Nice to see the US bounce back on Saturday, handing the game Honduras side a 2-1 defeat. After a world class finish from Costly, the US responded from what usssocer.com says is "first come-from-behind win in qualifying since 1985." The US midfield certainly picked up the play 25 minutes into the first half, and inspite of Altidore's frequent lapses with the ball at his feet, move the ball into the attacking area. I don't think Altidore and Cassey are the answer for the surprisingly sloppy attack. On a bright note former ManU defender Jonathan Spector impressed with the quick and clever Honduran attack.
The US seemed to dominate the match after the opening 10-12 minutes against a less than world class side. How can the US solidify a spot and be better than 3 and out at WC2010? Should Bradley look harder for an impact player who is not currenlty in the mix? What's your line up?
243 comments:
1 – 200 of 243 Newer› Newest»Yippee! I'm first again!
MTA parent
The mammas and pappas have so much to say about the MTA coaching debacle, but they probably don't know who Robert Bradley or Steven Cherundolo are.
GK: Howard (Guzan)
LB: Bocanegra
CB: DeMerritt
CB: Onyewu (Califf)
RB: Spector
LM: Donovan (Rogers)
DCM: Clark
ACM: Adu (Feilhaber)
DCM: Bradley (Pablo)
RM: Dempsey (Torres)
S: Altidore (Davies)
BN: Hejduk
BN: Holden
BN: Jewsbury
BN: Zizzo
BN: Dolo inj
BN: Edu inj
GK Howard (one of the best in the world)
B Onyewu
B Bocanegra
B Hejduk
B Spector
MF Donovan
MF Clark
MF Bradley
MF Dempsey
F Ching
F Tough one espeically how bad Connor and Jozy played
careful 9:36, prepare for the "Adu counter-attack" (with maybe even a little bit of Torres thrown in).......
Steven Cherundolo, I know who he is (I like hard working defenders). Brad Roberts I am drawing a fuzzy blank on. Sorry. However, I do know who Paul Caligiuri is ;)
It is sometimes easy to take pot shots at parents, especially when we are protecting the little chicks. Nevertheless, I am always amazed how some soccer people think the majority of us should not comment on what we see. Is soccer so complex that the average person cannot tell when someone is working hard and successful? Is soccer so complex that in order to appreciate it one must have devoted a lifetime to the study of it? Could it be that a certain elitist believe that only those who have played and devoted their lives to the game of soccer know anything about soccer. I do not watch football or baseball, but I do know I can sit down a watch a baseball game and figure out pretty quickly who playing badly and who playing a solid game. Sorry, Anon 9:03 but the tone and attitude of your post I think is a lot more damaging than a bunch of post from some over zealous parents about little DD coach. Most of us can see thru the parent post and issues. Your post just says if you don’t know these two guys your to stupid to comment. I on the other hand would rather see a lively, respectful discussion that may educate and enlighten parents. Soccer is not an elite sport anywhere else in the world but US. It is not rocket science. It is a simple game with loads of nuances.
GK: Howard
LB: Bocanegra
CB: DeMerritt
CB: Onyewu
RB: Spector
LM: Donovan
M: Bradley
M: Feilhaber
RM: Dempsey
S- Davies
S- Ching
What is funny is that there are about 2,000 posts about the MTA issue, of which 250 are unique, while this topic will struggle to get 40 posts. It shows that the bloggers are "Kids Activites Fans" rather than football fans, as a previous blogger explained.
You probably won't see a lot of posts because fans simply don't care about the men. After watching the first two games my conclusion is they stink and have no interest in watching them agin. Mediocre players and a lousy coach.You will see a lot more interest in the womens WC2011.
WC2010 should be exciting. You never know when but at any minute a riot could break out. Fans storming the field mugging opposing players, bottle tossing and home town winners over turning cars and burning down buildings. U-tube will be loaded. Here we go baby!
The first two games? They have played 5 in this final round of qualifying. The team will be fine and will probably win the group.
12:58,
If the MNT stinks with mediocre players, how good does that make your child?
I agree, the coach is lousy. Seems to be a recurring theme in the US. The English did not teach us very well...did they?
The early wave of coaches that came to the states in the 70s were poor, that's why the left England. The especially agressive ones, moved into the coaching administration ranks, USSOCCER, FIFA-USA, and made their mark. They trained a new generation of coach, create the NSCAA, a coaches training/certification system that teaches people to be trainers, not managers or coaches, and now look what we have. People who would be washing dishes (which is honorable work) if there were not soccer coaching jobs, or clubs to run.
Yes, US Soccer could use more world class athletes, but the coaching, and those coaching the coaches, will need to improve significantly.
You can tell, just by the way Bob Bradley presents himself, that players don't really respect him.
7:02,
You don't know what you're talking about. It's the kids and the culture, not the coaches.
Australia and Japan join host South Africa in the WC
7:02
Cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear. While I dont think any big time clubs will come knocking on Bradley's door anytime soon you have to take a serious look at what he has to select from before giving him too much stick.
He's only got about 2-3 guys who are legitimate players in top club sides, most of the rest are either bit part players at 2nd rate Euro clubs (Jay Demerit lol) or play in Mickey (as in Mouse) League Soccer. Watching a one-paced carthorse like Casey (Blue Square Premier level maybe) lead the line against Honduras was frankly embarassing.
Contrast that with some of the African countries (Ivory Coast anyone) where virtually their entire squad plays regularly in top Euro competition, and you can see how far we have to go before having a top notch coach will really make much of a difference.
IMHO CONCACAF should only be allowed one automatic qualifier to the WC, anyone else should be forced to get in by play-off since the entire CONCACAF group isnt any stronger than any of the single UEFA groups. Wont happen thanks to the jokers at FIFA who still think there's a big pot of gold to be made out of 'soccerball' in the good old US of A.
We were a bit behind on our Soccer match viewing and just watched the 1st half of the UMNT-Honduras game last night and the Barca-ManU game late last week. (daughters are 8 & 9 and bedtime came at halftime on the DVR last night).
Anyway, 5 minutes into the MNT game last night my 9-year old looked at me and said "why do we (the US) keep kicking the ball to the other team and why do they let it go out of bounds so much" Keep in mind she has primarily been exposed to Euro league games along with the occasional Lightning game live as I do not watch much of the MNT. Sad but true comparative commentary from the eyes of a 9-year old. It all comes down to a drastic lack of technical ability (first touch being vastly sub par) which results in no possibility of building up and moving not booting into the offensive 1/3.
In U-Little terminology, Bradley is coaching in CONCACAF, a C3 league, and will finish in the top 3. It is then on to C1 in South Africa and game over.
Wow, you know nothing about MN soccer do you. C1 is at least 3 leagues lower that the top youth level available. And MN top level is still several levels below other states. No comparison to world futbol. Good luck developing you DD to a C1 player...she'll be a real star.
Oh that's right, Braley, who came through the youth development level, and is in a perfect spot to change what the US does to develop its players, has nothing...
Oh wait, do players develop themselves, or do coaches help develop them? Bradley is a poster-boy for the systemic issues with the US development fiasco, through its poor to terrible coaches.
IMO it's kind of the chicken and the egg.....
do the coaches make the player or do the players make the coach?
If you are like me and watch the top leagues on FSN, you can see the difference in ability between us and them. Where would you rate arguably our best player (Dempsey IMO) in the EPL? middle of the pack, mighty a bit higher? And he is one of our best players.
