US Nations League

The men are back in action tonight vs Grenada (TNT at 5 PT). Weah just got hurt so he’s not there. Pepi and Miles Robinson back. Zendejas has made the switch. However the biggest stories; Gio is back in the fold as the circus is still going on, and from the Twitter-verse. Folarin Balogun (who is hedging on where he’s going to play), declined to play for the U21 English due to an ‘injury’, but spotted in Orlando to check things out. He grew up w/Musah in the Arsenal Academy, and currently is tearing up Ligue 1 w/17 goals in 27 matches.

 

Managed to catch 35 min, so can’t comment on Dike’s or Zendajas performance, but Pepi looks to have his confidence back (3 goals in the 2 games), nice run from a good thru ball from Westin and strong armed the defender and nice chip over the Goalie. The El Salvador GK did make 2 good saves to keep him off the scoreboard again. Thought Taylor Booth looked very lively off the bench, and it appears Balogun is a real possibility to play for us.

 

The match was a win, a clean sheet and otherwise fairly pedestrian. I'll take it though (you know, as opposed to Concacaf scenes of days gone by...). And the news on Adams is not good. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65102892

 

How ridiculous is it that, as an American citizen, I can easily watch Canada play Panama on cable television but need to pay for a niche streaming service to watch the USA versus Mexico match?

Oh, and it is the debut match for one of the most hyped US players in years. Great job US Soccer. Maybe you should wait another year or two to hire a coach. Actually, you’ll probably already do that anyway.

Sometimes I find it really hard to get behind the national teams.

 

Watched it on the Spanish language channel and it was a wild one. I will NOT shell out for Paramount Plus just like I won't shell out for AppleTV to watch MLS. A really bad move to put these games behind a paywall. Instead of building an audience they're chasing people away.

 

We usually agree on stuff, but I actually like Paramount+! It is $60 a month and has all the European tournaments and almost all the USMNT CONCACAF matches. That seems like a bargain to me especially since I gave up traditional cable decades ago and couldn't see most of that football coverage there anyway.

Oh, yeah and there was a soccer match! Yea USA!!

 

Unfortunately the final is also being broadcast on Paramount+ so I’ll miss this as well.

I’m curious to see how it shakes out. Canada was by far the best team in WCQ but fizzled out at the tournament. Have they regained their mojo? I see this as a tight affair though Canada have to feel good about the absence of Dest on Alphonso Davies side.

I was concerned Thursday about the defense without Adams sitting in front of them, but I guess I didn’t need to be. I’m again concerned, this time due to Dest and McKennie not playing. I suppose Joe Scally would be a natural replacement for Dest, especially with his experience in the Bundesliga. I’d also throw De la Torre in the middle and see how he and Musah can control the midfield and link up with the forwards.

Let’s get another trophy.

 

That was a great performance from the US last night. My first thought was "Should Callaghan have gotten the head coach job? Do we have to see Berhalter again?" Callaghan overcame a number of key injuries and called on two guys, Reyna and Scally, who Berhalter had put aside. Under Callaghan they put in excellent performances and made you wonder why we hadn't seen more of them before. Callaghan also went for the kill and made this a fun match to watch for the first 65 minutes. They didn't park the bus until well into the second half. The US also scored from a set piece for the first time in forever and looked dangerous on a number of other set pieces - how much of that was Callaghan? Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but I sure liked this better than Berhalter.

Of course Berhalter didn't have Balogun and he seems like the real deal. Hopefully this wasn't just a one-match flash of brilliance not to be seen again.

Robinson did a great job too. He seemed to have a better sense than the Canadian players of where the ball was going to go once they got into the box.

The only negative thing I have to say is that the attendance was pretty sad at that game. I think they would have gotten better support in Columbus.

One other sad thought, I realized how much I'm going to miss Don's input on the USMNT.