And that was Clint Dempsey point, you run the risk of these guys losing their edge with a prolonged break.
OT: We may win the World Cup in 2026
- Thread starter brad1218
- Start date
Everyone with a yellow needs to be bolted to the bench against the Turks.
Pulisic... no more than the first 23 minutes IMO. Maybe not even that. He is too critical for our chances to risk worsening that injury in a meaningless game.
Spain is opening a big old can on Saudi Arabia.
Pulisic... no more than the first 23 minutes IMO. Maybe not even that. He is too critical for our chances to risk worsening that injury in a meaningless game.
Spain is opening a big old can on Saudi Arabia.
My predicted lineup for Thursday night...
--------------------------------Turner---------------------------------------------
------McKenzie---------------M Robinson-------------------------Trusty--------
Scally------------Roldan----------------------Berhalter-------------------Arfsten
-------------------Aaronson-------------------------------Zendejas---------------
---------------------------------Wright--------------------------------------------
Weah an early sub (or starter in place of one of these guys), Reyna should get some action, and I'd guess Pepi for Wright later. Brady might get a run for Turner too.
The really thought they had something. American soccer is not yet a powerhouse but compared to Australia they are. Not sure why they wanted all that smoke. They are 1-28 all time vs America
But to be fair Aus is closer to us in overall talent than we are to the top 8 teams. There are teams that start X1 guys that are all prominent starters in a top 5 league.
So I wouldn’t say we are a powerhouse compared to Aus but we are certainly better and prob win more often than not on neutral soil. We did play them on home soil and didn’t look good second half at all although we were missing our clear best player
Just looked at it...lol, basically an exact match (even with subs, and guys we're questioning).lol . I literally posted the same prediction late Friday
It’s a fair argument to make that you don’t want guys to lose momentum by resting so long but there is def a strong argument to avoid injury and 100% cannot play guys with yellows
Poch know 1000% more than all of us combined so I trust his judgment
Yea...almost positive that no one on a yellow will see the field. I'd think we want to get a run for anyone that hasn't played yet, so that they can settle in if/when we need them in the knockout round. An argument can be made that we'd want to get some match fitness into Pulisic, but I'd rather put him in bubble wrap for now. It would be one thing if this were one of the pre-WC friendlies and we could swap out the whole squad at halftime, but since we can't, I'm hoping we play it safe. If we go with a stronger squad, we also get in a tough spot if someone (Ream, Dest, etc) picks up an early yellow...don't want to make a sub in the 10th minute, but also don't want to take any chances of a guy getting suspended from a meaningless game.
Whatever. 1-28. They aren’t even close historically or now. They should have just STFU.
I’d play Pulisic for a half. Hes only played 45 minutes. Assuming he’s completely healthy there is nothing you can do in practice to simulate game speed. No one with a yellow card should play, and Ream is old. Save his legs. Winning this game is not goal. Get out of it what makes the team the best it can be going into the next game. If they win, even better.
What’s clear is Pulisic is the offense igniter for us. He’s the best 1v1 and creating. He, McKennie, Balogun and Dest are really strong as 4 in the attack
Poch knows best but if he plays he better come out at first of the absolutely stupid hydration breaks
we will not do squat without an effective Pulisic
Poch knows best but if he plays he better come out at first of the absolutely stupid hydration breaks
we will not do squat without an effective Pulisic
No way. Poch plays the starters, minus any injury or card fears, for the first half. Too much time between matches to just sit everyone - the starters have only played a few games together
The problem is that this isn't a friendly with unlimited substitution. At least six of your starters have to finish.
Several will not play because of yellow cards in the last match so that reduces it to 2-3 starters.
GK: Freese
Def: Freeman, Ream, McKenzie & Scally
CDMs: Berhalter & Tillman
AM & Fwds: Wright, McKinnie, Dest & Aaronson or Reyna
- Pulisic maybe plays 20-30 minutes in 2nd half
- Weah or Dest are options at full back for this match
The only starters that potentially need to be rested are Ream, Tillman, McKinnie and Dest. Freeman is the youngest on the roster. He won't need to come out unless it's a yellow card situation.