It's the same condition that has started to infect hockey - it's all too structured. "Soccer by the numbers" is what I've seen it referred to as. It's like it's right out of a book. Unfortunately not sure how to realistically change it.....(emphasis on the realistically). USSF Adademy is a nice first step stressing training over win at all cost tournaments.
Folks (like 10:08) say it's the coaches, maybe so, but how do we fix it?
9:59, Thanks for personal attack on my lack of knowledge regarding MN youth soccer. My oldest child is 9, I have not (nor do I plan to) lay out a youth soccer road map for her to reach the highest level. Do not need luck by the way. While parents believe (and are sold) they can keep their kids a step ahead of the competition by paying/planning their kids ascent to the top of of any sport 85% of it comes down to gene's, passion, and commitment of the kid.
The focus of my message was meant to be that even a 9-year old can tell the difference between good and bad soccer and the MNT plays bad soccer in her eyes relative to what she usually watches.
9:59, Before you respond, Signing your kid up for every high level camp, the best club, and telling them to go outside and Juggle/shoot/play wall ball demonstrates your passion and commitment not your kids, even if they agree to it with an excited smile.
kaka and ronaldo...ru serious?
10:08
I thought we were critiquing the mens national team here not some sort of 'developmental' youth team. My point was simply that as head coach of the men's team, Bradley can only deal with the hand he was dealt and it's a pretty poor one.
10;29 makes a good point, but doesnt this infect the whole youth sports culture in this country (except maybe basketball). Overcoaching at a young age, too much emphasis on tactics and winning, and too little on simply going out there to play and have fun. Also when I was a kid we went out and when we played we were trying to emulate what our heroes (Georgie Best, Bobby Charlton or whoever) had done in the game we saw on TV or in person .For obvious reasons a lot of kids here playing this game are 'fans' of the major sports of the US and I get the impression that many of them and their parents watch soccer on TV sort of like a homework assignment not as real fans of the sport. Plus you wouldn't learn much by trying to emulate the local MN professional team would you (ouch!).
Oh and '9:59' why dont you just stick to posting on the other blogs here, and at least leave this little corner of the blog for those of us actually interested in the sport itself. Your post in microcosm is what's wrong with youth sports culture in this country.
unbelievable...R Madrid is paying $131 mil to Man u to negotiate for the crybaby ballhog Ronaldo. Then they will probably pay Ronny 10 mil per yr.They are crazier than the Yankees.
Question is how much of that will the Glazer's let the purple-nosed one have to strengthen his squad for next year. Not that I really care as a fully paid up member of the ABU(anyone but United) club.
Inside MN Soccer posted a thought provoking article.
"US Soccer Supporters - We’ve Come A Long Way But There Are Still Miles To Go"
http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/
Perhaps the real "problem" with the MNT and US soccer is simple.
So far, in this country, we haven't developed a soccer culture.
(When was the last time you saw a bunch of kids playing "pick up" soccer?)
Sometimes I wonder if our biggest problem isn't being TOO ORGANIZED.
IMHO, without an underlying soccer culture, we aren't going to develop truly passionate players.
If you polled boys,what sport would you like to play and be pretty good at.
Baseball
Football
Basketball
Hockey
Golf
Tennis
Etc
Maybe one in ten thousand would pick soccer.
Little boys fathers kinda initially push kids toward sports they like. I don't think soccer will ever make it big time in the U.S.. That's just the way it is.
Westsider
12:56,
That crybaby ballhog has 91 goals in the last 3 seasons and is just reaching his prime as the reigning Player of the Year. How do you score 91 goals and hoist so many trophies if you're passing all the time?
I have no problem with his skills and ability to but the ball into the net, but stop being such a pretty boy and grow a set of balls will ya.
Ya get knocked down, get back up and quit your whining or put on a friggin skirt.
Charles - welcome to the Liverpool fan base.
tomASS...
er not quite so fast. I pretty much despise the entire upper echelon of the PL, and cant respect any team that employs a fat Spanish waiter as a coach. Plus when I was a lot younger Manure weren't very good and L'pool were dominant and so we hated them....and then they facilitated UEFA in killing English club football (Heysel).
We will see how Ronaldo does when he is in a team packed full of prima donnas. The good news (for English football) is that the purple-nosed knight may now actually use the best overall player in his squad properly as opposed to a glorified water-carrier for the Portuguese ponce.
Back on topic, I think people make some good points but I dont think the problem is primarily the youth set-up. As with almost any sport, the US spends huge amounts of money on youth development and it has clearly paid dividends up to a point (look at how competitive the younger age group US national teams are). The problem comes when the kids get to be 17 or 18 and then their development basically stops because the level of competition domestically stagnates. It has always been my belief that the college system and having a second or third rate professional league here is a major impediment to the development of high quality 'adult' players. A player like Landon Donovan is a classic case in point. As a big fish in a small pond he presumably makes pretty good coin and clearly has no interest in actually competing at a higher level. He gets overhyped in the US, and then against quality opposition comes up short every time to the seeming amazement of the US pundits.
Charles, I agree with your "adult player" explanation. I also think it's the general culture in the US as a non-footballing country that impedes our youth development.
I don't agree with your "best overall player" label. Any player that scores 42 goals in one season and 91 in the last three is probably better than Rooney or Vidic or Evra or whomever you think is the best overall.
While supremely arrogant and whiney, Ronaldo removes his skirt and makes plays that others wouldn't by putting his body on the line. Besides, it's smart to argue for cards. It helps your team. Unless ManU can use all that cash to find some worthy replacements, next year will be much tougher for ManU than the last couple of years.
The conversation always ends up concluding that the Thunder (and their lower-division compadres) stink, and no one should aspire to be part of that organization. Well done, everyone.
1204: Your welcome, and now for some more piling on.
from Charles;
"The problem comes when the kids get to be 17 or 18 and then their development basically stops because the level of competition domestically stagnates. It has always been my belief that the college system and having a second or third rate professional league here is a major impediment to the development of high quality 'adult' players"
absolutely agree here charles.
also agree on the Benitez description and the way he handles his line-ups. You can hardly ever have a Liverpool player as part of your starting line-up in fantasy futbol since you never know who is starting and who he is resting
I always follow a new club the PL this year it was the Tigers of Hull City. Very good year
all things considered that is. Stoke was impressive to be able to stay up also
With today's Jermaine Jones news, here's my revised lineup:
GK: Howard (Guzan)
LB: Bocanegra
CB: DeMerritt
CB: Onyewu (Califf)
RB: Spector
LM: Donovan (Rogers)
DCM: Jones
ACM: Adu (Feilhaber)
DCM: Bradley (Clark)
RM: Dempsey (Torres)
S: Altidore (Davies)
BN: Hejduk
BN: Holden
BN: Pablo
BN: Zizzo
BN: Dolo inj
BN: Edu inj
Nice to see Holden is producing lately.
11:17
Not disputing that CR is a great player, just that the entire Manure operation has been designed around him and that may not be the case at the Bernabeu. I consider Shrek to be a better all around footballer and believe he will now get the chance to prove it. Madrid is a perfect fit for the egomaniacal CR, and I look forward to this iteration of 'el galacticos' falling as flat on their collective asses as the last version did (relatively speaking).
12:04.
