My 3 Thoughts: USMNT 2, Jamaica 0
The Ricardo Pepi Star Is Born; U.S. Verticality Takes Over in Second Half; CONCACAF Referee Has a Shocker
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AUSTIN, Texas — Here are my three thoughts on the USMNT’s 2-0 win against Jamaica in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier, bringing the U.S. to eight points after four games in the CONCACAF Octagonal:
• Has the USMNT’s decades-long quest for a truly dangerous center forward finally ended? I know, I know, it’s only two games, but 18-year-old Ricardo Pepi scored two more goals for the U.S. on Thursday, bringing his total to three in just two appearances with the national team. Pepi turned a glancing header from Sergiño Dest’s cross past Andre Blake to put the U.S. up 1-0 in the 48th minute, and Pepi scored again 14 minutes later by being in perfect position to tap in a ball from Brenden Aaronson on the U.S. break. Pepi has plenty of growing to do, but he is already the kind of striker you can rely on to make the most of his chances in the games that matter most. (He still needs chances, though; the U.S.’s crossing in the first half was abysmal.) Even the best teams in the world, club and international, have a hard time finding an elite center forward—just ask Manchester City—and that spot has been a huge concern for the USMNT for so long now that I’ve lost count of the years. The possibility that Pepi could be that guy is going to have U.S. fans incredibly excited, and they should be.
• Gregg Berhalter wanted verticality, and he got it in the second half. The word verticality has almost become a cliché already—I think Berhalter has used it 429 times in the past week alone—but it was almost eerie how much the U.S. flipped the switch on the Verticality Meter as soon as the second half started. Much of the credit should go to Yunus Musah, who barrelled through space in the Jamaican defense like a freight train on the ball on multiple occasions, including during the gorgeous inside-out buildup with Dest on the first goal. But the verticality came on the second goal, too. Instead of delivering a lateral pass, Tyler Adams sent it upfield and wide to the left to Antonee Robinson, who immediately arrowed a similar pass at speed to Aaronson, who knew what to do with his cross to Pepi. These are young U.S. players, but they’re learning, and one of those lessons is you can cut open teams by being direct at the right moments and taking advantage of space.
• Referee Reon Radix of Grenada had a shocker. On three separate occasions in the first half, Radix could have given a red card to a Jamaican player but didn’t on any of the three. In the first minute, Kemar Lawrence took down Paul Arriola (who might have been offside, but there’s no VAR) in what looked like a DOGSO situation, but Radix gave only a yellow. In the 11th minute, Tyreek Magee threw an elbow back in the face of Tyler Adams, bringing him staggering to the ground with a bloody lip, only for Radix not to call anything. And in the 33rd minute, Damion Lowe made what looked like a clean tackle on a streaking Brenden Aaronson just outside the box. But Radix missed that one too, showing yellow to Lowe on a play that he had to show red (for DOGSO) if he was going to show a card. We laugh sometimes when we make fun of CONCACAF refereeing, but the fact is incompetence just isn’t funny anymore.
What are your thoughts on the game? You can share them in the comments below.
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Can we talk about Weah? I loved his movement and explosiveness when he came on in the 2nd half. Would love to see somebody with his off the ball smarts to be on the field with our more creative players.
It costs $500K to install VAR. FIFA made $6 BILLION from the last World Cup alone. The fact that we can’t use the existing VAR in our stadiums because FIFA won’t pay for poorer nations to have a set is simply inexcusable.