April 1, 2026 • 50 mins
Matt Doyle and Tab Ramos react to another disappointing USMNT performance against Portugal, questioning the tactical approach from Mauricio Pochettino, including the decision to deploy Christian Pulisic as a lone forward in a false 9 role. Tab voices concerns over the lack of a clear identity, while Matt breaks down exactly what went wrong tactically.
They also react to Pochettino’s eye-opening claim that the U.S. doesn’t have a single player among the world’s top 100, and what that says about his coaching style.
Looking ahead, Tab reveals his projected Starting XI for the FIFA World Cup and dives into the toughest roster decisions facing the USMNT. Plus, an early scouting report on Turkiye, as they claim their spot as the U.S.’s third opponent in Group D.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
For me being two months away from the World Cup
and sort of saying, hey, for a half we competed.
It's just not good enough at this point, Matt, not
good enough.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Greeting folks, and welcome to Inside America and Soccer. I'm
Matt Doyle, filling in for new dad Tom Boger for
just a couple more shows here, and I'm joined as
always by one of the greatest players in US men's
national team history, tab Ramos, my friend and yours and
a man who, along with me and along with I
assume all of you, watched the US get outclassed yet again,
(00:35):
this time by Portugal and a two miar loss on
Tuesday night. I have my thoughts on it, Tab, I
want to hear yours before we really get into it.
Just your big picture takeaway from this game, in particular
in the camp overall.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Wow, you know, once again, great to be on with you.
I know that. You know, after the last show and
after the last game, we talked a little about a
little bit about being deflated, right because we you know,
we were coming into this camp feeling pretty good. You know,
we had beaten Uruguay with sort of our Can we
call it a little bit of our second team. Let's say,
(01:15):
you know, Uruguay maybe missing a couple guys, but you know,
we really felt good about that camp. I'll be honest,
I did as well, and I kind of jumped a
little bit on that bandwagon of Okay, well that's this
is the beginning of of something here, and now we
have the March window, March window. We have good teams,
we can solidify what we've been working on, and hopefully
(01:38):
now we finally started after a year and a half
of you know, trials and seventy players coming in and
out and different systems and all of these things. And
yet here we are at the end of the March window,
which is likely a very important one because now we
have to pick the team and to be fair, and
you said, well, give me sort of the big picture.
(01:59):
How you feel about this. I'm confused, Matt. I'm confused,
are we I'm confused by the way we play. You know,
I'm not sure if that second game against Portugal is
a new way to play. It's just a new system
that we have. I you know, we've been hearing for
(02:20):
a long time now about you know, and and and
obviously all of us have been asking for Okay, what's
our eleven. Let's see our eleven play together, and let's
see those guys go through a tough game and and
then let's correct some of the things. But I just
I don't know what system we play. I don't know
(02:40):
what our eleven is. And and more importantly, I think
you know when I hear you know after the game
that we're happy because we competed for parts of a
half in both games. I think we competed thirty We
competed when we went to Italy and we were basically
(03:02):
not even soccer players. We competed. I don't think this
is about competing. I think we we went and got
one of the best coaches in the world to get
us closer to the top, to the top teams. You know,
this makes me wonder a little bit, well, what was
an interview? Like? Like what was because I feel like
Rico Pochettino is still getting to know not just our team,
(03:26):
but like our culture of where we've been. Like, this
is not about competing. I don't think we went out
and got the best coach in the world to start
competing against teams. I think we want to narrow the gap.
I think we want to beat teams we're not supposed
to be, Like, that's what we're here, that's what we
are expecting as fans of the team. And so I'm
(03:49):
not sure. I'm confused, Matt, I really am.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, beat teams that we're not supposed to be and
beat teams that we occasionally used to be. The US
has played Portugal before, famously in two thousand and two
in the World Cup and beat them, And that was
a really, really good Portugal team back in two thousand
and two. There were no worries about competing with that group.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
And we tied them, and we tied them in twenty
fourteen with Ronaldo and that was a great generation and
we beat them back in nineteen ninety three and so
and I know they're better. Yeah they're beat But I
don't think it's about competing.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, it hasn't been in the past with this group
for whatever reason it is. I generally am really positive
on Greg Berhalter's tenure, but the last year there's no
question the level dropped in that group.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Things went stale.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I completely understood and supported the idea of going out
and getting a new coach, and then once Mauricio Pochettino
was brought in. His resume kind of speaks for itself,
and after a little bit finding his feet, he got
things I think in the right going in the right
direction last autumn with all those changes you've talked about
tab and I bought into it too. And it feels
(05:02):
like we backslid in this camp because the intensity level
wasn't good enough against Belgium.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
It got better.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Against Portrait Goal, but still wasn't like what we saw
against Paraguay or Australia or against Uruguay, and the US
paid for that. So we on today's show we are
going to talk about that. We'll discuss the major issues
in the loss and what we can learn from this match.
We'll also name our starting eleven for the World Cup.
(05:29):
I wish we had a little bit more data on that,
but based upon what we saw in these two friendlies,
we'll try to read some tea leaves and maybe.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Do a little bit of wish casting.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Plus, we'll talk about the roster who we think will
make the final final twenty six men roster for the
World Cup, and we'll talk about Turkey, a who we
now know will be our final group stage opponent at
the World Cup have to really sweat it out against Kosovo,
but got the goal, got the win, and so tab
let's get into it. From the US perve, it's still
(06:01):
not good. Christian Polistic starts the match as a loan
forward and to me, that's a waste. That is the
absolute waste of one of our final three friendlies heading
into the World Cup, because at no point should the
US go into a game this summer without a true
forward on the field, and particularly with the way Flow
(06:23):
Balligan has been playing for his club team, you would
hope that he is just a written and penn starter.
So the idea behind this friendly not only get reps
against one of the best teams in the world, but
also build chemistry with Polisic and Balligan and McKenny and
Waia on one side, Jedi Robinson on the other, and
(06:44):
so to play Christian Polistic as a false nine, a
role in which he really struggled because anytime he tried
to drop back in with his back to goal, he
turned the ball over because he doesn't know how to
play as a center forward. It kind of defeated the
purpose of this friendly and it felt like wasted ninety
minutes to me.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I have to totally agree with that. I you know,
I thought, I really thought these friendlies, these two friendlies
in particular, were about putting our best eleven together. Finally,
after a year and a half of saying how great
we're going to be a year from now, I thought
that this was going to be the camp in which
we had our starting starting eleven and we saw what
(07:24):
we can do, and then fix that, and then see
what you can do for ninety minutes. And of course
there's a lot of substitutions, but I think we're in
a We're in a different situation than Belgium, We're in
a different situation than Portugal. I think if those teams
want to go ahead and make seven, eight nine changes
in a game, they have a way. They've been together
(07:45):
for a long time, they won things, they they know
how to play together. I feel like, because we've had
all of these players in and out, I feel like
this camp was another tryout. It was a tryout about
who makes the twenty six. And to be fair, who
cares who makes the twenty six. I want to know
(08:06):
what are eleven is? Those are the guys we have
to win a game with. You know, we're talking about
the twenty six. We're given opportunities to players, and look,
by the way, I can't get into Poschettino's head. Maybe
he just feels like all twenty six guys or all
thirty guys at this point have a chance to be
in the starting eleven. But if that's the case, why
(08:29):
has it taken a year and a half to get
to this point. That's the part that I don't get.
I agree with you on the politic thing. I think
it's neat that we can have a variation to playing
without a forward for a little while if we wanted to,
But we haven't figured out how we play yet, Like
(08:49):
we're having a variation to what So this is a variation,
which is nice to have, by the way, when you're
in preseason, this is what you do. You try things.
But we don't know the way we play yet. We
don't know our starting eleven yet, and so if we
don't know that, how do we how are we trying
other things? And that's for me a little bit of
the frustrating part. I mean, I think if you're you know,
(09:13):
you're Tim Waya now you're thinking that you're going to
be the right back. Only I guess, but he comes
in as a forward. You know Freeman, was he really
a third center back in this It took me a
little while to figure out how we were playing in
the back. And then, by the way, I'll disagree with
you on one thing, and that's the intensity of the game.
I think the players couldn't have had any more intensity
(09:35):
in the first fifteen to twenty minutes against Portugal. I mean,
it almost looked like like a hockey line change when
the new guys come in. We were everywhere. I couldn't
figure out where we were playing because our guys were
pressing everywhere. I mean, we pressed Portugal into making quite
a few mistakes in the first fifteen to twenty minutes
of the game, which is not usual for them. I mean,
(09:55):
Vittina doesn't lose the ball, Bruno Fernandez doesn't lose the ball.
These guys were losing the and I think that's a
good sign for us. But is it a good sign
that we're a good team or was it just we
were running around like crazy trying to recover the ball.
I couldn't figure out what we were doing.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Well, I think Portugal solved it, and this is one
of the things that has me worried. After these two
games against Belgium, the hydration break, which is now mandatory
every game gets a hydration break this summer at the
World Cup, and coaches use it as a timeout and
they adjust their tactics against Belgium. The tactical adjustment that
they made was they started playing direct more straight up
(10:34):
the gut to win first ball, second ball because there
was a gap between the US back line and central midfield.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
So second balls were there to be won.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And you're gonna win the first ball because you're going
up against Tim Reen who is just not great in
the air. So that's how they got one of their goals.
And then the other thing they did was start hitting
more diagonals right to left diagonals, specifically debased the right
back was taking advantage of the fact that the US
were not closing him down, and it was really Christian
Polistic was not working to close him down quickly in
(11:05):
this game. The adjustment at the twenty three minute mark
at the hydration break was Portugal had been playing zonal defensively.
They changed to a man to man defensive scheme and
just said, you know what, the US can't hold the
ball through central midfield. We're going to build the whole
(11:25):
plane out of central midfield turnovers. That's it, And like
you could go back and it's clear as day, especially
on the first Portugal goal, it's a turnover where they're
in a man to man scheme and at that point
it's just a matter of can you win your duels,
and the US couldn't and they never adjusted to that time.
