Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / Reaction to Portugal: Pochettino Gets It All Wrong, USMNT Tactics Under Fire

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Reaction to Portugal: Pochettino Gets It All Wrong, USMNT Tactics Under Fire · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:00
Speaker 1: For me being two months away from the World Cup
0:03
Speaker 1: and sort of saying, hey, for a half we competed.
0:06
Speaker 1: It's just not good enough at this point, Matt, not
0:09
Speaker 1: good enough.
0:12
Speaker 2: Greeting folks, and welcome to Inside America and Soccer. I'm
0:15
Speaker 2: Matt Doyle, filling in for new dad Tom Boger for
0:18
Speaker 2: just a couple more shows here, and I'm joined as
0:21
Speaker 2: always by one of the greatest players in US men's
0:24
Speaker 2: national team history, tab Ramos, my friend and yours and
0:28
Speaker 2: a man who, along with me and along with I
0:31
Speaker 2: assume all of you, watched the US get outclassed yet again,
0:35
Speaker 2: this time by Portugal and a two miar loss on
0:38
Speaker 2: Tuesday night. I have my thoughts on it, Tab, I
0:43
Speaker 2: want to hear yours before we really get into it.
0:45
Speaker 2: Just your big picture takeaway from this game, in particular
0:48
Speaker 2: in the camp overall.
0:51
Speaker 1: Wow, you know, once again, great to be on with you.
0:56
Speaker 1: I know that. You know, after the last show and
0:58
Speaker 1: after the last game, we talked a little about a
1:00
Speaker 1: little bit about being deflated, right because we you know,
1:04
Speaker 1: we were coming into this camp feeling pretty good. You know,
1:07
Speaker 1: we had beaten Uruguay with sort of our Can we
1:10
Speaker 1: call it a little bit of our second team. Let's say,
1:15
Speaker 1: you know, Uruguay maybe missing a couple guys, but you know,
1:18
Speaker 1: we really felt good about that camp. I'll be honest,
1:21
Speaker 1: I did as well, and I kind of jumped a
1:24
Speaker 1: little bit on that bandwagon of Okay, well that's this
1:27
Speaker 1: is the beginning of of something here, and now we
1:30
Speaker 1: have the March window, March window. We have good teams,
1:34
Speaker 1: we can solidify what we've been working on, and hopefully
1:38
Speaker 1: now we finally started after a year and a half
1:41
Speaker 1: of you know, trials and seventy players coming in and
1:44
Speaker 1: out and different systems and all of these things. And
1:48
Speaker 1: yet here we are at the end of the March window,
1:50
Speaker 1: which is likely a very important one because now we
1:53
Speaker 1: have to pick the team and to be fair, and
1:56
Speaker 1: you said, well, give me sort of the big picture.
1:59
Speaker 1: How you feel about this. I'm confused, Matt. I'm confused,
2:07
Speaker 1: are we I'm confused by the way we play. You know,
2:11
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if that second game against Portugal is
2:13
Speaker 1: a new way to play. It's just a new system
2:16
Speaker 1: that we have. I you know, we've been hearing for
2:20
Speaker 1: a long time now about you know, and and and
2:23
Speaker 1: obviously all of us have been asking for Okay, what's
2:26
Speaker 1: our eleven. Let's see our eleven play together, and let's
2:29
Speaker 1: see those guys go through a tough game and and
2:32
Speaker 1: then let's correct some of the things. But I just
2:35
Speaker 1: I don't know what system we play. I don't know
2:40
Speaker 1: what our eleven is. And and more importantly, I think
2:46
Speaker 1: you know when I hear you know after the game
2:49
Speaker 1: that we're happy because we competed for parts of a
2:54
Speaker 1: half in both games. I think we competed thirty We
2:58
Speaker 1: competed when we went to Italy and we were basically
3:02
Speaker 1: not even soccer players. We competed. I don't think this
3:05
Speaker 1: is about competing. I think we we went and got
3:09
Speaker 1: one of the best coaches in the world to get
3:10
Speaker 1: us closer to the top, to the top teams. You know,
3:15
Speaker 1: this makes me wonder a little bit, well, what was
3:18
Speaker 1: an interview? Like? Like what was because I feel like
3:22
Speaker 1: Rico Pochettino is still getting to know not just our team,
3:26
Speaker 1: but like our culture of where we've been. Like, this
3:29
Speaker 1: is not about competing. I don't think we went out
3:32
Speaker 1: and got the best coach in the world to start
3:34
Speaker 1: competing against teams. I think we want to narrow the gap.
3:38
Speaker 1: I think we want to beat teams we're not supposed
3:40
Speaker 1: to be, Like, that's what we're here, that's what we
3:44
Speaker 1: are expecting as fans of the team. And so I'm
3:49
Speaker 1: not sure. I'm confused, Matt, I really am.
3:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, beat teams that we're not supposed to be and
3:57
Speaker 2: beat teams that we occasionally used to be. The US
4:00
Speaker 2: has played Portugal before, famously in two thousand and two
4:03
Speaker 2: in the World Cup and beat them, And that was
4:05
Speaker 2: a really, really good Portugal team back in two thousand
4:08
Speaker 2: and two. There were no worries about competing with that group.
4:12
Speaker 1: And we tied them, and we tied them in twenty
4:16
Speaker 1: fourteen with Ronaldo and that was a great generation and
4:19
Speaker 1: we beat them back in nineteen ninety three and so
4:22
Speaker 1: and I know they're better. Yeah they're beat But I
4:25
Speaker 1: don't think it's about competing.
4:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, it hasn't been in the past with this group
4:30
Speaker 2: for whatever reason it is. I generally am really positive
4:34
Speaker 2: on Greg Berhalter's tenure, but the last year there's no
4:37
Speaker 2: question the level dropped in that group.
4:40
Speaker 3: Things went stale.
4:40
Speaker 2: I completely understood and supported the idea of going out
4:44
Speaker 2: and getting a new coach, and then once Mauricio Pochettino
4:47
Speaker 2: was brought in. His resume kind of speaks for itself,
4:50
Speaker 2: and after a little bit finding his feet, he got
4:53
Speaker 2: things I think in the right going in the right
4:56
Speaker 2: direction last autumn with all those changes you've talked about
4:59
Speaker 2: tab and I bought into it too. And it feels
5:02
Speaker 2: like we backslid in this camp because the intensity level
5:06
Speaker 2: wasn't good enough against Belgium.
5:08
Speaker 3: It got better.
5:09
Speaker 2: Against Portrait Goal, but still wasn't like what we saw
5:12
Speaker 2: against Paraguay or Australia or against Uruguay, and the US
5:17
Speaker 2: paid for that. So we on today's show we are
5:20
Speaker 2: going to talk about that. We'll discuss the major issues
5:23
Speaker 2: in the loss and what we can learn from this match.
5:25
Speaker 2: We'll also name our starting eleven for the World Cup.
5:29
Speaker 2: I wish we had a little bit more data on that,
5:31
Speaker 2: but based upon what we saw in these two friendlies,
5:34
Speaker 2: we'll try to read some tea leaves and maybe.
5:37
Speaker 3: Do a little bit of wish casting.
5:38
Speaker 2: Plus, we'll talk about the roster who we think will
5:40
Speaker 2: make the final final twenty six men roster for the
5:43
Speaker 2: World Cup, and we'll talk about Turkey, a who we
5:47
Speaker 2: now know will be our final group stage opponent at
5:51
Speaker 2: the World Cup have to really sweat it out against Kosovo,
5:54
Speaker 2: but got the goal, got the win, and so tab
5:58
Speaker 2: let's get into it. From the US perve, it's still
6:01
Speaker 2: not good. Christian Polistic starts the match as a loan
6:05
Speaker 2: forward and to me, that's a waste. That is the
6:09
Speaker 2: absolute waste of one of our final three friendlies heading
6:13
Speaker 2: into the World Cup, because at no point should the
6:16
Speaker 2: US go into a game this summer without a true
6:20
Speaker 2: forward on the field, and particularly with the way Flow
6:23
Speaker 2: Balligan has been playing for his club team, you would
6:27
Speaker 2: hope that he is just a written and penn starter.
