Official 2022 USA World Cup Qualifying thread

wejo wrote:

gbusio wrote:

Anyway, the two results thus far are not enough to have me concerned. If we come out of the next two matches with less than 3 points between the pair then I’ll be worried, but we can definitely take Jamaica at home and should be competitive tonight.

Our depth is good enough to not be concerned about sending McKennie back to Italy. Everyone relax, starting with the team who seem nervous and tense.

I'm now worried. Canada is destroying El Salvador right now. We tied them.

We already lost our chance to beat Canada at home. Panama is beating Mexico. Probably best if they tie. I'm assuming it's not good for the US for teams to take points off of Mexico.

***

US plays Canada in January in Canada. Where does Canada play in the winter?!

🙄

The brojos trying to talk international soccer is rich.

What a relief! The1st half was horrendous. That lineup and formation clearly did not work. Honduras had the possession was winning every ball, and the US could not move the ball. I was really giving up all hope.

Changes made for 2nd half changed everything immediately. 4-1 final! I hope Pulisic is ok. Great debut by Pepi!

A great result in Honduras. Honestly, in WCQ, any win on the road is a great result.

5 points from 3 games is okay and puts you right back where you need to be. They went about it in a tough way, but at the end of the day, the mentality has always been (at least in CONCACAF WCQ) that if you take care of business and "steal" some points on the road, you'll qualify.

My cause for concerns are this....

1. US Soccer Federation and casual fans will spin this as "See. We're fine". Completely glossing over the fact that you struggled against two teams, one of whom (El Salvador) is far far far far less talented than you and you should beat with your "C" team. They'll fail to mention how bad the US looked in the first half yesterday.

Honestly, you should have 9 points from these 3 matches.

2. The manager. Man, he got bailed out tonight with this halftime subs...He admitted after the match "I got the formation and XI (staring 11) wrong. ..Thankfully I made changes at halftime and the players responded." WTF.

You can't motivate your players in a WCQ? You don't advance scout teams to have a formation ready to go that is going to yield a good result? I'm just...clueless on this one.

Berhalter's "play it out of the back" style isn't conducive to good soccer. It's "get a result" type soccer. It's also not a style that maximizes the skill, talent and creativity of the current generation of players he is selecting.

Yes, having McKennie and Reyna hopefully back for the next round of qualifiers ABSOLUTELY WILL help. Their skill levels are so good that teams will have to "pick their poison" against the US midfield. Focus on Pulisic (ie foul the hell out of him like El Sal, Can and Honduras did) and Reyna and McKennie will destroy you. Focus on McKennie and let Pulisic and Reyna run wild? Good luck. Focus on Reyna? Again frees up Pulisic and McKennie.

Next 3 matches:

Home v Jamaica (Oct 7)

Away v Panama (Oct 10)

Home v Costa Rica (Oct 13)

wejo wrote:

US plays Canada in January in Canada. Where does Canada play in the winter?!

I'm guessing BC Place in Vancouver. It's an arena and is already home to the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS team.

I guess you could play at Rogers Centre (old SkyDome in Toronto) or Olympic Stadium in Montreal, but the configs for fans would be weird, especially given its a world cup qualifier and you want that atmopshere of fans right on top of the pitch.

Are you saying “play it out of the back” is “get a result” type soccer? I think it’s the opposite.

What about the theory we were better without pulisic.? I hadn’t thought about it but the guys had to play as a team without him and we got 3 goals once he left.

Pepi is unbelievable . Great addition.

And we were almost down 2-1. The save by the goalie was tremendous. He needs to start every game. Steffen isn’t better.

wejo wrote:

Are you saying “play it out of the back” is “get a result” type soccer? I think it’s the opposite.

What about the theory we were better without pulisic.? I hadn’t thought about it but the guys had to play as a team without him and we got 3 goals once he left.

Pepi is unbelievable . Great addition.

And we were almost down 2-1. The save by the goalie was tremendous. He needs to start every game. Steffen isn’t better.

