It's amazing how quickly I went from looking forward to November to dreading November. The team we saw this week will have trouble getting any points in the group stage.
Well, what a great way to blow any excitement for the World Cup. Can Berhalter be fired and try to build some momentum and excitement. Most talented US Team in history and least exciting. No, I don't blame the players for the lack of excitement. Hard to get excited or be enthusiastic on the field when you know you're playing for a terrible coach. Grant, does he legitimately have the players support or do they just give lip service for interviews?
Chelsea and USMNT fan. I've been sympathetic to Pulisic for a while now, but he's losing me. When he bothers to play, he's having little impact, and showing none of the on-field leadership one should expect from a team captain. Now he's throwing his armband and snubbing Gregg when he comes off the field?? I'm sorry, but it's time for this kid to grow up. Act like a leader or give someone else the armband. Tired of this childish crap.
Three points: This team needs atmosphere because they lack on field leaders they need something or someone else pushing them. 2. Major issue as our "Stars" go so the team goes and right now neither Weston or Christian are playing confidently week in and week out, it's incredibly difficult to find form in a matter of training sessions. 3. It's going to take major stones to pick 27 players and pick your best IN FORM 11 but that's what GGG needs to do.
I’m reading the book about the 1990 WC Team (New Kids on the Block) and it claims that there is superstition that bad dress rehearsals are a good omen for theatrical productions. Let’s hope the same is true here. Otherwise, we’ll be lucky to get a point out of the WC.
Great insight, Grant, as always. Certainly these games created more questions than answers.
If Dest is the starting RB, why did he play LB yesterday? This was a no-account friendly, and while it’s nice to get a clean sheet, why not put your players in their anticipated Qatar roles?
Please, please get healthy Chris Richards. I thought the Zimmerman-Long partnership was very poor. Everything was just way too slow.
At this point, I don’t think Reyna and Weah can be considered anything but subs. Reyna simply can’t stay on the field. Aaronson must start. His energy is sorely needed. Musah was sorely missed, too.
Berhalter is a dead man walking right now. They barely qualified in a weak region. They don’t create, and they can’t score. Yet the most in-form US striker wasn’t even *at the camp*. Can they advance? Sure. But these 2 games have been incredibly disappointing. Right now they don’t look like a team that’s getting out of their group, and it doesn’t look like Gregg has any answers. If they don’t advance, the Berhalter era will end the next day.
1) Did we play bettor or just okay a weaker squad? Bettors expected us to do better in this one and we couldn’t even manage a goal.
2) I’ve seen some indication Greg may start Steffen. I’ve yet to see him not make a major blunder is a big game. 2021 FA Cup semi a mistake, 2022 Fa Cup semi huge blunder. Even the clinching game vs Panama in Orlando he dropped a couple shots that almost led to goals but no one talks about it because the end score wasn’t close.
3) who thought scheduling teams w no fans was a good prep for the World Cup?
Man, it feels like we've largely stagnated in the past decade as a team. I think seeing the club names Juventus, Chelsea, Leipzig, Dortmund, Barcelona, etc., blinded us to the lack of progress as a team. But it's hard to imagine this 2022 team would be able to do much against, e.g., the late-era Bob Bradley teams with their predictable 442-and-counter tactics. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised in November.
Waste of time and energy. Team gained nothing. Just point to 2016. There is nothing there. Even the talented players aren’t talented. If they were, they would do something. We were never able to do a thing. Waste of time
Greg, this is a mean thing to say, but I think many fans are already done with Reyna. I know he ( at 19) hasn’t even begun his career. But he is simply fragile as a violin string screwed in far too tight. He should take two years off . He isn’t any good now anyway. Might as well re-think the whole career choice and get healthy in the process.
I tuned in just before halftime and was immediately grateful I had not wasted the previous 30 + minutes. Playing with the ball in our defensive half, sideways & back passes, mixed with the occasional ball over-the-top. Stunning (and not the exciting kind) summarizes my overall impression. Zero play through the middle, rarely more than two connected forward passes, and a repeatable (though infrequent) series of right to left crosses that were consistently delivered without attacking players in position. The only hope is that Group stage opponents look past USA as an easy 'W"and we can somehow squeeze out three, nil-nil results.
Thanks for the report. Wonder what the body language on the next plane ride will be like. Still lacking on-pitch leadership and quality at many positions.
It's amazing how quickly I went from looking forward to November to dreading November. The team we saw this week will have trouble getting any points in the group stage.