Hmmm. Not really what I said. My point was only that the level of college soccer and professional soccer in the US is relatively low compared to the best leagues in the world, and thus we shouldnt be surprised when players who come from that environment dont shine when faced with top international competition. The fact that soccer is a minority sport (pardon the pun) in this country is just a fact of life, and one I have long since adjusted to. I really dont care about the Thunder or MLS, any more than I care about the Mexican or Columbian league for example. That there are enough US people to blog on here about Ronaldo, the US national team etc is great, as is the fact that lots of kids here enjoy playing the world's greatest game (when the parents arent ruining it). Glass is more than half full IMHO.
TomASS
Since my team successfully gained promotion to the Prem this year hopefully you will cheer them on to survival....out of darkness cometh light!
BR, I like the players in your line up. I don't know if the US can play a 4-5-1 and expect to score much. However, with numbers in the middle, maybe they would look to build more and thus create more quality attack. In the 4-5-1, with attacking mids that play high, it would be nice to have a Mascherano. I used to think that Pablo could develop into a good-enough holding-midfielder, but he doesn't seem to play well consistently.
In my 4-5-1, I only have one attacking mid to stress the defensive strategy. I think the US has shown that we need to play defensive like the Azzuri to have a chance. I think we could play a 4-3-3 and still not get any attack...wait, Costa Rica? Adu would play as a 2nd striker with Altidore with Bradley playing attacking mid.
Guys;
What about at the back? Strategy is one thing...having the horses is another. Your back four is creaky at best, and has been exposed in both recent games by lets face it less than stellar attacking teams. Aren't there any better choices at CB than those two? God love 'im Demerit's as honest a footballer as the day is long but he's extremely limited. Also neither of your fullbacks is much of a threat going forward and if you're going to pack the middle of the park somebodys got to provide some width.
I always thought that the US played best when they had teams that played up tempo in your face stuff, plenty of fitness and muscular athleticism. Think WC2002. Whatever happened to that.
We do lack the ability of the fullbacks to attack and in today's game you need the ability to attack out of the back and cause the imbalance in the attacking third
Brad the problem is the Italians can handle high pressure when they win the ball and have the ability to counter quickly.
We can play defensively if you want but the boys turn it over often enough without pressure on them. Recipe for disaster
Update....R Madrid games will be played with two balls if Ronaldo signs with them.
C'mon....nobody is worth 131 mil plus.....
Who won the last ITA v USA match?
tomASS & Charles,
If you don't like my roster, please offer your FULL roster to enlighten me.
Like I said, we'll be defensive and not have our backs attack. We'll pack it in with big, physical guys. Then we'll counter with Donovan, Adu, Altidore and Davies.
Things we've been doing don't work. It's not 2002 anymore. We don't have Sanneh out wide or O'Brien in the middle.
Would my team beat Bob's?
Brad - you don't have the players to be affective constantly at the high level international game.
Your roster will get you dismissed soon enough.
You can't counter when you can't deliver the ball forward with any accuracy. A wish and a prayer pass will be gobbled up and shoved back down your throats leaving you always on your heels.
858 - June 15th Confederations Cup we have Italy.
June 18th we have Brazil
after that on the 21st we have my friend's Hisham's favorite team Egypt.
1-2 at best 0-3 more than likely.
The only thing we have going is the lack of respect from Italy and Brazil.
tomASS,
What would your USA roster and lineup look like? Any ideas for ways to keep us off our heals and to deliver the ball forward?
I like Brad Roberts' lineup but unfortunately it will probably look like this on Monday,
GK: Howard
LB: Bornstein
CB: Bocanegra
CB: Onyewu
RB: Spector
LM: Donovan
CM: Bradley
CM: Clark
RM: Dempsey
F: Altidore
F: Casey
This will really frustrate me. I hope Davies getting the #9 will mean he'll start over Casey. I hope Beasley and Kljestan stay on the bench. I hope our backs are exposed so Bob makes changes. I want to see Adu and Feilhaber get starter minutes.
These guys shouldn't touch the pitch this week:
Pearce, Wynne, Beasley, Kljestan, Casey.
These guys should get a chance to show Bob what they got as a starter:
DeMerritt, Feilhaber, Adu, Davies.
These guys should get some playing time to show Bob what they got:
Califf, Clark, Torres.
These guys need to prove that they deserve the unconditional starting spot:
Donovan, Onyewu
Brad:
Sure you're not Bradley in disguise? Looks like your lineup is pretty darn close to the starting 11 versus the Eyeties.
Cant see em scoring a goal in a month of Sundays with those players but thats why they play the games right.
Hope Dempsey puts a shift in instead of acting like some MTA 'blue' teamer whos been asked to guest on the 'white' team. He only plays for Fulham FFS.
U.S. 1 Dagos 0 45 min. PK by LD while playing one man short. Rough 1st half. Second half to come.
Brazil slips by Egypt on PK.
Are you watching the game 2:18? I have it on soccernet.com. 'Reads' like a bitty, poor quality game (which I guess is good for the US).
Pack it in for the whole 2nd half has to be the approach now I guess.
Italian men seem to have such big schnozes. Seems to slow them down when they run with their heads up.
This is not a well played game so far but that's good for U.S..
U.S. playing man short 2nd half...Rossi scores 1 -1.
Rossi from New Jersey
Rossi..nice left foot kick. He's really fired up Italy.
Must have been his first kick of the ball!!!
2:47
Pot calling the kettle black there my friend.
U.S. playing ten men. No subs. What's coach thinking?
U.S. Davies in Alt out.
Big mo change favoring Italy 68 min
Italy controlling game. U.S. no offensive threats.
U.S prepring to sub. Italy all done w/ subs.
Italy 2-1
Long distance shot . U.S. goalie out to lunch.
De Rossi cheap goal.
U.S. looks all done ????
Sounds like my kids team!
Howard's a good enough shot stopper but his positional sense is crap at times.
Game over now.
U.S. tired. Playing in slow motion.
Red card really hurt the good guys. No excuse. Italy much better team.
U.S. won't get out of group.
Italy just playing with U.S.
Was the red justified?
Seemed like (from soccernet) US was at least holding their own before that, albeit in a bitty shapeless game.
U.S. doesn't have a game changer who's able to take over a game in crunch time. Very average team.
Red card 50/50 according to announcers. I felt yellow was the correct call.
U.S. sub klj in Born... out 85 min
Italy keep away
3:09
Cut em a bit of slack. Playing the world champions with 10 men for the best part of an hour would stretch much better teams than the US.
Plus it sounds like what looks like the winner was a cock up by Howard.
KLJ nice shot U.S. just misses hi
U.S. is what they are...very average team. This was not Italy's best game by far. They prob took the game for granted. U.S. has never beat Italy.
Howard..nice save
Rossi goal...Italy 3-1. Walks around half the team
"Gianluigi Buffon (Italy) executes a corner kick"
Straight from Soccernet. Can't be that bas surely..lol!!
History
IT 3 U.S. 1
Any chance of any objective report from someone who actually watched the game on TV.
Thanks
Also to the moderator. Why not have a commentary thread like this for all the games?
only saw the first 20 minutes and the 65-70th minutes.
I was surprised when I could turn it back on that the US had scored a goal.
Could have been a lot worse in my opinion
I watch most of it. US was OK, but second half they couldn't seem to keep it together. They seemed to be playing scared and under-prepared for most of the game. Altidore is still to immature to do much against a quality team. He did win the penalty, but did nothing the rest of the game.
