[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

I'll introduce another question - hopefully those of you who watch a lot more than I do can answer this easily.

Every set piece Wales had seemed dangerous. Crowding in front of the net, took decent play from the goaltender (I thought Turner had a good game, maybe even a great one under the circumstances) to save the result.

Every set piece the US had seemed trivial. Corners were line-drived into the opposition, few players seemingly interested in moving forward. Free kicks might as well have been throw-ins.

This doesn't seem normal. Does it take extraordinary coaching or players specifically to turn set-pieces into threats? Or is the US team and/or coaching staff simply awful in this category.

I would have to go back and really analyze all of the set pieces. For me, set pieces are all about coaching and that starts with the squad building. No need to swing anything into the box if the team has no one capable of beating the other team to the first ball. No need to create intricate set piece designs if the set piece taker can’t deliver the right ball. Pulisic definitely struggled in that aspect yesterday. However, everything I read indicates that he is the primary set piece taker for free kicks, corners and penalties. If that is not his strength and there are no other options in the team when he is not having a good day, that goes back to coaching.