• The KillerFrogs

2023-2024 European Football Thread

Moose Stuff

Active Member
Enjoyed that, but it was boring at times. I felt the back line had a few shaky moments, but Turner was fantastic.

Reggie Cannon was awful tonight. I love that guy, but it may have been as bad as I've ever seen him play.

Aaron Long was another who made a few really bad mistakes that nearly cost us. Maybe a lot of that is communicating with the other CB or wing back, but he was badly out of position a couple times and flat lost his man.

Carter-Vickers had one bad mistake, but otherwise was very solid. I'd like to see more of him next time with Zimm and less of Long.

Musah is damn impressive with the ball on his feet. But so is de la Torre. He's faster than you think, so solid and composed on the ball, and always in a good spot to contribute. I feel really good about him backing up McKennie where I previously felt that was a huge drop in quality to the backup.

Pulisic may be the worst American set piece taker I've ever seen. Unless it's on the penalty spot he should never take another one. His corner kick service consistently sailed everyone in the box. We used to dominate set pieces and corner kicks, but we've lost that and I think Pulisic serving most of those balls in is the problem.

Good to see Haji Wright get the PK goal, but he underwhelmed for me. He was always slower than the center back marking him. He had several break away chances on beautifully weighted through balls, but he could never get behind the defender to get a shot. I still want to see more, but I'm not sure he's what we need.

Aaronson is an endless source of energy. Kid is just relentless. Love watching him play.
Agree with pretty much all that, especially the observations on De La Torre and Aronson. Morocco could easily have scored a few goals and probably should have. End of the day we beat a World Cup qualifying team worse than they’ve been beaten in a LONG time so I’ll take it.
 
Last edited:

Purp

Active Member
Agree with pretty much all that, especially the observations on De La Torre and Aronson. Morocco could easily have scored a few goals and probably should have. End of the day we beat a World Cup qualifying team worse than they’ve been beaten in a LONG time so I’ll take it.
I thought about that. The flip side is we should have scored a few more also. Their keeper had to make more spectacular saves than ours and we had more dangerous chances. I feel really good about the way it turned out because, as you said, we beat a WC team pretty handily and we did it without Dest, McKennie (mostly), MRob/Richards, and Gio. That speaks very highly of the quality of our depth.
 

Moose Stuff

Active Member
I thought about that. The flip side is we should have scored a few more also. Their keeper had to make more spectacular saves than ours and we had more dangerous chances. I feel really good about the way it turned out because, as you said, we beat a WC team pretty handily and we did it without Dest, McKennie (mostly), MRob/Richards, and Gio. That speaks very highly of the quality of our depth.
Assuming McKennie will be healthy and M Rob will be out. Optimistic Dest/Richards are fine by November. No idea what to expect from Gio.
 

Purp

Active Member
I saw his post-match interview. I didn't think he was calling out U.S. fans per se, but was noting how surprised he was at how much vocal support Morocco had. He noted how great the U.S. fans were who were in attendance. Obviously the media has made it a huge story, but I didn't perceive it the way it's been reported when I saw it in postgame coverage last night.
 

Purp

Active Member
Assuming McKennie will be healthy and M Rob will be out. Optimistic Dest/Richards are fine by November. No idea what to expect from Gio.
I assume McKennie, Dest, and Richards will all be healthy for Qatar. Gio should be also, but if he's not then I worry he'll never be able to play elite soccer. A kid his age shouldn't have that much hamstring trouble in one year with world class trainers and doctors monitoring every move you make and every exercise you perform. I feel like the odds are terribly slim that it's a career ender so I feel like he should be back and fully fit by November. If it's not a career ender he should be fully fit by the start of the season in August.
 

Purp

Active Member
I read this when I got to the office this morning. I would hate to have to root for Real Madrid, but how awesome would it be for the starter in the Bernabeu to be a young American. That said, I don't think he's unseating Courtois any time soon and Courtois' contract runs through 2026 so he'd be looking at a long time as a back up. I'd rather he go elsewhere as a starter first.
 

dawg

Active Member
I read this when I got to the office this morning. I would hate to have to root for Real Madrid, but how awesome would it be for the starter in the Bernabeu to be a young American. That said, I don't think he's unseating Courtois any time soon and Courtois' contract runs through 2026 so he'd be looking at a long time as a back up. I'd rather he go elsewhere as a starter first.
Indeed. Hard to see Slonina beating out Courtois, especially after the latter's performance in the CL Final. Don't blame him for being interested ina move to RM (I'd think most athletes at that level feel they can beat out anyone), but also it's probably not a good thing for all three MNT keepers (Steffen, Turner, and now Slonina) to be riding the pine at their respective clubs.
 

Purp

Active Member
Indeed. Hard to see Slonina beating out Courtois, especially after the latter's performance in the CL Final. Don't blame him for being interested ina move to RM (I'd think most athletes at that level feel they can beat out anyone), but also it's probably not a good thing for all three MNT keepers (Steffen, Turner, and now Slonina) to be riding the pine at their respective clubs.
Horvath is also a back-up for newly promoted Forest. It's entirely possible that 4 of our top 5 keepers could be back-ups come November. Not exactly the way you want to go into the WC if you're drawing up plans now.
 

Moose Stuff

Active Member
I read this when I got to the office this morning. I would hate to have to root for Real Madrid, but how awesome would it be for the starter in the Bernabeu to be a young American. That said, I don't think he's unseating Courtois any time soon and Courtois' contract runs through 2026 so he'd be looking at a long time as a back up. I'd rather he go elsewhere as a starter first.
I don’t understand why anyone would ever go anywhere knowing they’re likely a backup for the foreseeable future, especially in a World Cup year (looking at you Matt Turner). We’re staring down the barrel of our #1 keeper not being in form or playing at all going into November.
 

Purp

Active Member
I don’t understand why anyone would ever go anywhere knowing they’re likely a backup for the foreseeable future, especially in a World Cup year (looking at you Matt Turner). We’re staring down the barrel of our #1 keeper not being in form or playing at all going into November.
Sean Johnson may end up being our #1 keeper.

I've heard rumors of Steffen going elsewhere on loan. That would be a good move for him and us.
 

dawg

Active Member
I don’t understand why anyone would ever go anywhere knowing they’re likely a backup for the foreseeable future, especially in a World Cup year (looking at you Matt Turner). We’re staring down the barrel of our #1 keeper not being in form or playing at all going into November.
Really, our top three keepers not being in match-form.
 

Purp

Active Member
Any thoughts on the Uruguay game today? I saw most of it, but all distracted either driving or in a church meeting. I'm going to watch again after aggy loses tonight, but curious if anyone else watched and had thoughts.

You draw Uruguay in group play in Qatar that might be enough to get you through group play. Impressive result.

That said, I saw more bad play from Long in the 1st half. I really want to see less of him. We have better options and the chemistry with Zimm doesn't seem to be there.
 
Top