams the whole game. He wasn’t flashy but that wasn’t his job, he was supposed to shuttle it and sync with Adams defensively and he did both really well.
I kind of get the sense this is actually what Poch wants from the shuttler. I wouldn’t write off Roldan as a potential starter…and I cannot believe I’m saying those words, but here we are.
No doubt, the improvement we’ve seen from him with Seattle is legit. It definitely translated tonight. He was definitely not playing like an “eyes and vibes” guy, whatever.
quozzel,
“No doubt, the improvement we’ve seen from him with Seattle is legit. It definitely translated tonight. ”
Impossible. Club form is a mirage. Once you do badly for the USMNT you can’t improve. His entire USMNT career invalidates what Roldan allegedly did tonight.
Better game from the team tonight. Mcglynns left foot is something special. To be honest he seems to have increased his physical speed a bit.
Was that Preki in a McGlynn jersey?
Whew …should be able to sleep tonight. Well done. Let’s build off of it.
I only saw the second half after my kids volleyball game.
-Our speed of play especially with Pulisic was so much better.
– Funny how some people came in hating players found reasons to still hate them even if they had goal contributions.
– Sargent doesn’t get to the ball Balogun scored.
– Probably should have been 4 or 5 to 1. But this wasn’t Japan’s best lineup either, but they brought in their bigger weapons in the 62 and our subs the last 25-30 minutes still were better.
– Too bad Banks hurt his foot, he dressed so hopefully he won’t miss any club time. He needs minutes at Augsburg.
– 3 CBs with Roldan allowed Adams to be more aggressive in the counter press which was effective in the 2nd half. Whereas the full press when they built out from their GK was still fairly Swiss cheese. But the initial immediately press when we lose the ball forces problems.
JR,
1. I know Max can’t play Fullback or Wing back but every time I see him he looks better and better. I think it’s his haircut. He’s more stream lined. There was a time when if you wanted to be a top keeper you needed to shave your head . Same concept.
If Turner want’s back in, he needs to shave his head.
2. I don’t think Pochettino is getting fired now.
– Max is ok as a WB, he’s certainly stronger on the wing side than the back side, as long as he doesn’t get isolated he does ok. I don’t think a healthy Jedi has too much to worry about though.
-Maybe you misunderstood my comment to 2tone the other day. No matter what happened last night on the field Poch was not getting fired. Or maybe misunderstood this comment of yours.
JR,
You fire someone if you think you have a better alternative. I can’t see anyone who can come in right now and make this all better.
For the longest time the question has been who backs up Jedi? The answer is no one. There is still no decent LB backup. But Max can be decent at left wingback, which takes the pressure off of Jedi maybe a little bit. The reality is , if Jedi is not available we’re in a lot of trouble regardless.
I think Max is on the WC team unless it boils down to him or Weah and it might. I’ve been a huge Timo fan since his U20 days but he’s just not good enough. He seems to have lost his mojo. Hopefully he finds it at Marseille though the place sounds like a cluster.
Pochettino is only now wrapping up his “getting to know you” phase with the players. To me Japan is the first game where it was more about style of play than personnel groups.
He has just enough time to get this bunch to where they are going to look good as they get grouped.
Still, no matter what everyone says they are going to be experimenting a bit with players until May.
Finally a serious and strong game vs a serious and strong opponent. Hopefully this launches the team positively. To be confirmed in the next window but still promising. What a game from Balogun. He’s a special talent.
He’s definitely what we’ve been missing up top. Especially against teams that actually want to come out and play, he’s lethal because he’s so fast and uses space so well…and while he’s not a huge guy, he’s strong as hell and can hold up the ball shockingly well.
He pretty definitively made a case for the #9 shirt, for sure.
1. Alot more fun to watch when they win
2. Games means as much as 2-0 loss to Korea which is probably not very much
3. When Japan presses, they set first and then press as a unit and it is very effective; when US presses they don’t set first, it is usually very disorganize, pretty unsuccessful, and usually gets them in trouble when the press is broken
4. Balogan is strong
5. When US is pressed and it falls apart it is usually when the wingbacks end up on the touch line and get trapped
Tele57,
When this series was was announced most people saw the Japan game, not Korea, as the big one, probably because they creamed us just before Qatar.
I’m a little surprised at how so many seem surprised by Balogun. It was pretty obvious that he was clearly the best #9 we had.
He should rank above Pepi for one simple reason, Flo usually starts and goes for most of the game whilst Ricardo’s exploits are mostly based on being a supersub. To me in the World Cup Pepi should be the supersub. He’s one hell of an ace in the hole. Or you could play them together
I see South Korea and El Tri tied 2-2. Mexico foolishly left Son pretty much unmarked on the left side of box and he rocketed his volley into the net. This guy manages to get himself open a lot.
Does anyone know if it will be a 23 or 26 man roster yet?
I’m hearing 26 because of the extra game.
I honestly think if they’re going to do 48 teams they might as well do 64 since the 48-team format gives you that extra game anyway. Make it a true “world” cup and let some minnows in…there will be some lopsided scorelines, yes, but every so often you’ll get a Guatamala-in-Gold-Cup-form or Jamaica-on-a-good-day that’s scrappy and capable of stepping up and kicking a giant in the shin…if this is truly the world’s game, why not give them that chance?
Q, 48 just seems strange. 12 groups of 4. Only 4 3rd place teams don’t advance. I agree – I’d rather it go back 32 because at 48 or 64 CONCACAF qualifying is going to be too easy for US, but to me 64 is better than 48; makes group games more meaningful. I miss the qualifiers this cycle. To me, they are much more entertaining than freindlies.
Vac, I wasn’t surprised that Balogan was good but I didn’t remember him being as strong as he looked yesterday so I was a little surprised by that. I responded to your reply to me on the SK loss thread. I’m too old to rewrite it.
it is much more fun, and spot on observations
Richards starting in a back 3 instead of on the bench helped set players up to succeed; starting Richards on the bench vs. Korea with Blackmon’s virgin sail was a disaster obviously, and tough to really weigh what others did in that first half with everything so stressed out by Son, just not set up well, at least if the idea was to compete at the highest level possible and not just check dudes out. Only Poch knows that for sure for sure
I look at it a little differently from you.
My guess? Pochettino sat Richards specifically to try Blackmon out under stress. You have people on SBI screaming their gonads off for new CB blood.
What better test of a defender than having him face Mauricio’s own pet manster, Sonny? I doubt Blackmon, unless he’s faced Leo or maybe Zlatan has faced a deadlier opponent. This ain’t no party…… this ain’t no fooling around. Blackmon is either the shit or he isn’t. You will learn a lot about him from him facing Sonny. He’s 29, not a kid like Banks.
And even more to the point, they could be facing more dangerous attackers than Sonny in the World Cup. No time like the present to start learning how to deal with that.
Those same people forget that sometimes the new blood isn’t necessarily better than the old blood, at least not right away. It will be some time before Blackmon will be better, and more reliable than Richards or Ream.
Time the USMNT probably does not have. By then it will probably be 2027.