Soccer Post: USMNT vs. El Salvador

[Maroon Eagle]

The Octagon Begins...

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Match starts at 9:05 CT.

From ESPN:
1. An article on Hugo Perez, El Salvador's manager & former USMNT star: Link.
2. Bill Connelly on what the US needs to do in the new Octagonal: Link.
From Stars and Stripes FC:
1. Gameday article: Link.
2. Preview: Link.

 

[BlueRidgeMtns]

Pulisic won't be playing right? Still working back to shape after COVID

Here's to qualifying!

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Pulisic and Steffen (back spasms) won't be playing.

Matt Turner will be starting in goal.

Link: Here.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Expect soggy field conditions...

San Salvador right now ☔️ ☔️☔️ pic.twitter.com/2R8m3fqxBS— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) September 2, 2021

 

[patdog]

Well, it went about how I thought it would. Ugly game, but a draw on the road isn't a terrible result. I thought Ream played about as well as I've seen him play and defensively I thought we were OK. Created a few decent chances, but still no quality finishing. On a scale of A - F, this was a C-.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Agreed. But all and all not bad for a team with 9 players making their world cup qualification debuts.

Next match is versus Canada in Nashville on Sunday and I'll be there.

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[patdog]

This will be by far the best USA team ever. But they're all still extremely young. They're a couple of years away from really hitting their prime. Our striker last night, Josh Sargent is still only 20 years old. At that age, Cristiano Ronaldo had a total of 21 goals in 4 seasons at Sporting and Man United.

 

[Col. Forbin]

I hate our(Greggggg’s) inability to try to play anything but a 4-3-3. When teams decide to sitting our midfielders it forces more direct play from the back line. We do not have the center backs for that right now. Missing pulisic last night was the difference in 3 points as opposed to the 1.

 

[ChinaDogSunflower]

Pretty disappointing but glad to have a point without our starting lineup. Hopefully that was a wake up call.

We gave up possession a few times just playing long balls from the back without looking for a pass. Showed some flashes but we were missing Pulisic and it was evident

 

[af102]

Just for reference, the US has only won 8/30 away games in the final round of WCQ (formerly the Hex, now the Octagonal) since this format was adopted. They have never won more than 2 away games in a single qualifying cycle, and 6 of the 8 wins were 1 goal wins.

Winning on the road in Central America is very hard. The fields are terrible, the fans are crazy, and the reffing is atrocious. Getting out of these games with a point and no major injuries/red cards is exactly what we need.

 

[Col. Forbin]

Yes. 3 at home and 1 on the road and we are golden.

So El Salvador got absolutely drenched prior to the game. But, the grounds crew(and I use that term loosely) felt the need to run the sprinklers at half time.

 

[patdog]

It's crazy. Got to be a bit unnerving for a bunch of 20 year olds who are used to playing at big academies and the top European leagues to see the police in riot gear and the chain link fences keeping the fans off the pitch. Not to mention did anyone else notice the lasers being shined in the corner taker's eyes late in the 2nd half?

 

[af102]

The stadium was open to fans 9 HOURS before kickoff, and they were serving alcohol the entire time. Can you imagine what DWS would be like if you could just tailgate inside there all day?

 

[idog]

i don't mind getting a point on the road, but

The stadium was open to fans 9 HOURS before kickoff, and they were serving alcohol the entire time. Can you imagine what DWS would be like if you could just tailgate inside there all day?

...why some of these players are still playing kickball is beyond me. El Salvador looked like they know how to actually play as a team and for long stretches we didn't. Wasting possession by blindly kicking it is a U10 problem, not an international level problem but it seems old habits die hard.

on a positive note, Konrad(who I have not watched before) looked really good. with him and Dest on the left that should create a lot of chances. i want to be a big Reyna fan but his habit of whining when a teammate doesn't get him the ball is losing me.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

This place is a ******* ********. I can't believe our guys have to go put up with these countries simply not having the proper security to police the games. I saw the videos of our team (somewhere on twitter) getting stuff thrown at them leaving hotel, or it could have been the airport. Hard to tell in a ******** like that. Leaving that place with a point is a blessing.

Plus, not to mention they added water to the field at halftime just to make sure it was nice and difficult to move the ball around. Which is exactly what they wanted.