USMNT - November '20 Friendlies

Wales, followed by Panama (!!!!). Roster is based entirely of non-MLSers and new, young folks. Learned that Werder will not release Sargent and Pulisic is among the injured and iffy (Adams did see time this week in the UCL). Given the number of forwards, it looks like the trusty 3-2-5 formation successfully employed by Grimsby Town in their 1902 championship campaign will be mimicked by the US.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge/BEL; 4/0), Chituru Odunze (Leicester City/ENG; 0/0), Zack Steffen (Manchester City/ENG; 17/0)

DEFENDERS (7): John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 38/3), Reggie Cannon (Boavista/POR; 10/0), Sergino Dest (Barcelona/ESP; 3/0), Matt Miazga (Anderlecht/BEL; 18/1), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 40/1), Chris Richards (Bayern Munich/GER; 0/0), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 7/0)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig/GER; 10/1), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA;0/0), Richard Ledezma (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 0/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 19/6), Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 0/0), Owen Otasowie (Wolverhampton/ENG; 0/0)

FORWARDS (8): Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona/ESP; 0/0), Nicholas Gioacchini (Caen/FRA; 0/0), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 34/14), Uly Llanez (Heerenveen/NED; 1/1), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 0/0), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/GER; 12/5), Sebastian Soto (Telstar/NED; 0/0), Tim Weah (Lille/FRA; 8/1)


https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-...-reynadestkonradmusah-in-exciting-young-squad

 

I'm oddly excited for these games.

 

Sebastian Lleget replacing Sargent. It will be interesting to see who and how the team lines up. It’s unfortunate that Pulisic is injured (again) since this is likely another missed opportunity to have Pulisic, Adams and McKennie on the pitch together.

 

Looks like Pulisic was allowed to participate in four days of the US camp but has now returned to London.

The match will be at 2:45 EST tomorrow and be televised on ... (checks notes) ... Univision NOW? Apparently this is a streaming service that is available through most cable providers but you must have a cable plan that includes Univision ... I think.

I'm a bit bummed that I won't likely see it but I'll be following. There's a lot of new talent to check out.

 

Last I saw it

Last night it was listed as being broadcast on FS1. Hope it hasn’t changed or no dvr for me.

edit: USA Today says FS1 or UniMas in Spanish.

 

It will be interesting to see who gets the bulk of attacking minutes with no Pulisic or Sergant.

 

Yes, FS1 is more like it. I guess I need better sources for my notes.

 

Only saw the score, anybody stand out?

 

I found myself waiting for #8 to come slashing into the box to pounce on some of those nifty crosses we were able to get in...except the #8 I was hoping for ain't wearing it no more. On the whole, a decent effort by the youngsters but, like Don said, a second string Wales side, at best. But you don't get better by not playing, so we acquitted ourselves well, I thought. It still looks like, as is has to me for decades, that we don't seem to know how to play together as quickly as other international sides do. I don't know why that is, but it always seems our collective timing is off by just that tick of a second (or longer) than the rest of the planet when the international breaks begin. Everybody else just seems to get out of the box quicker than we do. I do think the netminder's job is Steffen's to lose. The rest of the lineup is pretty fluid as far as I'm concerned.

 

Second string Wales side is a fair enough comment but I think it’s also fair to say it was at best a half to two-thirds first string US squad that bossed most of the match. McKinnie, Adams and Brooks all shined and I thought Dest looked like the best player on the pitch.

Musah was the best 17 year old. I’m a big fan of Reyna but thought he really suffered from not having an out-and-out striker to play off. He still had good moments but he has more in his bag.

Unfortunately, I do think Robinson did not shine. Too many loose touches and easy giveaways. He did show good recovery speed and was paired with Konrad who did not really impact the match so it was disappointing but not awful for me.

 

Panama created too many chances, even though their second goal looked way offsides, but all
In all the youngsters looked good. That fact that Musah even came to our camp says we got a shot. Hopefully he got along w/his peers and they forged a relationship, and will stay in touch going back to their home clubs. That kid has pace, touch, and lived up to the hype.

