2021 Gold Cup: CONCACAF AF

Titans Bastard

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Lineup vs. Martinique.

Hoppe -- Dike
Bello -- Williamson -- Busio -- Roldan -- Moore
Robinson -- Sands -- Zimmerman
Turner
Lots of rotation here, with only the GK, two of the CBs, and RB staying in the lineup. It feels like we could be doing the 3-5-2 going forward with Arriola injured and Lewis being bad, and the other winger options being natural forwards.

Cannon and Arriola are out injured for the moment.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Martinique has a population of 375,000, and other than a handful of players in the second tier and lower in Spain, Italy, and France, has all of its players in the domestic Martinique league.

But: this coat of arms kicks ass:

42685



I mean this is just sex:



42684
 

rguilmar

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Lineup vs. Martinique.

Hoppe -- Dike
Bello -- Williamson -- Busio -- Roldan -- Moore
Robinson -- Sands -- Zimmerman
Turner
Lots of rotation here, with only the GK, two of the CBs, and RB staying in the lineup. It feels like we could be doing the 3-5-2 going forward with Arriola injured and Lewis being bad, and the other winger options being natural forwards.

Cannon and Arriola are out injured for the moment.
Minus Roldan this is what I think several folks have been calling for. In fact I think one YouTube channel had called for this exact lineup.

I guess it’s time to put up or shut up (myself included)
 

Titans Bastard

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The Martinique anthem sounds vaguely familiar.
Indeed!

Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana are CONCACAF members and not FIFA members because their political status within France is closer to that of Hawaii than that of Puerto Rico.
 

canderson

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My favorite part of Martinique was the headless statue of Empress Josephine in Fort-de-France. The rest of that island is a shithole that reminded me a bit of Mississippi.

Win?
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Need to see him against better teams, but Williamson is rapidly climbing the list of midfielders who I’d be comfortable seeing in a tough qualifier.

Hell of a first touch there from Hoppe on that lofted ball.
 

67YAZ

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Biggest criticism of Hoppe so far is the tan line with that haircut.
 

ThePrideofShiner

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Minus Roldan this is what I think several folks have been calling for. In fact I think one YouTube channel had called for this exact lineup.

I guess it’s time to put up or shut up (myself included)
I would point out that Roldan has been having easily his best professional season this year. He's not exactly chopped liver.
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
They gave Dike the goal, which is actually how I'd call it as the header was on target before the clearance attempt knocked it in.
 

rguilmar

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I would point out that Roldan has been having easily his best professional season this year. He's not exactly chopped liver.
Not disagreeing with the point. My personal vote would be for Acosta. Just that many people I subscribe to preferred this lineup generally, most (not all) with Roldan not there.

Ultimately I’m happy with the selection even with Roldan. Personally I see him as a “Solid MLS player but not good enough for USMNT”. The soccer version of a AAAA player, if you will. Open to being proven wrong though.
 

Titans Bastard

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Not disagreeing with the point. My personal vote would be for Acosta. Just that many people I subscribe to preferred this lineup generally, most (not all) with Roldan not there.

Ultimately I’m happy with the selection even with Roldan. Personally I see him as a “Solid MLS player but not good enough for USMNT”. The soccer version of a AAAA player, if you will. Open to being proven wrong though.
Acosta is on a yellow. Keep him fresh and available for more important games.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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It felt like about 18 USA balls in the offensive half got intercepted when pretty much any of them would have put a man in alone.
 

teddykgb

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They gave Dike the goal, which is actually how I'd call it as the header was on target before the clearance attempt knocked it in.
I was surprised they were calling it generous I thought it was pretty straightforward as you described. Seemed on target and this a goal for the attacker
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
I was surprised they were calling it generous I thought it was pretty straightforward as you described. Seemed on target and this a goal for the attacker
Well, they ended up changing it to an OG later.

There's the third.

Three more would jump Canada to top the group.
 

Mr. Wednesday

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Feels like this is playing more like a 3-4-3 with Roldan playing in the right half-channel rather than a 3-5-2.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I have been riding the Dike bus for a while but his size/strength combo is just not something they have from anyone else in the pool right now from the midfield and up. Really want to see him with the full lineup. Haven’t been impressed with Sargent generally.
 

Titans Bastard

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This Pines kid is leggy af.
He really is.

IMO he's pretty marginal even for this roster, but he's a big dude who can threaten on set pieces because his waist is about the same height as most people's chest.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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6’1” Dike outweighs 6’5” Donovan Pines by 25 pounds according to the Internet. What a tank.
 

67YAZ

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Hard to take much from a match against a squad with so many amateur players in it. But, Busio and Sands looked really comfortable in their roles, Bello and Moore less so. The wingback duties in this 3-5-2 with the mids staying central is really tough. Better aides, starting with Canada, will be able to exploit that. We’ll see if Berhalter stays with the formation or keeps on tweaking.

Everyone on board the Dike train! We’re out of the station now and picking up steam.

42690
 

Titans Bastard

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Agree with the above, other than that I think it was more of a 3-4-3 in reality, with Roldan staying higher and wider, despite my pregame lineup guess.


