MJWalker45 Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 2 minutes ago, Rockstar Matt said: I don't understand this blind support for Berhalter, it's like he's immune to any and all criticism. It's not blind support. It's pointing out that 20 year olds are more likely to overreact to what someone tells them and decide that Berhalter meant he wasn't going to get any time on the field. It's also important to remember that this wasn't the first time Gio has had issues with authority or slacking off in training, either for the USA or Dortmund. Berhalter deserves to be called out for the subs against Wales and England, even if Reyna isn't considered in those subs. Jordan Morris was not going to change the game when he came on in any of his appearances. And Shaq Moore was lost whenever he was out there. But people are treating Reyna like a golden child and he hasn't earned that right as of yet. He still needed to do more than what he was doing if the coaches didn't think he was ready to take on the responsibility of representing his country. We're all expecting Berhalter to get sacked or to walk away anyways, but if he's still around I would still expect Gio to get selected every time unless he gives the team reason not to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockstar Matt Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 24 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said: It's not blind support. It's pointing out that 20 year olds are more likely to overreact to what someone tells them and decide that Berhalter meant he wasn't going to get any time on the field. Especially when that 20 year is uniquely fiery, I agree. But, Gio, by all accounts (even by Berhalter's) owned up to that and they, including the team, moved on (though apparently not). I still don't understand this latter part of your statement, you still don't believe that Gregg himself told Gio he wouldn't play a lot? We saw the proof not only through Reyna's words, but Berhalter's actions by not playing Gio. Quote It's also important to remember that this wasn't the first time Gio has had issues with authority or slacking off in training, either for the USA or Dortmund. Dortmund, and people around Dortmund (teammates, coaches and reporters) have nothing but glowing support for Gio. Saying he's an exemplary and ideal teammate. Do not believe this. Same thing with the "fight" between Gio and Adams, which never happened. Or the players taking a vote Survivor style on whether Gio stays or not, which also never happened. Quote But people are treating Reyna like a golden child and he hasn't earned that right as of yet. He still needed to do more than what he was doing if the coaches didn't think he was ready to take on the responsibility of representing his country. Doesn't matter if he's earned that right of a "golden child", whatever that means. Reyna is one of the USMNT's best players. If the US wants to succeed, you play your best players. He's earned that much, specially over the likes of Fererria, Jordan Morris and Shaq Moore. And the coaches didn't think he was ready to take on the responsibility of representing his country? Excuse me, but what lol. If that's the case, then why bring him onto the roster at all? Quote We're all expecting Berhalter to get sacked or to walk away anyways, but if he's still around I would still expect Gio to get selected every time unless he gives the team reason not to. There's a zero percent chance Gregg returns. You risk alienating your best players if you bring Gregg back now. Quote Cowboys - Lakers - LAFC - USMNT - LA Rams - LA Kings - NUFC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digby Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Rockstar Matt said: States that some of the events that have been leaked are "highly fictionalized", in other words false. I tend to think the Athletic doesn't run with any old B.S. and they have two of their senior soccer guys on this scoop (and I'm sticking with that story, not whatever a C-list podcaster is tweeting about). Gio's gotta have a more specific response than just yelling "fake news" about this. 1 hour ago, Rockstar Matt said: I'm failing to understand how can a manager go and leak what was suppose to be private to the media, especially when it's about a 20 year old kid. Let's be clear here, Berhalter didn't "leak to the media", he told a story (without naming names) at what was supposed to be an off-the-record event. It was pretty naive and too candid, but that's not the same as a Mourinho-style bus-throwing or some personal vendetta against Reyna. (I love Wynalda throwing a fit about Berhalter "lying to the media" about Gio's status, as if playing coy and avoiding drama mid-tournament isn't a totally reasonable thing for a coach.) And that doesn't change the fact that even if Berhalter was wrong to be talking about this despite the attached caveats -- and I do wonder if he only talked about this knowing the Athletic story was imminent -- that doesn't mean his decision to bench the pouty kid until he sorts himself out was also wrong. 1 hour ago, Rockstar Matt said: I don't understand this statement. You don't have to believe it, we all saw it happen. There's no other reasonable explanation as to why Gio only played 50 minutes through 4 games. He's our best player and he's healthy. I like the guy and obviously he's got a tremendous ceiling, but he's been inconsistent, injury-prone, and has maturity issues on a team that's made a big show of its internal culture being great. And so far in his USMNT career he's scored at the same rate as Joe-Max Moore. Not saying he's a fraud, but I'm also not saying he's light years ahead of the other wingers in the pool at this point. He certainly has not yet had the consistent production to earn Dempsey-level benefit of doubt. And Dempsey probably should not have punched a window anyway. Not getting the role you hoped doesn't excuse being lazy and petulant, this is a team of adults and you need to be a teammate in this situation, not an ego. