With all the "football development" money that CONCACAF directors took from Jack Warner, FIFA, and Qatar, you'd think they could afford VAR cameras in one stadium. But those execs have then next best thing - home theaters with 4K TVs to watch VAR of other matches.
So much good stuff last night from "MLS Guys." Yes, Aaronson and McKenzie have just moved overseas, but the good stuff all seemed to come from guys who developed (are developing) in MLS.
Except for Antonee Robinson, who I've never seen play that well. And bits of Pulisic.
Andy Najar was the best player on the pitch until Pepi exploded.
I think a very big thing is happening in MLS: The academies are doing what they're supposed to do. They're finding players and developing them. The pay-to-play days of youth soccer are fading into history; a talented young player near a big city can now be found and developed (and possibly head to Europe before his 20th birthday, but that's still a credit to MLS).
I don’t like all the lineup experimentation at all. I understand with 3 games in 8 days or whatever it was that we needed some refreshment, but I’d like to, you know, see a starting 11. Also Antonee Robinson needs to be part of that starting 11. Thanks for these recaps, Jeff - they helped get me to throw down for a year subscription (in addition, of course, to your other fine non-soccer writing).
Thanks very much for the subscription! And, yes: It was too much experimentation for such a big match, IMHO. It's worth noting that things worked better when they switched to the 4-3-3.
Especially problematic: The 3-4-3 puts so much pressure on those two wide players, and they were Bello (young, inexperienced) and Adams (out of position). We shouldn't be surprised that it didn't work.
I feel like this team doesn't have a heart and soul. It's kind of just a group of loosely related pretty good guys. What kind of bonding/trust exercises has coach been using?
With all the "football development" money that CONCACAF directors took from Jack Warner, FIFA, and Qatar, you'd think they could afford VAR cameras in one stadium. But those execs have then next best thing - home theaters with 4K TVs to watch VAR of other matches.
So much good stuff last night from "MLS Guys." Yes, Aaronson and McKenzie have just moved overseas, but the good stuff all seemed to come from guys who developed (are developing) in MLS.
Except for Antonee Robinson, who I've never seen play that well. And bits of Pulisic.
Andy Najar was the best player on the pitch until Pepi exploded.
So it was a good night for the league, I thought.
I think a very big thing is happening in MLS: The academies are doing what they're supposed to do. They're finding players and developing them. The pay-to-play days of youth soccer are fading into history; a talented young player near a big city can now be found and developed (and possibly head to Europe before his 20th birthday, but that's still a credit to MLS).
And they won the damn game...
I don’t like all the lineup experimentation at all. I understand with 3 games in 8 days or whatever it was that we needed some refreshment, but I’d like to, you know, see a starting 11. Also Antonee Robinson needs to be part of that starting 11. Thanks for these recaps, Jeff - they helped get me to throw down for a year subscription (in addition, of course, to your other fine non-soccer writing).
Thanks very much for the subscription! And, yes: It was too much experimentation for such a big match, IMHO. It's worth noting that things worked better when they switched to the 4-3-3.
Especially problematic: The 3-4-3 puts so much pressure on those two wide players, and they were Bello (young, inexperienced) and Adams (out of position). We shouldn't be surprised that it didn't work.
I feel like this team doesn't have a heart and soul. It's kind of just a group of loosely related pretty good guys. What kind of bonding/trust exercises has coach been using?
The shame is that they looked cohesive for most of the summer! But, yes, they're lacking mojo (except for the second half last night).