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| Me tonight, only 20 years ago and with a lot more hair. |
I was a little torn about the line-up the U.S. trotted out in tonight’s positively somnolent 0-0 draw against Colombia. January camp is, or has become, all about calling in players from the fringe and giving them a moment – I get that - but I would have rather seen interim coach Anthony Hudson name and stick with a starting XI over both games. Instead, he played the camp like a bad hand in draw poker and swapped out 10 players between Wednesday’s loss and tonight; unless I’m miscounting, only Walker Zimmerman started both games (and he lasted longest in this one).
Now, had you presented me with both line-ups and asked me which would do better, I’m pretty sure I would have picked tonight’s line-up, regardless of opponent. If nothing else, it featured the more experienced/accomplished players, particularly with the national team set-up – e.g., Paul Arriola, Aaron Long, Jesus Ferreira, Kellyn Acosta, Sean Johnson – and yet they delivered less in every category I could name outside the spine of the defense.
To state the obvious, Serbia and Colombia are different teams that played different styles. Perhaps knowing they could get something lethal going given the right circumstances, Serbia gave the U.S. more of the ball while Colombia played its defense high enough to force errors and broke from there; call it a second cousin to a press, twice removed. I don’t know what Wednesday’s line-up would have looked like against Colombia, in other words, and mostly hope that that multiverse got treated to a more entertaining game because, my god, was tonight’s game like watching old people fuck in front of drying paint....you have my apologies for the mental image...
The Mothership’s stats page doesn’t post xG for U.S. games, but the Yanks’ five total shots suggests something in the 0.5 range. The only two shots on goal involved Matthew Hoppe – he set up Paxten Aaronson for one (and he could have done better) and fired from the channel for the other – but those didn’t amount to anything besides easy-ish saves for “A. Montero,” Colombia’s ‘keeper. The only other decent U.S. chance I can recall from my times of full, attentive consciousness was the chance Ferreira opened up with a smart first touch. The way he lost that ball to a swarm of Colombian defenders sums up the game in a singular moment. The Colombians broadly overwhelmed the Americans tonight, but without ever coming close to beating them - i.e., boredom, by any other name.
If I had to name the point of greatest interest, I’d go with the way Colombia front-footed its defense. Whenever the U.S. tried to build out of the back, they set up in something like a 4-2-4 or even a 5-1-4, where four to five players stepped into the U.S. half to cut off the passing lanes into the deep midfield. The U.S. got through it often enough, but it throttled more attacks in the crib than it let through. If I had to point to some decisive something that decided the game, I’d go with that.
Colombia had more things going for them and, had you played this game until one team scored (hold it; put a pin in that concept), my money would have shifted to them by the 30th minute and stayed there all night. Their players delivered more highlight moments, whether smart touches or drop-‘em-on-their-asses moves, and they got their spacing right – e.g., when the ball turned over, they seemed to know where to look to restart the attack. And it was often still inside the U.S. half.
Now, had you presented me with both line-ups and asked me which would do better, I’m pretty sure I would have picked tonight’s line-up, regardless of opponent. If nothing else, it featured the more experienced/accomplished players, particularly with the national team set-up – e.g., Paul Arriola, Aaron Long, Jesus Ferreira, Kellyn Acosta, Sean Johnson – and yet they delivered less in every category I could name outside the spine of the defense.
To state the obvious, Serbia and Colombia are different teams that played different styles. Perhaps knowing they could get something lethal going given the right circumstances, Serbia gave the U.S. more of the ball while Colombia played its defense high enough to force errors and broke from there; call it a second cousin to a press, twice removed. I don’t know what Wednesday’s line-up would have looked like against Colombia, in other words, and mostly hope that that multiverse got treated to a more entertaining game because, my god, was tonight’s game like watching old people fuck in front of drying paint....you have my apologies for the mental image...
The Mothership’s stats page doesn’t post xG for U.S. games, but the Yanks’ five total shots suggests something in the 0.5 range. The only two shots on goal involved Matthew Hoppe – he set up Paxten Aaronson for one (and he could have done better) and fired from the channel for the other – but those didn’t amount to anything besides easy-ish saves for “A. Montero,” Colombia’s ‘keeper. The only other decent U.S. chance I can recall from my times of full, attentive consciousness was the chance Ferreira opened up with a smart first touch. The way he lost that ball to a swarm of Colombian defenders sums up the game in a singular moment. The Colombians broadly overwhelmed the Americans tonight, but without ever coming close to beating them - i.e., boredom, by any other name.
