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ElbertoHokie
Joined: 01/01/2005
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Pretty bummed about the outcome of the game last night. But there were

some positives in it. Negatives -There was a lot of momentum built up around the first two wins and carrying that through to a third and winning all of the group games would have been a really nice feather in the cap as well as carrying that forward into the knock out stages -Our backup CBs and backline is not looking all that strong. They were out of sorts all night and it could possibly be chalked up to a lack of chemistry not talent, but the results were poor and they were consistently poor for the whole match -mid field disappeared for large swaths of the night with the exception of Mckinnie. We were also running a 4-3-3 which isn't a formation we've played at the WC yet. That puts a premium on having good midfielders that can hold possession and find the ball. -I didn't love Pocchetino's reaction after the game. You subbed on starters with 10-20 minutes left in the game. You clearly wanted a draw at least. Don't downplay the result. If you had sat on your hands and left the backups in, this tact has more credibility. You subbed Pulisic on to get him some game minutes but the rest of the subs reeked of trying to claw back a good result which means you DID care. Positives -Pulisic looked fit and good -When we subbed on some starters, we got noticeably better -A lot of players got WC playing time. They can tell their kids about it later and if we need them to come into a game, they played and know what it feels like. -Set pieces still seem like a strong point for this team and that is a big positive heading into the knockouts -We won the group!
Posted: 06/26/2026 at 11:31 AM ET

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Pretty bummed about the outcome of the game last night. But there were
ElbertoHokie 06/26/26 11:31 AM ET
LOTS of PT for backups against a good opponent.
TomTurkey 06/26/26 02:11 PM ET