[2006alum]

Best article I've seen (behind paywall):  https://theathletic.com/4747722/2023/08/...n=11693598

The article was before the Sweden loss.

Thanks for sharing. This analysis seems spot on, and the "prayer circle" analogy cracked me up. This para felt so on point to me:

Midfield shape and movement is the most glaring issue with the U.S. at the moment. The team is regularly taking up a stance I’ll call the “Prayer Circle Formation,” in which everyone’s occupying a space on the perimeter of the pitch and no one’s in the middle. Intelligent and technically adept players who regularly show the ability to combine in tight spaces at the club level are being made to appear inept, as they look up for passing options and find no one. . . . The Prayer Circle has to be considered a feature, not a bug, of Andonovsi’s tactics at this point. He wants to create overloads in wide areas and get numbers into the box so badly that he is willing to sacrifice having a midfield to do so. Personally, I think this sucks and leads to very bad soccer. 

[2006alum]

Best article I've seen (behind paywall):  https://theathletic.com/4747722/2023/08/...n=11693598

The article was before the Sweden loss.

Thanks for sharing. This analysis seems spot on, and the "prayer circle" analogy cracked me up. This para felt so on point to me:

Midfield shape and movement is the most glaring issue with the U.S. at the moment. The team is regularly taking up a stance I’ll call the “Prayer Circle Formation,” in which everyone’s occupying a space on the perimeter of the pitch and no one’s in the middle. Intelligent and technically adept players who regularly show the ability to combine in tight spaces at the club level are being made to appear inept, as they look up for passing options and find no one. . . . The Prayer Circle has to be considered a feature, not a bug, of Andonovsi’s tactics at this point. He wants to create overloads in wide areas and get numbers into the box so badly that he is willing to sacrifice having a midfield to do so. Personally, I think this sucks and leads to very bad soccer.