Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #608: USMNT v Guatemala, Gold Cup Semifinal Recap

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

We get a satisfying brace from Diego Luna, and then we turtle up. Greg and Belz talk it through. Greg mostly blames the midfield for not getting control of the game after the opening 15 minutes. Full timeline. On to Mexico in Houston on Sunday.Clip notes for patrons coming later tonight.Send us a voicemail: www.speakpipe.com/ScuffedPodcast 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. Hey, everybody, we are on to the finals of the Gold Cup against Mexico. They eeked out a win last night as well. I mean, maybe that's a little unfair. Greg, how you doing? I'm doing great, bells. It's great to be back into a final, regional or otherwise. Absolutely, yeah.

Interesting game, right? We came out and looked like we were going to finally put the, together, this sort of comprehensive concordcaf destruction that I think we are all kind of hoping for. But then the crowd in St. Louis, hey, the Midwest can put up a crowd. Crowd of Guatemala fans in St. Louis rose to the occasion. And I think the players responded to that. They didn't sit down. They didn't give in. And I don't know. I mean, we still got some chances in the second half, but I would say basically from a minute 15 on. on, it was, we were scrambling a bit.

Yeah, I think scrambling a bit is pretty fair. And I think, you know, we didn't expect, we didn't expect to be scrambling too much in this game. If I can opt to being a little bit overconfident about how we would handle business. Yeah. You know, kind of thought that Guatemala had done us a favor competitively knocking Canada off and that we would, you know, sort of be able to coast through. And 15 minutes into this game, it definitely felt like that's what was going to happen.

It did. And then it didn't happen. It didn't happen. I'm curious, like, maybe it was all just emotional stuff that kept us from doing it. But we didn't. So there's plenty of good to talk about. Let's start with the lineups. Matt Freeze and goal.

It was his exact same lineup, actually, that we played in the game on Sunday. Freeze and goal. Alex Freeman, Chris Richards, Tim Rehm and Max Arfson across the back line. Adams and Burrhalter. as the two in, well, yeah, the two most deepest lying midfielders. And then Malik Tillman, Luca Dela Tore, and Diego Luna, the star of the night across that band of three. And then Ajamong, Pat, Ajamong, Big Pat at Stryker.

So I'm going to, Buzz, I'm going to jump in already. I'm still clocking it as a 4-2-3-1 in our defensive shape. But I still think it looks more like it's Adams and Luca as the two, and it's Burholter flashed out to the right. You're right. Yeah. And Malik centrally. And I do think we did defend in a 4-2-3-1 as our base shape,

rather than the 4-4-2 that we see a lot where Malik steps up high with Pat. So it looked like an attempt to actually go 4-2-3-1. And then in possession, sort of the 3-2-4-1, where again, just like last game, Tyler immediately dropping between the centerbacks and then the full-backs getting pretty high. are still higher than Freeman it looks like early okay yeah and Burrhalter to your point Burrhalter was doing a lot of defending out on the on the our right touchline um almost as much as Freeman was doing yeah there was there was a bit of confusion on that it seemed to be and and

some consternation uh from Adam's who I think I think also I think to Howard Adams really enjoys being consternated yeah he and I think another thing is we didn't have the backing of the fans on the night so maybe that's the excuse but we did look like we had some heavy legs especially in the second half

Adams, Luca, Berhalter even Luna I think but Potch is going to drive him into the ground man he's going to ride I think probably we'll see the same lineup on Sunday well hopefully hopefully what we were watching was energy conservation

like that's why that's why Guatemala was sort of leaning on us more because we're up to zero. It's hot. It's humid. We're just, we're just going to relax. Take it easy. Maybe.

Maybe it was the best move. Guatemala is in. I'm ready to be corrected, but I will call it a 4-4-2, at least in their defensive shape. So, Kenderson Navarro and goal, Aaron Herrera, the Royal Salt Lake, former Rayalsallis, Salt Lake current DC United player at right back, Jose Carlos Pinto, Nicolas Samayo, and and Jose Morales across the back line. And then Oscar Santis, Jose Rosales,

Stephen Robles, and Rudy Munoz across a band of four. And then Pedro Alton and Rubio Rubin, the two up front, at least in as they defended. Yeah, I think, I'm going with that. It just isn't the 4-4-2 that, you know, we all grew up with, all of us of a certain age, where it's a super clear 4-42. I think this is more of that more modern, like adaptive 442,

where based on our buildout shape, somebody from that middle band, the midfield band of four, will always kind of be stepped up. And it's not just like, okay, this is obviously the left winger and this is the right winger, and they're just, you know, acting symmetrically. It was more, remember our 4-4-2 back from the 2021 Nations League final, where we first busted out, busted out that adaptive 4-4-2 where, Serge famously was playing like left midfielder.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's just more like that in the modern time. So it's like they start to sort of mirror our buildout shape where they have sort of three high to kind of stand in front of our three deep as we build. Okay. So one of the three is made by one of the wide players coming up and joining the two up front. Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah, I don't, I didn't recall that off the top of my head. but we're both different, I think. A couple, before we get to the timeline,

some miscellaneous stuff, here's a Potch quote that producer Liz got for us, spotlighted for us. I think it's worth reading. Posh said, I saw players of Guatemala crying. That is the way that we need to feel, and our fans need to feel the same.

It's not to come here to enjoy the spectacle, and if you lose, nothing happens, ellipses. That is an important thing that we need to learn here in this country. Do we, do we, are we learning that? Bels, are you learning that right now? I don't think so. I think, yeah, if that's what we have to learn, I think it's going to be a long time

because, I mean, a few people in this country care as much about the national team as we do, and I haven't shed any tears with any of the losses. It's really, I feel like that's really the issue here is we are in this middle space. For Guatemala, this is a, this was a massive moment for them. Yeah.

And I don't want that to sound condescending. That win against Canada, like, I felt something watching Guatemala do that. Like, seeing them advance was awesome. And it wasn't entirely just because of Jesse Marsh being in the mud. Like, it was the Guatemala side was moving. Because, I mean, we're all American sports fans. Like, we love the Cinderella story. I mean, I think that's universal.

That's not the U.S.'s role in the Gold Cup. And it certainly isn't the U.S.'s role in the Gold Cup. since the advent of the Nationally, where we've directed more of our attention. Yeah. Or I guess you almost could say we've turned the Gold Cup into the U.S. throwing out its rag-tag misfits, who are trying to save the community center. But it doesn't feel that way for us as fans. Like we're not, we just aren't as we can kind of cheer the guys along

because they're all such sort of like fringe auditioning players. But this isn't where our national team investment lies. No, no. And even if it was, I just don't know if that level of sorrow is on tap for me for a loss, you know. And it's certainly not on tap for the, you know, a broad selection of the population. I really enjoyed Guatemala, you know. I think they, um, sometimes we beat teams in Concalf and it feels there's a little bit of shot in Freud for me, but not, not with Guatemala. Part of it, this isn't, this isn't why, but it's just an interesting fact. They're, um, you know, some of their, um, you know, some of their, um, some of their, best players grew up in the United States. Herrera. Ordonius was really a spark plug off the bench. He's the one who created that whole, he's created the goal by splitting all those defenders and then kind of handing it off to Escobar.

