The U.S. men’s national team is only six days removed from repeating as Concacaf Nations League winners and now with plenty of new faces coming into B.J. Callaghan’s squad, the Gold Cup schedule takes priority for the next few weeks.
Jamaica opposes the USMNT in Saturday’s Gold Cup opener, which kicks off another tournament that the Americans will try to repeat in. Majority of Callaghan’s squad comes into international duty off the back of MLS regular season play, or the conclusion or their European seasons.
Veteran defender DeAndre Yedlin was not part of the recent Nations League success on Sunday against Canada, but already knows the USMNT’s mindset for the Gold Cup schedule.
“We’re not defending the Gold Cup, we’re attacking it. That’s our mindset going into it,” said Yedlin on Thursday in a press conference. “That’s how we want to play every game. We want to be aggressive, we want to dominate the games just as the group that was involved in Nations League did.”
The USMNT is unbeaten in its last five head-to-head meetings with the Reggae Boyz, last tying Jamaica 1-1 in World Cup Qualifying in November 2021. Heimir Hallgrímsson comes in as the Jamaicans new head coach, retaining plenty of the Reggae Boyz’s dynamic attacking talent and having a new player to call on.
Demarai Gray switched his international allegiance from England, joining fellow English Premier League talents Michail Antonio, Leon Bailey, and Bobby Decordova-Reid in the Jamaica attacking corps. Reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Andre Blake will be tough to beat, regardless of the USMNT’s recent success over the Jamaicans in multiple competitions.
“I don’t think it’s any secret in our camp that this is probably the most talented Jamaican team that we’re going to face,” Callaghan said Friday. “You have tons of experienced players, young players, and also players that have performed really well in the Gold Cup over a lot of years for them.
“With the new coach, they’re organized, obviously with the infusion of talent they’re looking like they’re playing like a team,” Callaghan added. “And I think the main things you see, on offensive transition can be a threat, offensive set pieces can be a threat, and for me even in their build-up, there’s a lot of threats in terms of on the wings. And if you’re looking at defending the wide areas, then you have to worry about the stable of strikers that they have.”
The USMNT received a favorable draw for the Gold Cup, with Saint Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago (taking the spot of suspended Nicaragua) also rounding out Group A. Jamaica will be the toughest opponent of the three that the Americans will face over the next week, with Hallgrímsson trying to get the Reggae Boyz back on track in Concacaf play.
Although plenty will expect the USMNT to fight its way back to the tournament final, Callaghan isn’t overlooking anyone with group stage play expected to provide plenty of different tests for his squad.
“We’re really looking at this as two tournaments,” Callaghan said. “There’s a knockout stage tournament that we need to earn the opportunity to get to by playing through the group stage first. So the focus right now with the group, the messaging is just that we understand that we’re going to be here from tomorrow till July 2 and we have to earn an opportunity to get ourselves into the knockout round.”
Was that the best double netmug in the history of the game of soccer??
EVER???
this hopefully puts to rest the lazy revisionism that last week was somehow berhalter ball. THIS is berhalter ball. for the umpteenth time yelled at someone — yedlin stopping and tripping over the ball — to run and take someone on when receiving. everyone just turns and passes backwards.
the one good chances is tricks and flicks and beat them to the endline. not this static wide keepaway crap.
It’s the exact same setup, it’s just speed of thought. You could see how it got better when Mihailovic came in, when Vazquez came in and Ferreira moved into MF then the ball moved quicker. From about ‘60 to ‘80, no one was moving. If you put the A squad out there and they just stood in one spot the backline couldn’t find them either.
maybe we can gift wrap it for roldan?
people had chuckles at my expense but this is precisely why you need more than 2 AMs rostered. we need some technique, class, and a goal and it’s djordje (good) but then roldan. maybe push jesus back if roldan is your idea of an offensive sub.
If they’re trying to play a 4231 is Ferreira the right choice?
Hard to tell with an absent midfield
None of the front line have done anything. Other than the one play Blake saved. Neal on because he can actually pass, but can he defend the EPL frontline.
i wanted more like gressel and zendejas wide if it’s ferreira, with mihailovic behind. you need some technical people he can combine with. you need more technical players to play this tiki taka stuff, period.
this is just clunky and i don’t think people realize that we have typically been successful with clunky B teams at the second GC and not the first one that is more A team.
Ferreira should be underneath Vasquez.
Was that Fox Sports screen like REALLY annoying the way it would take up 25% of the screen? Or did I just have too many gummies
I’m smokin on da loud, screen is fine to me. Dem gummies must be hittin! Def gon roll up again if US loses.
Well the US had opportunities to score in that first half. Need more dynamism on the wing. Move Zendejas inside bring Cowell on. Remove A. Morris. Sands is showing well. Much closer than A. Morris for the 6 backup spot.
Tolkien needs to get forward a bit more. He is predictable right now.
