Part 236: Chapter the Fourth: More Jekyll than Hyde.

Chapter the Fourth: More Jekyll than Hyde.
June 8, 2029-July 2, 2029

I have no idea how we're going to do in the Confederations Cup. We should be aiming to reach the semifinal, if we can draw with Scotland while beating Senegal we have a pretty good chance of doing that (I don't suspect anyone is going to beat Spain on their home turf, so it's all a question of who gets the second semifinal spot in our group). But we've also been brutally inconsistent in World Cup qualifying, getting obliterated by Mexico in our last match while being unable to beat Honduras at home. This could be a short stay in Europe for the Yanks.



And another USMNT player sets his retirement date. I truly hope Erik Jimenez stays healthy, because he and Bruno are the only non-League One quality options at left fullback. Compare that to Attacking Midfielder and Right Wing, where we have four or five Premier League level talents at each.



I'm just going to keep telling myself that it's just a friendly and that I picked my squad primarily to get them match fit for the Confederations Cup. We didn't play quite as bad as the score looks, but we've now lost two matches in a row by the score of 3-0. And Cameroon isn't that good.



Fingers crossed, especially as Joey Garcia is out injured until early July.



Two goals in the first seven minutes of our final tune-up sets the tone of the match, and we run the Aussies off the pitch. Team USA's transatlantic flight to Spain is much more enjoyable than I'd have expected after getting thumped by Cameroon.



There goes Sky Shadowing, always flashing that cash. I still regret failing to sign Williams on a free transfer in June 2027.




No use delaying the inevitable. Bring on the Scots.

vs. Scotland, June 17, 2029
Confederations Cup, Group A


The team has played like crap whenever I've sent out the 4-5-1. We give the other team too much space to work in, our defense can't handle the pressure, and we end up getting scored on repeatedly while being unable to do anything to our opponent on the counter because of the space between the wingers and the midfield. So I'm tossing it aside and using the 4-2-3-1 regardless of our opponent.

Also, in an effort to get all of my best players on the pitch at the same time, I've flipped Hunter Fisher to the left side of the pitch and moved Rodrigo Moctezuma into the striker role. I'm sure talent is more important than playing people in their natural positions.

God help me, I'm Roy Hodgson.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Ramirez, Needham, Jimenez, Padilla, Hughes, Paredes, Coleman, Fisher (c), Moctezuma.
Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Delgado, Bruno, Latham, Hyndman, Enriquez, Barrett, Ulusal, Rusling, Clavijo, Williams.

We're the better team throughout the first half, but Paul McStay makes us pay when we let him have a bit too much daylight while Andrew Paredes scuffs our best chance in the first half. We look completely out of ideas for the first twenty minutes of the first half, so I yank Keith Coleman (who's naturally picked up a ding) and Chris Ramirez for veteran Darren Latham and Michael Enriquez, one of our passel of daring young midfielders.

I immediately look like a genius as a 13 pass sequence that started with Latham recovering a lost ball ends with Paredes threading the ball across the goalmouth to the unmarked Enriquez for the equalizer. That wakes the Scots out of their gamelong stupor, and Pasquale Paladino has to make Scotland makes a game of it late, forcing Paladino to make two saves in the final minutes. Got the point we need, though.




USMNT 1-1 Scotland



It would be both awesome and a shock to see us get a draw. Also, pretty much every time a media outlet talks about team USA the first name they mention is Moctezuma. I'd be worried about the kid's ability to handle the pressure if I hadn't raised him from a pup myself.

vs. Spain, June 20, 2029
Confederations Cup, Group A


We're not getting anything from this match, so I'm keeping my powder dry for Senegal. Only Paladino, Needham, and Moctezuma started against Scotland. Meanwhile we're staying in the 4-2-3-1, but I've used our training time to practice defensive positioning and set us to play a low tempo bus-parking style of play. The last thing I want is for us to get blown out and need a dozen goals against Senegal to advance.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Defensive.
Starting 11: Paladino, Lozano, Latham, Needham, Bruno (c), Hyndman, Enriquez, Moctezuma, Ulusal, Rusling, Clavijo.
Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Parsons, Jimenez, Ramirez, Padilla, Hughes, Coleman, Barrett, Fisher, Paredes, Williams.

