Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #221: USA v Mexico recap (WCQ7)

Episode Date: November 13, 2021

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Welcome to the scuffed podcast. I'm Adam Bells in Georgia. With me is Greg Velasquez in Iowa. We talk about U.S. men's soccer. Man, what a night. My heart is so full. Greg, how are you doing? Bells, I also have a full heart. I also have a little bit of a missing voice. Yeah. You guys are going to have to bear with us on the vocal cords. It was just an incredible night from that very strong national anthem showing us. at the beginning of the game to the chance of Dosacero ringing through the stadium. The final minutes, I'm just in a state of delirium. Still, Dosacero restored. And in exactly the way that we've won from the U.S. since we started this podcast,

we boss Mexico, and we deserve to win two to zero. And it feels to me like the page has been turned. You now have a men's national team that can go out and outclass a good opponent. Yeah, and my only correction is we have a youth men's national team that can go out and outclass a good opponent. You know, like you talked about the start of this podcast. That's what this whole thing was, was are there going to be young players to step in, take over for the missing generation, or I guess fill the void left by the missing generation, and compete enough to get back and get us back to the World Cup? And we're so far beyond that as far as the level of player that has emerged.

and what we have seen from them in the last three games that they've started, you know, the Jamaica lineup, Costa Rica lineup, and now this Mexico lineup are insanely young. We talked about the Costa Rica one having 10 outfield players all Olympic eligible. We can drill down even farther and check out just how they're young, even for Olympic eligible players. We should have done that for the Costa Rica lineup, which was even younger than last night.

But either way, when we go through the 11, I want to touch on just how outrageously young this group. is. Yeah, yeah. Well, we saw, I mean, I do, I want to hear that, those stats. It also occurs to me. We saw a lot of good signs against Costa Rica. We saw some good signs against Jamaica, too.

But, you know, this is the real test. Can we do it? Can we play well against Mexico? And I think, you know, for me, at least, that's been the question for the last two years, basically since Burrhalter got hired, can he make this a team? Can he help make this a team that can do that? They can go play soccer against Mexico and win. Not just win, but play soccer and win.

And I feel like this is the first time that that has really come together. Is that, don't you think? Oh, absolutely. I mean, we beat Mexico twice over the summer during the summer tours. But neither of those wins, I mean, they were just, they were exciting. They were gutsy. but neither of them. Yeah, they were fun.

And there was a huge cost for celebration because that's what you're competing to beat teams and get those outcomes. But they didn't feel necessarily predictive, you know, in a way of like, oh, this will definitely be the next time we play them. You know, we'll be able to repeat this. And what we did last night

feels like it takes such an edge off because to play that level of soccer against Mexico feels predictive, right? It feels like, okay, we can now play this way. We didn't know for sure when we looked decent against Jamaica and Costa Rica if it would translate up. And even if we want to get greedy, like the next test, we can add more tests? Like, okay, now can we do it on the road at a tough place? Can we do it even anything resembling this at the Azteca?

Can we do it against a seated team in a World Cup group stage game in a neutral venue? Like there are escalating tests. You want to just keep checking off more boxes. But this is a – it's still a huge milestone to check off. Oh man, what a milestone. It's so awesome. I mean, we, you know, we had the tailgate yesterday at St. Joseph Catholic Church, and I just, it was such a, such a good time. Thank you to everybody who came out, the folks from Barra 76, and, you know, Vince came through with the pork.

And, you know, people, I mean, it was so good. That pulled pork was so good. And, I mean, we just had a great time. Mary Roberson, the business manager of St. Joe, she came through with bathroom access. I mean, everything was wonderful. fell together nicely. And I was just telling you off air, a few of us went back to the parking lot after the game,

and we're just standing around cackling because we just, like, pinching ourselves. Like, did that just happen? Did we just see that? We did. We saw it. It's amazing, man. It's party time.

It feels like party time. And it's not, you know, it's not just because we beat Mexico and really helped our World Cup Qualifying mathematics out with the three points. we're still not super safe because there's a four-team cluster at the top of the region with Panama's big comeback win over Honduras and Canada's win over Costa Rica. So you have this 14-cluster for three auto spots. But for me, it still feels much safer just because we got this level of sort of like proof that we can do this.

So now it just sets this like standard that makes me feel incredibly less likely that we will drop enough. to fall behind and fall out of qualifying. Yeah. I mean, Panama's really the enemy now, if we're doing it, it's pure numbers. We want them to lose every match from here on out. Just about, I kind of want a little bit more chaos just for the fun of it, because I feel like we're going to, we're going to emerge. So it'll be this chaos between Canada and Panama.

Who knows, maybe Mexico. Maybe we can break them mentally and see what I mean? Canada, not the Canada. but not that Canada needs our help. They play, Mexico and Canada play this week. So, I mean, the loser of that game could be in fourth. Well, that's another thing I want to go back to is, you know, I've said a few times on this podcast,

that Canada has been playing against Mexico better than we have. And I still think that that was true before last night, you know. So that's another way, I guess not really at Mea culpa, but just me acknowledging that that has changed, that has changed too. Should we do the lineups? Yeah, let's talk about our lineup, and we're actually going to go front to back this time,

because narratively, that helps me out a little bit more. Okay, why don't you do it? Why don't you do the U.S.? All right, so our 11 front three is Aronson, Pepe, and Wea. And so, again, all three obviously eligible, would have been eligible for the Tokyo Olympics, but we're talking Aronson and Owea are 2019 U-20 World Cup eligible. So they would have both been able to play in the 2019 U-20 World Cup.

They were born in 99 or later. Way obviously played in that tournament. Harrison was left off coach's decision. And then Peppy, of course, is actually U20 eligible for the next World Cup cycle. Just insanity. 2003. Midfield of Moose McKinney Adams, which is what I desperately wanted to see. And we saw why I think a lot of people are really excited to see it.

Totally bossed what would have otherwise been considered the best midfield of the region. Yeah. McKenny was Tokyo eligible, but he's like one of the old ones. I think he's in 98. Adams could have played in the 2019 U-20 World Cup, but he was already on the senior team at that point. Musa would have been eligible for this just past summer's U-20 World Cup that was canceled because of the pandemic.

So again, these are just babies. We don't have in our front six no like veteran, no grizzled veteran leadership experience. Like it's, these are the kids. And the kids ran with it and the kids did it. You could see the, I felt like you could see the fear on Aja Ache's face, too. Backline of Anthony, the Robinson pair, Miles and Anthony on the left side, Zimmerman and Yedlin on the right side. So Anthony and Miles, both Tokyo eligible, but like older, I guess.