6:30
Speaker 2: So the idea behind this friendly not only get reps
6:34
Speaker 2: against one of the best teams in the world, but
6:36
Speaker 2: also build chemistry with Polisic and Balligan and McKenny and
6:41
Speaker 2: Waia on one side, Jedi Robinson on the other, and
6:44
Speaker 2: so to play Christian Polistic as a false nine, a
6:47
Speaker 2: role in which he really struggled because anytime he tried
6:50
Speaker 2: to drop back in with his back to goal, he
6:52
Speaker 2: turned the ball over because he doesn't know how to
6:55
Speaker 2: play as a center forward. It kind of defeated the
6:57
Speaker 2: purpose of this friendly and it felt like wasted ninety
7:01
Speaker 2: minutes to me.
7:03
Speaker 1: I have to totally agree with that. I you know,
7:07
Speaker 1: I thought, I really thought these friendlies, these two friendlies
7:10
Speaker 1: in particular, were about putting our best eleven together. Finally,
7:14
Speaker 1: after a year and a half of saying how great
7:17
Speaker 1: we're going to be a year from now, I thought
7:19
Speaker 1: that this was going to be the camp in which
7:21
Speaker 1: we had our starting starting eleven and we saw what
7:24
Speaker 1: we can do, and then fix that, and then see
7:29
Speaker 1: what you can do for ninety minutes. And of course
7:31
Speaker 1: there's a lot of substitutions, but I think we're in
7:34
Speaker 1: a We're in a different situation than Belgium, We're in
7:37
Speaker 1: a different situation than Portugal. I think if those teams
7:40
Speaker 1: want to go ahead and make seven, eight nine changes
7:42
Speaker 1: in a game, they have a way. They've been together
7:45
Speaker 1: for a long time, they won things, they they know
7:49
Speaker 1: how to play together. I feel like, because we've had
7:53
Speaker 1: all of these players in and out, I feel like
7:57
Speaker 1: this camp was another tryout. It was a tryout about
8:00
Speaker 1: who makes the twenty six. And to be fair, who
8:04
Speaker 1: cares who makes the twenty six. I want to know
8:06
Speaker 1: what are eleven is? Those are the guys we have
8:09
Speaker 1: to win a game with. You know, we're talking about
8:12
Speaker 1: the twenty six. We're given opportunities to players, and look,
8:16
Speaker 1: by the way, I can't get into Poschettino's head. Maybe
8:20
Speaker 1: he just feels like all twenty six guys or all
8:23
Speaker 1: thirty guys at this point have a chance to be
8:25
Speaker 1: in the starting eleven. But if that's the case, why
8:29
Speaker 1: has it taken a year and a half to get
8:32
Speaker 1: to this point. That's the part that I don't get.
8:36
Speaker 1: I agree with you on the politic thing. I think
8:39
Speaker 1: it's neat that we can have a variation to playing
8:42
Speaker 1: without a forward for a little while if we wanted to,
8:46
Speaker 1: But we haven't figured out how we play yet, Like
8:49
Speaker 1: we're having a variation to what So this is a variation,
8:53
Speaker 1: which is nice to have, by the way, when you're
8:55
Speaker 1: in preseason, this is what you do. You try things.
8:58
Speaker 1: But we don't know the way we play yet. We
9:00
Speaker 1: don't know our starting eleven yet, and so if we
9:03
Speaker 1: don't know that, how do we how are we trying
9:06
Speaker 1: other things? And that's for me a little bit of
9:09
Speaker 1: the frustrating part. I mean, I think if you're you know,
9:13
Speaker 1: you're Tim Waya now you're thinking that you're going to
9:15
Speaker 1: be the right back. Only I guess, but he comes
9:17
Speaker 1: in as a forward. You know Freeman, was he really
9:21
Speaker 1: a third center back in this It took me a
9:23
Speaker 1: little while to figure out how we were playing in
9:25
Speaker 1: the back. And then, by the way, I'll disagree with
9:28
Speaker 1: you on one thing, and that's the intensity of the game.
9:31
Speaker 1: I think the players couldn't have had any more intensity
9:35
Speaker 1: in the first fifteen to twenty minutes against Portugal. I mean,
9:38
Speaker 1: it almost looked like like a hockey line change when
9:41
Speaker 1: the new guys come in. We were everywhere. I couldn't
9:45
Speaker 1: figure out where we were playing because our guys were
9:47
Speaker 1: pressing everywhere. I mean, we pressed Portugal into making quite
9:51
Speaker 1: a few mistakes in the first fifteen to twenty minutes
9:53
Speaker 1: of the game, which is not usual for them. I mean,
9:55
Speaker 1: Vittina doesn't lose the ball, Bruno Fernandez doesn't lose the ball.
9:59
Speaker 1: These guys were losing the and I think that's a
10:01
Speaker 1: good sign for us. But is it a good sign
10:03
Speaker 1: that we're a good team or was it just we
10:05
Speaker 1: were running around like crazy trying to recover the ball.
10:08
Speaker 1: I couldn't figure out what we were doing.
10:12
Speaker 2: Well, I think Portugal solved it, and this is one
10:15
Speaker 2: of the things that has me worried. After these two
10:18
Speaker 2: games against Belgium, the hydration break, which is now mandatory
10:22
Speaker 2: every game gets a hydration break this summer at the
10:25
Speaker 2: World Cup, and coaches use it as a timeout and
10:27
Speaker 2: they adjust their tactics against Belgium. The tactical adjustment that
10:31
Speaker 2: they made was they started playing direct more straight up
10:34
Speaker 2: the gut to win first ball, second ball because there
10:36
Speaker 2: was a gap between the US back line and central midfield.
10:40
Speaker 3: So second balls were there to be won.
10:42
Speaker 2: And you're gonna win the first ball because you're going
10:43
Speaker 2: up against Tim Reen who is just not great in
10:46
Speaker 2: the air. So that's how they got one of their goals.
10:48
Speaker 2: And then the other thing they did was start hitting
10:49
Speaker 2: more diagonals right to left diagonals, specifically debased the right
10:55
Speaker 2: back was taking advantage of the fact that the US
10:58
Speaker 2: were not closing him down, and it was really Christian
11:00
Speaker 2: Polistic was not working to close him down quickly in
11:05
Speaker 2: this game. The adjustment at the twenty three minute mark
11:08
Speaker 2: at the hydration break was Portugal had been playing zonal defensively.
11:17
Speaker 2: They changed to a man to man defensive scheme and
11:21
Speaker 2: just said, you know what, the US can't hold the
11:23
Speaker 2: ball through central midfield. We're going to build the whole
11:25
Speaker 2: plane out of central midfield turnovers. That's it, And like
11:29
Speaker 2: you could go back and it's clear as day, especially
11:32
Speaker 2: on the first Portugal goal, it's a turnover where they're
11:36
Speaker 2: in a man to man scheme and at that point
11:39
Speaker 2: it's just a matter of can you win your duels,
11:42
Speaker 2: and the US couldn't and they never adjusted to that time.
11:45
Speaker 2: There's two games in a row where the other coach
11:48
Speaker 2: made a big adjustment that changed the game, and the
11:51
Speaker 2: US didn't have any sort of response.
11:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and that was noticeable because you know,
11:57
Speaker 1: I think Portugal in the end to me a little
12:00
Speaker 1: bit like like Belgium. And I mentioned that the other
12:03
Speaker 1: day that you know, I was sitting here with my
12:05
Speaker 1: buddy watching the game, and I was thinking, Belgium doesn't
12:09
Speaker 1: even look like they're trying, you know, they look like
12:12
Speaker 1: they're just nonchalant with the ball, and Portugal kind of
12:15
Speaker 1: looked the same. Once they speeded up the game a
12:19
Speaker 1: little bit, they created a couple of chances that could
12:21
Speaker 1: have put us away. And by the way, Matt Freeze,
12:25
Speaker 1: I thought played a very good game. You know, he
12:27
Speaker 1: made the types of saves that we need to stay
12:30
Speaker 1: in games. He did that, which takes us back now
12:33
Speaker 1: to the first game and wonder why we made a
12:35
Speaker 1: change in the first place, But we did say that
12:37
Speaker 1: after the first game. So yeah, Portugal, you know, with
12:41
Speaker 1: the quality that they have, they just don't need many
12:43
Speaker 1: chances to score. And that's what's gonna That's the difference
12:47
Speaker 1: really between the the you know, the top ten teams
12:50
Speaker 1: in the world and the rest, and the difference is
12:52
Speaker 1: is quite big.
12:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, And defensively the difference on that goal. Look, it's
12:58
Speaker 2: a midfield turnover. And then Aidan Morris has a choice
13:02
Speaker 2: to make which you know, which attacker you're going to
13:05
Speaker 2: try to keep in your your cover shadow, and he
13:07
Speaker 2: chose one, and he's trying to cut out a pass
13:09
Speaker 2: from Vittina. If Vitina has multiple options and you take
13:13
Speaker 2: one away, he's going to play the other one, which
13:15
Speaker 2: he did immediately plays Bruno Fernandez through. The really disappointing
13:19
Speaker 2: thing in that moment for me was that Aiden Morris
13:22
Speaker 2: and Malik Tillman both switched off and you could go back.
13:25
Speaker 2: I put the clip on my blue Sky and you
13:27
Speaker 2: go back and watch that. They they turn off and
13:30
Speaker 2: they turn around and watch the play and start jogging,
13:33
Speaker 2: and neither of them realizes until it's far too late
13:38
Speaker 2: that Bruno Fernandez is gonna find drink out right there
13:41
Speaker 2: on the corner of the six for it honestly had
13:45
Speaker 2: enough time to take two touches, and that lack of
13:49
Speaker 2: awareness in those transition moments was kind of glaring at times,
13:55
Speaker 2: and it's why Portugal were so dangerous on counter attacks
14:02
Speaker 2: on turnovers again and again and again. And that leads
14:06
Speaker 2: me to the big point with this formation, Like Risio
14:11
Speaker 2: Pochccino had said over the course of the week, We're
14:15
Speaker 2: gonna move Christian Polistic further up top, closer to goal
14:19
Speaker 2: so that he can get more chances, hopefully get a goal,
14:21
Speaker 2: hopefully get his confidence back, because this is a man
14:23
Speaker 2: who has not scored since December for club or country,
14:26
Speaker 2: has not scored since November of twenty twenty four for
14:30
Speaker 2: the US, so he needs something. But I thought that
14:33
Speaker 2: meant he was going to play in the formation you
14:35
Speaker 2: want tab which is kind of a five to three
14:38
Speaker 2: to two with him up top alongside another forward. But
14:43
Speaker 2: playing him as a loan center forward meant that the
14:47
Speaker 2: US were going to try to actually possess the ball
14:51
Speaker 2: through central midfield. And while there were good moments with that,
14:56
Speaker 2: there were a lot of bad moments as well, turnovers
14:59
Speaker 2: from POOLA, turnovers like the one that we saw on
15:02
Speaker 2: the goal, lack of tracking. So my question is, why
15:05
Speaker 2: not just play that five three to two and skip
15:08
Speaker 2: the midfield? Why not do what Belgium did in the
15:12
Speaker 2: you know, in the final seventy minutes of that game,
15:14
Speaker 2: and say, all right, we can actually play over this
15:17
Speaker 2: mess or around it and get those two guys up top,
15:22
Speaker 2: spread the field wide with two flying wingbacks. You have
15:25
Speaker 2: three center backs back there, and then you have a
15:27
Speaker 2: really you in theory, you have a really aggressive midfield
15:31
Speaker 2: of McKenny and Tillman and you know, be it Aiden
15:35
Speaker 2: Morris or Tanner, Tessaman or you know, whoever you want
15:38
Speaker 2: to put out there. Like, there's a way to actually
15:41
Speaker 2: do this that plays to the US strengths and I
15:43
Speaker 2: don't think we've seen.
15:44
Speaker 1: It, no, But but here's the issue, matt uh. The
15:48
Speaker 1: issue is that we we don't have a way. And
15:52
Speaker 1: when you don't have a way, you kind of I
15:54
Speaker 1: feel like we're winging it. You know. If we had
15:57
Speaker 1: a way, we can I feel like and obviously from
15:59
Speaker 1: the outside. And I will always say that it's easier
16:02
Speaker 1: to coach someone else's team, So to be on this
16:04
Speaker 1: side is a lot easier than to be on the field.
16:06
Speaker 1: And for you to know the ins and outs of
16:08
Speaker 1: every player, to know how they feel that day, to
16:11
Speaker 1: know what conversations you've had with them about certain positions,
16:15
Speaker 1: how they feel about certain positions, what you tell them
16:18
Speaker 1: individually about you're talking about coverage getting back into the
16:21
Speaker 1: box with in this case with Morris and Tillman, but
16:25
Speaker 1: if you remember the game against Belgium, it was also
16:27
Speaker 1: with Tessaman and Cardoso, like they weren't getting there on time,
16:30
Speaker 1: they didn't feel comfortable. So is this the problem for
16:33
Speaker 1: us is that we're on the outside and we don't
16:37
Speaker 1: know if this is if the reason they're not getting
16:40
Speaker 1: to those spots is because tactically we don't want them
16:43
Speaker 1: in those spots, or is the coach asking them to
16:45
Speaker 1: get to those spots and they're just not and to
16:47
Speaker 1: us it looks like they're not making the effort. Maybe
16:50
Speaker 1: to the coaches like, well, the coach just wants them
16:52
Speaker 1: to hang out at the top of the box. I
16:54
Speaker 1: have no idea why. What I can tell you is
16:57
Speaker 1: that it's very difficult for us to assess our team,
17:00
Speaker 1: assess the game, and for Poschettino to finally put his
17:04
Speaker 1: eleven together when we don't really have a way to play.
17:08
Speaker 1: I'm really struggling with that. I'm struggling with the fact that,
17:12
Speaker 1: you know, we have potentially four forwards that can start
17:15
Speaker 1: for us, and we don't start any of them. I'm
17:17
Speaker 1: struggling with the fact that Baaligan is probably the hottest
17:20
Speaker 1: player that we have because he scores in the Champions League.
17:23
Speaker 1: He's scores in the league on and he doesn't play,
17:27
Speaker 1: and I think, if anything, you can do nothing but
17:31
Speaker 1: bet on Balligan and Polisic at this point, it's kind
17:35
Speaker 1: of their team, like, this is where we are, and
17:37
Speaker 1: after all the time, this is where we are. If
17:39
Speaker 1: we're looking about, you know, talking about twenty thirty World Cup,
17:42
Speaker 1: maybe the whole thing changes, but this is where we are.
17:45
Speaker 1: We're like, what sixty days away from the World Cup
17:48
Speaker 1: and we don't have an eleven and we don't have
17:51
Speaker 1: a way to play. That's at least not a way
17:54
Speaker 1: that I can understand.
17:56
Speaker 2: How did you feel about the way uh Pochettino addressed
18:02
Speaker 2: the press after the game. The quote that everybody took
18:06
Speaker 2: away from it was you know, Belgium in Portugal and
18:10
Speaker 2: I'm paraphrasing here, but Belgium and Portugal have top hundred
18:13
Speaker 2: players and we don't have that, which was I think
18:17
Speaker 2: I agree with him, but I'm a little surprised that
18:19
Speaker 2: he said it.
18:20
Speaker 1: Oh, you know, there's nothing that builds a team like
18:22
Speaker 1: telling your team like they're not good enough. You know,
18:25
Speaker 1: that's that's always so that's always a great thing, you know,
18:29
Speaker 1: to go to the press conference and say, hey, you know,
18:31
Speaker 1: our players aren't good anyway, so you know, look at us.
