USMNT - Turning Point?

p.s. I have no idea what they were doing with Steffen out there. He was really high which left him vulnerable to a chip but when the error occurred on the back pass or on the 3rd shot he just held there instead of trying to smother the ball. If you are going to play that high, you have to do it like Neuer does and play sweeper keeper. Steffen usually plays classically tight against the line. I can only think it's the US goalkeeper coaches that told him they wanted him there, maybe to support the backpass. It's not Steffen's style...if you are going to hold there in no man's land you need a keeper like De Gea that's really good with his footblocks. I haven't seen too much of him but Steffen strikes me as a hands keeper. Now they are sending him home early??? WTF are they doing back there.
 
Dominic said:
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That was a very hard game to watch. My 14 year old predicted that the US would lose 2-0 and he LOVES this team. The US seemed out of sync, out of sorts, and I'm out of excuses. I think it's time for the coach to go and maybe it's time for the US to do better at scouting players. Something has got to change!!!! :(:(:(
 
Maybe we should hire Blues Baker as head coach and go back to putting our biggest and best athletes out there and play long ball and defend and stop trying to play like the rest of the world does when obviously we aren't very good at it. I'm no soccer tactician that's probably a stupid idea.
 
It looked like the players won't play for Berhalter. Not buying the system, and he has no intensity. change the coach now, or suffer with this crap for years.
 
ToonArmy said:
Maybe we should hire Blues Baker as head coach and go back to putting our biggest and best athletes out there and play long ball and defend and stop trying to play like the rest of the world does when obviously we aren't very good at it. I'm no soccer tactician that's probably a stupid idea.
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Great insight :)
 
The players did not respect the process that selected him, nor the final selection of Berhalter. That the role is beyond his abilities has been obvious in nearly every game they have played under him. The idea that there are not a group of US players capable of playing his style is laughable, given we can all name a lineup of 11 US players who are playing a possession or counterattacking style right now on their club teams.

So let's look at some questionable lineup calls in this game -- Roldan, Lovitz, Bradley, Ream -- all turned out to be complete busts making predictable mistakes, and expose Berhalter's lack of soccer intelligence as a coach. Roldan should have seen the red card in the first half and should be a substitute getting experience, not a starter. Bradley still turns over the ball consistently in our half, something he has done his whole career. Lovitz would not start on a top MLS team and cannot defend at this level. Ream has always been smart but too slow to be a world-class center back, not just in speed, but in speed of play. Did Berhalter not look at Canada's roster before he made his selections, because the mismatches were obvious.

McKennie was all over the field trying his best to find the ball (when he can control his temper), but Sargent was clearly lost in the system. Pulisic is proving Lampard correct with his pouty attitude and AYSO-like strategy of trying to dribble past their entire team in the midfield and not passing. I would still say Long and Morris played well (as well as Steffen).

They can either bring back Bob Bradley, or find a foreign coach with international experience to take over. Berhalter has lost this team.
 
Dos Equis said:
The players did not respect the process that selected him, nor the final selection of Berhalter. That the role is beyond his abilities has been obvious in nearly every game they have played under him. The idea that there are not a group of US players capable of playing his style is laughable, given we can all name a lineup of 11 US players who are playing a possession or counterattacking style right now on their club teams.

So let's look at some questionable lineup calls in this game -- Roldan, Lovitz, Bradley, Ream -- all turned out to be complete busts making predictable mistakes, and expose Berhalter's lack of soccer intelligence as a coach. Roldan should have seen the red card in the first half and should be a substitute getting experience, not a starter. Bradley still turns over the ball consistently in our half, something he has done his whole career. Lovitz would not start on a top MLS team and cannot defend at this level. Ream has always been smart but too slow to be a world-class center back, not just in speed, but in speed of play. Did Berhalter not look at Canada's roster before he made his selections, because the mismatches were obvious.

McKennie was all over the field trying his best to find the ball (when he can control his temper), but Sargent was clearly lost in the system. Pulisic is proving Lampard correct with his pouty attitude and AYSO-like strategy of trying to dribble past their entire team in the midfield and not passing. I would still say Long and Morris played well (as well as Steffen).

They can either bring back Bob Bradley, or find a foreign coach with international experience to take over. Berhalter has lost this team.
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Good insight.

To me several of these players have no business being on the national team. Why we keep giving these players like Bradley, Ream, Yedlin, Zardes, and the like so many chances when they have failed soo many time to perform is nuts. If you been capped so many times yet can't perform why keep calling them back?

How many chances are too many, 10x or more? Hold the players accountable and expand the player pool by at least 2x. Go with the players doing well in the present not some past there prime or non performers. Cut & fill will some players who want it more not some causals like we have now.
 
Great article here explaining why this is happening. Berhalter is enamored with his pressing/possession based soccer approach. But the key problems: 1) the players he's selected don't play this system (the MLS is much more direct and those that know his system like Zardes aren't up to the level of international competition) and 2) the team doesn't have enough time to learn all the set pieces since team practice time is limited (unlike say Spanish tiki-taka teams that all grew up playing with each other in the academies, our players are from the a wide range of clubs and training purposes). I'd also add that unlike the Spanish US players don't grow up learning this style of play...I still see most youth teams I've observed in Socal reverting to much more direct soccer once the build-out-line gets removed and that's not going to get fixed without major adjustments by US Soccer (not arguing whether possession soccer is a good thing or not or that US Soccer should make such changes....just that the players don't and won't have the background to execute it given the current tendencies in US youth soccer).

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/10/usmnt-canada-gregg-berhalter
 
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