We qualified winning only 2 games last cycle.

Yeah, and just imagine what woulda happened had the US not taken that game against Panama seriously...

My point is, CONCACAF's competition is poor. All you have to do is be better than T&T and Honduras/Panama. Could be 3 wins?

You are talking about a team that has gotten whooped by the likes of Guatemala and Jamaica and has gotten outplayed by teams like Honduras & Haiti recently. We are just another team in the region atm.

Well Klinsmann is gone so pretty soon it'll change.

What do you think about Marcelo Bielsa apparently being the frontrunner to the American job, tbh

I think that hiring Marcelo Bielsa right now instead of Bruce Arena is a bad idea given the current situation, but it certainly would be entertaining. The three weeks before he melodramatically quits would be amazing.

Bruce Arena is the new head coach of the USMNT

I'm intrigued to see how this round of CONCACAF fixtures goes. Costa Rica is a team playing really well atm, they've been able to knock off some pretty decent teams on the road, in friendlies of course, but it counts nonetheless. Mexico has not been playing all that well at home but the Azteca is a pretty tough venue for visiting teams either way. I expect Costa Rica to play with a lot of numbers behind the ball and will probably stack a lot of people in midfield looking for an error on the way out to counter attack. Mexico will have to be extremely patient with the ball to build up plays. If they're able to keep their composure, it should be a relatively calm game for them. Osorio likes to play a hug the touchline game to stretch the opposition, so Layun, Damm, and Vela are going to be key in this game. Orbelin Pineda, also key, is taking over Guardado over injury is going to have to do a lot of work over the center of the field to shake a few players to open up spaces. When they lose/don't have the ball, I expect them to counterpress and not allow Costa Rica to counterattack comfortably. They will start out in a 3-4-3 with Ochoa in goal, 3 in the back with Araujo, Marquez, Moreno, Wingbacks are Damm and Layun, Molina and Pineda in the Center of the field with Pineda having more freedom to go forward, two strikers (Hernandez, Peralta), with Vela moving freely in the final third. Costa Rica will go into the game with their traditional 5-4-1(5-2-3) depending on how high Costa Rica is willing to push up the field. I think they'll start out with Navas in goal, 5 in the back Watson, Acosta, Calvo, wingbacks will be Gamboa on the right, Matarrita on the left, Borges and Azofiefa in the center of the field, wide on the right is Bryan Ruiz, wide on the left is Bolaños, and upfront by himself is Ureña to provide speed on counter attacks. He's a very fast player.

Both the US and Mexico are missing key players due to injuries

Honduras is a bleak ass team though, I think Bruce Arena will provide a positive change to the squad. Honduras really ain't shit. So I'd say the US will be fine. I always viewed Bruce Arena as a Tuca Ferretti type coach. He's a pragmatist who plays to the strenghts of the team and to what the opposition presents. He's not an ideologue to any stretch of the imagination. But there will be immense pressure if the US doesn't win.

Idk, man, Quioto and Elis have been tearing it up so far for Houston this year and we're already thin at FB as it is. Najar is really good too and they have a good coach; Orozco will probably be out there trying to defend one of them

I'm not saying they don't have good players. Surely they do, but as a team, I don't see them doing that much to try to win today. They'll probably do the usual park the bus. So unless they catch y'all of guard with a mistake out of the back, or over the top on a counter, they probably won't do much. They'll play direct soccer, they won't do much of a build-up game. And if Orozco starts at FB, that could be a problem... Having him on a one on one in transition is not good news.

Well, at least T&T might win vs. Panama, which should be good for the US

Panama is also a really poor team. Not sure why Mexico always struggles against them ...

I'm surprised, but I actually like Osorio's gameplan putting Hernandez on the left wing, he was able to go in untouched on the first goal. They're finding a lot of space through the middle channels, I like it.

Man, Mexi was right, Honduras are

I'm gonna go ahead and say it: Missing four of the team's best players, there's no chance a Klinsmann squad does this. Just unthinkable.

Honduras is worse than I had thought. I knew they'd probably lose 2/3-0, but this is just sad.

Panama are probably going to get in at this rate. Either as a 3 or 4. They're a very strong home team.

They need to start scoring some goals.

Their best strikers are Tejada & Perez; it feels like it's been that way for the last 20 years.

Honduras and T&T are quite poor. On a side note, Mexico can wrap up their qualification in the next International Break. Two home games.

Never thought I'd say this, but I love what this Mexico team has turned into. They have great intensity, they put great pressure on the opposition in the opponent's defensive third, rarely allowing the opposition to come out cleanly with the ball from the back. They play a great possession game, very precise on the ball, rarely lose the ball, I also love the fact that they play with a lot of width and they create a ton of 1 on 1s by switching the play, with the likes of Vela, Corona, Lozano, Aquino, etc as options on the wings. This Mexican team is by far the richest in talent in their history. They had better take advantage of this team. They have a plethora of options for different line-ups. The real test will probably be the Confederations Cup to see how they measure against some heavier teams.

I'm hearing Bruce arena wants to start with Yedlin and Villafaña at Right and Left Back. I hope he does.