He grew up in Cincinnati and I guess plays in Moldova now. And then of course, who's the other one, Rubio Rubin, you know, who almost scored a few times. But yeah, I hope I would love to seek Guatemala and make the World Cup. I think that's still possible, right? Yeah, yeah. I hope they do. Pach said he took Tyler off because Tyler had been dealing with some hamstring tightness during the week. Just something to note.

And then some good news on the red card suspension thing, which Sanjay and I talked about in those little quick pregame episodes we dropped before the last two games. In fact, if you get a red card in the Gold Cup final, it does not carry over to the World Cup next summer. Interesting. It can be served during the next, or must be served during the next international friendly match. That's an announcement, or at what Concaf told, one soccer. So some relief there, I think. So that's the Schaffelberg rule now, right?

Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. They really want Schaffelberg in the tournament next summer. To the timeline. It was a sellout at Energizer Park in St. Louis, and the fans were what, I don't know, 80 percent rooting for Guatemala. It was the most exciting, intense environment. We've played in an all tournament.

And especially in the second half after they scored, man, the crowd was just going nuts. It's fun to hear that in a U.S. men's national team game, even if the fans are rooting for the other team. Anything. Anything to add that electricity, because, again, that 2021 Nation's League final comes to mind. Like, that was such an electric game. And of course, the volume was, you know, aimed at Mexico much more than the U.S. Same is going to be true on Sunday, but that's better than, I think it's better than the sort of half-empty stadium that we lost to Panama at in the Copa America and at the Nations League semifinals.

So that'll be fun, Sunday night against Mexico. I guess we already talked about the shapes. So let's get into it a little bit. First minute, Guatemala is pressing us. It's causing us some trouble. Freeze kind of plays a pass over to Richards that isn't particularly good. And then, you know, it just seems like we're struggling a little bit right off the bat with their press. I'm not blaming it entirely on any two players, but I still think just our midfield,

including Tyler, I guess, so three, that midfield in possession where you've got Tyler, Burrhalter, and Luca, they don't, they still don't feel like they're going to seize a game. And that's, that's, well, that's, that's kind of where my. going to quit some of the responsibility here on our inability to gain control of things. It's not all in them, but when you need the grownups to do something about it, like, that's who I wish would have done something about it. Yeah. Yeah, Burhalter is interesting because Potch loves him, it seems, at least loves him for now.

But he's a pretty limited player. I mean, like our, I mean, the thing you're talking about, but also, like, his set pieces were pretty bad in this game. That said, we still were able to have plenty of fluid movements in this game, certainly in the first 20 minutes. Yeah, we did. And I think I'll just skip straight to the goal because we did some stuff, some nice buildup.

We're not brilliant in the final third. But the goal comes in the fourth minute. So right about the 310 mark, we work it around the left side. Competently, Arfston finds Luna's feet from the touchline. you know, sort of partway in the amoeba, he turns and sort of drives toward the top of the box for a touch, and then clips a ball all the way over to Freeman on the other side. So on the right wing, Freeman patiently faces his guy up, but he doesn't hurry. And I like this, he doesn't hurry, he doesn't try to go to the end line and just whip it across, which I think is definitely a temptation in this situation.

He cuts it back for Tillman at the top of the box. Tillman tries sort of a shot, faint, Croif turn. You know, he had, it was majestic in his mind the way it was going to come off, but it, but it gets away from him. Goes right to Luca Deloiree, right at the, right on the line of the penalty area. And he tries from the edge of the box. And, you know, in his normal fashion, I think hits a pretty manageable shot right at the goalkeeper. But Luna darts in, darts in front of the nearest defender, takes a delicate touch with

his right foot. that touch with the right foot really gets me. That sets up the shot with his left foot. So it's just two quick touches. Right foot, left foot, side foot's it in, past the goalkeeper. 1-0. Good alertness, kind of playground invention from Luna with that first touch, I think. And it's 1-0.

Yeah. And it feels like a pretty goal, but then when you watch it again, you're like, it wasn't really that pretty of a goal, huh? But the Luna bit is good. And the technical skill there was really. necessary to get the to control the rebound and get the shot off before you get sort of smothered. So many ways to touch that ball with your right foot that don't set you up for a shot, you know?

But yeah, definitely, definitely like Luke ends up catching a stray here because he does hit a pretty weak shot. And it sort of was like also have been a bad rebound to give up because that's got to be, that's got to be handled a little bit better. But I love the Malik attempt because we talked about that in the last pod. on the Damien Downs chance where he had some defenders desperately diving in and stop it and we're like, Malik definitely pulls that back.

Embarrasses and he was trying to do that but he didn't quite get it right. No. I don't understand what's going on with Luca. I mean, like that, you know, you see shots like that all the time in Sunday league but when you're like a pro soccer player, you got a full head of steam,

a ball that's just kind of trickling right in front of you right at the edge of the box. You got to do a little better on that. I don't think he's catching a strife. I think he's catching a very thoughtful critique here. I mean, we get a picture of what it should look like when Guatemala knew the exact same thing in the second half, and their guy smashes it into the side of the net.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. It all goes in sometimes. Just not for Luca del Torre. Okay. Eighth minute, Big Pat chases down a ball on the channel

and wins it in a way that I don't think any of our strikers would. He's got some bad stuff in this game, too, but we got to kind of keep banging that drum of like, we play the ball in the channel. He gets there, you know, and he retains it for us. That is a valuable thing, and it seems like it'll be valuable, kind of regardless of competition. You may disagree with that a little bit, but. No, I don't, I think that can, will hold its value. I think the question will just continue to be whether the value that he adds

the overall, the balance of his value outweighs what somebody else is going to give us on their balance. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good question. And I think probably the answer is he doesn't give enough value, but I wouldn't be surprised if Pach disagrees with that. Ninth minute, nice combination up the left side, but Luna's through ball catches Pat unaware. He was kind of looking to backboard with Luna.

So Luna gets it in kind of the same area he got it before he clipped that ball over to Freeman. before his goal, but in this case, he tries to play the through ball. Pat thinks he wants to do like a one-two. Just another example of Pat not being the most seamless dance partner up there. Lots of tight little passing and protagonist from us on the left side off a throw-in around the 10-minute mark. This is where Tillman gets two bites of the apple. He kind of glides across the edge of the box and tries from 18 yards.

the shot is blocked by a defender like five yards away. Guatemala collects it at the top of the box, but Tillman just runs over and takes the ball from him, just mugs him right there, and then has the entire right side of the goal to shoot at, you know, if he can curl it around that defender in front of him, and he tries that and just misses the far post, swears theatrically in Spanish after he misses,

which is kind of interesting because he's a German-American living in the Netherlands. But he, you know, if he puts this on frame, it's a goal. Navarro's rooted to the spot. So still won zero. I think Tillman probably swears in the language of his opponents. I assume that that is always what he's going to do. That's got it. He kind of gets, he kind of gets rebites to the apple here because the whole sequence,

at least it doesn't start, but the sequence also includes him earlier, attempting a very forceful back heel to an overlapping Arston, I think, that sort of gets deflected straight out again by Guatemala, but right to us. and what I liked about this sequence was we didn't shy away from the crowd like we had a bunch of bodies there but again when two of the bodies there are your two best interior

players in Tillman and Luna keep the ball there and so that's what we do it it sprays out we collect it again and get it right back into Luna who has a nice little little Croy flick almost just barely glance it and keep it moving

vertically back to Tillman's feet to set up the chances yeah I mean Luna loves a leave flick. Just a little glance. Just get a little glance on it. 11th minute.

