Costa Rica helps keep panama a game back

1/27/2022 10:59:12 PM

Antonee Robinson was the only one who seemed to have a good game and not just because he scored. He was solid all game.

1/27/2022 11:13:11 PM

Quote :

"Another routine Tyler Adams performance, leading all players with 91 touches and 10 recoveries... https://t.co/QBLgTQKbVF "

[Edited on January 27, 2022 at 11:28 PM. Reason : E]

1/27/2022 11:27:27 PM

Not a great performance, missed a lot of chances.

Outside of the late McKennie knock made it through without injuries. Of the subs only Aaronson made a real impact

Still going to be a dogfight in our last 5 matches, with 3 of the 5 being away from home against top opponents.

Hopefully Berhalter was resting Pepi for Canada need at least a point from this match. Though a loss isn't end of world just lowers margin of error.

1/28/2022 10:56:30 AM

Paramount+ LOL

1/30/2022 12:09:19 PM

Telemundo too if you don't mind Spanish

1/30/2022 1:32:03 PM

Good call

1/30/2022 1:34:15 PM

I don’t fuckin understand why zardes is starting here. Having a center forward who doesn’t score and that I have a better touch than makes no sense.

1/30/2022 2:55:00 PM

I couldn’t watch since I don’t have Paramount plus. Sad to see we couldn’t pull through with a win.

1/30/2022 8:51:15 PM

You didn't miss much. It was a classic Gregg tactical performance. Lots of non-dangerous possession. Very little offensive creativity. Few chances... no finishing. Zardes didn't even come close to doing anything productive and I don't get why he seems to be such a coach favorite. We used 5 subs--including some head scratchers--and then played a man down for the last 10 minutes when our CB went down with an injury.

1/30/2022 9:44:53 PM

^pretty much dead on

Berhalter was setup for the 0-0 draw and then Canada scored early on and they had to chase. The 2nd goal was the result of being down a center back.

Also Berhalter's comments after the game show how delusional he is. I don't get his love affair with Zardes. He has had some moments in the with NT but he is a sub at best.

Tyler Adams will probably miss the next game with a hamstring.

Panama winning yesterday assures that will still probably need 10 points to avoid a playoff and that includes an away match at the Azteca (With Fans) with more than likely a new Mexican National Team Coach and an away match at a resurgent Costa Rica.

1/31/2022 8:05:50 AM

Agreed. Berhlater's post game was completely baffling and tone-deaf. To say we dominated the game, ugh. They packed the back and still had more quality chances than us. I'm willing to concede that he may be just speaking to the team through his post game comments and trying to get their heads up, but damn. It reminded me of a Keatts interview where what I just watched on the TV doesn't at all match up with what they are saying about the game.

Zardes was fine as a reserve when we didn't have any other options. At this point, our talent pool is developed enough I can think of a ton of other guys that can do what he does physically (which was Greggs reasoning for putting him in) and still score. Sergent, Pefok, Dike, Hoppe (my personal choice) are all better reserves than Zardes and it's an absolute joke that he started on this team over Pepi.

That said, it was hardly Zardes's fault. Our whole tactical system is overlapping wingbacks whipping crosses into the middle. The problem is our wingbacks can't consistently hit a cross and we don't have reliable target men in the middle. The tactics don't fit our personnel. There isn't even an attempt to build through the middle

1/31/2022 8:30:52 AM

So one thing that bugs me about US Soccer, why in the hell are you playing a game in Minnesota in February. Its going to be 4 degrees tomorrow. Kicking that ball will be like kicking a brick.

As expected Tyler Adams has gone back to Leipzig, and Chris Richards has gone back to Hoffenheim due to injuries sustained in Canada match.

Anything less than 3 points tomorrow will be a failure. At this point the US should be pushing to avoid a playoff which I believe is against CONMEBOL due to COVID and that is currently Uruguay. If I am wrong please correct me.

2/1/2022 1:49:10 PM

Oceana is who the Concacaf 4th place plays in a playoff--probably New Zealand.

Both the Columbus and the Minnesota picks in January for our home games were completely stupid. I was at the Columbus game and it was really cold (I think around 15 at game time). Minnesota will be on another level with wind-chills in the negatives. You do shithousery when you have less talent and want to level the playing field. We probably have the most talent in all of Concacaf and we choose to level it out in ridiculous environments against the bottom two teams in the hex. Just totally dumb.

