WCQ: USA vs Canada - Sunday, Sept 5th, 8pm Eastern / 5pm Pacific - Nashville

[RS]

14 minutes ago, frmr said:

Then why didn't Herdman call him up? Tesho is not at a level where he can be any sort of threat to a team like US. At that level, he's just a body, which is pretty much all he showed when he came on against Mexico. No offense to Tesho but he's not the type of player that you bring on when you're looking to threaten a full strength USA at home.

 

7 minutes ago, Floortom said:

If Herdman wanted to call Tesho, or anyone else, he would have done so last week. I don’t see why everyone keeps talking about the “taxi squad” like it actually exists. Barring injuries, this seems to be the roster he’s rolling with.

You guys are both correct, but there's nothing stopped Herdman from calling anyone else in if he wanted to.

All I'm saying is that it's what I'd do if I were him. Tesho's not the greatest but bringing him aboard and having him play ~45 minutes is better than running Larin and David into the ground ahead of a pretty crucial home game against El Salvador.

(@frmr Tesho did force a pretty good save out of the Mexican 'keeper so it's not like he was purely a spectator out there.)

[kacbru]

9 minutes ago, Floortom said:

If Herdman wanted to call Tesho, or anyone else, he would have done so last week. I don’t see why everyone keeps talking about the “taxi squad” like it actually exists. Barring injuries, this seems to be the roster he’s rolling with.

Exactly this. The taxi squad is made up BS. For whatever reason, they have decided they only need 22 fit players. 

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

2 hours ago, Sal333 said:

In another thread I expressed my concern with not having enough time to acclimatize most of our players to the current time zone.....The team looked uncoordinated, disjointed and listless. I've never seen this core make so many failed passes and take so many missed shots. I'm positive we'll see a completely different team on Sunday.

The problem is the USA have more depth than us and rotated players more. Dest didn't play a full match for them. David and Davies played full matches for us.

That initial jetlag will be less relevant now.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[narduch]

5 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The problem is the USA have more depth than us and rotated players more. Dest didn't play a full match for them. David and Davies played full matches for us.

That initial jetlag will be less relevant now.

The US made 5 subs yesterday 

[Obinna]

52 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The problem is the USA have more depth than us and rotated players more. Dest didn't play a full match for them. David and Davies played full matches for us.

That initial jetlag will be less relevant now.

Reyna played a full game though, so did Adams and McKennie (who also picked up a yellow). That's arguably 3 of their 4 most important players going the distance. 

You could argue that 4 of our most important 4 played 90 minutes, so not saying our situation is better, but if you consider best vs best their shouldn't be a big difference in terms of freshness. 

I can see wholesale changes from both managers for Sunday.

Edit: For what it's worth, Dest was terrible last night. Just as bad as Buchanan, if not worse. Dribbling his way out of trouble, but turning over the ball in the process, etc. If he plays like that against us we probably want him on the field, to be honest. 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Obinna

[mrstepp817]

2 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Reyna played a full game though, so did Adams and McKennie (who also picked up a yellow). That's arguably 3 of their 4 most important players going the distance. 

You could argue that 4 of our most important 4 played 90 minutes, so not saying our situation is better, but if you consider best vs best their shouldn't be a big difference in terms of freshness. 

I can see wholesale changes from both managers for Sunday.

To me Adams is by far the US's most important player....when he's in and playing well the US is a different team...will be interesting to see if Berhalter plays him or sits him to try and go 90 at Honduras...

We do know Pulisic and Brooks will likely be in the lineup since Pulisic didnt make the trip and Brooks didnt play yesterday

[Obinna]

1 minute ago, mrstepp817 said:

To me Adams is by far the US's most important player....when he's in and playing well the US is a different team...will be interesting to see if Berhalter plays him or sits him to try and go 90 at Honduras...

We do know Pulisic and Brooks will likely be in the lineup since Pulisic didnt make the trip and Brooks didnt play yesterday

Americans seem to expect both to be available. Whether they both start is another matter, but it seems that Pulisic is more questionable in that regard.

As for Adams, I find it hard to disagree. He wore the armband last night. Big decision for Berhalter, because their toughest match is Honduras away and you'll want Adams for that, I imagine. He may go with Acosta in his place, with Roldan and Lletget ahead of him, all players who subbed on against the Salvadorians. 

I suspect we will counter with Kaye-Oso-Piette, with Eustaquio for Piette at some point. So basically, fresh against fresh in the middle of the park.