A quick restart for Guatemala. They settle a long pass at midfield and then spray it out wide to Oscar Santis. He shoots off Ream's leg out for a goal kick. But this is a little bit dangerous. And we can get away with one. It's on the goal kick right after the till and miss. And Arfston, like, positioning here is baffling to me. Because you look at the still shot,

like the kick is hit long. You can see our guys in the middle of the box getting ready to contest it. And Arstyn is like at the edge of the attacking third flared totally out on the sideline. Like he is he is in no business like he is in no position to defend anything and he's just walking back upfield. So this all happens really fast and Tim Ream is in the space that you kind of expect you're left back to eventually be in. But it's just Tim Ream by himself. And that's not a great position for us to be in. I don't think given his, birth date. Yeah.

38 years old, I think. Yeah, what's Arfson doing? Why isn't he getting back on a goal kick like this? It means, it's a goal kick. It feels like that's not even like a mistake. So I'm just curious what the positioning setup is here. We're trying to get some quick chances off of Guatemala goal kicks, maybe. Luna's really drifting around.

This is something Vince mentioned a few episodes back. picking the ball up deep and wide on both sides. In the 13th minute, he finds himself all the way on the right side, but he's on the left side for the next moment, as we'll see. So this is the right at the 14-minute mark. And one of the loveliest goals we've scored in a while, I think. Burrhalter, we have a throw-in, throw it to pat on our right side. He kind of, in a rare instance, loses it.

And then Burrhalter wins it back, you know, kind of crunches a guy on the touchline. It falls to Tillman. He croifs it back to Burrhalter, and Burrhalter passes it to Pat into the amoeba. Pat lays it off for Malik, and then he just takes a one-touch ripped pass out wide, left to Luna on the other side. He gathers it nicely, and then goes out a guy, a step over, cuts in on his right foot, sets his sights on the ball, and just slots it at the near post, a clean hit from the edge of the box. Two-zero. We're flying. Just nice slick play from all involved here.

Like everyone gets a chance to do something slick, which is great to see because we tend to have these kinds of moves with fringe players. It's going to die at somebody's feet, right? It's going to sort of die and fizzle. But this was just really good execution from five straight players. I think it was Morales that Luna beats, who, you know, had a pretty active game. Do you, I hesitate to ask this, but do you know what that dance was that Luna was doing?

I'm not the dance expert correspondent. Me neither. It was fun, though. I liked it. Okay, 19th minute. We got a Burrhalter giveaway at midfield where he just sort of passes it. He's trying to pass it out to Ream through a little window and it gets stabbed backwards by a Guatemalan defender. So, I don't know, these little giveaways, which I'm not going to, I'm making, I made clip notes or I'm working on clip notes.

I'm not going to put all of our giveaways in clip notes, but I'm going to mention a lot of them in this timeline. It's because this probably speaks to your point earlier about, like, when we keep giving it away in midfield, unnecessarily, it prevents us from getting control of the game. Or maybe allows Guatemala to get more control of the game. Yeah, I mean, Guatemala had a little buildup before that. 16th minute where they do just sort of Burrhalter us and just disorganize us with the ball they connect four or five passes at midfield

on the right side line get us kind of shifting and rotating and then eventually find a giant they basically draw Luca Dela Tore into no man's land and hit a guy in the pocket and just get to race on at us and they get a decent look at it is that the one where where

Santis crosses it for Morales and he kind of cuts in to shoot but then lays it off for Rosales and he, okay, and he hits that outside The shot that. Oh, yeah, shot just kind of tails over, tails wide. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A pretty good opportunity.

I regret the error and not mentioning it already. Yeah, this is just really good evidence early on that Guatemala is going to be a handful of the night. And they are. I didn't feel like that even at the time, though. It felt like, okay, you know, we had our two goals. We had Malik's chance at missed by inches. We think of ourselves as much better than Guatemala. So, like, they did get this shot. And I'm still just like, okay, good for Guam. That was a nice, that was a nice move from Guatemala. Let's, uh, let's focus and, in settle things and go score three

more goals and be up five at half time. Yeah. I guess I was probably thinking that way, too. It's a fascinating thing about soccer Because I would say Herrero was one of their standout players And he went to play for Guatemala Because he couldn't play He couldn't get into U.S. camps You know, he did get one cap at one point He played for the U23s

But he saw that he didn't have a future He's one of the better players for Guatemala So you'd think like we're so much better than them You know, our right He was like our seventh choice right back and now he's like a lot of written in Penn started. But that's not how soccer works somehow, you know? It's not, I mean, I guess sometimes it does work that way,

like when we play against Switzerland. But you can take, you know, you can have a collection of players who are on paper inferior and you can really give a game to just about anybody if you're together. If we were playing this game and Sergenio Dest was starting, then it would be like, yeah, you can see what. why Herrera decided that he wasn't going to break into the U.S. But when you have, you know, Freeman, who's got a professional season under his belt

and his backup is Harry L. Like, then you're like, man, we would take Herrera. I mean, we'd probably start Herrera at left back in this tournament. Right. He was one of our swingback options for qualifying. He was on that list. He could play right or left. Yeah.

Yeah, he seems like, yeah, he seems very, very good player, physically very up to enough, I think. So we're not, after that Burrhalter giveaway, Tillman wins it inside our half. At the 19-minute mark, backboards with Luna at midfield, tries to play Pat in behind, but Pat's offside.

That's one where they let it play, right? And Pat, to add to the sort of narrative that's following him right now, like misses the one-on-one, right? Misses a wide by a foot. Yeah. And I don't so much care. about that part. I know you probably don't either,

but what I don't think he's very comfortable with is like the timing of runs and like working off the back shoulder of a centerback, which we'll see more of later, I think. Yeah, that's for sure the case. We pointed out in one of the other games where his sort of last second movement is almost always, it's like it's all wrong. He's kind of always pirouetting the wrong way and then just unaware

that as he drifts forward, the savvy centerbacks are going to just like, see you later, buddy. like we're going to take we're going to lean forward and you're offside uh so that's definitely an issue i enjoy the the myth afterwards just because uh with everything else that's going on about his value i definitely want finishing discourse to to come back into the picture yeah i mean sure it will the finishing discourse is immortal um we're not playing super well we get a freeman giveaway in the 22nd minute just sloppy in the back uh rubio rubyne gets a show shot. It's blocked to Santis, and he kind of whiffs on it as it comes down, you know, straight

from a sky ball, as Waki would say, coming down right in front of him. 24th minute Big Pat wins a looping clearance from Freeman on the touchline, turns the guy, creates some danger out of nothing. I really appreciated this in the moment because it's like we're kind of pinned in our corner with Freeman, and he just kind of wax it forward, and suddenly it creates danger for us. And he gets fouled by the help defense and we have a set piece from a dangerous spot. Burrhalter wastes the free kick,

which he sort of did all night. I mean, he just kind of played it right into the goalkeeper's arms. Yeah, it was a good moment for Pat because the turn was really impressive. Like he gets fouled up by the first defender too. The first offender fouls him as he gets past and once he realizes he's passed him actually tries to grab him by the jersey. But with Big Pat, you got to wrap up.