Dropping ANY points against Honduras should result in Gregg losing his job IMO. As stupid as it is to fire a coach right before the World Cup, it literally can't get worse than losing to the bottom team in the table in a must win game at home.

We would still control our own destiny with games against Panama and Mexico upcoming in March, but there is no reason it should be this close with the group of players we have.

[Edited on February 1, 2022 at 2:00 PM. Reason : d]

2/1/2022 1:58:19 PM

De la torre and Acosta balling out. Glad to see Luca getting some run.

Takes some stones to bench puli, but I don’t hate it in this game. At minimum Acosta has been much better at set pieces.

2/2/2022 8:24:29 PM

Good Result

Weah was great again. Pepi had some chances. Acosta was great on set pieces. I thought Robinson and Zimmerman meshed well together in central defense.

Costa Rica winning makes things a little more tricky. Mexico winning helps a bit

Looking to next window
US - Mexico (A), Panama (H), Costa Rica (A)
Mexico - US (H), Honduras (A), El Salvador (H)
Panama - Honduras (H), US (A), Canada (H)
Costa Rica - Canada (H), El Salvador (A), US (H)

For US Panama is a must win to stay above them in table even if we lose to Mexico and Costa Rica
Canada can help US especially against Costa Rica (Canada need 1 point to qualify or Panama to drop points)

In reality US needs to at worst a draw at Mexico and beat Panama, then they would only need a draw at Costa Rica to ensure qualification, but they could still make playoff with a loss in that match.

Overall Mexico is not very good they struggled against Panama and won a cheap penalty to get the win. The US should go into that match with confidence and try for 3 points. If Berhalter starts Zardes in that match I will pull my hair out.

2/3/2022 9:38:46 AM

Can - Costa Rica (A), Jamaica (H), Panama (A)

The March window will be arguably our toughest window (we just came off probably the easiest). Mexico is beatable, but the way this US team has played on the road doesn't inspire much confidence. That Panama game at home will be absolutely critical. If we don't take 3 points there, we may not even be 4th since they will be finishing at home against a Canadian team that likely will have already qualified at that point.

If the players don't play well and miss the world cup because they are young or whatever, fine. I'm tired of Berhalter missing on personnel decisions though. There is just no reason for Arriola, Roldan, Llegett, Cannon or Zardes to get callups at this point in qualifying...much less starts or significant playing time. Morris should be purely a backup option and same with Ferreira. We have quality talent that Gregg is leaving off the roster that should be there.

LDLT was an obvious choice for a while now. He finally gets a callup and then a start and boom, he is perhaps our best offensive weapon outside of Weah last night. Joe Scally isn't getting callups, but he is damn sure better than Cannon and maybe better than Arob and Dest. Brooks should be getting callups and although our CBs haven't necessarily been the problem and have been pretty solid overall, it would be nice to have a CB that could occasional play a threatening ball and not just swing it around or play it backward. Hoppe can play CF and wing and although he has some issues with his club at the moment, there is no way he isn't better than most who are being called at the moment.

For the March window, assuming these players are healthy, I'd like to see Gregg go with this roster. I ranked them in order of who I would like to see.

CF - Pepi, Dike (sounds like he may still injured), Hoppe, Sargent
Wings - Pulisic, Weah, Aaronson, Morris
MF - Adams, McKennie, Gio, LDLT, Musah, Acosta
CB - Zimmerman, Richards, Brooks, M Robinson
FB - A Robinson, Dest, Scally, Yedlin
Goalie - Steffen, Turner, Johnson

With that talent pool, some of the choices Gregg is making are straight up indefensible. Wanna know why we play with no offensive creativity? You don't even call up your most dynamic and creative players. Instead, you got Zardes and Morris (and even Aaronson to an extent, although I like him) running around doing nothing all window because of their "physicality" and being able to run like demons in the high press--something that doesn't really matter when teams are bunkering against you.

2/3/2022 11:00:11 AM

^I excluded Canada because their qualification is almost a foregone conclusion.

Hard to disagree with those callups if Dike still injured replace him with Pefok anyone but Zardes

I know Berhalter is going with what he knows but Llegett, Cannon, Roldan, and especially Arriola and Zardes don't offer you anything. This young squad has new leaders (Adams, Zimmerman, McKennie and Pulisic) All of those guys were just members of the squad when the old guard we are heading out to pasture. While necessary to help bridge the gap, the gap has been bridged and they are no longer needed.

2/3/2022 11:41:39 AM

You're right. I only included Canada because their remaining games could affect us depending on how early they are locked in.