18:34
Speaker 1: We're competing. You know, Look, Matt, this is uh, this
18:39
Speaker 1: is a difficult situation because I think in this country
18:44
Speaker 1: we understand the game a little bit more that we're
18:46
Speaker 1: giving credit for. I believe this team is not working.
18:51
Speaker 1: This is not about top one hundred. Yeah, Belgium has
18:54
Speaker 1: top one hundred players Portugal so what so what who cares?
18:58
Speaker 1: You have to go and win the game? You know,
19:00
Speaker 1: the best team doesn't win all the games. That's why
19:02
Speaker 1: you play the games. How can we put ourselves in
19:04
Speaker 1: position to win games we're not supposed to win or
19:07
Speaker 1: you know, and we're not doing that and for me
19:11
Speaker 1: to say that, you know, we're competing for moments in
19:15
Speaker 1: the game. Every team competes for moments in the game.
19:19
Speaker 1: You know, Normally, I think I said it on the
19:22
Speaker 1: last show. Normally what happens when a team is better
19:25
Speaker 1: than you. You know, they they you work as hard
19:29
Speaker 1: as you can for eighty ninety minutes, but at some
19:32
Speaker 1: point they're going to get you because they have the
19:33
Speaker 1: quality to get you. We're not even getting to that point.
19:37
Speaker 1: So for me being two months away from the World
19:39
Speaker 1: Cup and sort of saying, hey, for a half we competed,
19:42
Speaker 1: or almost for a half we competed against Belgium, It's
19:47
Speaker 1: just not good enough at this point, Matt, not good enough.
19:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, it has been hasn't been good enough for a
19:53
Speaker 2: while against the European teams. This is eight straight losses
19:57
Speaker 2: against the European competition, which is I didn't mind boggling
20:00
Speaker 2: when you think about how previous generations were able to
20:04
Speaker 2: go toe to toe as often as not with the
20:07
Speaker 2: best that Europe has to offer. Haven't seen it from
20:12
Speaker 2: this group. Were there any positive performances that we can
20:18
Speaker 2: take away from this one? I will say I thought
20:20
Speaker 2: pat Ajiman came off the bench and did well for himself. Again,
20:24
Speaker 2: I thought Chris Richards was very good in the middle
20:27
Speaker 2: of that back three. I know Austin trust he wasn't perfect,
20:30
Speaker 2: but he I thought he competed. I guess I'm setting
20:36
Speaker 2: the barlow. I thought he competed and he didn't. He
20:39
Speaker 2: didn't embarrass himself out there. So and obviously Matt Freeze
20:43
Speaker 2: was good too. Anyone catch your eye.
20:46
Speaker 1: Well, I would have to say I agree with you
20:49
Speaker 1: on Trusty for sure. You know I have not been
20:53
Speaker 1: a Trusty fan, not because I don't like him. I
20:56
Speaker 1: think he's a good player. Of course, he's a good player.
20:58
Speaker 1: He plays for Celtic. You know, he's he's a great
21:01
Speaker 1: player for this team. I didn't think he would be at,
21:04
Speaker 1: you know, at that level, and I think I think
21:06
Speaker 1: he showed you he brings something to the table. I
21:09
Speaker 1: think Trusty put himself in a good situation to be
21:13
Speaker 1: considered to be on this roster and to potentially contribute
21:16
Speaker 1: to the team. Uh. Maybe I'm pushing it too far,
21:19
Speaker 1: but that's that's what I saw yesterday. If I had
21:21
Speaker 1: to look at a positive, I thought it was very positive.
21:24
Speaker 1: And you know, I think if anything, you know, one
21:26
Speaker 1: of the things that I had seen from Trusty, and
21:28
Speaker 1: that's even when I coach him on the U twenties,
21:30
Speaker 1: that he's sometimes over anxious. He gets to place too fast.
21:33
Speaker 1: So it's never a lack of effort. So and it's
21:36
Speaker 1: never a lack of competing or going hard. He always does.
21:40
Speaker 1: It's sometimes reading the play a little bit better and
21:43
Speaker 1: deciding not to commit to a certain place and staying
21:46
Speaker 1: in position a little bit better. But I have to
21:48
Speaker 1: say he I thought he did a very very good job.
21:50
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Matt Freeze solidified himself in the position.
21:55
Speaker 1: I mean, let's I was gonna say, let's stop messing
21:58
Speaker 1: around with that position. But there is no messing around now.
22:01
Speaker 1: We just have the World Cup basically coming out this
22:04
Speaker 1: just two games, so it is what it is. But
22:06
Speaker 1: that's our guy, I thought. Because of the way the
22:09
Speaker 1: whole camp worked out, this camp was positive for Johnny Cardozo.
22:14
Speaker 1: He played a half, he did okay, and he left
22:18
Speaker 1: and I think I think it worked out for him.
22:21
Speaker 1: It worked out.
22:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, Diego Luna was Diego Luna was one of the
22:24
Speaker 2: big winners from that.
22:26
Speaker 1: Well a little bit, you know, Diego Luna get you know,
22:30
Speaker 1: Alex and Dajas. How did he not win out of
22:33
Speaker 1: this camp? Alex and Dajaz, you know, just won in
22:36
Speaker 1: this camp. So yeah, you know, I don't want to
22:41
Speaker 1: laugh at it. I mean, I just I'm I'm I'm disappointed,
22:44
Speaker 1: and I think it's not It's not a matter of
22:47
Speaker 1: making fun in any way. I think we're we're just
22:50
Speaker 1: trying to figure out a way. I think we're all
22:51
Speaker 1: on the same you know, whether we're here on you know,
22:55
Speaker 1: on the press trying to discuss what's going on, or
22:57
Speaker 1: we're fans, we're trying to get this right and we're
23:00
Speaker 1: just not seeing the light at the end of the
23:02
Speaker 1: tunnel at all. I'm starting to believe now that if
23:04
Speaker 1: we do well this summer, it's going to be by
23:06
Speaker 1: It's going to be by chance.
23:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, should be by set pieces as well. That set
23:13
Speaker 2: piece that Joue Philis scored was kind of inexcusable from
23:18
Speaker 2: the US.
23:19
Speaker 3: He was left unmarked at the top of the box.
23:23
Speaker 2: Afterwards, Muricio Pochettino said it was a case of confusion
23:29
Speaker 2: because there had been so many subs the players on
23:32
Speaker 2: the field weren't exactly sure who was supposed to be
23:34
Speaker 2: at the top of the box and who was supposed
23:37
Speaker 2: to be in the mix. Man a lot of little
23:41
Speaker 2: details to get wrong at this point in the cycle.
23:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, well, I mean, but you know, when players
23:47
Speaker 1: come in, usually have an assistant coach that tells the
23:49
Speaker 1: players where they're supposed to go, right, I mean, that's
23:51
Speaker 1: that's how that works. And if there are too many substitutions,
23:55
Speaker 1: well how about don't make the substitutions. Do we need
23:59
Speaker 1: them in substitutions? We're trying to put a team together
24:02
Speaker 1: to go win in the World Cup. Do we really
24:04
Speaker 1: need to see every person that's in this camp. I
24:09
Speaker 1: honestly didn't think I needed to see that, but maybe
24:13
Speaker 1: he doesn't. That's what happens when, you know, when you
24:15
Speaker 1: make a lot of substitutions, and I get it. You know,
24:17
Speaker 1: sometimes it's difficult for players in thirty seconds to understand
24:20
Speaker 1: where they go and what player they go with. Considering
24:23
Speaker 1: that the other team is making substitutions, but all the
24:26
Speaker 1: other teams are going through the same thing.
