Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #347: Beat Iran and we're on to the knockouts

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

Greg, Belz and Vince ponder the England game and the tournament up to this point a bit more, express our appreciation for the performance, talk about the off-field stuff drifting around tomorrow's game, and then discuss Iran's likely setup and what we'll need to do to beat them.Detailed discussion of the Iran-USA starts about at the 20:00 mark.----Scuffed is an ad-free podcast. Support that and get exclusive episodes (more than 50 this year), plus access to the Discord including live call-in shows and round-the-clock access to other reasonable USMNT and USWNT fans online, by signing up for our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. By the time you listen to this, we'll be within 24 hours of this game against Iran, on which I believe I can say without exaggeration, everything depends, doesn't it? Doesn't it, Greg? Everything depends on this one. Like literally everything. My mood for the next three and a half years. Everyone's mood towards the program for the next three and a half years. Because if we don't, if we don't get to win, you know what I mean, it'll be.

the men's theme, I think, in the mainstream, like, consciousness will sort of go back to being sort of this choke artist, bottler. Not very good. For sure. Like, I got a text from my friend the other day after England. And he said, V. I'm reading this text. He said, V. Elypsis.

I says, I love you, man. But if we tie Iran, I will never rule for American soccer again. Hey, I'm going to, I'm going to keep rooting for. But yeah, I get, I think I get the point. Yeah, yeah, it's just a thing. It's like, yo, we have to win a game at least. You know what I'm saying? It's like we're on the big stage.

And if we go through three ties, two ties in a loss, whatever, whatever, it's just not going to hit the way that we hope that it would. No. The way we've sort of built it up to, even knowing that, you know, this kind of outcome is always possible over three games. Just ask Canada or Mexico. but yes, it's definitely going to be, you know, outside of, outside of my personal bubble. Like, I don't see how this could be, would be seen as anything other than a massive disappointment.

But we're not going to. We're not going to. That's the key. Exactly. Exactly. Well, two things. One, I'm not sad at all about the way Canada has crashed out of this tournament. I love that.

I love that. They deserve it. And even though they played well against Belgium, but playing well doesn't, doesn't get you any points. And then this game, you know, everybody kind of knows this, but we have to win. It's like a knockout round game except if it's a draw at the end of 90 minutes, we're out. So we don't get extra time or penalties. It's like a knockout game except even harder. Yeah, Iran are half a goal up. Oran enter the game up half of a goal. Now, now, no, we've covered the math of tournament advancement in great detail on this podcast.

Let me give sort of the other side of it. I share, I share this viewpoint. Let me play it real quick. Hey guys, this is Nick from Northern New Jersey. I just wanted to point out how surreal it felt to be there in a packed bar watching our youth national team players who are now grown up, playing against England at the biggest stage, and really putting on a display. I realize there have been some wet blankets being thrown around, but from 2014 watching these guys on YouTube, imagining what it would be like with them grown up and on the senior side,

to present day eight years later against England on black. Friday is a feeling I'll never forget. Hey, Greg. Boo. No, I mean, that is totally like the right way to approach it, right? Totally the right way to approach it. We, I've talked about our origin story a lot. We started in 2018 doing this podcast, not knowing if we would even feel the competitive

team in qualifying, right? To get an under 23 team to the World Cup to have them take the field against England with everybody in the country watching and to put on a fantastic display that is the story, right? That is for sure the story. To even be in a position to even be in a position where I can throw the wet blanket

on the last 10 minutes and the just the choice you know, the one sort of active choice to sort of call off the dogs even a little bit. I mean we were still in the 88th minute I think we still had Shaq Moore up on the edge of the box with runners attacking the goal in a corridor to pass the ball. It's not like we totally just gave up the the ghost here but you know there there were just it clearly was like if it comes it comes

but we're not going to urgently attack it to even be in that position huge victory not even just from four years ago from the start of the day like at the start of the day going into that england game if we were could be in a position uh to even have the choice to go for the goal that's a that's a huge huge performance yeah so my wet blanket is just that very is like okay but i just want to be a little bit greedy and really go for it and see that we're going for it to go for the win to add that extra half goal for Tuesday's game. But Nick is correct. The bar that I was at was absolutely packed to the brim.

It was crazy. Like the people working, uh, it was incredible to see these people like carrying like four beer at a time like through this maze of people pizzas and whatnot. Like it was crazy. Much respect to everyone that was working that day. I can hear the air quotes around working that day.

Well, I'm talking about specifically the, you know, bartenders and whatnot. Oh, I got you. Yes. But, yeah, the bar was packed. And everyone was just waiting for that explosion, man. Everyone was just waiting for that explosion, which never came. But, but, yeah, I mean, you know, it was jumping. You know, when we got Weston, you know, hitting the spin on Mason Mount, you know, lots of ooze and oz and whatnot.