(11:45):
There's two games in a row where the other coach
made a big adjustment that changed the game, and the
US didn't have any sort of response.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, I mean, and that was noticeable because you know,
I think Portugal in the end to me a little
bit like like Belgium. And I mentioned that the other
day that you know, I was sitting here with my
buddy watching the game, and I was thinking, Belgium doesn't
even look like they're trying, you know, they look like
they're just nonchalant with the ball, and Portugal kind of
(12:15):
looked the same. Once they speeded up the game a
little bit, they created a couple of chances that could
have put us away. And by the way, Matt Freeze,
I thought played a very good game. You know, he
made the types of saves that we need to stay
in games. He did that, which takes us back now
to the first game and wonder why we made a
change in the first place, But we did say that
(12:37):
after the first game. So yeah, Portugal, you know, with
the quality that they have, they just don't need many
chances to score. And that's what's gonna That's the difference
really between the the you know, the top ten teams
in the world and the rest, and the difference is
is quite big.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, And defensively the difference on that goal. Look, it's
a midfield turnover. And then Aidan Morris has a choice
to make which you know, which attacker you're going to
try to keep in your your cover shadow, and he
chose one, and he's trying to cut out a pass
from Vittina. If Vitina has multiple options and you take
one away, he's going to play the other one, which
(13:15):
he did immediately plays Bruno Fernandez through. The really disappointing
thing in that moment for me was that Aiden Morris
and Malik Tillman both switched off and you could go back.
I put the clip on my blue Sky and you
go back and watch that. They they turn off and
they turn around and watch the play and start jogging,
and neither of them realizes until it's far too late
(13:38):
that Bruno Fernandez is gonna find drink out right there
on the corner of the six for it honestly had
enough time to take two touches, and that lack of
awareness in those transition moments was kind of glaring at times,
and it's why Portugal were so dangerous on counter attacks
(14:02):
on turnovers again and again and again. And that leads
me to the big point with this formation, Like Risio
Pochccino had said over the course of the week, We're
gonna move Christian Polistic further up top, closer to goal
so that he can get more chances, hopefully get a goal,
hopefully get his confidence back, because this is a man
(14:23):
who has not scored since December for club or country,
has not scored since November of twenty twenty four for
the US, so he needs something. But I thought that
meant he was going to play in the formation you
want tab which is kind of a five to three
to two with him up top alongside another forward. But
playing him as a loan center forward meant that the
(14:47):
US were going to try to actually possess the ball
through central midfield. And while there were good moments with that,
there were a lot of bad moments as well, turnovers
from POOLA, turnovers like the one that we saw on
the goal, lack of tracking. So my question is, why
not just play that five three to two and skip
(15:08):
the midfield? Why not do what Belgium did in the
you know, in the final seventy minutes of that game,
and say, all right, we can actually play over this
mess or around it and get those two guys up top,
spread the field wide with two flying wingbacks. You have
three center backs back there, and then you have a
really you in theory, you have a really aggressive midfield
(15:31):
of McKenny and Tillman and you know, be it Aiden
Morris or Tanner, Tessaman or you know, whoever you want
to put out there. Like, there's a way to actually
do this that plays to the US strengths and I
don't think we've seen.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
It, no, But but here's the issue, matt uh. The
issue is that we we don't have a way. And
when you don't have a way, you kind of I
feel like we're winging it. You know. If we had
a way, we can I feel like and obviously from
the outside. And I will always say that it's easier
to coach someone else's team, So to be on this
(16:04):
side is a lot easier than to be on the field.
And for you to know the ins and outs of
every player, to know how they feel that day, to
know what conversations you've had with them about certain positions,
how they feel about certain positions, what you tell them
individually about you're talking about coverage getting back into the
box with in this case with Morris and Tillman, but
(16:25):
if you remember the game against Belgium, it was also
with Tessaman and Cardoso, like they weren't getting there on time,
they didn't feel comfortable. So is this the problem for
us is that we're on the outside and we don't
know if this is if the reason they're not getting
to those spots is because tactically we don't want them
in those spots, or is the coach asking them to
(16:45):
get to those spots and they're just not and to
us it looks like they're not making the effort. Maybe
to the coaches like, well, the coach just wants them
to hang out at the top of the box. I
have no idea why. What I can tell you is
that it's very difficult for us to assess our team,
assess the game, and for Poschettino to finally put his
eleven together when we don't really have a way to play.
(17:08):
I'm really struggling with that. I'm struggling with the fact that,
you know, we have potentially four forwards that can start
for us, and we don't start any of them. I'm
struggling with the fact that Baaligan is probably the hottest
player that we have because he scores in the Champions League.
He's scores in the league on and he doesn't play,
and I think, if anything, you can do nothing but
(17:31):
bet on Balligan and Polisic at this point, it's kind
of their team, like, this is where we are, and
after all the time, this is where we are. If
we're looking about, you know, talking about twenty thirty World Cup,
maybe the whole thing changes, but this is where we are.
We're like, what sixty days away from the World Cup
and we don't have an eleven and we don't have
a way to play. That's at least not a way
(17:54):
that I can understand.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
How did you feel about the way uh Pochettino addressed
the press after the game. The quote that everybody took
away from it was you know, Belgium in Portugal and
I'm paraphrasing here, but Belgium and Portugal have top hundred
players and we don't have that, which was I think
(18:17):
I agree with him, but I'm a little surprised that
he said it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Oh, you know, there's nothing that builds a team like
telling your team like they're not good enough. You know,
that's that's always so that's always a great thing, you know,
to go to the press conference and say, hey, you know,
our players aren't good anyway, so you know, look at us.
We're competing. You know, Look, Matt, this is uh, this
is a difficult situation because I think in this country
(18:44):
we understand the game a little bit more that we're
giving credit for. I believe this team is not working.
This is not about top one hundred. Yeah, Belgium has
top one hundred players Portugal so what so what who cares?
You have to go and win the game? You know,
the best team doesn't win all the games. That's why
you play the games. How can we put ourselves in
(19:04):
position to win games we're not supposed to win or
you know, and we're not doing that and for me
to say that, you know, we're competing for moments in
the game. Every team competes for moments in the game.
You know, Normally, I think I said it on the
last show. Normally what happens when a team is better
(19:25):
than you. You know, they they you work as hard
as you can for eighty ninety minutes, but at some
point they're going to get you because they have the
quality to get you. We're not even getting to that point.
So for me being two months away from the World
Cup and sort of saying, hey, for a half we competed,
or almost for a half we competed against Belgium, It's
(19:47):
just not good enough at this point, Matt, not good enough.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, it has been hasn't been good enough for a
while against the European teams. This is eight straight losses
against the European competition, which is I didn't mind boggling
when you think about how previous generations were able to
go toe to toe as often as not with the
best that Europe has to offer. Haven't seen it from
(20:12):
this group. Were there any positive performances that we can
take away from this one? I will say I thought
pat Ajiman came off the bench and did well for himself. Again,
I thought Chris Richards was very good in the middle
of that back three. I know Austin trust he wasn't perfect,
but he I thought he competed. I guess I'm setting
(20:36):
the barlow. I thought he competed and he didn't. He
didn't embarrass himself out there. So and obviously Matt Freeze
was good too. Anyone catch your eye.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Well, I would have to say I agree with you
on Trusty for sure. You know I have not been
a Trusty fan, not because I don't like him. I
think he's a good player. Of course, he's a good player.
He plays for Celtic. You know, he's he's a great
player for this team. I didn't think he would be at,
you know, at that level, and I think I think
(21:06):
he showed you he brings something to the table. I
think Trusty put himself in a good situation to be
considered to be on this roster and to potentially contribute
to the team. Uh. Maybe I'm pushing it too far,
but that's that's what I saw yesterday. If I had
to look at a positive, I thought it was very positive.
And you know, I think if anything, you know, one
of the things that I had seen from Trusty, and
(21:28):
that's even when I coach him on the U twenties,
that he's sometimes over anxious. He gets to place too fast.
So it's never a lack of effort. So and it's
never a lack of competing or going hard. He always does.
It's sometimes reading the play a little bit better and
deciding not to commit to a certain place and staying
in position a little bit better. But I have to
say he I thought he did a very very good job.
(21:50):
I think, you know, Matt Freeze solidified himself in the position.
I mean, let's I was gonna say, let's stop messing
around with that position. But there is no messing around now.
We just have the World Cup basically coming out this
just two games, so it is what it is. But
that's our guy, I thought. Because of the way the
whole camp worked out, this camp was positive for Johnny Cardozo.
(22:14):
He played a half, he did okay, and he left
and I think I think it worked out for him.
It worked out.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, Diego Luna was Diego Luna was one of the
big winners from that.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Well a little bit, you know, Diego Luna get you know,
Alex and Dajas. How did he not win out of
this camp? Alex and Dajaz, you know, just won in
this camp. So yeah, you know, I don't want to
laugh at it. I mean, I just I'm I'm I'm disappointed,
and I think it's not It's not a matter of
(22:47):
making fun in any way. I think we're we're just
trying to figure out a way. I think we're all
on the same you know, whether we're here on you know,
on the press trying to discuss what's going on, or
we're fans, we're trying to get this right and we're
just not seeing the light at the end of the
tunnel at all. I'm starting to believe now that if
we do well this summer, it's going to be by
It's going to be by chance.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, should be by set pieces as well. That set
piece that Joue Philis scored was kind of inexcusable from
the US.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
He was left unmarked at the top of the box.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Afterwards, Muricio Pochettino said it was a case of confusion
because there had been so many subs the players on
the field weren't exactly sure who was supposed to be
at the top of the box and who was supposed
to be in the mix. Man a lot of little
details to get wrong at this point in the cycle.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, well, well, I mean, but you know, when players
come in, usually have an assistant coach that tells the
players where they're supposed to go, right, I mean, that's
that's how that works. And if there are too many substitutions,
well how about don't make the substitutions. Do we need
them in substitutions? We're trying to put a team together
to go win in the World Cup. Do we really
need to see every person that's in this camp. I
(24:09):
honestly didn't think I needed to see that, but maybe
he doesn't. That's what happens when, you know, when you
make a lot of substitutions, and I get it. You know,
sometimes it's difficult for players in thirty seconds to understand
where they go and what player they go with. Considering
that the other team is making substitutions, but all the
other teams are going through the same thing.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
I'm going to read you a quote from Christian Polistic
and ostensibly he is still the best player on this team,
and he has proven himself in big games. Let's remember
what he sacrificed to score that goal against Iran in
the World Cup four years ago, like he has put
it on the line for his country, and he says
we were able to create chances, which if I finished chances,
(24:54):
which I know I'm going to, then things are going
to be a bit different. If you're his teammate in
the locker room or you're his coach, and you hear
that quote after this camp where he did have a
ton of chances, he didn't finish any of them. He
hasn't finished anything for the US since November of twenty
(25:15):
twenty four, and he hasn't finished anything from Milan in
three months. Are you positive about that quote or are
you frustrated?
