Mexico 6/6/21

I needed a recovery day yesterday and I actually rewatched the match too, which is something I rarely do.  This minute-by-minute thread is better than anything I could do so I thought I'd share it.

My take on the game is it was EXACTLY what we wanted to see from this group.  They fell behind by a goal twice, including in the 2nd minute, but rallied back both times.  We all know the talent is there but we questioned their grit, toughness, mentality, whatever.  Well I think the players came through in spades, but I'm still not sure about Gregg Berhalter's (GGG) coaching though.

Lots of El Tri fans are pointing to the Christian Pulisic penalty kick (PK) being soft, and I agree.  The flip side to that is, the Mark McKenzie PK was also soft (where was his hand supposed to be?).  I would like to point out that Héctor Herrera should have seen his 2nd yellow at 95 for a double studs up challenge on Tim Weah.  If Mexico is playing all of extra time a man down the end result would have been the same.

Since Tata Martino saw a red for placing his hands on the referee, an assistant coach had to speak to the media after the match.  He said that El Tri were the better side through 90 and 120 and that the goals just didn't go in.  That is a dubious claim at best, for one simple reason.  Does the better team lose the their marks (McKenzie x1 & Weston McKennie x4) on every set piece for wide open headers?

There is no doubt Mexico carried the play for a good amount of the match, but so did we.  At best it's 60-40 in their favor, but it was much closer to 50-50 in my eyes.  Here's a rundown of the madness from 80 on. 

I thought the ref was pretty much OK by CONCACAF standards until extra time when he completely lost control.  Speaking of losing control, what is up with some El Tri fans?  They just can't quit the homophobic chant and then the sheer amount of stuff they threw on the pitch was an embarrassment.  I don't ever expect CONCACAF to do anything about it, but FIFA has to step up.  If they don't our boys are really going to be in for it come World Cup Qualifying (WCQ) at Azteca.  As I see it, until Mexico is made to forfeit a game that matters (a la WCQ) nothing is going to change.  I think this is also a decent option.

This was just such a great match to watch and I personally feel the love for the team once again.  Ever since Couva I've been down on US Soccer as an organization, and I probably still am.  But these guys, with that resilience that has always defined us.  It's just great to see again.  

Zack Steffen - I can't really blame him for the opener, but I did like how he went over to McKenzie right away to reassure him.  He did make one MASSIVE save on Tecatito Corona at 43 though.  The knee injury is worrisome to me with his history AND since it happened with no contact.

Tim Ream - My gawd, what did GGG expect playing him?  He was the focal point of the Mexican attack until he was subbed off at 82.  Unfortunately by then Diego Lainez had already scored on him.  There is no way he can play during WCQ, much less be on the roster.  Our worst player on the day, which was totally expected by me and many others when the team sheet was revealed.

John Brooks - Another great performance from him, especially when you consider he got a super-soft yellow at 10.  He played approximately 137 minutes on a yellow when you include injury and extra time.  He is absolutely irreplaceable for us and was named to the tournament's Best XI,.  Hopefully he stays healthy next season and can play in 2 of the 3 games in the WCQ windows.

McKenzie - Oh boy, was he bad.  He had the giveaway that led to the opener, another terrible giveaway that luckily amounted to nothing, gave up a PK and was generally very loose with his touches and distribution.  This was a trial by fire in the truest sense for him (5th cap).  He did grow into the match a bit and made some decent plays, but in no way did he lock down the spot next to Brooks.

Sergiño Dest - Even though GGG said we were playing a 3-4-3, we really still played a 4-3-3.  This put Dest in a spot I've never seen him play before, left-midfielder, with Ream behind him at left back.  Not surprisingly, Sergiño looked completely lost until he was rightly subbed off at 60.  I'm not sure how much blame I'm giving Dest on this performance (2nd worse on the team to me).  He was clearly not sure what his role was, and I blame this on GGG.  How can our manager not figure out how to put one of our most talented players in a position to be successful?

Kellyn Acosta - Grew into the match and put in a really solid shift at two positions.  He covered tons of ground putting out fires in the middle of the park and then moved to left back after Ream was subbed out.  I've never seen Acosta play fullback before, and while he looked a little shaky there he "did a job" as they say.  He's not a starter for me at all, but at this moment he has definitely worked his way onto the bench as a role player.

McKennie - On any normal day he would have easily been Man of the Match.  He was all over the place for 147 minutes.  Putting out fires, getting on the end of seemingly every set piece and being in the middle of every fracas that broke out.  THIS is the performance I was looking for from him.  His header off the post set up the first goal and he scored the second goal after having 2 other headers saved.  He was maybe a little selfish at 62 when he shot from distance but had both Weah and Josh Sargent breaking into space.  Other than that, he deserved being named the best player in the tournament (Best XI too).

DeAndre Yedlin - For someone that has been "out in the wilderness" as they say, he was really solid both on the pitch and as a leader.  He didn't venture forward much but was always there on D when needed.  He cramped up in the first half of extra time and had to be subbed out at 105+1.  However he put his name squarely back into the mix to be in the fullback rotation.  Nice to see since he is still only 27.

