SoccerWise - Olympic Men's Post-Game

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

Gass gives the live reaction show to the US's 3-0 loss to hosts France to open Olympic play. Right before heading to the MLS all-star game he gives his thoughts on what we saw and what could change for next match.Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

that is the theme song this is the podcast we are going to do it live after every single u.s men's and women's olympic game i'm very excited about the women's shows we're going to be doing of course i have been hosting with jordan and jul single Wednesday to talk NWSL. Jordan doing a ton of work here for the Olympics as I try and make my picture a little bit better for all of you. So we're going to have a new co-host alongside us as well. I'm going to be working with Casey White, longtime coach in the U.S. soccer ranks, and of course, a great player in her time as well working as a broadcaster right now covering NWSL week in and week out. So I'm very excited about that. And I hope that our first show on that side of things goes a little bit better is a little bit more fun

than our first show on this side of things. Not the performance you would like to see for this U.S. men's group. I thought the first half was really good. I think it's weird to be forced to come on here and say this, but the second half clearly was not. So a tough performance for this group, a tough performance for this team, and shout-out to everyone in here watching alongside and shout out to everyone listening as well. As I said, we are going to do this for every single game going forward. Let's start at the beginning. We have our depth charts that are available for

you in our Patreon subscription services. We have them for every MLS and WSL team, as well as the U.S. women's and the U.S. men's national team and this Olympic side. Myself, Charlie, and Tom were all testing ourselves to see how close we could get to the starting lineup because there were some, it felt like, round holes, square pegs type situations. There's not a ton of depth in this team and not a ton of choices. We got everything but one move correct. That one move was Georgi Mihailovich starting and Paxton Aronson starting as well on the left side. And I will get into my thoughts about those two decisions as we go forward. The U.S., of course, facing off against a top-notch France team facing off against the hosts, facing off against Thierry Henry's side, facing off against a team being led from the front by Alexander Lacazette,

one of the best players over the last 10 years at that position and still doing big things for Lyon right now in Ligue 1. And so the U.S. sort of entered into as tough a situation as you can to start this competition. And I thought the first half, as I said, was very, very good. I thought the U.S. was clean in their lines defensively. I thought when they sat in in a deeper block to avoid things, they didn't get stuck there for too long.

So whether it was having friends take a shot and then getting a little bit of possession, whether it was extending their lines and pushing the ball a little bit higher up the field, being able to pick their back line up a little bit higher and not sit in Patrick Schulte's lap. I thought there was some good moments over the course of that first half, and then you add into that some good possession moments, some clean play out from the back, a few different things that this team was able to do to be able to find their feet.

And so I thought they battled. They had some big opportunities. I'd argue they had the better looks in that first half. So I think it was going into halftime exactly what you would want going forward. There was a few moments where the team was a little disconnected, especially in some attacking moments. There's one where Paxton Aronson goes and pressures the goalkeeper, forces an awkward pass lofted over his head. Paredes not on the same line as him, not ready to close down. That's a

half chance opportunity in the game on the road. Another set piece taken long to Duncan McGuire. He flicks it on. George Amahalovic not making the run, not aware. So there's things like that that happened in that first half where you say the team, as much as they've done camps over the last year to try and create the Olympic team, George Mihailovich was not a part of those groups. Not everyone traveled to be a part of those teams. The European camp was a little bit more European heavy. The North American one was a little bit more MLS heavy. So overall, I think you come out of that halftime, you feel pretty good about the team. The best chance of that first half, Nathan Harriot gets it played out to him on a long ball.

His first touch pops it up. He takes a second touch cleanly to Busio, comes in field, picks it up, switches it wide to Paxson Aronson. I thought there Aronson should have laid it off first time into the path of Mihailovic making an underlapping run in the channel. Instead, Paxton takes his touch, comes inside the really clean second touch, and gets a good strike on it, forces an awkward save from the keeper. And at that point, I thought that was the best chance of the half, and so the U.S. has to feel pretty good coming into the second half.

