The Official US Soccer thread

Chaplin · Saturday at 7:36 PM

Stout said:
That was a really great...half a game. Incredible start to the WC and something the US just hasn't done before. Freaking awesome.

That was an inexcusable second half. That show that the US just isn't going to go far in the WC. Yes, you would expect a decent Aussie team to go for it. You wouldn't expect the US to crumble like they did. Only a lack of cutting edge from the Aussies held the lead for us. A better team is level again halfway through the second half, minimum. That was pathetic. We're not going to play Aussies the rest of the way. We might be able to skate in the round of 32, but not pas that.

Anyway, I'm still stoked and will ignore the above to cheer us on the rest of the way no matter what. I have to go check when we're going to play and who it might be!

Boy that is probably the most bipolar post you've ever made!

Stout · Sunday at 5:00 AM

Lorenzo said:
If we get to the semis I would be over the moon. I think the final 8 is probably the ceiling that I see but I’ll gladly be wrong. And we aren’t deep nor established enough to just expect wins in the 32 and 16. Most likely would have to survive penalties in any one of those 3 games in order to get to the semis. The good thing is this side is more talented than ever before, will be hungry to prove people wrong, and they have unrivaled support compared to other tournaments.

We don't have a prayer at the round of 16 with this defending. The scaredy cat park the bus panic stations second half against the Aussies showed our major flaw. Against a top team, that's going to be the death of us.

Stout · Sunday at 5:02 AM

Chaplin said:
Boy that is probably the most bipolar post you've ever made!

Yeah. That second half was just infuriating. It wasn't a pragmatic, we will stonewall you defensive display. It was absolutely shambolic. Love the high's we've reached in the group stage, but that defense, and that coaching approach to the second half, was really discouraging. Try doing that against a really good team and you lose a 2 goal lead and the game.

Lorenzo · Sunday at 6:50 AM

Stout said:
We don't have a prayer at the round of 16 with this defending. The scaredy cat park the bus panic stations second half against the Aussies showed our major flaw. Against a top team, that's going to be the death of us.

well in 2002, the only time we won a game in the knockout stage, we parked the bus against Mexico after we took a 1-0 lead within the first 15 mins and beat them. and that was arguably Mexico's best team that I have ever seen. I think Mexico were better than Germany that WC, the team we lost to next. I'm not saying that is the preferred method tactically. I loathe that type of play and that seemed to be the identity of the USA for a long time. I'm just saying if it has to be that way against a side like France or Netherlands, it is what it is. I do think this USA team has to play to its strengths, which is attacking on the front foot regardless of who they play. But there will come a time where they get pushed around the other way. and a fair amount of the USA players are not known for being great defenders due to the style of football they play at their home clubs.

Crimson Warrior · Sunday at 8:13 AM

Stout said:
We don't have a prayer at the round of 16 with this defending. The scaredy cat park the bus panic stations second half against the Aussies showed our major flaw. Against a top team, that's going to be the death of us.

Plus we got away with a few early, nervy back line turnovers against Australia! Really dreadful ones!

A good side like the Orange will put those in the back of the net against us, and then we’ll be set up for an early KO punch!

Crimson Warrior · Sunday at 8:19 AM

Lorenzo said:
well in 2002, the only time we won a game in the knockout stage, we parked the bus against Mexico after we took a 1-0 lead within the first 15 mins and beat them. and that was arguably Mexico's best team that I have ever seen. I think Mexico were better than Germany that WC, the team we lost to next. I'm not saying that is the preferred method tactically. I loathe that type of play and that seemed to be the identity of the USA for a long time. I'm just saying if it has to be that way against a side like France or Netherlands, it is what it is. I do think this USA team has to play to its strengths, which is attacking on the front foot regardless of who they play. But there will come a time where they get pushed around the other way. and a fair amount of the USA players are not known for being great defenders due to the style of football they play at their home clubs.

But Is our back line good enough to do that again this year?

I don’t remember perfectly but I remember back in that era I think we had a really great back line guy. A tall African American dude who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. I’m not sure we have a defender like that on this squad.

Lorenzo · Sunday at 8:54 AM

Crimson Warrior said:
But Is our back line good enough to do that again this year?

I don’t remember perfectly but I remember back in that era I think we had a really great back line guy. A tall African American dude who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. I’m not sure we have a defender like that on this squad.

You are probably thinking of Tony Sanneh. He was quietly one of the best performers on the 02 team and was one of the few defenders that I can remember willing to play the ball forward. had he scored one of his attempts on goal in the game vs. Germany he may have been the Man of the Match in that one. He and Donovan both had great performances in that game. Gio Reyna's dad also almost scored a memorable chip shot. The 02 team had some very good players on it. and they all kind of peaked at least together in that tournament. I still rate them as our best squad ever until someone makes it to the final 8. if there were VAR back then they might have made the semifinal.

I think this is different because Richards and Ream are both on a different level. Richards is one of the top players at Crystal Palace and Ream was a mainstay at Fulham for a long time including wearing the arm band there. Richards is 175 of 179 in pass completions. That is a huge upgrade from what we had in the last WC. and if you look at the friendlies that we played recently when Richards wasn't ready to play, there is a huge difference with him being on the pitch. he might be the most unreplaceable guy on our team.

Stout · Monday at 2:41 AM

Lorenzo said:
well in 2002, the only time we won a game in the knockout stage, we parked the bus against Mexico after we took a 1-0 lead within the first 15 mins and beat them. and that was arguably Mexico's best team that I have ever seen. I think Mexico were better than Germany that WC, the team we lost to next. I'm not saying that is the preferred method tactically. I loathe that type of play and that seemed to be the identity of the USA for a long time. I'm just saying if it has to be that way against a side like France or Netherlands, it is what it is. I do think this USA team has to play to its strengths, which is attacking on the front foot regardless of who they play. But there will come a time where they get pushed around the other way. and a fair amount of the USA players are not known for being great defenders due to the style of football they play at their home clubs.

Problem is, we didn't wait until we played one of the top teams. We did it for half the match against freaking Australia.

Lorenzo · Monday at 12:50 PM

Stout said:
Problem is, we didn't wait until we played one of the top teams. We did it for half the match against freaking Australia.

We also have never won 2 games in a row at the World Cup and played with a 3-0 and 2-0 halftime lead in back to back games. Like never ever as far as I can recall. Australia is also not curocau. Australia beat Turkey who some said are better than USA.

I’m not saying I agree with the way we played.

Adrian · Monday at 2:29 PM