USA vs Germany
- Thread starter Fk_Pitt
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Man what a half. That was more entertaining than anything else we will see this weekend.
Our boys are all playing for their clubs (except Reyna) and look in top form. What a goal by Pulisic. That’s vintage Christian when he’s exploding off the dribble and running at backs with pace. Even a world class CB like Rudiger couldn’t do anything. When he’s doing that you know he’s in top form.
McKennie is so good when he’s in form. Weah’s pace is so dangerous and Musah is in the best form I’ve seen him in. Our little combo passes and 1-2’s in tight spaces have been great. And I’ll include Gio in there too even though he’s not playing much for club right now. I thought his play has been solid.
Our boys are all playing for their clubs (except Reyna) and look in top form. What a goal by Pulisic. That’s vintage Christian when he’s exploding off the dribble and running at backs with pace. Even a world class CB like Rudiger couldn’t do anything. When he’s doing that you know he’s in top form.
McKennie is so good when he’s in form. Weah’s pace is so dangerous and Musah is in the best form I’ve seen him in. Our little combo passes and 1-2’s in tight spaces have been great. And I’ll include Gio in there too even though he’s not playing much for club right now. I thought his play has been solid.
This USA Ghana match—
I guess Ghana decided not to show up.
It seems like every opportunity the US gets in this window, and during the World Cup, goes through Tim Weah.
Nice to see Gio get on the score sheet. Twice.
All of these years of talk about lack of a #9…I think we are good at the position.
I guess Ghana decided not to show up.
It seems like every opportunity the US gets in this window, and during the World Cup, goes through Tim Weah.
Nice to see Gio get on the score sheet. Twice.
All of these years of talk about lack of a #9…I think we are good at the position.
I was surprised it was in East Harford. The USMNT plays their sometimes but you'd think Germany would get a better venue (and bigger crowd). Could be just logistics. Germany may have demanded the Northeast to limit travel as they camped in Boston and played Mexico in Philly. MLB, NFL, and NCAA games may have limited other options. Would like to see Pgh get one of these games. Crazy that the USMNT has never played here. Wouldn't that help grow the game?
The US was legitimately better than Germany in the 1st Half so that was good to see. Ghana looked like they were auditioning for CONCACAF. That's a historically strong team but yikes! That indirect free kick goal situation was something you see in youth games.
Were the Hartford touch lines more narrow? It might have been the camera angle but it looked tight to me. And when you consider touch lines, that’s an obvious reason not to have Acrisure host a match. What would Pittsburgh draw for a match vs Germany? I’d say 40K.
Speaking of camera angles, I wish there was another one on that Pulisic goal where he was ruled offside. Looked like one of the backs far removed from the play might have held him on.
Pgh shouldn't host Germany but has to get a game at some point. I wonder if its the only "NFL city" to never host. Cant remember a game in Buffalo or Indianapolis. A game like Ghana would be an example of the type of game that should come to Pgh. My guess is that would draw 20K. It drew 18K in Nashville. Nashville is the better soccer city but USA/Ghana is kind of a nothing game for them since they have an MLS team and get US games fairly frequently
Regarding the game, I’m not going to say the US was better than Germany, as statistically they weren’t in the first half. They might have had the edge on corners but that’s about it. And yeah corners taken and conceded can sometimes tell the story. But I’ll just say it was an evenly played half as the 1-1 score indicated.
But when the 2nd half came, the 46th minute substitution of Luca for McKennie seemed to instantly changed the game. But that’s what happens in friendlies. And of course Tyler Adams was missed.
Our best Xl is almost clear cut…which kinda is a sad commentary on our depth. But the only question is a good player has to sit when everyone is healthy and in form. And if that’s the case, who would sit at this very moment? I’d have to say Musah even though he’s in good form, because McKennie is on fire. But that’s what is great about international soccer. You play who is healthy and in form and it usually doesn’t happen that your best 11 are all healthy and at the top of their game at the same time in a weighty match.
Yeah that makes sense. It’s just a shame that Pittsburgh isn’t looked at for good match ups, and that’s what you need to draw here. We saw what happened when Ben F’ing Fica played here a few years ago.