And then Zimmerman Yedlin are the ancient guys, along with Stefan behind him. And, you know, Stefan, generally speaking on this podcast, we prefer Matt. Turner to Zach Stephan, but Stefan had a good game, don't you think? Yes, he definitely did. And this is why in my analogy from a few episodes back, like the comparison isn't Turner amazing, Stefan terrible. The analogy was a 90% free throw shooter and an 80% free throw shooter. Like they're both pretty good.

I prefer to run with the guy who, as sure as we can sort of be about anything in soccer statistics, we can be pretty sure that over the long run, Turner will keep more goals out than Zach Stephan. Like the numbers give us enough to be pretty sure of that. You know, I do think Stefan is better with the ball at his feet than Turner. I don't think that's a myth. The question is going to be how valuable that is. We saw Stefan make some very good passes yesterday.

So that strength of his can play out on the field. Go ahead. No, I was just agreeing. Yeah, I do. I thought he looked good with the ball at his feet for the most part. What were you going to say? I kind of interrupted you. I didn't mean to.

No, just so that strength can play out, whether that over the long run is better than, you know, whatever gains we will make in goal prevention, I still have my doubts. But again, Stefan is more than capable of having a good game. It doesn't mean he's going to have it. Just because I don't think he's as good as Turner, doesn't mean he's going to be good for a howler every match.

Right. He made a good, I think, a pretty, that was a pretty tough save on the Tecotito miss, right? What did you think? the one low to his left? Yep. Yeah, that was a great save. Yeah.

I feel like Takedito could have done better there, but still a good save from Stefan. Should I give the Mexico lineup? Yeah, let's hear you. Well, before you even do that, just to throw in our subs, Poulosick, also Tokyo eligible, but an older guy. Ferreira would have been eligible for the U-20 World Cup in 2019, but he wasn't. He didn't have his U.S. citizenship yet. Chris Richards with his late cameo. He was a 2019 U-20 veteran, and then Countenicost again ancient at age 26.

Oh, man. We're so young. Just insanity. Just insanity. You know, Buccio on the bench didn't see the field. I guess he's 19 now. Yeah. All right.

Mexico's lineup was from the back, Guillermo Ochoa and goal, of course, Johann Vasquez and Katta Dominguez and Cata Dominguez as the centerbacks, and then Jesus Gallardo and Chaco Rodriguez as the fullbacks. That's no surprise on the fullbacks there. It seems like they're the ones Tata favors the most, at least up until last night. And the midfield was Ache Ache and Edson Alvarez and Luis Romo. Romo was maybe the surprise there for Guardado.

I don't know that it's a surprise, but it's a decision. And then Chuck Ely does. Zano and Jesus Corona Takatito on the wings and Ralu Jimenez up top. So, you know, on paper, this is a good Mexico team. And they didn't get much joy. They didn't get much joy in this game. Any other thoughts about the lineup? Lineups.

Do you have anything else on it? Not really. Should I? No, I don't think so. I mean, the coin tosses were going into it from the fan-based side as far as what we knew Burrhalter would do, I guess you'd say, was we didn't know about Wea versus Ariola, I'd say it's fair. I was very glad to see Wea, and I'm very glad that he did play. And then the right-backed Yedlin, right? That was the other coin toss.

Yeah. And maybe centerback was another coin toss. But not at all surprising that it was Zimmerman over Richards and McKenzie. and I thought obviously Wea played very well I thought Yedlin and Zimmerman both had good games too nobody had a bad game for the U.S. Yeah it was I mean the worst game might have been

Tyler Adams based on his first 40 minutes but yeah no one yeah no one had a poor well we'll get into some individual performances there were just degrees of good right right yeah I mean if there's anybody who is a shout for having a bad game it is Tyler Adams because he was pretty sloppy. Pretty sloppy in the first half.

This is the, can I say the word sloppy challenge. All right, let's get into the timeline. All right. This is going to be such a happier timeline than anything we're used to. I should warn everybody, you know, there were so many good moments in this game that it's, they're not on going to be in the timeline, you know? There was so much, there was so much good attacking sequencing. But I've got, first thing I've ever,

guys were, you know, in the early going right after the game started. But let me ask you this. Was there a noticeable difference in the level of the atmosphere watching it on TV? Not that I could tell. No, I didn't, I didn't, normally I don't listen with audio. So today I actually, or last night I actually got to. So I don't know if that's what the audio would always sound like. So I can't, I'm a bad person to ask.

What would it feel like in the stadium? It felt like, it felt way, way, way louder and more intense than, the Costa Rica game last month, which stands to reason. It's Mexico. But I don't know. I was sitting in a different part of the stadium, so it's hard to compare. How about the national game? Yeah.

I mean, again, different part of the stadium, much different type of stadium. It's a little hard to compare there. But yeah, this felt like, this felt epic last night. And not just because we won. I mean, the, the way everybody was singing the national anthem together. together, the intensity of the crowd, it felt like a different level in the stadium to me. I just got to give the caveat that I was, I don't know that I have a scientific way to compare the different experiences.

Well, it needs to be different, right? It's Mexico. This is Mexico. Yeah, yeah. Very, very, very, very, very pro-U.S. crowd. I mean, that's obviously the design. But I think there was some concern in the lead-up to the game that there would be, A lot of Mexico fans.

I mean, the people were talking about that, which would be, you know, it's fine. I'm just talking about home field advantage. But it didn't. You could, you barely noticed any Mexico cheering in the stadium. Well, when you don't give them reason to cheer, that's what's going to happen. Yeah.

There you go. All right. Let's see how many Mexico cheering moments made it onto your timeline. All right. There's two or three, three or four. Two or three. But I asked that because it did feel, it felt, we felt like we were we came out to punch him in the mouth right away even though we were like

tyler adams was a culprit in this anthony robinson had some moments as well we were a little sloppy in the early going um so the passing wasn't quite as crisp as it could have been man we were getting we were we were stepping up and and pressing the hell out of them uh fifth minute musa spraes it to timi wea and yedlin makes a bombing run on the overlap draws Gallardo and Wea just takes a little touch and then plays an early near post ball that Pepe just doesn't quite get to but it was close and then the camera I noticed then the camera pans to Wea and he's got that thousand yards stare man he like he didn't come to Cincinnati to mess around and oh man way he was something else man like just no wasted movement uh everything he does has a purpose even when it doesn't come off initially, like his very next moment will correct it and open up something

else, open up more options for himself. It was really fun watching Timway, and it has been. I mean, he was electric when he came off the bench versus Jamaica. No one, he was invisible against Panama because we could never progress the ball beyond the midfield stripe. But then he was amazing against Costa Rica. And again, now to do that against Mexico, we said one of our takeaways from the last one was Aronson and Way are the best third and fourth wingers we've ever had.

And man, does that reinforce it right there. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good thing. Waya is finally maturing as a player, Greg, don't you think? Yes, you can see the progress he's making on a game-by-game basis. If anybody who's not super inside baseball on that, that's a reference to this idea that, you know, the youth has been part of the problem in this World Cup qualifying cycle, which is, which is a persistent, persistent theme out there. Part of the problem is even a little harsh.

