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🇮🇷 lineup

Sean Miller Fan

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I go with Aaronson over Weah. I dont think Weah has been real good besides the 1st Half vs Wales. Need Aaronson running like crazy out there against an Iran team which may be tired.

I may try Ferreira at the 9. He scores vs teams like this, more in his comfort zone.

I feel bad for Reyna that he cant crack the squad. Seeing some others like Richarlison play out of position again makes me think we should have made he or Reyna a #9 for the national team
 
I go with Aaronson over Weah. I dont think Weah has been real good besides the 1st Half vs Wales. Need Aaronson running like crazy out there against an Iran team which may be tired.

I may try Ferreira at the 9. He scores vs teams like this, more in his comfort zone.

I feel bad for Reyna that he cant crack the squad. Seeing some others like Richarlison play out of position again makes me think we should have made he or Reyna a #9 for the national team
Not sure if you saw my post a few minutes ago regarding Reyna. It’s an internal issue and needs fixed. He’s the teams best creator and needs to be on the field, especially vs a team who might be playing a low block. Berhalter has tough decisions to make. I do think we can throw an extra body into the attack and play with 3 defenders because Iran will be set up with 1 lone attacker and our 3 can handle that one easily.

I agree with you on Weah. He isn’t starting vs Iran. There’s no way. I don’t see any space in and behind for him to run into. It’s Reyna’s spot. It has to be.

I was thinking about Ferreira. Maybe it’s his turn. But which of these #9’s is best in the air? This is a match that needs Pefok. We need someone at the #9 who can get on the other end of crosses.
 
I was thinking about Ferreira. Maybe it’s his turn. But which of these #9’s is best in the air? This is a match that needs Pefok. We need someone at the #9 who can get on the other end of crosses.


As I said before, that's why you bring in guys with different skill sets to the squad. This game is going to be screaming out for a big body up top that you can aim crosses at and who is good at hold up play. And instead we may very well start a pipsqueak who likes to drop deep into the midfield to get touches on the ball.

Burp out!
 
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Not sure if you saw my post a few minutes ago regarding Reyna. It’s an internal issue and needs fixed. He’s the teams best creator and needs to be on the field, especially vs a team who might be playing a low block. Berhalter has tough decisions to make. I do think we can throw an extra body into the attack and play with 3 defenders because Iran will be set up with 1 lone attacker and our 3 can handle that one easily.

I agree with you on Weah. He isn’t starting vs Iran. There’s no way. I don’t see any space in and behind for him to run into. It’s Reyna’s spot. It has to be.

I was thinking about Ferreira. Maybe it’s his turn. But which of these #9’s is best in the air? This is a match that needs Pefok. We need someone at the #9 who can get on the other end of crosses.

Its almost as if Berhalter is anti-Bundesliga

Brooks, Pepi, Pefok, Scally, Reyna rarely play
 
Brooks, Pepi, Pefok, Scally, Reyna rarely play


Brooks isn't in Germany any more. And while there certainly was a time that his exclusion made no sense, he's only played one or two games as a substitute for his SPANISH club team all season so far. He just isn't and hasn't been playing nearly enough to have been considered for this team.
 
I just looked it up, Brooks has played twice so far this season for Benfica. The first time he came on and played the last three minutes. The second time he came on and got one minute. So he's played four minutes since the middle of May.
 
I just looked it up, Brooks has played twice so far this season for Benfica. The first time he came on and played the last three minutes. The second time he came on and got one minute. So he's played four minutes since the middle of May.

I wouldn't have brought him in either. He looked terrible in early qualifying. The other guys though.
 
I wouldn't mind seeing the front 3 of CP, Gio and Weah. You can always bring in Aaronsen as the energizer bunny. Can't see anything else changing on the rest of the field.

Just watching Serbia this morning, the big man up front is so strong. If we only had a Mitrovic type player. He scored 1 but could have had 3 or 4. He is such a handful.
 
Here's a little background on the Iran players to give us a better idea what they have.

Their strength, in terms of the level of player, actually appear to be their forwards.

- Mehdi Taremi plays at Porto and has scored 42 goals there since 2020

- Sardar Azmoun just made a move to Bayer Leverkusen this year after scoring 52 goals in 3 years at Zenit St. Petersburg. He gets regular PT for Leverkusen but has only scored once this season. That said, he and Taremi would start at the 9 for the US.

- Ali Gholizdeh has scored 21 goals for Charleroi in the Belgian league since 2018. To give you a comparison, Jordan Pefok scored 34 in a similar league (Swiss) since 2020

Midfielders

Ehsan Hajsafi has split time between the Greek league and Iranian league since 2018 having played for 6 teams since 2016, currently with AEK Athens, which is traditionally the 3rd or 4th best Greek club.

Saied Afagh played for Rostov in Ukraine from 15-20 and only made 18 appearances while being sent out on loan to 2 Russian 2nd Division teams, a Belgian team, Reading (4 appearances). He's played 50 games in Denmark since 2020.