Ghana was shockingly bad last night, I can't believe a team with Partey, Kudus, Inaki Williams and Ayew starting was run off the field by the US. This was a super successful window, I'm comfortable with Johnny and Lund being the back up 6 and LB now and watching that US front 4 is sublime. Main concerns for the US now is winger depth (getting Koleosho and having Paredes/Pax develope would be huge for this), the CB depth chart (Richards needs to play consistently and some other guys should prolly move to Europe), and GK depth (lots of young guys here with huge upside). Maybe back up 10 behind Reyna, but I like Tillman there and we have a ton of 8's so the formation could be adjusted.
Was just thinking about Pax last night and wondering how he’s been doing. Maybe he leapfrogs his brother by the next World Cup? I like Brenden…who couldn’t love that work rate? I just don’t feel like he’s a threat offensively other than a very occasional turnover he might help cause.
There's probably more of a role available for a work rate guy than a skilled only guy
Well he had a goal and assist against Japan in their U23 friendly last night, US won 4-1. Seems to be having a positive impact at Eintracht so far. I forgot about Taylor Booth for winger depth, I'm really high on him.
So we are supposed to know the opponent now…but concacaf will concacaf and I haven’t seen anything official. I did see speculation that it’s T&T in Austin. No way that’s not a beatdown.
It wont be easy to beat T&T over 2 legs? And then if we lose that, we can backdoor our way in by beating another Nations League Quarterfinal loser (likely to be someone like Jamaica, Panama, or Costa Rica.
If it's Jamaica or Panama, no, it won't be easy.
I'd be happy with T&T but 2018 is still in the back of my mind
If Jamaica or Panama is over 2 legs, yes it will be. Not sure how they are doing it.
I'm just saying that you are saying it wont be easy but I would guess that some ESPN index has our chance at qualification around 98%. It would be nearly impossible foe THIS USMNT to lose back to back 2 leg series vs these mid-tier Concacaf teams.
Yeah but do you feel like this current team is anything like 2018’s? And yeah we failed to qualify on the decisive night on that Mapletown type playing surface but that’s because of all the roster manipulation and failures throughout qualification. There’s no way we’d lose vs T&T over two legs.
I blame the decision to play a defacto road game in North Jersey vs Costa Rica as much as anything. If that game is in Ohio, we qualify. Terrible decision
The Nations League quarters are the US versus T and T, Mexico versus Honduras, Canada versus Jamaica, and Costa Rica versus Panama.
The four higher seeded teams were given the choice to play at home or on the road first. All except Canada chose to play at home first. The US games are on Thursday, November 16 (they must not have known they would be competing on television with the huge Pitt - BC football game) and Monday, November 20.
The four higher seeded teams were given the choice to play at home or on the road first. All except Canada chose to play at home first. The US games are on Thursday, November 16 (they must not have known they would be competing on television with the huge Pitt - BC football game) and Monday, November 20.
The whole state of Pennsylvania has only ever hosted a USMNT game three times. Once at Shibe Park in Philly in 1948, then at Temple Stadium (yeah, that was a thing) in 1968, and then at Hershey Park Stadium in 1990.
There are a couple places that the USMNT has only played once, but the only NFL cities that they have never played in are Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Green Bay and New Orleans. They've played in Indianapolis three times, although none since 1987.
By an easy game, I mean winning by 4 or so meaning I wouldn't have to worry much about the second leg. Wasn't sure that would happen against Jamaica.
You're right, this team is much better than the 18 team, and I was there for the US' lopsided win against them in the Gold Cup the next year but, ya never know.
They also played in Philly at Lincoln against Turkey in 2010 (World Cup warmup) and in the 2016 Copa America against Paraguay.
Yeah not to go full on SMF, but I think a 3-0 win in Austin will be easily accomplished. And that’s all it will take. It will likely be worse than 3-0.
You beat me to it. I don't know where Joe got that info. I was at both of those games. They also played a 3rd place Gold Cup Match in Chester. Jurgen Klinsman's debut came against Mexico in a weird 9PM (I think) weeknight start at LFF in which very few people attended. Bizarre for USA/Mexico. I think they also played a few more. The game in Hershey is funny. I remember hearing Cobi and the old-timers talk about playing at HS football stadiums.
Yeah, I must have misread the list I was looking at. The US has played in PA 13 times, not 3 times.
D'oh!
D'oh!
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