2022 World Cup

[greenminer]

We play England today

 

[greenminer]

Game on!

[Coffee and TV]

Was worried after the Welsh, but regained a lot of confidence after the England match. Gregg needs to stop having such a hard on for European players though, not a single MLS player in the starting lineup yesterday and he's just letting Ferreira waste away on the bench while he plays useless Haji Wright. 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Coffee and TV

[GMG_Dallas]

Hopefully by 2026, we're done playing 30 year olds who have never left the MLS. Zimmerman made the foul that led to Wales tying on a penalty kick. He was constantly caught flat-footed and/or out of position today. Meanwhile, Cameron Carter-Vickers plays in the most storied Scottish team and competes in the Champions League every year. Jesus Ferreira didn't do squat today either while Pepi sat at home.

I can't think of a single World Cup winner with an MLS player starting, or even in the WC roster. The best national teams have their players playing in Europe for a reason - it's where the best leagues are. The US men's basketball team wouldn't start guys playing basketball in Europe over guys from the NBA. Same concept.

[Censored by Laurie]

On 12/3/2022 at 5:55 PM, GMG_Dallas said:

Hopefully by 2026, we're done playing 30 year olds who have never left the MLS. Zimmerman made the foul that led to Wales tying on a penalty kick. He was constantly caught flat-footed and/or out of position today. Meanwhile, Cameron Carter-Vickers plays in the most storied Scottish team and competes in the Champions League every year. Jesus Ferreira didn't do squat today either while Pepi sat at home.

I can't think of a single World Cup winner with an MLS player starting, or even in the WC roster. The best national teams have their players playing in Europe for a reason - it's where the best leagues are. The US men's basketball team wouldn't start guys playing basketball in Europe over guys from the NBA. Same concept.

we have two positions we desperately need to develop international-level talent...striker and centerback. progress is never linear, but every outfield player who showed well in this World Cup is 25 or under. 

this was always going to be a test of what the kids could do and I think we hit bare-minimum expectations. the midfield and creative wide-players are set...if someone pushes for time in 4 years above anyone of Adams, McKennie, Musah, Aaronson, Reyna, Pulisic or Weah it just means better depth and development. I thought Dest and Robinson were fine...if someone wants to take their job, I'm fine with it. 

 

[GMG_Dallas]

40 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

we have two positions we desperately need to develop international-level talent...striker and centerback. progress is never linear, but every outfield player who showed well in this World Cup is 25 or under. 

this was always going to be a test of what the kids could do and I think we hit bare-minimum expectations. the midfield and creative wide-players are set...if someone pushes for time in 4 years above anyone of Adams, McKennie, Musah, Aaronson, Reyna, Pulisic or Weah it just means better depth and development. I thought Dest and Robinson were fine...if someone wants to take their job, I'm fine with it. 

 

Yeah center back is an area of concern. I would have liked to see Carter-Vickers get more playing time considering he's young. It's too bad Miazga never developed into quite the player people thought he could be. He and Yedlin are two that I thought would be regulars on defense but haven't quite worked out. Yedlin has been fine but again, not who many thought he'd be in 2014. Dest is a bit out of control at times but he has so much raw talent, he should be a difference maker in 2026.

My main issue with MLS guys is they just aren't facing the same level of competition throughout the season so when you end up in the world cup having to face elite talent, like against the Netherlands, they're out classed. Obviously, there's outliers like Donovan who never paned out overseas but on defense, they need to be used to facing the speed and technical skills you see in Europe. Wonder if John Brooks, who's the same age as Zimmerman and played in the Bundesliga most of his career, would have done better. Between bad fouls, bad passes, and being slow, Zimmerman was costly.

Regarding strikers, they just need to find the right combination. Pepi should have made the team. Some guys just find ways to score and he's one of them. We needed that. We needed to make adjustments after scoring only 1 goal in the first 2 games. Other than moving to a more defensive 4-4-2 against England, we didn't change our formation at all despite struggling to score. Scoring 3 goals in 3 games while in a 4-3-3 is not good.