I think the tactics in the 2nd half were poor. Couldn't tell if the US was trying to stay compact and just counter, or if they were trying to just trying to play like it was 0-0. I think they could have won or tied the game if they would have done one or the other.
More signs of bad, really bad, coaching. The refs were also nervous during the game. Handing out yellow and red cards to US players for ridiculous reasons. Then after the red card, 2 ITA players committed red card offenses (elbow to head, last defender taking down a player to deny a goal scoring opportunity, with no card for either.)
I'll guess the US goes 0-3 at this point. They are in need of a world class coach, a world class midfielder, and world class offensive player.
Altidore is very inexperience yet, but I like his physical stature, strength, ball skills. Reminds me of a young Carew (had to get a norwegian plug in) LD did nothing to support him the first 20 minutes of the game. Altidore was always by himself.
TiVoed it so will watch later.
Did the Italian's blues get washed with bleach?
anon 309 - correct no game changer for US.
No problems at goalie.
anon 611 - whole game the US did not play as a unit moving together. Shape was most always bad. They were already working their butts off defending a man down. They needed to slow the tempo down a lot more than they did. It was like a track meet every time they won the ball and this defeated the idea of any cohesive shape.
They played directly into the Italian plan by doing this.
Coach Bradley needed to show some emotion on the red card. He could have owned the referee from that point on. I think the red was extremely harsh. It was a late tackle, it was high with some velocity, it was early in the game, and it was his first foul.
I thought the rest of the game was called ok - I saw no other red card fouls.
Kids- watch the 1st Rossi goal and his technique. UNF'NG believable! Of course his need to try to put the ball through the back of the net resulted in a terrible shank a bit later but his second goal was well timed and executed perfectly with greater composure.
Smart father - let's see keep my kid in the states to be developed or go home to Italy for development? I think he made a very good choice
Too bad MTA wasn't around when di Rossi was young. His dad had to ship him off to Italy instead.
I watched the entire game. Here's my objective report:
Strong lineup and strategy to start. M. Bradley came to play after his previous ugly performance. Team played well until red card.
Plenty of offense out of defensive formation. TomASS has a lot to learn about this (see above).
Bradley and Altidore had bad left-footed strikes on 2 great chances. Donovan had stronger game, still limited when dribbling 1v1, lost that ball so easily on top of the box in 2nd half.
Red Card was early, but it was a nasty foul and Gattuso sold it. Clark should be replaced with Jermaine Jones' thuggery.
We played well. Playing short killed us and Bob made odd changes in the 2nd half. We should have packed in it when we were up 1-0. We could have stolen that game. Freddy needs to play. Feilhaber had a lot of give aways, but also some good balls.
I wish they would get rid of those friggn plastic horns. I could understand after goals or great plays, but all game long the constant noise.
Drink and Sing instead for god sake
The sounds of the US game kill it for the TV fans which is critical for a sport that is desperate for US viewership.
1. The horns are so annoying. How are they not blocked out?
2. The TV personalities are so bad, whether it's Dellacamera, Harkes, Wynalda, Lalas or Foudy.
3. Dellacamera and Harkes are paid not to say anything negative about the play. As a result, it's the most dry, repeated and boring telecasts on TV. Every game that they do, MLS or MNT, sounds exactly the same.
4. Dellacamera doesn't have a clue. And he's been doing this for years.
Giuseppe Rossi left the US because he knew US coaches don't play young, talented, speedy and small forwards (i.e. Adu, Twellman, Rolfe, Davies until now).
Anon 737am - if the red bull academy couldn't help him enough I very much doubt that MTA would have. I hope that was a note of heavy sarcasm.
After an acceptable first half on Monday, I hope Bob figured some things out for Thursday.
GK: Howard
LB: Bocanegra (if healthy)
CB: DeMerritt (Califf)
CB: Onyewu
RB: Spector
LM: Donovan
DCM: Pablo
ACM: Adu (Torres)
DCM: Bradley
RM: Dempsey
S: Altidore (Davies)
I can't wait for Bob to not give Adu playing time until mop up time against an impassioned Egypt side with all our scrubs (Pearce, Beasley, Kljestan, Casey). That will be a treat.
I truly believe Bradley has nothing to lose by starting Adu at this point.
Oh really, tomass?
What's the difference between starting Donovan and Adu? One can only score on PKs, breakaways and tap-ins and one is our most gifted attacking player. Bradley is letting hurt feelings get in the way of winning and development.
1254- how is my statement concerning to you? I'm saying he should start Adu against Brazil
Not having been much of an Adu fan because I didn't buy the hype, plus he hasn't really done well in Europe, that being said since we don't have much of a chance of advancing what harm would it do to play Adu and see what he can do. If he stinks then we know why he hasn't played much, if he plays well continue to give him chances. As long as Adu is part of the team we should at least see if he has the ability to produce. You can't move forward without some risks.
He's not starting...like it makes a difference....'our most gifted attacking player' give me a break. He's played (and I use that term loosely) less than 20 competitive games in the last two seasons with ZERO impact so I would love to know what your assessment is based on. He peaked at '16' and has been going downhill ever since. It is truly desperate if hopes are pinned on him.
Pretty much the same lineup as the other day. Forced change because of the red card the only difference I can see.
Scary list of names on the other side of the ledger.
The U.S. simply doesn't have any real players.
Development in the U.S. is poor.
You can see this even at the elite youth level. You might have one player on a team with good on the ball skills but the coach has no idea how to build a team around a player like this. To make matters worse teamates don't know how to anticipate or have any idea how to play with a real player.
The root cause is poor coaching at all levels in the U.S.
Bra 2 U.S. 1 at 60:10
U.S. red card..now playing with 10.
Brazil just playing with the U.S.
Bra easy score again 3-1
The bottom line is the U.S. is terrible.
Is anyone watching the game. Sounds like a complete disaster.
Down 3-0 and down to 10 men again
This is embarassing. U.S. should forefit the Egypt game pack up and go home.
There isn't one U.S. player who could make the Brazil team.
All the chatter about who should start for the U.S...........It doesn't matter. They are all chumps.
Games like this kill soccer in the U.S..
It's hard watcing this game. Like doing pennance.
Casey stinks
Dempsy flopping..he stinks.
Adu picking splinters.
79 min......Brazil players laughing
How do players get picked for the U.S. team? There has to be better players than this.
Gee whiz.....seems like all of Brazil's players have great on the ball skills. No bootball with them.
The women could give the men all they could handle.
Dempsy flops.free kick.......zip
The End
Bra 3 U.S. 0
Random thoughts:
1.It would be nice if we could finish a game with 11 men still on the field esp against top class opposition.
2.Ridiculous and pointless to compare US and Brazil. Brazil, population 200 million: Futebol is the national religion. US, population 300 million, 'soccerball' is a minority sport that to the masses is a nice game for effeminate white boys, immigrants (who dont know any better), and girls.
3. Nope we dont have better players than this at the professional level. See my comment from days ago. We are a third rate country at best as far as the men are concerned, and only qualify for the WC every time because FIFA 'needs' us to and so allows 3 teams from the weakest association in automatically.
4. The standard of college and MLS soccer is crap, and will never be a breeding ground for top class international players. The fact that most of our 'top' pros cant hack it in Europe is just confirmation of number 3 above.
5. Unless 2 and 4 change (no chance) we will always be pretty poor as an international team. Most Americans dont care....quick laugh at the ESPN goons making some depricating comment about soccer then right back to baseball or whatever.