If I had to name the point of greatest interest, I’d go with the way Colombia front-footed its defense. Whenever the U.S. tried to build out of the back, they set up in something like a 4-2-4 or even a 5-1-4, where four to five players stepped into the U.S. half to cut off the passing lanes into the deep midfield. The U.S. got through it often enough, but it throttled more attacks in the crib than it let through. If I had to point to some decisive something that decided the game, I’d go with that.
Colombia had more things going for them and, had you played this game until one team scored (hold it; put a pin in that concept), my money would have shifted to them by the 30th minute and stayed there all night. Their players delivered more highlight moments, whether smart touches or drop-‘em-on-their-asses moves, and they got their spacing right – e.g., when the ball turned over, they seemed to know where to look to restart the attack. And it was often still inside the U.S. half.
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| Who cast this photo? |
And yet, those 12 recorded shots flatters Colombia’s functional output on the night; Johnson’s two piddly saves speaks to that – especially given that his biggest “save” of day wasn’t even goal-bound (and was that the Portland Timbers’ own Juan Mosquera that forced it?). And credit (mostly) Long and Zimmerman for loitering in the right place at the right time and for most of the game. I doubt those two are anyone’s first choice anchor for the U.S. defense, and I don’t think anyone mistakes them for first class, but I’d also argue they’d be fine in most games, even outside a pinch. That’s not a bad thing at all to have in one’s back pocket.
As hinted multiple times throughout this post, it was pretty damn underwhelming overall, and globally. The U.S. players who strived hardest – for my money, that was Aaronson and left back John Tolkin – looked like kids playing against adults; it was strange, honestly, the way you could see the end of every move they started. Hoppe was the most effective attacking player, if only by virtue of being the one open most often, and it’s pretty much all semi-isolated individual moments of somewhere between the competent and the good from there. We’ll always have Eryk Williamson’s perfect pass to Arriola’s overlapping run, but I’d lead with the five piddling shots if someone asked me for an elevator pitch of this game.
If there’s anything more to say about tonight’s game, I can’t think of it. In closing, I’d like to name my top five standout players from January Camp 2023 (get the t-shirt, y’all). In no particular order, and whether sub or starter in one game or the other:
Cade Cowell
Cowell played the same role as Hoppe, but terrorized Serbia’s right back twice as much as Hoppe did Colombia’s. Both need work on decision-making, but if Cowell could develop better instincts on when to release the ball (which could help him combine better) his ceiling would sky-rocket. Not every player gets blessed with the raw, physical tools he possesses and that gives him a foundation...but is he educable?
Alex Zendejas
His last 20 minutes against Serbia was arguably the best thing to come out of this January camp. After a largely anonymous game, Zendejas busted out the same kind of technical, man-ball-space controlling things I saw from the Colombians tonight. To say there wasn’t a lot of that sort of butterfly effect subtlety in the U.S. for this January camp understates things quite a bit. And I like keeping players who can deliver that close at hand.
Walker Zimmerman
Yeah, yeah, he’s already a semi-regular, if not a regular. He showed why over both games.
Kellyn Acosta
Same thing, broadly. Acosta’s kind of an everything, everywhere, all at once player – by which I mean you can name the flaws, but he still does a lot of things well. He has the range and composure to hold down the middle part of the field, even if not at a genuinely world-class level.
Paxton Pomykal – and, yes, this was close
I think I saw the outlines of the hype on Wednesday. He’s a decent passer and has a decent engine, but the thing that most stood out was his positioning, i.e., the way he just seems to know where to be. He delivers less on the attacking side than I expected – which could get to why I didn’t rate him – but he comes off as a player that could anchor one half of a pretty bitchin' double pivot.
I could make solid cases for a number of other players – e.g., Brandon Vazquez, Julian Gressel, Paul Arriola, De Juan Jones...and I can almost feel people thinking “Eryk Williamson” – but, if someone asked me to name five players I’d take to a real, live competitive tournament tomorrow, those are my guys....but, to make the case for and against those five:
Brandon Vazquez
He’s just fucking useful, honestly, but watching him play for the U.S. after watching him play for FC Cincinnati showed me how much he needs the right teammates to really thrive. A big part of me thinks that, if the next (or returning) U.S. coach really committed to building a scheme that works around Vazquez, even as a sub, he wouldn't be disappointed.
Julian Gressel
He defends better than reasonably and hits one hell of a cross. The problem is that “better than reasonably” doesn’t equal “well.”
Paul Arriola
Love his energy. He'd be fucking oustanding if the rest of it matched that.
DeJuan Jones
Probably the most “on the bubble” of the bunch. He was pretty good tonight. My only gripe is that I’d like to see him get forward more.