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Like what do you want? Is that what you want
to hear from Christian Polistic after this one?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Well, I mean I think he's being honest, right, I mean,
he didn't necessarily It's not like we watch Christian Polistic
not make an effort. He made the effort, he got
to the end of plays. He's just not at this point,
he's just not clinical en off. He's not finishing, and
I think he's recognizing that. I buy it. I buy it.
I mean, if I'm on his team. That's your question.
(25:48):
Your question is if you're on his team, is this
something that you're you know, you're believing in. I am,
and I'd like to hear that he feels like, Hey,
you know what, I needed to be sharper and I'm
going to be sharper in this World Cup. I want
to hear that.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Yeah, and let's hope you will be. I'm going to
leave you one last quote from Christian Polistic, hopefully one
that puts us all on a better frame of mind.
He says, I remember people were doubting us after that
September twenty twenty two camp.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
We didn't have a great camp.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I don't remember who exactly who the opponents were in
that one, but I remember it was pretty brutal. They
were pretty bad. And he says, but at the end
of the day, we go in and we have a
great World Cup. And I wouldn't go so far as
to call it a great World Cup, but I thought
the US were very, very good in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
That is some perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
These are just friendlies, and you could play lousy in
your last set of friendlies and still go in and
hit your marks in the World Cup. Does that resonate
for Youtub? Is that the right attitude for him and
for this US team to take right now?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah, normally that would be because that happens with teams,
right you go through those rough moments. It's just that
we really don't have any sort of we don't have
any think to look at and say, Okay, we're not
doing well, but you know it's gonna be fine because
we've seen it. No, we haven't seen it, and we
haven't seen it at all, and we need to see it.
(27:12):
This world up this is you know, if there's one
thing you know, and I was not a big fan
of of of the past team with Greg Burholter and
the way they played because it was very robotic. Let's
just say with with the way the team played. But
it's one thing you can say about that is the
team was always organized right, and I think I think
(27:34):
we're the opposite of that now and we're still not
getting results. You know, it's difficult at this point, I'm
not seeing the picture. And by the way, uh, you know,
when when you're looking and I know we're going to
go through the roster, but you start looking at all
the different midfielders that we use and and I just
don't understand what we use so many? And if we
use so many, why is Moussa not part of this picture?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, it appointing one for us. It's time for a
break up. Next, we'll name the starting elevens that we
want to see for the World Cup. Who knows if
we'll see it or not, though, Please rate, review, and
subscribe to Inside American Soccer with Tom Boger and tab
Ramos wherever you get your podcast. All right, folks, welcome
(28:28):
back to Inside American Soccer. Tab let's just jump into it.
Let's talk about the World Cup eleven for this summer,
because it seems like Marisio Pochaccino still doesn't have an
idea of what his will be, but you have an
idea of what yours will be. We know it's Matt
freezeen goal. But take us through the back line and
(28:49):
take us through the formation. What are we going to
see or what should we see from the US in June?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Well, you know, considering where we are and what we've
seen in these last games, it's it's really difficult to
figure out what obviously what Mauricio Porchettino is going to
be thinking and because of what I've seen from players,
I think the one that's that's at this point and
non negotiable for me. If if I had to put
this team together is the fact that we have to
(29:17):
play with three center backs right. It starts there. I
would go if if if Robinson is in is in
good form, I would go with Robinson, Richards and McKenzie.
If Robinson Miles Robinson, yes, Miles Robinson. If he's not,
then I would go with Freeman and in that position
with Richards and Mackenzie across.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
One of the let me interrupt, Let me interrupt you there.
We all know that Alex Freeman made that move to
via Real. He's only played about forty minutes since making
that move, all of them at fullback right. He plays
as as a modern overlapping fullback. He doesn't play as
a center back in a three. But when he came
on in this camp and when he's played at times
(30:00):
for the US over the past year for Mauricio Pocheccino,
he's actually looks really comfortable in that three men right
center back setup.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Do we need to see him.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
There at the club level or is there a minimum
amount of minutes that he needs to play for via
Real before we'd actually be comfortable with seeing him in
the World Cup. Or is it just a case of,
you know what he's shown it in all these friendlies
and I'm going to trust what we've seen from him
in the Red, white and blue.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Well, you know, it's difficult to sort through that because
since we don't really have a way, I can't say
that there's a particular position that's where someone needs to
cover a certain particular function that we're looking for. And
because of that, what I'm looking to do with the
eleven that I put together is try to put the
(30:51):
best players that we have on the field and take
it from there. And I do think you know, at
via Real, he plays behind Marinho, you know, very active
outside back, sort of lanky, quick, you know, decent on
the ball. He struggled with He's struggling with winning a
position from a player that can that can do a lot.
(31:14):
I haven't said that. I I still think, you know
that I'm looking at the sort of the lack of
strength that we have in the back with our with
our three center backs, and I and I still think
he can give us a lot. So whether he's playing
or not, a via real. I just can't imagine not
giving him a chance to go in there and help us.
I mean, it's really, it's really the only reason he's
(31:36):
done well for the national team there. I have no
reason to think that.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
He couldn't do the job, all right, take us through
or midfield.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
The midfield, which would be potentially five because m McKenny
would be a little bit more advanced. It would be
best on the right side Adams and then either Tesman
or Cardozo, and then Robinson on the left side, with
McKenny a little bit in front of them, and then
polistic Bowlogan up top.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah, this is this is kind of what I thought
we were going to see from the Portugal game. When
Pochettino was saying we're gonna move Christian closer to goal,
We're gonna get him more chances, we're gonna try to
unlock him, I thought it meant he was going to
play up top in a two alongside Baligan, who, as
you pointed out, is scorching hot at the club level
(32:23):
right now and is should, in my opinion, has written
in Penn's starter for the US this summer. And I
thought the point of this game was not just going
to be to get Christian a goal, get him closer
to goal, but to put him in the position that
he plays at the club level. He plays as a
second forward for AC Milan, and to get that chemistry
(32:45):
between those two guys up top and then on top
of him. Look, the US could not hold the ball
in central midfield against Portugal.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
It is stark.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
If you take the game, go back and watch it
from the moment they come out of the first half
hydration break, Portugal has the ball for about nine straight
minutes because anytime the US got on it in midfield,
Portugal forced a turnover and that's what changed the game.
So dropping Wes into a midfield three, and we know
(33:17):
his engine is endless, and we know he can also
open the game up with a touch, which is how
Juventus have been using him. But then you have two
ball winners behind him. Suddenly you're a midfield that is
a difficult to play through, difficult to play against, but
also not gonna try not going to bother to try
(33:38):
to build up with long strings of passes through central midfield,
because that is how the US has gotten themselves in
trouble consistently against the likes of Belgium, and Portugal. Is
that something that was kind of in your head as
you were putting this team together.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, there's no doubt. I think what you want to
do is you want to make sure that you have
numbers the middle of the field, in particular, you know,
when when you don't have the feet to be able
to keep the ball, as you said, Portugal can keep it.
I think by having McKenny rome in the middle of
the field, he can potentially unlock, you know, little spots
in between lines where he can receive. I think there's
(34:17):
no question that that would help, you know, to add
to add a number into the midfield would help us
to get out of the back.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yeah, that's that's what I'm thinking as well. And I
wish we had gotten to see that for the US.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
In this camp.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
I'm really bummed that we didn't. That's your eleven, who's
your first subs? If you need a game changer? If
the US is chasing, it's the hour mark in the
second half, we're down a goal, who are you bringing on?
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Well? I mean I have to say that yesterday, at
least what I saw from Tillman was a little bit
more of energy and although he was not involved in
the game again for second game in a row. I
think he can provide something off the bench. I think
we need to potentially give an opportunity to Alex endajas
you know, Alex and Dyez really doing really well in Mexico.
(35:09):
He's really good around goal, He's a good finisher, he
doesn't need many chances to score. So I think, you know,
hopefully he becomes a part of the picture at that point.
But you know, and I think the one guy that
we were thinking about that was going to be the
one who unlocked the defense in the last fifteen to
twenty minutes, you know, was going to be gi Arena.
(35:31):
But I saw no signs of him, you know, being
able to do that for us, and I you know,
as I look at this roster, I just I don't
see where he's going to help. I really don't.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, it would be nice if he was able to
get on the field in the Bundesliga for Brusia Munchin Gladbach,
but I don't believe he's played since January and played,
you know, I think fewer than five hundred minutes total
this season, and we all know that there are fitness
issues as well. I think Geo is probably one of
(36:02):
the players who comes out of this camp who are
now most on the fringe of that twenty six man roster.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Definitely not in the eleven unless things.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Change in a big way between now and June.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Time for one more break for us.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Next up, we'll talk about the roster and who we
think me have played themselves out of the picture.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
I just mentioned Geo.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
There's a few others who didn't cover themselves in glory
in this camp. Thank you to listening to Inside American Soccer.