Like you got to get down his knees and twist them down to the ground. You can't just grab a jersey. That's not going to work. So it's an impressive moment to like not even be able to be tactical fouled and to get through. And then the other guy does just have to come in and almost like clips him to keep borrowing the American football parlance. Just dives into the back of his legs. Yeah. Yeah, it was a what do you call that?

What's that penalty? Choblock, right? Yeah, job lock. Exactly. That's what it was. Tackle football. Guatemala got to work on their open field tackling too. 26 minute, another chance for Guatemala.

It's switched out to our right from Morales, and he flashes a ball through the box. Santis tries to head it on the bounce down into the goal, but it goes wide. Just more examples of Guatemala, not giving in. Yeah, and again, they're starting to build now. Now you're like, wait, Guatemala's been knocking in our third and not just a one-off mistake where one guy was racing downfield.

Like, they are building. things. Yeah. They get this ball out to a guy wide open in that left flank. And this is sort of the first sign of the issue between Freeman and Burrhalter, uh, where, you know,

they, Guatemala has it on their right flank. They do a big switch over to the left, you know, and you, as a camera pans over, you see Burrhalter and Freeman are both squeezed way in. And it's Burrhalter who gets assigned to run out and try to pressure this all the way at

the, uh, opposite sideline. And he's late there. And because of the angle he's taking, he's chasing backwards, you know, from the higher line, he doesn't deny the cross from Morales. Morales is able to sort of get,

not the full edge, but he gets enough of an edge to hit a crossover. Burhalter doesn't close it down soon enough. And the other thing going on here is Adams and Luca Deloire are both kind of guilty of ball watching on this one, where they're kind of stacked up the way they should be ahead of our centerbacks. But as that cross comes in, they both just sort of stand straight up and watch what happens,

which frustrates me as a goalkeeper. Yeah. And Arveston gets ghosted in on in the back post. It feels like that should be mentioned as well. Yeah, Arfston stays goal side of his man. So he didn't get totally ghosted in the sense that he just froze and the guy got popped behind him. He's still goal side of the time of the header. So nominally, he's taking away some portion of the goal if the header is on frame. Okay, okay. But he's not shoulder to shoulder with this guy. He's not disrupting anything. Okay. 28 minute mark Guatemala scores I mean it's chocked off

but they did put the ball in the back of the net So Rubio Rubin gets a clipped ball from Rosales The centerback It's actually a pretty nice pass here Clipped over Sort of through the back line He's called off for offside Because Arfston

Thank goodness Max leaned back Upfield at just the right moment And so he's off by a half step I'm relieved, but we are giving up more chances than I'd like. And it came on another right-to-left switch where they swung it back over this time. Freeman sort of met it there. But Burrholder does track back with Freeman, and then as a Guatemalan player just sets it back a line,

they get to hit an unopposed. Like, there's no pressure on this, right? Right. So I feel like that's suboptimal that he can just sort of hit this in, pick out his runner. again, especially I get nervous with Tim Reem back there. No, Ream's got all the experience. He's quite old, and I just don't want him to be

put in this position over and over again. Yeah. Yeah, Rosales had plenty of time to just kind of keep tapping the ball forward from just the edge of our defensive third before he clipped it, so yeah, no pressure at all. And I don't know that we ever solved that confusion with Burrhalter and Freeman as the game went on.

No, they get their goal off the similar thing with the guy just being able to pick out his entry path. Hydration break and then let's see, the 33-minute mark. Rubin beats Ream to a long ball down the channel. So again, Tim Ream getting put in situations that aren't optimal for him. And he kind of rips one outside of the boot from a tight angle and draws a kick save from freeze. the shot was off frame anyway, I think, but should freeze have come out for this? I don't have freeze on this one.

I think this is still RIM. And it's just like, in the moment you can be watching it, you probably don't, it doesn't look like RIM has done anything wrong because to see what would have been better, you'd have to see a faster player there. Like the right play is to be much faster.

And I just feel like that's how Riem gets beat on this. The guy's on side. Ream has an angle. and if he's faster, he gets to the spot first, cuts the guy off, and then can sort of just shield it out of bounds. We see that all the time. But because he's not, it doesn't look like he's done anything wrong, but he just gets beat to the spot.

And now he's, he's beat so badly. He's like wrong-sided as the guy's taking a shot. It's kind of like the CCV, Trinidad, away to Trinidad and Nations League when they get their first goal. And it's just CCV at least didn't end up totally wrong-sided. He was still able to try to disrupt. and the guy just hit the shot of his life. But here, Reem can't even get to where he can disrupt the play.

I mean, tries to get a little arm into the back, but it's tough sledding for a 38-year-old in this game. Yeah, and it's not like Rubio Rubin is some famous speed merchant either. There was some discussion, I think, between Frees and Ream about whether Freez should have come out. And Freeze does come out on the next ball that's played over the top just a few moments later. And it kind of, what, it's like squirts underneath him and goes out towards the end. end line and who goes and recovers it, maybe Arfston. But it was a bit of a mess, I think.

Yeah, it's a real mess. It's right on the corner kick from the last free save. We clear it. Adams clears it with like a karate kick. And he kind of just hits it high up into space, so it's really high up and gives both Adams and Malik time to like sprint after it to chase it down as it's floating back down to one Guatemalan player. So they're both going hard for some reason.

like we can turn this into something. This guy will screw this up. But they just don't coordinate very well. And they both like badly overpursued the middle of the field. I don't know what they thought the other person was going to do. But the Guatemal player then just takes a touch to the sideline. And they both, and Adams just race past him.

I don't know why it seems so funny to me. They both like go past him like, oh, I thought you were going to, no, I thought you were going to. And so he just are our defensive midfield. or has evacuated the middle of the field and Guatemala gets to hit another uncontested ball in over Tim Reams head. Yeah, okay.

And this time, Arston does lose his man. Like, Arston doesn't track his runner. He kind of just is like, well, Fries is coming and just stops. You're supposed to know that your keeper's coming, but, you know, again, disrupt the runner who's racing in. I couldn't tell because he never showed a replay because Guatemala gets another chance

within like 30 seconds that they concentrate on. But it's also really dangerous for Fries because if he catches the guy's ankles at all or shit, like, that's Ben. Yeah. And it was a little unclear, because you're right, we didn't get a C replay,

but it was a little unclear that he even touched the ball from, like, the real-time footage. But I guess he did. He must have, because he did take out the runner. I think it was Santis. So, you know, chance after chance.

I mean, none of them are like clear-cut, guilt-edged chances, but there's, Guatemala's putting a lot of pressure on. Nice. And 34-minute mark, they get a soft whistle for a free kick on our left side. Again, pings around at the top of the box for a while. Another big switch to our right, a free ball played into the box.

So they switch it over to Morales on the left, and he plays a free ball into the box. It skims over Rubin's head, just inches from being a good opportunity to shoot it on frame. So we're on the back foot. You might even say we're turtling. up a bit and we've completely lost control of the game. Yeah, and again, these are coming to rapid fire because when we get the ball, like we aren't doing anything to just control it. We're not taking the air out of it.