[Censored by Laurie]

13 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

Yeah center back is an area of concern. I would have liked to see Carter-Vickers get more playing time considering he's young. It's too bad Miazga never developed into quite the player people thought he could be. He and Yedlin are two that I thought would be regulars on defense but haven't quite worked out. Yedlin has been fine but again, not who many thought he'd be in 2014. Dest is a bit out of control at times but he has so much raw talent, he should be a difference maker in 2026.

My main issue with MLS guys is they just aren't facing the same level of competition throughout the season so when you end up in the world cup having to face elite talent, like against the Netherlands, they're out classed. Obviously, there's outliers like Donovan who never paned out overseas but on defense, they need to be used to facing the speed and technical skills you see in Europe. Wonder if John Brooks, who's the same age as Zimmerman and played in the Bundesliga most of his career, would have done better. Between bad fouls, bad passes, and being slow, Zimmerman was costly.

Regarding strikers, they just need to find the right combination. Pepi should have made the team. Some guys just find ways to score and he's one of them. We needed that. We needed to make adjustments after scoring only 1 goal in the first 2 games. Other than moving to a more defensive 4-4-2 against England, we didn't change our formation at all despite struggling to score. Scoring 3 goals in 3 games while in a 4-3-3 is not good.

oh I agree entirely on the need to have more players in Europe...and to MLS's credit, they've more embraced their roll as a selling league for young talent over the past few years. there was a time MLS would work extra hard to keep hold of players like Aaronson and Scally. 

and ya, I thought CCV had a good game against Iran and I was surprised to see Zimmerman in the XI for Netherlands. I still think the result of that match is the same no matter the pairing, though. we were tactically predictable and naive and played into exactly how LvG set his team up. 

it's admittedly odd to say considering he either scored or assisted on all of those 3 goals, but I don't feel like Pulisic had a great tournament. sloppy touches and poor final passes in some key moments...I hope a few years of maturity and experience we'll lead to more composure next time around. 

in the end, we got what we expected...out of group, a really good performance against England considering their form, and beaten by a far more experiences team and coach in the knock-out round. 

[GMG_Dallas]

5 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

oh I agree entirely on the need to have more players in Europe...and to MLS's credit, they've more embraced their roll as a selling league for young talent over the past few years. there was a time MLS would work extra hard to keep hold of players like Aaronson and Scally. 

and ya, I thought CCV had a good game against Iran and I was surprised to see Zimmerman in the XI for Netherlands. I still think the result of that match is the same no matter the pairing, though. we were tactically predictable and naive and played into exactly how LvG set his team up. 

it's admittedly odd to say considering he either scored or assisted on all of those 3 goals, but I don't feel like Pulisic had a great tournament. sloppy touches and poor final passes in some key moments...I hope a few years of maturity and experience we'll lead to more composure next time around. 

in the end, we got what we expected...out of group, a really good performance against England considering their form, and beaten by a far more experiences team and coach in the knock-out round. 

Netherlands has a lot of young talent hitting stride at the right time. Add in Memphis who's rebounded well from the odd Man U sting and Virgil van Dijk anchoring that defense and it's a really tough opponent. Virgil especially. His dominance allows them to be so much more aggressive offensively.

Pulisic is like Dest for me. So much raw talent but at times a bit erratic. Call it inconsistent maybe. He blew up so fast at BVB that I think many hoped he'd be a bit further along but going to Chelsea has hurt him. Just not enough playing time. Happens to so many young talents. Happened to Memphis Depay. Pulisic needs to go play somewhere like Spain or France, or maybe a smaller EPL club, but I think his game would fit better in Spain or France.

Like you said, we did what we were supposed to do this WC. Especially after missing 2018, getting the young roster WC experience this go around was critical for 2026.