Up front we may go with Junior and give one of David and Larin a break, but we'll see. In the back I expect Kennedy for Miller, with Henry coming in for Vitoria or Johnston, depending on who needs the rest more. I get the feeling Laryea plays at RWB and Adekugbe at LWB.

This is where I think we could have used ZBG to give Laryea a break, but oh well. Herdman chose not to call him for his own reasons, so he must be convinced by whatever plan he's devised for this one. 

[mrstepp817]

1 hour ago, Obinna said:

Americans seem to expect both to be available. Whether they both start is another matter, but it seems that Pulisic is more questionable in that regard.

As for Adams, I find it hard to disagree. He wore the armband last night. Big decision for Berhalter, because their toughest match is Honduras away and you'll want Adams for that, I imagine. He may go with Acosta in his place, with Roldan and Lletget ahead of him, all players who subbed on against the Salvadorians. 

I suspect we will counter with Kaye-Oso-Piette, with Eustaquio for Piette at some point. So basically, fresh against fresh in the middle of the park.

Up front we may go with Junior and give one of David and Larin a break, but we'll see. In the back I expect Kennedy for Miller, with Henry coming in for Vitoria or Johnston, depending on who needs the rest more. I get the feeling Laryea plays at RWB and Adekugbe at LWB.

This is where I think we could have used ZBG to give Laryea a break, but oh well. Herdman chose not to call him for his own reasons, so he must be convinced by whatever plan he's devised for this one. 

I agree I think Berhalter sits Adams and rests him for a tough away game in Honduras...I would expect Junior to start and give David/Larin a break....Davies might get the break in the third game...if Canada won last night I think Davies gets the break Sunday....

[SpursFlu]

I'm not sure David needs a break. He might have had 5 touches last night

[frmr]

I wouldn’t be surprised if we leaned on all of our big guns again. I’m sure Herdman has all of the latest recovery techniques in full swing right now and I would be surprised if he didn’t go all out for a win Sunday. Kennedy for Miller and Kaye for Buchanan. Maybe Hoilett for Larin. 

[Ansem]

I'm hoping for the 4-2-2-2

Take away the midfield from the Americans

Split Davies and Buchanan's time while playing up front with David splitting his time with Hoilett 

Eustaquio / Kaye / Osorio/ Wotherspoon at midfield.  

Adekugbe on the left

Kennedy & Vitoria central duo

Johnston on the right

Stick with Borjan

[dyslexic nam]

I think we go back to the 3-5-2, with a primary focus on defence from the outside mids.  Puts an extra body in central mid which worked much better than the 2 against Honduras, and we have enough pace on the outside to help out on both ends of the park.  Would result in better service for the forwards, and I think we would still be solid enough in defence.  

[dyslexic nam]

…and this is what it would look like.  A couple of undecided spots - outside right and an attacking mid.  

Both Buchanan and Laryea could play outside on the right.  I wouldn’t be opposed to giving Buchanan another chance but he did look like the first game took its toll so Laryea could slot in to start.  Laryea may also have the edge when it comes to defensive play.   And if Tajon really is hurt, I would have called ZBG into the squad for coverage in that role - I think he would be absolutely solidly going both ways.

I am also torn between Oso or Junior as an attacking mid.  I know Junior often comes off the bench but he seems to get supercharged playing for us and is very often among our best players so I would be tempted to start him.  Having said that, Oso is always class for us too and I would be totally comfortable having him start so that we could sub Junior into any of a number of attaching roles if we needed to go for it later on.

One that is easy for me is starting Kennedy over Miller.  I respect that Herdman felt the need to play Kamal as a reward for his solid GC play, but he just wasn’t up to it last night.  Kennedy starts on the left for me.  

[Floortom]

^ likely will be way more squad rotation imo.
I would be shocked if both David and Larin started again..and Vitoria likely can’t do this short a turnaround against a top team like the US IMO.

[dyslexic nam]

1 minute ago, Floortom said:

^ likely will be way more squad rotation imo.
I would be shocked if both David and Larin started again..and Vitoria likely can’t do this short a turnaround against a top team like the US IMO.

That is fair.  I guess I wasn’t thinking too much of that.  Henry for Vitoria?  Hoilett for David?  