Hey 11:09,
I agree with just about everything you mentioned but to make disparging remarks in part 2about the players, you didn't need to include your personal bias. If you think only effeminate white boys and minorities play soccer you are dead wrong and prejudice. There are plenty of masculine white boys and minorites that play the game.
The big issue is that US coaches at all levels think that boot ball, and speed will be all you need. The truth is that when you find a talented player that thinks two or three steps ahead and is surrounded by others that don't have that talent but have size and speed the coaches don't try to incorporate that talent and then the talented player either gets frustrated and because they have other options they move on to other sports or just quit all together. We Americans are spoiled in that we have many options available to us.
Plus I think this is an interesting side note, my son and his friend were discussing who was a better conditioned athlete US football player or soccer player.
Most other sports athletes don't understand that soccer athletes are in much better shape, and I think that when they were young, they may have tried soccer and found the workouts, games, amount of running was to much for them. So they went to other sports which in the US have higher profile and make more money. I know I am rambling a bit here but until the US does focus on soccer or at least we change our coaching philosphy we will never be able to compete on a World level on a consistent basis.
11;55
Why don't you actually READ my post before replying. That comment was not my opinion but, I would argue, a pretty common opinion amongst the masses here. It's actually paraphrased from a book title that described the response from a typical Australian sports fan when being told (by the author) that he was a soccer player, namely that that was a game for poofs, wogs, and sheilas. I translated for those who dont speak Oz.
If you want to know why we arent any good I suggest you just drive round any typical suburban community with its nicely maintained soccer fields and see how many kids are playing UNSUPERVISED games with their friends. You will be lucky to find any. Now wait six months and see how many kids are playing pick up hockey games on the outdoor rinks right next door to the soccer field. They sell out the Xcel Center for high school hockey games for chrissakes, and you are trying to seriously tell me that kids quit soccer because the coaching isnt good enough or because you have to be too fit. Please. In your dreams.
Despite that the still does a pretty decent job of producing competitive junior teams, the big problem comes in turning promising juniors into accomplished senior professionals and I cant see how that is ever going to change.
but it's so much easier to blame the coach (or school teacher, job boss, etc....).
I agree with Charles. Until soccer becomes a national mainstream sport it will always be difficult to keep up with the other countries. The USA is getting better, but until we have double digit numbers playing (and succeeding) in the top European leagues (and I mean the top leagues) we will never have the depth to compete. Cranking out keepers is a different animal with a different skill set (which we seem to have figured out), but our field players are far behind.
It's kind of like comparing MN youth soccer to S.Cal youth soccer. We might have a player or two that is right there, but numbers 4-18 are a step down.
Gee Sorry Charlie, but when you say random thoughts and don't give credit to sources you may have used I only assume that your statements were you opinion. I wholeheartedly agree that we don't see many if any kids playing pickup soccer games, but there are some that do, and if they are playing with an MYSA CC or Club team, chances are they are either training and playing games every day or at least every other day.
Plus I know our kids are spoiled in a sense that they would prefer to go have a pick-up game on a soccer field, not as many of those around the twin cities as there are baseball fields, hockey rinks, etc. And if there are soccer fields they are probably in use as teams are either playing or practicing on them. More fields more opportunities to go play sandlot soccer.
Imagine if Lance Armstrong, Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Adrian Peterson, Tiger Woods, Dwight Howard, Alex Rodriguez, Larry Fitzgerald, Derek Jeter, and Dwanye Wade dreamt of being professional soccer players when they grew up.
Until specimen like these opt into soccer at an early age, we will continue to throw this country's B- and C-tier athletes into international soccer competitions.
But you assume that those listed above would have been outstanding soccer players, Mike Jordon was probably the best basketball player to play the game, but he couldn't play baseball worth a darn. Just because they excel in one sport doesn't mean that they would have in soccer. If the had chosen the soccer path they might not have had the ability and god given talents that they were able to take in their respective sports to the level that they are.
I believe that there are kids today that are playing soccer (Futbol) that will eventually be those Michael Jordons et al.
Bradley is a bad coach/manager of the Men's National Team. Again today he showed his inability to put together a reasonable game plan and organize a team. Yes the red card was harsh (again) and yes Brazil are one of the best teams in the world, but how can we be so unorganized. He is a terrible coach, plain and simple.
How else do you explain the US internations success with other sports: golf, volleyball, tennis, track and field, figure skating, gymnastics, race car dri...oops, technically not a sport, etc.
The development program and the coaches development program is just poor for soccer. It need to be rebuilt from the ground up. It makes sense to start with the coaches, because we can get them from other countries. Or just look outside the inter-circle of the recent group of knuckleheads.
BTW, none of the baseball players you mentioned have the work rate to play soccer, nor would TW or LF. Although LF does have the typical a-hole parent that would fit nicely on a soccer sideline.
2:12
First of all none of your pituitary case basketball players could play any game with their feet, your typical american football player would be gassed after 1 min an need oxygen etc etc.
Second of all this is true in many other countries too and they manage to come up with a better group than we can. Even the Ausralians for gods sake (who utterly despise soccer) have a better team than we do.
6:21
I agree with you that Bradley is pretty much clueless (what do you expect given his credentials or lack thereof), but the fact you cant compare soccer with those other sports. This is THE sport for most of the rest of the world. Tennis, golf....lol yeah those are big in Cote d'Ivoire!!!
Random Thoughts:
1. I agree with Charles above, especially, "soccerball is a minority sport that TO THE MASSES is a nice game for effeminate white boys, immigrants, and girls."
2. 11:55 is an idiot with 3rd grader ideas who doesn't know how to read.
3. There are so many open soccerball fields around. If there are pickup games on them, it is by non-white minority players.
4. Allen Iverson and Champ Bailey are more athletic than any US soccer player ever...by far. It is so pompous to think "soccer athletes are in much better shape." I'll take Iverson over Casey right now. Seriously.
5. How many times do we need to see Donovan fail at 1v1 attempts?
6. Not being an Adu fan because you didn't buy the hype? What? How about watch him dominate U17 National Teams as a 14 and dominate U23 National Teams as an 18. Not good enough for you?
7. It's not the coaching, it's the culture, for the 9th time.
Go to any school locker room in the US. Count how many jokes you hear about soccer players being gay or effeminate. Then go anywhere in Brazil and see how soccer players are viewed.
Not the coaching, the culture.
Hmmm, no it is the player development system and the coaching. For the 10th time.
Jokes by stupid, baseball-loving, fat, old white men, who's dicks don't work, are hardly credibile evidence that it is the culture.
I could pick a team, train them, take them them to the confederations cup and never loose by more than a goal. In fact, I would say I could go 1-1-1 in any group at confederations.
As others have said in other posts, soccer coaching rarely attracts successful individuals.
Our coaches training is like our teachers training, based on educational attainment and some ass kissing. Not based on results. Go MSHSL!
hey Charles, what does does effeminate mean. I am an immigrant and learning ESL and I dont know any better, that's why I came here to be effeminate. Is that same as eliminated because I escaped my country for fear of being eliminated and I come here and I will effeminate. Should I be scared on the soccer field since I don't know any better?
Charles is effeminate !! Must be because he either plays soccer or use to.
My point in offering the list of gifted athletes playing other sports is that gifted athletes in this country play other sports. If LeBron had dreams of playing in the World Cup when he was 4, and had worked toward that goal since that time, he would be the best soccer player in the world right now.