Right, "play it out the back" is an improved style of play over the old boot it up and chase.

That said, I was terrified last night, especially in 1st half, on every back pass with Honduras pressing up so much and us us passing and control looking so awful. :-D

I think that was mostly due to the starting formation and lineup and nerves of playing what was essentially a must win on the road, so not concerned. They should be playing the ball out of the backfield.

The Pulisic question is an interesting one. Love the guy. Very good talent, so not ready to go there yet. I'm far more concerned about him being so prone to injuries.

My biggest player disappointment from last night is John Brooks. He used to be such a solid, reliable, tough defender. Attackers getting around him all the time now.

The "play it out of the back' system is designed to get a result, in that, its a possession oriented style that is designed to draw the defense "in" and free up space in the middle and attacking third. The typical thinking has always been "if you control possession, you get a result", ie if you want to score, its better and if you want to "kill the game" its better.

For sure, it has it's drawbacks..The biggest drawback though is that if the opposing team high presses in your defensive third and clogs the passing lanes, it can cause you huge problems... you have to have the players who can pass well and stay on the ball when needed.

It does open up the midfield and attacking third, so if you have a really quality CM and good wingers, you can have a field day.

The problem with the US trying to implement this style (and again, kudos to the coach for actually trying to implement a style whereas his predecessors didn't really seem to have one) is that his defensive players are slow and not the best passers. Once they face that pressure, you see the mistakes and they are costly. You'll see it v Mexico, I guarantee this.

The US falls back to the "boot ball" style, which is boot the ball down the field and hopefully your attackers run onto it, there is a misplay by the defense or a bad bounce.

Again, missing 2 cogs in your midfield isn't helping the US. McKinnie and Reyna will help alleviate the pressure put on Pulisic. As it was in the first 3 games, it was basically a defensive strategy by these other countries of "Foul Pulisic. Be Physical. As soon as he gets the ball, have 2 people on him. Force the others to beat us. We'll take our chances on them not being good enough to beat us." It worked in the first 2 games.

Wejo, don't fall for the recency bias :)

I don't think the US is better without Pulisic. There is no way. See what I said above. He needs some quality around him...I'm sorry, but Kellyn Acosta and this Sands dude as your 2 central midfielders? No. Just no. They might grow to be great players, but are overmatched right now at the senior level. When Gio Reyna and McKinnie are back, its a much different team and midfield.

Pepi could be a stud for the US. I've seen him with FC Dallas and the skills are there. The thing with strikers is they run hot and cold. When they are feasting, they are amazing. When its a famine, well, you get Bobby Wood or Wondo with the USMNT.

MelRnr wrote:

What a relief! The1st half was horrendous. That lineup and formation clearly did not work. Honduras had the possession was winning every ball, and the US could not move the ball. I was really giving up all hope.

Changes made for 2nd half changed everything immediately. 4-1 final! I hope Pulisic is ok. Great debut by Pepi!

First half formation was a failure. Adams in too much of a defensive position so a weak, spaced midfield with Sands hemorrhaging turnovers. Glad that Berhalter made the necessary edits at the start of 2nd half.

Agreed with you that Brooks didn’t look great but the formation didn’t do him any favors. The Robinsons are playing great in the back thankfully.

I don’t think we are better without Pulisic. Just need the appropriate pieces around him, which we had in the 2nd half.

wejo wrote:

gbusio wrote:

Anyway, the two results thus far are not enough to have me concerned. If we come out of the next two matches with less than 3 points between the pair then I’ll be worried, but we can definitely take Jamaica at home and should be competitive tonight.

Our depth is good enough to not be concerned about sending McKennie back to Italy. Everyone relax, starting with the team who seem nervous and tense.

I'm now worried. Canada is destroying El Salvador right now. We tied them.

We already lost our chance to beat Canada at home. Panama is beating Mexico. Probably best if they tie. I'm assuming it's not good for the US for teams to take points off of Mexico.

***

US plays Canada in January in Canada. Where does Canada play in the winter?!