Then you get a set piece in the opening moments of the second half, you get another good look at things. And then the game settled in. And at that point, between these two sides, I don't think there was a ton of difference. Take a look at the stats. Very similar, especially for a team like the US playing on the road, didn't get XG from this game because I don't know that people take XG or record XG on Olympic games, but the U.S. had more big chances. As many shots on goal was just below France in terms of possession.

And so a lot of positives in there. Buccio, Tessman, Mihailovic, the central midfield. I don't know that I love that as a pure pairing. I don't know that I love Georgian Mihailovic being a 10 in this group. When you watch with the Colorado Rapids, when you watch with Montreal, he plays as a 10 at times, but he does his best work in the left channel. He doesn't really control the game and dictate things and it probably wasn't going to happen a ton in this game but they weren't able to play through him or bucio and relieve pressure for large stretches of time for most of this game and then the pressure building aaron's in a little bit of a mistake in possession that leads to uh france picking it up going the other side of the field and i thought bucio showed some of the

limitations of why he doesn't get on the field as often as he does even with as talented as he is doesn't really track Lacazette that hard doesn't close him down gives the best player on the field the best ball striker on the field for sure space and an opportunity to take that strike to the far post Tim Howard didn't put anything on Patrick Schulte and he knows goalkeeping a thousand times better than I will ever know anything probably in my life. And so I will take him at his word. Schulte, he said, sort of misses the power step a little, isn't able to get full extension, but Lacazette shot, hit with a ton of pace, bouncing in an awkward way to kind of get it away from Schulte's hands and buries it into that far corner. So that makes it one zero. And you're thinking, okay, this is the challenge. This is the issue, the US on the road against the host, there's a

ton of energy in the building. This is the first French event at the Olympics with a France, you know, flag on the field in any competition, like the games against them. They have no chance. And then the U.S. goes and gets the two huge opportunities directly after that one. So Georgie bangs his volley off the crossbar, shows his quality in that moment. And then you get Paredes, who's able to set up both Paxton Aronson and John Tolkien for massive opportunities. That was really the only time the U.S. found Paredes out on the right side in any sort of 1v1 isolation. So much of the game went down the left side that it was Paredes who was supposed to be that back post crasher. And you see immediately in his quality, he gets back to his left foot. He curls into really dangerous balls. And what I love about it is the first one,

he finds Aronson. It's not a hopeful ball into a hopeful area. He's playing to someone. The second one from him, a little bit more of a hopeful ball, but a dangerous one to the far post. And a big opportunity for the U.S. I don't know how the U.S. doesn't score that chance. I don't know what Tolkien has to do. I don't know who was laying on the ground next to it,

whether it was Maguire or Mihailovic, who then tries the second opportunity. That's just one of those where it's not your day if those aren't going to go in. That would have made it 1-1. I think that kills the energy. I think that kills the crowd. I think that puts the U.S. completely back into this one. It's not the case. Then France goes back down the other way. There's a series of mistakes in the second opportunity, but Paxton Aronson half attempts to jump a passing lane, half attempts to close down on the edge of the box. There's wide open space, shot curled past Schulte. That's the second goal that kills a lot of what the U.S. was hoping to do. And then the third goal comes on a corner kick.

I thought Mylesinson got tripped up i don't know that there was a foul specifically there's a player on the ground maybe that french player got fouled by a u.s player i didn't see the highlight rolled back in a way that i could really tell um and that makes it three zero the u.s got two chances in stoppage time one the nathan harriel header off jack m Jack McGlynn's free kick, which if he puts it anywhere on frame, it's probably going in from the angle he gets it at. And then Griffin Yao does put it in the back of the net, but he is slightly offside. Again, off a long ball from who? Jack McGlynn.

So a tough performance overall for this U.S. group. I think frustrating to start. I think the biggest thing they'll be frustrated with is the goal differential now in a situation where you are playing for standings in the group. If the U.S. takes care of business against New Zealand and Guinea, it's enough. It doesn't really matter. But I think what we just learned in Copa America for the U.S. MNT is like, do your work before the final game so you can be the team that can manage the result. So you can be the team in a situation that can, I wouldn't say play for a specific scoreline or play for a tie, but do something like that.