There's no sense of like, okay, let's gather, let's compose ourselves. Guatemala is not good enough to take the ball from us. Like these chances are just happening over and over and over for Guatemala. And again, they're not even really super dangerous chances. But it's just Guatemala filling our attacking third with numbers. on builds, and we aren't doing anything of the sort going the other way. Yeah. It's weird, because it's like we're up to zero.

It's not even halftime yet, and it feels, yeah, it feels like we don't have any control. And I wonder if that literally is the explanation. We're up to zero. We don't think Guatemala is that good. It's hot. And we're just kind of like, this is, we'll be fine. Just don't do anything stupid and give up a goal. Maybe.

I mean, botch said after the game, we were in control. We didn't concede too many actions. All the big chances for us. At 2-0, there's always the feeling you are in danger if you do not score a third, but we handled it very well. You know, you can kind of say whatever you want when you win. But it does kind of remind me a little bit of Burr-alter saying we were, after we lost 2-0 to Canada, saying we were, we dominant,

it was a dominant performance, I think. You got a lot of stick for that. let's see, um, 41st minute. You got anything more on those, on that flurry of chances? No.

No, I'm laughing in anticipation of this big, Pat event. It's, so this is the, this is like the most cinematic, uh, display of Pat's shortcomings in the game,

I think. 41st minute, uh, Burhalter makes a big tackle. I mean, it's kind of a loose pass from the back line of Guatemala into the middle. Burhalter tackles it away. puts Big Pat into space.

He's running into like a giant corridor straight to the goal. He's got a defender coming in on his right side, and then there's one ahead of him to the left. Luna's darting in behind that defender from the left, and Pat plays a pass to where Luna is at the moment instead of into the window where he is, instead of to the window where he's going. And of course the pass is behind him.

He doesn't try to slide it in for the through ball. I mean, I guess if you put two and two together, he's not real good at running off the backline, not real good at playing a pass to somebody running off the back line. But, I mean, Luna tracks it down, passes it back to Arfson, we get a free kick, but this is a really big missed opportunity because if he just slides it into that space behind the defender,

is that the right way to describe it? Slide it in from Pat's perspective in front of the defender. Yeah. Luna can run onto it. Right. Luna probably has a hat trick, and then maybe we do sort of cruise. to the end of this game.

Yeah, Runner goes on one side of the defender, pass goes to the other side of the defender. And it's, again, it's like, it's so naive. It's such a naive choice. Like, you see this when you're coaching players, just as they're starting to get, like, fast enough to recognize that their vast teammate is running behind someone. Like, don't play it to where they are now.

Yeah. That's not what you want it. Like, I get that you're trying to hit it in front of the defender's face, but you fix that so early. And it's just a it's it is a repetition thing, right? You fix it over a few repetitions. But it is it is pretty spectacularly naive and The optics of it are pretty horrendous

Yeah, like I genuinely don't know if Luna was going to get onto a proper throughball or if the defender did have like that angle cut off where the through ball would have to be But there's a honor room like Like if Malik has the ball there I'm expecting Luna to be running onto a through ball to goal. Yeah. And it's not just Malik who I would expect to hit that. No, Luca would hit that. I mean, Luca can't score, but he can hit that pass.

Yeah. At the very least, that should have been Luna arriving at a ball at the same time as Guatemala's goalkeeper, and it should have been like a really thrilling moment. Yeah. I back, you know, Luna's can be kind of messy, but I back him to do something cool, you know, if that ball gets played in there.

44th minute corner for Guatemala, and it's a free header for Morales at the top of the box, basically at the penalty area, penalty marker. And he just comes in late. Nobody really accounts for him. It goes right to freeze, thankfully. He saves it, but kind of spills it. And then there's a gold mouth scramble. It's pretty scary stuff, but then somebody was offside.

So I don't know about, I think our organization probably needs to be looked at. that when we're defending corner kicks, but also be nice if freeze could just hoover that up with his arms and be done with it. Yeah. Yeah, it's a reaction save, but yes, I would love if he had done more of the sort of the fall forward basket scoop. Yeah. Another chance for Guatemala.

Is this getting boring, everyone? 45th minute. Rubin cuts. So it's a little bit of a, they're building up the left side, and there's sort of a clipped ball into to Rubin's path on the left side, and he and Richards meet at the ball. Rubin cuts it inside with his left foot, past Richards, gets taken out by Richards. Richards. Richards gets a yellow later when the ref has a chance to sort of collect himself. But the ball carries through to Santis, who's running in front of Ream, and he tries to

curl one to the far post, hits it right at freeze, again, bibles it. But another good chance. I mean, not a great chance, but a good enough chance for Guatemala and a yellow for Richards. And this feels like it's such a different flow from Costa Rica. Like we tie Costa Rica to too, right? We get our goals. Costa Rica gets their goals. But Costa Rica get like nothing else besides their goals.

And their goals are on like kind of like gifts from Maxi. And this is the exact opposite. Like Guatemala is crafting danger. Not a lot of clear cut chance. But we've played in so many games We're like we give them nothing And then we give them a half at one half of a look And they score it

And it feels like that's our story sometimes And this is the opposite. Guatemala is getting half look after half look And just it's not falling for them. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's a little bit of that same old story It's okay Cockcaf team And we can't they can't really punish us.

So they showed this stat in the second half but for the first 15 minutes of the game, we just dominated possession and danger creation. I think it was like 70, 30 in possession. The last 30 minutes of the first half, it was 40% possession for us, 60% for Guatemala. And then the shots were 12 to 1 in favor of Guatemala in the last 30 minutes of the first half.

So we really, you know, we didn't do that thing where you go up to zero and then you, you know, put the nails in the car, often. We did the opposite. Right. The game after ours, Mexico against Honduras, Mexico up one zero, so it's tight. But Honduras don't get any shots, right? In Mexico against Saudi Arabia, where there, I think Saudi Arabia took one shot in the match in the group stage against Mexico. There is a different level of control. I think that Mexico has been exerting in its close wins that we did not

display yesterday. No. Yeah. And it's not like Mexico was just, you know, getting chance after chance after chance either but yeah they were Honduras had no shots in the game or no shots in the second after the goal no they might have had they put a couple of them together uh it was all like outside the box uh I mean they were it was not pretty Saudi Arabia I think had one shot in the entire match okay um no change so that's the half uh if you want to skip the ads join the Patreon link is in the show notes and you get the clip notes videos and the Monday reviews and all the episodes without ads.

We'll be back in a second. All right, we're back. Second half, no changes. We need to play better. Maybe we're just letting the crowd get to us. But we need to play better. 48th minute, we get a set piece from the left side because Luna scoops it into Arfston's path and he shields, gets pushed over.

Burhalter takes the free kick and it's, again, not good. Claimed by Navarro without anybody really getting a chance to attack it. Then he wins another foul just inside their half, and we waste another free kick. So, 53rd. You're ready for Burr Alter

not to take the set pieces against Mexico, right? Yes, yeah. I mean, you get a whole game and you don't provide any danger from your set pieces. And then Jack McGlynn comes in later in the game, and his first set piece is just a, is perfect, and we nearly score on it.