I hear Pefok being brought up all the time, but I don't know much about him. The little I have seen with the national team has not been impressive. But I agree he couldn't be worse than alot of Gregg's guys.

To be fair, it does seem like Gregg is gradually getting to the talent and moving his guys down the ladder (Although I would bet money on Zardes being on the World Cup team), it just isn't happening fast enough. We could possibly be qualified already if he hadn't played our MLS team against Panama in October. We dropped points against El Salvador away in Sept. too because Lleget and Roldan played big minutes.

2/3/2022 12:09:05 PM

Quote :

"This is probably skewed by a bigger (and likely worse) pool of teams this time, but the USMNT's non-penalty xG differential in the final round of World Cup qualifying (per @StatsPerform): -2014: plus-0.16 per game -2018: plus-0.26 -2022: plus-0.95"

Quote :

"1) USMNT: plus-0.95 non-penalty xGD per game 2) Mexico: plus-0.71 3) Canada: plus-0.62 4) Panama: plus-0.35 5) Costa Rica: minus-0.47"

https://twitter.com/rwohan/status/1489331585182691328?t=b9ZtIGg1Kz-uR7cpR5dLIw&s=19

2/3/2022 6:06:21 PM

Biggest Failure of this qualifying cycle is scoring 1 goal against El Salvador in 2 matches. 4 points that should have been 6 which would make qualification going into this final round somewhat easier.

2/4/2022 11:16:34 AM

McKennie is our best player. I would say Weah is our second best based on the last few rounds of qualifiers.

2/5/2022 11:16:46 PM

Gio Reyna out with injury after 27 min today. Here's hoping this kid can heal. Sucks for him and definitely a blow to our chances in March. I still am optimistic, but having a playmaker like him on the field would have been nice.

2/20/2022 1:22:05 PM

Not sure if there is a USWNT thread or not so posting here.

New Zealand player has THREE own goals in one game half against US. Ouch!

https://www.espn.com/soccer/report?gameId=626986

[Edited on February 21, 2022 at 9:05 AM. Reason : edit, all in 1 half]

2/21/2022 9:03:21 AM

^^The apple doesn't fall far from tree. Claudio was an amazing talent but his body would break down all the time.

But more recent Gio seems to have the same issues tha Christian had at Dortmund. Hamstrings get wrecked.

2/21/2022 9:38:03 AM

Mckinnie out 8-12

2/22/2022 9:33:27 PM

That’s a big oof. Suddenly the midfield is looking thin for the march window

2/22/2022 10:59:49 PM

Definitely not ideal as we are not as good without McKennie in the lineup.

Some role players will have to step up and Adams will have to be a General in the Mexico match.

Reyna should be back in 2 weeks according to Dortmund so maybe he can get his fitness up for the last window.

Pulisic seems to be coming into form again which is good news.

2/23/2022 7:48:53 AM

With Luca De La Torre getting back into the lineup last window, I think we can make a midfield of Musah, Adams and DLT work. That seems like the best solution.

My fear is that Gregg will slide Acosta (or worse, Roldan/Lleget) into the role (instead of DLT) and then we have three midfielders who are unlikely to create.

I saw the same 2 week timeline for Gio, but at this point I'm not counting on him for March.

2/23/2022 9:05:26 AM

May have to finally give up my dream of Marsch taking over anytime soon

2/28/2022 4:52:07 PM

See, the thing is that Marsch doesn't have any family among the executives at US Soccer.

3/1/2022 10:19:21 AM

True that is a real weakness

3/1/2022 10:49:48 AM

3/1/2022 10:55:31 AM

Quote :

"The Carter-Vickers goal https://t.co/RL8PijdQXw"

Also triple g is sitting with Kenny dalglish. Liverpool looking to move on from Klopp???

[Edited on March 2, 2022 at 7:44 PM. Reason : E]

3/2/2022 7:42:45 PM

Quote :

"Juventus and USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie wont come back this season, Massimiliano Allegri announces: The season is over for Weston because of his injury. Hell be back next season. 🚫 � 🇺 � 🇸 � #USMNT #Juve"

3/6/2022 5:41:21 PM

Roster for this last window drops tonight at 6pm.

@Azteca on Thursday 3/24 at 10pm
Home vs Panama in a do or die on Sunday
then (hopefully) a meaningless game @Costa Rica on 3/30

Pulisic is in form, Gio is back! We have strikers who are scoring goals on their club teams! (none are named Zardes, Arriola or Morris though).