Please break review answers. All right, folks, welcome back to
Inside American Soccer. We're going to talk about the final
(36:49):
US World Cup roster, which of course we don't know yet,
but it's coming in a couple of months and we'll
I'll be on the edges of our respective seats for
that one. Just want to run through the basics here
real quick. We assume that there are at least three players,
maybe four, who weren't a part of this camp that
will be part of the twenty six I think consensus
is Virginio dest who is expected to be healthy early
(37:11):
next month. Tyler Adams, who just got injured before this camp,
but is expected to be healthy soon, and Diego Luna
and then al Jndrison Dejas as well. So that's four players,
one a wing back, one of defensive midfield, and two
attackers who sort of play underneath the forward who nobody
(37:32):
It would be a bigger surprise of those guys weren't
on the roster other than maybe he's in Dahas than
if they were.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
But Tad, you have the spreadsheet.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
You have made your twenty six man roster, plus a
few guys on the fringes. So take us through the chart, man,
show us who you have and who could be looking
at a summer spent watching the games on TV with
the rest of us.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Well, I stayed up all night last night trying to
put this together, and particularly the goalkeepers. You know, I
really worry about your favorite I really worry about the goalkeepers. No,
but let me. I'll just go through the list because
it truly is difficult. You know, as we were talking
before about not potentially having locked up the way we play,
it makes it difficult to put a list together because
(38:16):
you don't know what how many players you need in
which line right, So if you're playing three center backs,
maybe you need five if you're playing two center backs,
maybe need four, right, So let's just push all of
that out the window and let me just go with
the players that I think should likely be locks, and
the players that will be I think fighting for a
position in about fifty days when the roster is his name.
(38:37):
So it's the four goalkeepers I had Freeze, I had Turner, Brady,
and Celentano. That could change by one, but I don't
think you know, Chelta could be part of that picture.
But I think you know at this point you're talking
about a fourth goalkeeper anyway, So that's sort of where
it is. We know a Freeze is going to be
the starting goalkeeper at this time. In terms of center backs,
(39:01):
I have three his locks, and those being Richards, McKenzie
and Reem, and then two fighting for an additional spot,
which would be Miles Robinson in Austin. Trustee that if
we're naming as center backs, I have him as two
for one position in order to complete the twenty six
that I have going into outside backs. I think it'd
(39:23):
be Anthony Robinson on one side, Freeman on the other.
I have Arstin and Desk. Obviously, I think Desk is
going to be the starter. Freeman would be the extra
center back if we were to need that, so he
can serve both functions.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
And this leaves out Joe Skelly.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Joe Skelly was part of this camp, got a couple
of minutes I think in both games. I know he
came on late against Portugal. Hasn't been particularly good for
Mauricio Pochettino. I think it's kind of consensus that he
needed to have a big camp and he didn't.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
So moving on to the central my fields, and this
is obviously a very crowded area, right we have I
have his locks, Taner Testament, Weston McKinney, Johnny Cardoso, Tyler Adams,
and then I have four playing for one spot here
that would be the fifth central midfielder and that is
(40:17):
Aiden Morris, who I think didn't help himself in this
camp much, Sebastia Burholtz, Christian Rodin, and and I'm gonna
have to say unis Musa because why not. I mean,
for what we've seen so far, if Musa has a
couple games of that Dealanta, why not consider Musa. He
has the experience, he's playing in a in the top league.
(40:40):
I think he can be part of the picture. So
I have those four players fighting for one spot.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So my big hope was that, you know, you remember
Risio Pochcino's great Spurs teams. They had Dumbell who was
just a monster with ball progression, dribbling through central midfield,
and I my hope was that this Mussa would turn
into that type of player for the US, be the
sort of plug.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
And play answer to that need. And when he's played.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
For the US, he's actually played as a wingback or
a winger. I still don't understand that. And now, unfortunately
he barely plays for Atalanta. Anytime he gets a chance.
He gets about two games, a game and a half
sometimes and then is right back to the bench. Not
quite as dire a situation as Gio Reyna's, but nowhere
(41:32):
near the player that he was four years ago, and
nowhere near the player that we all hoped he would
be four years ago. I'm less convinced that Johnny Cartoso
is a luck I just don't see.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
I haven't seen.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Enough from him, and I think that Christian Rodon is
probably still ahead of him in the pecking order, but
we'll see. Like maybe that is me reading the situation incorrectly,
but I think roll Don has just brought more to
the game for the US on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
So we have a little bit of disagreement there, but
one thing I think we all agree on.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Is that Tyler Adams has to be healthy and if
he's not, then the US is probably in some trouble.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Move us along through the attack tub.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
So for the attackers, I have obviously has locks polistic
Tillman waya in Zendejas all right, and I know Zendejas
wasn't at the camp, but again, this is my list,
so I have him in there and then and then
one spot up in the air, and that one spot
in the air would be between Giorna Brandon Aaronson and
(42:41):
Diego Luna. Out of those three, I think one can go.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Yeah. I think that Aaronson barely played in this camp.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
When he got on late against Portugal, he didn't do anything.
He didn't look like a Premier League attacker when he
got on the ball. He was rushed and he was sloppy.
And that's a price because he's actually been pretty good
for Leeds over the past few months, but hasn't really
impressed under Patchettino. Unfortunately. Gio Arena. We talked about it
(43:12):
looked exactly as rusty as you would expect from a
guy who does not play club soccer. That kind of
leaves the ball in Diego Luna's court. And he has
been consistently really good for the US. He came back
for RSL after injury to start the season. He came
back for RSL a couple of weeks ago and played
about half an hour, and he was fantastic the first
(43:34):
fifteen minutes, and then he was out of gas for
the second fifteen minutes.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Coming back from injuries as hard. But this is a
spot that looks like.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
The battle is going to go down to the wire.
I think it's interesting that you have Tim Way here
as an attacker when he doesn't play there for his
club anymore, and he doesn't play there for his country.
He's playing almost exclusively as a right back or a
wing back now.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
And that's fair. I'm just seeing this sort of as
the way Puschettino named his roster, because I think he's seeing, uh,
this situation a little bit the same. So so this
has a trickle effect where you know, if if if
you have Freeman as a potential additional center back. It
means that Desk now is the only outside back, which
(44:22):
means now way I can be the help in the
outside back. So I see Way a little bit the
same way I see Freeman. So Freeman is really a
backup outside back, but but potentially as center back. I
see Waya as a backup outside back, as potentially I
mean as a backup forward, potentially an outside back.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
We'll take us to the forward side.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
And the forwards I'm I'm naming for and I'm naming
for only because that's my perception was that you know
that that Balligan was was a locked starter, and that
that's how we're going to play, and that at some
point we would likely go with two forwards at one time.
So you want to have options up front of guys
who are playing, you know. But after playing the last
(45:05):
game without a forward, I can't imagine that Pochettino's gonna
name four forwards when you don't use any. So I
don't know. Maybe I'm thinking too much into that, but
that's what it would seem like to me. You have
four forwards sitting on the bench. It wouldn't be a
it wouldn't be a good thing, but I have Baaligan,
I have Agimon Peppi and right all going to the
(45:25):
walk up. You know, I think now if he's thinking
Pachatino's thinking the way he thought for yesterday's game, I'm
thinking that he's likely not going to take four.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Yeah, there's no question that those are the four. I
think only three of them are going. And I think
given that Ricardo Peppy has not been able to get
a start, even though he played really well off the
bench against Belgium, he has not been able to get
a start for the US, it feels like the writing
is on the wall, uh, for for him, I think
(45:57):
he's the one who has to make up ground. And
like you said, Tad, we just played one of our
final friendlies without a true center forward out there. There's
no way that man is bringing four of them to
the World Cup. Just does not seem to be in
the cards, even though I do think it's actually at
this point probably our best bet because.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Look, we do have good goal scorers.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
We have guys who are scoring goals at a high
level for their teams.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
What we don't have our a lot of wingers.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
So we should maybe stop trying to play with wingers
and start playing with more forwards out there, get the
wing backs.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
A little bit higher.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
There's a way to do this doesn't have to be
so prescriptive. Also, yesterday wasn't just finding out that the
US are behind the likes of Portugal. We also found
out the final opponent for the US in the group stage.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
That's Turkey. A.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Used to call them Turkey, but they've asked for people
to change the way that you say the name, so
it's Turkey A. They were one nil winners over Kosovo
in the UA for playoffs. For that final spot, US
will need to at least get a result against Turkey
to win the group most likely, uh basic scouter report.
(47:10):
You know Arta Guler as their starman from Real Madrid,
really skillful player, hits the ground really easily, really really easily,
Keenan yields. They have good players in a lot of
the top teams in the world TAB. They didn't look
like a team that was maximizing all of that over
(47:31):
the course of these two games. They looked very individualistic
to me.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
No, and in particular yesterday, they struggled in the first half.
Coast of a hit the crossbar great.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
Saved by the by the Turkey a goalkeeper, but they
do have some pieces that can decide a game, you know,
and whether that's Yieldi's on the left side, he was,
he was solid yesterday, he was a he was a
pest the whole game.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Uh Guler didn't play well yesterday. You know, he sort
of added to the picture, but he was not a
key performer yesterday in the game. And I have to
say the first half I thought Kosovo was the better team,
but the second half Turkey really took took charge and
try to go for that second goal that they couldn't get,
but in the end they didn't need it. So I
(48:17):
think this is going to be This will be a
difficult opponent for US, no question about it. It's certainly
not one of the strong European teams. But I think
because they have individual players that can decide a game
any moment, you know, these teams are always difficult.
Speaker 3 (48:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
I think on paper they are the strongest opponent in
the group for the US. But games aren't paid played
on paper, they're pay played on grass.
Speaker 3 (48:42):
And there's no reason.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
The US should go into this tournament, into this group
this summer thinking anything other than advancing. At the very
top of the group. Turkey has got.
Speaker 3 (48:52):
Talent, but they're not overwhelming.
Speaker 2 (48:56):
That will hopefully be some solace for the US after
they faced overwhelming talent in these past two games and
got played right off the pitch against Belgium and Portugal's
tu nil on Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (49:10):
We've just met some time unpacking it.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
There will be more to come in the weeks and
months ahead as we try to figure out the shape
of Mauricio Pochettino's pool, and we do maybe deeper dives
onto Turkey and Paraguay and Australia, who are the three
group stage opponents for the US. And like you said, Tab,
we're like fifty days away from finding out what the
(49:33):
twenty six man roster for Mauricio Pochettino and the US
men's national team.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
He's at this worked up.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
We of course will be all over that and we
expect you to be joining us for all of that
as well.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
So thank you for.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
Listening to Inside American Soccer.