Jack Emery says the score was flattering to France, and I completely agree. That's what's frustrating is like this doesn't feel like a 3-0 game and I think you saw that from Thierry Henry's reaction after the first goal if he was like relieved but he wasn't satisfied and he wasn't happy and I think that's really frustrating for them and I think that's frustrating for the U.S. as well especially if let's say France struggles going forward and New Zealand or Guinea are able to steal points or steal a better result and then the U U S ties in one of those games. And that's really what ends up deciding the group. KY seven, one eight in the chat says Mihailovic is awful. He was playing for France. Uh, it wasn't ideal for Georgie. So here's what I would do. Uh, and here's what I saw

in this game. I thought Paxton Arrington's decision-making in the final third was really bad today. I thought he held the ball when he shouldn't. I thought Paxton Aronson's decision making in the final third was really bad today. I thought he held the ball when he shouldn't. I thought he shot when he should have passed. And that was really frustrating, including struggling to close down on the second goal and then dribbling himself into a cul-de-sac on the first goal in a dangerous area that leads to the counterattack. Those are all really bad moments.

Paxton Aronson is not an elite athlete. So if he's not going to make the right decisions or be clean, it's hard to find the reason he's out there on the field. And then I'd add to that, I think Georgie can be more comfortable in that spot. And I would play Jack McGlynn from the start, even though he is not a true 10. You can call Busio the 10. You can call McGlynn the 10. I don't really care. Jack McGlynn created two of the best chances in the game coming off the bench purely from his ball serving ability, purely from his vision.

You are looking at a team that needs all of that because they don't have a lot of chance creation and true 10s, and you're taking some of and true tens and you're taking some of it away and you're taking some of it away now for players who aren't really performing at a high level as i said i thought paredes was dangerous i thought duncan mcguire was fine the one chance in the first half that he comes back picks it up bucio makes a really smart run out of midfield and mcguire is able to sneak the through ball in and bucio slips on his run and isn't able to get in on goal still leads to a dangerous moment for the U.S. I thought that was fine he is not super dangerous when you play into him and he doesn't hold the ball up really well in terms of beating one or two defenders and allowing everyone back into the play he'll win a ton of aerials he'll hold it

if you can get to him or he'll draw fouls and that's kind of what you're hoping for as the game goes along so I would keep him in Griffin Yao clearly a bright spot off the bench Taylor Booth was the backup number nine in this game so that's something to watch out for as you go along I believe that I know on the women's side if you win gold or go to the or you go to a medal game, six games in 17 days, probably similar for the U.S. It's only an 18-player roster. So if McGuire has to be rotated or subbed or anything like that, as of now, Taylor Booth is that backup at that number nine position.

So that's something to watch out for there. I thought Dietz looked very uncomfortable as a defensive midfielder as well. So if it was me, I would start Busio, McGlynn, and Tessman. And it can be a three-player rotation into the three different spots. You could play no 10. You could play two 10s. It doesn't really matter what you call it. I just think you want the ball-playing ability on the field. And you want players, especially a player like McGlynn, who's going to live in the left half space and then play accurate diagonal balls over to, right now, what it was, Paredes, who can then go 1v1. That should be the attacking outlet for this U.S. group, and that's how you can set yourself up if you want going forward.

