Oh man. That was not easy to watch. Iran stepped up big time the last 20 min. Have to give them credit for fighting it out to the last whistle. US is through to the knock outs. Pretty respectable for such a young team. Future is bright for the US. Netherlands is a good draw for the first knockout game. US will have a chance if Pulisic is healthy.
Great first half. Defended like mad the last 25 minutes. If it wasn't for a few dumb decisions on the final 30 yards, this was a 3-0 game.
Next up are the Dutch...who haven't played extremely well yet this tournament...very systematic.
Zimmerman played really well after he came on. I think he won every ball in the air he contested.
Gotta get better in the final 1/3. Need better passing, crosses, corners. Someone has to make a run and you've got to be able to find the player. Little to no imagination going forward from the US. Severely lacking that CAM that could do that. Where is Gio Reyna?!?
Exciting finish. The US was ranked 16th going in and they are in the final 16 so anything after this is a success. Play the Dutch and Femke Bol Saturday.
Iran has some hot women I will say that.
How many of Iran's men's players will we see in the Women's World Cup in 2023?
Great first half. Defended like mad the last 25 minutes. If it wasn't for a few dumb decisions on the final 30 yards, this was a 3-0 game.
Next up are the Dutch...who haven't played extremely well yet this tournament...very systematic.
Zimmerman played really well after he came on. I think he won every ball in the air he contested.
Gotta get better in the final 1/3. Need better passing, crosses, corners. Someone has to make a run and you've got to be able to find the player. Little to no imagination going forward from the US. Severely lacking that CAM that could do that. Where is Gio Reyna?!?
Yes, but they lost Pulisic for the entire second half and then Sargent for quite a bit of the second half. That's two thirds of their front line.
I haven’t watched any of this soccer tournament and I have no intention of doing so. I wound rather watch Greg, Rojo and Flagpole race a 3000m steeplechase in nothing but super spikes and Speedos (painful I know) than watch this tournament.
Great first half. Defended like mad the last 25 minutes. If it wasn't for a few dumb decisions on the final 30 yards, this was a 3-0 game.
Next up are the Dutch...who haven't played extremely well yet this tournament...very systematic.
Zimmerman played really well after he came on. I think he won every ball in the air he contested.
Gotta get better in the final 1/3. Need better passing, crosses, corners. Someone has to make a run and you've got to be able to find the player. Little to no imagination going forward from the US. Severely lacking that CAM that could do that. Where is Gio Reyna?!?
The US will be one and done in the knockout stage.
No matter, they were ranked 16th and have made the final 16. But the Dutch are no longer the force they used to be. Still formidable but they, like the US didn't qualify for the World Cup in 2018 and have rebuilt. Plus teams that had a higher FIFA ranking have been already been eliminated and several others need wins to advance.
The US will be one and done in the knockout stage.
I've played in, coached in and watched the game a loooong time.
The one thing I can tell you is that "heart and determination" only takes you so far. Eventually talent wins out.
You might be able to pull of the upset here and there...and the US might just beat the Dutch on Saturday am (Eastern) but the Dutch are the vastly superior team from the system to the coach to the players.
USA has been lucky, we faced three teams who played defensively in the first half. We should have scored more on all of them. We didn't do well when they shifted gears in the second half, our guys started panicking when the pressure came and they weren't prepared to mount a counterattack.
Nevertheless, we are moving on. It will be a completely different game against Netherlands.
The US will be one and done in the knockout stage.
I've played in, coached in and watched the game a loooong time.
The one thing I can tell you is that "heart and determination" only takes you so far. Eventually talent wins out.
You might be able to pull of the upset here and there...and the US might just beat the Dutch on Saturday am (Eastern) but the Dutch are the vastly superior team from the system to the coach to the players.
What's hopeful is that England should be a vastly superior team as well and the US didn't look at all over matched in that game.
The Dutch will rightly be favored, but it wouldn't be a huge upset if the US tops them.
Croatia had been eliminated in group play in 2002, 2006, 2014, and didn't even qualify in 2010. Yet they were runner up in 2018. So they upset more teams than here or there.
The US took a step back in 2018 and came back to make the elimination round and they're a young team so anything after this is a positive.
USA has been lucky, we faced three teams who played defensively in the first half. We should have scored more on all of them. We didn't do well when they shifted gears in the second half, our guys started panicking when the pressure came and they weren't prepared to mount a counterattack.
Nevertheless, we are moving on. It will be a completely different game against Netherlands.
That's because the US coach isn't good at making adjustments to their halftime adjustments.
The US has theee big problems in the offensive half of the field and its why they struggle to score goals.
1. No good striker. Yes they have them (and I feel like they've actually played up to their abilities so far) but they don't have a true striker up top who can reliable score goals...but...see point 2...which is
2. They have no good true Central Attacking Midfielder. The guy who can free up the striker to make the run, the guy who can draw the defense in, which creates the space and the guy who can make the pinpoint pass to said players
3. They don't have the players who can create space and take on defenders. They either aren't fast enough and/or not skilled enough. Pulisic is a prime example of this. He hardly ever actually beats anyone on the dribble.
Also keep in mind re: the second half that at least today, the game and strategy completely turned when the US scored. Iran knew they needed only a tie to advance (and Wales to lose. Once they gave up the goal to the US, it forced them out of their defensive shell to try to get the tying goal. The US meanwhile stopped playing their game. Stopped attacking for the most part. Made a complete blunder of a few great chances (good teams finish these chances) and basically played defense the last 25 minutes...just like they did against Iran. That's on the coach.