I’m not sure how I’m feeling about the situation right now. We’ll check back in when the final roster is announced, but this last window did not provide a wealth of warm fuzzies. Yes the team played two top European teams, but all this makes me think is that getting out of the group may be this team’s ceiling.
Pochettino screwed the lineup against Portugal. He took a team that struggles for goals and didn’t start a single striker. No offense the Pulisic, but I’m surprised that they had any chances on net.
As much as I love Ream, it’s not promising that he is most likely one of the starting central defenders.
They should make it out of the group, but anything beyond that will be a surprise to me.
I’m not sure how I’m feeling about the situation right now. We’ll check back in when the final roster is announced, but this last window did not provide a wealth of warm fuzzies. Yes the team played two top European teams, but all this makes me think is that getting out of the group may be this team’s ceiling.
Pochettino screwed the lineup against Portugal. He took a team that struggles for goals and didn’t start a single striker. No offense the Pulisic, but I’m surprised that they had any chances on net.
As much as I love Ream, it’s not promising that he is most likely one of the starting central defenders.
They should make it out of the group, but anything beyond that will be a surprise to me.
My thoughts exactly. My optimism is gone.
I'm also worried about the US and doubt they will go far. They have a very favorable set-up, but that just makes it feel like they'll blow it. Their Group D competition isn't great - Turkiye, Paraguay, and Australia - so they should at least make it out of the group. If they win the group they are one of the 8 out of 12 first place finishers who get to face a third place team. There are some scary possibilities in that potential third place team (Norway? Senegal? Japan? Sweden?), but generally a better option than facing a runner-up. If they are the runner-up in Group D then they would face the runner up of Group G - probably Egypt, Iran, or New Zealand. Who knows if Iran will play in the tournament, but that possible matchup on July 3 would certainly be the most newsworthy of the round of 32. Either way of getting out of the group stage, the US should be well positioned to win their second knock-out game ever. Despite those advantages I still don't think this team will do it. They just haven't shown a recent ability to play well as a team despite individual talent that is pretty good.