Ahmad Nourallahi plays in the UAE league.

Defendere

Left Back Milad Mohammadi plays for AEK after playing in the Belgian league and.....Chechnya in the Russian league

Right Back Ramin Razaeian scored 17 goals between 2018 and 2020 (probably playing MF) for a team that is currently in the Qatar 2nd Division. Not sure if they were 1st Division at that time. He then made a move to another Qatari team and is now playing in Iran

Center Back Morteza Pouraliganji has played only 43 games since 2019 between Qatar, China, and now Iran.

The better Center Back appears to be Majid Hosseini who has played 99 games in Turkey since 2018.

So, contrarty to common belief, the strength of this team is the offense and the weakness, based on individual talent is the defense. That said, coaching and organization can certainly make up for talent deficiencies on defense.
 
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Here's a little background on the Iran players to give us a better idea what they have.

Their strength, in terms of the level of player, actually appear to be their forwards.

- Mehdi Taremi plays at Porto and has scored 42 goals there since 2020

- Sardar Azmoun just made a move to Bayer Leverkusen this year after scoring 52 goals in 3 years at Zenit St. Petersburg. He gets regular PT for Leverkusen but has only scored once this season. That said, he and Taremi would start at the 9 for the US.

- Ali Gholizdeh has scored 21 goals for Charleroi in the Belgian league since 2018. To give you a comparison, Jordan Pefok scored 34 in a similar league (Swiss) since 2020

Midfielders

Ehsan Hajsafi has split time between the Greek league and Iranian league since 2018 having played for 6 teams since 2016, currently with AEK Athens, which is traditionally the 3rd or 4th best Greek club.

Saied Afagh played for Rostov in Ukraine from 15-20 and only made 18 appearances while being sent out on loan to 2 Russian 2nd Division teams, a Belgian team, Reading (4 appearances). He's played 50 games in Denmark since 2020.

Ahmad Nourallahi plays in the UAE league.

Defendere

Left Back Milad Mohammadi plays for AEK after playing in the Belgian league and.....Chechnya in the Russian league

Right Back Ramin Razaeian scored 17 goals between 2018 and 2020 (probably playing MF) for a team that is currently in the Qatar 2nd Division. Not sure if they were 1st Division at that time. He then made a move to another Qatari team and is now playing in Iran

Center Back Morteza Pouraliganji has played only 43 games since 2019 between Qatar, China, and now Iran.

The better Center Back appears to be Majid Hosseini who has played 99 games in Turkey since 2018.

So, contrarty to common belief, the strength of this team is the offense and the weakness, based on individual talent is the defense. That said, coaching and organization can certainly make up for talent deficiencies on defense.
Man oh man. It’s going to be a nervous 2 hours. I have no confidence that we can break them down. I’m telling you, I’m having a hard time constructing a lineup. I just don’t know what to do.

The way to break down a bunker is to press and win the ball back when you lose it and catch them in that moment where they are a bit stretched. And Pulisic is not that type of player for me. I’m sure it’s a fireable offense if you don’t start Christian and fail to win the game. But for me, Aaronson is the best presser and Gio is the best creator vs a bunker. Those are the two I start and I bring Pulisic’s fresh legs late. It’ll never happen though.

Unless you plan on bringing Gio on in the 60th minute when needing a goal. He will then have 35 minutes to find that goal.
 
Man oh man. It’s going to be a nervous 2 hours. I have no confidence that we can break them down. I’m telling you, I’m having a hard time constructing a lineup. I just don’t know what to do.

The way to break down a bunker is to press and win the ball back when you lose it and catch them in that moment where they are a bit stretched. And Pulisic is not that type of player for me. I’m sure it’s a fireable offense if you don’t start Christian and fail to win the game. But for me, Aaronson is the best presser and Gio is the best creator vs a bunker. Those are the two I start and I bring Pulisic’s fresh legs late. It’ll never happen though.

Unless you plan on bringing Gio on in the 60th minute when needing a goal. He will then have 35 minutes to find that goal.

I would take the Canada approach and fire a bunch of shots. The US seems to wait for the perfect shot. I think we're going to have the ball a lot without a lot of real good looks. It might take a goal from Dest like the one he had vs CR. Maybe an outside the box shot like Jacquesson vs Kentucky. The thing is, I think Iran is going to score. They have quality up top. Can we score 2?
 
I would take the Canada approach and fire a bunch of shots. The US seems to wait for the perfect shot. I think we're going to have the ball a lot without a lot of real good looks. It might take a goal from Dest like the one he had vs CR. Maybe an outside the box shot like Jacquesson vs Kentucky. The thing is, I think Iran is going to score. They have quality up top. Can we score 2?
Well then, it seems you think they’re more formidable than you have over the past 8 months.
 
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