Back at home, back to winning.

7:00 PM ET
TV: ESPN2, UniMas
Columbus, Ohio

In his presser today, GB said McKennie is making improvements but wouldn't go as far as saying he'll be ready for the game tomorrow.

jeffk said:

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In his presser today, GB said McKennie is making improvements but wouldn't go as far as saying he'll be ready for the game tomorrow.

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Well hopefully we see Busio or De La Torre or anyone else with a pulse whose name isn't Lletget.

Antonee and Weston are question marks for the game tomorrow.

Feeling pretty good about Antonee playing as he spoke at the presser today too.

KCup17 said:

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Antonee and Weston are question marks for the game tomorrow.

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Possibly Dest on the left and Yedlin on the right then.

Thats encouraging! I missed the presser but the reports I read listed them as questionable

What the hell is this, Columbus?

So basically the city of Columbus and its Truman Show-ass “Arena District” are anti-American, prohibiting tailgating basically everywhere. We won’t give up. I’m gonna pick up a keg of beer and we are gonna drink it somewhere.

— scuffed (@scuffedpod) October 12, 2021

I'm guessing the FBI office doesn't want tailgating in their parking lot.

Wife was gone tonight and I was greatly looking forward to settling into the couch and enjoying this game tonight. Was confused why App State versus ULaLa was on ESPN2.

This person has an interesting take on it, and I think it mirrors what a lot of our conversations have been like. Both during games, and in the downtime between it.

I've said this 1 million times, but it's still true.

The single dumbest tactical decision Berhalter has made is that he expects players like Lletget and Acosta to be the creative engine.

Think about that.

In an era of Pulisic, Reyna, Aaronson, etc, we built a system around 8s.

— Markel Santi (@_Susaeta) October 12, 2021

Let me know if you can't read his series of tweets, and I can summarize it. Sometimes he randomly turns his account off. (US Soccer twitter has a lot of weirdos in it, all of whom are worse than OUR worst poster)


Essentially, all our best creative players are wingers. Gregg designed a system built around our 8s, and we leave our most creative players isolated up top.

Then> Bob Bradley recognized that Dempsey and Donovan were our two most creative players, and designed a system to get them the ball in space constantly.

I'd love to see:

Aaronson - Pepi - Weah
LDLT - Musah
Adams
Antonee - Richards - Miles - Dest

Yes, I'm leaving McKennie out (partially due to his knock, but partially because I want to see a very creative, progressing, forward-thinking midfield, ahead of a holding Adams).

Somehow, I think we'll get:

Aaronson - Pepi - Arriola
Lletget - McKennie
Adams
Dest - Zimmerman - Miles - Yedlin

not knowing the health/fitness of Weston or Antonee....

I don't think we see Lleget tonight. He played full 90 and didn't play well in Panama. This is a must win- if Weston can go, he'll be starting. I think Adams plays full 90 instead of sub this time too. Greggg can't F around here. Third MF should be LDLT, Musah, or Busio - two of those three if Weston can't go. No Lleget. Be done with Lleget.

I think Hoppe plays. Pepi starts for sure this time over Gyasi.

those wanting Chris Richards won't get it tonight. Has to be Miles and Zimmer tonight.

I'm guessing/wanting:

Weah - - - - Pepi - - - - Aaronson

- - - Busio - - - - - McKennie - - -

- - - - - - - - Adams - - - - - - - -

Antonee - Miles - Zimm - Dest

- - - - - - - - Turner - - - - - - - -

I don't think we'll see Arriola again - logged too many minutes between the first two games and looked gassed the other night. I think Weston and Antonee will both be good to go tonight. Musah for Busio is fine with me. I'd like to see Richards at some point and I wouldn't be surprised to see a GK switch if the result gets secured early.

jeffk said:

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I'm guessing/wanting:

Weah - - - - Pepi - - - - Aaronson

- - - Busio - - - - - McKennie - - -

- - - - - - - - Adams - - - - - - - -

Antonee - Miles - Zimm - Dest

- - - - - - - - Turner - - - - - - - -

I don't think we'll see Arriola again - logged too many minutes between the first two games and looked gassed the other night. I think Weston and Antonee will both be good to go tonight. Musah for Busio is fine with me. I'd like to see Richards at some point and I wouldn't be surprised to see a GK switch if the result gets secured early.

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That's my desired line up with the assumption that both Weston and Antonee are fit and ready to go. I have a bad feeling at least one won't be available and possibly the other only available as a sub. Only exception to your lineup for me is I wouldn't mind Hoppe instead of Aaronson. I think Aaronson looked gassed and he only played the 2H on Sunday. Aaronson looked more tired and slower in the 2H on Sunday than Arriola did in the 1H. I thought Arriola had the most energy on the squad (just wish he was more of a scoring threat as a winger). ..and at MF- either Busio, LDLT, or Musah - as long as it's not Lleget. Lleget played full 90 on Sunday and did nothing with the opportunity.

