jjohnsonvotes

@MLShater Final match and we must tie. 1-1 with 20 left. Cannot concede a goal. Adams and Tessman both go down. Johnny goes in with... who? Your choices are Roldan, Berhalter, Morris and Musah. The answer is 10000% Musah. After that, drop Weston deep. The others aren't nearly good enough.

Why must we push the “culture guy” narrative for USMNT? So we are gonna bring a guy we know is not good enough just because he won’t complain that he doesn’t get to play? Does any other national team have this moronic concept where the “culture guy” is just useless at soccer?

@ByDougMcIntyre And he was probably Milan's best player today. You probably didn't watch the match because if you did, you'd write that while he didn't score, he was really good. Quit with the agenda.

Christian Pulisic’s goal drought has now reached 16 games for club and country. The #USMNT’s World Cup opener is 62 days away.

@the_bonnfire And he was also probably Milan's best player today. Did you actually watch the match? Leao was a mess. But Puli played well.

Christian Pulisic was withdrawn in the 73rd minute today, with AC Milan trailing 3-0 to Udinese at home. He's now on a 14-match drought without a goal in Serie A play, his last coming on December 28. Less than ideal for the #USMNT star w/ the World Cup coming up this summer...

@EinSchwarzwelt And, umm, don't we think Gio Reyna is MUCH more dangerous than Luna if you also give him time and space in the middle? Gio is a far superior creator and attacker. It's such a stupid argument he is making.

"He's an extremely dangerous player when you give him time and space in the middle" Someone tell this bozo that WC teams won't open up for Luna like they do in MLS and there's a reason why he's severely underperformed w/ the national team after the Gold Cup. He's not the savior.

@PaulTenorio What is the point of this post? They played badly in the last window for USMNT. Against real teams. So you think somehow because they were decent in MLS it somehow negates how poorly they just played at the higher level?

Sebastian Berhalter (great again), Diego Luna, Arfsten, Turner and others made a strong impression on Mauricio Pochettino in their first week back in MLS. But my favorite part? The kids. Again. Gozo, what a fun player! Hall is great. The Verdict: nytimes.com/athletic/71740…

@ByDougMcIntyre @FOXSoccer No MLS bias, eh? Luna wasn’t even here as Poch said he’s struggled in this formation. He’s been bad at club and meh at best for USMNT. Easily Aaronson or Gio over Luna. Not close. Roldan and Seba, who were terrible this window + simply aren’t good enough at this level? Come on.

Mauricio Pochettino learned plenty about the #USMNT over the last week, information that will go a long way toward informing his final World Cup roster decisions. Many hard choices await. “It’s going to be difficult only to pick 26.” ⁦@FOXSoccer:⁩ foxsports.com/stories/soccer…

@benwright Johnny...down? Huh? He was our best holding mid. Not close. Roldan, Berhalter and Morris gave us absolutely nothing aside from conceding goals. Zero progression, zero pitch control, big mistakes leading to goals against, no ability to handle the ball in tight deep space.

⏫ Matt Freese, Auston Trusty, Malik Tillman ⏬ Christian Pulisic, Tim Ream, Johnny Cardoso Taking stock of the USMNT 🇺🇸 roster after the March friendlies ⤵️ sixonefivesoccer.com/stock-up-stock…

@ViktorAkadra @the_bonnfire Literally name one thing he did that helped us win. Struggled with ball at his feet under pressure, caught out of position on both goals, gave us zero progression or pitch control. Kid tries hard but he‘s so far off this level when we play good teams. Fine vs CONCACAF minnows.

@jjohnsonvotes @the_bonnfire Why was Berhalter terrible? Explain in detail

Your #USMNT player ratings after a 2-0 defeat to Portugal. Matt Freese was great. Everyone else lacked quality. Christian Pulisic stunk. The 2026 World Cup looms. sportingnews.com/us/soccer/news…

@the_bonnfire Kyle, why not Ferreira, Morris, Aaron Long + Arriola too? Let’s just focus on Arfsten, who’s been an unmitigated disaster at FB. He‘s an AYSO-level defender. At WB, he’d be way behind Jedi, Dest, Weah, Freeman, and Scally. He’s simply not good enough against non-CONCACAF minnows.

There are no more games for the #USMNT until Mauricio Pochettino names his final 26-man World Cup roster. I took a stab at naming who will make the list this summer. There's a bit about each position, as well as where I think the final battles lie. sportingnews.com/us/soccer/news…

@StanUsmnt Spot on. He’s been useless against any good team we’ve played, so he offers no real value in World Cup. Against CONCACAF minnows? Sure. As did Jesus Ferreira.

Man a lot of you aren’t gonna like what I’m about to say… Berhalter is this cycles Acosta. Good/solid pro who can put in shifts in region but has no business on field vs top comp. Great set piece taker as an asset also aligns.

@TheBolivianYank uuhh, Freeman with the turnover which leads to a great counter and they have numbers. Trusty ain't Superman. Why was Berhalter up with our attackers? He's a holding mid!

Trusty half second too slow to close down Bruno Fernandes which led to his cheeky backheel. He should have done better. 1-0 Portugal.

@ConcacafEdgar Not sure about this. I think Poch was more focused on Haji vs Big Pat (and Haji is the clear choice).

It’s clear that Poch doesn’t rate Pepi It’s safe to say that he may miss the World Cup again Played almost no minutes last camp & same for this camp Haji, Agyemang & Balogun all got starts except Pepi #USMNT

@EinSchwarzwelt This is the question I keep asking. What does he actually do positively that helps us win? Especially against a good team. I honestly can't think of anything other than trying hard (while still making huge mistakes leading to goals against us).

What does Lil Sebby offer besides road runner energy and 1 good set piece out of 3 attempts?

@Joelazo_10 agreed. and a number of guys failed.

The only thing I can think of is that Poch is using this more as a ‘roster decision game’ instead of a ‘trying to win’ game.

@StanUsmnt Berhalter is a poor man's Conor Gallagher.

Pretty toothless in midfield. Morris and Berhalter look like they are trying hard and doing a lot. Lots of gritted teeth and “grindy” actions. Not a lot of quality and getting totally dominated in middle of park.

@lhenry019 Seba's work rate was good, but his performance was bad. Why not just state the facts? Struggles to handle the ball in pressure, no forward progression, too slow on 2nd goal, literally nothing that helps us win.

Outside of Matt Freese, only Chris Richards played the full 90 minutes for the #USMNT tonight. Auston Trusty and Aidan Morris were solid, so was Sebastian Berhalter in terms of his work rate. Final-third issues continue, which is worrying.

@soccer_usa_ You can bookmark this tweet: no chance.

Patrick agyemang will be bought for $15-20m this summer and be playing in the prem. I was too harsh in my initial assessment last summer. He’s got some traits to him.

@11Yanks this is an excellent summary and take. 100% agree

I will say this. At least Freese, Richards & Trusty looked reasonably solid today. That's several problems solved right there.

@MaxBretosSports are you serious? what an absolute joke of a statement. They have been terrible. Offer nothing in possession, progression, or 1v1 defending winning duels. They were awful.

I have seen enough of Sebastian Berhalter / Aidan Morris in 🇺🇸 central midfield to know that it works. They are in sync as a pair. #USMNT