Talkin Soccer: Christian Pulisic Is Unstoppable And Mauricio Pochettino Showed Why We Finally Have A Reason To Believe In The USMNT
Little blog here to talk some soccer, specifically what the US did against Jamaica. Little hint: exactly what we should be doing. Coasting to an easy 4-2 win, up 3-0 at half, move on in the Nations League in CONCACAF where we should be the big brother, the bully, however you want to classify it. But you know what made it even better? We looked the part. It wasn't some sloppy game, it wasn't praying for a break. It was build up, free-flowing offense and more importantly, putting on a show in front of a man who ruined our lives:
I can't believe they let Gregg Berhalter in the arena, that close to a group he basically ruined. Why? Because we saw what he did with this team for years. It didn't look like that game against Jamaica, and yeah, I don't care if it was against Jamaica. You play who is in front of you. Of course it all started with Captain America, arguably the greatest US soccer player we've had:
Hell the pass by McKennie may have been prettier than the finish. Either way, we never saw this sort of movement or build up or anything under Gregg. We see it under Poch. That's the difference. It opened everything up. We had the 2-0 lead on aggregate and immediately took advantage:
Pepi did his thing again:
I don't think it can even be a debate with Balogun hurt. Pepi is the starter. When Balogun comes back, let Poch figure it out. Pepi has been on fire since the European season has started. He's finally scoring as a 9 for the US too and looking the part. That's what we were missing at the World Cup. Then Weah came back and made sure to get a rocket
I am curious to see what Poch does if/when we're healthy. You gotta figure out what to do with the mix of McKennie, Weah, Musah, Reyna and Adams. Someone is gonna be the odd man out in the starting XI, but at this point I trust Poch. The only wish is it's time to start getting Tim Ream off the field. He's not going to be part of the World Cup. Use him if there's injuries now or whatever, but let's start figuring out the back group instead of him.
Again, this is what we needed to see. An easy win. A comfortable win. A team that looks like they know what they are doing because of an actual plan of attack. Red, white and blue. Rock, flag and eagle. Get us to the World Cup.