Why does Julien Green get zero call ups?

It’s weird that everytime Green has played for us he’s been good but can’t get a call up. Meanwhile Lletget, Roldan etc will put in bad performance after bad performance and continue to get call ups and significant minutes 🤔 https://t.co/Mewi0Jc7df

— USMNT Updates (@USMNT_U) October 13, 2021

I think we should see a vastly improved squad today. I would expect all the players we complained about not playing (except Hoppe) will get significant minutes today. #USMNT

— USMNT Updates (@USMNT_U) October 13, 2021

Why no Hoppe?!?

Pulling a clip from 5 years ago to make a point seems like a stretch.

Just no MLS players (except for Miles and Zimm) in this one, please.

Yeah, his journey through the German leagues hasn't resulted in him getting a lot of meaningful minutes or him playing in good form much.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Green#Career_statistics

Roldan consistently being in the roster selection has always been a head scratcher. He doesn't really bring much to the team in my opinion. Even if for "experience" sake I'm still not sure where he shows that on the field.

HotardRat said:

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Just no MLS players (except for Miles and Zimm) in this one, please.

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You're going to be disappointed.

HotardRat said:

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Just no MLS players (except for Miles and Zimm) in this one, please.

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except Turner.

Supposedly we're getting Steffen tonight instead of Turner. I'm actually in favor of getting your #2 some full team minutes, but the timing is bad coming off a poor showing.

jeffk said:

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Supposedly we're getting Steffen tonight instead of Turner. I'm actually in favor of getting your #2 some full team minutes, but the timing is bad coming off a poor showing.

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especially against a team that is probably going to bunker and try to score on counter attacks...you know, where shot stopping is super important

Dont mean it as a shot at Steffen, I think he is good. But if I am worried about one part of his game, I dont think he is elite at shot stopping

Yep.

something like that https://t.co/Dr2cLfnON9 pic.twitter.com/iW1p2E3htJ

— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) October 13, 2021

how much politics does USSF / Greggg have to play or deal with in stuff like this? i.e. could Manchester City insinuate that if Steffen isn't going to play, they won't let USMNT call him away for some of these windows/ intl breaks next time?

I want to see some Hoppe tonight… even if it's off the bench.

oh no said:

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how much politics does USSF / Greggg have to play or deal with in stuff like this? i.e. could Manchester City insinuate that if Steffen isn't going to play, they won't let USMNT call him away for some of these windows/ intl breaks next time?

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Clubs to communicate with NTs pretty regularly, but most of the time it's in regards to a player coming off an injury or dealing with a fitness issue. Kind of like, "hey, please don't call up so and so, he's not 100% just yet." I haven't heard of a club being ticked that their guy isn't getting minutes. The club is on break, so as long as the player is training, the club probably won't make waves. If anything, they may be glad when the player is riding the pine and not risking injury.

jeffk said:

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oh no said:

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how much politics does USSF / Greggg have to play or deal with in stuff like this? i.e. could Manchester City insinuate that if Steffen isn't going to play, they won't let USMNT call him away for some of these windows/ intl breaks next time?

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Clubs to communicate with NTs pretty regularly, but most of the time it's in regards to a player coming off an injury or dealing with a fitness issue. Kind of like, "hey, please don't call up so and so, he's not 100% just yet." I haven't heard of a club being ticked that their guy isn't getting minutes. The club is on break, so as long as the player is training, the club probably won't make waves. If anything, they may be glad when the player is riding the pine and not risking injury.

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but Steffen is their backup. they probably want him to be getting minutes and if not, he could be training in Manchester with their staff and their players that are not on Intl duty rather than traveling around to Panama and not playing.

just curious if it's a possibility. this seems like such a crucial moment for Greggg to not stick with Turner who has been pretty lights out.

I don't doubt for a second the Man City or Steffen himself may have told USMNT that he would be available for international duty if he were given a game and that game was not in Panama.

This compressed WCQ schedule has changed the narrative for teams and their flexibility with players.

Aston94 said:

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HotardRat said:

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Just no MLS players (except for Miles and Zimm) in this one, please.

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Pepi?
Turner?

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Pepi can start for sure

Concerning Turner, I'm ready to see what a keeper with who's good with his feet can do.

Oh, I'm sure they negotiate some of that ahead of time but City doesn't really have a ton of leverage if GB decides to start Turner all three games. They could threaten to withhold him from future windows but that's not a road most clubs want to go down. Keeping Steffen happy is more critical than keeping City happy I think.

Basically, GB may have promised Steffen and/or City he'd get a game, but I don't think that is keeping him from starting Turner if he felt it necessary to get a win.

Jamaican ref crew tonight.