24:31
Speaker 2: I'm going to read you a quote from Christian Polistic
24:34
Speaker 2: and ostensibly he is still the best player on this team,
24:37
Speaker 2: and he has proven himself in big games. Let's remember
24:40
Speaker 2: what he sacrificed to score that goal against Iran in
24:44
Speaker 2: the World Cup four years ago, like he has put
24:46
Speaker 2: it on the line for his country, and he says
24:50
Speaker 2: we were able to create chances, which if I finished chances,
24:54
Speaker 2: which I know I'm going to, then things are going
24:57
Speaker 2: to be a bit different. If you're his teammate in
25:01
Speaker 2: the locker room or you're his coach, and you hear
25:05
Speaker 2: that quote after this camp where he did have a
25:08
Speaker 2: ton of chances, he didn't finish any of them. He
25:11
Speaker 2: hasn't finished anything for the US since November of twenty
25:15
Speaker 2: twenty four, and he hasn't finished anything from Milan in
25:18
Speaker 2: three months. Are you positive about that quote or are
25:22
Speaker 2: you frustrated?
25:23
Speaker 3: Like what do you want? Is that what you want
25:25
Speaker 3: to hear from Christian Polistic after this one?
25:27
Speaker 1: Well, I mean I think he's being honest, right, I mean,
25:30
Speaker 1: he didn't necessarily It's not like we watch Christian Polistic
25:34
Speaker 1: not make an effort. He made the effort, he got
25:37
Speaker 1: to the end of plays. He's just not at this point,
25:40
Speaker 1: he's just not clinical en off. He's not finishing, and
25:42
Speaker 1: I think he's recognizing that. I buy it. I buy it.
25:45
Speaker 1: I mean, if I'm on his team. That's your question.
25:48
Speaker 1: Your question is if you're on his team, is this
25:50
Speaker 1: something that you're you know, you're believing in. I am,
25:55
Speaker 1: and I'd like to hear that he feels like, Hey,
25:57
Speaker 1: you know what, I needed to be sharper and I'm
25:59
Speaker 1: going to be sharper in this World Cup. I want
26:01
Speaker 1: to hear that.
26:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, and let's hope you will be. I'm going to
26:05
Speaker 2: leave you one last quote from Christian Polistic, hopefully one
26:09
Speaker 2: that puts us all on a better frame of mind.
26:12
Speaker 2: He says, I remember people were doubting us after that
26:15
Speaker 2: September twenty twenty two camp.
26:17
Speaker 3: We didn't have a great camp.
26:19
Speaker 2: I don't remember who exactly who the opponents were in
26:22
Speaker 2: that one, but I remember it was pretty brutal. They
26:24
Speaker 2: were pretty bad. And he says, but at the end
26:26
Speaker 2: of the day, we go in and we have a
26:28
Speaker 2: great World Cup. And I wouldn't go so far as
26:30
Speaker 2: to call it a great World Cup, but I thought
26:31
Speaker 2: the US were very, very good in twenty twenty two.
26:36
Speaker 3: That is some perspective.
26:37
Speaker 2: These are just friendlies, and you could play lousy in
26:39
Speaker 2: your last set of friendlies and still go in and
26:42
Speaker 2: hit your marks in the World Cup. Does that resonate
26:46
Speaker 2: for Youtub? Is that the right attitude for him and
26:48
Speaker 2: for this US team to take right now?
26:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, normally that would be because that happens with teams,
26:54
Speaker 1: right you go through those rough moments. It's just that
26:56
Speaker 1: we really don't have any sort of we don't have
26:59
Speaker 1: any think to look at and say, Okay, we're not
27:02
Speaker 1: doing well, but you know it's gonna be fine because
27:05
Speaker 1: we've seen it. No, we haven't seen it, and we
27:09
Speaker 1: haven't seen it at all, and we need to see it.
27:12
Speaker 1: This world up this is you know, if there's one
27:14
Speaker 1: thing you know, and I was not a big fan
27:16
Speaker 1: of of of the past team with Greg Burholter and
27:21
Speaker 1: the way they played because it was very robotic. Let's
27:25
Speaker 1: just say with with the way the team played. But
27:28
Speaker 1: it's one thing you can say about that is the
27:30
Speaker 1: team was always organized right, and I think I think
27:34
Speaker 1: we're the opposite of that now and we're still not
27:37
Speaker 1: getting results. You know, it's difficult at this point, I'm
27:41
Speaker 1: not seeing the picture. And by the way, uh, you know,
27:43
Speaker 1: when when you're looking and I know we're going to
27:45
Speaker 1: go through the roster, but you start looking at all
27:47
Speaker 1: the different midfielders that we use and and I just
27:50
Speaker 1: don't understand what we use so many? And if we
27:52
Speaker 1: use so many, why is Moussa not part of this picture?
27:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, it appointing one for us. It's time for a
28:03
Speaker 2: break up. Next, we'll name the starting elevens that we
28:06
Speaker 2: want to see for the World Cup. Who knows if
28:09
Speaker 2: we'll see it or not, though, Please rate, review, and
28:11
Speaker 2: subscribe to Inside American Soccer with Tom Boger and tab
28:14
Speaker 2: Ramos wherever you get your podcast. All right, folks, welcome
28:28
Speaker 2: back to Inside American Soccer. Tab let's just jump into it.
28:32
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the World Cup eleven for this summer,
28:36
Speaker 2: because it seems like Marisio Pochaccino still doesn't have an
28:40
Speaker 2: idea of what his will be, but you have an
28:42
Speaker 2: idea of what yours will be. We know it's Matt
28:46
Speaker 2: freezeen goal. But take us through the back line and
28:49
Speaker 2: take us through the formation. What are we going to
28:51
Speaker 2: see or what should we see from the US in June?
28:56
Speaker 1: Well, you know, considering where we are and what we've
28:59
Speaker 1: seen in these last games, it's it's really difficult to
29:01
Speaker 1: figure out what obviously what Mauricio Porchettino is going to
29:05
Speaker 1: be thinking and because of what I've seen from players,
29:09
Speaker 1: I think the one that's that's at this point and
29:13
Speaker 1: non negotiable for me. If if I had to put
29:15
Speaker 1: this team together is the fact that we have to
29:17
Speaker 1: play with three center backs right. It starts there. I
29:20
Speaker 1: would go if if if Robinson is in is in
29:24
Speaker 1: good form, I would go with Robinson, Richards and McKenzie.
29:28
Speaker 1: If Robinson Miles Robinson, yes, Miles Robinson. If he's not,
29:32
Speaker 1: then I would go with Freeman and in that position
29:35
Speaker 1: with Richards and Mackenzie across.
29:39
Speaker 2: One of the let me interrupt, Let me interrupt you there.
29:42
Speaker 2: We all know that Alex Freeman made that move to
29:44
Speaker 2: via Real. He's only played about forty minutes since making
29:48
Speaker 2: that move, all of them at fullback right. He plays
29:51
Speaker 2: as as a modern overlapping fullback. He doesn't play as
29:55
Speaker 2: a center back in a three. But when he came
29:57
Speaker 2: on in this camp and when he's played at times
30:00
Speaker 2: for the US over the past year for Mauricio Pocheccino,
30:03
Speaker 2: he's actually looks really comfortable in that three men right
30:08
Speaker 2: center back setup.
30:11
Speaker 3: Do we need to see him.
30:12
Speaker 2: There at the club level or is there a minimum
30:15
Speaker 2: amount of minutes that he needs to play for via
30:18
Speaker 2: Real before we'd actually be comfortable with seeing him in
30:22
Speaker 2: the World Cup. Or is it just a case of,
30:24
Speaker 2: you know what he's shown it in all these friendlies
30:26
Speaker 2: and I'm going to trust what we've seen from him
30:28
Speaker 2: in the Red, white and blue.
30:31
Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's difficult to sort through that because
30:35
Speaker 1: since we don't really have a way, I can't say
30:39
Speaker 1: that there's a particular position that's where someone needs to
30:42
Speaker 1: cover a certain particular function that we're looking for. And
30:47
Speaker 1: because of that, what I'm looking to do with the
30:49
Speaker 1: eleven that I put together is try to put the
30:51
Speaker 1: best players that we have on the field and take
30:54
Speaker 1: it from there. And I do think you know, at
30:57
Speaker 1: via Real, he plays behind Marinho, you know, very active
31:02
Speaker 1: outside back, sort of lanky, quick, you know, decent on
31:06
Speaker 1: the ball. He struggled with He's struggling with winning a
31:10
Speaker 1: position from a player that can that can do a lot.