And then also, you know, bells, I need for you to mail me some of those. scuff business cards because uh like i could have got Andrew Farrell on the pod who see he was he was in the bar but you know if i had a business card i would have approached him but i'll put him in the mail later today i have a lot of them but yeah but um for for the full the full circle part of it it's uh it like like it is it is nice to see because as i always remind everybody you know what i'm saying scuffed were the shepherds that led us through that led us through these times you know what I'm saying you you and you and Greg uh you know yeah y'all were the ones and and if y'all remember if if people that were there in 2018 19 remember you like like y'all were getting called crazy

you know what I'm saying for believing in these boys oh I blocked all that out was I called crazy oh I mean come on yeah But Greg, Greg, you probably remember. It was always just like, hey, guys, we've been here before. Welcome to the party. We have exciting players who are young who never actually end up playing professional soccer. Yeah, that was definitely part of it. It's not going to happen.

It's going to be, you know, I mean, whoever comes in, hopefully a couple of them, but it's going to be Michael Bradley. It's going to be, you know what I mean? Like it was through, even through half of 2019, it was like, you can't just rush these guys out. They're going to be a, there's going to be a key. The old guys are still going to be here. And you know who's the toast of the town for the U.S. right now? If you go and sample other podcasts from other countries and stuff.

Probably Timothy Allison Ream. No. Well, I mean, I think he's getting, I think he's getting his due. It's the midfield. It's Musa McKinney Adams. People are scared of our midfield. People are impressed with the dynamism of it. Oh, man.

There was a delicious repentance from Bobby Warshaw on Extra Time. just delicious oh man oh that's exactly like if anybody needs to repent or you know has it on their heart wants to come to the altar and you know be forgiven of your sins just make sure you listen to that last extra time episode recapping the England match and listen to bobby bobby warshawn the content it was all there it was all there before before we get into um the actual game tomorrow, which I want to do in some detail. There's a couple off the field things we have to do it. Hold on. Hold on, bells. I want to do one more piece because I just said that the whole

cycle would be for naught if we tie or lose to her on. And I'm talking sort of mostly about like the mainstream appraisal of the team and their performance. Because I just want to throw in there. I don't really think that. Like I know that over three games soccer can be cruel. And variance exists. and like I won't have if we play really well tomorrow and and somehow come up short against a good Iran team. I know I know they're like I was just saying you don't go for moral victories. But I also know that that can just happen in games. And so I'll just be like, yeah, man, that was we had a we had a really balanced group and

we came up a bit short and that's that's just how it works. So I just want to throw out my sort of John Mueller results don't actually, you don't, you don't, you don't, you shouldn't care about results take. Okay. I will obviously care emotionally, but I'll understand that like, yeah, sometimes that happens. And, you know, I won't be able to point to a lot of, like, key certain regrets that I would have about the way the team was positioned or, you know, the way we kind of tried to play. I'll maybe wonder if we could have done the last 25 minutes of whales differently. But mostly it's like the guys are, the best players are out there trying to be the best players.

Yeah. And they're good. They're good players. All right. Some unnamed person at U.S. soccer removed the key symbol from Iran's flag in some social media post, and it caused a fair amount of distraction it has. I did just drop an episode with Aria Alverdi from Golbizan. And I really tried to press him on like, how much does this affect the locker room for Iran? I mean, is it going to motivate them?

And I think his answer was pretty lukewarm. It's like some people are going to be upset. Some people are not. The main thing I was worried about is, like, is this bulletin board material. Right. And, well, it seems like it's not, right? Because it seems most of this team is united in their support of the protest, it seems. You talk to the...

They didn't sing the national anthem, the first game of the World Cup. Right, right. So, really, that's all I'm worried about. All this other stuff is just, like, small, minor distraction. And it's like, did we really? pump these dudes up to like, I don't know, do anything special or extra against us. And it seems like no. It seems like maybe some of them will be more actually even liked it, you know?

Yeah. Not saying unnamed social media person should have done it. I'm just saying some Iranian players are going to be supportive of the gesture, however meaningless it was. Yeah. And I mean, it definitely seems like an enforced error on our part. just like not going through the necessary channels to make sure we're we're good to do this but uh you know other than that it just is what it is and and it and it brought out this um did uh i like i guess this controversy brought the questions out for this press conference today you told me more about

the press conference i didn't see it okay oh bells oh bells it was a press conference i guess it was like more packed than usual right supposedly I haven't watched it or anything, but I'm just grabbing tweets from Charles Bome, mostly. So this tweet right here says Burrhalter and Adams now speaking. And in our Iranian journal, scolds Tyler Adams from mispronouncing Iran in his previous answer. Ask how he feels rep in a country where so many black people are discriminated against. Oh. Adams apologizes for pronunciation, says there's discrimination wherever you go.

