I got to see the game live and just watched the replay. A couple of notes, especially given some of the talk in the thread.
1. Pulisic wasn't the best player on the field, but he wasn't bad either. They had their #10 following him the entire half and immediately moved 1 to 2 guys to back him up whenever the ball got moved to our left. Add that to Lund not offering much as an outlet and he's not going to have much for chances. FYI, one of the reason McKennie was able to make so many great switches was all the attention Oman was giving CP. It left Dest and Weah in acres of space.
2. Musah is a baller. No idea why he's getting looked over here. Last night is the first time I've seen him live and he reminded me of Ngolo Kante. Constant motor... great body control and an absolute menace to the other team when pressing in midfield. Miles and Richards played great last night, but Musah hounding their midfield contributed mightily to the defensive effort too.
3. McKennie was on fire with those long balls. We commented on it all night. That's going to be killer going forward if he can stay that consistent on switching the field.
4. Thought Lund played good for a kid in his first call up. Obviously was limited offensively, but never let anyone behind him and was quick about moving the ball. I'm hoping he'll offer more offensive threat once he settles in, but he at least looks like a decent backup option if nothing else.
5. Defense was spectacular. It wasn't a huge test, but Miles absolutely controlled the air and both Miles and Richards cut off runs immediately. Both were extremely quick about moving the ball too. Loved what I saw from them.
6. Thought Balogun looked good, but really liked what Pepi brought to the #9 even more. I know Balogun is more highly thought of right now, but this race hasn't run it's course yet IMO.
7. Right side is set in stone IMO. Weah and Dest work too well together for that to ever be messed with.(please Gregg)
that's amazing you got to see the game- fun one to take in live.
1- CP is always going to be overloaded defensively. he/GGG needs to have realized that by now and he really needs to make better decisions, instead of putting his head down and trying to take the 1st and 2nd man on over and over again. I agree Lund was killing his space- will hopefully grow into more of an understanding with more time together. great point about Swag and the switch being open as a result of the overload.
2- a lot of stuff happens outside the frame of the TV. that's where guys like CBs, Adams/Musah and whoever our 9 is make their living doing their work- work that doesn't get seen by the rest of us TV viewers and usually isn't a codifiable stat. love hearing these insights from you and gian these last two games about that work.
3- I actually think this is a skill well within Swag's toolkit- and not some one-off that Andy was concerned about. I feel like the modern game's defense tends to pinch and overload the strong/ball side of the field, almost always leaving the switch on if there's somebody willing to take it. that said... Swag had a LOT of time and space on the ball to both pick his head up to find the players cross field and make the switch unharried.
4- agree about Lund. high floor in our limited viewing of him.. which is great for a younger, new guy. hoping he has the skills to unleash more offense when he gets more comfortable. but he did show really consistent good crossing skills, and he was always the first person to get to the goal scorer to celebrate and always had the biggest, goofiest grin when he did. kid looked like he was loving every second of that.... gave up on Denmark to do it, as well as feeding seals.
5- yeah! I was loving their quickness moving the ball- but they were rock solid defensively.. and seemed like their spacing was good. I don't remember them getting beat through the middle ever.
6- were you able to watch both those guys off the ball? I feel like pepi's defense has gotten better and better, at least from the way the opposing team is forced to move the ball out of the back... rarely the most productive attack as a result.
7- I do think Weah has the ability off the dribble- and has shown it for the US at times. but agree with Bagel that he could show more of it, which would help open Swag even more. they cycle into the same spaces too much and end up playing a lot of short balls to each other.
after hearing your guys' reports, I'm really thinking about going to the Germany game in CT. will look into tickets... probably goofy priced.
100% Dribbles completed 