Imagine if Phil Jackson or Bill Belicheck wanted to be soccer coaches.
Yes, your point is valid about top athletes. But we all know that even the most gifted soccer players often don't reach their potential. Still it would be great to have a couple of players with athleticism like LJ, MJ, AI, or AP.
Great coaches develop players, run well managed and effective training sessions, develop tactics based on the their teams ability, prepare an effective game plan, instill confidence and motivate players...
It is clear that BB can run a competative training session, using fear to motivate...then we all have to watch fearful players running around the pitch.
Too much of a bad, too tightly structured system in our culture produces bad players or ill equipped players to perform at the international level.
I had no expectations of any different result against Brazil. The result and our performance shouldn't have been a surprise to anybody.
Rather than consider this result a wake-up call, which by the way a team has to be sleeping to be woken up; consider it another dose of chemo. The patient's outlook is bleak
Many of our coaches are our former players. Who taught them the game and who were their coaching examples?
Many of our coaches are the offspring of "stupid, baseball-loving, fat, old white men." Most of our bloggers on here probably are "stupid, fat, old white men."
Our coaches are a product of our culture. It's not the coaching, it's the culture.
Rome wasn't built in a day. When the fat old white men die off and leave US Soccerball, the game will take another step forward.
9:41
You proved our point for us. It is precisely because soccerball is a minority sport in this country that we lack top quality competition at the adult level which results in the malaise that we see in the mens national team.
7:34
Are you kidding me! LeBron James is 6ft 8in tall! He couldnt probably find his feet never mind use them. He might be a decent goalie but as far as the best player in the world he has compeletely the wrong physique. It is, in my opinion, one of the reasons soccer is such a great game because you dont need to have a pituitary disorder, or be some sort of steroid-bloated behemoth, to play the game.
6:15
I am English by birth so naturally I am effeminate!
charles - spot on regarding the size debate.
Bigger is not better, better is better.
Brad Roberts said, "Most of our bloggers on here probably are "stupid, fat, old white men."
I'm NOT fat. I'm big-boned.
Cripes, people. You take kids with LeBron's physical gifts, mental toughness and passionate competitive nature, train him to be a (INSERT SPORT NAME HERE) player from the time he's 4 years old, and he will become the best (INSERT SPORT NAME HERE) player in the world. In other countries, they choose soccer as their sport. Here, they choose five other sports before soccer.
11;29
Thats just plain silly. Here's just a quick reminder of the heights of the world's greatest footballers
All time:
Diego Maradona (5 ft 5in)
Pele (5ft 8 in)
Current:
Leo Messi (5ft 7in)
Cristiano Ronaldo (6ft)
Best I ever saw;
George Best (5ft 8in)
Do you think any of these guys would have been any good at basketball or American football. Horses for courses my friend. A relatively low of center of gravity is a huge advantage when playing soccer. As I said maybe a goalie for some of your basketball freaks but nothing else.
I'm pretty sure Cristiano Ronaldo is 6'2". He's a freak.
Randy Moss is 6'4". Imagine Randy in replace of Didier Drogba or Emmanuel Adebayor. Randy is way faster, quicker, stronger, taller and can jump higher.
Allen Iverson is 6'0". Imagine him in replace of Jozy Altidore. AI would run circles around Jozy or Marvell Wynne, 2 of the best athletes in the US pool.
Imagine Champ Bailey in replace of Gooch Onyewu. Nuff said.
Imagine Manny Ginobili in replace of Carlos Tevez. Taller, faster, stronger, more fit, quicker.
Imagine Tony Parker in replace of Karim Benzema. Taller, quicker, stronger.
Imagine Pete Sampras in replace of Frank Hejduk. This is fun.
Happens everywhere. Just more so in the US.
'If' (apologies to R. Kipling)
If only our best athletes played soccerball
If only our best coaches coached soccerball
If only the American public loved watching soccerball as much as they love watching yankee rugby, glorified netball, and rounders (stereotypical British person's view of US sports not necessarily the view of yours truly).
All the wishing in the world wont make any of this so, just get over it and move on. Even given all these 'handicaps' we should be able to field a more competitive team that we currently are able to.
Probably the highest profile coach in Minnesota youth soccer said "by the time I get the players at the u-16 level and up their development is done. I don't develop players".
You can make all the excuses you want for the coaches but the fact is they are the root cause of the problem.
I have attended many practices and never heard a coach talk about anticipation. Basically all you see is sprints and a little juggling. Technical skills?? what's that?
A frustrated coach who's team lost blamed the failure on the players "not watching the pros on tv".
The best players we have here in Minnesota are competitive and in great shape and play year round.Don't blame the culture or the kids. Put the blame where it belongs,on mediocre coaching.
Coaching goals are all about the club winning. These are strictly short term parochial goals. Long range development of players not a high priority.
I sound like a Barney song. Just imagine...
Imagine every young kid in the US dreaming of playing in the World Cup someday (rather than just the short ones or the slight ones or the immigrant ones ... or the effeminate ones).
Imagine putting every young kid into our youth programs, continually weeding out the weaker ones and keeping the better ones.
Imagine the talent we would have.
It has nothing to do with height (though I expect Charles is shorter than 5'5"). It has everything to do with the "pool" of players we can develop into players. If 6'8" LeBron chose soccer instead of basketball when he was 4, I'd want him on my team.
The best athletes we have here in Minnesota aren't playing soccer.
. . . except on the girls side.
Moss might be slightly fast than Drogba. Drogba can jump higher and is much stronger.
2:23
Imagine your auntie had a willy....she'd be your uncle :)
PS I am 6-4
PPS I am sure there are lots of kids out there who could of, should of, would of, but they didnt, dont and wont. There are still enough who did, do, and will for us not to be struggling to be the 3rd best team in the weakest confederation in the world.
How many U16 players in MN can play a accurate 35 yard ball in the air with both feet? On my U16 Premier team, 2 out of 16 can with only their right foot. It's a disaster with the left foot. I've tested it. Take your child outside and test it. I double dare you.
Is that due to coaching? Is it my job to give them that ability in one season of U16 coaching? Coaches can and do give instruction, but no coach can make a player play a accurate 35 yard ball. Our players suck because they don't practice.
There's a reason why 90% of the top youth players in MN are non-white. They're the players playing on their own time with families who follow the game. There's a reason why our top youth players come from the East and West coasts, that's where there is a higher density of non-white people.
Not the coaching, the culture, for the 12th time.
P.S. A 35 yard ball is approximately from the center of the field to the sideline. That's pathetic.
P.P.S. If you think 90% is incorrect, well, Rodrigo, Dula, Whitney, Karim, Isaac, Paul, Patrick...
Where's Shekki to comment on why those 90% are non-white?
I bet LeBron can play an accurate 35 yard ball in the air with both feet.
10:10,
What should a U16 coach do about that development area?
Spend every training session practicing 35 yard balls? That's what it would take for a player that age whose body is conditioned to do it poorly. Then you'll be complaining that they don't work on any of the other development areas.
In other countries, coaches don't have to waste limited time practicing those things. Players can already do it.
While La Masia is working on possession out of the defensive third, MTA is working on playing 35 yard balls.
How pathetic is it for a U16 player to know he can't execute that skill, yet he isn't out practicing it right now and he continues to expect to get playing time.
LOL - Charles said "willy' - great statement.
Top 10 post.
932 - what is this obsession with Lebron?
