Pre-match: USA vs Uruguay Copa America group stage 7/1 2100 EST

I live in Vegas. Could you be a little more specific when you say “lines makers”

 

he’s pulled so many strings lately…

kidding aside, I only listed the roster I want to see vs Uruguay, but it’s ultimately the Berhalter ball formation and tactics. I think countering with a diamond midfield could work.

Puli—Balo
Reyna
Musah. Arronson
Adams
ARob, ream, miles, Scally
Turner

 

We were all but dead and buried after two games of the 2009 Confederations Cup group stage. We needed to beat Egypt by at least 3, and we needed Brazil to beat Italy by enough to produce a 6-goal swing. We got exactly those results and advanced on the goals scored tiebreaker.

 

I did find that interesting because that very wasn't the case 24 hours ago.

Though Panama also moved and went from about +120 to about -150 now

 

https://www.oddschecker.com/us/soccer/copa-america/usa-v-uruguay

 

what weve done to this point makes what im resigned to as our "best" approach to this match completely impractical.

so ill just skip ahead, give the lineup/gameplan and fill in the gaps after...

_______horvath______
____miles_richards___
scally___adams___jedi
__musah_mckennie__
ba_______________puli
________sarge________

i want to acknowledge right off the bat that its incredibly irresponsible to start adams and sarge here, for the slimmest of chances to get a match adams (at least) would absolutely be necessary for again. we are very possibly leveraging the next four or five months for these guys (again) for a ko match that wont make any difference at all. and since you all just read me type that lineup out all i can say is this is a thought exercise. cause we are done.

that said- go full mma. as ive posted, at length and multiple times, thats not just the midfield 3, its the pressing rw and striker as well. its a complete sellout of any semblance of an attack to not just defend but press/defend high up to the pitch with the entire point being to keep the ball from ever getting to the backline.

thats where miles for ream comes in. uruguay are a team who will play long and over the top (secondary to pressing the hell out of us in the first place), so get our two best athletes to cover that space in behind, ideally sweeping anything they touch into row z at the halfway line so uruguay dont immediately shove 6 down our throats even more efficiently than colombia did.

horvath for turner is what qualifies as a silver lining at this point- his movement and ability to cover the box on long plays is way better than turners was pre-bodyslam anyways...

aaronson cant match weahs ability to cover the whole of the right side, but his pressing can- and hes got a better motor too. offense and "verticality" from that spot are luxuries we simply cant afford here.

the namesakes trio do what they do- hunt as a pack, with the m's pushing that line of confrontation as high as humanly possible and tyler joining and/or sweeping behind them ("behind" still being suicide high). sarge is the best option to drop as deep as necessary doing the same, and no- there is no offensive aspect to this role.

quick sidenote- pepi is a realistic alternative there as a guy who will work his ass all the way off, but i already said realistic isnt on the table.

puli pitches in, puts in a bit of work but we all know what he is- and in this case, with zero support in any moment of attack thats idiotically being called "selfish" and "playing hero ball".

but thats the only way we could even have a miniscule chance at keeping uruguay off the board for an hour or so. and for real- if any of you has a single thought of adding another defender, or sitting deep in any way just punch yourself in the nuts. repeatedly.

but back to make-believe land, in conclusion- scoreless after an hour. uruguay are so frustrated, right? theyre getting sloppy, playing too impatiently, pushing their lines too high (aka brazil friendly-ing). and thats where we can bring gio on for wes, haji for brendan (switcheroo the wings) and balo. we steal a goal, suarez takes a bite out of miles, badda-boom badda-bing, signature win aquired!

and thats it really. those not-rotating chickens have come home to roost, without the 6 points they were totally going to bring us (not that anyone could have seen that coming ). we are asking too much of adams, and probably sarge too. those "oh, we can totally find minutes to get them rest" for puli and jedi not even a little surprisingly never came to be. considering how bad richards and reams passing has been to this point youve got to think all these pointless (literally) minutes weve put on them can only help, right?

like i said, this is over for us. a ko match we cant possibly be up for even if we got there is
meaningless.

real talk? heres the only viable second option...