So, yeah. Arfston, in the 53rd minute, Arfston gets out in space, twice in a row. Shades of that, who was the game two games ago? Shades of the Haiti game where he just had all kinds of space out there. He, first time he hooks it through everybody, it's a decent ball, maybe Pat got his shirt tugged a little bit

to keep him from challenging for it. The second time he loses it trying to dribble inside. Not an attack, you're a juggernaut. No. But I will say, you know, we're going to keep hitting more of these. this does feel like we have responded in the second half. And again, I haven't noticed anything wildly different tactically. So it is almost just like we've chosen to be a little bit more of a soccer team.

Yeah. And not just let soccer happen at us. There wasn't any big tactical adjustment that you noticed in this idea? I didn't catch anything. Did you, I mean, was there anything that you were like, oh, we're getting, I mean, I honestly think with the group we have here, we're limited on what kind of wrinkles we can toss in, not because of their understanding of the game it's just because

like what else are you going to do with Pat? You know, what else are you going to what are you going to do with Burrhalter that he isn't already doing? Yeah, yeah. It basically be the change you could do would be like, Leak, go wherever the ball is and pick it up. Like kind of what we saw Geo Raina a year ago where it was like you're going to go drop in and be the six

on the ball to establish possession against Mexico. That would be like the only, I feel like, the only wrinkle kind of stuff available to us with this personnel. Malik, go be on the ball wherever you need to be to calm things down. I vote for that. I'm still voting for that. So 54th minute, a nice little Tillman moment where he headfakes on a ball,

like a ball ripped out to the left side, and he's defending a guy, and he head fakes to win a throw in. I like that kind of stuff. And then we quickly work it up through the right side, and Tillman tries through ball for Luna in behind, but Aaron Herrera makes a good play to intercept it. Just big brothers, Luna, and takes the ball. He almost gives it away to Pat in the ensuing moments, but he doesn't.

55-minute mark. Luca gets a yellow for a cynical shirt grab at midfield. I think not a bad choice in a vacuum. I did notice that we lost possession because of him in the moments before it. So we do this. Adams, you know, never, I don't think he quite took control of this game like he should have to your point earlier. But in this moment,

he does something really nice on the half turn, splits two guys in our defensive third, so I love to see that. And then he plays it over to Luna. Luna plays it to Luca in a pocket of space, but instead of coming to the ball, he hasn't checked his shoulder, he backs up like three steps,

and then a guy steps in front of him and takes it. And that's when Luca has to file the guy. So maybe Lucas just tired. I don't know. I just, I need more from him. That's really what it comes down to is whatever Luke is giving us, I think we were hoping Cardoso would give us that plus more. Yeah.

We don't get to see it. Luke, I mean, Cardoso didn't even dress for this game, I don't think. Ankle injury is the word. Yeah. I'm not saying it's not. I just ankle injury and also a multimillion dollar move to Adelaidego Madrid. Yeah. Yeah, he seems unlikely that we'll see him against Mexico, but who knows?

minute, 57th minute, Adams gives it away after a tough pass into Zone 14 from Burrhalter. This is maybe where you do want to avoid a crowd when you're passing into the area just above your own box. But Adams gets crunched between two guys and then gives it up and then they take a shot that gets deflected out for a corner. Just a little bit too messy from these guys. Brenda comes on for Luca, a little bit earlier sub than the other other. games in this tournament.

The broadcast was just going on and on about how we needed to get more subs in, more earlier in the game, and Potch just wasn't listening. You know? Wasn't listening. A little wrinkle here.

Brenda comes for Luca. Malik does drop. We just talked about. Malik drops in to be the band of two now in buildup with Erhalter and Luca and Brenda is now playing the 10 that Malik had been playing. Okay.

Nominally. I mean, there's obviously fluid movement, but that seemed to be the adjustment, which I welcome. I'd rather have Malik there than Brenda. Yeah, yeah. You mean because just in terms of like reliability and steadiness and that? Yes, just the ability to control the pitch. Yeah.

Yeah. Brenda did have the nice pass that we'll get to. I mean, it's a pretty nice pass, but boy, he doesn't look like much out there. does he not even against guatemala that's what it always comes back to he wins that foul you know he wins that foul right after he comes on where he gets the ball played into his feet with the guy on his back and you're like my first thought is as a spectator is well it's like maybe he'll turn him you know maybe he'll take a touch this way or that way and like eliminate the guy absolutely no chance of that no chance of that He's going to get bundled over and it's just hope that the ref blows the whistle.

We're passing around mostly in their half, I think, at this point in the game, and it does seem like maybe we've weathered the storm, but there was another twist in store. No, but you're totally right. And then we're going to create a bunch of chances here. It feels like not only we weathered it, but we're about to finally put the nail in. Yeah, trio of chances in the 61st, 64th, and 67th minutes. So the 61st minute one, Ream finds Tillman in a pocket of space. He sends Freeman down the right wing, and he plays it inside to Brenda. His first touch is too heavy, but he races over to recover it, taps it back out to Freeman,

and Freeman curls it into the box. For Pat, Pat out jumps everybody, hits it hard on frame with his head right above the keeper's head, and he tips it over the bar. I guess the part that it was really nice about this was Ream to Tilton. to Freeman to kick it all off. I don't know if I emphasized that enough, but it was pretty slick. Yeah, that looked good.

And then Brenda, got to give him some credit here. It first touches heavy, but as he gets to it, he absorbs some contact. Brendan, like, takes a bump and extends the play. And it's a really good chance

that we end up getting. And now we're into the finishing discourse because when you're already frustrated with a guy for some of the stuff he's doing and then he doesn't convert the chance, it's easy to just have that be a cute. accumulated frustration rather than some schools of thought, which would separate these out and say, that's a really good chance. This is what we need from Pat.

So that's a positive moment. We can let listeners try to figure out which side everyone falls on. I feel like I'd love to see him put it on frame. I mean, to put it in the goal, of course. But when I see that chance, I'm like, I don't know if, do you think Sergeant gets up and gets ahead on that? that way? I mean, I don't know. It just feels like it feels like Pat creates the opportunity with his size and strength and a little bit.

And I don't know if he, I don't know. I wish he would put it in, but. I mean, he goes to the replay. Yeah, they go to the replay and you see the Guatemala player just have the center, I mean, their center back just has to like flail at him just in his direction and doesn't him off barely at all. And that's, again, that's sort of the value of big pad is usually, again, the math is flipped. And a striker almost will jump up symbolically to be like, I'm going to challenge for this.

Yeah. But it's the opposite. Like the centerback is like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. I'm just going to try to like try to nudge him a little bit. And he barely like even registers. And it's a, it takes a really good save. And again, if your thought is like he needs to score that, then we're just coming at it from different places. That for me is a big pat positive moment.

And it's a good moment for the whole team. Yeah. That's how I looked at it. He misses another chance in the 64th minute. Arston sends it up the line for Luna. Great first touch to pluck it out of the air. Squares it for Brenda. Brenda plays pad in.

Upon replay, he is on side, I believe. And he's one-on-one with the keeper. He tries to slide it under him. And it's saved. Maybe could have a round of the keeper. but I feel like the thing here is he still looks pretty uncertain running off the shoulder of that centerback. It's like with him and there's nothing like fluid about that whole sequence. I mean, Brenda's kind of like, Brenda kind of hesitates for a second before he plays the pass.