Just the difficulties we've had in the cycle are a consequence of, like, the youth getting up to speed. It's very much the opposite to me that our most difficult moments have been when our incredible cast of young players just hasn't been on the field. Right, right. Yeah, I mean, we've only had the McKinney-Musa Adams midfield, what, three times now? Yeah, Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Mexico. They've been pretty solid in those games.

They've all been home games, to be fair. We haven't seen a play away yet. Yeah. Well, that is a slightly different kind of test, but that is a test that's coming up. Can the team settle down and just get a professional result in Jamaica? Well, we won't see it in Jamaica.

Why? I believe Westman-McKennie suspended. Yeah, we won't see the MAA mid-Vit. All right, all right. I just mean as a team. You were talking about tests earlier. You know, like there's different levels of test. Eighth minute.

The way it leaves a pass on the ground for Pepey at midfield. This is a very, this is a lovely little sequence. So the pass is played in. The waya's feet, he steps over it, leaves it for Pepey, and then immediately makes a run in the channel. Pepe back heals it right into his path in a lovely way. And then Way it just drives down the channel, straight line, and has a shot from distance.

in transition. Maybe a little greedy with the shot, but I don't hate it because maybe he could have surprised to Choa. But Aronson wanted the little slip pass through him behind. So I'll start my dissecting now. I didn't hate it because I thought he was essentially running out of real estate to do anything else.

And so that was the best choice in the moment. But I think it's because we misplayed the team transition or the break. Once he was running at full speed like that, what I really wanted from Aronson was a run across his face. to drag his man one or two steps over to the side with him, which would either allow way out of the freedom to try to cut in,

or what you eventually see coming is Anthony Robinson all by himself, trailing the play, which Anthony Robinson is wont to do. So Aronson actually just ran straight vertical and put himself offside anyway. So slip pass is going to be. I don't know if you were watching it with a ruler and a compass, but he put himself offside for a slips because he just ran straight at the goal, and so he outran the defense. a slip pass unless it had come extremely early, ends the play.

So that was my frustration. It was a little more imagination for Marenson to cut a crossway his face, drag a defender out of the space, and then it's actually Anthony Robinson coming in as a third man that would have been all alone. And Anthony Robinson is so, so ready to make that run. I think last time I called him the most missed player in the group because I think people aren't ready for him to have covered

the amount of ground that he does in as fast as he does. what a lad man that guy i'm so i'm so happy about the way he's playing i mean he did he was a little messy at the beginning of the game but like his physical presence his work rate like that threat that he offers going forward uh what a solution he is at left back yeah that's kind of interesting he kind of had a down game as well i mean for the for the first 30 40 minutes so that's what's kind of crazy because i thought brennan arson also kind of had a down game so you have a bunch of guys who actually, we talked about that too. It should be expected that you aren't going to put in the same level of like,

you won't grade out as highly against Mexico as you do against Costa Rica. You shouldn't. Like, Costa Rica is much worse. So as a team, we should have a lot better grades against them than against Mexico. What was great was just how good the collective was at cleaning up messes and then starting the next sequence that would have a very positive, like, effect. Right. All right.

Let's see 10th minute Miles Robinson floats a ball down the wing for Anthony who does Shaka and draws a foul so it's just more of that threat up to left wing from us

and Shaka did struggle with Anthony Robinson as the game went by You think they need Julian Arahoe? I would be on the phone with him and bring him for Canada if I were Tata you know

that's because it's L'I'll Alfonso Davies next, it's not getting easier. No, no. Yeah, I don't understand why Arraho hasn't gotten a call. I mean, to be fair, I haven't watched his recent games closely, but I feel like I know him enough as a player to think he could do it. He could do the job better than Chaka Rodriguez did last night. What do you think?

Well, maybe Chaka's going to be suspended by the time we get to Canada anyway. Oh, like a late ruling from the head office. There's no VAR in the match, but after the match, the region will dole out some punishments. Hey, like you're trying to gouge out Robinson-Earinson's eyeballs, man. That was a nasty one, man. That was like old-school U.S.-Mexico nasty. I feel like lately it's been sort of a lot of handbags but no real venom,

but that was some real venom, man. Yeah. And I don't understand why Weston McKinney got a yellow card there. I mean, I didn't hear what he was saying, obviously, but that seemed like a soft yellow to give Wes with a lot of consequences to it. Well, it was because he got in the mix twice in a row. There was another, like more minor skirmish just before that, and Wes, like, got right into it again.

And so I think it was an accumulation effect of, like, oh, this guy's the troublemaker. And so the second time around with all that going on, you punch the troublemaker. And you're not going to give everyone yellow cards, but this is the instigator twice in a row now. He's going in the book. So I think it's a fair yellow. to give. It's just, it just, like, sucks that West got in the middle of two things right in a row.

I see. I mean, I understand why he would be a little upset. But, yeah, that makes sense. 11th minute, a good little passage of play up to right wing from Musa, Pepey, and Yedlin. And then it gets, so I was very encouraged, but then it gets circulated back to Adams. And this is where he makes one of his bigger mistakes of the game. He plays a poor pass, neither to McKinney nor Robinson, Miles Robinson, kind of between. between them, it gets picked off, and then, you know, Jimenez is off to the race,

his 1 v.1 with Zimmerman. Zimmerman tracks back and tackles Raoul in the box, which is really nice work. But then in the ensuing scramble, the ball falls to Edson Alvarez at the top of the box, and he gets a shot off from there with his left foot. Stefan makes a save on the stretch. I think it was going off the post or out, but I don't know that for sure. A good save from Zach Stephan. Yeah, good attempt by Alvarez.

I think Alvarez thinks that maybe Stefan's unsighted if he can just curl it around like a body. So he doesn't have to put a lot of sting on it. But Stefan's long. And Stefan has good power to his range. And so since it's not a rifled shot from Alvarez, it's just kind of curled over. Stefan's going to get to that. And it was a good chance for him to show off that range. Yeah.

Keepers love those. That's a goalkeeper's favorite right there because he did everything right. He's not like he's just showing off. But it's the perfect way. way to like show how long you can stretch. Now if you if you have anything in your personal timeline that isn't on mine, please jump in. But I'm going to go on to the 17th minute. Aronson gets that shot off from just inside the box after a Yedlin cross.

I mean, there's lots of good combinations happening and then like some semi-dangerous crosses. But on this one, Yedlin crosses it from a little deep. and Wea tries a snap header, try to sort of flick it on, snap it on, and it pings around off some bodies and falls to Aronson. Aronson does put the shot on frame, but hits it very softly. It doesn't get much on it.

