All eyes are on the USA on Monday night in Seattle with one position that will be everyone’s focus.<\/p>\n
Star striker Folarin Balogun being available for the United States is obviously a massive storyline. Ricardo Pepi \u2014 the presumptive replacement as the striker \u2014 is a different player, albeit one who’s very capable. It’s still a boost for the USA to have Balogun available.<\/p>\n
Let’s break down the matchup.<\/p>\n
The obvious storyline for the USA lineup entering this game was Balogun\u2019s absence and Ricardo Pepi likely replacing him as the starting striker. Overall, there’s a clear starting lineup that’s preferred by head coach Mauricio Pochettino, so he’ll likely stick with Balogun starting for the U.S. ahead of a massive game. But maybe Pepi sees some action too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With Pepi, though, you would get someone who works hard defensively and is a very good presser of the opposing defense further up the field. Balogun is probably a bit more of a threat with his runs behind opposing defenses, while Pepi is not known for his speed to get in behind the back line.<\/p>\n
Pepi is still lethal in the 18-yard box, where it\u2019s less about making runs behind defenses, using speed or tricky dribbling to get a shot off. While Balogun can use his speed to make things happen, Pepi finds the right positions and has very good technique when finishing.<\/p>\n
Forward<\/p>\n
United States<\/p>\n
I think the focus of this game will be on Christian. It will be crucial for him to create moments throughout the entire attack. I think he\u2019s going to be the guy who makes everything tick going forward.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t expect us to have loads of time on the ball to pick a pass in this game. I see success in this one against Belgium coming from wide position and getting the ball into the box with late runners, whether it\u2019s Balogun or Weston McKennie making a run, Sergi\u00f1o coming in on the weak side or Malik Tillman near the top of the box.<\/p>\n
Any good moments for us in attack are likely to come from Christian on the left wing, getting in attacking positions and then picking his spots to make a key pass with players crashing in to attack it.<\/p>\n
Belgium has a right to be frustrated, but on the other hand, it\u2019s not like it won\u2019t have time to change the game plan. For me, it won\u2019t make a massive difference in terms of preparation. All you have to do is look at clips of the opponent, and you\u2019ll quickly recognize the differences between Pepi and Balogun, which are pretty straightforward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think Belgium should try to make this a distraction from the preparation it\u2019s in the middle of right now. It needs to focus on itself and how it’s going to best prepare the team, without getting drawn into the drama that\u2019s unfolding in front of our eyes with this news.<\/p>\n
Belgium will definitely have the most quality of any team that we\u2019ve faced so far. It will be the toughest challenge in terms of an opponent that can keep possession and have talent around the field. That shouldn\u2019t be a surprise to anyone.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lot of the old guard that has thrived over the past decade-plus. Thibaut Courtois is still in goal with Kevin De Bruyne in midfield and Romelu Lukaku leading the attack.<\/p>\n
If you look at Belgium\u2019s games in this tournament already, though, it\u2019s not dominating the ball. For example, Egypt had 46% possession against the Red Devils in the group stage. With that, I\u2019d expect close to a 50-50 split on Sunday in Seattle.<\/p>\n
Forward<\/p>\n
Belgium<\/p>\n
Even though he came off in the 56th minute against Senegal in the round of 32, it\u2019s still Doku.<\/p>\n
De Bruyne is getting older, but his mobility was never his biggest threat. That\u2019s his passing ability.<\/p>\n
Doku brings a big challenge with his pace and dribbling, one that was on display when these teams faced off back in March in a friendly. Alex Freeman is going to have another good performance on the right side of the USA’s defense to contain the Manchester City winger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY All eyes are on the USA on Monday night in Seattle with one position that will be everyone’s focus. Star striker Folarin Balogun being available for the United States is obviously a massive storyline. Ricardo Pepi \u2014 the presumptive replacement as the striker \u2014 is a different player, albeit one who’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}