Canada in January? I'd assume that would definitely have to be indoors. This tourney is getting lit as hell. US and Canada against a bunch of second/third world countries in a global sport is interesting.

PS I'm not from Canada, but I see a lot of teams, and you can confirm that with Migos.

So much I could say about this match, but I was just thrilled we got a win a tough place to get a win. Still don't think Berhalter knows what he is doing, but he made the right call with the halftime subs and formation change. Guys like Aaronson, A. Robinson, and Pepi stepped up big time and should be a regular part of the squad. However, the defensive qualify of this team worries we greatly. Perhaps we qualify for the World Cup but we'll get steamrolled by any quality team because the defense is just not good right now.

People saying the team is better without Pulisic don't have a clue what they are talking about. The guy is has to do it all on his own when McKennie, Reyna, Dest, and others are missing. The US got better in the 2nd half because Honduras was gassed. That really started to show about the time Pulisic got subbed off. He seemed to be the only guy with his head straight in the first half.

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but ending the first trio of games with two draws and a win isn't all that surprising and isn't a terrible result - disappointing, but not terrible. On paper, the US men are far better than everyone save Mexixo, but CONCACAF is a different animal. The US is too often unprepared for the, physical, passionate play of CONCACAF that Mexico excels at. The team is young, inexperienced, and hasn't played together much, that showed in the first 5 halves.

Yes, coming away with 5 points from 3 games with two in the road is fine.

Just funny to see so much complaining after a game where we won in Honduras 4-1.

wejo wrote:

Are you saying “play it out of the back” is “get a result” type soccer? I think it’s the opposite.

What about the theory we were better without pulisic.? I hadn’t thought about it but the guys had to play as a team without him and we got 3 goals once he left.

Pepi is unbelievable . Great addition.

And we were almost down 2-1. The save by the goalie was tremendous. He needs to start every game. Steffen isn’t better.

you really do not know soccer at all. please STOP

Another friendly reminder that the concern was premature.

US looked much better tonight. Seemed like everyone was working harder, winning balls, controlling the game. Pepi makes it 2 games in a row scoring. Nice win!

MelRnr wrote:

US looked much better tonight. Seemed like everyone was working harder, winning balls, controlling the game. Pepi makes it 2 games in a row scoring. Nice win!

The two goals from yesterday were just tap-ins but it is good to have someone with the awareness to be in the right place for those tap-ins at such a young age. He has definitely provided a good spark the last two games.

And Mexico drew Canada at home, making rojo's original post even more silly.

gbusio wrote:

MelRnr wrote:

US looked much better tonight. Seemed like everyone was working harder, winning balls, controlling the game. Pepi makes it 2 games in a row scoring. Nice win!

The two goals from yesterday were just tap-ins but it is good to have someone with the awareness to be in the right place for those tap-ins at such a young age. He has definitely provided a good spark the last two games.

And Mexico drew Canada at home, making rojo's original post even more silly.

The first goal was definitely not just a tap-in, but you're right that Pepi seems adept at getting in the right spot at the right time. As much as physical or technical ability, that's what sets the really good goal scorers apart.

It's amazing what a difference a game, or even a half, can make. Halftime against Honduras down 1-0, it's a nightmare scenario of maybe this team just isn't good enough like 4 years ago. A game and a half later, we're top of the group and looking as likely to qualify as anyone. It's still early, but hopefully we can get at least a tie in Panama and then beat CR in Columbus, and we'll be in a really good spot.

OK. Got the result we really needed today. Next window we only have 2 games and one of them is Mexico. If we lose that the standings are a lot tighter and a loss today would have really complicated things.

Not very convincing and I still don't like Berhalter that much but who would be much better?!

6 points this window.

5 last window.

I may go to the game in Mexico in March. Anyone ever done something like that? It may be the last US game at Azteca that actually means something. Next world cup we may get an auto qualifier and in 2030 fields will be expanded.

Another bump for the chicken little bums panicking prematurely.