31:14
Speaker 1: I haven't said that. I I still think, you know
31:17
Speaker 1: that I'm looking at the sort of the lack of
31:21
Speaker 1: strength that we have in the back with our with
31:23
Speaker 1: our three center backs, and I and I still think
31:25
Speaker 1: he can give us a lot. So whether he's playing
31:28
Speaker 1: or not, a via real. I just can't imagine not
31:32
Speaker 1: giving him a chance to go in there and help us.
31:34
Speaker 1: I mean, it's really, it's really the only reason he's
31:36
Speaker 1: done well for the national team there. I have no
31:38
Speaker 1: reason to think that.
31:39
Speaker 3: He couldn't do the job, all right, take us through
31:42
Speaker 3: or midfield.
31:43
Speaker 1: The midfield, which would be potentially five because m McKenny
31:47
Speaker 1: would be a little bit more advanced. It would be
31:49
Speaker 1: best on the right side Adams and then either Tesman
31:53
Speaker 1: or Cardozo, and then Robinson on the left side, with
31:57
Speaker 1: McKenny a little bit in front of them, and then
31:59
Speaker 1: polistic Bowlogan up top.
32:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is this is kind of what I thought
32:04
Speaker 2: we were going to see from the Portugal game. When
32:07
Speaker 2: Pochettino was saying we're gonna move Christian closer to goal,
32:10
Speaker 2: We're gonna get him more chances, we're gonna try to
32:12
Speaker 2: unlock him, I thought it meant he was going to
32:15
Speaker 2: play up top in a two alongside Baligan, who, as
32:19
Speaker 2: you pointed out, is scorching hot at the club level
32:23
Speaker 2: right now and is should, in my opinion, has written
32:26
Speaker 2: in Penn's starter for the US this summer. And I
32:30
Speaker 2: thought the point of this game was not just going
32:32
Speaker 2: to be to get Christian a goal, get him closer
32:35
Speaker 2: to goal, but to put him in the position that
32:38
Speaker 2: he plays at the club level. He plays as a
32:40
Speaker 2: second forward for AC Milan, and to get that chemistry
32:45
Speaker 2: between those two guys up top and then on top
32:48
Speaker 2: of him. Look, the US could not hold the ball
32:53
Speaker 2: in central midfield against Portugal.
32:55
Speaker 3: It is stark.
32:56
Speaker 2: If you take the game, go back and watch it
32:59
Speaker 2: from the moment they come out of the first half
33:02
Speaker 2: hydration break, Portugal has the ball for about nine straight
33:05
Speaker 2: minutes because anytime the US got on it in midfield,
33:10
Speaker 2: Portugal forced a turnover and that's what changed the game.
33:13
Speaker 2: So dropping Wes into a midfield three, and we know
33:17
Speaker 2: his engine is endless, and we know he can also
33:21
Speaker 2: open the game up with a touch, which is how
33:24
Speaker 2: Juventus have been using him. But then you have two
33:27
Speaker 2: ball winners behind him. Suddenly you're a midfield that is
33:30
Speaker 2: a difficult to play through, difficult to play against, but
33:35
Speaker 2: also not gonna try not going to bother to try
33:38
Speaker 2: to build up with long strings of passes through central midfield,
33:42
Speaker 2: because that is how the US has gotten themselves in
33:45
Speaker 2: trouble consistently against the likes of Belgium, and Portugal. Is
33:50
Speaker 2: that something that was kind of in your head as
33:53
Speaker 2: you were putting this team together.
33:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no doubt. I think what you want to
33:57
Speaker 1: do is you want to make sure that you have
33:59
Speaker 1: numbers the middle of the field, in particular, you know,
34:02
Speaker 1: when when you don't have the feet to be able
34:04
Speaker 1: to keep the ball, as you said, Portugal can keep it.
34:06
Speaker 1: I think by having McKenny rome in the middle of
34:10
Speaker 1: the field, he can potentially unlock, you know, little spots
34:14
Speaker 1: in between lines where he can receive. I think there's
34:17
Speaker 1: no question that that would help, you know, to add
34:21
Speaker 1: to add a number into the midfield would help us
34:24
Speaker 1: to get out of the back.
34:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's what I'm thinking as well. And I
34:32
Speaker 2: wish we had gotten to see that for the US.
34:35
Speaker 3: In this camp.
34:36
Speaker 2: I'm really bummed that we didn't. That's your eleven, who's
34:40
Speaker 2: your first subs? If you need a game changer? If
34:42
Speaker 2: the US is chasing, it's the hour mark in the
34:44
Speaker 2: second half, we're down a goal, who are you bringing on?
34:48
Speaker 1: Well? I mean I have to say that yesterday, at
34:51
Speaker 1: least what I saw from Tillman was a little bit
34:54
Speaker 1: more of energy and although he was not involved in
34:57
Speaker 1: the game again for second game in a row. I
34:59
Speaker 1: think he can provide something off the bench. I think
35:01
Speaker 1: we need to potentially give an opportunity to Alex endajas
35:06
Speaker 1: you know, Alex and Dyez really doing really well in Mexico.
35:09
Speaker 1: He's really good around goal, He's a good finisher, he
35:12
Speaker 1: doesn't need many chances to score. So I think, you know,
35:16
Speaker 1: hopefully he becomes a part of the picture at that point.
35:20
Speaker 1: But you know, and I think the one guy that
35:23
Speaker 1: we were thinking about that was going to be the
35:25
Speaker 1: one who unlocked the defense in the last fifteen to
35:28
Speaker 1: twenty minutes, you know, was going to be gi Arena.
35:31
Speaker 1: But I saw no signs of him, you know, being
35:34
Speaker 1: able to do that for us, and I you know,
35:36
Speaker 1: as I look at this roster, I just I don't
35:39
Speaker 1: see where he's going to help. I really don't.
35:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, it would be nice if he was able to
35:44
Speaker 2: get on the field in the Bundesliga for Brusia Munchin Gladbach,
35:48
Speaker 2: but I don't believe he's played since January and played,
35:53
Speaker 2: you know, I think fewer than five hundred minutes total
35:56
Speaker 2: this season, and we all know that there are fitness
35:59
Speaker 2: issues as well. I think Geo is probably one of
36:02
Speaker 2: the players who comes out of this camp who are
36:05
Speaker 2: now most on the fringe of that twenty six man roster.
36:10
Speaker 3: Definitely not in the eleven unless things.
36:13
Speaker 2: Change in a big way between now and June.
36:18
Speaker 3: Time for one more break for us.
36:19
Speaker 2: Next up, we'll talk about the roster and who we
36:22
Speaker 2: think me have played themselves out of the picture.
36:24
Speaker 3: I just mentioned Geo.
36:26
Speaker 2: There's a few others who didn't cover themselves in glory
36:29
Speaker 2: in this camp. Thank you to listening to Inside American Soccer.
36:32
Speaker 2: Please break review answers. All right, folks, welcome back to
36:45
Speaker 2: Inside American Soccer. We're going to talk about the final
36:49
Speaker 2: US World Cup roster, which of course we don't know yet,
36:52
Speaker 2: but it's coming in a couple of months and we'll
36:53
Speaker 2: I'll be on the edges of our respective seats for
36:56
Speaker 2: that one. Just want to run through the basics here
36:59
Speaker 2: real quick. We assume that there are at least three players,
37:03
Speaker 2: maybe four, who weren't a part of this camp that
37:06
Speaker 2: will be part of the twenty six I think consensus
37:08
Speaker 2: is Virginio dest who is expected to be healthy early
37:11
Speaker 2: next month. Tyler Adams, who just got injured before this camp,
37:16
Speaker 2: but is expected to be healthy soon, and Diego Luna
37:19
Speaker 2: and then al Jndrison Dejas as well. So that's four players,
37:23
Speaker 2: one a wing back, one of defensive midfield, and two
37:27
Speaker 2: attackers who sort of play underneath the forward who nobody
37:32
Speaker 2: It would be a bigger surprise of those guys weren't
37:34
Speaker 2: on the roster other than maybe he's in Dahas than
37:36
Speaker 2: if they were.