I hope to see Sargent, De La Torre and Pefok on the roster. I'd love to see Hoppe get another crack at it.

3/17/2022 8:52:24 AM

Quote :

"Tim Weah subs on for Lille! He and Christian Pulisic are the first pair of U.S. internationals to play in the same #UCL knockout-stage game. 🇺 � 🇸 � 🇺 � 🇸 � "

3/17/2022 8:55:20 AM

Dest with a hamstring? injury gets subbed out from Europa league game immediately today.

3/17/2022 3:14:00 PM

good news is Pefok! finally!

Zardes and Lleget are out.

Bad news is Brooks, Sargent and Scally are in Gregg's doghouse.

A few quibbles, but overall probably Gregg's best roster since wcq started.

3/17/2022 8:24:14 PM

Sucks that our best player McKennie is out. He will be missed.

3/18/2022 1:15:42 PM

Quote :

"From a source: Brenden Aaronson's injury will prevent him from traveling to play with the US for #WCQ. Absolutely devastating for #USMNT, and for Brenden Aaronson, who's had an incredible World Cup Qualifying cycle and is the only player to feature in every match so far."

Hmmm well 4 tweets up the timeline:

Quote :

"From @USMNT: Brenden Aaronson will indeed travel to US Camp. He is coming in. "

[Edited on March 20, 2022 at 7:45 PM. Reason : E]

3/20/2022 7:43:28 PM

Yeah, my guess is he doesnt play. All this injury shit is why you don't wait to the last window to qualify. I can just see Gregg shrugging his shoulders after another missed WC and pulling a Keatts and claiming injuries were to blame.

3/20/2022 7:50:31 PM

It would take an utter collapse and Costa Rica basically winning every match for us not to make the play-in home and home.

While the injuries are not ideal. You have an in form Pulisic and while I am not sure what Brooks can do to get out of the doghouse Zimmerman and Robinson work well together.

There is a good chance the US get beat by Mexico Thursday, desperate team and coach, playing in front of their fans, it will be a tough matchup even though I think the US has more talent than Mexico now. Panama remains the key game. If Canada plays well and beats/draws Costa Rica, you beat Panama and you qualify

3/22/2022 7:54:39 AM

Zimmerman and Robinson have been very good. Big game Pulisic should be awesome and we have Gio back (I personally would love to see him ease into it with 20-30 minute appearances). I just want to see us take the absolute best we have available 27 every window. It doesn't even seem like there is that much disagreement as to who that best is. And yet Gregg seems to fuck it up every time (this time not as much as previous windows).

I don't disagree that it would take an epic collapse for us not to quality, but given our team's form for the last couple of windows, missing Weston and our history in 2018 (not to mention the fact that as a State fan I am not allowed to have nice things), I am still on edge a bit.

Mexico in theory should be less desperate than us on Thursday--but they are at home--given that their next two games this window are significantly easier. We saved our toughest window for last.

3/22/2022 8:59:30 AM

^You mean CONCACAF saved our toughest window for last.

10:00 PM tonight on CBS Sports Network

Berhalter trying to play mind games saying they kicked around putting the B team out there tonight. Honestly I don't think this Mexico group is as good as past teams they are pretty weak in midfield and offensively they aren't as crisp. Not sure if we have anyone on yellow cards that we need for Sunday against Panama, that would be my only concern if I were Berhalter, because Mexico will try the shithousery I fully expect it from Xolo.

3/24/2022 9:52:15 AM

^Adams is on yellow. I say just play him tonight and if we end up needing a result in Costa Rica, we will have him back. Although Acosta played well his last time out so I wouldn't be mad if he was our 6.

Bottom line is we likely need 4 pts from the window to qualify--3 of those need to come from Panama at home if we want to have things in our own hands.

[Edited on March 24, 2022 at 12:01 PM. Reason : d]

3/24/2022 12:00:17 PM

Stupid cbs sports channel I don’t have. Guess it will be Univision for me. Didn’t know Turner was out injured as well.

3/24/2022 6:11:47 PM

Quote :

"North Macedonia stuns defending European Champions Italy in one of the great WCQ upsets. North Macedonia advance to face Portugal for a spot in Qatar. ITALY ARE OUT OF THE 2022 WORLD CUP.???????? https://t.co/RjA8z4Wo3l"

Not US but WQ...

3/24/2022 8:32:25 PM

Pulisic!?!???

3/24/2022 10:51:57 PM

Missed a give me

3/24/2022 11:11:05 PM