Another comment here, Schulte should have done better from far out. It wasn't a screamer. Yeah, it was not the best shot you've ever seen. It's put into the corner, and the way it's bouncing off the ground, I think is very awkward. Shout out to Morgan Tenza, who says that Jacqueline Glenn's arguably the most creative player in this group. So I agree with you. And it will be interesting to see what they choose to do going forward. I think one of the other reactions I heard from people was that the overage players for France were elite. And I don't know that the overage players for the US was elite. And so in a tournament where everyone's U23, except for these three spots, having Alex Lacazette is a huge opportunity. And this is a US team that

doesn't have a ton of attacking pieces. I said it coming in. I would have taken Patrick Ajamang. I wasn't joking about that, even though it sounds like a bit of a bit whenever I'm singing his praises, but I would have brought a player in one of those spots instead of one of the centerbacks. That's not a knock on Miles Robinson or Walker Zimmerman. I just would have trusted a Jalen Neal in that spot and gone further up the field to have more experience across each line

to be able to affect the game in every facet rather than having the two center backs who are limited in their ability to affect the game if they're there shout out to mckelly giannone the legend can't waste an over 23 spot with mikhailovich while having players like luna in the pool and others in the actual roster also only one forward another mistake that's a spot you spend on an over spot as i said i agree brian white's a name that we've heard in the conversation as well one that i thought made a bunch of sense is he a game changer for them i'm not really sure ricardo pepe is a name that's come up he scored two goals i believe for psv eidenhoven in a friendly earlier today and julian alvarez is doing double duty, going from a Copa

America victory all the way to the Olympics. Nicolas Odomendi as well, if you haven't seen it, by the way. The Argentina-Morocco game earlier today was Morocco up 2-0. Argentina comes back. They score the second goal to equalize in the 16th minute of second half stoppage time. The fans throw flares, charge the field, all of that. Two-hour delay. They come back from the delay, and VAR takes away the Argentina goal, and Morocco ends up winning 2-1. It was one of the wildest soccer moments I have ever seen. So we are back at the Olympics on top of Canada women's national team flying drones over the New Zealand training center. That's what you get at the Olympics. And so it is a bizarre experience.

But like Ricardo Pepe could have been an option for you in this competition. I've seen Gio Reina's name around there. I don't think that one makes sense because he needs to find a club and find minutes. Pepe kind of knows where he sits. And yeah, he could fight for more minutes in preseason. There's also the chance that PSV wouldn't have let him go. So what we're talking about or what I'm talking about doesn't make any sense anyway. We've heard some shouts, Jordan Morris. Obviously, Seattle didn't want to let him go as long as the US wanted him to come. And that could have been right or that could have been wrong. Diego Luna is the obvious one I thought he struggled this weekend he was obviously phenomenal two weeks ago after learning

that he wasn't a part of this team everything he does no one on this team really does and so it seems kind of outrageous that he's not a part of this group I don't know that he changes this game. Like he's not closing down on Lacazette. Maybe the U S is up one zero and that changes things, but that would be really the only big one for how this game shifts from what ended up happening. I thought Robinson and Zimmerman weren't great in this one. And like, you need those overage players to carry you as I said and Lacazette did that uh for his team so there's still a lot of promise I hadn't really put this team in perspective of it felt like the broadcast talking about miracle and the whole country getting behind them and yeah if you beat France you go to a gold medal like I think it gets you

some notoriety I have zero idea how much like I have zero idea over the course of the next two weeks. If Simone Biles wins five gold medals and Katie Ledecky setting records and Sydney McLaughlin is changing the history of the sport and Noah Lyle shows up how much the US will care about this team making a medal round. But it's never a bad thing. So you're already there. You might as well take the opportunity to put on your best show and try and win over some fans and put a little history behind you, especially at a time when you're looking for a senior head coach and things I think could feel a little bit rosier for fans going forward.

So my expectation will be they bounce back. The only thing about changing the group and the lineup and all those is game states are going to be way different going forward. New Zealand and Guinea are not going to have the possession and the threat that this France team has. So do you try Paxton and Georgie one more time to see if in a game with a ton more final third touches and a ton more final third possession, are they more dangerous?

Are they better? I think that's a fair thing to ask. But what we've learned on the women's side is there's no room for error in an Olympics. It's quick. It's one week. You get three games. They are all against high-level teams because there are not – it's not a huge pool. Now, women's different than men's.