One thing I've become aware of having lived abroad. We, the U.S., have continued to make progress. Education is super important as you just educated me. It's a process and as long as you see progress. That's the most important thing. That's my captain right there. Hey, like I hadn't really deeped it until I just read it, like really read it out loud. But yeah, that's a hell of an answer.

That's a hell of an answer. Education is important just as you have just educated me. It's a process. And as long as you see progress, that's the most important thing. Woo-hoo! That boy has been listening to some, uh, they're watching some Dr. Umar videos or something. That was very nice. And then so it continues, though.

It continues. And number one, you know what I'm saying? The idea that, you know, black people are going to be some, you know, first-class citizens in Iran. But, you know, that's neither here or there. Iranian journalists have asked Burr Hautea about the negative effects of inflation of inflation in his country, whether his nation is behind his team, whether he is aware that U.S. citizens are allowed to travel to Iran,

but vice versa, you are welcome in our country, but we are not in yours. And I just got to give a shout-out to. at dumb soccer on Twitter because he replied like I quote tweeted it with just like some fire emojis yeah and uh on the question about

inflation he said that Greg should have responded our supply chains need more verticality but yeah Greg Greg declined to really say anything about these these questions which is I mean of course

probably for the best yeah Greg are you declining to say anything about any of this stuff too well just would be fine I'll continue to focus on the soccer bit here and just say there's no way Iran any player on Iran was about to take this game lightly until they heard these

or until they saw our social media post you know what I mean like right one there's been animosity between Iran and the US for a while no and two it is effectively a World Cup knockout game. Like this is, I mean, it'd be like saying,

oh, we really gave Costa Rica bulletin board material for our World Cup Qualifier. Like Costa Rica don't need, you know, I mean, like they, they know how to play a World Cup knockout game, Aran do. So this is what they're going to be doing. This is not, we haven't added any motivation to what they're about to do. Yeah, you're probably right.

Yeah, for sure. For sure. It does make it more, it does make it spice here, though. And I kind of, I'm kind of, enjoying that. As long as FIFA doesn't ban the U.S. from international competition for 10 games as the Iranian Federation has requested. I mean, there's no two ways about it. My life is materially improved by those questions having been asked at that press conference today. So in that sense, in that sense, it's it was definitely worthwhile. It was Ernie. It's Ernie Stewart. Ernie Stewart loves you see him up there with his phone all the time. He loves this stuff. We go from this to

to probably the most feel good story of the World Cup from the U.S.S. National Team point of view. Airborne 69. Yeah. Airborne 69's Twitter feed. He's out there living his best life.

He's his best life. He's doing great. I love it. We got a picture with we got a picture with Triple G yesterday. I pick with Lucci. Another awesome coach

that helped West in his journey. We still have work to do, exclamation point. Yeah. We got pictures of, we got John McKinney selfies, we got pictures with Lucci, we got pictures of Weston.

He said, he has a picture of himself in front of a sign with Diego Maradona on it, and the caption is he lives in all true football fans. I mean, he's a global citizen, man. He just watched his son do,

just have an amazing game against England after kind of running out of steam against Wales like he's got to be he's got to be pumped for what Weston's going to do tomorrow. Yeah, he's got to be feeling good. He's got to be feeling real good.

And just, you know, just the overall amount of pride and whatnot that you would have just being in that position. Seeing your son out there doing his thing. The thing is he's been, he's been very low profile. John has up until this point.

I think that's what's so interesting about it. He's been, his Twitter feed has been pretty quiet for the last year. Since Nashville. Well, you know, there's been some stuff sprinkled in there. There's been some stuff sprinkled in there. Mostly snapbacks to people that are, you know, denigrating Wes's ability or fitness. Right. And just to piggyback off that point about the England performance.

This is why form It is a social construct It's just something to talk about You know what I'm saying Like you wouldn't have If you were just going by form You wouldn't have Banked on Weston having that game that he had

But you know he's just a good player And you put good players out there And let them do good things They'll figure it out if they are actually good Yeah You know who else is in that category is Harry McGuire. He's played really well.

He has three appearances for Manchester United this season so far. When I rewatched the game, that block on surge was very nice because he was twisted up, but the fact that he got that back foot down to block the shot, very impressive.