37:37
Speaker 3: But Tad, you have the spreadsheet.
37:40
Speaker 2: You have made your twenty six man roster, plus a
37:43
Speaker 2: few guys on the fringes. So take us through the chart, man,
37:47
Speaker 2: show us who you have and who could be looking
37:50
Speaker 2: at a summer spent watching the games on TV with
37:53
Speaker 2: the rest of us.
37:54
Speaker 1: Well, I stayed up all night last night trying to
37:57
Speaker 1: put this together, and particularly the goalkeepers. You know, I
38:00
Speaker 1: really worry about your favorite I really worry about the goalkeepers. No,
38:05
Speaker 1: but let me. I'll just go through the list because
38:07
Speaker 1: it truly is difficult. You know, as we were talking
38:09
Speaker 1: before about not potentially having locked up the way we play,
38:14
Speaker 1: it makes it difficult to put a list together because
38:16
Speaker 1: you don't know what how many players you need in
38:18
Speaker 1: which line right, So if you're playing three center backs,
38:21
Speaker 1: maybe you need five if you're playing two center backs,
38:23
Speaker 1: maybe need four, right, So let's just push all of
38:26
Speaker 1: that out the window and let me just go with
38:28
Speaker 1: the players that I think should likely be locks, and
38:31
Speaker 1: the players that will be I think fighting for a
38:34
Speaker 1: position in about fifty days when the roster is his name.
38:37
Speaker 1: So it's the four goalkeepers I had Freeze, I had Turner, Brady,
38:42
Speaker 1: and Celentano. That could change by one, but I don't
38:46
Speaker 1: think you know, Chelta could be part of that picture.
38:48
Speaker 1: But I think you know at this point you're talking
38:50
Speaker 1: about a fourth goalkeeper anyway, So that's sort of where
38:55
Speaker 1: it is. We know a Freeze is going to be
38:57
Speaker 1: the starting goalkeeper at this time. In terms of center backs,
39:01
Speaker 1: I have three his locks, and those being Richards, McKenzie
39:05
Speaker 1: and Reem, and then two fighting for an additional spot,
39:09
Speaker 1: which would be Miles Robinson in Austin. Trustee that if
39:13
Speaker 1: we're naming as center backs, I have him as two
39:17
Speaker 1: for one position in order to complete the twenty six
39:20
Speaker 1: that I have going into outside backs. I think it'd
39:23
Speaker 1: be Anthony Robinson on one side, Freeman on the other.
39:28
Speaker 1: I have Arstin and Desk. Obviously, I think Desk is
39:32
Speaker 1: going to be the starter. Freeman would be the extra
39:34
Speaker 1: center back if we were to need that, so he
39:37
Speaker 1: can serve both functions.
39:39
Speaker 3: And this leaves out Joe Skelly.
39:42
Speaker 2: Joe Skelly was part of this camp, got a couple
39:44
Speaker 2: of minutes I think in both games. I know he
39:46
Speaker 2: came on late against Portugal. Hasn't been particularly good for
39:49
Speaker 2: Mauricio Pochettino. I think it's kind of consensus that he
39:53
Speaker 2: needed to have a big camp and he didn't.
39:57
Speaker 1: So moving on to the central my fields, and this
40:00
Speaker 1: is obviously a very crowded area, right we have I
40:04
Speaker 1: have his locks, Taner Testament, Weston McKinney, Johnny Cardoso, Tyler Adams,
40:10
Speaker 1: and then I have four playing for one spot here
40:14
Speaker 1: that would be the fifth central midfielder and that is
40:17
Speaker 1: Aiden Morris, who I think didn't help himself in this
40:20
Speaker 1: camp much, Sebastia Burholtz, Christian Rodin, and and I'm gonna
40:28
Speaker 1: have to say unis Musa because why not. I mean,
40:31
Speaker 1: for what we've seen so far, if Musa has a
40:33
Speaker 1: couple games of that Dealanta, why not consider Musa. He
40:36
Speaker 1: has the experience, he's playing in a in the top league.
40:40
Speaker 1: I think he can be part of the picture. So
40:42
Speaker 1: I have those four players fighting for one spot.
40:45
Speaker 2: So my big hope was that, you know, you remember
40:51
Speaker 2: Risio Pochcino's great Spurs teams. They had Dumbell who was
40:55
Speaker 2: just a monster with ball progression, dribbling through central midfield,
40:58
Speaker 2: and I my hope was that this Mussa would turn
41:01
Speaker 2: into that type of player for the US, be the
41:05
Speaker 2: sort of plug.
41:05
Speaker 3: And play answer to that need. And when he's played.
41:11
Speaker 2: For the US, he's actually played as a wingback or
41:14
Speaker 2: a winger. I still don't understand that. And now, unfortunately
41:18
Speaker 2: he barely plays for Atalanta. Anytime he gets a chance.
41:22
Speaker 2: He gets about two games, a game and a half
41:25
Speaker 2: sometimes and then is right back to the bench. Not
41:28
Speaker 2: quite as dire a situation as Gio Reyna's, but nowhere
41:32
Speaker 2: near the player that he was four years ago, and
41:36
Speaker 2: nowhere near the player that we all hoped he would
41:39
Speaker 2: be four years ago. I'm less convinced that Johnny Cartoso
41:47
Speaker 2: is a luck I just don't see.
41:49
Speaker 3: I haven't seen.
41:49
Speaker 2: Enough from him, and I think that Christian Rodon is
41:55
Speaker 2: probably still ahead of him in the pecking order, but
41:59
Speaker 2: we'll see. Like maybe that is me reading the situation incorrectly,
42:03
Speaker 2: but I think roll Don has just brought more to
42:04
Speaker 2: the game for the US on both sides of the ball.
42:07
Speaker 3: So we have a little bit of disagreement there, but
42:10
Speaker 3: one thing I think we all agree on.
42:11
Speaker 2: Is that Tyler Adams has to be healthy and if
42:14
Speaker 2: he's not, then the US is probably in some trouble.
42:17
Speaker 3: Move us along through the attack tub.
42:19
Speaker 1: So for the attackers, I have obviously has locks polistic
42:23
Speaker 1: Tillman waya in Zendejas all right, and I know Zendejas
42:29
Speaker 1: wasn't at the camp, but again, this is my list,
42:33
Speaker 1: so I have him in there and then and then
42:35
Speaker 1: one spot up in the air, and that one spot
42:37
Speaker 1: in the air would be between Giorna Brandon Aaronson and
42:41
Speaker 1: Diego Luna. Out of those three, I think one can go.
42:45
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think that Aaronson barely played in this camp.
42:49
Speaker 2: When he got on late against Portugal, he didn't do anything.
42:53
Speaker 2: He didn't look like a Premier League attacker when he
42:55
Speaker 2: got on the ball. He was rushed and he was sloppy.
42:58
Speaker 2: And that's a price because he's actually been pretty good
43:01
Speaker 2: for Leeds over the past few months, but hasn't really
43:05
Speaker 2: impressed under Patchettino. Unfortunately. Gio Arena. We talked about it
43:12
Speaker 2: looked exactly as rusty as you would expect from a
43:15
Speaker 2: guy who does not play club soccer. That kind of
43:18
Speaker 2: leaves the ball in Diego Luna's court. And he has
43:22
Speaker 2: been consistently really good for the US. He came back
43:26
Speaker 2: for RSL after injury to start the season. He came
43:29
Speaker 2: back for RSL a couple of weeks ago and played
43:32
Speaker 2: about half an hour, and he was fantastic the first
43:34
Speaker 2: fifteen minutes, and then he was out of gas for
43:36
Speaker 2: the second fifteen minutes.
43:38
Speaker 3: Coming back from injuries as hard. But this is a
43:40
Speaker 3: spot that looks like.
43:42
Speaker 2: The battle is going to go down to the wire.
