I thought the Canadians were supposed to be polite. Gooning it up since going down 2.
Also Balogun presses like a demon. Has that keeper that looks 55 completely shook.
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I guess Berhalter’s relationship with Gio doesn’t matter if his only two states are injured or recovering from injury
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I take minor issue with the first pro, but this is a pretty good thread on GGG I saw today. Good halftime reading.
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The player recruitment bit is important and often overlooked
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I think letting Pulisic continue to take all corners and free kicks is entering “fool me 6000 times” territory
He’s bad at it
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Having a competent striker just unlocks this team.
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Last 2 led to great chances
my only encounter with usmnt fans is in brian cook’s replies but i would read at least 12,000 words on what the heck is up with that situation because they seem absolutely bizarrely maniacal to me. like, how does that happen in a country with a…let’s say developing history of soccer interest, no winning tradition, and few truly excellent players in their history? add that to soccer fans, for ages, being somewhat apart from other sports fans - even as late as like 2009 the venn diagram of people i knew who were fans of soccer and the people who were fans of everything else were almost two separate circles - and it makes absolutely no sense to me.
then again, i guess reply guys are kinda like this in general - we’ve all seen dylan’s!
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Had to rattle around a bit first
think it’s one thing to be obsessive about something obscure but another thing to make it into a terrible personality. it’s the latter that I can’t figure.
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at least the people here are mostly the first thing without being the second!
Yeah it sure seems like talent is maybe the thing that matters in all of this.
That entire Nations League went about perfectly.
Will really see what we have next summer with the Copa, but that was super encouraging.
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BJ Callahan. The Wonder Kid.
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Hard to do better!!!
Quick thoughts about last night.
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Don’t want to keep going back to it, but Balogun really does open up so much on the attacking side. Making clever runs off the ball, hitting the ball first time on net, pressing like a madman to the point the Canada keeper and the center backs were making mistakes after 25 minutes of it (Bothered Ochoa the other night too). Was getting to the spot he needed to be faster than the ball could be delivered from the edges, but that will come with time. If he stays healthy, he will easily end up as a top 3 scorer in USMNT history.
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Finally we might be able to stop hearing about John Brooks for a cycle. Seems like we have a few functioning center backs for the 1st time in forever. Still don’t love Zimm out there and it’s clear he’s a step behind when we play elite, love Richards and Robinson. Robinson another guy with Gio and Puli who just can’t stay healthy though.
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Still hope Steffen finds his way back in to push Turner at keeper. I like Turner as a stopper, his distribution isn’t great a lot of the time and something we miss a bit with Steffen who was finding his rhythm there training with City and was much improved at Middlesbrough last season. At least to come back and push and give us another option from time to time. A 1A to 1B type of deal.
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Won’t take too much from the Gold Cup starting next week, it’s the B’st of B teams for everyone, but should be fun to follow Mihailovic, Busio, Vasquez, Younger Morris and Zendejas as some guys who could slide into the A team eventually.
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GGG likely had a little bit of input on the lineups, it’s not like he isn’t speaking with his assistant coaches. Hopefully he just lets it ride as is and no drama with Gio and we look good vs Germany and Ghana later this year. That was crazy encouraging though. Basically pantsed both ‘A’ teams for Canada and Mexico where we looked light years better than both in all phases. Like that twitter thread above said, have to give GGG a lot of credit for recruiting the past couple of years.
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What do you think the best 11 is now?
I see Balogun on top
Pulisic, Reyna on the wings
McKennie and Musah on the left and right midfield with Adams center
Antonee/Scally as left and right fullbacks
Miles/Richards at center
Pick your goalie
I forget who L/R is but I liked the Robinsons being on the same side
Think you have to have Weah and leave out one of McKennie and Musah w Reyna as your 10. Still prefer Dest unless we have to go bunker ball or something. And I’m still going to want to roll w Turner’s shot stopping until that gets shown to be not a thing. Think it’s forest for the trees to not think that’s the primary consideration at that position. None of the other GKs really do anything for me.
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Pick your goalie? There’s a clear number one
Turner is way ahead. I think Steffen can push him this cycle, but he’s still way behind.
Also Scally is not over Dest imo. Dest too much a part of the attack. I’d push Gio up a bit in the attack, I’d probably bench Wes at this point for a bit. He was bad at Leeds this season and didn’t look amazing vs Mexico.
Balo
Puli Weah
Musah Gio
Adams
Jedi Richards Robinson Dest
Turner
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