But still a decent little chance. Yeah, he basically did the same level of power as Alvarez, but with no placement at all, so he just kind of guided it directly to Memo. Yeah. Still got a Yelp for me as it happened, because as it set up, I was like, he could do this. Like, that's a perfect setup for him to have this volley.

So that was one of my early shouts. Yeah, he kind of side-footed it. I'm not sure exactly what he was trying to do there. 18th minute, just a lovely combination from Mexico to release Chuck E Lazzano in behind. It starts with Edson Alvarez in his own box. He plays a ball to the feet of Tecateo, who's checking back to the ball in our half. and then he takes a touch, plays it to Jimenez, and then it comes back to Takedito from Jimenez,

and Lozano is making it off the ball run that's very clever, and Tecotito just taps it into his path, a well-weighted pass. And, yeah, Lozano, this is the one I was talking about earlier. Lozano should have done better on this one I thought. But I said Tecateo earlier. I'm sorry. That's all right.

Takedito had the actual miss where he missed the whole. He just scuffed his shot. That's right. This was just really sexy from Mexico, quite frankly. Like every, every pass in the sequence was just like a technical marvel. And it had to be because, you know, there weren't these big windows. We were, we were like touched tight on a lot of guys. And that's how they found the runner in behind.

It's because Stefan, I'm sorry, Zimmerman, Robinson were so tight to their guys where it's like okay I'm so tight to this guy the only way he's gonna beat me is if he hits some miracle first time pass like inch perfect to a guy 25 yards away and they did that like four times in a row and they were off it was it was very pleasing to the eye am I I I didn't mention this I was at I was pretty low to the field and I was behind the goal and so I didn't I didn't have a good view of the game honestly like it's hard to It's hard to tell what's going on in the middle of the field. Yeah, no depth.

You have no depth perception. Yeah. But even from that vantage point, I could see that that was some gorgeous football, just the way it was just tick, tick, tick. And then he's in on goal. And it was Robinson who got, who was chasing Lozano, right? Back into the box. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And he was doing well to, I think, usher him over so that at least maybe a portion of the goal would be taken away. I'll have to watch super, super slow-mo to see. if Stefan is like using that pressure from Robinson coming from that sort of far post side to cheat to the near post either to cheat with positioning or cheat by elite like diving early almost almost like gambling knowing that that's the only spot he's going to have to shoot at but I don't think he did I think it was just a good good reaction save good positioning from Stefan it sure seemed like Lozano had a lot of goal to shoot at and and didn't use didn't use didn't

utilize it but he went right by stephen's feet which isn't a bad place to hit it so uh you can try to hit it at the corner but if stephen's set up really low like his his big paws are already sort of out in that area where where the ball would go to go to the corner um so if you if you go for right at his feet then it's uh then he's either got to like do the kick uh kick out with the bottom of his cleat or he's got a really like windmill to get that arm down low uh to the boot so um i thought it i mean as you see you see him go for that shot, even though it's not necessarily to the corner. So you think he's hitting it too close to the keeper, but it still makes the keeper make a good save if you hit it in the right spot. I thought it was like sort of right at Stefan's hand.

Yeah. Okay. And then another chance for Mexico in the 30th minute. Acha Ache wins a duel in the middle of the pitch on a long ball and flicks it out to Lozano. So it's, again, in this case, it's Zimmerman pressing eye. Not pressing high, but, you know, touch tight to. and then Herrera kind of comes out of the scrum with the ball, plays it out to Lozano, who collects himself and plays a nice,

very nice diagonal pass to Tecateo on the back post. Tecateo, this is the miss that we were talking about earlier. Just doesn't make good contact. He wants that one back for sure. Would have been a remarkable goal to hit the ball on the flight from 40 yards out. But that was basically Zimmerman's low point, right? He didn't have a lot of them, but him getting outworked right there in that spot is what we need to try to eliminate. And that's sort of the same issue that we had with Brooks.

But this was, you know, again, it's not fatal to lose that challenge to get spun the way he did. It's not like he got spun and then Raul was off. Raul just spun him enough to connect one more pass. Or like not even do that, right? It was just like a... Just to get him out of the play, basically. Yeah, just kind of got him out of the play and pinballed the ball. ball towards the Mexico's left side of the pitch.

He basically just kept it alive. But you're kind of pointing that out to say that, you know, hey, Brooks gets spun sometimes, Zimmerman gets spun sometimes. That shouldn't disqualify Brooks being in a U.S. roster. Yeah, I don't think it should. Some along those lines? Sort of, yeah. I mean, but really it's just a matter of like every centerback is going to like half

lose some of those duels, right? So it's certainly not a terrible mistake. It just happens sometimes. Most of the time a goal doesn't come off of it because a lot of things tough to go right to get the actual goal. Like the only time it's like goal straight off a centerback mistake is sort of like the Mark McKenzie versus Mexico Nation's League game where he literally hands the ball to Tecito in the box to score. So it's like those mistakes from centerbacks happening. If you're like tracking them and really trying to see who's in form and who's not, you've got to tally all of them up. not just the ones that result in goals against.

But overall, I'm also saying, not saying Zimmerman had a bad game, he didn't he had a fantastic game. Yeah, I agree. It's just those things will occur. It doesn't mean that a player is suffering a crisis of form. Right. So it is true at this point in the game, a half hour in, that Mexico has had the better chances. I don't think there's any debate about that. But still, it felt like we were the better team to me.

What did you think? That's 100% what I thought. And I was kind of surprised to read like the sort of half-time summations that we were saying like basically that we weren't very good. I thought we were great. I thought we were sort of setting up shop outside Mexico's box for long portions. Even just getting to Mexico's box to set up said shop is something we haven't done in so long. Right. So like just getting there was amazing.

Then that we were still working and not just settling for like, oh, we're here. Let's like quickly just hammered at the box and see what happens. because we might not ever get here again. Like we looked calm, we looked composed, we were prodding and testing, and it was just so fun to watch. I had a blast watching that half, and then it was just like,

oh, against her on a play, Mexico, lightning quick, three passes, suddenly have a really good chance, and they did that twice, but that was, man, I will live with that if that's the balance of the game. Yeah, I mean, that passing sequence that sprung Lazzana and on goal,

that's going to beat any team, you know? I mean, that's, that's very high quality football. I guess the thing that comes in mind when you're talking about us and up shop is just how dominant that our midfield was, how much we dominated the center of the park. Because any time the ball would come out, it would just get immediately hoovered up by Musa or McKinney or Adams. And Musa in particular was just like, he had the ball on a string, you know? Like he didn't, never looked like he was going to give the ball away.

It never looked like Mexico could even trouble him when he was on the ball. There was, there's so much nagby to several of our guys at this point. And I think that's such a huge difference. Like that's, that's Musa. It's Wea. It's McKenny. Like, they have the ball and they just are going to, like, hold it until you overcommit just slightly, like shift your weight just slightly to the wrong side of their body.