Eryk Williamson
I’ve seen Eryk at his best and this isn’t it. For all the good moments – and he had one from each game – he still doesn’t strike me as ready for a quality 90 minutes. I want him to get there as much as the next Portland fan (if not more; I’m aching for them to look pretty again), but I very much doubt I’m the only one that agrees with the first sentence of this blurb.
And that’s a wrap for the U.S. Men’s January Camp 2023. If you walked away from it feeling inspired, congrats. It wasn’t a disaster by any means, but if there was a diamond in the rough, I walked right past it...
...I mean, this was FINE, but I’m so, SO ready for the MLS season to start.
As hinted multiple times throughout this post, it was pretty damn underwhelming overall, and globally. The U.S. players who strived hardest – for my money, that was Aaronson and left back John Tolkin – looked like kids playing against adults; it was strange, honestly, the way you could see the end of every move they started. Hoppe was the most effective attacking player, if only by virtue of being the one open most often, and it’s pretty much all semi-isolated individual moments of somewhere between the competent and the good from there. We’ll always have Eryk Williamson’s perfect pass to Arriola’s overlapping run, but I’d lead with the five piddling shots if someone asked me for an elevator pitch of this game.
If there’s anything more to say about tonight’s game, I can’t think of it. In closing, I’d like to name my top five standout players from January Camp 2023 (get the t-shirt, y’all). In no particular order, and whether sub or starter in one game or the other:
Cade Cowell
Cowell played the same role as Hoppe, but terrorized Serbia’s right back twice as much as Hoppe did Colombia’s. Both need work on decision-making, but if Cowell could develop better instincts on when to release the ball (which could help him combine better) his ceiling would sky-rocket. Not every player gets blessed with the raw, physical tools he possesses and that gives him a foundation...but is he educable?
Alex Zendejas
His last 20 minutes against Serbia was arguably the best thing to come out of this January camp. After a largely anonymous game, Zendejas busted out the same kind of technical, man-ball-space controlling things I saw from the Colombians tonight. To say there wasn’t a lot of that sort of butterfly effect subtlety in the U.S. for this January camp understates things quite a bit. And I like keeping players who can deliver that close at hand.
Walker Zimmerman
Yeah, yeah, he’s already a semi-regular, if not a regular. He showed why over both games.
Kellyn Acosta
Same thing, broadly. Acosta’s kind of an everything, everywhere, all at once player – by which I mean you can name the flaws, but he still does a lot of things well. He has the range and composure to hold down the middle part of the field, even if not at a genuinely world-class level.
Paxton Pomykal – and, yes, this was close
I think I saw the outlines of the hype on Wednesday. He’s a decent passer and has a decent engine, but the thing that most stood out was his positioning, i.e., the way he just seems to know where to be. He delivers less on the attacking side than I expected – which could get to why I didn’t rate him – but he comes off as a player that could anchor one half of a pretty bitchin' double pivot.
I could make solid cases for a number of other players – e.g., Brandon Vazquez, Julian Gressel, Paul Arriola, De Juan Jones...and I can almost feel people thinking “Eryk Williamson” – but, if someone asked me to name five players I’d take to a real, live competitive tournament tomorrow, those are my guys....but, to make the case for and against those five:
Brandon Vazquez
He’s just fucking useful, honestly, but watching him play for the U.S. after watching him play for FC Cincinnati showed me how much he needs the right teammates to really thrive. A big part of me thinks that, if the next (or returning) U.S. coach really committed to building a scheme that works around Vazquez, even as a sub, he wouldn't be disappointed.
Julian Gressel
He defends better than reasonably and hits one hell of a cross. The problem is that “better than reasonably” doesn’t equal “well.”
Paul Arriola
Love his energy. He'd be fucking oustanding if the rest of it matched that.
DeJuan Jones
Probably the most “on the bubble” of the bunch. He was pretty good tonight. My only gripe is that I’d like to see him get forward more.
Eryk Williamson
I’ve seen Eryk at his best and this isn’t it. For all the good moments – and he had one from each game – he still doesn’t strike me as ready for a quality 90 minutes. I want him to get there as much as the next Portland fan (if not more; I’m aching for them to look pretty again), but I very much doubt I’m the only one that agrees with the first sentence of this blurb.
And that’s a wrap for the U.S. Men’s January Camp 2023. If you walked away from it feeling inspired, congrats. It wasn’t a disaster by any means, but if there was a diamond in the rough, I walked right past it...
...I mean, this was FINE, but I’m so, SO ready for the MLS season to start.
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