Well Kroenke doesn’t care and everybody knows that. But working inside of that box, he was still brought in to win this tournament, and he got [uck fay]ing embarrassed, after doing the same for the last month of the season. Lose this game, fine, bit like he did, nah, let’s move on. He couldn’t beat Palace and Brighton at home. And now he gets to have a say in who comes in, when it’s clear he can only manage in the big games (for the most part)? I’m out.
Unrelated to the club game, the u-20 national team looks ridiculously skilled and confident on the ball and also horribly coached. Will be in the World Cup round of 16 on Tuesday, almost certainly against tournament favorites France, and will be missing two starting midfielders to yellow card accumulation because Ramos didn't rotate the squad in the last group match despite being heavy favorites. The positive is that the squad is pretty deep. Despite missing our arguably most promising u-20s (Tyler Adams and Josh Sargent), the squad features players from PSG, Bayern, Barca, Benfica, PSV, Ajax, and a handful of Bundesliga clubs, plus a few of MLS' best prospects. It doesn't really look like any youth national team I've seen out of the US before
Yes, it's amazing how stupid and arrogant our national team coaches are, for no damn reason. Always trying to be too clever. Tyler Adams is the starting d-mid for a Champion's League club in the Bundedliga. Hey! Let's play him at right back, says the new national team skipper. The talent is there, though, I agree. We'll see if they have the toughness of the Donovan/Dempsey years.
In a game where a draw guaranteed advancement, playing against the worst team in the group (Qatar), we rotated *two* players, a RB (playing a CB out of position instead of our actual backup RB who is a really good prospect) and a CAM (replaced with a second defensive midfielder). So we had a giant hole in the midfield and couldn't link up with the forwards, a RB learning on the job, and two midfielders who had played 180 minutes already and were on the verge of yellow-card suspension. And even after the first one got a yellow card *and* we took a 1-0 lead late in the second half, virtually guaranteeing advancement, we left our most exciting attacker--still at risk of suspension--on the field. And he got a yellow. So we're playing France on Tuesday with a coach whose moves don't make any sense at all and without Chris Durkin (d-mid prospect who is a regular with DC United) or Alex Mendez (really exciting 18-year old attacker who just signed for Freiburg). I'm not sure the full national team is there from a talent perspective. We're still feeling the effects of the lost generation of development--there's almost nobody in their mid-to-late 20s who appears to be worth a damn. But the pipeline is looking really strong if the U-20s are any indication.
Meanwhile, Portugal crash out in the group stage, not even being one of the top four 3rd-place teams. Despite being one of the tournament favorites, they scored just two goals (in a 1-0 win against South Korea and a 1-1 draw to South Africa) and end up as one of five third-place teams sitting on four points. They and Panama (who beat Saudi Arabia, drew Mali, and lost to France) are the only two of those five with negative goal differentials. Panama go through on goals scored, and Portugal goes home. Both of the men's club teams I follow had a player serve as the focal point of their team's attack in group F (Valencia's Kang-in Lee with South Korea, Atlanta's Ezequiel Barco with Argentina), so I'm not mad at all about this result.
A lot of people focus on Liverpool getting Salah from Roma for only $48 million, but getting Robertson from Hull two seasons ago for $10 million might be the biggest steal in recent memory. Only 25 abs he’s established himself as one of the top left backs in Europe.
Holy shit, what a win. These French players are mostly true pros. Zagadou is a regular starter for Dortmund. We had no business beating them, but pulled out an amazing win. We even got stronger as the have wore on. There are some good damn prospects on this team. Weah is known, but I was immensely impressed with Dest and Richards. Those two are machines on the back line. Quarters against Equador, the South American champs will be super tough. However, beating France? Banner day for U.S. Soccer.
So we knock out the tournament favorites and get Ecuador on Saturday. Ecuador went 1-1-1 in the group stage with a 1-1 draw against Japan, a 1-0 win against Mexico, and a 1-0 loss to Italy. They then rode a pair of penalties to a 3-1 upset over Uruguay. USA/Ecuador winner plays the South Korea/Senegal winner in the semis