And then they have the leverage and they spin you. it. They're running again. And you're either going to stick your foot into their legs and foul them, or you're going to hope that the defense behind you can just sort of reshape and cover it up. But it's just, it was so apparent the way we could sort of do that. And that alone is, again, it's the cheat code for disorganizing teams with the ball. Because if you can beat that first man yourself, then force them to scramble behind.

Night and day, right? night and day from what we've seen watching the U.S. for the past two and a half years. Right. Seven years, the past seven years. Which is a good, you know, it prompts a humble reminder from me that even though this podcast from the beginning has always been about like these, this new wave of talent. We didn't always, you know, I didn't often even correctly predict who that those talents were going to be. You know, Eunice Musa was not on our radar two years ago.

Not on mine, at least. And if he was, he was in the same category as like Alex Mighton or is it Brian O'Coha who just got a Switzerland call? Like, I didn't think those guys were even on, like, on our, they were on our radar in the sense that we were never going to get them. Right, right. And he, I mean, a lot of credit to Burrhalter and the way he's deployed Musa because he does play a lot of wing for, Valencia, and he now looks like just 100% indispensable in our midfield as a box-to-box midfielder. 35th minute.

Go ahead. Let me even talk more about that midfield domination, because it just feels so much like, it just feels so much like, I mean, we destroyed them in the actual duels, the actual duels that occurred, but it also just felt like Mexico wouldn't even go into duels at some point because they were just in central midfield because it's just like they had to concede them. You start to go in and then you're like, nope, I will not win this. So I need to just go back and sit back and defend. And that's how you, that's how a team like the U.S., who's never been able to do this against Mexico is suddenly putting them on their heels and is able to comfortably set up that shop where Mexico have to be too tentative because if you go in and lose, you can't get back around. So it changes your calculus on whether you even go in or not. Right. So it was just, just, again, just such a role reversal. from what we've seen.

And the other piece of this is these guys aren't just like athletic. There's so much technical ability to go along with that athleticism that it basically makes it forces Mexico to be afraid of making mistakes when they're on defense. Yeah, I mean. That's new. That's new to me. Yeah.

I don't know. I don't even know what I would do if I were Tata Martino. You know, like how do you combat that the next time they play? if you're Mexico. I mean, Guardado's not going to fix that. Maybe Charlie Rodriguez. He came on towards the end of the game and didn't make much impact, I don't think.

I don't know what. You might switch to like a double pivot. Like, you can't leave Alvarez by himself as a six. Yeah. And you're getting more conservative. Like, you're actually setting up a conservative defensive shape. It's a new area, baby. Thinking about Mexico.

All right. 35th minute I have a clocked moussa dribbling into the box, beating a couple guys, you know, one of those weavy runs of his, and then tries to play a cutback. It just misses Aronson at the 6th and gets cut out. But there was a lot of, there's a lot of little good stuff in this period of the game from basically that big Mexico chance missed by Tecoteo until the end of the half. Well, you saw, I think you.

You saw, I think it was a Paul Carr tweet, right, that that shot that you described for Mexico and the miss was their last shot of the match. Is that right? Now what I'm saying, I feel like maybe it's not, but I think that was the tweet. We outshot them 12-0 to end the game. I mean, I believe it. I believe it's close to true, if not true. Because that was their last really legitimate chance. 37th minute, a really nice passage of play where Musa is just boss in the middle of the park

and the way we've been describing, winning every cage match, just comfortable and relaxed and dominant. And we have a few crosses cut out. Then Anthony plays a ball from the left side to Pepe's feet. He lays it off for Musa. At the top of the box, Musa has one in the shot as well wide. That was most notable to me because Pepe laying it off actually took it off of Wea's foot in the motion of shooting.

really I didn't notice that yeah way has like lined up he's actually is he does the fake volleyball spike because he's got his like foot cocked he's just starting to swing right next to peppy just beyond him and and then peppy lays it off and

way at air kicks yeah it's uh the layoff the layoff was fine I guess in a vacuum but absolutely yep way off the right choice for peppy just needed uh I think it was so loud there there was an example earlier in the game of a Mexico set piece where on the broadcast you have Stefan just

screaming at Brendan Aronson who's only 15 yards away from him to move him on the wall and I know attackers sorry to all attackers but when attackers go into a wall they just somehow lose thousands of IQ points like you can't as a goalkeeper you somehow cannot reason with your players who are standing in a wall I don't know what it is it's the most frustrating communication that any human has ever had. But Stefan's just banging his foot on the upright trying to get Brennan-Earon's attention. So I have to assume it's somewhat loud there. So maybe, this is all to say, maybe Timway, I couldn't, Pepe couldn't hear Timway

calling him off from a yard and a halfway. Huh. Yeah, I'm glad it was, I'm glad it was loud. That speaks to my earlier question about the atmosphere. I wish, I wish somebody would, somebody tell me how it compares to other. You got to ask the players because it could be, like you said, anyone in the stadium is in the acoustic center, so we need an honest answer from a player. They're going to have to actually pick a venue to say this was the loudest one.

Okay. We'll work on that. 41st minute, there's that mousse across to Anthony Robinson's kind of a diagonal ball to the back post. This was actually a much better chance than I realized it was watching it live. It comes after Adams' bosses Alvarez a little bit, sits him down with a dribble, and then Aronson tries to croyfe it to Pepey by. behind him doesn't quite come off. That whole sequence happens, which I think a lot of people will remember.

And then the ball comes out to Musa out wide. And he just floats a ball at the backpost. Robinson gets his head on it, but doesn't put the shot on frame. Yeah, it doesn't weigh. I get a croif in there right after Aronson's Missed. I think way I might croif it out to Musa. It was it was croif time. Wait, it was so sexy.

And then this, so Robinson, I consider this kind of a Robinson miss. And it happened again in the second half, where it was almost. almost just like he didn't expect the Mexico defender to miss it, and he just needs to sell out as though the Mexico player will miss it. Because if the Mexico player doesn't miss it, who cares? You didn't get to you anyway. But just in case, expect it to get to you and shape your body to score. Yeah, he looked a little.

If it's the one I'm thinking of. But he had two of them. This is the one he hit with his head. Okay. I do think he could have sold out a little bit more to just punish it on frame. All right, then it's probably not the one I'm thinking of. I had two where he basically doesn't actually get his body to the ball because he didn't set up quite, right?