_______horvath______
____miles_richards___
scally____________jedi
_____musah__wes____
puli______gio____haji
_________balo________

all gregg can do for the team at this point is give them autonomy from a broken system thats defined them for six years now.

sit everybody down and admit it just didnt work, and it isnt going to work. for once he could be the fearless, accountable leader he claims to be in seminars for this team, not their pal who comes up with crazy schemes. say we arent playing it out of the back. at all. clear your lines, one pass to a fb who hopefully can move 15 yards up the sideline to raise the line above our own box. everything weve worked on- the patterns, probing and unbalancing? forget it. just go out and play. find space, move the ball, move yourself. play through gio.

and if he cant, or wont, do that then fire his ass tonight and hand bj the whistle. hes done it before. would that give us more than a 20% chance? nah, probably not. but neither would that completely irresponsible and not remotely viable mma fever dream.

but if we do what we do, trust the process, stick with the right guy to lead us forward we are gonna get bitch slapped. though i have to admit- that would, in fact, change the way the world sees us soccer.

for the worse.

but maybe the real change has been the friends we made along the way...

 

I’d guess the house is hedging against US bets a little bit and with a view to Uruguay rotating and relaxing a little…but yea, good to know, thank you.

Pretty good value on Uruguay to win which makes me think the US will get a result lol.

 

i would like to cordially invite anyone making the case for sarge as a wing based on his "prem experience" who have also dismissed trusty out of hand considering how heinous our cb play has been to unequivocally shut your mouths forever.

 

That 2009 team had heart and grit, and a far more competent coach than Berhalter.

The current MNT has none of those things. Even worse, the current team plays less than the sum of its parts, despite all the talent it has.

 

US match records in official competitions against CONMEBOL:

Argentina – 1-0-3 – win was at the 1995 Copa America
Bolivia – 1-0-1 – 2024 Copa America
Brazil – 1-0-8 – 1998 Gold Cup
Chile – 1-0-1 – 1995 Copa America
Colombia – 1-1-4 – 1994 World Cup
Ecuador – 1-0-1 – 2016 Copa America
Paraguay – 2-0-1 – 1930 World Cup & 2016 Copa America
Peru – 1-0-0 – 2000 Gold Cup
Uruguay – 0-0-1
Venezuela – 0-1-0

The loss to Uruguay and draw against Venezuela both occurred at the 1993 Copa America.

Another curiosity is that the US hasn't played a CONMEBOL opponent at the World Cup since 1994.

 

I distinctly recall people on this board being up in arms over the team's lack of effort in the second game of that group stage, and speculating that Bradley had lost the locker room. Especially when a US corner kick led to Brazil scoring on the counter with no one tracking back to defend.

 

I'll be shocked if we get a result in this game. With a full complement and playing well we are underdogs against Uruguay. With a hobbled Adams and no Weah and no one alternatives to how we play without either beyond plugging in a lesser replacement, not sure what to expect. This is exactly the type of scenario where it would be really helpful if this team had a plan b, an alternate formation or style to turn to, something to shake up the landscape. But I got nothing that's realistic and there's no example to point to of the team taking another path and getting a result. Basically, the only hope is Pulisic, Flo and others stepping up and making this game their own, stamping some authority on the field, taking this game personally and winning with determination and purpose. But from what we've seen over the last couple years, I see no reason to except such heroics from the first to the 11th man that we need for it to happen. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

There are a lot of directions we can go with respect to who replaces Weah:

1) Sargent. Best attacking player available for the position. But this is not his best position.

2) Aaronson. His form picked up toward the end of the season. Does not watch up well against a physical team like Uruguay.

3) Wright. Bigger and stronger than Aaronson. But not a physical player. Would require Pulisic to switch to the right.

4) Musah. Has fresh legs and some experience as a wide attacking player. Not his best position.