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockstar Matt Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Digby said: I tend to think the Athletic doesn't run with any old B.S. and they have two of their senior soccer guys on this scoop (and I'm sticking with that story, not whatever a C-list podcaster is tweeting about). Gio's gotta have a more specific response than just yelling "fake news" about this. Not saying the Athletic article is BS, but that the other stuff that was reported outside of that article later is false. It's been confirmed by other reporters and former USMNT players (and I'm not talking about Wynalda either), not through Reyna, that most of those hard to believe events were false or greatly exaggerated. No vote between the players happened (the coaches privately voted with Berhalter, but Gregg never asked the players to vote on it). And no argument/fight between Adams and Reyna ever happened. I'm also not saying that Gio didn't have a poor attitude or lack of effort, or the other contents of that Athletic article are false. Quote Let's be clear here, Berhalter didn't "leak to the media", he told a story (without naming names) at what was supposed to be an off-the-record event. It was pretty naive and too candid, but that's not the same as a Mourinho-style bus-throwing or some personal vendetta against Reyna. (I love Wynalda throwing a fit about Berhalter "lying to the media" about Gio's status, as if playing coy and avoiding drama mid-tournament isn't a totally reasonable thing for a coach.) And that doesn't change the fact that even if Berhalter was wrong to be talking about this despite the attached caveats -- and I do wonder if he only talked about this knowing the Athletic story was imminent -- that doesn't mean his decision to bench the pouty kid until he sorts himself out was also wrong. Yeah, the timing of him speaking at this event and the article being released was certainly suspicious. Too coincidental to not be somewhat related. But with the benching of the "pouty" kid, Reyna was already benched before he became pouty. That's what caused him to sulk to begin with. I don't think Gregg was wrong to bench/not start Gio if his reasoning was solely for Gio's poor attitude, but to not play him at all? I'm sorry but Reyna being sulky isn't a good enough reason to keep him off the field entirely. These are professionals footballers, not AYSO kids. Professionals, especially ones as young and talented as Reyna are going to be sulky if they're not playing. Also, wasn't Wynalda proven right that Gregg lied to the media about Gio's status? He said some things that were clearly false (namely that Gregg asked Reyna to lie to the media about being hurt), but now this article combined with Reyna's and Berhalter's statements proved him right. Quote I like the guy and obviously he's got a tremendous ceiling, but he's been inconsistent, injury-prone, and has maturity issues on a team that's made a big show of its internal culture being great. I really like that Reyna was pissed off that he didn't play or wasn't going to play, and that he has a certain ego/arrogance to him. All the great players have that (in every sport), but going forward I do hope he handles himself better going forward and channels it more effectively. But that begs the question of how great is that internal culture if it can't handle one sulking 20 year old. And again, he has had basically zero maturity issues playing for Dortmund. I worry about this because the ego's we'll see come through the US system will only get bigger and bigger as more and more of our players are playing for the world's biggest clubs. I vehemently disagree with the statement that Gio is inconsistent. That's just the nature of being a footballer. Not even Messi performs to his standard every single game. Reyna is just injury-prone, like too many of our other stars. Quote And so far in his USMNT career he's scored at the same rate as Joe-Max Moore. Not saying he's a fraud, but I'm also not saying he's light years ahead of the other wingers in the pool at this point. He certainly has not yet had the consistent production to earn Dempsey-level benefit of doubt. Gio scores and assists on goals with his club. He literally just scored a banger of a goal this week in that Dortmund friendly. I reserve the right to judge his scoring ability while playing for a coach/system with the NT that struggles produce consistent goals from anyone. I'd agree that Reyna isn't light years ahead of the other wingers but that's because Gio isn't a winger. He's a 10. Anyone can see that best suits his skill set. That's what he plays at Dortmund to great success. Quote Cowboys - Lakers - LAFC - USMNT - LA Rams - LA Kings - NUFC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digby Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 9 minutes ago, Rockstar Matt said: I really like that Reyna was pissed off that he didn't play or wasn't going to play, and that he has a certain ego/arrogance to him. All the great players have that (in every sport), but going forward I do hope he handles himself better going forward and channels it more effectively. But that begs the question of how great is that internal culture if it can't handle one sulking 20 year old. Being pissed is fine and good, refusing to train is not. Everyone wants this team to play with heart and fire and all that, so here we are. Seems like the internal culture lived up to its reputation if the coach and players did their jobs in holding him accountable and the on-pitch performance didn't suffer because of it. Some agent leaking the sordid details isn't great, but good luck finding any team where that isn't happening. This was interesting from Yedlin: 26 minutes ago, Rockstar Matt said: Gio scores and assists on goals with his club. He literally just scored a banger of a goal this week in that Dortmund friendly. I reserve the right to judge his scoring ability while playing for a coach/system with the NT that struggles produce consistent goals from anyone. I'd agree that Reyna isn't light years ahead of the other wingers but that's because Gio isn't a winger. He's a 10. Anyone can see that best suits his skill set. That's what he plays at Dortmund to great success. Okay, but even as a 10, now we're dealing with breaking up the MMA trio which made the midfield emerge as a real strong point for the team. Either way his G+A per 90 numbers have been strong but he's not wildly outpacing his competition for minutes here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockstar Matt Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 29 minutes ago, Digby said: Being pissed is fine and good, refusing to train is not. Everyone wants this team to play with heart and fire and all that, so here we are. Seems like the internal culture lived up to its reputation if the coach and players did their jobs in holding him accountable and the on-pitch performance didn't suffer because of it. Some agent leaking the sordid details isn't great, but good luck finding any team where that isn't happening. This was interesting from Yedlin: We're in agreement in that Reyna didn't handle it properly in the beginning. Like I said, I'd want to see Reyna channel that frustration into improvement and growth rather than sulking. I've seen that Yedlin quote before. Not really a big fan of it, to be honest. Sounds like some of the US players are forming, for lack of a better word, cliques within the NT. We already knew some existed with there being a small divide amongst the euro based players and the MLS based players but I'm not a proponent of the seeming exclusivity of these cliques that are apparently forming. This isn't a club team, or a team formed with your best buds/vibe guys. This is the national team. Obviously you want the guys to get along and to like being around each other, but I don't like the optics of this, especially not from a player like Yedlin who's on his way out and will probably not be on the World Cup roster in 2026. 