So he had to chase the ball back towards sort of the sideline briefly. I know which one we were talking about, yeah. So the half came, zero, zero, but the good vibes, good vibes everywhere in Cincinnati. And we come out after the half, just immediately dominant, several half chances in the first couple minutes. McKinney, Robinson, and Wea heavily involved. and then in the 49th minute

we get a very good chance for McKenny Yedlin who played way better than I thought he would played a nice pass in behind for Wea, just well-weighted, only Wea can get to it, and he gets there first and he cuts it back to the penalty marker through the legs of Gallardo, I believe,

and it's just, it comes to McKinney arriving at the penalty marker. He takes it first time, hits it well, but right at Choa. that was a big warning sign I thought yeah and wea is feeling I was I was excited I was I was like there was a part of me that was worried at halftime

that Pulizik was going to come on for Wea which wouldn't have been super surprising but I was like I want Wea in this game yeah yeah we needed him it turned out it's starting to just at that point to me just started to really be a delight to watch this game where 54th minute waya has one

from outside of the box. And it deflects to Pepey, who has a shot but doesn't make good contact. And skies it, this was quite a good chance, too. I mean, he had the ball at his feet about 10 yards from goal with a chance to shoot. It just didn't get good contact. I don't think it was deflected. No, it wasn't. It was a corner.

It was a goal kick. Feel free to jump in, Greg. Well, so Pepe's missed there and then his not quite getting to that early, like early in the first half, five minutes in ball from Wea. Like, I hope this isn't me being super harsh on Pepe, but I hope we can kind of like work away from the narrative that Pepe is just some ruthless finisher. Because again, like, ruthless finishers don't really exist.

Like you just have to keep getting in the good spots, keep doing it over and over and you will get your goals. But the fact that he scored two goals on his first like two shots in a U.S. jersey sort of made everyone think that he's a solution because he's always going to finish his chances. but he won't. He will finish a percentage of them, and he will hopefully keep getting in good spots

and we'll keep finding him. As a team, we'll continue to create those opportunities. But he's not, he's not like magic. Yeah, we're going to have to agree to disagree. I still think he's magic. I still think he's magic. The magic wasn't very strong last night, but he, like, well, this isn't me saying he didn't,

I'm saying there is more to it than did he score or not, because a lot of times that that's what people try to reduce it to and that he you know that like oh he will just score he just has it in him to score when it counts and that's not really how it works of course you're right gregg but it is kind of a joyless existence that you lead um the 58th minute is uh a good way a ball across for erinson kind of similar to that i mean like do you notice the theme here way is involved in everything um way a ball across for erranton kind of similar to that i mean like do you notice the theme here way is involved in everything um way a ball across for erranton and remaining he can run at the near post and his shot is blocked, I believe. It's similar to the pep he won, except he, I think he got to it, and his shot was blocked. 67th minute, I think there's a little bit of a lull

before this, and definitely this is the nadir of the lull, but we got off a rhythm somewhat before Pulisic came on. And then we had the Chaka hands to Erinson's face situation, which resulted in, as we mentioned, a soft yellow card for McKinney and also a yellow card for not soft I should take the editorial

comment out I retract it and also a yellow card for Zach Stephan and then a yellow card which everyone thought should have been a red card for Shaka. Somewhere in there just because we were hitting way a hard here he also had an

amazing through ball to DeAndre Edlin that I don't remember exactly which minute so I don't know where it goes in the timeline but it was just another one where I'm just like oh my Tim Wea, like, you are, you are like just abusing Mexico in your, like, fourth ever World Cup qualifying game. You're just having your way with Mexico right now. What a night.

What a night. So let's get to the next event that will feature Tim Weyer. 74th minute, the goal, the goal which was coming came. It starts with the two 18-year-olds, Pepe and Musa, settling some possession down in the middle the field and then Musa takes touch and plays it out wide to Wea who just squares his guy up and pushes the ball to the end line and gets enough space to play a very very good cross right across the six and Christian Pulisic who had just come on the field only moments before makes a clever late run past Dominguez and gets up over him and and hits a glancing header right past

Mamo Choa one zero and then he runs towering towering to towering header. Glancing header. Get out of here. Towering header. I don't think that's a... Is that a towering header? Okay. Yeah, that's towering. It was a towering glancing header. That's how I'll stick to it. And then he runs to the corner flag and pulls up his shirt to reveal the words,

Man in the Mirror, which he was asked... It's so funny. He was asked about it repeatedly at the press conference. Did you see this? Yeah. And he just refused. He's like, guys, you know what it means. I'm not going to talk about it anymore. He just refused to elaborate.

I really respect. So the ball from Wayar, right? We've talked at length about Waya going back to like the U20 World Cup about he's not really like a beat guy's one v one player, but he is elite and he has been forever at shifting the ball. And again, the leverage stuff to just create windows for that next option for what he wants. wants to do. And that's exactly what that was, right? There was no room for him to hit that cross, and he still somehow hit that cross. Yeah. And then, and then not, this is, please don't take this as wet blanketing, but it's kind of the same thing we had to talk about with Costa Rica and killer novice letting in the goal that, uh, we won that game on. Does, do we, does Christian

Pulis that get that run in on goal if we're facing any of Mexico's three first choice centerbacks who are missing for this game? Um, I think it was, I think it was a surprise, you know, he was being marked by Shaka. And then he just came, he saw that, he saw a way of push it to the end line. And he just darted inside. And he got in front of Dominguez, before Dominguez even realized he was coming, you know. So he had all the, yeah, my question stands. Does a, does a better centerback see that run coming and sort of just, does walk?

Walker Zimmerman see that coming and sort of just shrug pool sick off of his run and that's that? Yeah, maybe. Yeah. I don't care. They have the centerbacks they have. We all have injuries. I mean, they have a centerback problem. We've talked about it on this show.

So it's a fair question. I'm not going to answer in the affirmative because I don't want to ruin it like that. I'm just, we got good joy out of, there were quite a few moments where I was like, oh, man, like, we sort of capitalized on some really shoddy centerback work there. And not all of them led to goals, but it's just like, oh, you could see this sequence developed really well

because, you know, Pepe did this and Aronson did this and the centerbacks just like were a mess behind them. Yeah. But that's who Mexico are. Like that's not like, again,

this isn't trying to say we didn't, we don't get credit because Mexico made mistakes. This is who Mexico are. This is who a lot of teams are going to play. They're not going to. have perfect players at every position. So it's can you move around and get in good positions to exploit those weaknesses? I think, yeah, and I think we're going to, I think the U.S., I fully expect the U.S.

to keep getting better, you know? That's my, that's how I'm looking at it. I do too. I'm the exact same way. I think, I think this core group will keep getting better. I don't think it's going to be a case of like, oh, now you throw Dest and rein it back in. I think those guys will get in and play. I'm not saying like, oh, they're now frozen out because we don't need them.

