Post by usasoccerboy on Sept 8, 2021 11:05:49 GMT -6
Well, after the letdown on Sunday, we either revive our chances or face a bleak future.
Winning on the road in Central America is not as easy as you might think. We saw what that was like when we faced El Salvador a week ago. Honduras is a better team than El Salvador and we did not dispatch Honduras so easily in last month's home quarterfinal Gold Cup match.
What I am saying is be prepared to be really let down after tonights match.
If we get a tie, it will not be the end of everything, yet it will feel like it. Honestly, a point away is something I can live with.
Looking back on past WC qualifications away from the road, the USA gets trounced by Costa Rica and Mexico at their home stadiums. Then we usually hold on for hard fought wins or ties against the central American foes like Guatemala, Honduras, Panama etc. Lately, CONCACAF teams have closed that USA dominance down and the USA has played better at Mexico. They still get pushed around at Costa Rica. Honduras has grown into a player in CONCACAF and we need to take their mojo away by conquering them in their home stadium. It will not be easy, but that is what we need to try to do as a team.
The only way to get wins is to score goals. It is so obvious a fact in soccer, yet it continues to be overlooked. We are in the position we are in now, because we are not producing goals. 1 goal in 2 matches is not enough to win CONCACAF games.
We produced better chances with Pulisic in game 2 than without him in game 1, but he still was not a major factor in our attack like he should be. I think he was well shadowed by Canada (knowing we were without McKinney), which seemed to bog us down in our distribution to our best attacking player. Still, who besides him showed to be dangerous going at goal?
For team USA to easily qualify, it has to get away wins somehow at places like Honduras or Canada. We need to get more attack centered, because we need goals. We need goals badly. I am not sure we have the winning recipe playing for us yet. We need to figure it out quickly or else we are missing out on Qatar 2022. .
Winning on the road in Central America is not as easy as you might think. We saw what that was like when we faced El Salvador a week ago. Honduras is a better team than El Salvador and we did not dispatch Honduras so easily in last month's home quarterfinal Gold Cup match.
What I am saying is be prepared to be really let down after tonights match.
If we get a tie, it will not be the end of everything, yet it will feel like it. Honestly, a point away is something I can live with.
Looking back on past WC qualifications away from the road, the USA gets trounced by Costa Rica and Mexico at their home stadiums. Then we usually hold on for hard fought wins or ties against the central American foes like Guatemala, Honduras, Panama etc. Lately, CONCACAF teams have closed that USA dominance down and the USA has played better at Mexico. They still get pushed around at Costa Rica. Honduras has grown into a player in CONCACAF and we need to take their mojo away by conquering them in their home stadium. It will not be easy, but that is what we need to try to do as a team.
The only way to get wins is to score goals. It is so obvious a fact in soccer, yet it continues to be overlooked. We are in the position we are in now, because we are not producing goals. 1 goal in 2 matches is not enough to win CONCACAF games.
We produced better chances with Pulisic in game 2 than without him in game 1, but he still was not a major factor in our attack like he should be. I think he was well shadowed by Canada (knowing we were without McKinney), which seemed to bog us down in our distribution to our best attacking player. Still, who besides him showed to be dangerous going at goal?
For team USA to easily qualify, it has to get away wins somehow at places like Honduras or Canada. We need to get more attack centered, because we need goals. We need goals badly. I am not sure we have the winning recipe playing for us yet. We need to figure it out quickly or else we are missing out on Qatar 2022. .