729 replies to this topic

[DuffMan]

What kind of coach has their  lineup and substitutes planned out ahead of time?   He decided before the games even started that he wasn't even going to use Gio much, that's absurd!  How about letting the games play out and watching them before deciding if you are going to need/use a player.  

[You Play to Win the Game]

Yeah I get all that Steve but I still don’t see a reason why he has to throw him under the bus like this and tarnish the kids legacy as a 20 year old. Social media pressure - that’s acceptable? That seems awfully weak sauce to me. Everything else, absolutely. But it should’ve been kept in house.

[JeremyStrain]

Stuff kept coming out through late last night so I held off on circling back here until it all dropped.

 

So, from where we were yesterday GB wanted to send him home and the team supposedly had a vote and barely decided to keep him based on some attitude in training. All which prob should have stayed in house, but GB leaked it, though he "believed it was off the record".

 

Turns out, GB went to Reyna BEFORE there were any issues at all and told him he wouldn't be playing in the cup, or at least would be playing extremely sparingly. Which to the point of people like Taylor Twellman, there's NO chance you should be making that decision before the cup is even played. To take one of your most dynamic pieces and shelve them before you even see how the games are going, how teams are reacting or how games are developing on the pitch is stupid and just shows an agenda.

 

Then AFTER he was told he wasn't playing he lashed out and then half assed it in training, which is the part we all heard about and the players didn't like, none of them knowing that he was told he wasn't playing. He owned up to lashing out and apologized to the team, so seems like the vote was taken out of context and was about his reaction and not what he was reacting too either.

 

So, no it wasn't like he just messed around and got called out by an old school coach and should have improved. The narrative has been all about painting him as this immature kid, and GB was doing what was best for the team, but GB was the one who started the mess and then blamed him for his reaction, which yes, admittedly as a professional he shouldn't be acting out about, BUT he's 20, he owned it, and every single player on that roster should have acted out if they were told before they got to the cup that they wouldn't be playing. That's just ridiculous.

[DuffMan]

Apparently the 13-12 player vote story is boshi as well.  The vote included GB, and some of the coaching staff.  

 

I was already down on GB but there's no way they can bring him back after all of this nonsense and how he's dealt with it.

[JeremyStrain]

Apparently the 13-12 player vote story is boshi as well.  The vote included GB, and some of the coaching staff.  

 

I was already down on GB but there's no way they can bring him back after all of this nonsense and how he's dealt with it.

Yeah that seemed off to me as well. I had a feeling that's when we were going to start hearing things, but people don't want to speak out in case they extend him again and is in charge of picking the roster.

 

I mean for me, just seeing how they treat the guys that go play overseas is enough for me. I get they want MLS to be this exclusive legit pipeline, but we are never going to be the highest level of competition for soccer and they just need to accept that. You have all the other sports, sometimes, you just can't have them all.

 

No matter who is at fault or what happened. The results are the results. They needed help to even get to the elimination round in a not very strong bracket. They have been terrible for a long time before starting to show signs of life now. Just like any other pro sports team, the move, knowing there is talent on the roster, is to clear out management and start over. See what changes with a new coach. You can't just keep banging your head against the wall trying the same thing over and over.

 

Maybe they should hire Sasho from MD and give him a shot.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

What kind of coach has their  lineup and substitutes planned out ahead of time?   He decided before the games even started that he wasn't even going to use Gio much, that's absurd!  How about letting the games play out and watching them before deciding if you are going to need/use a player.  

Every coach worth a shit!

 

The plan on how you are going to approach the matches if developed over several months of watching tape of the teams you are facing, watching your players in their league matches, and talking to their league coaches about them. Then last watching them in the final training camp working toward the tactics you laid out. 

 

That doesn't mean you don't modify those plans based on the outcomes of matches, player form and fitness, and cards. But to not have a solid plan upfront would be suicide.

 

Should Behralter have kept it in house? Sure. But he is NOT the one who created the problem. Don't give me Gio's a 19 year old kid. He's been playing high level professionally for 3 years. He owns this.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Yeah that seemed off to me as well. I had a feeling that's when we were going to start hearing things, but people don't want to speak out in case they extend him again and is in charge of picking the roster.

 

I mean for me, just seeing how they treat the guys that go play overseas is enough for me. I get they want MLS to be this exclusive legit pipeline, but we are never going to be the highest level of competition for soccer and they just need to accept that. You have all the other sports, sometimes, you just can't have them all.

 

No matter who is at fault or what happened. The results are the results. They needed help to even get to the elimination round in a not very strong bracket. They have been terrible for a long time before starting to show signs of life now. Just like any other pro sports team, the move, knowing there is talent on the roster, is to clear out management and start over. See what changes with a new coach. You can't just keep banging your head against the wall trying the same thing over and over.

 

Maybe they should hire Sasho from MD and give him a shot.