I'm saying they'll get in a play. But when they come back, two other guys are going to be injured and we'll be missing those guys. Like, we're never going to have like this, oh, now you add these two and everyone else stays perfectly fit and we're we are even better. We'll always have two or three first choice guys out. But that's what we're learning is even with that, this is still who we are and we are pretty good. Yeah. I do, I am very curious to see how we look against Jamaica without Weston. because we've had some pretty stark differences in results

in games that he's been involved in in games that he's not been involved in so far. So I just mentioned that because, you know, it is true. People are going to get injured. Other people have to step up. I don't know if we can deal with two injuries in the midfield, you know. Two injuries in midfield is going to hurt. Miles Robinson getting a red card is going to hurt. against Mikhail Antonio

Yeah man That seemed like a soft Second yellow too didn't it or no Really soft It's just kind of cleverly done I mean he raised his arm to like Pull back on the shoulder I don't think he really made any contact

But when you're chasing a guy from behind And you put your arm on the guy's shoulder Like that's a tactical foul Like that's your choice to try to slow the guy down People do it all the time It's totally part of the game now but a clever attacker goes down when he feels it or has the option to

if they want to try to power through they can but like you can't really argue like oh no I was that's just my natural running motion to put my arm on someone's shoulder when I'm close to him like you take the hell it's

it's sold but it was your choice to start trying to pull the guy back well the guy just out clevered you with his anticipation of your gamesmanship right well

it started to feel it started to feel like a party as soon as the ball hit the net off a pool of six towering header the only thing I forgot we still have more

things going on here I was already celebrating in the podcast all right go on there's just a couple more things but I think though you know what I was hoping for in the stadium

was to be able to say to chant dos acero you know I really wanted I really wanted that privilege and It's the birthright of every American. And we got it, man.

A good, 84th minute. This goal's a little bit luckier, I think, but it's a good entry pass from Wea to McKinney, from wide to McKinney in the middle. McKinney leaves it for Ferreira behind him, who taps it back to McKinney, and they're trying to do a little one-two into the box. McKinney tries to tap it back to Ferreira,

and it gets cut out, but it deflects right back into McKinney's path for a nice little, 1 v1 against the Choa and he slots at bottom left corner uh very very assured finish with a lot of goal to shoot at and he runs to the middle of the field and cast a spell on the stadium and um you know he does his harry potter thing so man and then a minute later the stadium the stadium is just like i said ringing with everyone's shouting dosacero

I can't believe how fun that was. Believe it. Well, hey, you can't just go straight to the Dosacero chance without letting me revel in Jesus Ferreira being involved in goal, right? Please, please, revel away. I've been waiting forever. I think back in January, I was like, Jesus Ferreira starting World Cup qualifying, which was a reach then, and it's still a reach now. But I just love him and good.

He could be in the roeux. rotation. I love him and I love how tidy he is and I love that he wants that ball to get fired into him from the wing at his feet and he has no problem being like, I will then pick out a four-yard pass in a crowd. It was a great lead from McKinney. And again, it just speaks to how ambitious the players are playing with each other. And I do believe like that kind of thing is contagious. It goes back to the Aronson-Croif pass attempt that is followed moments later by a waya-croft pass attempt. It's like you just start looking for the these little moments to do that stuff, the dummies and the back heels. So I think that's honestly why McKinney was like, oh, now I'll just hit it right back to Ferreira from the return pass. It's that addictive like ping, ping, ping, ping, we're just going to keep moving this ball around. And then it was good luck to get the deflection. But even just that initial key movement of the McKinney dummy to Ferreira to connect a ball into the box to McKinney, like I just love it. And we're going to, I just feel like we're going

to see more and more of that. And I think it's going to translate even against team sitting in a low block. So that wasn't necessarily in Mexico tonight I don't know if it's going to be Jamaica this week But at some point we're going to start playing teams that sit deep against us That we're going to have to unlock And I think we now have that Ambition to do it

And certainly the ability That's a good word for it And it is true Like there was a little bit of luck in the last deflection But it's true that when you are ambitious In that part of the field And sort of impose yourself the way we were doing Good things you know

Things can fall your way and so it's deserved and is a good finish too. In the 90th minute we got, I just wanted to clock that in the 90th minute, Wea is tracking back and slide tackling Hector Herrera deep in our corner. So the guy who was just like, you know, generated a lot of offense in this game was just working so hard even in the 90th minute up to zero. That's what I got for the timeline. Yeah, Wea is not now and basically has never been like a luxury attacking piece.

He is everywhere all the time. So if you're worried about defending, you don't need to worry about that with Tim Wea. I haven't mentioned Aronson much, but he did also work very, very hard in this game. His pressing was a, as everybody's saying it, but his pressing was a real factor. I thought just constantly rattling people. Yeah, he is. He's that little terrier, nipping at heels for 90 minutes. But I do think he was sort of ineffective in this game.

And I think that's going to be an issue for him, certainly against, like, more physical teams. Like, I just feel like he's got to find a way to not be little brothered. And I don't mean getting clawed in the face. Like, there's not much you can necessarily do to prevent that particular, like, a bit of brother roughhousing. As every brother does. But that wasn't the only. But there absolutely were plenty of moments in this game where the contrasts between Aronson's little brothering and Tim Wea doing that to Mexico, like they're there. Like you can see why Wea adds so much value against Mexico.

And I'm guessing most teams, I don't know if that shifts anything in the pecking order for Burrhalter or anyone else. But it looks like it might be a real thing. Well, it's such a different way of playing right-wing. than we see from, I mean, pretty much anybody, because he is, he's comfortable coming in and dealing, but he also does a lot of, like, classic winger stuff where he just takes it to the line and can beat a guy and cross it. I just don't see that as much of that from Herenson

or even Raina necessarily. And his, like, his movement, too, I think is a different animal as well. So different. And I saw somebody, I always feel bad because I don't always mark who it was. On the Discord was saying this is what all we needed to see right now for when we do see that bunker and we need to break down a bunker and we don't need a midfield to cover as much ground as, say, MMA has to do against Mexico. That's when it is Giorina of the 10 in Bren and Aaron Wea. I'm sorry, Tim Wea out wide right. Yeah.

And you drop Musa. That's a tough one. It is a tough one, but Tim Wea was just the man of the match. So where are we at now? You got to drop Wea. That's the whole point. This is good. So you can tailor your elite talents to the opponent.

I'm not saying I'm all in on that, but it's like that is a totally plausible way to account for what the opponent could be doing and not like not sacrificing with talent, not being like, okay, well, I guess, I mean, through all of 2019 to 20, 20, 20, I felt it was like, I guess we're going to bring this guy onto the field for some reason and have him be a staple. And it was always like, it always felt like a sacrifice. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I want to see how, I mean, broadly speaking, I love the idea that we have these difficult problems, these wonderful problems. But I do wonder if Musa, I'd like to see us play without Musa to see how, like, just how much he dominates the game personally, you know? with the qualities we were talking about earlier. Like, it might be a lot.

