US vs Mexico & Uraguay

USA vs Mexico at 7:30 EST and not a peep on the board! Time to fix that. Three first time call-ups in Dest, Robinson and Pomykal. Personally, I am hoping to get a good long look at both Sargent and Dest in both matches. Mexico has called in a stronger roster than they had in the Gold Cup so The US had better come ready to play.

U.S. MNT ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; CAPS/GOALS):
GOALKEEPERS (4): Jesse Gonzalez (FC Dallas; 0/0), Brad Guzan (Atlanta United FC; 60/0), Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 8/0), Zack Steffen (Fortuna Düsseldorf/GER; 15/0)

DEFENDERS (9): John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 37/3), Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas; 6/0), Sergiño Dest (Ajax/NED; 0/0), Nick Lima (San Jose Earthquakes; 7/0), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 11/2),Daniel Lovitz (Montreal Impact/CAN; 8/0),) Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 35/1), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United FC; 0/0), Walker Zimmerman (LAFC; 10/2)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 9/2), Weston McKennie (Schalke/GER; 14/3), Alfredo Morales (Fortuna Düsseldorf/GER; 13/0), Paxton Pomykal (FC Dallas; 0/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC; 15/0), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 19/0), Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; 1/0)

FORWARDS (6): Corey Baird (Real Salt Lake; 3/0), Tyler Boyd (Besiktas/TUR; 5/2), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC; 33/5), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 31/13), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/GER; 7/2), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew SC; 51/10)

 

I hope Dest clicks (somewhere Neven Subotic is whistling). Jackson Yueill is a big reason the Quakes sit #4 in the West (did I just write that??? Wrong thread...) and I hope he gets in the match.

Always excited for US v. Mexico, and if the US can avoid an extended stinky stretch of play (see the first 20-30 minutes of the second half of the Gold Cup Final), they'll be in this match (that's top notch analysis right there).

 

Subotic is back in the Bundesliga with Union Berlin I think.

 

The Uruguay game will be a homecoming for Ream and Sargent. Both of them grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis. It's hard to believe Sargent has gone from being paraded around before a St. Louis FC game a couple years ago, as a 17 year old highly touted prospect, to now coming back and playing for the National Team at Busch. He's accomplished a lot in the last two years. Hopefully the best is yet to come.

 

I feel like I'm always focusing on who's not there. I'm excited for Dest and Sargent, but don't get why others like Baird and Lovitz are there. Hopefully it's just that I'm not that knowledgeable regarding the MLS, but I just haven't bought into these guys yet.

All that aside, I'm always excited for USA vs Mexico. Let's go USA!!

 

Sorry the game is 7:30 CST not EST

 

^

I had the sound off, so I'm not sure what the commentators thought about the match. But BarryWhite was right. From the beginning it was clear that the advantage in quality belonged to Mexico as they faced off against no less than 3 Columbus Crew players (next to last in the Eastern MLS table).

As is often the case in such situations, the scoreline didn't look too bad for quite a while. It would have looked even closer if that late PK had been made.

Berhalter doesn't get a passing grade this time primarily due to the lack of effective in-game management. Dest got burned on the first goal, but otherwise showed promise. Pulisic showed energy and tried to do it on his own. Morales could have been subbed after taking a swing at an opponent; instead he hit the post and then got scorched by Lozano which resulted in Mexico's third goal. Sargent missed a PK with $73M man Pulisic on the field. Ream was not played. 'Nuff said.

 

What you didn't hear with the sound off was that Pulisic gave the ball to Sargent.

A couple things that I learned from this match.
-Berhalter is more concerned about his system than winning matches at this point (which isn't necessarily a bad thing)
-The Mexico national team is far better than an MLS all-star team
-Playing three defensive mids creates a gap between them and the front line
-The US still does not have a proper striker

 

With a few players already headed back to their clubs, it looks like Dest and Sargent will get some more time on the ball against Uruguay tomorrow. Would love to see them play an aggressive first half and gain some confidence against what is a pretty damn good team (even without Suarez and Cavani).

 

Really disappointed to see Roldan over Pomykal in this match.

 

Me, too. Getting a draw against Uruguay is a moral (or morale) victory for sure, but the US needs opportunistic players like Pomykal in the final third. He showed his creativity in just the few minutes he was allowed.

 

It was kind of a blah match. Nothing to get excited about and nothing to be overly upset about.

 

Ream and Jordan Morris were the two positives for me with Long and Boyd probably the two first mentions for preferring to put the night behind them and move on.