Jeremy do you realize that their group had the lowest composite FIFA rankings of any group by a fair bit? And what do you mean by needing help? They got 5 points and took second. They didn't need help. And they were the only team in the entire tournament to not allow a single goal from the run of play during the group stage.

 

Yes they are talented if inexperienced and I hope to see a top notch Euro coach come in.....Pep anybody? Wishful thinking....lol

[DuffMan]

Every coach worth a shit!

 

The plan on how you are going to approach the matches if developed over several months of watching tape of the teams you are facing, watching your players in their league matches, and talking to their league coaches about them. Then last watching them in the final training camp working toward the tactics you laid out. 

 

That doesn't mean you don't modify those plans based on the outcomes of matches, player form and fitness, and cards. But to not have a solid plan upfront would be suicide.

 

Should Behralter have kept it in house? Sure. But he is NOT the one who created the problem. Don't give me Gio's a 19 year old kid. He's been playing high level professionally for 3 years. He owns this.

Of course you have a lineup planned out a head of time  and you should have a general idea of who your subs are going to be.  But a good coach should be able to watch the action  on the field and be ready to adapt and throw out those plans or go with a different plan.  Players get hurt, are ineffective, or tire quicker than anticipated but lets just keep doing what we are doing because that's how we wrote out our plans for the game.   Furthermore I have to question the intelligence of a guy that thinks the team is better served by keeping one of his best players on the bench for most of the group play and that the team is better served by bringing in Jordan Morris.

[JeremyStrain]

Jeremy do you realize that their group had the lowest composite FIFA rankings of any group by a fair bit? And what do you mean by needing help? They got 5 points and took second. They didn't need help. And they were the only team in the entire tournament to not allow a single goal from the run of play during the group stage.

 

Yes they are talented if inexperienced and I hope to see a top notch Euro coach come in.....Pep anybody? Wishful thinking....lol

Because Iran beat Wales instead of tying them like we did, we HAD to beat Iran to get in. If not for CP, if we tie that game 0-0, Iran gets in with 4 points and we are out with 3.

 

Iran and Wales were both horrible, look at what England did to them both, 6-2 and 3-0? That's what we should be doing, we should be in that tier with the powers up top. We tied 1-1 and won 1-0.

 

I was thinking that we needed another game to break for us, but it was that we had to beat Iran after they beat Wales. If we beat Wales like we should, that's a non issue. To your point about allowing 1 goal, that IS great, don't get me wrong, but we also only scored 2 the entire tournament. They are playing like my daughter's team. Only give up 9 all season, 2nd best in the league, but then only score 6 which is 2nd worst in the league and end up right in the middle of the pack.

[DuffMan]

Fast forward to about 2:25 to see Reyna crank one up in his first game back.   

 

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Did you guys actually watch Gio's play against the Dutch? He was just ok at best. Should he have gotten more time? Perhaps but its hard to say without knowing just what the issues were at camp.

 

As to putting in Morris over Gio in the Wales match, I absolutely would have done the same thing in that game situation (nothing to do with the in house issues which weren't knows at that time). Morris is faster and physically stronger and presented a higher chance of a late goal. I wouldn't have had an issue with using Gio there either but using Morris then was not some big mistake IMO.

 

Because Iran beat Wales instead of tying them like we did, we HAD to beat Iran to get in. If not for CP, if we tie that game 0-0, Iran gets in with 4 points and we are out with 3.

 

Iran and Wales were both horrible, look at what England did to them both, 6-2 and 3-0? That's what we should be doing, we should be in that tier with the powers up top. We tied 1-1 and won 1-0.

 

I was thinking that we needed another game to break for us, but it was that we had to beat Iran after they beat Wales. If we beat Wales like we should, that's a non issue. To your point about allowing 1 goal, that IS great, don't get me wrong, but we also only scored 2 the entire tournament. They are playing like my daughter's team. Only give up 9 all season, 2nd best in the league, but then only score 6 which is 2nd worst in the league and end up right in the middle of the pack.

Correct but maybe its semantics. I don't view having to win your last match to advance as needing help. They had it within their own cotnrol. Did they underperform in the attack? Yup same thing we've seen the last 3 years and hopefully some body steps up a makes an overwhelming case at striker. I thought Sargent actually played well and we could have used him against the Dutch. Ferriera was just too overmatched physically. Hopefully Pepi continues to make strides. 

 

If we don't have a actual striker step up his goal scoring I think the next coach will have to go to a 4-4-2 with Pulisic and Weah up top.

[JeremyStrain]

Did you guys actually watch Gio's play against the Dutch? He was just ok at best. Should he have gotten more time? Perhaps but its hard to say without knowing just what the issues were at camp.