I got to give it to him. What else before we get into Iran? Anything else, guys? Hold on, let me just read this caption of his Burr-Hartre pick. But he starts it off hashtag the coach. He doesn't get enough credit for keeping the team 100% all in mentality in capital letters. Did he say mentality?

He did say mentality. Yes. I don't know if he meant it or not. He's excited. He's in guitar. You know what I'm saying? There's a few mistakes here and there. And it's funny because it's like the timeline of Airborne 69 to me really just discredit.

It's anything Eric Winnotta was talking about as far as the vibes within the team and the and the friction and whatnot. Just look at Airborne 69, boots on the ground, you know what I'm saying, doing some citizen journalism. What more can you say? What more can you say? The boys are ready to go. It is hard to square the two perspectives, Johns and Eric's. And then, well, just before we get to Iran real quick, I just want to talk about Christian Pulitzer getting padlocked by Harry Kane in the box. What do you mean? When did he get padlocked by Harry Kane? It was during that like 10 minute stretch where we had all those corners.

And I forgot what happened. It was a set piece. But the ball ended up with Christian Pulisic, 1V1 versus Harry Kane in the box. Christian tried to do a little something and Harry just tackled it right from him. Oh, I know. I see what you're saying. Yep. Straight took it.

Cookies. And it's like, bro, we worked the whole game to get to this. to get to this one point, this one moment. And for him just to be tackled by Harry Kane on a bad ankle, it just, it hurts my soul. It hurts my soul. I like doubled over in the bar. There was two times I doubled over when West had missed that chance and then here. Redemption's coming.

Vince, redemption for a pool of sick for everyone in the attacking third. It's coming tomorrow. Three zero, right? We need it. Yeah. I mean, I'm feeling real good about this game. I was down in the post match, like after England or whatever. But, yeah, I'm back.

There's no way we're losing. Well, there's no way we're not winning. Yeah, we got to win. So Iran, as you all know, they got drilled by England in the first game of the group, and then they beat Wales two to zero. Scored two goals in stoppage time at the end of the game. But they were knocking on the door throughout the game. The way they lined up against England, which probably is more relevant to how they're going to line up tomorrow, was in a 5-4-1.

And then against Wales, for the first 30 minutes of that game, they really sat back and tried to absorb pressure. England was just a little too good. And then against Wales, they were in a 4-33, and they did some pressing, but they did concede possession more or less to Wales. Wales had 62% possession. So they're going to be conceding possession to us, and it's going to be up to us to break them down. How do you guys want to get started here? Greg, how do you want to get started here?

Well, I kind of just want to say, everything we've talked about for the U.S. going into the Wales game, where we expect to see that 5-4-1, for me basically applies to this game as well. Like, I want to see us attack it the same way that I wanted us to attack whales, which is going to be like real courageous passing into the amoeba. And then where we kind of, kind of can't stop is it's not enough just to go into the amoeba and then have that player who

receives it, you know, very safely control it and then maintain, like focus on maintaining possession. Like the second step of passing it into the amoeba is usually going to be a very quick combination. And that's how we got our big chance against Wales was that ball into sergeant's chest that he, whether on purpose or accidentally, his first touch just went into Pulisic's path, who is now facing upfield and has like a run ahead of steam. And that's what I got.

That is basically for me how I want to see us do this. That's like the repeatable objective. We want to repeatedly get the ball into the amoeba and have players expecting that, prepared for it, and quickly moving off of the ball in like an choreographed fashion to then get them running downhill in between Iran's lines. Because that is the key is to not just go in the horseshoe of sadness around the edge of Iran's shape, but get in betwixt them and then quick combination and then start running in those seams.

So here's my doubt about that is when you watch that first 30 minutes against England, Iran's bank of five and bank of four are so tight to each other. I mean, they're like four yards apart. We're talking like a really, really difficult amoeba to play into. It's not going to be like that moment against Wales where they were a little bit more stretched. Don't you think? I mean, can we play into that tight of a you have to for me like you have to and that's that's where the courage comes from. Because if you don't, then you're just knocking around and then you're you're hooking it into the box against the set defense. You can go

around the outsides and I've got some screenshots in here as we're discussing of some of England's chances. You can go around to the outside. You can bring numbers out there to create your little triangles and to prevent getting totally overloaded, Iran's shape will have to shift out to you. So you can bring them out to the sideline. England 30 minutes in. Oh, one other thing I just want to throw in here since we're talking about it took England 30 minutes to break them down. I said something similar going into the England game. You also have to remember that in that first 30 minutes, Iran's starting goalkeeper was down on the ground getting treatment for like 15 of them. So it wasn't really Iran holding holding out really strongly for 30.

minutes. It was 15 minutes of soccer that Iran was kind of holding out for. I feel like that's, that's somewhat, uh, important context. Was it really 15 minutes? It was more like, I was about to say, what? Eight minutes. He was on the ground 15 minutes. Well, he was down twice. He was like, probably like eight or nine minutes the first time. And then another four or five, the first time. There's 15, there was 14 minutes of added time. Uh, that's true. So, so no, yeah, no exaggeration. That was, that was 12, like 10, 12 minutes of clock time. Uh, but, Anyway, like you can see England's success on their two best chances of that opening 35 minutes was, you know, dragging around a little bit side to side. And then, yes, eventually playing into the amoeba.