Speaker 3 (49:49):
I'm Mattell that's tob Ramos. Please rate review as subscribe.
We will be back next week.
For me being two months away from the World Cup
and sort of saying, hey, for a half we competed.
It's just not good enough at this point, Matt, not
good enough.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Greeting folks, and welcome to Inside America and Soccer. I'm
Matt Doyle, filling in for new dad Tom Boger for
just a couple more shows here, and I'm joined as
always by one of the greatest players in US men's
national team history, tab Ramos, my friend and yours and
a man who, along with me and along with I
assume all of you, watched the US get outclassed yet again,
(00:35):
this time by Portugal and a two miar loss on
Tuesday night. I have my thoughts on it, Tab, I
want to hear yours before we really get into it.
Just your big picture takeaway from this game, in particular
in the camp overall.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Wow, you know, once again, great to be on with you.
I know that. You know, after the last show and
after the last game, we talked a little about a
little bit about being deflated, right because we you know,
we were coming into this camp feeling pretty good. You know,
we had beaten Uruguay with sort of our Can we
call it a little bit of our second team. Let's say,
(01:15):
you know, Uruguay maybe missing a couple guys, but you know,
we really felt good about that camp. I'll be honest,
I did as well, and I kind of jumped a
little bit on that bandwagon of Okay, well that's this
is the beginning of of something here, and now we
have the March window, March window. We have good teams,
we can solidify what we've been working on, and hopefully
(01:38):
now we finally started after a year and a half
of you know, trials and seventy players coming in and
out and different systems and all of these things. And
yet here we are at the end of the March window,
which is likely a very important one because now we
have to pick the team and to be fair, and
you said, well, give me sort of the big picture.
(01:59):
How you feel about this. I'm confused, Matt. I'm confused,
are we I'm confused by the way we play. You know,
I'm not sure if that second game against Portugal is
a new way to play. It's just a new system
that we have. I you know, we've been hearing for
(02:20):
a long time now about you know, and and and
obviously all of us have been asking for Okay, what's
our eleven. Let's see our eleven play together, and let's
see those guys go through a tough game and and
then let's correct some of the things. But I just
I don't know what system we play. I don't know
(02:40):
what our eleven is. And and more importantly, I think
you know when I hear you know after the game
that we're happy because we competed for parts of a
half in both games. I think we competed thirty We
competed when we went to Italy and we were basically
(03:02):
not even soccer players. We competed. I don't think this
is about competing. I think we we went and got
one of the best coaches in the world to get
us closer to the top, to the top teams. You know,
this makes me wonder a little bit, well, what was
an interview? Like? Like what was because I feel like
Rico Pochettino is still getting to know not just our team,
(03:26):
but like our culture of where we've been. Like, this
is not about competing. I don't think we went out
and got the best coach in the world to start
competing against teams. I think we want to narrow the gap.
I think we want to beat teams we're not supposed
to be, Like, that's what we're here, that's what we
are expecting as fans of the team. And so I'm
(03:49):
not sure. I'm confused, Matt, I really am.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, beat teams that we're not supposed to be and
beat teams that we occasionally used to be. The US
has played Portugal before, famously in two thousand and two
in the World Cup and beat them, And that was
a really, really good Portugal team back in two thousand
and two. There were no worries about competing with that group.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
And we tied them, and we tied them in twenty
fourteen with Ronaldo and that was a great generation and
we beat them back in nineteen ninety three and so
and I know they're better. Yeah they're beat But I
don't think it's about competing.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, it hasn't been in the past with this group
for whatever reason it is. I generally am really positive
on Greg Berhalter's tenure, but the last year there's no
question the level dropped in that group.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Things went stale.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I completely understood and supported the idea of going out
and getting a new coach, and then once Mauricio Pochettino
was brought in. His resume kind of speaks for itself,
and after a little bit finding his feet, he got
things I think in the right going in the right
direction last autumn with all those changes you've talked about
tab and I bought into it too. And it feels
(05:02):
like we backslid in this camp because the intensity level
wasn't good enough against Belgium.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
It got better.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Against Portrait Goal, but still wasn't like what we saw
against Paraguay or Australia or against Uruguay, and the US
paid for that. So we on today's show we are
going to talk about that. We'll discuss the major issues
in the loss and what we can learn from this match.
We'll also name our starting eleven for the World Cup.
(05:29):
I wish we had a little bit more data on that,
but based upon what we saw in these two friendlies,
we'll try to read some tea leaves and maybe.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Do a little bit of wish casting.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Plus, we'll talk about the roster who we think will
make the final final twenty six men roster for the
World Cup, and we'll talk about Turkey, a who we
now know will be our final group stage opponent at
the World Cup have to really sweat it out against Kosovo,
but got the goal, got the win, and so tab
let's get into it. From the US perve, it's still
(06:01):
not good. Christian Polistic starts the match as a loan
forward and to me, that's a waste. That is the
absolute waste of one of our final three friendlies heading
into the World Cup, because at no point should the
US go into a game this summer without a true
forward on the field, and particularly with the way Flow
(06:23):
Balligan has been playing for his club team, you would
hope that he is just a written and penn starter.
So the idea behind this friendly not only get reps
against one of the best teams in the world, but
also build chemistry with Polisic and Balligan and McKenny and
Waia on one side, Jedi Robinson on the other, and
(06:44):
so to play Christian Polistic as a false nine, a
role in which he really struggled because anytime he tried
to drop back in with his back to goal, he
turned the ball over because he doesn't know how to
play as a center forward. It kind of defeated the
purpose of this friendly and it felt like wasted ninety
minutes to me.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I have to totally agree with that. I you know,
I thought, I really thought these friendlies, these two friendlies
in particular, were about putting our best eleven together. Finally,
after a year and a half of saying how great
we're going to be a year from now, I thought
that this was going to be the camp in which
we had our starting starting eleven and we saw what
(07:24):
we can do, and then fix that, and then see
what you can do for ninety minutes. And of course
there's a lot of substitutions, but I think we're in
a We're in a different situation than Belgium, We're in
a different situation than Portugal. I think if those teams
want to go ahead and make seven, eight nine changes
in a game, they have a way. They've been together
(07:45):
for a long time, they won things, they they know
how to play together. I feel like, because we've had
all of these players in and out, I feel like
this camp was another tryout. It was a tryout about
who makes the twenty six. And to be fair, who
cares who makes the twenty six. I want to know
(08:06):
what are eleven is? Those are the guys we have
to win a game with. You know, we're talking about
the twenty six. We're given opportunities to players, and look,
by the way, I can't get into Poschettino's head. Maybe
he just feels like all twenty six guys or all
thirty guys at this point have a chance to be
in the starting eleven. But if that's the case, why
(08:29):
has it taken a year and a half to get
to this point. That's the part that I don't get.
I agree with you on the politic thing. I think
it's neat that we can have a variation to playing
without a forward for a little while if we wanted to,
But we haven't figured out how we play yet, Like
(08:49):
we're having a variation to what So this is a variation,
which is nice to have, by the way, when you're
in preseason, this is what you do. You try things.
But we don't know the way we play yet. We
don't know our starting eleven yet, and so if we
don't know that, how do we how are we trying
other things? And that's for me a little bit of
the frustrating part. I mean, I think if you're you know,
(09:13):
you're Tim Waya now you're thinking that you're going to
be the right back. Only I guess, but he comes
in as a forward. You know Freeman, was he really
a third center back in this It took me a
little while to figure out how we were playing in
the back. And then, by the way, I'll disagree with
you on one thing, and that's the intensity of the game.
I think the players couldn't have had any more intensity
(09:35):
in the first fifteen to twenty minutes against Portugal. I mean,
it almost looked like like a hockey line change when
the new guys come in. We were everywhere. I couldn't
figure out where we were playing because our guys were
pressing everywhere. I mean, we pressed Portugal into making quite
a few mistakes in the first fifteen to twenty minutes
of the game, which is not usual for them. I mean,
(09:55):
Vittina doesn't lose the ball, Bruno Fernandez doesn't lose the ball.
These guys were losing the and I think that's a
good sign for us. But is it a good sign
that we're a good team or was it just we
were running around like crazy trying to recover the ball.
I couldn't figure out what we were doing.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Well, I think Portugal solved it, and this is one
of the things that has me worried. After these two
games against Belgium, the hydration break, which is now mandatory
every game gets a hydration break this summer at the
World Cup, and coaches use it as a timeout and
they adjust their tactics against Belgium. The tactical adjustment that
they made was they started playing direct more straight up
(10:34):
the gut to win first ball, second ball because there
was a gap between the US back line and central midfield.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
So second balls were there to be won.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And you're gonna win the first ball because you're going
up against Tim Reen who is just not great in
the air. So that's how they got one of their goals.
And then the other thing they did was start hitting
more diagonals right to left diagonals, specifically debased the right
back was taking advantage of the fact that the US
were not closing him down, and it was really Christian
Polistic was not working to close him down quickly in
(11:05):
this game. The adjustment at the twenty three minute mark
at the hydration break was Portugal had been playing zonal defensively.
They changed to a man to man defensive scheme and
just said, you know what, the US can't hold the
ball through central midfield. We're going to build the whole
(11:25):
plane out of central midfield turnovers. That's it, And like
you could go back and it's clear as day, especially
on the first Portugal goal, it's a turnover where they're
in a man to man scheme and at that point
it's just a matter of can you win your duels,
and the US couldn't and they never adjusted to that time.