As anticipated we're giving plenty of possession to Spain, but the players are sticking to the disciplined, defensive style I was aiming for and that's defanged the Spanish in the early going. Thus, when Sinan Ulusal scores a shocker in the 18th minute, we take the lead. Any dreams of beating Spain are quickly dispatched when Manchester United's Gregorio, longtime foe of Wrexham, equalizes four minutes later.

That's the score when we go into the lockers as Rodrigo Moctezuma continues his poor international form by scorning an easy chance late in the first half, but I'm happy as a clam that we're not getting run off the pitch. When the hour mark rolls around we're still even at one goal, and it's enough to make me bring on Parsons and Ramirez in an attempt to pick up the unexpected point. The Spanish attack only strengthens as time grows short, but Paladino holds the line with eight saves and we steal a surprise point.




USMNT 1-1 Spain



You better be pleased. That was not an easy match!



He's got no interest in becoming a coach. This is the end of the line for Justin Bailey and the world of football.



Wrexham continues to seek a competent defensive midfielder after selling Kamel Zouaghi last summer.



I plan on some editor shenanigans when it comes time to play the Gold Cup as the two competitions don't run concurrently and there's no reason why members of our A team should be missing out simply because the game isn't good at international registration when tournaments take place within a month of each other.

vs. Senegal, June 23, 2029
Confederations Cup, Group A


Senegal lost to Spain by a score of 4-1 and then fell to Scotland 5-1. So not only do we need a win here, we need to beat them by at least a four goal margin to ensure that we go through. Otherwise it'll take a non-draw result in the Scotland v. Spain match to get out of the group stage. Ideally Scotland will beat Spain while we beat Senegal, causing the hosts to crash out unceremoniously in the group stage.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control.
Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Ramirez, Bruno, Jimenez, Padilla, Hughes, Paredes, Coleman, Fisher (c), Moctezuma.
Subs: Rubio de la Fuente, Lozano, Latham, Needham, Hyndman, Enriquez, Ulusal, Barrett, Rusling, Williams, Clavijo.

I've realized that you shouldn't let kids too young to drink pack for themselves on international trips, because Rodrigo Moctezuma forgot to bring his finishing boots to this tournament. He adds two more missed chances to his worrisome total. We get our win, though, as the soon to be retired Bruno scores twice on set pieces.

Despite our mastery of the match and the two-nil score, I'm becoming alarmed as we enter the final half hour as Scotland and Spain remain locked in a goalless draw. At the moment we'd fail to move on due to having beaten Senegal less soundly than they did. Then Spain scores on Scotland after 75 minutes of play, and we move into second place, and I can breathe a little easier. My attention to the Scotland score flags briefly when Chris Ramirez is sent to the showers after an uncalled for red carded in the 87th minute when the ref gives full marks to a dive by Senegalese striker Osumane Diop. It's crap, but immaterial to the outcome of the match.

Thus, instead of the game being played on the pitch below them the entire stadium is watching the scoreboard intently as the final minutes tick down. Our two goal lead is safe, but will Scotland equalize and send us home despite not having lost a single match? No! Scotland loses 1-0! USA! USA! USA!

Man of the Match: Bruno




USMNT 2-0 Senegal



Damn right I'm appealing. He'll be eligible to play until the appeal is ruled on, which might not be until after the end of the tournament.



A shame he's retiring considering he just found his scoring touch.



We eked into the semifinal, if Spain and Scotland had drawn they would have both advanced thanks to how many goals they scored against Senegal. It would have been maddening to go home despite taking five points and drawing the #1 team in the world in their own house.




At least we're doing better than Tahiti, who beat New Zealand to represent the Oceanic Football Confederation in the past two Confederations Cup and who boast a 1 to 25 goals scored to goals allowed in those six matches.



That's pretty impressive for a kid who turned 20 less than two months ago.