@Anon443620 - awaiting your projected lineup since you wanted to jump in last time without ever having participated in the discussion.
Hmmm…you were saying? Great result for CV. They can still win the group if things break right. And it looks like a great place to vacation (live volcanoes aside).
That final half hour, after Cape Verde tied it, was freakin' insane. Both teams went balls to the wall for the win. Neither got it, but it wasn't for lack of trying.Hmmm…you were saying? Great result for CV. They can still win the group if things break right. And it looks like a great place to vacation (live volcanoes aside).
It was so fun to watch. I am enjoying the hell out of these early rounds!
Yeah I agree. Making a pretty good case for the expanded field. Fun watching Cape Verde, Curacao, etc put a scare into some more established sides.
That was balls-to-the-wall, incredibly dramatic soccer with so much action and great chances and plays and more than a few mistakes - especially Uruguay blowing it on the tying goal (bad pass and stupid play by the keeper coming out when there were other defenders around). Great to watch.
Some of these announcers are just silly. Saying Egypt going up 3-1 in the 82nd minute locks up the win for Egypt with 15+ minutes left including stoppage time is just dumb. Sure they're now heavily favored, but c'mon.
One other thing that the WC coverage misses badly compared to every sport we watch here in the US are timely, insightful replays. We're spoiled by it and the coverage we see is 100% from FIFA and it generally sucks with regard to replays.
One other thing that the WC coverage misses badly compared to every sport we watch here in the US are timely, insightful replays. We're spoiled by it and the coverage we see is 100% from FIFA and it generally sucks with regard to replays.
The only way this 48-team format survives is with multiple host countries each time. USA could do it alone but I like the 3 country hosting thing. I think they are 3 again in 2030 but it’ll have to continue.
I also would like to see semis and final eliminate PKs. Just remove one player every 10 min of OT. Would be so exciting IMO but will never happen
I also would like to see semis and final eliminate PKs. Just remove one player every 10 min of OT. Would be so exciting IMO but will never happen
US should host every 20 years. The infrastructure alone makes it obvious.
Another crazy World Cup stat:
40 years ago to the day, the “hand of God” by Diego Maradona.
Lionel Messi, in the 38th minute, becomes the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history.
40 years ago to the day, the “hand of God” by Diego Maradona.
Lionel Messi, in the 38th minute, becomes the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history.
We will challenge for the World Cup when we have one of the elite scorers. We don’t have a Messi, Mbaope, Haaland, Kane.
Pulisic, Balogun, Pepi- are all VERY good players but we will need an elite guy to take us to the next level.
Is he out there among the youth????
Pulisic, Balogun, Pepi- are all VERY good players but we will need an elite guy to take us to the next level.
Is he out there among the youth????
The ref in this England Ghana game has been bad imo.. I’m not particularly rooting for anyone but I don’t like overly one sided calls which aren’t deserved.
Ghana completely robbed of a PK. England took out their guy in the box and didn’t even touch the ball. Although England dominated all match, they could have easily lost if the call was made
I didn’t have an issue with it…thought it was a 50/50 call that could have gone either way. Definitely not a clear and obvious error where VAR should have gotten involved. And had they called it, not enough to overturn it.
England defender did get a lot of man and missed the ball, but the Ghana attacker was also fighting with him and initiated contact.
I agree. Went to the air took him out and didn’t touch the ball. Thought Pickford could’ve been carded too and free kick outside the box on that play.
I thought too often England falls its a foul. Ghana falls and it’s play on (and not because of advantage).
I thought England was quite a bit better but Ghana played really good defense and could’ve stolen a win if the ref wasn’t so bad.
My focus is on Bosnia-Qatar at 3pm. If there is a winner in that game, we almost certainly (over 99%) will play them in the Round of 32. I'm rooting for Qatar as they'd be the dream matchup, but even Bosnia would be a decent draw for us. And since it's a key game for both, they won't be holding out anyone due to yellow card accumulation; Bosnia has 5 guys on a yellow and Qatar 3 guys...another yellow means they'd be suspended against us.