29 minutes ago, Digby said: Okay, but even as a 10, now we're dealing with breaking up the MMA trio which made the midfield emerge as a real strong point for the team. Either way his G+A per 90 numbers have been strong but he's not wildly outpacing his competition for minutes here. We're going to have to break up that midfield if the US wants to score goals, and also to keep those players fresh. We saw the US really ran out of gas in the Netherlands game which is quite understandable. Musah hasn't developed that scoring ability yet so there's still hope there, McKennie scores primarily as a late to the box attacker (which he never did in the US for some reason despite using it to great success at the club level) but struggles technically to bring the ball up the field (which is fine because that isn't his game) and it's the same with Tyler who is an outstanding defensive eraser so to speak but struggles offensively. They are a great defensive midfield, but the US also needs to get better in the attack to have any hope in Copa America 2024 or the next World Cup. The US does have a problem of having too many good players in similar positions meaning multiple good players will be on the bench, but what a problem to have. Quote Cowboys - Lakers - LAFC - USMNT - LA Rams - LA Kings - NUFC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Guess we know who he's backing in the semis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Welp. It's Messi's year finally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gosioux76 Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 4 minutes ago, Cujo said: Welp. It's Messi's year finally. He certainly appears to be a man on a mission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueYankee26 Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Croatia simply ran to a sky blue and white buzzsaw and boy those blades were well sharpened. 2 Quote trueyankee26.wordpress.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digby Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 I'm so bummed we won't get a Messi vs Ronaldo final, though. Would've been some gooood narrative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Germanshepherd Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 1 1 Quote i have unquantifiable corpses on my conscience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 16 hours ago, Digby said: I'm so bummed we won't get a Messi vs Ronaldo final, though. Would've been some gooood narrative. I'm not, because I think we'd all expect Argentina to win. I don't think Ronaldo has enough in the tank anymore to make it a decent match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinsUp1214 Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 16 hours ago, Digby said: I'm so bummed we won't get a Messi vs Ronaldo final, though. Would've been some gooood narrative. It would’ve been fun for sure, but we could also still get Messi vs. Mbappe, which would carry an exciting “passing of the torch” kind of narrative too. To me, the thought of that feels very similar to if Jordan and young LeBron were somehow able to have met in the Finals. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digby Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 16 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said: I'm not, because I think we'd all expect Argentina to win. I don't think Ronaldo has enough in the tank anymore to make it a decent match. Yeah, that's true. There was a brief period though where it looked like Portugal were going to become an impressively freewheeling side with no Ronaldo (and thus their best, but still outside, chance at making it to a WC final) but that didn't last longer than five minutes against Morocco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sport Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 1 hour ago, Germanshepherd said: That's actually a relief in a sad way. Weird and tragic coincidence that it happened while he was in Qatar covering this event and he died very soon after reporting about the less than ideal conditions and events going on there, but it is good news that nothing fishy happened. His brother emotionally shooting off that he was murdered didn't help, but I can see where he was coming from because that's where my head went too. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 France up 1-0 after six minutes. I hope they put this away quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 1 hour ago, MJWalker45 said: France up 1-0 after six minutes. I hope they put this away quickly. Morocco isn't going quitely. They've had some very good chances. France are lucky to not be tied right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 4 minutes ago, Cujo said: Morocco isn't going quitely. They've had some very good chances. France are lucky to not be tied right now They've been extremely wasteful today and if this was Argentina they were playing it'd be worse than that Croatia score yesterday. 2-0 should be enough, but let's see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueYankee26 Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 47 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said: They've been extremely wasteful today and if this was Argentina they were playing it'd be worse than that Croatia score yesterday. 2-0 should be enough, but let's see. Yep it's enough. Morocco made their country, Africa and the Arab world proud. Furthest an African team advanced in World Cup history. Keep your head up Morocco. Quote trueyankee26.wordpress.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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