(11:45):
There's two games in a row where the other coach
made a big adjustment that changed the game, and the
US didn't have any sort of response.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, I mean, and that was noticeable because you know,
I think Portugal in the end to me a little
bit like like Belgium. And I mentioned that the other
day that you know, I was sitting here with my
buddy watching the game, and I was thinking, Belgium doesn't
even look like they're trying, you know, they look like
they're just nonchalant with the ball, and Portugal kind of
(12:15):
looked the same. Once they speeded up the game a
little bit, they created a couple of chances that could
have put us away. And by the way, Matt Freeze,
I thought played a very good game. You know, he
made the types of saves that we need to stay
in games. He did that, which takes us back now
to the first game and wonder why we made a
change in the first place, But we did say that
(12:37):
after the first game. So yeah, Portugal, you know, with
the quality that they have, they just don't need many
chances to score. And that's what's gonna That's the difference
really between the the you know, the top ten teams
in the world and the rest, and the difference is
is quite big.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, And defensively the difference on that goal. Look, it's
a midfield turnover. And then Aidan Morris has a choice
to make which you know, which attacker you're going to
try to keep in your your cover shadow, and he
chose one, and he's trying to cut out a pass
from Vittina. If Vitina has multiple options and you take
one away, he's going to play the other one, which
(13:15):
he did immediately plays Bruno Fernandez through. The really disappointing
thing in that moment for me was that Aiden Morris
and Malik Tillman both switched off and you could go back.
I put the clip on my blue Sky and you
go back and watch that. They they turn off and
they turn around and watch the play and start jogging,
and neither of them realizes until it's far too late
(13:38):
that Bruno Fernandez is gonna find drink out right there
on the corner of the six for it honestly had
enough time to take two touches, and that lack of
awareness in those transition moments was kind of glaring at times,
and it's why Portugal were so dangerous on counter attacks
(14:02):
on turnovers again and again and again. And that leads
me to the big point with this formation, Like Risio
Pochccino had said over the course of the week, We're
gonna move Christian Polistic further up top, closer to goal
so that he can get more chances, hopefully get a goal,
hopefully get his confidence back, because this is a man
(14:23):
who has not scored since December for club or country,
has not scored since November of twenty twenty four for
the US, so he needs something. But I thought that
meant he was going to play in the formation you
want tab which is kind of a five to three
to two with him up top alongside another forward. But
playing him as a loan center forward meant that the
(14:47):
US were going to try to actually possess the ball
through central midfield. And while there were good moments with that,
there were a lot of bad moments as well, turnovers
from POOLA, turnovers like the one that we saw on
the goal, lack of tracking. So my question is, why
not just play that five three to two and skip
(15:08):
the midfield? Why not do what Belgium did in the
you know, in the final seventy minutes of that game,
and say, all right, we can actually play over this
mess or around it and get those two guys up top,
spread the field wide with two flying wingbacks. You have
three center backs back there, and then you have a
really you in theory, you have a really aggressive midfield
(15:31):
of McKenny and Tillman and you know, be it Aiden
Morris or Tanner, Tessaman or you know, whoever you want
to put out there. Like, there's a way to actually
do this that plays to the US strengths and I
don't think we've seen.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
It, no, But but here's the issue, matt uh. The
issue is that we we don't have a way. And
when you don't have a way, you kind of I
feel like we're winging it. You know. If we had
a way, we can I feel like and obviously from
the outside. And I will always say that it's easier
to coach someone else's team, So to be on this
(16:04):
side is a lot easier than to be on the field.
And for you to know the ins and outs of
every player, to know how they feel that day, to
know what conversations you've had with them about certain positions,
how they feel about certain positions, what you tell them
individually about you're talking about coverage getting back into the
box with in this case with Morris and Tillman, but
(16:25):
if you remember the game against Belgium, it was also
with Tessaman and Cardoso, like they weren't getting there on time,
they didn't feel comfortable. So is this the problem for
us is that we're on the outside and we don't
know if this is if the reason they're not getting
to those spots is because tactically we don't want them
in those spots, or is the coach asking them to
(16:45):
get to those spots and they're just not and to
us it looks like they're not making the effort. Maybe
to the coaches like, well, the coach just wants them
to hang out at the top of the box. I
have no idea why. What I can tell you is
that it's very difficult for us to assess our team,
assess the game, and for Poschettino to finally put his
eleven together when we don't really have a way to play.
(17:08):
I'm really struggling with that. I'm struggling with the fact that,
you know, we have potentially four forwards that can start
for us, and we don't start any of them. I'm
struggling with the fact that Baaligan is probably the hottest
player that we have because he scores in the Champions League.
He's scores in the league on and he doesn't play,
and I think, if anything, you can do nothing but
(17:31):
bet on Balligan and Polisic at this point, it's kind
of their team, like, this is where we are, and
after all the time, this is where we are. If
we're looking about, you know, talking about twenty thirty World Cup,
maybe the whole thing changes, but this is where we are.
We're like, what sixty days away from the World Cup
and we don't have an eleven and we don't have
a way to play. That's at least not a way
(17:54):
that I can understand.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
How did you feel about the way uh Pochettino addressed
the press after the game. The quote that everybody took
away from it was you know, Belgium in Portugal and
I'm paraphrasing here, but Belgium and Portugal have top hundred
players and we don't have that, which was I think
(18:17):
I agree with him, but I'm a little surprised that
he said it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Oh, you know, there's nothing that builds a team like
telling your team like they're not good enough. You know,
that's that's always so that's always a great thing, you know,
to go to the press conference and say, hey, you know,
our players aren't good anyway, so you know, look at us.
We're competing. You know, Look, Matt, this is uh, this
is a difficult situation because I think in this country
(18:44):
we understand the game a little bit more that we're
giving credit for. I believe this team is not working.
This is not about top one hundred. Yeah, Belgium has
top one hundred players Portugal so what so what who cares?
You have to go and win the game? You know,
the best team doesn't win all the games. That's why
you play the games. How can we put ourselves in
(19:04):
position to win games we're not supposed to win or
you know, and we're not doing that and for me
to say that, you know, we're competing for moments in
the game. Every team competes for moments in the game.
You know, Normally, I think I said it on the
last show. Normally what happens when a team is better
(19:25):
than you. You know, they they you work as hard
as you can for eighty ninety minutes, but at some
point they're going to get you because they have the
quality to get you. We're not even getting to that point.
So for me being two months away from the World
Cup and sort of saying, hey, for a half we competed,
or almost for a half we competed against Belgium, It's
(19:47):
just not good enough at this point, Matt, not good enough.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, it has been hasn't been good enough for a
while against the European teams. This is eight straight losses
against the European competition, which is I didn't mind boggling
when you think about how previous generations were able to
go toe to toe as often as not with the
best that Europe has to offer. Haven't seen it from
(20:12):
this group. Were there any positive performances that we can
take away from this one? I will say I thought
pat Ajiman came off the bench and did well for himself. Again,
I thought Chris Richards was very good in the middle
of that back three. I know Austin trust he wasn't perfect,
but he I thought he competed. I guess I'm setting
(20:36):
the barlow. I thought he competed and he didn't. He
didn't embarrass himself out there. So and obviously Matt Freeze
was good too. Anyone catch your eye.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Well, I would have to say I agree with you
on Trusty for sure. You know I have not been
a Trusty fan, not because I don't like him. I
think he's a good player. Of course, he's a good player.
He plays for Celtic. You know, he's he's a great
player for this team. I didn't think he would be at,
you know, at that level, and I think I think
(21:06):
he showed you he brings something to the table. I
think Trusty put himself in a good situation to be
considered to be on this roster and to potentially contribute
to the team. Uh. Maybe I'm pushing it too far,
but that's that's what I saw yesterday. If I had
to look at a positive, I thought it was very positive.
And you know, I think if anything, you know, one
of the things that I had seen from Trusty, and
(21:28):
that's even when I coach him on the U twenties,
that he's sometimes over anxious. He gets to place too fast.
So it's never a lack of effort. So and it's
never a lack of competing or going hard. He always does.
It's sometimes reading the play a little bit better and
deciding not to commit to a certain place and staying
in position a little bit better. But I have to
say he I thought he did a very very good job.
(21:50):
I think, you know, Matt Freeze solidified himself in the position.
I mean, let's I was gonna say, let's stop messing
around with that position. But there is no messing around now.
We just have the World Cup basically coming out this
just two games, so it is what it is. But
that's our guy, I thought. Because of the way the
whole camp worked out, this camp was positive for Johnny Cardozo.
(22:14):
He played a half, he did okay, and he left
and I think I think it worked out for him.
It worked out.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, Diego Luna was Diego Luna was one of the
big winners from that.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Well a little bit, you know, Diego Luna get you know,
Alex and Dajas. How did he not win out of
this camp? Alex and Dajaz, you know, just won in
this camp. So yeah, you know, I don't want to
laugh at it. I mean, I just I'm I'm I'm disappointed,
and I think it's not It's not a matter of
(22:47):
making fun in any way. I think we're we're just
trying to figure out a way. I think we're all
on the same you know, whether we're here on you know,
on the press trying to discuss what's going on, or
we're fans, we're trying to get this right and we're
just not seeing the light at the end of the
tunnel at all. I'm starting to believe now that if
we do well this summer, it's going to be by
It's going to be by chance.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, should be by set pieces as well. That set
piece that Joue Philis scored was kind of inexcusable from
the US.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
He was left unmarked at the top of the box.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Afterwards, Muricio Pochettino said it was a case of confusion
because there had been so many subs the players on
the field weren't exactly sure who was supposed to be
at the top of the box and who was supposed
to be in the mix. Man a lot of little
details to get wrong at this point in the cycle.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, well, well, I mean, but you know, when players
come in, usually have an assistant coach that tells the
players where they're supposed to go, right, I mean, that's
that's how that works. And if there are too many substitutions,
well how about don't make the substitutions. Do we need
them in substitutions? We're trying to put a team together
to go win in the World Cup. Do we really
need to see every person that's in this camp. I
(24:09):
honestly didn't think I needed to see that, but maybe
he doesn't. That's what happens when, you know, when you
make a lot of substitutions, and I get it. You know,
sometimes it's difficult for players in thirty seconds to understand
where they go and what player they go with. Considering
that the other team is making substitutions, but all the
other teams are going through the same thing.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
I'm going to read you a quote from Christian Polistic
and ostensibly he is still the best player on this team,
and he has proven himself in big games. Let's remember
what he sacrificed to score that goal against Iran in
the World Cup four years ago, like he has put
it on the line for his country, and he says
we were able to create chances, which if I finished chances,
(24:54):
which I know I'm going to, then things are going
to be a bit different. If you're his teammate in
the locker room or you're his coach, and you hear
that quote after this camp where he did have a
ton of chances, he didn't finish any of them. He
hasn't finished anything for the US since November of twenty
(25:15):
twenty four, and he hasn't finished anything from Milan in
three months. Are you positive about that quote or are
you frustrated?