It might be a lot just him, you know? Well, Raina has some of that nagby to them. I know they're different players, but there is definitely a nagby somewhere in Geo Raina. Yeah, I mean, if I've said it once, I've said it a million times, those two are their best cage match players, Geo and Eunice. Hey, your timeline left off a pretty important, Hesu's Ferreira miss. which I don't appreciate.

Please add it to the timeline, Mr. Velasquez. Ball came into Jesus Ferreira, like seven yards out, and he fired a ball with his left foot just out of the post. I don't care about the build-up. I care about the XG because, as I said about Pepe, no one converts all their chances, but Frera getting that chance is a good little sign for him. Yeah, that was on a ball from Robinson on the left, right?

I think it works. I think you're right. Anyway, it's just my way of saying, I really like what we are doing as a team to create chances, and Jesus Ferreira is perfectly capable of being on the end of those chances. And I don't, again, I've heard people saying he missed his opportunity, but again, I hope Berlter isn't thinking that way, because the one thing we've learned through all of this statistical revolutions

is that that's probably not the right way to be thinking about it when you're choosing your lineups. I'm sure he doesn't think about it that way. I mean, maybe it's a little bit unavoidable, you know, because we're humans and when you see the ball hit the back of the net it has a it has a effect on your decisions um anyway let's see it does feel it feels like it feels like a new era to me gregg am i overreacting no i totally think it could be the hayseus for era i'm i'm all for it i'm all for it uh like i sorry we'll go we'll get to the new era in a second but it very much was like pick some mLS strikers out of

have a hat or throw Sergeant or Pfeffok in there either. Like whatever. They're all roughly the same. It's going to be very much, can the team create looks? But I do actually think there are different, like, traits from those names in the hat. And Ferreira's traits just happen to agree with my sensibilities. It does seem like Burrhalter is going to start peppy again against Jamaica. But you never know.

You never know what Greg's going to do. All right. New era, though. Right? A real new era. It does feel, it felt, it feels like we all witnessed history last night. I mean, it's history for only a very, you know, small portion of American population, but still, a historic night where, where it changed, where the, I think the relationship changed between, between us and Mexico on soccer. And, and not only that, but, like, no, no, like, there's no warm blanket here from Mexico.

like, oh, this was, you know, a one-off situation. Like, Mexico had most of their squad, and it was their actual squad that got bossed by our children. And how do you, how do you, like, look forward to the next decade? Like, this could be some serious, like, deep reflecting, blow it up in Mexico and figure out how you're going to actually produce elite talent. The level of player, yeah, that the U.S. seem to be sitting on right now for at least the next three age co-holes. or I guess the current like 18 to 22 year olds Yeah there's nobody

I mean there's no obvious people coming up Behind Herrera and And Guardado They do like I think the way John Arnold put it is they do have green shoots At centerback I think Vasquez is going to be a good player Is a good player already probably

But that midfield is going to be That's going to be a bad matchup for Mexico For a while And I you know It doesn't it feel like we could go into the Aztec and like pretty much play the same way. Well, that's what I was going to say, too, is we still also have to be careful about this

because all three of these games that we are, you know, getting very boastful about, they've all been home matches, they've all been on U.S. soil. So we still have to see what, if we go in and Mexico hits us in the mouth on the Azteca, I guess even then it'd be like, okay, but now we're at least back on even footing,

where for the past five years, it hasn't even felt like that, right? It's very much felt like we've been bossed. Right. No matter where we play that. We got that friendly win in 2019, but any meaningful competition with Mexico until this year was not an encouraging night for a U.S. fan.

All right. I'm at a rest stop in Kentucky. I still got to drive home. What are you going to give us on the Jamaica game in two days? I'll just point people back to the John Arnold preview probably. Yeah, I mean, Chris Wachie and I are going to have to figure out what our next move is going to be. Oh yeah, I was going to say,

please consider supporting the Patreon. We are an ad-free podcast. Patreon's how we do it. And I think we have a good little community. Greg, anything else from you? I don't want to cut us short here. Get into the Discord. We're dissecting, like, miscellaneous clips

to within an inch of their lives. Very, very on brand. Very on brand. But, but, but, but, but, Now it's in a happy way. Now it's all joyful. We're not assigning culpability anymore. We're celebrating ingenuity.

Yeah. And coordinated movement. Hey, we do need to talk about this. We can't leave without saying this, this, this game looked coordinated. It wasn't just like good players doing cool things. Like, we looked coordinated in a lot of different areas. And so that very much is, like, I don't want to sell Burhalter short here either. Like, this team was prepared to do what it did.

It wasn't, it wasn't just rolling the ball out and showing. the dominance over Mexico. Like, we knew what we were doing here. And it was a lot of the things that we talked about wanting to see in the preview episode, which was drawing that Mexico press up, going beyond it, and then just that's where the domination was occurring. Right in the middle, in the center circle, basically. Yeah, yeah.

We'd go, we'd hit it over. And it was, it was that exact basketball backdoor concept where Mexico's sort of their version of their eights, their dual eights, Romo and Herrera, were touched tight on. Musa and McKinney and as soon as we'd you know they got drawn way upfield Musa McKinney would check back and then when we'd hit it upfield

towards Pepey Aronson or even Edson Alvarez Musa McKinney would just race up and they would comfortably outpace Mexico's eights up into the space and so even if we didn't win the first ball they created this numerical advantage on the second ones where we would get enough

of those where we could then build from there with five Mexico players still sitting over by Zach Stephens box It is interesting. You know, I think I said beforehand, like, I just wanted Greg to go one way or the other. And I thought putting Stefan in was an indication maybe we were going to try to pass through that press. And yet, we definitely didn't try to do that, not very much at least. Not through it, but he, Stefan did have a role in those, in the passing to draw it up,

where we'd go to Stefan in Mexico at times would come forward as a unit. But the connecting tissue of that unit was Edson-Nalvarez, by himself between the backs and their front five. And that's where because they were committed to thinking that we would, I honestly don't know what their thought was because it was pretty easy for us to just loop it up. And again, not even have to hit a perfectly accurate ball because wherever Mexico centerbacks would head it, it's going to be Musa and McKinney and usually one of the wingers, whichever winger was closest to the ball, going up against Edson Alvarez to try to win the second one.

It's kind of a clinic. It was fun to watch. There were quite a few. Again, we're dissecting a lot of those clips in the Discord. Maybe some of them will make it to Twitter. I think Carlin Carpenter already posted a really great video clip of it. So if you follow him on Twitter, which you should, he's got a good breakdown too. Yeah, I've got to give credit to Greg, man.

Greg, Greg Velasca. I mean, Craig Burrhalter. You too, Greg. Credit to you as well. Sure, sure. I definitely picked Tim Wea. Yeah. In March of 20th.

That was my guy. Safe to say Burrhalter's job is safe. And everything's, it's a wonderful day in America. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see ya.