Well, I hope I'm wrong about Cal MBB. I see another NIT team at best, even with Dort. Keep in mind that Utah Tech lost to Utah State by 32 and New Mexico by 40 earlier.
Ok, Haiti 0, USA 6 - this was the "road" game (though in Miami with its large Haitian community) of a home-and-home quarterfinal of the CONCACAF Nations League, with the "home" game to follow in Cincinnati on Tuesday... bunch of disorganized thoughts in no particular order:
- Haiti was missing several of their top players, though of course, the US were missing Gio Reyna and a few others. Haiti seemed to lose all cohesion in the second half after it became 2-0. More on that later.
- Despite the US having most of the possession in the first half, it was not a good first half performance overall. Tons of careless giveaways. It really shows when we don't have Reyna, so we have to play Malik Tillman up in the attacking midfield and are forced instead to start Sebastian Berhalter next to Tyler Adams in the holding midfield ("double pivot"). Our buildout just does not work smoothly when Berhalter (instead of Tillman) is paired with Adams (or anyone) in front of our defensive four.
- Antonee Robinson did get head-to-head contact early on a header he won, and I'm not sure if that affected him, but even considering that, ARob had a bad game. I really wish Peyton Miller was not injured, because without Miller, I think we'll see a low-ceiling Reed Baker-Whiting in the next game at left back. That being said, ARob did get the assist on the US second goal which opened the floodgates. So one bright spot.
- Center back Chris Richards, while better than ARob, also did not have the greatest game. Including keeping the Haitian forward onside who was through alone onto goal early in the first half.
- Which brings me to goalkeeper Diego Kochen, who made a very good one-on-one kick save on that exact breakaway to keep Haiti scoreless. It's hard to rate Kochen's game since he was solid with his feet (as always... you can see how comfortable we are playing it back to him, sometimes too comfortable) and he made a couple good saves. BUT Kochen had a giant mistake in the second half, coming out over-aggressively on a through ball he had no hope of reaching. A mistake from which he was saved when the resulting Haiti goal was wiped out due to offside. On balance, I think (or hope?) Kochen, being just 20, will learn from that. He otherwise seems at least as good a shot-stopper as our other goalies, while being better with his feet and younger. So I am very glad Kochen started, and still hope he starts on Tuesday in the home leg. I also noticed that Brian Schwake seemed to be Kochen's backup as Matt Freese did not make the bench.
- Since I'm talking about defense, let me talk about the other defenders. Center back Auston Trusty also looked shaky at times and had a dangerous, slow back pass to Kochen in the second half which Kochen managed to rescue. BUT - it was good to see Trusty put a good finish on that first goal, especially considering that he has not played soccer in several weeks due to the untimely passing of his father.
- Alex Freeman started at right back as usual and was solid, though not dominant as I have grown to expect him to be after his meteoric rise over the last year or so. Got the assist on Pulisic's second goal.
- Which means it's time to move to Christian Pulisic. Strong second half, dud of a first half, not just because of the goals. Pulisic was more incisive and dangerous in the second. He scored two, one on a penalty, but he was the one with the chance who was fouled in the box. His next goal shortly afterwards was classy, though Haiti had two defenders backing off and one should have stopped the ball. We need the Pulisic we saw in the second half (and in the first half of the WC Paraguay opener) at all times, not just sometimes. Pulisic has too much quality to play down to the level of Haitian backups, and he quit doing that in the second half.
- Speaking of quality, Folarin Balogun subbed in at minute 65 and scored (should have had two, but the first was disallowed, wrongly IMO). I think he should start in game 2, since Monaco is playing him less.
- Julian Hall started at striker instead of Balogun and had an interesting game. He missed an open 1v1 chance against the Haitian goalie in the first half, though it was Hall's sweet nutmeg that got him to that spot to start with. Still, not good But Hall's second half goal on the counterattack was a solid clinical finish, and I liked how he was active defensively while he was in before Balogun came on. And his best play may have been the soft back-heel touch back to Pulisic on the give-and-go at the top of the box which resulted in Pulisic being fouled for the penalty. You know, if Hall keeps doing this against better opposition, he may be making a good argument to replace Pepi (a comparable player) on the roster at striker.
- Sebastian Berhalter... I already said how having him in the double pivot kind of ruins our buildout. He made a couple good passes but had just as many giveaways. Despite being a good striker of the ball, he was really bad on a couple set pieces that he took BUT, of course what people will remember is the beautiful free kick to Trusty on the US first half goal. So a bad game with one very bright spot. It's also funny to me that he has now been slapped 3 times in the last 180 minutes or so of play (double-slap by Mexican player in a friendly and once today by a Haitian player). Of course, he does it because he gets in the face of opposing players as a kind of 'third man in'. We need to start tracking slaps per 90 mins (1.5) as a stat for Berhalter. =)
- Tyler Adams was Tyler Adams. Pretty solid at the "6". Nothing great. Not much more to say. He's in form for his club Bournemouth who have been very good recently. So one expects at least that. Next game, I hope we get to see Santiago Castaneda at either the "6" for Adams or "8" with Adri Mehmeti at the "6".
- Malik Tillman... hmmm. 2 assists. One on a corner and the other for the Balogun goal. So a good game, right? Not really. His quality did not shine through as it should on most plays. It's really a bummer we could not have him back at the "8" instead of Berhalter with Reyna at the "10". Instead, Tillman is playing the "10" and I'm starting to wonder if that's just not his position. He also missed way high, skying a free kick, which is supposed to be his specialty. All that being said, 2 assists, so...
- Weston Mckennie also started in the midfield and played... just ok. Whats that? He scored? Yeah, that was good, but Haiti basically did not mark him on that corner. Mckennie - not bad, but as with Tillman, his quality needs to be levels above the competition he was going against.
- Bryan Reynolds did sub in during the second half, but not at his expected right back position for Freeman, but as a right midfielder. His first cap in several years. He looked... like a player who is not terrible, but probably should not have too many more USMNT caps. Then again, as I just said, Tillman, Mckennie and (in the first half) Pulisic, did not look dominant either, so maybe I am being too harsh.
- The other subs did not get enough time to really show what they could do too much. Holding mid Adri Mehmeti came in at minute 80 and had some nice ideas on passes but at least one was intercepted. I want to see him get more time next game. Left wing Mathis Albert came in for Pulisic, also at minute 80 and did not contribute much. I know sluggo is down on him for his lack of speed and that's a fair criticism. But I still think there is something there and hope Albert gets minutes since Dortmund is giving him none.
- Forward/attacking mid Justin Ellis came in way too late (minute 85) to get in rhythm, though he did not look particularly good to my eye when he was in. I was going to say I hope Ellis starts at the "10" on Tuesday, but his MLS club Orlando has a play-in 8-9 seed matchup on Thursday, so I don't know.
- I mentioned earlier that Haiti appeared to lose all cohesion after the second US goal at minute 52. Prior to that, a pass sent a Haiti forward down their left wing and multiple US players converged on him leading to the US winning the ball and the Haiti player (and a US player) both going down. Haitian players, coaches, fans were all screaming for a foul, but no foul was given. The US went on a beautiful counterattack which culminated in a ARob to Julian Hall goal. And Haiti were just cooked after that. Which is funny, because this is not just a win/lose game. Score matters, and the US carries the 6-0 into Tuesday.
- Overall, I'll take the result, and some definite bright spots, but don't take the high score-line as an indication that the US is now suddenly playing like a top European side. They absolutely weren't, until Haiti made them look like it by falling apart after the second goal. Still - can't complain about the job Pochettino did here in his second to last game before leaving for Manchester United
