**Official USMNT Soccer Thread**

[northoaklandfc]

I actually thought Pulisic looked great sitting underneath Bobby and Jozy. Far more dynamic than anyone we've seen central recently.

The three of them combined well a couple of different times in the he first 10-15 minutes.

Our problem the first 25 minutes or so before the change was defensive spacing between the lines. Mexico was shredding us because there was no understand between the players of how to close and cover space effectively between the MF and DEF lines.

JK put the players in a position to fail on the defensive side of the ball.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Pulisic definitely was tenacious & wasn't intimidated by the Mexican players. When he was playing a more central role behind Jozy & Woods, Pulisic's touch was too heavy.

When they switched up after the half, Pulisic looked much better on the left wing.

Obviously it's very early in his MNT career & I have to temper my criticism of him since he's only a couple of games in.

If the rumors are true & Nagbe had beef with Klinsmann, I hope now that he's gone Nagbe can get back on the MNT.

I really really really like what I've been seeing from Jozy lately for club & country. He's finally playing the way I & many others thought he was capable of. I like the fire & passion I've been seeing from him.

Unfortunately, I feel about arena the same way I feel about chubby aka male sarah palin getting elected president. Very disappointed & don't feel very excited at all. Very depressing to think about in terms of overall outlook.

 

[northoaklandfc]

Pulisic definitely was tenacious & wasn't intimidated by the Mexican players. When he was playing a more central role behind Jozy & Woods, Pulisic's touch was too heavy.

When they switched up after the half, Pulisic looked much better on the left wing.

Nah that's not true. You can watch every touch Pulisic had vs Mexico here.

We switched to the 4-4-2 and shifted Pulisic to LM around the 27th minute. The match had evolved and changed so much by the time Pulisic was on the wing it's hard to say whether or not he was better but he was electric and threatening every time he touched the ball when playing centrally for the first 25 minutes or so. There really wasn't anything off about his touch that would make someone say he was uncomfortable in the role.

I'm not even advocating that Pulisic be played centrally, I do think he's currently better suited out wide for us given some of the other options who could play CAM in the newly expanded pool and our lack of dynamic wingers. I'm saying Pulisic at CAM is more than a viable option. He's played there his entire life and is definitely comfortable pulling the strings. Even did well in the brief time he was deployed there vs. Mexico. We made the switch half way through the first half because of defensive issues not because Pulisic wasn't effective.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

You are so incapable of being objective when talking about US soccer. At .36 & 1.29 were examples. After that, the highlights come from the 2nd half (he's occupying the left side from that point on).

I'm not the only one who noticed either...

Ryan Rosenblatt Fox Sports -

Pulisic wasn't perfect by any means. He took one heavy touch that ruined what had been a terrific run to that point and other bad touch spoiled a chance to shoot. But it was his ability to constantly find space that was amazing.

Caitlin Murray, Fox Sports -

He looked threatening when he pushed ahead, but his first touch let him down more than once, most notably in the 33rd minute, when a loose ball was gifted to his feet in open space and a heavy touch gave the ball back.

Matt Ufford, SB Nation-

At one point, the Mexicans failed to clear a corner and the ball squirted to Pulisic at the edge of the box, but his first touch was uncharacteristically heavy, and the chance evaporated.

Mike Woitalla, Soccer American Daily-

He provided more offensive spark than any other U.S. player but squandered a point-blank shot on goal in the 34th minute with a bad first-touch.

Roger Gonzalez, CBS Sports-

Lively but his passing was off. Had a few chances to play someone through but turned it over.

I certainly not saying it was evident with his every possession was haevy, but there were a couple of key moments.

I'm not saying he can't play the 10 either, that's just my initial impressions for his first big game. As the game went on, he got stronger albeit on the left side.

Hopefully arena will figure out what's best for him & put him in position to succeed because one thing is absolutely clear is that Pulisic needs to play more & he should get a shot at playing 10 if he wants to...

FYI, for PA Classics, Pulisic played as an attacking mid & mostly on the wing.

Cheers NorthOak...

 

[northoaklandfc]

You don't even know what objective evaluation is man.

"His touch was too heavy when he played a central role" isn't an objective analysis. Inferring that he was uncomfortable central is outright poor analysis. Let's take a real look at those "examples."

