I think my takeaway from the current state of US soccer on the biggest stage is that there’s a fundamental disconnect between how players on the team expect each other to play. The European league players and the MLS players are not on the same page and there’s no connective tissue.
You’re not watching a US attack from the backfield thinking “Oh damn they’re gonna work this thing through and generate a legitimate chance,” you’re thinking “I hope the ball finds a way to bounce to someone in a position to score”
Doesn't it boil down to the US developmental system being steps behind top countries'? I used to be a "what if LeBron played soccer" dude, but sheer athleticism hasn't been the problem in decades — there just aren't enough USMNT players with top tier feel, and that's magnified in intl play.
That's an easy excuse to cover up this current team's failure to progress. You didn't need to compare the pool to top countries. It's a deeper and more talented pool than previous generations. They have less success because they aren't being put into a position to amplify those skills
This I mostly agree with. There are no patterns of play, though that is really different from the first two years after GGG took over, when those patterns were obvious, but labored and ineffective.
Yeah, it’s the company that makes the game, Grinding Gear Games, frequently short handed to GGG. Basically, your comment reads to a weird part of my brain as “And then when Blizzard Entertainment took over the USMNT…” :p
All night when someone got the ball in a half decent area, he had five teammates within 20 yards, then everyone's surprised when he gets closed down by multiple defenders. Meanwhile there's no one at all on the other side of the pitch. There's no spacing or forethought, no one making a run.
Out of curiosity, which MLS players, specifically?
I ask because, if we’re talking about tonight, not a single player who stepped on the field plays in MLS
Just said this exact thing. To me, the problem is we develop midfielders (facilitators) but no offensive creators. We're always putting crosses across front of goal but there's no one there to finish.
I think you’re historically right, though I’d argue Gio is doing that pretty well right now.
What it needs is a bit better quality – how often did the ball fall to Pepi, Haji, or Sargent and a bad first touch or inability to get off a first-time shot let Uruguay close it down?
It's like they play completely different styles. Lot of passes to where someone should be, but that someone is doing something completely different. At least when the US was all about just being great athletes and trying to win by attrition it was a cohesive philosophy.
But at this point, most of the current players play in Europe. The development point is definitely true, we don't develop offensive creators, just faciltators.
