Pulisic's return makes USMNT 'much more dangerous'
Taylor Twellman joins The Dan Patrick Show to review the USMNT's loss to Turkiye and their chances against a "defend-first" Bosnia and Herzegovina side in the knockout round. They also assess Christian Pulisic's return.
Video Transcript
Taylor Twellman, Apple TV lead soccer analyst and former, member of Team USA, joining us, on short notice.
where are you right now, Taylor?
I am in Boston, Massachusetts for Norway-France, which should happen in a little bit, Dan.
Should be a good one.
How important is this game?
it's important because I, I think the general public doesn't fully understand with the 48 team tournament that the top four teams in the world, FIFA rankings, France, Spain, Argentina, England, if all four win their group, they avoid playing one another until the semifinal.
So while both France and Norway are going through, it's vital for France that they, they win this group.
And so there's still, still something to play for here.
I, there are a lot of, people clutching their pearls after the loss last night- and bigger picture with Team USA, and I kept saying, w- that's a great problem to have that we didn't need to win a match.
Mm-hmm.
I don't know how you feel, but that's how I, I saw the result.
your thoughts?
same.
I mean, Dan, l- listen, they scored in the 98th minute, so it's a, I, it's an absolute bitter pill to swallow.
I literally was on the verge of putting it out on social media.
Great perseverance from the second string.
Great reaction to twice going down.
I, I mean, once going down to one scoring the tying goal, and then finding a way with second half subs to mitigate that.
Now, in saying that, I went into the game saying this: the result was inconsequential, but the game wasn't meaningless.
And so now- Mm-hmm Pochettino has answers to which players in the knockout stage are ready for the moment.
And I'm not totally sure he got answers he wanted, but he got answers.
It's the first time, so own it.
Take the, take the fruits of those labor and say, "Hang on a minute.
We're favored against Bosnia.
We gotta be the proactive team, and we gotta be on the front foot from the opening whistle."
What did you see from Christian Pulisic last night?
he's fine.
He's completely fit.
I'm actually I, I was in the camp of saying, "Don't play him," because I don't think the reward outweighed the risk.
However, I understood saying, "Listen, if we can get him 20-some odd minutes, it gets rid of those he's been out for two and a half weeks, he gets into the flow.
Now he's in the thick of it."
So you gained a lot now by him not being injured, getting rid of the 20-plus minutes.
He got nutmegged on the game-winning goal.
I know that's gonna be tough, and he probably was thinking about that at the end of the night.
But immediately you saw how important he is.
He made that team much more dangerous within three minutes of being on the field.
And against this Bosnian team, where they defend and tactically are very stout, Dan, he's their most important attacking player.
USA faces Bosnia Herzegovina.
So what can you tell us about them?
Bosnia is very similar to Australia and Paraguay.
they'll defend first.
They'll defend very simply with a 4-4-2.
They'll have numbers behind the ball.
The difference between them versus Paraguay and Australia, they have absolutely no problem doing that for 90 minutes.
And what I mean by that is they will be 100% committed in making sure defensively they frustrate the United States.
Now, the caveat to this is emotionally, where are they gonna be?
This is their first knockout stage game in the history of their country in the World Cup.
So emotionally, are they gonna be prepared for 70,000 people that are red, white, and blue rooting for the opposition?
This is 100% an away game, both on the field, off the field, and everything else about that.
So the first 15, 20 minutes will dictate whether or not the United States has a game like they did against Paraguay, or they're gonna have 90-plus minutes, 'cause now in the knockout stage, that can go to, to penalties.
Dan, it's important that the United States wins that first half, 'cause if they do, Bosnia's gotta come out of their shell.
That's not where they're at their best.
If I talk to you in two weeks, what are we talking about?
We're talking about the United States preparing for the quarterfinal.
I really believe that.
I've said that from the beginning.
I just believe that they would win their group, and by winning their group, it would set themselves up with a third place team and then a winner of two second place qualifiers.
I think we're talking about the United States in a quar- in, in a quarterfinal.
Before I let you go, would you rather have Mbapp's future or Haaland's?
Mbapp.
Thank you.
'Cause he doesn't eat liver and onions.
thanks for joining us on, short notice there.
Safe travels, Taylor.
See you, buddy.
Taylor Twellman, Apple TV soccer analyst.
we sor- sorry for the connection, but he literally was driving to the, match and pulled over at a gas station to be able to, help accommodate there.
But, Mbapp and Haaland going against each other, that's a lot of fun.
There's a lot of talent.
And, and what you're seeing is there are players that get on this stage and they shine, and they're younger players.
And, you know, we, we've seen big-time players get on the stage and not do well.
But when you see some of the younger players, you know, 17, 18, 19 years of age, playing for your country, playing the World Cup, playing in the United States, man, that's a lot to ask.
It's a lot.
And, and it feels like we're asking more and more of these younger athletes when they're 17, 18, 19.
Hey, Dallas Mavericks, Cooper's gonna be your leader.
He's 19, 18, 19 years of age.
And then you go to the other end of the spectrum and you see what's happening with these athletes who are in their 40s.
I mean, Djok- Novak Djokovic is 39.
Aaron Rodgers, Messi, Ronaldo, Brady.
Brady won a Super Bowl, you know, in his mid-40s.
Kawhi Leonard, 34.
LeBron's 41. not at my I put in Kawhi because he had one of his best seasons after being injured.
And when you think about being 34, Magic and Isiah Thomas retired at 32 and 33.
Larry Bird was 35.
So the, you know, we're kind of bookending that it's, it's commonplace.
Serena gonna play at Wimbledon, singles match, in her 40s.
That used to be if you got to 35, you were old.
Now, with all of the nutrition and travel, you know, workout programs, off season, all of that, we're surprised when you don't go into your late 30s here.
And you also see these athletes when they're 18 or 19 years of age, and they're coming in and making an impact right away.