Pulisic - Unfortunately he was kind of invisible in the first half and for a decent chunk of the second as well.  He eventually grew into the match and became the difference maker we needed him to be.  I loved his attitude around taking the game-winning PK.  No one else was even getting close to that ball and then he put it in the "top bins" which is ballsy as hell in that situation.  I was really glad to see him taking set pieces as his delivery was generally very good.  Much like with Dest, GGG needs to figure out how to get the ball to CP more.  The double teams aren't going anywhere as we move into WCQ and GGG doesn't seem to know how to solve that.  Either way, Captain American provided a truly iconic moment with his celebration and was named to the Best XI as well.

Gio Reyna - I have to start with I've never EVER seen Reyna put in that much work defensively.  Normally he tries to make it look like he's defending when he's really just going through the motions.  Not on this night.  He tracked back and got stuck in like I didn't know he was even capable of.  On offense he made no mistake on the first goal that got us to 1-1 by being in the right place at the right time.  He also provided the assist on the corner kick that McKennie put away to make it 2-2.  He went through a few periods where you couldn't tell if he was on the field or not, and he was gassed (from playing so much D I think) by the time he was subbed off at 82.  He made the tournament Best XI as well.  If he is able and willing to defend like this I think GGG should consider using my preferred 4-2-3-1 with Gio in the middle of the 3 as a playmaking #10.

Sargent - He was not near good enough yet again and was rightly subbed out at 68.  He had a glorious break away at 4 but the turf monster got him and he fell just as his plant foot was hitting the ground.  Then he fluffed a rebound at 62 that any in form striker puts away.  I thought for sure Josh would look better and break out playing with more talent around him in these 3 games.  Unfortunately it was more of the same from him.  I will say that his teammates were looking for him far more against Mexico but none of their passes ever found him.  

I'm no longer in the "just wait, it will come" camp with him.  I'm now ready to officially audition others for the job.  That said, I still feel Sargent is our best option at #9 right now.  Further, I don't see any legitimate challengers to him at the moment.  I think the people that are the real competition for him are dual nationals Folarin Balogun (19, England) and Malick Sanogo (16, Germany).  If I was either of those guys I'd be contacting GGG, Brian McBride and Earnie Stewart and filing my one-time switch with FIFA immediately.

Weah - He took Dest's spot at left-mid at 60 and then moved to right wing at 82.  I thought he was dangerous.  Granted the end product wasn't there at all but he flashed what I see from him at Lille.  Which is elite speed in the open field and a willingness to press, chase and generally work hard on D.  He also makes good runs into space and is a willing passer.  I NEED to see him start against Costa Rica.

Jordan Pefok - First off, he changed his Twitter handle to "Call me PEFOK."  Will do my man!  Seems odd to say, but he actually got the same amount of minutes in this match as Sargent.  Problem is, he did even less with them than Josh did.  He barely got on the ball once again and didn't ever really look dangerous in any way.  The best way I can describe him is "plodding."  I know he put the bacon-saving winner away versus Honduras, but against Switzerland and Mexico he has the Invisible Man.  I still think there might be a place for him in a late-game role, but as of right now I'm ready for Daryl Dike to go 70-90 versus Los Ticos.  I just don't think Jordan is going to be the guy to unseat Josh as of now.

Ethan Horvath - Man of the Match performance and it's not really close.  To do what he did in a match of this magnitude as a substitute keeper is absolutely astounding.  Beyond the PK save, he also made several other big stops and there was nothing he could do on the goal he let him (thanks to Ream & McKenzie there!).  Given that he also looked good against the Swiss I think it's fair to open the starting keeper job up for competition.  Steffen might be looking at a surgery (hopefully not) and makes some shaky decisions at times.  If Horvath finds a new home on a free transfer this summer and plays well the job could be his going forward.

Sebastian Lletget - I was stunned when he got the call over Yunus Musah on a few levels.  The first being now we can't cap-tie Musah until September (assuming he doesn't play in the Gold Cup).  Second, Lletget wasn't good against Honduras.  And if I'm being honest he wasn't that good against Switzerland outside of the goal which fell into his lap.  I started to think of all this "production" everyone points to with him.  Then I looked at the competition he's done it against and it's not that impressive.  I know he's a GGG favorite and probably still has a spot on the bench for now at least.  I think we will see Luca de la Torre take his spot by the end of 2021.

Tyler Adams - Damn, was it ever good to see him back roving in that #6 role!  Make no mistake about it, his mere presence on the pitch makes us better.  For starters there's his skill level, quality, smarts, etc.  Then his energy seemed to be infectious and raised the level of his teammates when they really needed it from 82 on.  Either he or Brooks is the most irreplaceable player in the USMNT pool right now.

Reggie Cannon - It was very nice to have him for the second half of injury time after Yedlin cramped up.  We actually needed him out there and he showed well getting involved to help preserve the win.  Right back is super-crowded right now and Reggie hasn't really done anything wrong.  I think I just trust Yedlin more in a big game, but Cannon is for sure still in the mix.

I think it's going to be really hard for the boys to get up for Costa Rica tomorrow (4:00 Pacific on ESPN2).  But GGG wanted to get the "cadence" of WCQ down (Europe > 3 CONCACAF) so here we are.

The starting XI pretty much writes itself...

Brenden Aaronson Dike Weah

Lletget Jackson Yueill Musah

Antonee Robinson Ream Walker Zimmerman Cannon

Horvath

SUBS: Adams, Dest, Pefok, Josh, Gio, David Ochoa