Really kind of bummed to see Sargeant go off yesterday; thought he was having as good a game from the STK position as we've seen for some time.
Here's the problem with Reyna...with Dortmund he has been something of an inverted winger mostly on the rightside of a great--and deep--Dortmund attack, feeding combinations of Erling Haaland and Marco Reus for goals. Reyna is wildly creative by the American standard and is the most raw talented attacker we probably have ever produced and possesses three or four of the most spectacular goals scored by an American in Europe...but who do you take off for him? Weah who is the embodiment of someone who elevates his game in the American shirt and has truly been a constant throughout WCQ...a Weah who peels back well defensively? Obviously Pulisic as the Left wing who is lethal with his slaloming runs and among the more fouled attackers per minute in the EPL if not CONCACAF? Pulling McKennie makes that MMA midfield vastly different and McKennie is alot like Weah...when there has been a big match for the USMNT McKennie elevates his game in a very noticeable way. Beyond all that...All of those players and Aaronson played a substantial amount of minutes together through WCQ and Gio didn't because of his injuries subsequently he wasn't there in a physical capacity.
I keep coming back to this because Weah and Reyna are the two players I watched most with the USYNT as U17 and U20 players--but this pronouncement of USMNT fans saying "put them at the 9 or False 9" never saw the disasters that both were when they tried that very thing. Reyna drops way too deep to get on the ball and when he gets it in the channels the last thing he is thinking is laying it off to a runner or making a pass--he takes on the world; Weah can't stand waiting for the ball and his runs behind lines invariably come off of a 9 holding CBs. And beyond that think of the number of highlights during WCQ and even in the first three WC matches that have a Weah cross attached to it. That goes by the boards if he's solo up top. I can foresee a day a couple years down the road if we are in Copa America or something like that where we'd have Reyna at the top of a Diamond midfield above McKennie/Musah as dual 8s above Adams...but you'd be playing Pulisic sort of out of position up top and something we haven't really seen in the last two years is that Pulisic and Reyna sort of look like Stephen Gerrard and Frank Lampard; historically great and part of the same generational pool, but not complimentary talents.
Really kind of bummed to see Sargeant go off yesterday; thought he was having as good a game from the STK position as we've seen for some time.
Here's the problem with Reyna...with Dortmund he has been something of an inverted winger mostly on the rightside of a great--and deep--Dortmund attack, feeding combinations of Erling Haaland and Marco Reus for goals. Reyna is wildly creative by the American standard and is the most raw talented attacker we probably have ever produced and possesses three or four of the most spectacular goals scored by an American in Europe...but who do you take off for him? Weah who is the embodiment of someone who elevates his game in the American shirt and has truly been a constant throughout WCQ...a Weah who peels back well defensively? Obviously Pulisic as the Left wing who is lethal with his slaloming runs and among the more fouled attackers per minute in the EPL if not CONCACAF? Pulling McKennie makes that MMA midfield vastly different and McKennie is alot like Weah...when there has been a big match for the USMNT McKennie elevates his game in a very noticeable way. Beyond all that...All of those players and Aaronson played a substantial amount of minutes together through WCQ and Gio didn't because of his injuries subsequently he wasn't there in a physical capacity.
I keep coming back to this because Weah and Reyna are the two players I watched most with the USYNT as U17 and U20 players--but this pronouncement of USMNT fans saying "put them at the 9 or False 9" never saw the disasters that both were when they tried that very thing. Reyna drops way too deep to get on the ball and when he gets it in the channels the last thing he is thinking is laying it off to a runner or making a pass--he takes on the world; Weah can't stand waiting for the ball and his runs behind lines invariably come off of a 9 holding CBs. And beyond that think of the number of highlights during WCQ and even in the first three WC matches that have a Weah cross attached to it. That goes by the boards if he's solo up top. I can foresee a day a couple years down the road if we are in Copa America or something like that where we'd have Reyna at the top of a Diamond midfield above McKennie/Musah as dual 8s above Adams...but you'd be playing Pulisic sort of out of position up top and something we haven't really seen in the last two years is that Pulisic and Reyna sort of look like Stephen Gerrard and Frank Lampard; historically great and part of the same generational pool, but not complimentary talents.
I think the US needs more of that.
Very easily could have gone 0-0-3 which would have gotten us eliminated.
I always think pressure is the great equalizer in sports. Press a basketball team, changes things. Pressure a quarterback, changes things. Pressure someone on the back nine at the masters, changes things.
For a long time in my opinion the USMNT has had a lot of meaningless possession. Possess the ball, only to give it away and then the other team advances and does something positive. Lots of low scoring games and fighting for draws. That style of play might work in CONCACAF, but probably not in a WC. Yes we made it to the knockout round, but we are going to have to score at least 2 goals to eliminate anybody from here on.