At 0:36 he receives from FJ in his own defensive half, absolutely abuses a defender on the turn with his first touch and rides the tackle leaving the defender behind. He then beats a second defender 1v1 on the dribble at MF. After going on a 50 yard run with the ball at feet and beating multiple defenders, he goes for the audacious and attempts to split the last two remaining defenders with one more burst of pace. The action requires a heavier touch, it requires a perfect touch on the move at pace, an incredibly high degree of difficulty in terms of the technical execution here. He doesn't pull it off, the touch is too heavy and the covering Mexican defender beats him to it.

If your conclusion at the end of the sequence is that his touch in general is too heavy, therefore he's uncomfortable in the role he's performing in, then that's bad analysis.

At 1:29 he's first to a 50-50 ball arriving just ahead of a Mexican defender. He chips it over the defenders tackle with his first touch escaping pressure, and then goes on to penetrate 40 yards on the dribble through central midfield. He attempts to play a penetrating pass in behind the Mexican backline through to Bobby . This is the wrong decision as Mexico's CB's have defended the move well and have completely cut off all viable passing lanes to defend against Bobby's movement. Pulisic made the wrong decision here and didn't read the positioning of the Mexican CB. There was no technical break down here or bad touch here, the error was mental and/or tactical. It was a case of a young attacking player making an inexperienced i.e. poor decision.

Again, evaluating this sequence of play as Pulisic's touch being off or heavy, that's just bad analysis and insight.


I don't know why you posted a bunch of tweets that reference sequences in the game that took place after we switched to a 4-4-2 and Pulisic moved from CAM to LM. I didn't say Pulisic was perfect in possession over the course of the match, I disagreed with your comment that his touch was too heavy when he was playing central.

Again, Pulisic's touch wasn't off or too heavy in the 25 minutes when he was deployed as a CAM relative to when he was deployed on the left. To say so categorically is inaccurate which was my only point. He actually had more touches that resulted in a loss of possession per minute, and more incomplete passes per minute, after he moved to the wing. That doesn't mean much given the small sample size, the positional split from this match was 25 : 65, but it is funny given you're adamant his touch was somehow worse in those 25 minutes when he played CAM and you want to talk about objectivity.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

You're making a mountain out of a mole hill partly because you can't stand when people criticize anything US footy related. My initial impression of his play wasn't stating he could never play the 10 role, they were initial impressions.

Those quotes are not tweets but articles posted on the sites mentioned after the writer's names. It's funny that you're trying to change the context of the quotes though. They're pretty direct quotes with no gray area to try & figure out what they mean & they agree with my initial impressions.

Again, we will agree to disagree NorthOak.

I think we can agree that Pulisic has a bright future & should get the opportunity to see if can play the 10 role... A trequartista perhaps?

Merry Christmas NorthOak & to all the fellas in here...

 

[northoaklandfc]

You're making a mountain out of a mole hill partly because you can't stand when people criticize anything US footy related. My initial impression of his play wasn't stating he could never play the 10 role, they were initial impressions.

That's not true at all and it's a cop out, you're just wrong on this and Lord knows that's something you're incapable of admitting. You made a comment that was off base and I vocally disagreed. That's it.

I have no problem what so ever with criticism of U.S. footy. On the contrary my entire life resolves around it. But by no means do I think all criticism is good criticism or warranted. Context, objectivity and understanding are crucial or the criticism is worthless, and I will never not speak up when I disagree with something.

Those quotes are not tweets but articles posted on the sites mentioned after the writer's names. It's funny that you're trying to change the context of the quotes though. They're pretty direct quotes with no gray area to try & figure out what they mean & they agree with my initial impressions.

It's completely irrelevant whether they're tweets or quotes form artciles. They're overwhelmingly irrelevant to the discussion period. I'm not changing the context of the quotes, you just don't understand the context. They each refer to a moment in the game that took place after the 27th minute when we shifted to a 4-4-2 and Pulisic switched from playing the CAM to LM. I don't know how you don't get that.

I disagree with your claim that Pulisic's touch was too heavy when playing CAM. You posting media reactions to moments in the game that took place after the positional change don't support your claim. They're not in agreement with your claim because they don't apply to the time period in the match that we're discussing, the first 25 minutes of the first half, when Pulisic was playing CAM.

Like i said, every touch Pulisic had in the entire match is there to see. You're statement that Pulisic's touch was too heavy when he played CAM vs Mexico is incorrect.

Merry Christmas to you too though man.

