OT: USMNT vs. Netherlands in World Cup Elimination Game

Submitted by BlueInGreenville on December 3rd, 2022 at 8:59 AM

In the biggest game of Gregg Behalter's coaching career by far he is rolling with Jesus Ferreira at striker.  I assume this means Josh Sargent is injured.  And yes Haji Wright hasn't been great, but if you're going to play a false 9 seems like there are other options on the team already (Reyna, Pulisic, even Weah).  Anyway, let's hope for the biggest win for the USMNT since 2002:

https://twitter.com/USMNT/status/1599036238761447424

 

L'Carpetron Do…

December 3rd, 2022 at 9:58 AM ^

Too bad Sargent is out but I like the Pulisic-Weah connection and I'm hoping to see some big plays from Aaronson who is a great young player. And I'd love to see Reyna get some action!  GO (RED, WHITE AND) BLUE!!!!

Joined: 03/15/2010

MGoPoints: 8572

snarling wolverine

December 3rd, 2022 at 10:26 AM ^

Fans always lament that “our best athletes don’t play soccer” but our athleticism looks perfectly fine.  We’re just not as technically sound as the elite national teams.  Finishing in the final third is still a challenge.  We dominated possession early but generated one chance and Pulisic only got off a soft shot.  The Dutch meanwhile have had one good chance and buried it.

Joined: 12/14/2011

MGoPoints: 98376

bronxblue

December 3rd, 2022 at 10:35 AM ^

I think the point is not about fitness; you can run guys around until they have the endurance.  But the best athletes in the US would have that touch, that ability to finish that the US has missed.  It's not even that these guys aren't really good players but the Netherlands has about 17M people and it's clear a lot of their best athletes focus on soccer while in the US it just isn't the case.  If more of the top athletes in the states focused on soccer the US could unleash these waves of great lineups full of guys who can out-athlete other teams and also out-skill them.

It wouldn't be a given that they'd always win; look no further than the US in FIBA games.  But the US would be talked about like Germany and Brazil as favorites more times than not and not the upstart.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171810

mtzlblk

December 3rd, 2022 at 10:44 AM ^

I'm not an expert and I played a little, but it always seems like the real difference are that first touch/control, and just really crisp and effective passing always seem to allude the US team.

Watching players on the European teams there are just more of them that have a twitch first touch reaction and are able to settle and move/shoot seamlessly.

Joined: 01/20/2009

MGoPoints: 5019

rdonahue87

December 3rd, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^

Welp....we still suck lol.

 

I know it's not our #1 sport, but we also have 330,000,000 people in this country and for kids, it's one of the most played sports. Even if for only 5-10% of our population it's the #1 sport that still gives us a pool of 15-30+ million people. Outside of Brazil and England, not many world powers at soccer have a population that high and even in countries where it's the #1 sport, it's still not the #1 sport for 100% of the people (England's rugby team is top 5 in the world so I'm sure their rugby players didn't grow up playing soccer).

And yeah, I know the math doesn't quite work out here because 90 year old grandma not gonna play for USMNT but every country has relatively similar ratios of people who could theoretically play for the men's national team so I stand by my numbers lol. 

Joined: 11/26/2022

MGoPoints: 4137

mtzlblk

December 3rd, 2022 at 11:02 AM ^

Yeah, I don't buy that it's not a big enough pool of potential players either.

Uruguay, any number of African countries..... I mean Netherlands only has 17 million people to our 330 million, it's not numbers.

I think it is systemic, kids learn to play soccer differently in this country and in the mls, with only a few of our players going to Europe and playing a more global type of a game, and also just competing at the absolute highest level for their entire lives. Kids in Europe are identified at an early age and put into camps and schools that develop them much more intensely than they do in our country. 

There are simply more players that train more intensely from a young age and play in systems and on teams with other better players for longer time on European teams.

The best comparison I can come up with is the nba, players can get really good abroad and come to the US and make it in the nba, but any team not from the US and not in the NBA would have a very difficult time to consistently produce a team that could beat a "USA" squad..... Especially if a USA squad was playing together the same way a World cup national team does on a regular basis.

I think hypothetically about a global basketball tournament and what would take for Netherlands to win that over the us, and that's what you're up against.

Joined: 01/20/2009

MGoPoints: 5019

stephenrjking

December 3rd, 2022 at 10:58 AM ^

Disappointing, ultimately. Team looked *great* at times and then just breaks down and leaves a man unmarked for a cross in the box twice and it’s all but over.

Adams with the unexpected error on the first goal, and Dest putting up the token-only resistance on the second after looking incredibly dangerous on the other end for 10 minutes.

Ah well. 

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143976