2016 Centennial Copa America

This may not be the best thread to post this, but it didn't seem worthy of its own thread, so I'm hijacking this one...

Christian Pulisic is from nearby Hershey, PA so one of the local stations did a story on him. The story is fine, but what caught my eye was the finishing technique of the reporter as she wrapped things up (54 seconds in). Nice ball handling, but I'd like to see a little more power in the shot

 

• Good to see Panama get a win.
• Jamaica got absolutely hosed in a match they started off dominating w/a baffling red card.
• Argentina v Chile was a good as advertised.
• What a great time and match in Phoenix for Mexico v Uruguay. Only issue was knucklehead El Tri fans that throw water bottles after Uruguay scored. Asked my friends who find it embarrassing and only thing they say it's been engrained in the Mexican leagues so long it follows to national team.
As for the game, it had it all and was well worth dealing with the heat outside.

Must win tonight, hope Lax has a good time and gives us a report. I would be shocked if Fabian is back at LB again, take the gamble throw Edgar Castillo in, and hope he isn't a disaster and further hope FJ brings his class in the Costa Rica half. Big question for me is what to do with Michael Bradley? Any other player and we'd all be crying for him to be benched after his horrendous outing v Columbia.

 

Nagbe should start and Pulisic should be the first body off the bench if the score is tied or the US down. Time to get over losing to the #3 ranked team in the world.

 

How much do you want to bet that Bryan effin' Ruiz scores against us tonight?

 

I was worried when Dempsey stepped up to take the penalty kick, because he's missed a few over the years. This one was very well done, and everything flowed from there. The game could have gone in two completely different directions from that point. Nice win.

 

A hearty well done to every player in a US shirt last night. It wasn't a perfect match but it was highly enjoyable.

A few thoughts:

Dempsey still is the most competitive US player I've seen and that alone keeps him relevant.

If Zardes had touch he'd be __________. (filling in the blank - "extraordinary")

Fabian is our best left back. To put it in horse racing terms he'd win the Triple Crown against the field.

When Jermaine Jones is impactful the US is likely to win.

I completely agree with Don's comments regarding Cameron & Brooks.

The US bench provides more impact options than I can remember in a very long time. I no longer fear a big drop in play is likely.

Thoughts?

 

Spot on Barry about Clint and Jermaine. I agree that FJ is by far our best LB, it just sucks that the other options are keeping from his preferred spot.

Great performance aside they still need to get a result on Saturday. While the US has logged a bunch of miles (Santa Clara to Chicago to Philly) at least it's in one direction. Paraguay on the other hand must want to get ahold of the person who put together their itinerary (Orlando to Pasadena to Philly ).

 

Gonna be positive and enjoy the big win. Biggest plus from the night (drum roll, please)...A CLEAN SHEET! I will say, however, that even the most casual of soccer fans can surely see the obvious. Clint Dempsey is most effective as an attacking midfielder, even at his age. When he got the ball in the middle of the opponent's end with room to dribble at their goal, well, my heart rate went up and I sat forward in my La-Z-Boy. I don't know who our primary forward should be, but I know who should be a slightly withdrawn forward/primary attacking midfielder behind him....No. 8.

 

I missed the first half (and therefore pretty much all of the action), but caught the second half. I'm going to relish the win for now and hope for a positive result tomorrow. If anything, I'd like to see a consistent effort.

Travel for tournaments in the US is always an issue (and one of the main reasons that MLS has trouble recruiting players from Europe). Remember though, the US had the most travel miles of any team in Brazil and still made it out of the group.

Agree with Barry about the strength of the bench. What a great problem to have.

 

Before anything else I have to say how desicable the coverage of the US team by espn has been. I understand they're covering the Euros and God forbide they ever acknowledge a team shown on another channel, but the Sportscenter after the CR game went 20 minutes without a mention and all it showed was Clint's pk and the score...F Off to the four letter network.

Rant over. The game has the same storyline as before the tournament. No matter how good a win v Los Ticos it was, they must get a good tesult or JK has to go period.

 

HD, that looked like the Guzan who was Villa's player of the year a couple seasons, not the one who had been beaten down like everything and everyone else at that club this season.

We all love Yedlin, but dang that 2nd yellow was dumb. Just a heroic effort by all the guys the rest of the way.

Columbia's coach Jose Pekerman fell into one of the biggest traps in sports; his team beats the US by 2 goals, the US in turn beats Costa Rica by 4, so needing only a draw his over confidence gets the better of him and he makes 10 changes to his line-up..DOH!!! Bravo to Los Ticos for playing with pride and getting the deserved victory. The door opens up for the US to avoid Brazil in the quarterfinal.

 

Aside from Yedlin's rush of blood to the head (what the hell, what the hell??!!??), that back line and stopper were fantastic. Back to back clean sheets, top of the group and everything is comin' up Milhouse!!!

 

No Brazil in the knockout round?! Is that even allowed?

 

According to the 'Hand of the Incan God', Yes.

 

Who will start at RB? Cameron? Orozco? Birbuam? Ain't going to lie, this is when a true RB like a Eric Lichaj would be nice to have.

 

I hope the Brooks/Cameron pairing stays intact. I'm guessing we'll see Orozco in Yedlins place.

 

I also hope that JK maintains the same two center backs. I'm a bit concerned that nobody (outside of Yedlin) will be able to hang with Jefferson Montero. Has Jones been playing on the right in this 4-3-3? He's certainly not going to be able to provide track back support if the right back gets caught out.

That said, I'm guessing Orozco too.