He’s been getting little brothered all game not sure putting him central helps that.
a lot of the problem is just selection. don’t like long and niazga? ha! you get neal. neal makes them look amazing.
don’t like the MF? we have djordje and a bunch more hard hats. i actually like the wings but our buildup is so slow they aren’t getting to run at jamaica much. and do we even have a 9?
whoever had the bright idea of whacking crosses in against blake was goofy.
glorious little dink pass setup and morris gets stoned
we have reverted to berhalter ball. water torture buildup.
people made fun of my experimental set the other day but you need a real, dynamic B team with some scorers. this is way too hardhat.
the MF is so clunky. if you’re gonna play tiki taka you need more flow and tempo. get. give. get. give. this is way too predictable and slow.
if you’re just gonna whack crosses in where is vazquez?
And there’s your answer 🙂
You can’t build out of the back if neither CB can pass. With the exception of Sonora and Tolkin everyone is taking two or three extra seconds to look at their options. If you wait it’s not there. We’re so short except for Sands that we aren’t going to win those direct balls either.
And Long just let Damian Lowe waltz in for a header on a set piece. Tell me again how this guy is getting called up and getting starts?
You’re telling me Long is better than Brooks?
Has Ferreira touched the ball yet?
Put Cowell on. This Jamaica defense won’t be able to contain his speed and dribbling.
It wasn’t Long 2tone. The US was playing a high line and Miazga (4) didn’t get the memo. He dropped too early keeping half of Jamaica’s team onside.
Ugh, Long, Miazga, and Yedlin starting.
Is this a BJ move? Or is Gregg pulling the strings?
you watched NL, right? he was conservative on personnel change (except balogun), more aggressive on style. even musah as 6 was shifting around familiar faces. only at sub time or game 2 with the cards did it seem personnel-aggressive.
like i said elsewhere, in GC with 6 games it’s about how it ends not how it starts. who’s in the final.
Miles is not 100%…
Wonder if BJ will have them sit back a bit more like he did vs. Canada
and sonora. like i was saying, the A teamers are being called to play, and we reflexively favor familiar over new. i think if they had to defend it they’d say “we don’t know what they will do,” but reynolds and mihailovic are not bereft of caps and track record.
Miles out, I don’t want Neal in there. I guess Reynolds and Mihailovic have been on vacation so maybe not as sharpe but ugh.
Bailey and Antonio only played in 2 qualifiers together in both Jamaica earned a draw. Gray will add another weapon when he makes his first appearance for Reggae Boyz tonight. Covid protocols and Bailey’s injuries hurt their qualifying campaign.
If you all see a guy with a purple and green Spiderman costume on, with blue usa men’s jersey at tonights game on its me. ✌ Im part Afro Puerto Rican American like Miles Morales 🙂
I will look for you!
Nice can’t wait!
Have fun Striker, I will definitely be looking for you on TV. It’s going to be a hot one stay hydrated.
Thanks Johnnyrazor! You were right Jamaica I’d calling all its EPL powers, I was wrong they are not playing.
will be looking for you, sounds FUN!
Nice can’t wait to meet my new friends!
That’s awesome!
Definitely going to be a tough match up. Good to see more CONCACAF teams getting better.
I think so too. It should be a good game.
Jamaican front four
——-Antonio (5/3)——
Gray (4/1)——-Bailey(4/4)
——-D.-Reid(4/1)———-
17g 9a all Premier League regulars.
Yeesh. I always wondered when Jamaica would get their shit together; they’ve always had talent and athletic ability but their confederation is an absolute clown show, makes ours look like a well-oiled machine in comparison. Looks like it might be happening. Could they be another Canada?
A lot of their players are older, so it’s probably too early to tell. Antonio (33) Blake (32) Bobby D.-Reid (30) lesser know guys like Amarii Bell (29), Lawerance (30) Corey Burke (31) Damian Lowe (30). Ethan Pinnock (30) who I don’t think is with the team yet because his wife was having complications after giving birth. Their manager who took Iceland to WC, is winless in 7 matches so far so a less than stellar effort could have them rebuilding again. The federation leadership is made up of professional league owners and there are no JPL players on the roster so there is a decent chance they just destroy themselves through infighting. Outside of Mexico they have the best roster on paper so we’ll see if they can grow into a team instead of collection of good players.
JR: now you’re saying age matters?
when the US missed out in 2018 they were bottom half of the hex on GA, despite a strong offense that was tops in the region (though thinly talented and inconsistent). jamaica this last cycle shipped second most goals in the ocho, 22. what you folks are missing is their “interesting” front few are, while decent on paper, weaker than the best 3 teams’ front 4, and then they don’t so much have a “defense” as a “keeper.” soccer is a 2 team sport and IMO defense is more telling of whether you will win and progress. costa rica averaged less than a goal a game for the ocho (13 GF in 14 g) but allowed 8 GA, fewer than we did. they thus tied us for 3rd and made the world cup via playoff. vs. supposedly “slick” salvador that people adore finished 7th/8. and the teams ahead of us in the ocho had fewer GA.
the one jamaica team to qualify (1998) allowed 12 GF in 10 g. they actually only had 7 GF. they tied the US twice, 0-0 and 1-1. y’all have it backwards which side of the field matters more.