Their chance in the 29th minute came from a triangle that built out on the right sideline all the way to the sideline. But then it created a tiny, like almost microscopic opening to get the ball into Rahim Sterling's feet in the corner of the box. right and then when it goes in there Sterling has a like fraction of a second where the Iran amoeba is not organized yet and he finds Saka in behind Saka had to recognize

that space had to be attacked immediately as the entry pass was being made and he has to go or it won't matter you can go into the amoeba but all you'll be able to do is control the ball safely knock it back out and recirculate so that's what it's got to be it's got to be into the amoeba and then instantly

attack once you do that whether you maintain possession or not, we have to be brave enough and ready to instantly attack those entry passes. And so, like, I think the bravery is the, is the big thing here. The big thing. Because to me, in those first, I don't know, 25 minutes of Wales, you could see us pausing for a second, not one to play any pass that could be turned into a transition opportunity.

which really like looking at will since may or may not been smart because I don't know how big of a transition threat these old dudes really are but yeah we gotta we gotta be able to pump these balls in between the lines definitely less of a threat than Iran is yeah I think that so go ahead bills well that's I mean yeah bravery is the key issue because there's there's a there's definitely a risk here if um you know if we play the ball into the amoeba it gets cut out and And then all of a sudden, Mediterami, Holesadeh, and Sardar Asmoon are off to the races. That's how Iran is going to try to beat us in that way. And it's a little scary. So it is going to take bravery. Yeah, for sure. And I totally agree there needs to be that balance. Like you have to be running those calculations.

And earlier in the game, you can be more conservative as it gets later into the game, of course, if it's still zero zero. you know, more and more reckless effectively. Yeah. Well, Aria from the Gold Bazan podcast, he thinks they're going to run out a 451. So not the 541 that they had against England or the 433. It'll be a 451. He thinks, although nobody,

I guess nobody can really predict what Carlos Kiroche is going to do. A 451 with, that becomes a 4333 in possession. So to Remy probably on the wing. Osmoon up front, probably the same midfield they had against Wales, which would be, who is it? Azatollahi, Neurolai, and Hajisafi is the captain, and Izatollahi is sort of like the discount rate, buskets, and then Neurolai is sort of a hard man, high-energy guy. because they are going to be conscious of the MMA midfield and they're going to try to match it in some ways.

Well, real quick, I just want to, I want to talk about the MMA midfield. Please. Because I've seen some things, you know what I'm saying? Like we can't score goals with it, create chances with it, blah, blah, blah. So where do y'all fall on this? Oh, man.

I think we can score. So here's what I think. I think the MMA midfield is best set up. up to score goals by helping us take the ball away from the opponent, especially an opponent who wants to play with the ball and then run at them. I don't think we've seen enough to say that MMA can't score goals when we are forced to possess the ball and break the opponent down ourselves. Bills?

Try to try to answer more safely than that, Bels. Can they not score goals? No, I don't agree with that. I don't agree with the idea that they can. can't score goals. But I don't know. My problem with our attack is less the midfield and more, you know, the way our strikers have played or the way we have played to our strikers in these two games.

Yeah. And I thought there were a couple times where Tim Weill was a little tentative in the second half against England. And then I think, like you said, Pulisic, you know, he's faced up against Harry Kane and he doesn't beat him. I do think Polisic had a pretty good game against England. Yes. I don't know.

I get the idea, but like replacing one of our midfielders with Aronson or, with Aronson doesn't, I don't think that gives us anything in terms of scoring goals. And we lose a lot in other areas, which we've covered on this podcast many, many times. And then I just don't think, I just don't think Rayna's fit. So I don't, the way we're a good team right now, because of the MMA midfield. Like to the extent that we're a good team, it's because of them.

I don't, the rest is sort of academic for me. Yeah. That's probably where I, that's basically where I land. That's where I land. And the fact that it's like, the midfield in our,

in our, like, base attacking shape is like the band of three. So it's like, well, I don't know how much I can put on them. They're not part of the, They're not part of the front five, right? Like, I don't know. It's up to the, it's up to the five.

