No like we have a plethora of options with no Altidore or Morris. And yes, Belgium still burns re: Wondo...
ESPN had US winning percentage at 35%. I have it at 15%. Only way is to either to get sucker punch goal and park the bus or take them on in PKs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USMNT?src=hash">#USMNT</a> practiced with: Guzan, Yedlin, Cameron, Brooks, Johnson; Zusi, Beckerman, Bradley; Pulisic, Dempsey, Zardes</p>— Juan G. Arango (@JuanG_Arango) <a href="https://twitter.com/JuanG_Arango/status/745068770859745280">June 21, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> obviously that's nothing concrete, but if that was so then I would imagine the lineup looking something like: -------------Guzan--------------- Yedlin-Cameron-Brooks-Johnson ------Bradley-Beckerman-------- Zardes-------Pulisic--------Zusi ------------Dempsey------------ Or moving Pulisic to the wing, Dempsey to the CAM and Zardes to the front.
I'm afraid if we play to tie we end up like the last 20 or so minutes against Ecuador but Argentina will bury those chances. We didn't keep any possession and just cleared it like the USMNT of old. I never want to go back to those days where stringing 3 or more passes was an act of god. I am not saying we need to attack every chance we get but I don't think we are going to lay back because we need to keep possession and we need to be aggressive to put pressure on their defense every once in a while. Dempsey only needs a couple of chances to make something happen so let's hope he makes the most of them today. I think we are somewhat damned if we do and damned if we don't given 3 of our better players are out but sitting back will assuredly end in a 1-0 or 2-0 deficit in the early going and we won't have the firepower to respond. Even if we get a lead we still need to be somewhat aggressive within reason as sitting back clearing the ball won't do any good when you keep turning it over to Argentina in the midfield to continue attacking.
I disagree. They can play a balanced attack and win the game. They need to possess and try to avoid the bad giveaways in dangerous areas and dumb fouls in the last 1/3. Do not give Messi a chance to tee it up from 25 yards limit the opportunities for them to have breaks with numbers. If the US can play a disciplined game and be somewhat creative up front, they have a good chance. They just cannot play the sloppy game they played in the 2nd half against Ecuador and the entire 90 against Colombia. I like Johnson to play in the back for his runs. If they can force the Argentine mids to have to drop deep into defense, it will help to slow the breakaways. Johnson and Yedlin have more than enough speed to recover. Brooks and Cameron just have to continue working well off each other. There's a lot that has to go right but it doesn't have to be because we play scared and sit 10 in the box.
The key here is to keep the lines compact... specially mid and back 4, if you give Messi an inch he will connect on that through ball. Classic Messi play. Everyone needs to defend like they never had and put that extra effort. Even Attackers need to come back and help out on D.
Anyways, leaving the office now and headed to the stadium in an hour for tailgating and then the game. So ****ing pumped.
United States Lineup: Brad Guzan; DeAndre Yedlin, Geoff Cameron, John Brooks, Fabian Johnson; Kyle Beckerman, Michael Bradley, Graham Zusi, Gyasi Zardes; Clint Dempsey, Chris Wondolowski