[narduch]

 

[SpursFlu]

My personal opinion is everyone needs to dial down the Buchanan hype. I really like the kid but I saw people saying the equivalent of.. if I know one thing, Buchanan needs to be on the field. This not true but I think unfortunately Herdman bought in to this. The kids great I like him but unfortunately for him he occupies the same space on the field as Davies and David. And I dont care how crazy you get with your formation, he's not a full back. 

The majority of our offense in the first have boiled down to Davies going Davies. When Hoilett came in it was night and day. We finally had a link up between two holding mids and our forwards. I think we have 3 players that can do that. Hoilett, Arfield & Osorio. People talk like David can do that but he had a chance last night and didn't. I saw Larin try more but he wasn't effective 

Edited September 4, 2021 by SpursFlu

[EJsens1]

Just don’t give up a goal in the first 2 minutes like the last 2 games against the States on their soil 

[SthMelbRed]

12 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

Putting it here because this is the “looking forward” post.  

I get that the result last night sucked, but trying to find the silver lining(s) and maintaining a bit of optimism is my emotional coping mechanism.  With 13 games to go, it is far too early to declare defeat and drop our heads.  It will ruin the entire campaign that is to come.  

So the points dropped last night may come back to haunt us.  But as disappointed as I am, I am choosing not to focus on that right now.  There is too much depression behind that door.  As @gator said, the real time for panic will be if we can’t beat ES at home.

It doesn’t change any of the legitimate criticism that can be made about last night’s performance, but for now, let’s throw on those rose coloured glasses and go to the US with some self confidence and self belief.   

Come on you Reds!

If those 2 points are going to cost us ultimate qualification, we won't know that until Matchday 14. We can either move on and support the team in the meantime, or can be miserable cunts and ruin the journey. It's all about what kind of person you want to be.

[BearcatSA]

4 hours ago, Floortom said:

^ likely will be way more squad rotation imo.
I would be shocked if both David and Larin started again..and Vitoria likely can’t do this short a turnaround against a top team like the US IMO.

I anticipate them making a fair number of changes because the bigger match is securing the full points vs ES with the guys who can generate the offence.  Both Kaye and Osorio could see the start in Nashville.

[Sal333]

11 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

…and this is what it would look like.  A couple of undecided spots - outside right and an attacking mid.  

Both Buchanan and Laryea could play outside on the right.  I wouldn’t be opposed to giving Buchanan another chance but he did look like the first game took its toll so Laryea could slot in to start.  Laryea may also have the edge when it comes to defensive play.   And if Tajon really is hurt, I would have called ZBG into the squad for coverage in that role - I think he would be absolutely solidly going both ways.

I am also torn between Oso or Junior as an attacking mid.  I know Junior often comes off the bench but he seems to get supercharged playing for us and is very often among our best players so I would be tempted to start him.  Having said that, Oso is always class for us too and I would be totally comfortable having him start so that we could sub Junior into any of a number of attaching roles if we needed to go for it later on.

One that is easy for me is starting Kennedy over Miller.  I respect that Herdman felt the need to play Kamal as a reward for his solid GC play, but he just wasn’t up to it last night.  Kennedy starts on the left for me.  

Herdman may not use the same players as you suggested but what I really like about your formation is that third midfielder. One of the problems with Thurday's starting 11 was the lack of that 3rd midfielder. This team has a powerful attacking group but the midfield is the engine that propels them forward. We, as fans, forget that our midfield is the secret sauce to our offense but that's only when we have 3 midfielders.

[narduch]

Atiba flew with the team to Nashville.

[Unnamed Trialist]

45 minutes ago, narduch said:

Atiba flew with the team to Nashville.

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[JamesW]

Was feeling crushed after Thursday but back to feeling positive. Nothing lost and we can do this...

I'd like to see us play defensive tomorrow with as much of a B squad that we can cobble together at this point. If we have a shot at a point/3 points with 30 mins left throw the kitchen sink at it. Based on what we saw at the Gold Cup, the subs we have can keep it close. No reason to chase a game that we don't need to win.

If we loose nothing lost and we can focus on El Salvador which is the must win. If we go for this game it is just an ego thing that could really hurt us on Wednesday.

We are thin on options up front aren't we? (when we played 5 attackers on Thursday with few subs made and our other called forward is coming off injury)

[VinceA]

12 hours ago, EJsens1 said:

Just don’t give up a goal in the first 2 minutes like the last 2 games against the States on their soil 

We need to kick off first. When the US starts with possession they are licking their lips.