Hoping going forward we see Brooks and Miazga together to see if that works (similar players so it makes me worried). Portugal has done Reggie Cannon well, thought he looked good. Dest is a beast, Adams needs to play better, Winston is coming into his own, and a couple goals from Soto and Gioacchini was nice to see.

The biggest question, is Gregg Berhalter the right guy? He coached up a low budget Columbus side w/an intricate system that was about the sum of the parts. In this job he has a stable of thoroughbreds that need to be unleashed on Concacaf, will he adapt??

 

If only we DID have a Darth of attacking players - we'd be winning 6-2 all the time!

 

I got to see a good bit of this match. The first half was pleasant, though I got a bit worried early in the second. It looked like the US stopped taking Panama very seriously and subsequently was under attack the entire time leading up to their second goal. Thankfully the US responded and pushed forward with a few late goals. I feel a little for Gioacchini after he blew a hat trick with that poor penalty. Otherwise he looked like a predator in front of the net. I second the praise for Dest, McKennie and Musah. @SoCalJoe I think the biggest question is not whether Berhalter is the man for the job, but how does he mix the team together? He's put together vastly different teams recently, one made of MLS guys and now one made of US players in Europe. What combination is best sum of the parts? And will he be able to get them to gel immediately or at least at the right time?

 

I noticed the immediate change in the US defensive pressure in the second half of both matches. Multiple questions for me including whether the opposition made good adjustments that the US needed time to catch up with or if the pressing effort in the first half took a toll and slowed the US in the second half. It could be either, neither or a combination of things. I'd be interested to hear Berhalter's take on this.

McKinnie was pretty easily the best player across both matches for me followed by Dest and then Adams. Adams could clean up some of his passing but the defensive work he put in behind McKinnie and Musah was outstanding for me and the ball he put through for McKinnie's cross to Miazga was the through ball of the night. I think I forgot what it was like to have defensive midfielder that could conver that much of the pitch. I'm curious Joe, what part of his game do you think Adams needs to improve?

For those that only played a single match I will single out Brooks as the outstanding one-shot performer. His range of passing is outstanding and I sometimes forget how good he is. I'd almost like to see a stalwart defender next to Brooks but I doubt that is not going to be Berhalter's choice. If it were up to me and there was time to spare I'd give Zimmerman an extended run next to Brooks and see what comes of it.

Musah, we all know his name now. I didn't know it before last week and I follow the US youngsters pretty closely. I will say this, the future is bright whether he decides for the US or not because there are more midfielders in the pipeline like Aaronson and Pomykal (if he can get healthy) but this is one I'd love to see in a US kit. I don't think his debut was a fluke and I think his talent floor may be higher than most and his ceiling is exciting to think about.

I've heard a lot of speculation from pundits that Cannon's performance put him ahead of Robinson as a starter and I do like Cannon but it is not close to fair to compare any performance from the match against Wales to the match against this Panama team. Its like comparing apples to rotten oranges in my opinion. Chin up Antonee and go get'em next time.

Random musings:

McKinnie's Italian hand wag made me laugh.

Has the US forgot how to produce international quality center backs?

Reyna will never let Giocchini take another penalty kick without first learning McKinnie's hand wag.

Ledezma can certainly put in a pretty cross but can he do anything else? I certainly hope so!

Altidore must be wiping the drool off his chin watching the possession the youngsters are maintaining around the box but will he ever be healthy enough to get on the field with them for an extended run?

Dest will eventually challenge Dempsey for the title of US Sauce and Sass Master.

Sebastian Soto. I've heard the hype for years since his time with Arsenal's youth but can he spin the talent into a starting role somewhere?

I hope the youngsters can take the kicking coming their way in CONCACAF. Good news for Pulisic is he won't be the only target any longer.

 

I fear that Robinson is ending up being one of those guys that just can't seem to produce for the national team. We've all seen his quality this year and I've followed him a bit in the lower tiers for a couple of years. But every time he's put on the USA kit, he's struggled. And it's frustrated the hell out of me.

 

Not really germane to the topic, but did anybody see the beat down the Spaniards put on Die Mannschaft in Seville? Lawd, 6-nil. Manuel Neuer looked like the little boy who had his tricycle stolen. He hasn’t seen six go past him in a really long time, I’m guessing. Jogi Low’s got some splainin’ to do.