43:45
Speaker 2: I think it's interesting that you have Tim Way here
43:49
Speaker 2: as an attacker when he doesn't play there for his
43:51
Speaker 2: club anymore, and he doesn't play there for his country.
43:55
Speaker 2: He's playing almost exclusively as a right back or a
43:57
Speaker 2: wing back now.
44:00
Speaker 1: And that's fair. I'm just seeing this sort of as
44:03
Speaker 1: the way Puschettino named his roster, because I think he's seeing, uh,
44:07
Speaker 1: this situation a little bit the same. So so this
44:10
Speaker 1: has a trickle effect where you know, if if if
44:14
Speaker 1: you have Freeman as a potential additional center back. It
44:19
Speaker 1: means that Desk now is the only outside back, which
44:22
Speaker 1: means now way I can be the help in the
44:24
Speaker 1: outside back. So I see Way a little bit the
44:27
Speaker 1: same way I see Freeman. So Freeman is really a
44:30
Speaker 1: backup outside back, but but potentially as center back. I
44:34
Speaker 1: see Waya as a backup outside back, as potentially I
44:37
Speaker 1: mean as a backup forward, potentially an outside back.
44:40
Speaker 3: We'll take us to the forward side.
44:42
Speaker 1: And the forwards I'm I'm naming for and I'm naming
44:46
Speaker 1: for only because that's my perception was that you know
44:50
Speaker 1: that that Balligan was was a locked starter, and that
44:54
Speaker 1: that's how we're going to play, and that at some
44:56
Speaker 1: point we would likely go with two forwards at one time.
44:59
Speaker 1: So you want to have options up front of guys
45:01
Speaker 1: who are playing, you know. But after playing the last
45:05
Speaker 1: game without a forward, I can't imagine that Pochettino's gonna
45:09
Speaker 1: name four forwards when you don't use any. So I
45:12
Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe I'm thinking too much into that, but
45:15
Speaker 1: that's what it would seem like to me. You have
45:17
Speaker 1: four forwards sitting on the bench. It wouldn't be a
45:18
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be a good thing, but I have Baaligan,
45:21
Speaker 1: I have Agimon Peppi and right all going to the
45:25
Speaker 1: walk up. You know, I think now if he's thinking
45:28
Speaker 1: Pachatino's thinking the way he thought for yesterday's game, I'm
45:32
Speaker 1: thinking that he's likely not going to take four.
45:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no question that those are the four. I
45:39
Speaker 2: think only three of them are going. And I think
45:41
Speaker 2: given that Ricardo Peppy has not been able to get
45:44
Speaker 2: a start, even though he played really well off the
45:47
Speaker 2: bench against Belgium, he has not been able to get
45:51
Speaker 2: a start for the US, it feels like the writing
45:54
Speaker 2: is on the wall, uh, for for him, I think
45:57
Speaker 2: he's the one who has to make up ground. And
46:00
Speaker 2: like you said, Tad, we just played one of our
46:03
Speaker 2: final friendlies without a true center forward out there. There's
46:06
Speaker 2: no way that man is bringing four of them to
46:08
Speaker 2: the World Cup. Just does not seem to be in
46:11
Speaker 2: the cards, even though I do think it's actually at
46:13
Speaker 2: this point probably our best bet because.
46:18
Speaker 3: Look, we do have good goal scorers.
46:20
Speaker 2: We have guys who are scoring goals at a high
46:22
Speaker 2: level for their teams.
46:24
Speaker 3: What we don't have our a lot of wingers.
46:26
Speaker 2: So we should maybe stop trying to play with wingers
46:29
Speaker 2: and start playing with more forwards out there, get the
46:31
Speaker 2: wing backs.
46:32
Speaker 3: A little bit higher.
46:33
Speaker 2: There's a way to do this doesn't have to be
46:35
Speaker 2: so prescriptive. Also, yesterday wasn't just finding out that the
46:41
Speaker 2: US are behind the likes of Portugal. We also found
46:44
Speaker 2: out the final opponent for the US in the group stage.
46:47
Speaker 3: That's Turkey. A.
46:48
Speaker 2: Used to call them Turkey, but they've asked for people
46:50
Speaker 2: to change the way that you say the name, so
46:52
Speaker 2: it's Turkey A. They were one nil winners over Kosovo
46:57
Speaker 2: in the UA for playoffs. For that final spot, US
47:03
Speaker 2: will need to at least get a result against Turkey
47:06
Speaker 2: to win the group most likely, uh basic scouter report.
47:10
Speaker 2: You know Arta Guler as their starman from Real Madrid,
47:14
Speaker 2: really skillful player, hits the ground really easily, really really easily,
47:19
Speaker 2: Keenan yields. They have good players in a lot of
47:24
Speaker 2: the top teams in the world TAB. They didn't look
47:28
Speaker 2: like a team that was maximizing all of that over
47:31
Speaker 2: the course of these two games. They looked very individualistic
47:34
Speaker 2: to me.
47:35
Speaker 1: No, and in particular yesterday, they struggled in the first half.
47:39
Speaker 1: Coast of a hit the crossbar great.
47:41
Speaker 4: Saved by the by the Turkey a goalkeeper, but they
47:45
Speaker 4: do have some pieces that can decide a game, you know,
47:48
Speaker 4: and whether that's Yieldi's on the left side, he was,
47:50
Speaker 4: he was solid yesterday, he was a he was a
47:53
Speaker 4: pest the whole game.
47:55
Speaker 1: Uh Guler didn't play well yesterday. You know, he sort
47:59
Speaker 1: of added to the picture, but he was not a
48:02
Speaker 1: key performer yesterday in the game. And I have to
48:05
Speaker 1: say the first half I thought Kosovo was the better team,
48:08
Speaker 1: but the second half Turkey really took took charge and
48:12
Speaker 1: try to go for that second goal that they couldn't get,
48:15
Speaker 1: but in the end they didn't need it. So I
48:17
Speaker 1: think this is going to be This will be a
48:19
Speaker 1: difficult opponent for US, no question about it. It's certainly
48:23
Speaker 1: not one of the strong European teams. But I think
48:27
Speaker 1: because they have individual players that can decide a game
48:30
Speaker 1: any moment, you know, these teams are always difficult.
48:32
Speaker 3: Yeah.
48:33
Speaker 2: I think on paper they are the strongest opponent in
48:36
Speaker 2: the group for the US. But games aren't paid played
48:39
Speaker 2: on paper, they're pay played on grass.
48:42
Speaker 3: And there's no reason.
48:43
Speaker 2: The US should go into this tournament, into this group
48:46
Speaker 2: this summer thinking anything other than advancing. At the very
48:50
Speaker 2: top of the group. Turkey has got.
48:52
Speaker 3: Talent, but they're not overwhelming.
48:56
Speaker 2: That will hopefully be some solace for the US after
49:00
Speaker 2: they faced overwhelming talent in these past two games and
49:03
Speaker 2: got played right off the pitch against Belgium and Portugal's
49:08
Speaker 2: tu nil on Tuesday night.
49:10
Speaker 3: We've just met some time unpacking it.
49:12
Speaker 2: There will be more to come in the weeks and
49:14
Speaker 2: months ahead as we try to figure out the shape
49:17
Speaker 2: of Mauricio Pochettino's pool, and we do maybe deeper dives
49:21
Speaker 2: onto Turkey and Paraguay and Australia, who are the three
49:26
Speaker 2: group stage opponents for the US. And like you said, Tab,
49:30
Speaker 2: we're like fifty days away from finding out what the
49:33
Speaker 2: twenty six man roster for Mauricio Pochettino and the US
49:36
Speaker 2: men's national team.
49:37
Speaker 3: He's at this worked up.
49:39
Speaker 2: We of course will be all over that and we
49:42
Speaker 2: expect you to be joining us for all of that
49:45
Speaker 2: as well.
49:45
Speaker 3: So thank you for.
49:46
Speaker 2: Listening to Inside American Soccer.
49:49
Speaker 3: I'm Mattell that's tob Ramos. Please rate review as subscribe.
49:53
Speaker 3: We will be back next week.