5) McKennie. Stronger attacking instincts than Musah. Not his best position.

6) Reyna. Has played there some. There are pros and cons to moving him out of midfield for this one match. Uruguay is a team where MMA makes a certain amount of sense.

7) Balo wide. Haven't done this so far. But would allow us to insert Pepi or Sargent into the CF spot.

If I had to choose I would go with option 6. Roll the dice with MMA giving us a really solid midfield. Hope for a moment or two of brilliance from our front 3, all of whom are capable of it. Tactically, I would look to drop both Pulisic and Reyna deeper and more centrally in a bid to get them on the ball more. Don't ask MMA to create much. Ask them to match Uruguay's physicality and destroy their attack.

 

I tend to agree that against top teams, we need to keep the midfield tight. I mostly liked Reyna in midfield to help us in the attack, but he just drops deep and we keep funneling the ball wide the more he gets minutes so at least we'd have some steel in midfield and Reyna would play an attacking role. If we're going to keep using Reyna like we have, I'm not sure this isn't better regardless of who is available. Frankly, I think the whole thing could use a rethink, but at least this keeps us in something familiar with our best players playing positions they're used to with only Gio having to really make big adjustments.

 

My lineup concern is this: Adams should not be starting unless the team feels confident that he can go 75+ minutes.

The team cannot risk another match where an early substitution has to be pre-planned for medical/fitness reasons. An additional problem is that Adams wasn't very effective against Panama.

 

I think we can vary what we do in possession to get the best of both worlds.

In possession I would have the following as my basic structure:

Jedi----------------Balo--------------McKennie
----------Pulisic------------Reyna---------------
Musah----------Adams----------------Scally
----------Ream-------------Richards------------

That's the building block when in possession. Obviously you allow some flexibility within that basic structure. For example, allow Musah to do his thing when he has a chance to carry the ball forward, with others providing cover.

I think Pulisic and Reyna can do a lot of damage from the half spaces.

 

It is a concern. But against Uruguay I want his physicality and combativeness out there. And would be ok with subbing Johnny on as necessary.

 

Thing with Adams is if he's injured, he shouldn't be playing at all after such a long injury. If he's not injured after a few games and weeks of training, he should be fit enough to play. Whole thing is weird.

 

Or he could be fit but not in form. Some of it is confidence and rhythm. He played poorly against Panama. Against Uruguay I would simplify his role to that of an old-fashioned destroyer.

 

Sargent is not the best wide attacking player available to slot on the right. He was basically Auston Trusty playing there for Norwich in the EPL. He has excelled in wide positions in the C'ship, however.
Musah did well at the 6 against Brasil. He is in form. Start him over Adams.

 

Musah is a no brainer for me. With or without Adams.

 

In the past two relative recent matches against Uruguay, the US drew each time. They matches were friendlies, but then, Brasil used to cook the US in each and every friendly. We have the athletic midfielders to compete with Uruguay.

The contexts of those friendlies were:

June 2, 2022: Uruguay 3-0 Mexico
June 5, 2022: Uruguay 0-0 USA
June 11, 2022: Uruguay 5-0 Panama

Sept 6, 2019: Uruguay 2-1 Costa Rica
Sept 11, 2019: Uruguay 1-1 USA

 

We do not have 8 days to the QFs. That is just plain wrong. 7/1 is the Uruguay match. 7/6 is the QF.

Our only hope is that with Uruguay having clinched progression (and the group for all intents and purposes), that they rest their best guys.

Panama is at -1 GD. We are still +1. If we match their result, they need to better us by 2 on GD. Carrasquilla being out won't help Panama.

 

I stand correct on the rest days as I had seen the eight days thrown around and didn’t check myself.

I think if we manage to beat Uruguay even by a goal, we stand a fairly good shot of advancing.

 

It’s true and this group in particular seems to follow poor performances with good ones.

And presumably they are going to play hard for with Berhalter’s job on the line.