(1) if i have a defense i can negate your sterling offense and then see if i can exploit your defense. if you have an offense and so do i, then i’m trying to outscore you, and we’re exaggerating how good their offense is relative to ours. (2) surely some of you have been the lonely attacker standing half line on a men’s league team watching the other team score on your weak defense, waiting for them to ever get you a ball, at which point the whole rested defense collapses on you. i tried that 1/2 a season one time and asked to play defense. we trying to win games or show off? you have to keep the GA numbers down to compete. if the defense is weak then you’re relying on blake miracles.
people have the wrong recipe for winning. tough defense then add your good offense. this negates teams beating you with offense. you keep the goals down to 0 or 1 a night you aren’t going to lose often. it’s not that hard to score a goal or so a week. you ship 2 or more you lose control of results. ask the 2017 team. “ok, dempsey and pulisic, go score me 2 goals in a half.”
IV: you’re trying to combine two points. My point on age is guys should play until they can’t. If say Tim Ream is our best CB (I don’t know that I agree with that) he should play. It doesn’t do any good to play a younger player just because he’s younger. You can spend 3 years getting a younger guy ready and then he gets injured leading up to the WC and can’t play anyway. No one can predict what will happen in 3 yrs so play the best now.
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As to the can Jamaica be the new Canada. The both have messed up feds. However, Canada’s is primarily just cheap whereas Jamaica’s tends to meddle. Canada’s stars are much younger than Jamaica’s and likely to be around for the next two cycles. Jamaica most of their guys this is likely their last chance to be performing at peak level. If a 37 yr Michail Antonio is still their best striker in 2027 he should still play but I don’t fear him as much as I do a 27 yr old Jonathan David. I don’t know that a 34 yr old Ethan Pinnock vs 30 yr Kamal Miller matters.
JR,
A lot of Jamaica’s stars over the years have been UK duals and had hoped to play for England.
Go over England rosters over the last 10-20 years if not longer and you’ll find a lot of duals who could also have represented Jamaica.
Combined with a somewhat shaky Federation, that’s held them back in their pursuit of the Gold Cup.
Jamaica is the only CONCACF team that has, over the years, consistently produced enough top tier talent to compete with the US and Mexico. Guys like Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ivan Toney, etc.
If they had pulled together a team to qualify for the World Cup it might have changed the attitude of some of those duals.
If they can do it for 2026, then maybe their future Brit duals might be convinced to “do a Balogun”. A good Gold Cup run is a good place to start.
V: Morgan Gibbs-White (probably get an England call soon), Omar Richards that played for Bayern before breaking his leg last year, Reiss Nelson from Arsenal. That’s just a couple guys from England’s U21s over the last few years with Jamaican eligibility. So you’re right with the right recruitment and some team success. I think Halgrimsson having a WC cache will help along with easier qualifying.
JR: normal NT process is pasture the old farts now and circle back at the end if you can do no better. even dempsey got that treatment ’18 cycle. see if i have the future coming up when the cycle starts. age appropriate, lower injury risk, more career window. if they are shaky or get hurt, “ream” is an experienced fill in at the end. but if you start with the old fart you are investing heavily in someone who may lose a step or break down. this to me is what happened in ’06 and then again with klinsi’s version of the ’18 team. his whole MF got too old. the team didn’t recover because they are figuring out their problem too late. they know they can’t depend on jones and beckermann, and bradley’s losing it, but they have minimally invested in potential replacements.
i’m not saying you can’t end up with a high performing 33 year old. i’m saying it’s dumb process to start with one. we have plenty of age appropriate CBs to trial. a list. what is bright is try them out. if they all suck, then ream is still playing soccer.
And then there’s 17 yr old Whisper Richards that just signed for Chelsea
i don’t see any of them on their GC roster would be half the point. what i call “highly personalized.” it’s not a scheme offense, it’s a player offense. players don’t show and…..wasn’t there a fuss on antonio? meanwhile our second string B offense is still decent and i don’t recognize their defense.
they might have a chance in an expanded quali minus the big dogs. i still think “league” soccer favors teams who can defend night after night. ManU 12-13 teams that win games 4-3 or 3-2 every week to take titles are rare. even eredivisie (or barca) teams that get away with weak defense in league start shipping 3 or 4 goals to good teams on their way out of UCL.
Pinnock is the only real name in the backline, Bell played with Horvath at Luton and has been a starter in the Championship for 4 seasons. Lowe and Lawrence are solid MLSers (but both have had some injuries). Latibeaudiere was a Man City Academy guy who was a regular starter at Swansea. Bernard played regularly in the Championship ‘21/22 and came up through ManU Academy. This season ManU kept him around the first half before loaning him to Portsmouth.
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Not a lot of MFs even listed on their roster, but Russell is a Chelsea Academy guy played some in League One and Championship. Daniel Johnson has been a regular in Championship for 8 seasons. In the past the midfield and backline have had a lot of JPL or USL guys. The guys on this roster aren’t household names but they’ve got experience playing against good competition. Most have been brought in since qualifying and many just this summer so who knows.