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

I start Aaronson for Weah and I'd consider starting Musah for Adams. We need to win this and we could pretty much book our ticket with a 2-0 win. To me the MMA is great for ties.

 

Ironically, it was Bielsa who first lobbied for bringing Aaronson to Leeds.

 

In the World Cup Tim Weah hit a top speed of 34.6 km/h. Single game or small samples of this stat aren’t very useful. What you’d want are stats on someone’s high speed sprints and the distances to spot outliers.

 

Reyna has played over 75 games in wide positions and never as a high and wide winger.

 

If Reyna is moved wide, Puli would be high & wide more.

 

I have no idea which question Start Aaronson is the correct answer to, but it’s definitely not “Who should play RW against Uruguay in a must win in which we actually need to score?”

 

They're useful if the player has been hitting that number season after season.

 

Was referring to his overall numbers.

 

Gotta go for it. Take the small chance of winning by 2 and accept the big chance of losing by 4. Better than an almost certainly useless draw.

What about 2 strikers? Maybe let Adams and Musah cover the midfield and put McKennie on the right?

Or let Reyna play a 10. 4231?

 

I don't put much stock at all in top speed stats for soccer, because players rarely have a chance to accelerate to anywhere near their maximum speed. Sprinters typically take 60-70 meters to accelerate to maximum speed. Soccer players rarely make straight-line runs that long without the ball. So the stat mostly tells you who had the chance to make the longest off-ball runs.

 

We're dead anyway.

At least we can die with honor.

 

Oh, I understood.

Reyna does not stick to the center of the field. He is positionally undisciplined and often floats into the 6 position when the US has the ball. It’s much better to push him up the field and wide, so that he is confined to the offensive side of the field, where he is often a plus contributor.

MMA has no problems getting Reyna the ball, and I don’t know why anyone would believe such a thing.

 

Whats the answer for you

 

But Balogun at 36 km/h is amazing. It seems that speed is pretty much wasted most of the time by Berhalter’s use of him.

 

Yep they lost their best player by far.. such a stupid decision by him. That's one silver lining for us.

 

My gut says this scenario will play out..
Just a gut feeling.

"draw, as long as Panama draws against Bolivia."

 

Have to break this out every time we play them

 

Perhaps this will make you feel better, perhaps not.

For those of you that are sure Panama boat races Bolivia 4-0, which has no precedent whatsoever, maybe this sets you a bit towards reality, but probably not.

Of course, we are in trouble, but the advancement scenarios are many and doable.

Elo based sim.

Here is the math:

USA Loss, Panama Loss, USA 2nd on GD = 7.5%
USA Win, Panama Win, USA 2nd on GD = 7.1%
USA Win, Panama Draw/Loss = 6.1% (VEGAS BABY in 0.06%)
USA Draw, Panama Draw = 5.4%
USA Draw, Panama Loss = 3.6%
USA Win, Panama Win, USA 1st on GD...VEGAS BABY = 0.6%
USA Loss, Panama Loss, Advance 2nd on Goals Scored = 0.2%
USA Win, Panama Win, Advance 2nd on Goals Scored = 0.01%

USA advance probability = 30-31%

All is not lost. Let's do this.

Though, it's amusing/unsettling/concerning that losing, but losing well, and hoping Bolivia comes correct for us is our best shot.

 

Anemic. That is absolutely the word. Not dead. Not terrible. Just... anemic

 

He had some awful misses against Bolivia

The one yesterday wasn't actually on him, the cross was off and he had to lean back to get his head on the ball, he did well to even get it on frame

 

The game management and tournament manager has been "Chef's Kiss" this tournament.

And the play by this collection of Gen Z players has been "Chef's Kiss" as well.

 

I was just thinking of that today. That was probably the craziest matchday 3 I've ever seen.

 

Agreed.

I would ask: "What, exactly, would you say Aaronson does around here?"

 

Wait 'til Gen-"whatever the next one is". Good god, us Gen Xr's are gonna keel over, literally.

 

————————-Balo—————-
————Puli——————————
——————-Reyna——————-
——-Musah————-McKennie—-
——————-Adams——————

Balo up top with Puli as an inverted SS leaning left with ability to roam. Gio tipping the diamond. Get the MMA spine but Wes can also push up on the right flank in the attack.

This actually has a fair amount of validity to it for this type of opponent.