 

As to putting in Morris over Gio in the Wales match, I absolutely would have done the same thing in that game situation (nothing to do with the in house issues which weren't knows at that time). Morris is faster and physically stronger and presented a higher chance of a late goal. I wouldn't have had an issue with using Gio there either but using Morris then was not some big mistake IMO.

 

Correct but maybe its semantics. I don't view having to win your last match to advance as needing help. They had it within their own cotnrol. Did they underperform in the attack? Yup same thing we've seen the last 3 years and hopefully some body steps up a makes an overwhelming case at striker. I thought Sargent actually played well and we could have used him against the Dutch. Ferriera was just too overmatched physically. Hopefully Pepi continues to make strides. 

 

If we don't have a actual striker step up his goal scoring I think the next coach will have to go to a 4-4-2 with Pulisic and Weah up top.

Yeah, but I can't really blame him though, after everything that had happened already? He's still a kid, and even an adult pro is going to have a hard time going through all that and then being on top of their game on a dime in an elimination game. The pressure after all that is basically if you don't score or do something crazy you're validating everything he thinks and says about you.

 

I don't know that a 4-4-2 with this team is a terrible thing honestly, but then it depends on how you run it from there. Look at the women, they run the same layout they always have, but with Jill the offense came from the mids, looping passes or crosses from the middle and outside for the forwards to take runs on. That doesn't happen with the new guy, his offense doesn't feature the mids anywhere near as much, and relies on the strikers to do the playmaking, kinda like the men do. If you went to a style like the women used to do, and had Christian and Weah on the wings, with Reyna and Pepi up front, or even Profok, since he's pretty nasty with his headers, I think it'd be a scarier look than they run now.

 

My thing is they should have had 2 wins from Iran and Wales, cause they are that terrible, then even if you lost to England, it's still England with 9, US with 6 and the others are at the bottom. They are SCRAPING through things they should be blowing by. And pretty sure it's the coaching.

[DuffMan]

As to putting in Morris over Gio in the Wales match, I absolutely would have done the same thing in that game situation (nothing to do with the in house issues which weren't knows at that time). Morris is faster and physically stronger and presented a higher chance of a late goal. I wouldn't have had an issue with using Gio there either but using Morris then was not some big mistake IMO.

I'll give you that Morris is bigger/stronger than Reyna but I would need to see some kind of data that the 28 year old with 2 surgically repaired knees is faster than the 20 year old. I know Reyna isn't a burner, but from what I've seen of Morris I wouldn't call him fast, hard runner maybe but not fast.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

The good news: I really like Argentina and Croatia.

 

The bad news: I wish this was the final since I like them both. One of them aren't making the final.

 

Prediction - Argentina 2-1

[glenn__davis]

The good news: I really like Argentina and Croatia.

 

The bad news: I wish this was the final since I like them both. One of them aren't making the final.

 

Prediction - Argentina 2-1

 

Agreed.  I'm a big fan of both Messi and Modric so to see one of them have to go home will be a bummer.

 

Honestly I think anyone left would be a good winner.  Morocco winning would be super cool.  France would be my least favorite but the back-to-back storyline is pretty compelling.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Well Argentina is going to be tough to catch now for the Croatians. Up 2 at this level and stage of the WC is a huge hole to dig out of. But if there is any team in the entire field of 32 that could come back its them. They just don't seem to lose......but I think there time has come.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

If you watched the match today you saw in spades why Messi is the hardest player to defend on the planet. He isn't as fast as he once was but he is still very quick but what separates him from the masses is his insane ability to dribble at full speed and keep the ball so close to his feet. The 3rd Argentine goal showed that in detail. Poor defender did all he could to press him in the box without fouling him. The result. Messi had him for lunch.

 

So go Blue and White win it all.

[JeremyStrain]

If you watched the match today you saw in spades why Messi is the hardest player to defend on the planet. He isn't as fast as he once was but he is still very quick but what separates him from the masses is his insane ability to dribble at full speed and keep the ball so close to his feet. The 3rd Argentine goal showed that in detail. Poor defender did all he could to press him in the box without fouling him. The result. Messi had him for lunch.

 

So go Blue and White win it all.

Dude has the most amazing amount of touch you'll ever see.

 

I still think factoring in age, this is the year I take Mbappe over him, but even at 80-90% of what he was, he's still better than 99% of players.

[DuffMan]

Grant Wahl's cause of death was an Aortic Aneurysm.  Nice to know that it wasn't foul play but still very sad.   Was listening to the Press Box podcast about him the other day and he was universally liked and appreciated by those that knew or worked with him.

[Old Man]

Grant Wahl's cause of death was an Aortic Aneurysm.  Nice to know that it wasn't foul play but still very sad.   Was listening to the Press Box podcast about him the other day and he was universally liked and appreciated by those that knew or worked with him.

Glad it wasnt foul play.

 

Guess the conspiracy peeps will have to focus elsewhere.