I kind of figured that was going to happen...



But hey, it opens up an opportunity to get popular with the booming Israeli soccer fandom! And, as seems to be a happy tradition with Wrexham's overseas affiliates, Kiryat-Shmona doesn't appear to have utter shitheads for supporters. Heck, right now they're the first Jewish Israeli team to have an Arab Israeli manager. I was worried for a second that they'd be similar to Beitar Jerusalem, whose supporters are wildly anti-Arab and who got their team docked two points in the 2014-2015 season for repeatedly chanting racist slogans at non-Jewish players.



It'd help a lot if Moctezuma was finishing the chances he keeps creating. Without a good game from him I don't see how we get past the Germans.



Darn. I was hoping that El Juez and El Compadrito might be able to slip the Argentines past Spain since Argentina is well superior to the USMNT but definitely a half level below Spain and Germany.

vs. Germany, June 28, 2029
Confederations Cup, Semifinal


We just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. The only advantage we have over a truly stacked Die Mannschaft is a day's extra rest, they played their final match of the group stage on the 24th while we played ours on the 23rd. Given that the odds have us as 12-1 underdogs, or about 8% to win, we're going to need more than a little luck to make our second straight Confederations Cup final.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Defensive.
Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Ramirez, Needham, Bruno, Enriquez, Padilla, Paredes, Coleman, Ulusal (c), Moctezuma.
Subs: Delgado, Lozano, Jimenez, Latham, Hyndman, Hughes, Barrett, Fisher, Rusling, Clavijo, Williams.

As expected, we must weather the storm. Germany finds a gap in our set piece defenses to take an early lead in the 12th minute, but shortly thereafter things begin to turn as Rodrigo Moctezuma discovers that he brought his scoring shoes to Spain after all.

First he makes a great play to intercept a backpass intended for Germany's Sven Schick, who gets dispossessed and left in the dust as Moctezuma scampers down half the pitch with no one near him before beating the keeper at the far post to tie the match in the 19th minute. Ten minutes later he breaks the offside trap as Paladino launches a goal kick 70 yards downfield, over the head of the two opposing Centerbacks, and finds himself with all the time in the world needed to dribble past the keeper and put us ahead.

We enter halftime with a lead, but with 45 minutes left to play I caution everyone to keep their energy levels up and play it safe. So what happens in the first minute of play? Young Andrew Paredes calmly takes on two defenders, leaves them for dead, and puts a cross directly onto the unmarked forehead of Sinan Ulusal to give us a two goal buffer.

It turns out we need it. Germany doesn't stop coming, getting one back in the 63rd minute, and equalizing when James Needham, a stalwart on defense since I took over the national team, scores an own goal with 28 minutes left. It's three-all headed into extra time, when Ivan Srdaev, Barcelona's long-tenured defensive midfielder, breaks down and leaves Germany without a player and us with a man advantage. Even with that advantage Germany matches us stride for stride, and each nation's citizens in attendance gasp and scream as the ball bounds everywhere but the net.

When the final whistle blows it's onto penalties, where Germany and the United States trade successful efforts until Pasquale Paladino gets just enough mitt on a Johannes Witt attempt to give Sinan Ulusal the chance to finish things. Ulusal, as he has seemingly every time he's been called upon, puts his adopted nation on his back and buries his effort. Bring on Spain, again.

Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moctezuma




USMNT p 3-3 Germany



I'm relieved that we didn't end up going down because James Needham, he of 53 international caps, scored an own goal. There's no way I would have avoided being pilloried in the press after that sort of error cost us a trip to the final.



Stoke signing wonderkids? Weird. Their current modus operandi is to sign FORMER wonderkids.



Considering Bouzid's sophmore slump, which saw him drop from 12 goals and 11 assists in 31 matches all the way down to 5 goals and 2 assists in 18 matches, this is a pretty good price.



I hope the sale wasn't predicated by a deteriorating financial position, though. Wrexham's worth fully £300,000,000 less than this time last year.