Bello needs more time. It felt like the game still hasn't slowed down enough for him in the attack. He had a lot of frenetic and occasionally panicked energy in moments. I don't think Vines did much to advance his standing in the depth chart against Haiti, but for me he's the clear LB/LWB choice on this roster.

Really impressed with Sands. The book on Sands is that he was an extremely boring DM who was very defensively sound — strong in the tackle, excellent reads — but not a ground-covering terrier like Adams, and an overwhelmingly conservative passer. But he's improved his passing quite a bit and did a nice job of progressing the ball. In his career he has bounced between being a DM and a CB in a three-man backline, and it seems like he just feels more comfortable with passing when he's in a deep position.

Busio didn't have the greatest game — a few sloppy moments, and he can be bullied off the ball. But you can see the potential, and you'd still want him to start over Yueill against Canada.

I don't think Hoppe is likely to factor into WCQ, but I was pleased with what he gave the attack. You'd think he has a lot more development in him when he can be an attacker in a season that's not Schalke's absolutely godawful 2020-21 Bundesliga campaign.
 

rguilmar

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Hard to take much from a match against a squad with so many amateur players in it. But, Busio and Sands looked really comfortable in their roles, Bello and Moore less so. The wingback duties in this 3-5-2 with the mids staying central is really tough. Better aides, starting with Canada, will be able to exploit that. We’ll see if Berhalter stays with the formation or keeps on tweaking.

Everyone on board the Dike train! We’re out of the station now and picking up steam.
I really liked what Sands, Hoppe, and Williamson brought to the table. Zimmerman impressed me as well.

I came into the GC thinking this was the time for Miles Robinson to shine, and to me it hasn't really happened. I understand he's being asked to play on the left instead of the right, but he still should dominate teams like Haiti and Martinique. For the wing backs, I was hoping to see more out of Bello. He's young and will improve, but I'm not sure he is the current solution to the backup LB hole we have. Shaq Moore was kinda meh as well, but I attribute that to Roldan playing so wide in the first half preventing him from making those same runs he made against Haiti. I do love me some Busio, but to me he left a little to be desired. If he is going to be the Adams backup, he needs to at least have better defensive positioning and not get pushed around. Once again, he's super young and I am sure he will improve, but in the short term I am not convinced if he is an option at the 6. Hell, if he gets a year playing in Italy he might be ready by WC2022, just not for qualifying. Replacing Acosta or Lletget as an 8, though? That's a different conversation.

I'm still not totally on the Dike train. He's physical, he scores, he makes good runs, and he demands attention. His touch is still brutal though, and I imagine that will really hurt against better teams. Definitely open to being proven wrong on this. I hope he gets the start for every game we have left to see how he performs against actual competition.

I don't think any player is going to play themselves onto a World Cup qualifying roster based on a game like this, but they can play themselves off the roster if they are not a force. WC 2022 qaulifying kicks off in less than two months, so the focus really needs to be on identifying players who will fill out that roster. There are players who might not get called up for a qualifying game that I still want to see more of because they're young and improving, like Bello and Busio.
 

67YAZ

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Yeah, all these young kids make it hard to project what the roster should look like in November 2022. New kids will emerge, some of the current crew might make a leap up, some will incrementally improve, and a few will probably crash out. It's so hard to tell. And it might mean we end up with a WC roster that looks pretty different than the early WCQ matches.

I'm a little bit more bullish on Hoppe. He had some really clever touches and positive ideas out there. Plus, he seems like a natural second striker who could be an effective attacking sub or starter for when Berhalter wants to go with 2 up top. In other words, he could carve out a distinct role that adds value to the roster even if he's generally on par with the gaggle of young center forwards in the mix.
 

Mr. Wednesday

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Bello needs more time. It felt like the game still hasn't slowed down enough for him in the attack. He had a lot of frenetic and occasionally panicked energy in moments. I don't think Vines did much to advance his standing in the depth chart against Haiti, but for me he's the clear LB/LWB choice on this roster.
I liked Bello's offensive play a lot better. He just seemed to be more involved in aggressive attacking play, whereas Vines was basically an automatic backwards pass.
 

Joe D Reid

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Watching Granada-Qatar during the non-rain delay. Qatar scored when a striker crashed into the keeper on an aerial challenge, fouling him. Subsequent replays showed that the striker also used his hand to knock the ball past the keeper. VAR pinged the ref, who stared fixedly at the freeze frame showing the handball for nearly a minute and then let the goal stand.

What I'm saying is that you might want to live bet Qatar in this match.
 

DJnVa

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Watching Granada-Qatar during the non-rain delay. Qatar scored when a striker crashed into the keeper on an aerial challenge, fouling him. Subsequent replays showed that the striker also used his hand to knock the ball past the keeper. VAR pinged the ref, who stared fixedly at the freeze frame showing the handball for nearly a minute and then let the goal stand.

What I'm saying is that you might want to live bet Qatar in this match.
Just checked. They are -100000 right now..