Kolek planning to go pro
I'll stick with my opinion on Gold. He'll be in foul trouble within the first eight minutes.
Sloppy, sloppy all around. Point on the road in CONCACAF shouldn't be scoffed at, but this feels more like a collection of individuals rather than a team. Shame as this should have been 3 in the bag.
That was awful. Credit to El Salvador. They were organized and defended well. But goodness... All this talent I hear about and they were out of ideas with a half hour to go.
For me, I didn't see it as an issue of being out of ideas. I saw it as the execution of a bad idea.Berhalter's mantra of "be free and express yourself" seems to allow guys like McKennie, Dest, et al. to think they are ballroom dancers when in reality they have two left feet. Far too often the US eschewed a pass, move, pass attempted breakdown of ES in favor of the 1v1 video game breakdown.Robinson had a clear header at five minutes. Pefok had a good chance. McKennie had a clear header at 84 minutes. Cliche but true that clinical finishing is what separates legitimately good squads from those that are perpetually full of potential.
A draw on the road in Central America with a young team playing its first of 14 qualifiers is just fine.
Result is "acceptable." Product on the field was not. Not if you truly believe USA is top 10 in the world.
They are playing on a ramshackle pitch worth a hostile crowd and missing their best player. It was a young side gutting out the result they needed while never really looking overly threatened.The last time El Salvador was in the final round, they went 2-2-1 at home, including a win over Mexico and draw with the USA. Their only loss was Honduras by a 1-0 score. Only the result matters, and there was nothing wrong with it.I'd love to see the top European sides try playing there. I'm guessing most would be just as hopeless, in between the broken pitch and bags of piss.
People always assume every top Euro squad bludgeons the inferior teams they play. Spain is as likely to win 1-0 or sleepwalk to 0-0 against lesser squads as they are win going away. Plenty of top Euro teams struggle in snakepits on the road against some of the smaller Balkan nations or Eastern European. And even then those are usually legit stadiums and pitches. The US graduates from playing on cow pastures and converted cricket pitches against some of the island nations to the messes that are playing anywhere between Azteca and Panama City (and even that field is ehh). Its a miracle they make it out with ankles intact, either from the pitch or the chippy tackles
Correct.But there is an interesting dichotomy between what top Euro nation fans accept as results vs USA fans when we supposedly have a top 10 team globally.
Ehh, it’s an early qualifying result. Regardless of the continent. This isn’t T&T over again. The US just came off one of the best stretches of results in recent memory. Without their de facto leader and talisman against a scrappy team who is gonna come out defensive almost always, it is what it is. It’s not preferred but it’s certainly not worthy of fretting or calling them overrated
The 2010 USA Qualifying was similarly ranked and even more experience. They tied in El Salvador. Mexico lost there. That's just CONCACAF.And I really don't care at all about FIFA rankings. They're useless when it comes to confederation qualifying. I'd love to get to the top-7 for a seed in the draw, but otherwise, does anyone actually care?All that matters is that we actually qualify this time.
I don't.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/match/_/gameId/262889More experienced? Absolutely.But do you really want to say the roster from that game is the same talent level as last night's?
If 2010 played last night, the two best players on the team would be prime Dempsey and Donovan, and it wouldn't be particularly close.
Dempsey sure, but Donovan was on his decline, for both club, and certainly country. His peak/prime was 06-08ish. You could make the argument but I highly disagree it’s particularly close when you compare him with McKinnie and Adams. McKinnie just put in 7 goals in a Serie A/CL campaign as a regular starter for a top tier club, and Adams has been a stalwart for a very good RB Leipzig team. They don’t have as much international experience but have already experienced far more club level competition and intensity than Donovan ever did. Little vacation runs with Everton aside.
McKennie*I know he didn't play last night, but pulisic also gotta be up there.