So for the soccer experts here, what are our chances against the Netherlands on Saturday?
The good and bad thing about soccer is that on a good day anyone can really beat anyone...you can park the bus Mourinho style for 89 minutes and then counterattack for 1 minute and score and win the game. The bad thing is that to win you have to score at least one goal...and our finishing isn't the greatest. At the top level of world soccer you need players who can find the back of the net. If Pulisic is injured that's a big loss, he's been involved in our two goals so far.
Holland have got a lot of creative midfielders who are technically very good - De Jong, Klaasen and Dumfries and a very solid defense with Van Dijk, Ake and Timber, and some good poachers in Depay and Gakpo. They're a top caliber team. The saving grace is they haven't looked all that impressive in this WC playing 3-5-2 with two wingbacks and a three man central midfield. They were in one of the easier groups and didn't look great, but they still came away with 2 wins.
It will be a challenge for the US, but at the knockout level there's not really any easy games.
TP to you and TheBigTicket23. These are great breakdowns.
Kind of like what others have mentioned, the U.S. have played great so far this tournament BUT they really need to cash in on their chances if they want to beat the Netherlands this weekend. I really don't think 1 goal is going to be enough, they'll need at least 2. I can see them winning with a 2-1 score, but I really can't see them winning 1-0. Hopefully Pulisic is ready to go, we'll need him.
Netherlands have looked a tad shaky during the tournament but Gakpo is also someone to watch out for. He has 3 of Netherland's 5 goals so far this tournament. Netherlands' defense is pretty stout, won't be easy to break through and when the U.S. do, they really need to cash in. They won't have too many opportunities otherwise
In general though, I also wish the U.S. would just play aggressive and ATTACK all game long. In both the Wales and Iran games, they played awesome in the first half, had 1-0 leads but then decided to basically "sit back" and let Wales/Iran unleash on them in the 2nd half. It cost us against Wales with the mistake leading to a penalty kick equalizer, and Iran had some great chances too late in the game to tie it.
Netherlands will rightfully be favored, but I think the U.S. do have a shot especially if they play like they did against England. It'll come down to cashing in on the chances though. I really think someone other than Pulisic has to come through (Weah? Dest?). They can't just rely on Pulisic and I'm sure Netherland's defense will prioritize limiting him