It worked last time, didn't it?

vs. Spain, July 1, 2029
Confederations Cup, Final


After the slugfest with Germany we're pretty tired and Spain are as implacable and imposing as ever. Stranger things have happened, though, and Spain is without either of their best attacking midfielders. Of course, all that means is that their replacements are “among the best” rather than “among the very best.”

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Defensive.
Starting 11: Paladino, Parsons, Latham, Bruno, Jimenez, Enriquez, Hughes, Fisher (c), Coleman, Clavijo, Moctezuma.
Subs: Delgado, Lozano, Ramirez, Needham, Hyndman, Barrett, Padilla, Ulusal, Paredes, Rusling, Williams.

Despite ceding the vast majority of possession to the home team, we strike first on a lightning counter in the 13th minute as Hunter Fisher launches a perfect cross to Jesse Clavijo at the far post. We can't maintain that lead for long, though, as Spain tears through our set piece defense to draw even before a half hour has past.

Then a wild stroke of luck goes our way. What should have been a simple clearance on a poor cross turns into an own goal when Spain's right back collides with his teammate while leaping for the ball inside the six yard box. The ball strikes him in the shoulder, deflects precipitously past the dumbfounded keeper. Thanks to the grace of the football Gods, we've suddenly regained the lead, and we protect it until the first half ends.

This isn't the first time the United States has lead at the half of the Confederations Cup final. Back in 2009 the United States found themselves up 2-0 over Brazil thanks to early goals by Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. But Brazil roared right back, scoring three in the second half to deny the US. Now, 20 years later, we have a chance to succeed where we had previously failed.

Throughout the second half Spain backs us repeatedly to the brink, but can't push us over. I respond by ordering an even more tightly packed defensive formation, sacrificing width and any hopes of a third goal in order to keep as many men as possible between the goal and Spain's furious strikers. But 45 minutes is a long time to defend, and it only takes one mistake to undo huge amounts of hard work.

That mistake comes in the 85th minute, after Michael Enriquez makes a great sliding tackle to knock the ball away from Victor Sanz. The ball rolls past a surprised, wooden James Needham, and to the feet of Amador in front of the net. It would have been impossible to miss, and for the second time in as many games the long time LA Galaxy veteran has let his team down.

With only scant minutes remaining in regulation I make no efforts to go on the attack. Spain have looked far likelier to score and I am certain that if we're going to win it appears we'll need yet another lucky break in the shootout.

So I'm busily looking at who to bring in for our final substitute, then, when Pasquale Paladino launches another rocket goal kick downfield. It deflects off of the head of Spaniard Lionel Vicente, and directly to an onside and wide open Jesse Clavijo. Clavijo, an afterthought coming into this tournament and only on the roster because he doesn't embarrass himself playing at left wing, wheels and fires from thirty yards out as defenders bear down on him. The ball tears through the air, over the goalkeepers outstretched mitts, off the underside of the crossbar, and into the net. The 100,000 spectators in Barcelona are shocked silent, and remains so until the final whistle blows. We've just slain the dragon in it's own den.

Man of the Match: Jesse Clavijo




USMNT 3-2 Spain



Holy.



Hell.



Happy to have had you along for the ride, Bruno. I don't suppose you'd consider putting off your retirement until after the World Cup?



Uh, thanks, but why would I want a statute of myself outside of National Stadium? I'm a Mets and Red Sox fan. And why would you be putting the statue outside of a baseball stadium anyways?



We were 2-1-2 in World Cup qualifying, and coming off of a 3-0 trouncing at the hands of our biggest rivals. Simply getting to the semifinal of the Confederations Cup was my goal. Instead we win the damn thing.

Now, just about everything had to go right for us to win, from Spain scoring a late goal against Scotland to just get us out of the group round, to somehow beating Germany on penalty kicks, to scoring three goals on five shots in a final where Spain otherwise kicked us in the balls and took our lunch money. But who cares how we did it, smash and grab looks just like tiki-taka in the record books. I just hope we didn't waste all of the luck we're going to need next year at the World Cup.

The Hex


Gold Cup 2029