I guess it's time for ABC to bring back the Superstar series.
today's prediction Egypt 2 USA 1
USA plays til the end with 11 men
Their goal comes late in the game
We certainly do not belong at #14 in the world
and certainly not in the top 20.
I think Egypt is around 40th ?
sorry prediction for tomorrow.
Here's a bright spot - Next game against Grenada
it's the coaches fault that Beasley lets the short corner roll under his foot to kickstart the Brazilian counter
it's the coaches fault that for two games in a row the US has had to finish with 10
it's the coaches fault that Altidore has more rust on him than my old Buick
it's the coaches fault that Adu has never developed into the player he was hyped to be (if he was that good he would have found his way off the bench at one of the clubs/teams he's been on)
it's the coaches fault that half our players are in the MSL (internationally a lower level league) playing against elite world players
it's the coaches fault that a few key players (we could use the steadying influence of Bocanegra, the energy/passion of Hejduk, and I believe Edu is on his way) are injured
In no way do I think Bradley is blameless, but I do agree with most of the comments on this blog that it's primarily the lack of an ingrained US soccer culture and abscence of many generations of US soccer to build upon that is our biggest disadvantage. I do agree with those who think our overall development approach is lacking or in many ways is too structured as when it is all said and done goals need to be scored and more often than not it takes creativity, skill, and experience to put to ball in the net. IMO, the US does not have those kind of "international-elite" players......yet (hey, I can always hope).
Lastly, regarding Rossi, his parents are Italian, he left for Parma at 13, the goal/plan for him was to always try to play for Italy. There's nothing US Soccer could have ever done.
Typical democrat. Describe a problem as something that can't actually be solved. The culture? Your stupid! I could get the same or better results.
It is Bradley's fault for starting Beasley.
It is Bradley's fault for setting a stupid tone with his players. US will finish tomorrow's game with 10 as well.
It is Bradley's falut for not setting Altidore's head straight.
It is Bradley's fault, for Adu, he was is charge of development for the non-full side USMNT. He leaves him on the bench.
He is a d-bag and needs to go!
I take it you're not a Bradley fan 8:09 (and it would appear this thread's big Adu fan)?
If he had done everything you had wanted him to do they still would have been outplayed and lost both games (so if you could get the same results would that make you a d-bag as well?).
i always love it when people try to drag their political mindset into a USMNT discussion (huh?).
Coaching in the U.S. at all levels is poor.
Congrats to the USMNT on advancing to the semi's. They have to play Spain and their record 15 game winning streak, but the important thing is more games, more experience, more confidence, and hopefully an improved second half of '09.
Rode their luck a little but got the result they needed against a team that seemed to underestimate them.
Thought Donovan played well although he still takes the wrong option too many times in the final third. Was impressed by Davies workrate and pace. Dempsey was poor again although he scored the critical goal. Back four was a bit shaky and got exposed by their own midfield a couple of times in the first half especially but (fortunately) Egypt's final ball and finishing was poor.
After the insipid displays earlier in the week they desperately needed this boost and hopefully can play well against Spain.
Back 4 needs to do better with clearances - Spain will make them pay
Your right they took care of business. They get a little more experience against #1 in the world.
Egyptians looked like they were up all night building pyramids. Talk about an implosion. US deserved the win. But only because of the Italians early Christmas gift to them
Did the Italians throw the game so the US could advance?
yes, it was part of the Chrysler deal....
Wow what a day. Anybody know if a certain MN coach was on the sidelines for ITA v BRA?
11:24 - unfortunately, that thought probably seriously crossed the minds of a few people here in this state.......
Brad:
You could construct a nice little conspiracy theory there....
Blatter, Berlusconi, Vatican Bank
Looked to me like the Eyeties were more concerned with catching the next plane to the French Riviera than playing another game of football. They were sloppy and lacklustre throughout the whole tournament. Interesting that the same malaise hasnt seemingly infected the Spanish who still seem at least somewhat motivated to perform.
Btw I hope FIFA is successful in getting those damn horns banned for the WC next year. Between that and JP/JH prattling on it was really hard to 'enjoy' the game yesterday.
Charles,
I agree with the horns and JP/JH. It's painful for me to watch due to the sounds...and I love the game and watch (way too) religiously. Think about the average couch potato. Why would you ever watch this annoying crap.
A theory on why Spain is still motivated: Their players aren't handed starting spots. Even Fabregas is fighting for a starting spot for the WC (a lot of holes in this theory, but...).
also, they had the record to break on the streak which I'm sure was ample motivation.
I just want to say that the number of comments on this post gives me some hope. Normally, on this blog, unless you're talking youth soccer you get a minimal amount of comments. Normally, talking US Nats or Thunder brings very little response. So it makes me happy to see that some on this board actually have a broader perspective than just youth soccer in MN. Huzzah!!!!
Huzzah?? what club is he signing with in the EPL? ;-)
10:20
Lots of reasons to be hopeful. Just dont read the blog above this one on the site. Full of foment about kids soccerball and why (for some reason) it matters how many teams from where do what when they are 14 or 15 or 16 years old. Laughable to be honest.
Sometimes you have to look at how far you have come not how far you still have to go. The 1990 WC finals (the first I experienced in the US) was televised in English on TNT/TBS. They took commercials in the middle of the game, and the 'expert' commentator was some English guy who kicked field goals for the Atlanta Falcons. It was utterly and totally unwatchable and I watched the games on Univision even though I dont speak a word of Spanish! As far as watching European league football, internationals etc forget it. Now...fast forward to 2009. There's more live football on TV in the US than in the UK! The whole European championship was shown live in HD on ESPN etc etc. Even the typical talk radio sports bozos spent a couple of minutes discussing the Champions League final...and they show football scores on the ESPN2 ticker. That's huge progress in such a short time.
Where will it be in another 20 years, who knows, but I am at least cautiously optimistic that we will continue to see slow but steady progress as people get additional exposure to the sport. I also think we will see improvement in the youth game, especially in the vital younger age groups, as the kids of today who play and enjoy the sport become parents and get involved in coaching.
So yes I think there is lots to be hopeful about. I do think, however, that having a competitive men's national team is very important because of the attention it draws to the game...and because Americans love winners no matter what they are playing.
One thing Americans need to understand that this is a world sport not one that needs to be Americanized.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
USA 2-Spain 0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's an extremely nice win, but not anywhere near a miracle. Boys did what they had to do.
First goal by Altidore was wonderfully played- I told you a young Carew. Chance was created by lazy Spanish defending. A player did not drop off and was flat.
Spain's off the ball movement in the attacking third was disappointing at best.
A lot of nice shot blocking by the US to prevent even more shots on goal.
Congrats USA - I don't mind eating crow when it is prepared this way.
tomASS,
I have to agree. Our backs made as many or more saves than Howard, our GK.
It was refreshing to see us play with intensity and some pride.
Miracle?
I don't think so...it was more of a miracle they advanced to play in the semifinal.
The stars were truly aligned when we won 3-0 and Italy lost 0-3.
But I'll take this win no matter how we got there!
TomASS calls a player a "lazy Spanish"...isn't that a racist comment? Like Shekki calling a questionable Liberian an 18-year old U14? Not ALL Spanish people are lazy, you know. Not even all of their defenders.
M!M!
now that's a stretch 3:54, but nice try.
US: 4 Shots on Goal / 2 Goals
That's making the most of your chances.
M!M! - I love it LOL
The Spanish team's defending was lazy.