Pat, I don't know, he's not, it's not all in rhythm. Still, you know, the kind of chance where you would like to score. Yes. I think that goes without saying. And it is just like going to keep adding. to Pat's lore. I still have no idea if that lore will extend me on this tournament because Pocitino is full of surprises.

Yeah. Pat's starting on Sunday, for sure. I'm pretty sure of that. What happens in October, I have no idea. Right. Oh, and we didn't discuss. But after the keeper makes the first save again, adding, the real exclamation mark on the lore is fat's attempt to score on now the empty net.

Yeah, he flashes it. None of it's easy, but he did kick it. His shot from a tight angle was far enough off that it didn't even hit the side netting. He just went behind the goal. So, you know, good four yards off the post. And then he gets another chance in the 67th minute. Long ball from Ream, chest high. Luna jumps at it and leaves it as he likes to do.

Pat gets it on the turn. He goes at the center back and tries to finish with, gets past him, tries to finish with his right foot, open up and finish with his right foot, blocked by a sliding challenge from the inside. When he received it in the center, near the center circle, he had Aronson running in a seam behind him, but he never saw him.

He also had Brenda in the box once he beat the first guy for a little, you know, just a little nudge it over to him. but he didn't try for that either. I mean, he was, I think he was in the mode where, like, he's like, I got to score. Like, I've missed some chances I've got to score now. And he didn't. And to be fair to him at the last moment, the pass to Brenda is just as blocked by the sliding player as the shot ends up being because the angle the defender took, which was well played.

But all this again just adds to because it's piling up on all these other misses. for a lot of people it's going to feel like a negative, whereas I'm watching him collect this pass from midfield and get beyond the immediate defender into a position where he can shoot and it takes a desperation block from a second defender at the last second. And I don't necessarily mark this is a negative play for Pat. Yeah.

Like whatsoever. Like this is probably a positive moment. And again, on the heels of these other chances we're getting, it feels like Guatemala are done for. Yeah, it does. It does. Luna gives it away in our half, 69th minute,

by missing Arfston with a pass from the left sideline into the middle of the field, and there's a bit of a surge from Guatemala. Reem makes a good play to shield Rubin from his own touch when the ball comes in from the left for him. I'm not going to put,

like I said, I'm not going to put all the giveaways in the clip notes, but I'm going to mention some there, some here. 73th minute, Luna's wasteful again, running to flick a bouncing pass. He has Neronson running along the wing to his left.

left as he's coming back to the ball and he just misses it, you know, misses the chance to redirect it wide for Brenda. Ordonez does Freeman. That's the Cincinnati kid who plays in Moldova, does Freeman and zips a ball across the six for freeze to claim. I did put this one in clip notes. It's 74th minute. Arfston, there's a ball from Ream all the way up to Ajamong and he's got it on his back.

I mean, he's got the defender on his back. He's got the ball back to goal. and Arfson just kind of jogs like right at him. You know, he doesn't make a darting run to the inside. He doesn't really make a run to the outside to give him space to like play him. He's just kind of like running right into the two of them. And I've just thought, man, how, you know, we've got to learn to play off of Pat here a little bit. Do a little, like do something thoughtful with your movement.

It really looks like he's lost focus. Like Arston has lost focus that he's the player next to him. a teammate on the field with Pat. It's just like out for a jog. I know I clocked this sequence too just because before the long ball up to Pat, like it just looked like our midfield again aren't really doing much to help the guys in the back, Ream and Richards to be by being available.

And then again, it's just so what is so available is just like, oh, whatever. We'll just loft the ball into the general space of Pat between him and the sideline. And then we gain our 60 yards. that way. Which is really useful. I know we've said it, we've said it like a hundred times in the last two weeks,

but I mean, I could see that, I could see us scoring goals off of that against Mexico or like getting ourselves some breathing room when Mexico's all got us under the kosh. So I like it. Yeah, and it's almost like once you're in a full buildup

where the other team set, like this almost becomes a better way to get the ball to Pat than passing, even if you successfully pass into the midfield, trying to hit Pat on the through ball has been like hilariously not on where it's just like

comically like all the all the pieces are going the wrong way everyone ends up on the wrong page I thought you're going to go this way so I hit the so like this is the ball that just seems to be all reliable that we don't have to do any work for

you just just float it up there curl it toward up to the sideline and let Pat just do his thing now again Guatemala are giving a little more space because they're down two goals in the 75th minute but it is just like man this is a pretty good short cut to have if we use it. It does feel like that's his most comfortable mode,

like chasing a lumped ball down and winning control of it. Broadcast, again, really stressing that Potts should be making subs, and he's not doing it, but then he does. Subs, Luna and Adams off for McGlynn and Tolkien. Are those the subs that you thought they were clamoring for? I don't know. I don't it's a little strange but all as well that ends well 79th minute big pat holds it up again but then he passes it way back through our

lines to a Guatemalan attacker now this this one I blame Pat of course but I also blame I blame the receivers of the passes on some of these giveaways where like there's a window to pass into and you've got to be on your toes you've got to be moving in you got to be moving with the window in these situations and it does feel like Brawaters, I think it was Brawinter he was passing to in this case, just a little not alert enough. But I guess that's a little subjective.

I'm not buying it, I'm not buying it. I'm saying this ball just came off the wrong surface of Pat's foot that Pat wasn't trying to use to hit the pad. Really? Like he just kind of like poked it and it was like, oh wait, that wasn't the inside of my foot that I usually pass away. That caught my, like, accidentally toe poked it.

Well, he does look tired and he comes off shortly. But first, Guatemala scores in the 80th minute. It's a good entry pass from the left side to Escobar. Was it after another big switch over to Morales? No, it was pretty lazy. It was sort of a lazy ball shift. And this was at fatigue kind of playing in. Like they're working it around and we're sitting in a pretty deep block at this point.

and that can be like helping us a little bit by just kind of you know putting a little pressure on from the back to at least disrupt things and he just isn't really going to do it and and I get it it's not the end of the world to not be making that pressure but it's one of those where it like it comes back to where you feel like ah if Pat had done a little bit more and that's how it always is right if this if if anybody had just done a little bit more in the moment uh Guatemala probably don't get this chance Yeah. Well, it's, it's, Escobar lays it off for Odhontes, and then he, he's in a crowd, but he splits, he doesn't, he does really well here. He splits Brenda and Burrhalter on the dribble and then cuts in. Freeman just kind of passes him off to Richards. And crucially, Escobar is kind of running alongside Ordoniaz here. So when Richards kind of comes to meet Ordoniaz, he just kind of,

lets the ball run over to Escobar, and there's nobody, there's nobody on Escobar. And he just, I mean, it's all kind of bang, bang, a little bit scrambly. But Escobar slides, puts it in at the far post, freeze doesn't have a chance. And the crowd goes nuts, and it's 2-1. Yeah, this is a, the, the Burrhalter-Arensen collision is kind of the moment for me where, where the levee breaks. Yeah, I mean, there's still. tons to do and it's still a little, like a lot unlucky.