 

[rck3sactown]

guys please, 

it's barely December, lets give it at least another 2 or 3 weeks before wishing Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

 

[northoaklandfc]

I figured reciprocate the cordiality.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

I start saying Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays the moment Dec hits... US soccer's YT site been streaming games for the youth teams. U17 is beating Brazil 84 mins in... Don't like the socks the Brazil team is wearing...

 

[rck3sactown]

U17 did tidy work against Portugal and Turkey... think we beat them by a combined 12-1 score

 

[northoaklandfc]

The U17's three performances dating back to last week were impressive indeed. I was able to catch all three games and i can't recall a better performance at these friendlies. Not familiar with Brazil's squad but Portugal and Turkey fielded very similar line ups to their last round of Euro U17 Championship qualifiers in the fall.

Definitely the most complete team I've seen us put together at the USMNT U17 level. Last cycles team with Pulisic, Joshua Perez, Haji Wright and Zenedajas had more elite individual talent but also had more holes.

This current group isn't lacking for individual talent either. Atlanta United's Andrew Carleton is a player full of potential. The comparisons to Pulisic at the U15 and U17 level dating back the last couple of years are more than warranted.

 

[Armada]

 [h1]U.S. SOCCER BOARD OF DIRECTORS GRANTS PROVISIONAL DIVISION II STATUS TO NASL AND USL[/h1][h2]TEAMS WILL BE REQUIRED TO MEET ADDITIONAL CRITERIA TO CREATE LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY[/h2]
Jan 6, 2017

---

CHICAGO (Jan. 6, 2017) – The U.S. Soccer Board of Directors voted today to grant provisional Division II status to the North American Soccer League (NASL) and United Soccer League (USL) for the 2017 season.

The board carefully considered the applications of each league. While neither league meets all the standards set forth by U.S. Soccer, the board granted provisional Division II status and will work with the leagues on a pathway to full compliance. The board also determined that the leagues will be required to meet additional criteria

“After an exhaustive process working with both leagues, in the best interest of the sport the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors has decided to grant provisional Division II status to the NASL and USL,” said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. “U.S. Soccer will create an internal working group that will work with each league to set a pathway to meet the full requirements for Division II and allow for the larger goal of creating a sustainable future. We look forward to another productive year for professional soccer in this country.”

U.S. Soccer will determine the additional requirements and a timeline for completion in the coming weeks.  

STATEMENTS FROM USL AND NASL

USL CEO Alec Papadakis
“We would like to thank U.S. Soccer for taking the time to work through this process and provide us with provisional sanctioning for Division II in 2017. We welcome the opportunity to work closely with U.S. Soccer to meet all the Division II standards in the near future and continue to be part of the impressive growth of the sport in the United States.”

North Carolina FC Owner Steve Malik
“The NASL Board of Governors and I support the USSF’s decision to grant the league provisional Division 2 status. We’re excited about the eight teams beginning play in April, and we look forward to the continued growth of our league and soccer in the U.S.”

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...rovisional-division-ii-status-to-nasl-and-usl

 

[Armada]

 

[rck3sactown]

Rumblings of Pro/Rel system for the new div 2, whatever happens with USL and NASL

 

[deepinthajeep]

^ I'd love to see it but it'll never happen anytime soon.

Let's do some 'who do you want the starting 11 to be vs. Honduras'?

_____________Guzan_______________
Yedlin___Brooks___Cameron___F. Johnson
____________Bradley______________
Kljestan_____Feilhaber______Pulisic
________Wood_____________________
_____________Altidore______________

 

[rck3sactown]

^ I'd love to see it but it'll never happen anytime soon.

it'll be a self contained pro/rel system within the 2nd Div... assuming in 2018 USL/NASL partner together and the league becomes 40ish teams.

 

[rck3sactown]

will Hamid ever be healthy for a US camp?

D.C. United's Bill Hamid scratched from #usmnt camp with knee injury https://t.co/rjRNbp3FnP #dcu #mls
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) January 10, 2017

 

[mastamind89]

@NatsAbroad US U20 winger Isaiah Young signs with Werder Bremen in Germany. The former @PDASoccer & @PhilaUnionYouth star spent last year at Wake Forest

 

[sonoftony]

So guise, what y'all think about the roster?

 

[rck3sactown]

So guise, what y'all think about the roster?

I mean, its just a January camp roster 

 

[rck3sactown]

 

[DeadsetAce]

Rimando

 

[DeadsetAce]

good to see Nagbe out there. still waiting to drop Bradley

 

[noskey]

Nagbe got the juice now