Well, what a great way to blow any excitement for the World Cup. Can Berhalter be fired and try to build some momentum and excitement. Most talented US Team in history and least exciting. No, I don't blame the players for the lack of excitement. Hard to get excited or be enthusiastic on the field when you know you're playing for a terrible coach. Grant, does he legitimately have the players support or do they just give lip service for interviews?
Gio Reyna is starting to give me flashbacks of John O'Brien. We only ever got the one World Cup out of John O'Brien. I hope I am wrong.
Chelsea and USMNT fan. I've been sympathetic to Pulisic for a while now, but he's losing me. When he bothers to play, he's having little impact, and showing none of the on-field leadership one should expect from a team captain. Now he's throwing his armband and snubbing Gregg when he comes off the field?? I'm sorry, but it's time for this kid to grow up. Act like a leader or give someone else the armband. Tired of this childish crap.
Three points: This team needs atmosphere because they lack on field leaders they need something or someone else pushing them. 2. Major issue as our "Stars" go so the team goes and right now neither Weston or Christian are playing confidently week in and week out, it's incredibly difficult to find form in a matter of training sessions. 3. It's going to take major stones to pick 27 players and pick your best IN FORM 11 but that's what GGG needs to do.
Berhalter always stresses his "system." Can we conclude its a bad system yet?
I’m reading the book about the 1990 WC Team (New Kids on the Block) and it claims that there is superstition that bad dress rehearsals are a good omen for theatrical productions. Let’s hope the same is true here. Otherwise, we’ll be lucky to get a point out of the WC.
Great insight, Grant, as always. Certainly these games created more questions than answers.
If Dest is the starting RB, why did he play LB yesterday? This was a no-account friendly, and while it’s nice to get a clean sheet, why not put your players in their anticipated Qatar roles?
Please, please get healthy Chris Richards. I thought the Zimmerman-Long partnership was very poor. Everything was just way too slow.
At this point, I don’t think Reyna and Weah can be considered anything but subs. Reyna simply can’t stay on the field. Aaronson must start. His energy is sorely needed. Musah was sorely missed, too.
Berhalter is a dead man walking right now. They barely qualified in a weak region. They don’t create, and they can’t score. Yet the most in-form US striker wasn’t even *at the camp*. Can they advance? Sure. But these 2 games have been incredibly disappointing. Right now they don’t look like a team that’s getting out of their group, and it doesn’t look like Gregg has any answers. If they don’t advance, the Berhalter era will end the next day.
1) Did we play bettor or just okay a weaker squad? Bettors expected us to do better in this one and we couldn’t even manage a goal.
2) I’ve seen some indication Greg may start Steffen. I’ve yet to see him not make a major blunder is a big game. 2021 FA Cup semi a mistake, 2022 Fa Cup semi huge blunder. Even the clinching game vs Panama in Orlando he dropped a couple shots that almost led to goals but no one talks about it because the end score wasn’t close.
3) who thought scheduling teams w no fans was a good prep for the World Cup?
Man, it feels like we've largely stagnated in the past decade as a team. I think seeing the club names Juventus, Chelsea, Leipzig, Dortmund, Barcelona, etc., blinded us to the lack of progress as a team. But it's hard to imagine this 2022 team would be able to do much against, e.g., the late-era Bob Bradley teams with their predictable 442-and-counter tactics. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised in November.
Welp, Grant Wahl readers have abandoned USMNT. They can do it. Believe!
I would hate to see the U.S go out of the WC at the group stage. Right now, that is looking very likely.
Waste of time and energy. Team gained nothing. Just point to 2016. There is nothing there. Even the talented players aren’t talented. If they were, they would do something. We were never able to do a thing. Waste of time
Greg, this is a mean thing to say, but I think many fans are already done with Reyna. I know he ( at 19) hasn’t even begun his career. But he is simply fragile as a violin string screwed in far too tight. He should take two years off . He isn’t any good now anyway. Might as well re-think the whole career choice and get healthy in the process.
I tuned in just before halftime and was immediately grateful I had not wasted the previous 30 + minutes. Playing with the ball in our defensive half, sideways & back passes, mixed with the occasional ball over-the-top. Stunning (and not the exciting kind) summarizes my overall impression. Zero play through the middle, rarely more than two connected forward passes, and a repeatable (though infrequent) series of right to left crosses that were consistently delivered without attacking players in position. The only hope is that Group stage opponents look past USA as an easy 'W"and we can somehow squeeze out three, nil-nil results.
Thanks for the report. Wonder what the body language on the next plane ride will be like. Still lacking on-pitch leadership and quality at many positions.