But man, like throughout the game, it has felt like we don't have a bunch of guys who just sort of deal with these situations. Like, Guatemala sent a ton of balls into the box. And a lot of times, we didn't really deal with it. It just sort of bounced out of bound, it bounced into nothingness on its own. Or, you know, their header trickles wide or whatever. Or they whiff on a header, whiff on their volley attempt. But they had it.

And they just kind of self-fizzled. we don't deal with the danger very well. And that was fully on display here, where Burrhalter and Bredo literally here to double team and they both let the guy go through. It's just like Luca De La Torre and Arsting getting split in the last.

Yeah, yeah. Like either of you can prevent him from advancing to the goal and neither of you do it. And then it gets a little odd because of the sort of police escort the guy has going with him. Like he gets to, it's like a relay,

as he's approaching Freeman and Richards where it's like we deal with him and right as we deal with him he just tosses a baton over to the other guy to score. That's a triple option. It's a triple option, maybe. So yeah, so Guatemala

I've read the end and got it to the right guy. And I'm not even holding Ream responsible because he's tracking the third man, the third option in this downfield correctly, I think. Maybe he could have been on the other guy's shoulder, but that's real nitpicky.

and it's just a really good finish. Yeah, I mean, we have like, what, one, two, three, four. We have eight people back in our defensive third. It's not like we're just caught, you know, upfield or something. So sometimes things happen like that. And yes, Burrhalter and Brenda, they can't get roasted like that. But Guatemala were good for it. Like, yeah, we can say this was a lot lucky.

Or, I mean, not even a lot lucky. This was a little bit fortunate with the way it played out. Yeah. But they'd had enough half chances, Corey, like that this is, their goals earned. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. We get our first good set piece of the game from McGlynn in the 83rd minute.

It goes just past Pat's head. And I think Freeman tries to bundle it in behind everybody, but it goes right to the keeper. And then from then on, we're just defending for dear life. Downs comes on for Pat and Zimmerman comes on for Arfston. Speaking of dealing with it, I mean, Zimmerman's header at the very end, that was one where we did deal with the danger. You know, he just headed away with authority. And that was the final whistle. Zimmerman is the guy for that.

Penalty notwithstanding against Wales. Like that guy is in there to just deal with danger and not butt's about. Yeah. Zimmerman, you know, we had Zimmerman on the show a few weeks ago and he said, you know, he doesn't feel, he doesn't, he doesn't He doesn't think about that very much at all. I loved it. Ran right off him, right? Yeah.

I didn't see him. Step through. Yeah. Happens. You got to make a play? I didn't see him. It's smart of him to put his foot in there. I couldn't argue with him.

I mean, I definitely wasn't going to argue with him. He was a big dude. 90th minute Morales lumps it in again. This is a nervous moment because John Tolkien, you know, the scientist, he lays a header down into the space behind the penalty spot for anybody passing by. And it was a little tricky, you know, it bounces right before he gets to him, but then he just kind of cushion-headers it right to the penalty marker. And there's a guy, I forget who it was, the guy for Guatemala, like, winding up,

he's going to have a big hit there. But Burrhalter darts in and takes it before the guy can have a volley and then hooks it away. Dealt with it. He dealt with it. Yeah, thank you, Sebastian. And then the final big chance of the game for Guatemala was in the 92nd minute. Herrera does really well to be. Brendan and Malik

and then you know shifts it over to Santis and he just switches it vigorously over to the left side Morales kind of like the Luna goal a little bit cuts in on his right has a good shot at the near post it's saved by freeze maybe he was going to hit the post anyway

but he gets over well for it and that's it so now we here we are bells we're set up to see whether this team is going to be 2021 backup beating Gold Cup or 2009

beating gold cup and man where are you falling on it are we going to get beat 4-0 by Mexico I

boy I don't know I think anything is possible really I mean like I guess the way I think about it is Malik

Malik is such a good player that he could he could go off and score like two goals just because of his brilliance, and then we could, like, we could run away with it. I do not think that's the most likely outcome. Probably more likely that we get schooled a little bit.

What do you think? Man, I feel like we're closer to the 2009 crew, the way that some of these games have played out. And it's mostly because we're not really airtight in the back. to that end I'm actually hoping that Potch just throws a total wild card in it and just goes with three centerbacks I'm not usually the three center back like

yeah let's try but I feel like for this this one we don't have wingers we don't have wingers anyway so just we're not we're not dropping a winger to use a wing back Arston's already the width Freeman's already the width just go with toss Zimmerman in there to deal with

stuff and go with the three back there I like that. You can drop Luca or SEP or Burralter. Drop either one. Run the other guy next to Tyler. Yeah.

Okay. I'm sold. Is, is, uh, is it likely? Is he just going to do the same thing over again? Um, I'm, I mean, I wasn't sure if you'd run it back last time. I'm, you know, thinking maybe Tolkien's the guy now, give us some solidity defensively. Um, but. it sure seems like he likes his guys that he likes right now.

Yeah. It would be fascinating if Tolkien gets to start. I mean, I think Tolkien is a more reliable defender than Arstyn. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that. So, yeah, we'll recap that game on Tuesday, I think. That's the plan right now anyway. Because we won't have the time crunch. And anything else from you, Greg?

No, we're good, man. This is a... I love the amount of time we're investing in the B-Team Gold Cups. Well, anybody... You know, Luna on the broadcast, Fox was really trying to make a big deal out of Luna. I mean, he did score two goals, so it's not hard to make a big deal. But they were, you know, saying, like, Lennon-Donovan said, a star was born. You know, lots of talk like that.

Is your opinion of Luna changed at all by it? the ball going in off his foot a couple times? No, I mean, and even if he'd put in like an absolute incredible performance, like again, respectfully, we're talking about Guatemala here in a game in the U.S. So whatever the fan split is, this is a gold cup group stage game

that just happens to be a gold cup semi-final. So no one's like, there are some fun things in the narrative about this U.S. team really capturing the imagination of people on this run and like getting the fans back. I'm not sure if that's happening or not. But it could also be right. Well, I'm not particularly moved by it. It could be right because that's kind of how fans work.

But it kind of like in my mind goes to show how irrelevant it sort of all is. Like everyone, we're making big deals about, you know, we've lost the fan base or whatever. The fan base is always going to be for U.S. soccer on the men's side is always going to be small until the World Cup. And if people can, like, jump on for this team in this three-week tournament against these teams, like, of course, if we do well in the World Cup, that is all that will matter to the, to building fan momentum. Yeah. Like, you can do it in that short of a time. So, like, oh, we're a year out and we don't have the fans invested. The fans are going to get invested as soon as we play in the round of 32, presuming we can make it to the round of 32.

They'll be in because that's usually how U.S. fans work. Yeah. They'll be packing into the bars and everything. It is, I do wonder, you know, Alexei Lala said if he had a dollar for every time somebody said that Diego Luna was exactly the kind of player that they've been hoping to see from the U.S. He would be a very rich man. And I'm like, I think there's a little bit of cap there. But it would be interesting. I do wonder if like people are watching Diego Luna, this kind of truck driver looking dude with neck tattoos.

And they're like, that's my guy. You know, that's the, now I'm back in. I mean, maybe that is happening. I kind of hope it is, you know, it'd be cool. All right, hey, thanks everybody for listening. Thanks, Greg. We'll see you.