Women's elite side and men's U23. But, like a slip up you make a mistake even when we sign Copa America you get a red card early in the next game and you're going home so a lot to think about a lot to consider I think 60 minutes in you're confident about what this U.S. group is capable of and then all of a sudden 30 minutes later it's like are you back to the drawing board? Halfway, you know, one day into this tournament as you go forward. That's all for me. I'm going to head out to the MLS All-Star Game in just a moment. So if you're around, come say hi in Columbus to everyone else.

We wish you were here. We missed you. We've had a great time. It's been really, really fun. I am flying tomorrow, as is Tom. So we won't do the MLS show on Thursday. So this filling in for that, but we are going to do a U S women's national team postgame show live as well. We're going to have Casey white on. Um, and we are going to talk all things us Zambia, uh, for your reaction to see if Emma Hayes first ever competitive game

goes a little bit better than this one going forward. And hopefully it's a little bit more of a positive show. If you don't follow the Discord and you don't want to be on Twitter that much, you can pay for our Patreon. It'll get you a subscription to our Discord. You will get a channel called the Ice Cream Shops where you get all of Tommy's scoops directly served to you. He has already put out that Charlotte FC has signed an Israeli attacker

who's at the Olympics with Liel Abada as a U22 initiative player. So another add for that team, and I think now we're starting to see the teams choose 2-4-2 or 3-3 setups in terms of how many U22 signings they want to have and how many DPs they want to have. He also is reporting that Cincinnati has signed the deal for the Nigerian international center back Awaziem from Boa Vista. It sounds like the right move for them. It sounds like they're going back to the well of the success they had last year with Mosquera at that spot to go over to Europe to get a short-term addition

at that center back spot is a really big move for them that's the move they need to compete and you have to take that risk whether it's the right move or not hard to say but you have to take that risk of trying out a player so you're getting a 27 year old Nigerian international playing in the Portuguese first division that's as good a bet as you're going to get for a player like that. And I think if you're a Cincinnati fan, you have reason to believe in this front office and their ability to identify talent that fit Pat Noonan style. Doesn't always mean it's the best player, but it's the right player for that system. A player that can step forward, win balls, help you press high, but then cover over the back when you are high up the field, if you get beat by direct balls as well there are some other rumors

out there and some we don't touch because tom is the only true um reporter but he has one more report that australian winger lackland brooke has signed with rsl i believe as a u22 signing so a player who has traveled around a bit already. Australia having this weird glam-up moment in MLS where everyone's coming after them. Australia is brat summer, I guess. Believe me, I have no idea what that means or what I just said, but I'm trying.

I'm out here. Maybe I'll get memed by Morgan Tenza, who has been crushing it for us on all our social channels. So shout out and follow on SoccerWise, HQ, Twitter, Instagram, as well as on YouTube and on Twitch. So another signing for RSL makes sense. They're trying to pack in as much talent as they can. We still don't know what the future of Chicho Arango is and that's been the conversation all around all-star it's like the second thing everyone asks each other is what happened and no one knows absolutely no one knows

what is going on which is really really odd and we're going to learn a lot more going forward and we are going to cover it as much as we can. Any detail we get, we're going to talk about. And so that's something to watch out for. And finally, League's Cup starting. So League's Cup kicks off on Friday. We'll be back on Monday with the recap show. Tuesday, I'll be back with Tom to talk all things MLS. We'll talk U.S. Olympic team as well. Wherever we stand at that point, we might be talking USMNT manager. The Patrick Vieira rumor is becoming very, very strong. The Thierry Henry ones, I don't know if they'll get any closer with him now,

maybe having a little bit of success with his job as the France U23 coach here at the Olympics. But we'll have all your coverage for that going forward, as well as NWSL, NWSL, Liga MX, Feminal, Summer Cup, and everything else going on in the region because that's what we do here at SoccerWise, and that's who we are. So we've had a great week already having the live show. All of the fans were fantastic.

Thank you all for being there with me in the chat for this live show. Shout out to all of you, and we'll talk to you again very, very soon.