Like, for me, the midfield just acts as, you know, their territory winners. And they supply the front five with the ball. And, you know, there hasn't been really many issues with that. Right. Yeah. And one of the things we talked about going into this tournament was we really expected MMA to be the starting midfielder's because they set a very clear floor for our team. And there hadn't been a ton of time to check out what basically a geo-Rena could do if you add him into that mix because of Raina's injury status over the past year and a half.

So while like I think it's very possible that throwing in a Raina into that midfield could help. And you know, like Vince just said, our midfield turns into that three a lot of times in possession. it would require like fundamentally changing that too or at least a tweak in how we rotate into our shape and one of the things that we talked about before the whales game was maybe the possibility of reina defending in that midfield shape but then in possession he goes higher upfield and sergenio death steps into that line of three uh to be a very technical operator in there and rena and way i sort occupy the right half of the field in the advanced position yeah but but there's no there was just no time to test it out. And so I could, I could totally see us trying that if Raina has 30 minutes in him or,

you know, God willing, has like a whole game in him if he's hurt at all. And, but, but again, it seems unlikely we would try that to start the game off. And it would be more like, okay, we really need to get this goal we're chasing. What is, who's our best attacking option on the bench and how could we fit that player into the game? Right. Do you feel like you're hearing Hayes-Ferra's music for this game, Greg? I would, again, if Raina can't go or if Raina isn't going, I really do think one of those players should operate in that space, or I just want to see us make a more concerted effort to get the ball to Sergeant's feet

and to have those little layoffs off of Sergeant rehearsed. Because he can do it. He can do it. I don't see why he couldn't. He did very well with his chest. I mean, again, I wanted to pool sick. Well, he did. He had like four balls that we like fired into him belly button high that he like squatted

down, got his chest to. and controlled, you know, one way or the other. So I do think he can go in there and play that role. I think, I don't know if it's, he's, again, I don't know if it's a team-wide thing or if it's just a tendency thing that he was, he was getting on the ball less than I think a Jesus-Ferera or Giorina deployed in that space, even if he's not technically the striker. If he's the one occupying that central target player space, I think they would get the ball more often.

One other thing I wanted to mention is, you know, in that first 30 minutes, England did get, they did get some action by playing diagonally to the wing, whether it's an overlapping fullback or Saka or Sterling. Oh. And what's that? Well, I just want to say, I'm happy you brought that up, Bill's because I was thinking to myself, like, in order for me, like, we need at least like three or four switches in this match.

Yeah. Yeah, and it's not, I know it's not a high percentage way to attack, but, you know, you get one good ball from Tim Wea and on Josh Sargent's head. And we can go up one zero without really, you know, breaking down Iran the way we've been talking about for the last 15 minutes. I know it's, I know that's not the, you know, that's not the money ball way to do it. but we're going to do it a little bit at least, and I have a little bit of confidence that we can, you know, Eunice Musa could play the ball wide to weigh or something. He can take a touch to his right, whip a ball across.

We could steal a goal. And then the game changes. Then the game becomes like much more favorable for us in every way, you know. Yeah. And I don't want to say that we have to keep attacking. The only way we should attack is into that central position and then layoffs. really think that they all sort of click together, right? So if you can attack that central position more often and Iran have to collapse their shape more often to deny it, then those switches

start to be on more often, you know, and so it's all sort of is an active living organism. Yeah. Yeah. What, uh, what, so what, what, what, what kind of shape did we see, uh, Costa Rica home as far as like when we had them pinned in? Coast Rica at home, I'm pretty sure was like a four, two, three one. didn't do their sit back in a 5-4-1 block. They were actually more aggressive than I expected them to be and maybe more aggressive than they should have been. Yeah, okay.

Well, their coach got fired. The Sergenio Das Bangor, right, came from, like, us getting pressed all the way back to Stefan and Stefan having to play kind of like a shoddy ball out to Jedi on the sideline who was under pressure and we played through their pressure. But they were pressing us in that instance all the way up the field. Yeah. Iran, and by the way, Iran will press, probably press us a little bit. They'll pick some spots to do it.

They did that against England in the first 30 minutes. I'm talking like once or twice, and they did it against Wales more often. So, you know, maybe we can leverage that to our advantage when they try to press us. The once or twice, they do it in the first half. One or two times they do it in the first half. Man, I like, I remember that pass, man. And I was trying so hard to like to finagle it and to actually being a good pass. You know what I'm saying?

Like, because we were in the, we were trying to make Stefan work. Yeah. What a time. It got there. It got there. And we got what we needed out of it. Let me play. Go ahead.

