Happy Monday y’all. I’m on the way to Orlando for the USMNT-Brazil match, so not a full FKs today. While I’m at the airport trying to board, here are just some of the biggest news stories from the weekend:
Washington Spirit notch ninth win of season against Utah Royals (DP)
The Spirit are once again in the win column! They beat Utah 1-0 after Kate Wiesner notches her first goal.
June 2024 Friendlies – USMNT 1-5 Colombia: There were certain problems with this game (SSFC)
I was at the USMNT match at Commanders Field over the weekend…and it was a stinker. Hopefully I will see a better performance against Brazil.
Sophia Smith’s first career red card was comedy gold (Pro Soccer Wire)
Sophia Smith got a red card in the funniest way possible…probably not the best for her team, but still hilarious.
Rob McElhenney still keen to bring Gareth Bale to Wrexham (ESPN)
Wrexham want to bring Gareth Bale out of retirement. So far, the retired Welsh star isn’t budging.
Endrick, 17, scores last-gasp winner as Brazil beat Mexico (BBC)
Brazil has an endless supply of riches when it comes to soccer, and their latest one is Endrick. He scored in the 6th minute of second half stoppage time to beat Mexico.
Enjoy the start of the week!
First I’ll say, congrats to the Spirit! Most wins in the league, baller. In terms of the whole NWSL, I imagine I’m not the only one grating against the disparate streaming “options” one must acquire before being able to see all the games. If the league had settled on just NWSL+ and made it a strong product, I probably wouldn’t be seeking out highlights as much
But now we come the the USMNT.
How did the federation not see this coming. They’ve ignored the reality that Berhalter’s preferred style of play, which he wants to adhere to religiously, is a way of fitting all the weaknesses I can imagine into one.
Ponderous build up that allows the opponent to get back in a strong defensive shape? Check.
Lack of movement to break down the bunker? Check.
Being easy to pass through? Pretty much check.
Pushing high, without being able to protect the backline? Massive check.
I get that Robinson made an early catastrophic mistake that he is not known for, and it put us in a bad position. But it obviously didn’t wake us up. By the second half, we were tired, and eventually stunned by the goals.
Berhalter is the problem with this squad. It’s not their young ages, these are already a lot of the most experienced in Europe we’ve ever had. This is bad coaching.
It seems like Berhalter made them believe they were better than Colombia without setting them up to prove it.
Don’t get me wrong, Colombia are a very strong team. We weren’t just naive against them, but unprepared and delusional.
Seems like BJ is better. I took a photo, it won’t load, but I took of a moment in the game. BJ clearly trying to explain and fix an issue, Berhalter quietly holding his head and not responding like he’s in grief. This wasn’t just a snap shot, this is what it was for the whole clip they showed.
Gregg is a coach who may learn he’s not doing his job properly, but I bet it’s only after he gets fired for being bad. Who knows whether that’s Copa America, or the World Cup. I’d rather it was Brazil.
Berhalter is still employed?
Not to say I’m happy with the US game result, but I think it’s the best thing that could’ve happened to us right now. It’s a friendly against good competition and it showed the whole team (including the coaching staff, which they acknowledged) what happens when they don’t prepare properly. We’re not good enough to play at 50% and not get destroyed.
Additionally, I think it merits pointing out that there was no one on the field rallying the guys to get their shit together. I wouldn’t be able to point out who the captain or group leadership was. They need to talk about that when Adams isn’t playing.
It would only be the best thing to happen if Berhalter was released afterward. Being trained wrong for a tournament is a bad thing.
Change my mind! (Deep sarcasm)
I’m still wondering why they wanted to bring Berhalter back….Imagine if we had Jesse Marsche instead.
The whole team would be injured and the other teams would pick up on his predictable press.
This sucked. It’s a shot to the gut. Let’s see what comes next.
That has to be dumbest way to lose money for a red card fine. Smith deserved the second yellow card. It wasn’t funny and she deserves the fine and suspension for doing something so juvenile and cynical.
Can she be given a multigame suspension? She clearly knew what she was doing.
If Berhalter goes, who do we think should replace him?
I think it’s worth giving Callaghan the interim tag through Copa America, and see if he can right the ship, or better yet, get a lot better out of the squad. There may be some disappointed coaches in the merry go round of European seats later we can interview, but I think he deserves a shot.
Maybe the federation didn’t like the Gold Cup result, but looking back on the squad he had available, who has panned out since then? So, I think he should get a shot.
Klopp
As much as the USMNT diehards would absolutely hate it, I genuinely think Ben Olsen would do great at that job. Or at least someone like Ben. I feel like it has to be someone who is known to be able to adapt a style of play that fits your best available players, not someone who is dead-set on having one specific system. Though I don’t know that I’d want to subject Ben (or anyone I think even remotely highly of) to the toxicity of the US fan base
The league site released the list of the Top 25 selling jerseys. Shockingly, Messi was #1. Old friend Lucho Acosta was #3. Also shockingly, no one from DC was in the top 25. I do kind of wish they’d share every team’s top seller, and what rank that was.
I’m assuming ours is Benteke, but I know that personally I’m most interested in a Hayden Sargis jersey (on the extremely long shot that I purchase any jersey by the end of this year).
Based strictly on social media interactions, I am shocked to not see Herrera at least crack the top 10
I always think of our area as having mostly a Salvadoran population (and I’ve been introduced to plenty of Peruvians), but I guess there’s plenty of Guatemalans here too. Or Guatemalans know that Herrera plays here and engage accordingly. Similar to how we got a lot of Indonesian engagement when Syamsir Alam was here.