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Like what do you want? Is that what you want
to hear from Christian Polistic after this one?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Well, I mean I think he's being honest, right, I mean,
he didn't necessarily It's not like we watch Christian Polistic
not make an effort. He made the effort, he got
to the end of plays. He's just not at this point,
he's just not clinical en off. He's not finishing, and
I think he's recognizing that. I buy it. I buy it.
I mean, if I'm on his team. That's your question.
(25:48):
Your question is if you're on his team, is this
something that you're you know, you're believing in. I am,
and I'd like to hear that he feels like, Hey,
you know what, I needed to be sharper and I'm
going to be sharper in this World Cup. I want
to hear that.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Yeah, and let's hope you will be. I'm going to
leave you one last quote from Christian Polistic, hopefully one
that puts us all on a better frame of mind.
He says, I remember people were doubting us after that
September twenty twenty two camp.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
We didn't have a great camp.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I don't remember who exactly who the opponents were in
that one, but I remember it was pretty brutal. They
were pretty bad. And he says, but at the end
of the day, we go in and we have a
great World Cup. And I wouldn't go so far as
to call it a great World Cup, but I thought
the US were very, very good in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
That is some perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
These are just friendlies, and you could play lousy in
your last set of friendlies and still go in and
hit your marks in the World Cup. Does that resonate
for Youtub? Is that the right attitude for him and
for this US team to take right now?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah, normally that would be because that happens with teams,
right you go through those rough moments. It's just that
we really don't have any sort of we don't have
any think to look at and say, Okay, we're not
doing well, but you know it's gonna be fine because
we've seen it. No, we haven't seen it, and we
haven't seen it at all, and we need to see it.
(27:12):
This world up this is you know, if there's one
thing you know, and I was not a big fan
of of of the past team with Greg Burholter and
the way they played because it was very robotic. Let's
just say with with the way the team played. But
it's one thing you can say about that is the
team was always organized right, and I think I think
(27:34):
we're the opposite of that now and we're still not
getting results. You know, it's difficult at this point, I'm
not seeing the picture. And by the way, uh, you know,
when when you're looking and I know we're going to
go through the roster, but you start looking at all
the different midfielders that we use and and I just
don't understand what we use so many? And if we
use so many, why is Moussa not part of this picture?
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, it appointing one for us. It's time for a
break up. Next, we'll name the starting elevens that we
want to see for the World Cup. Who knows if
we'll see it or not, though, Please rate, review, and
subscribe to Inside American Soccer with Tom Boger and tab
Ramos wherever you get your podcast. All right, folks, welcome
(28:28):
back to Inside American Soccer. Tab let's just jump into it.
Let's talk about the World Cup eleven for this summer,
because it seems like Marisio Pochaccino still doesn't have an
idea of what his will be, but you have an
idea of what yours will be. We know it's Matt
freezeen goal. But take us through the back line and
(28:49):
take us through the formation. What are we going to
see or what should we see from the US in June?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Well, you know, considering where we are and what we've
seen in these last games, it's it's really difficult to
figure out what obviously what Mauricio Porchettino is going to
be thinking and because of what I've seen from players,
I think the one that's that's at this point and
non negotiable for me. If if I had to put
this team together is the fact that we have to
(29:17):
play with three center backs right. It starts there. I
would go if if if Robinson is in is in
good form, I would go with Robinson, Richards and McKenzie.
If Robinson Miles Robinson, yes, Miles Robinson. If he's not,
then I would go with Freeman and in that position
with Richards and Mackenzie across.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
One of the let me interrupt, Let me interrupt you there.
We all know that Alex Freeman made that move to
via Real. He's only played about forty minutes since making
that move, all of them at fullback right. He plays
as as a modern overlapping fullback. He doesn't play as
a center back in a three. But when he came
on in this camp and when he's played at times
(30:00):
for the US over the past year for Mauricio Pocheccino,
he's actually looks really comfortable in that three men right
center back setup.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Do we need to see him.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
There at the club level or is there a minimum
amount of minutes that he needs to play for via
Real before we'd actually be comfortable with seeing him in
the World Cup. Or is it just a case of,
you know what he's shown it in all these friendlies
and I'm going to trust what we've seen from him
in the Red, white and blue.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Well, you know, it's difficult to sort through that because
since we don't really have a way, I can't say
that there's a particular position that's where someone needs to
cover a certain particular function that we're looking for. And
because of that, what I'm looking to do with the
eleven that I put together is try to put the
(30:51):
best players that we have on the field and take
it from there. And I do think you know, at
via Real, he plays behind Marinho, you know, very active
outside back, sort of lanky, quick, you know, decent on
the ball. He struggled with He's struggling with winning a
position from a player that can that can do a lot.
(31:14):
I haven't said that. I I still think, you know
that I'm looking at the sort of the lack of
strength that we have in the back with our with
our three center backs, and I and I still think
he can give us a lot. So whether he's playing
or not, a via real. I just can't imagine not
giving him a chance to go in there and help us.
I mean, it's really, it's really the only reason he's
(31:36):
done well for the national team there. I have no
reason to think that.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
He couldn't do the job, all right, take us through
or midfield.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
The midfield, which would be potentially five because m McKenny
would be a little bit more advanced. It would be
best on the right side Adams and then either Tesman
or Cardozo, and then Robinson on the left side, with
McKenny a little bit in front of them, and then
polistic Bowlogan up top.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah, this is this is kind of what I thought
we were going to see from the Portugal game. When
Pochettino was saying we're gonna move Christian closer to goal,
We're gonna get him more chances, we're gonna try to
unlock him, I thought it meant he was going to
play up top in a two alongside Baligan, who, as
you pointed out, is scorching hot at the club level
(32:23):
right now and is should, in my opinion, has written
in Penn's starter for the US this summer. And I
thought the point of this game was not just going
to be to get Christian a goal, get him closer
to goal, but to put him in the position that
he plays at the club level. He plays as a
second forward for AC Milan, and to get that chemistry
(32:45):
between those two guys up top and then on top
of him. Look, the US could not hold the ball
in central midfield against Portugal.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
It is stark.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
If you take the game, go back and watch it
from the moment they come out of the first half
hydration break, Portugal has the ball for about nine straight
minutes because anytime the US got on it in midfield,
Portugal forced a turnover and that's what changed the game.
So dropping Wes into a midfield three, and we know
(33:17):
his engine is endless, and we know he can also
open the game up with a touch, which is how
Juventus have been using him. But then you have two
ball winners behind him. Suddenly you're a midfield that is
a difficult to play through, difficult to play against, but
also not gonna try not going to bother to try
(33:38):
to build up with long strings of passes through central midfield,
because that is how the US has gotten themselves in
trouble consistently against the likes of Belgium, and Portugal. Is
that something that was kind of in your head as
you were putting this team together.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, there's no doubt. I think what you want to
do is you want to make sure that you have
numbers the middle of the field, in particular, you know,
when when you don't have the feet to be able
to keep the ball, as you said, Portugal can keep it.
I think by having McKenny rome in the middle of
the field, he can potentially unlock, you know, little spots
in between lines where he can receive. I think there's
(34:17):
no question that that would help, you know, to add
to add a number into the midfield would help us
to get out of the back.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yeah, that's that's what I'm thinking as well. And I
wish we had gotten to see that for the US.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
In this camp.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
I'm really bummed that we didn't. That's your eleven, who's
your first subs? If you need a game changer? If
the US is chasing, it's the hour mark in the
second half, we're down a goal, who are you bringing on?
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Well? I mean I have to say that yesterday, at
least what I saw from Tillman was a little bit
more of energy and although he was not involved in
the game again for second game in a row. I
think he can provide something off the bench. I think
we need to potentially give an opportunity to Alex endajas
you know, Alex and Dyez really doing really well in Mexico.
(35:09):
He's really good around goal, He's a good finisher, he
doesn't need many chances to score. So I think, you know,
hopefully he becomes a part of the picture at that point.
But you know, and I think the one guy that
we were thinking about that was going to be the
one who unlocked the defense in the last fifteen to
twenty minutes, you know, was going to be gi Arena.
(35:31):
But I saw no signs of him, you know, being
able to do that for us, and I you know,
as I look at this roster, I just I don't
see where he's going to help. I really don't.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, it would be nice if he was able to
get on the field in the Bundesliga for Brusia Munchin Gladbach,
but I don't believe he's played since January and played,
you know, I think fewer than five hundred minutes total
this season, and we all know that there are fitness
issues as well. I think Geo is probably one of
(36:02):
the players who comes out of this camp who are
now most on the fringe of that twenty six man roster.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Definitely not in the eleven unless things.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Change in a big way between now and June.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Time for one more break for us.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Next up, we'll talk about the roster and who we
think me have played themselves out of the picture.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
I just mentioned Geo.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
There's a few others who didn't cover themselves in glory
in this camp. Thank you to listening to Inside American Soccer.