Remember the number, the number five moment of the year of 2021, the Tim way of switch. they cause the whole they cause the goal to happen. Any new listeners should know that we did like our top 10 moments of the year or something like that and every single moment from Vince

was a Tim Wea play so this was almost a year ago that he's been the he provided us with the best moment of this World Cup so far. Sure did. Mm-hmm. Let me tell you, let me tell you

how Greg Burhalter is thinking about this. Iran's going to be a difficult game. It's going to be a difficult game. tough game, you're going to need the same focus, the same intensity. Trust me, it's going to be a difficult game. Trust me, it's going to be a difficult game. It felt like he had to sort of, he felt like he had to remind everybody that vigorously. I'm happy he did.

Me too. I mean, because it is. I mean, but, you know, when I think back on this cycle and, you know, every test of these boys have had for the most part we've we've come out we've come out we got a team full of fighters got a team full of bowlers we'll be all right yep yeah it's it could be it could be a really like a frustrating watching experience for sure because it's going to be like like you say those gaps in a ron's shape are so minuscule uh that it could be a lot of horseshoe you know what I mean like it could be horseshoe because you have to do the horseshoe while you're looking for that gap.

And we're going to be, you know, we're going to be anxious. Oh, yeah. But who knows? My heart, my heart's really pulling for that 90 seconds into the game and we somehow have West McKenney all the way through and scoring and everything after that turns into a party. It wouldn't be, it wouldn't, it wouldn't be unjust for something to bounce our way in the first five minutes. I think justice would be served. Man, that's what I care about is justice.

It would help, man, because if we get to about the 65th. Oh, no. Oh, man. That's going to be something. Yeah, it's still nil-nil or something. Oh, my God. I mean, do we trust? Do we trust, like, what do we do if we run out sort of the same lineup that we've run

out the past two games and it's 65 minutes in and we haven't scored yet? What's our attacking response to really go after it? It's just an all capital letters, G.O. Rainer, right? It would have to be. And throw, I mean, I mean, go ahead throw Brendan in there. I'm not going to say anybody else. They're going to come for me. But, yeah, man, we're, we're a little bit lighter on,

on some positions than you would think, I guess. Right. on attacking subs and if, you know, if we're bringing, if we're bringing on Shackmore for Serginio Dest at the 65th minute mark of a zero zero game, how are we, what does that do to your mood in, in the bar that you're watching it? It's a chance for, it'll be a chance for somebody to be a hero, but like I just keep thinking of who would I want to see on the sideline when the, when the camera cuts to it in the 65th minute of a zero zero game. You know what? There was a third time I doubled over and

that was when Shaq Moore didn't hit that cross first time. And I actually screamed out at the, I said, I said, play it first time, GD. It, I want to say it on the pot, but, huh? Did everybody look at you around? Well, I mean, it was, like, it was a rowdy bar, so it didn't, it didn't, you know, carry that much. I see. But, but the guy next to me was like, he's right. Man, I don't remember if we talked about this in the recap, but there was like an irony to me of, of Shaq Moore being the replacement and study Edlin this time.

where Yedlin against Wales had like six crosses, right, in his 20 minutes. And Shaq Moore had like a bunch of service opportunities. And I think of Shaq Moore is like our upgrade in service over DeAndre Yadland. It's a better crosser than Yedlin. Yeah. I mean, he's been doing that since we've been watching him at Tenerife. Those would be like the clips that would stand out. I'd be like, all right, well, he whips a dangerous ball in.

Yeah. But yeah, he just kept not doing it. And he kept going for the recirculate. Let me play. I don't have that much else to say about the game tomorrow, but let me play. I meant to play this Stephen Bateshore clip earlier. Let me play it right now. And so my curiosity goes to the tactical battle with the flanks, actually, with Timothy Wee and Polisich for the U.S. against Romine and Mulhamity.

I don't think they're going to go forward as much. At least, if I'm a coach, I'm telling them not to. but both like to go forward. Both of their personalities are to attack. You know, Bobback mentioned earlier. I think Romney played forward in a midfielder for his club team for so many games. And so now you're putting a lot of pressure on those guys to defend. The midfield, you tactically change it.

You know, first game, Iran went with 5-4-1. Maybe this game they go 4-2-3-1 and kind of congest that midfield. You have two holding mids. That might suit them a little better. They can also split out to the right side to the left side to help the fullbacks to double down on the wingers. So it's going to be a tactical battle. I just think it's interesting that he pinpointed the wing, the flanks as the sort of key thing. And maybe if Kerasch spends a lot of time worrying about that, he'll forget that we can play into the amoeba.

Well, because like he might, you know what I'm saying? This might have been a large decoy by Greg to get us to playing out there for that. these two games and then boom we're playing through the middle this next one who knows but this first time clipped balls over the top from Ferreira to Wea and Pulisic 3-0 by halftime

please what would you would you guys rather see Iran on a 4-2-3-1 or a 5-4-1 even if the 4-2-3-1 is basically a 4-5-1 uh I don't know I don't know So I would take a four-man backline over a five-man for sure. I think I'm the same. I feel like 5-4-1 invites the horseshoe,

and I feel like we're too happy to oblige in horseshoeing. So I'm hoping that a 4-5-1 actually would require us to find those interior pockets. Yeah, speaking of this, did you know this? How many times Jedi got pulled out of his spot against England? Yes, well, pulled out or like deciding, choosing to attack to the inside. Are you talking about defensively? Yeah, I'm talking about defense. Yeah.

Like him coming up, like I guess Christian was supposed to be there, but he was kind of like leaking out a little bit. And he kept having to come up to, you know, whoever the midfielder was or whatever. And they would play it right behind into his space. Happened like four or five times. And yeah, I don't know if I want to see the 4-42. It happened on the Harry Kane block.

right? Or where we block? Yes. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, they were very, and that's what I mean about the levels, right? About how quickly, uh, and in, in my mind, I bet this is just like obvious to players of those levels that like left fullback steps out of the space, immediately attack, you know, the, the gap to the outside of the left center back, like how quickly and efficiently they can pull it off. Um, it makes, it, it makes us more exciting when there's, when there's more, uh, when you're more likely to be punished from mistakes, just as a watching, a viewing experience. that's what's made this World Cup really great.

I'm just sitting here thinking about 451 versus 541, and I guess the way I think I agree with you guys, and the way I think about it is, if they, you know, if Wea and Musa on the right and then, or I guess it'd be Wea and McKinney on the right, and then Musa and Pulisick on the left, they see a little bit more space there in that corner. They are going to be more likely to attack it,

just psychologically. So I like that. Anything else, guys? Games at 2 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow. Everything to play for. How are you all watching? You have your watch plan set up? I'm going door to door in my neighborhood.

I'm going to door in my neighborhood, be like, hey, do you have your plan for how you're going to watch the soccer game on Tuesday? I'm thinking about going back to the same bar. But it's just the fact that like the small percentage of my mind that is like, if we don't do it, I'm just going to be like sad, like in public. And I don't want to be doing it. I don't want to do that. But, so it's more than likely I'm probably going to end up there. I'll be at home, probably. I think I'm doing, I got to do the full bar viewing experience to you. I was going to have people, I think, at my place to watch it. But just, I just feel like I have to be around a bunch of strangers just in case we have that.

Just in case there's the, the Algeria scenario. playing out. Like, I need to be around that energy. And if we don't, then I'll be like I was against Belgium in 2014 and I'll be sitting outside a bar on a curb with my head and my lap. Yep, but no need to worry. We're going to get it done. You got to risk it all. Yep. But seriously, though, I really do. Like, I don't know, the goodwill that's been built up with the, like, for me, with these kids. Like, I just, it's, it's hard for me to bet against them. It's hard for me to bet against them.

So, if Iran wants it, Iran, excuse me. Excuse me. I don't want them to get me. But they're going to have to take it from us. So, you know, like I talked about, last time we all were on here, this is what, this is what it's about. it's what it's about those emotions those feelings the uh you know the the the anticipation and the in the dread that comes with like every pass every time we pump it in between those

lines so bring it on the anticipation and the dread is a nice way to put it yeah yeah because if it were easy and it were a given then it wouldn't be fun right simple as that and and also have you watched any of uh holland A little bit. Yeah. They look in a little suspect. You're thinking ahead. You're thinking ahead here.

Quarterfinals. You know, you're just watching the tournament. You know, you can. But yeah, they're looking a little suspect. So if we're facing them in that round of 16, I feel, I feel all right. But let's let's get through this part first. Yeah. I'm keeping December 3rd open, Vince.

I'm not making any plans for December 3rd. I'm making sure that that date is free. For sure. Yeah, and that's the thing. It's like, yo, if we get to December 3rd, we got another opportunity, you know? I don't know if we're going to have 17 million people watching, but it should be a big amount. A weekend, you know what I'm saying? So, yeah.

I'm feeling quite good about tomorrow now. This is an ad-free podcast if you'd like to support that and get the Monday review every week and access to the Discord. and a bunch of other stuff, join the Patreon. The link is in the show notes. Thanks, everybody, for listening. We'll see ya.