Please break review answers. All right, folks, welcome back to
Inside American Soccer. We're going to talk about the final
(36:49):
US World Cup roster, which of course we don't know yet,
but it's coming in a couple of months and we'll
I'll be on the edges of our respective seats for
that one. Just want to run through the basics here
real quick. We assume that there are at least three players,
maybe four, who weren't a part of this camp that
will be part of the twenty six I think consensus
is Virginio dest who is expected to be healthy early
(37:11):
next month. Tyler Adams, who just got injured before this camp,
but is expected to be healthy soon, and Diego Luna
and then al Jndrison Dejas as well. So that's four players,
one a wing back, one of defensive midfield, and two
attackers who sort of play underneath the forward who nobody
(37:32):
It would be a bigger surprise of those guys weren't
on the roster other than maybe he's in Dahas than
if they were.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
But Tad, you have the spreadsheet.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
You have made your twenty six man roster, plus a
few guys on the fringes. So take us through the chart, man,
show us who you have and who could be looking
at a summer spent watching the games on TV with
the rest of us.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Well, I stayed up all night last night trying to
put this together, and particularly the goalkeepers. You know, I
really worry about your favorite I really worry about the goalkeepers. No,
but let me. I'll just go through the list because
it truly is difficult. You know, as we were talking
before about not potentially having locked up the way we play,
it makes it difficult to put a list together because
(38:16):
you don't know what how many players you need in
which line right, So if you're playing three center backs,
maybe you need five if you're playing two center backs,
maybe need four, right, So let's just push all of
that out the window and let me just go with
the players that I think should likely be locks, and
the players that will be I think fighting for a
position in about fifty days when the roster is his name.
(38:37):
So it's the four goalkeepers I had Freeze, I had Turner, Brady,
and Celentano. That could change by one, but I don't
think you know, Chelta could be part of that picture.
But I think you know at this point you're talking
about a fourth goalkeeper anyway, So that's sort of where
it is. We know a Freeze is going to be
the starting goalkeeper at this time. In terms of center backs,
(39:01):
I have three his locks, and those being Richards, McKenzie
and Reem, and then two fighting for an additional spot,
which would be Miles Robinson in Austin. Trustee that if
we're naming as center backs, I have him as two
for one position in order to complete the twenty six
that I have going into outside backs. I think it'd
(39:23):
be Anthony Robinson on one side, Freeman on the other.
I have Arstin and Desk. Obviously, I think Desk is
going to be the starter. Freeman would be the extra
center back if we were to need that, so he
can serve both functions.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
And this leaves out Joe Skelly.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Joe Skelly was part of this camp, got a couple
of minutes I think in both games. I know he
came on late against Portugal. Hasn't been particularly good for
Mauricio Pochettino. I think it's kind of consensus that he
needed to have a big camp and he didn't.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
So moving on to the central my fields, and this
is obviously a very crowded area, right we have I
have his locks, Taner Testament, Weston McKinney, Johnny Cardoso, Tyler Adams,
and then I have four playing for one spot here
that would be the fifth central midfielder and that is
(40:17):
Aiden Morris, who I think didn't help himself in this
camp much, Sebastia Burholtz, Christian Rodin, and and I'm gonna
have to say unis Musa because why not. I mean,
for what we've seen so far, if Musa has a
couple games of that Dealanta, why not consider Musa. He
has the experience, he's playing in a in the top league.
(40:40):
I think he can be part of the picture. So
I have those four players fighting for one spot.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So my big hope was that, you know, you remember
Risio Pochcino's great Spurs teams. They had Dumbell who was
just a monster with ball progression, dribbling through central midfield,
and I my hope was that this Mussa would turn
into that type of player for the US, be the
sort of plug.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
And play answer to that need. And when he's played.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
For the US, he's actually played as a wingback or
a winger. I still don't understand that. And now, unfortunately
he barely plays for Atalanta. Anytime he gets a chance.
He gets about two games, a game and a half
sometimes and then is right back to the bench. Not
quite as dire a situation as Gio Reyna's, but nowhere
(41:32):
near the player that he was four years ago, and
nowhere near the player that we all hoped he would
be four years ago. I'm less convinced that Johnny Cartoso
is a luck I just don't see.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
I haven't seen.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Enough from him, and I think that Christian Rodon is
probably still ahead of him in the pecking order, but
we'll see. Like maybe that is me reading the situation incorrectly,
but I think roll Don has just brought more to
the game for the US on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
So we have a little bit of disagreement there, but
one thing I think we all agree on.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Is that Tyler Adams has to be healthy and if
he's not, then the US is probably in some trouble.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Move us along through the attack tub.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
So for the attackers, I have obviously has locks polistic
Tillman waya in Zendejas all right, and I know Zendejas
wasn't at the camp, but again, this is my list,
so I have him in there and then and then
one spot up in the air, and that one spot
in the air would be between Giorna Brandon Aaronson and
(42:41):
Diego Luna. Out of those three, I think one can go.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Yeah. I think that Aaronson barely played in this camp.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
When he got on late against Portugal, he didn't do anything.
He didn't look like a Premier League attacker when he
got on the ball. He was rushed and he was sloppy.
And that's a price because he's actually been pretty good
for Leeds over the past few months, but hasn't really
impressed under Patchettino. Unfortunately. Gio Arena. We talked about it
(43:12):
looked exactly as rusty as you would expect from a
guy who does not play club soccer. That kind of
leaves the ball in Diego Luna's court. And he has
been consistently really good for the US. He came back
for RSL after injury to start the season. He came
back for RSL a couple of weeks ago and played
about half an hour, and he was fantastic the first
(43:34):
fifteen minutes, and then he was out of gas for
the second fifteen minutes.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Coming back from injuries as hard. But this is a
spot that looks like.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
The battle is going to go down to the wire.
I think it's interesting that you have Tim Way here
as an attacker when he doesn't play there for his
club anymore, and he doesn't play there for his country.
He's playing almost exclusively as a right back or a
wing back now.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
And that's fair. I'm just seeing this sort of as
the way Puschettino named his roster, because I think he's seeing, uh,
this situation a little bit the same. So so this
has a trickle effect where you know, if if if
you have Freeman as a potential additional center back. It
means that Desk now is the only outside back, which
(44:22):
means now way I can be the help in the
outside back. So I see Way a little bit the
same way I see Freeman. So Freeman is really a
backup outside back, but but potentially as center back. I
see Waya as a backup outside back, as potentially I
mean as a backup forward, potentially an outside back.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
We'll take us to the forward side.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
And the forwards I'm I'm naming for and I'm naming
for only because that's my perception was that you know
that that Balligan was was a locked starter, and that
that's how we're going to play, and that at some
point we would likely go with two forwards at one time.
So you want to have options up front of guys
who are playing, you know. But after playing the last
(45:05):
game without a forward, I can't imagine that Pochettino's gonna
name four forwards when you don't use any. So I
don't know. Maybe I'm thinking too much into that, but
that's what it would seem like to me. You have
four forwards sitting on the bench. It wouldn't be a
it wouldn't be a good thing, but I have Baaligan,
I have Agimon Peppi and right all going to the
(45:25):
walk up. You know, I think now if he's thinking
Pachatino's thinking the way he thought for yesterday's game, I'm
thinking that he's likely not going to take four.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Yeah, there's no question that those are the four. I
think only three of them are going. And I think
given that Ricardo Peppy has not been able to get
a start, even though he played really well off the
bench against Belgium, he has not been able to get
a start for the US, it feels like the writing
is on the wall, uh, for for him, I think
(45:57):
he's the one who has to make up ground. And
like you said, Tad, we just played one of our
final friendlies without a true center forward out there. There's
no way that man is bringing four of them to
the World Cup. Just does not seem to be in
the cards, even though I do think it's actually at
this point probably our best bet because.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
Look, we do have good goal scorers.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
We have guys who are scoring goals at a high
level for their teams.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
What we don't have our a lot of wingers.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
So we should maybe stop trying to play with wingers
and start playing with more forwards out there, get the
wing backs.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
A little bit higher.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
There's a way to do this doesn't have to be
so prescriptive. Also, yesterday wasn't just finding out that the
US are behind the likes of Portugal. We also found
out the final opponent for the US in the group stage.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
That's Turkey. A.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Used to call them Turkey, but they've asked for people
to change the way that you say the name, so
it's Turkey A. They were one nil winners over Kosovo
in the UA for playoffs. For that final spot, US
will need to at least get a result against Turkey
to win the group most likely, uh basic scouter report.
(47:10):
You know Arta Guler as their starman from Real Madrid,
really skillful player, hits the ground really easily, really really easily,
Keenan yields. They have good players in a lot of
the top teams in the world TAB. They didn't look
like a team that was maximizing all of that over
(47:31):
the course of these two games. They looked very individualistic
to me.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
No, and in particular yesterday, they struggled in the first half.
Coast of a hit the crossbar great.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
Saved by the by the Turkey a goalkeeper, but they
do have some pieces that can decide a game, you know,
and whether that's Yieldi's on the left side, he was,
he was solid yesterday, he was a he was a
pest the whole game.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Uh Guler didn't play well yesterday. You know, he sort
of added to the picture, but he was not a
key performer yesterday in the game. And I have to
say the first half I thought Kosovo was the better team,
but the second half Turkey really took took charge and
try to go for that second goal that they couldn't get,
but in the end they didn't need it. So I
(48:17):
think this is going to be This will be a
difficult opponent for US, no question about it. It's certainly
not one of the strong European teams. But I think
because they have individual players that can decide a game
any moment, you know, these teams are always difficult.
Speaker 3 (48:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
I think on paper they are the strongest opponent in
the group for the US. But games aren't paid played
on paper, they're pay played on grass.
Speaker 3 (48:42):
And there's no reason.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
The US should go into this tournament, into this group
this summer thinking anything other than advancing. At the very
top of the group. Turkey has got.
Speaker 3 (48:52):
Talent, but they're not overwhelming.
Speaker 2 (48:56):
That will hopefully be some solace for the US after
they faced overwhelming talent in these past two games and
got played right off the pitch against Belgium and Portugal's
tu nil on Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (49:10):
We've just met some time unpacking it.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
There will be more to come in the weeks and
months ahead as we try to figure out the shape
of Mauricio Pochettino's pool, and we do maybe deeper dives
onto Turkey and Paraguay and Australia, who are the three
group stage opponents for the US. And like you said, Tab,
we're like fifty days away from finding out what the
(49:33):
twenty six man roster for Mauricio Pochettino and the US
men's national team.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
He's at this worked up.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
We of course will be all over that and we
expect you to be joining us for all of that
as well.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
So thank you for.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
Listening to Inside American Soccer.
Speaker 3 (49:49):
I'm Mattell that's tob Ramos. Please rate review as subscribe.
We will be back next week.
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