My Bad.
US: 4 Shots / 2 On Goal / 2 Goals
Even better finish of chances.
Shekki...GO AWAY!
443 - geez get over it. I welcome Shekki and M!M!
There was no racist comment just too many PC corrupted minds.
tomASS - i think you might have been in hockey world when the original shekki comments were posted.
nope wasn't - I saw them and commented on them. People were over-reacting.
Once again when people disagree or can not debate the topic they resort to name calling.
he described a situation he saw and offered his opinion without using repulsive racist language. You could disagree with his opinion of the situation but doing so doesn't make him a racist.
you must have gone back and poured over all the old dead threads from at least 3-4 months ago as those are the comments that folks react to. i don't recall you climbing back on board the old mn futbol blog until mta/ma lobbed up such a huge softball. maybe you were just silently monitoring....
or I could have been drunk and just thought I did
Congrats to the USMNT. as the saying goes "you don't have to be the best team, you just have to be the best team on the field that day". Nice to see some passion, energy, and determination out there today.
AWESOME!!! Coach Bradley still sux. You cant play 2-games well and 2-games poorly and think much of the coach.
The players were gutty!
Ugly soccer. Excellent result. Didn't get to watch the game until this evening, but our guys were plucky and lucky.
They do this to us every few years.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut on occasion.
Until you can gain results like this on a consistent basis there is no reason to get excited
Grow up all of y'all and grow some nuts for American soccer. We did our thing and we are the only non European team to beat Spain since 1999, Spain was ranked 1, 35 game unbeaten streak (world record tie), and 15 game win streak (world record tie.) We went in there did our thing and totally outclassed Spain.
so how many countries accomplish this on a "consistent" basis? not more than a handful (being that we really don't have nearly the quantity of match opportunities as the euro countries). tough crowd on this thread.....
Never was the phrase, "better to be lucky than good" more apt.
Of course it is a huge win, no matter how it was obtained. At the end of the day the score is all that matters. Nobody could doubt the commitment of the players yesterday, even though they were totally outclassed at every position they played hard and frustrated the Spaniards, who committed the cardinal sin of trying to play through the opponent. Reminded me of Arsenal against Hull.
We scored two goals from OPEN PLAY against the European champions and while there was certainly some slack defending, you have to put them away and they did.
Bradley's sending off was ridiculous although somewhat compensated for by the fact that Donovan should have got a second yellow for absurd playacting on more than one occassion. He always has been, is now, and always will be a prize one prat.
Finally, what the hell was Bradley thinking leaving Jozy out there for at least 15mins after his legs were completely gone. You had to laugh at one point where the ball was played wide and he just stood there with it until the Spanish defender cane over and then he fell over! Priceless.
Same again on Sunday??? Probably not but after the miracles of the past week why not!!
PS wish we could have more posts on here actually discussing the games and not pointless sniping. Save that for the kiddies blogs.
Is Spain a better team - obviously. If keeper is a position then I might disagree with your comments, Charles (as well as the Spanish backline defending....).
Was the US completely outclassed - not in my opinion.
Spain could of easily scored on several occassions - but the US also had opportunities in the 1st half to add to their lead.
Soccer (like hockey) is a sport where the score can really dictate both styles of play. Did they hunker down and defend in the second half - absolutely, just like Italy, England, Germany, etc.... also would have done. Shots at the end of the match were 29-9 for Spain, but were even after the first 45 minutes. IMO, the US caught them a bit flat-footed and took advantage of it and that is a characteristic of a good team.
So what happens if they play tough on Sunday and lose to Brazil 1-0? I will still applaud their tournament results and hope that Wednesday will give them the confidence to continue to improve. Confidence to Davies to know he belongs on this stage, confidence to Altidore to know he can excel on this stage, confidence to the back line to know that with teamwork they can shut out Spain, etc.....
They always say that you have to play tougher opponents to improve and I wish the US had more international opportunities like this tournament. The occassional friendly is such a different animal.
8:53
Man for man you wouldnt pick a single US player ahead of the corresponding Spaniard. Howard is a decent Premiership goalkeeper who has certainly improved in the last couple of years but Iker is one of the top 3-4 in the world. At some of other positions it was just silly. Demerit vs Puyol; Davies vs Torres, Xavi vs Bradley. That's what makes yesterday remarkable. It was a huge upset.
Sorry but we didnt play like a good team would have (especially second half). We lost possession as soon as we got it, Jozy was shot from about the hour mark and the ball was just coming back at us over and over again. We rode our luck and their poor play in our third and won and that's great..but just like the results last week made us look worse than we really are this result does flatter us quite a bit.
As I said in my earlier post, I will take an ugly win over a beautiful loss anytime but we do have to figure out how to keep possession better against quality opposition if we hope to make this more than a flash in the pan.
Great win. Great effort by the US, although very chaotic. Nearly played to the best of their ability.
- Spain outclassed us. We scored.
- Howard played like a top 3 keeper.
- Donovan is terrible. I would hate playing with him. Gotta love his accidental assist. Then where did he run to in celebration? To Bob? To thank him for still playing him? Such a tool.
- How long ago did I say to put Bocanegra back out wide?
- I hope Jermaine Jones is good and fills that DCM spot, although Clark had an inspired performance.
- Our guys need to get fit. First 45 was far better than second 45. That's how it's been since Costa Rica. Michael Bradley and Dempsey and Onyewu need to stop drinking beers with Connor Casey.
- Bob's substitutions are curious.
- Harkes actually had some decent things to say. Probably easier to commentate when the product isn't hideous. Still annoying though.
You want to keep possession better...than why isn't Feilhaber starting. In my opinion he should start every game. He's the best on the ball player on the team and probably the most intelligent. This was obvious when num nuts coach finally sub'd him in.
11:22
Don't disagree. Clark can hold and BF can replace Bradley.
Will BB stick to 4-4-2 though on Sun. Despite scoring I thought Altidore was pretty ineffecive. He couldnt hold the ball up, was gassed after an hour, and then was a total liability until finally subbed. I like the look of Davies. He's got speed, makes some decent runs..dunno if he can finish or not. Could he play up there on his own?? Cant use Casey..he's an embarrassment.
Five in the middle might be the way to go...try to restrict their width, clog up the midfield and pinch one on the break!
Brad R;
As I said earlier, Donovan is a prima donna twat. Big fish in a small pond syndrome.
Agree on JH. Actually made a few reasonable observations yesterday, although he is hopelessly biased. JP should be effing shot though. Every time I hear him say 'end line' instead of 'goal line' I want to scream. Shame ESPN wont pay to have halfway decent commentators actually at the game. That would at least help a bit.
Charles,
Reference my post on June 9 re: a 4-5-1. As we saw yesterday, we need numbers to defend.
Tomass and Co. doesn't think a 4-5-1 would generate enough attack. Reference our posts on June 12 for that lesson.
I puked yesterday when Casey came on again over Adu. Feilhaber does some nice things. I also like Bradley, if he stops drinking beer and smoking cigs.
Spain should have thanked Coach Bob for not playing Adu as they probably would have then lost 3 or 4-0.....
BR - we agree on Casey. he looks to be the Herman Munsterof international soccer. How did he ever make the team.
Do you you really thing the 4-5-1 generated enough of an attack? Really More likely it created just enough this game to capitalize on a poor day at the office for the Spaniards while the US finished on the opportunities they had.
The 5 in the middle do too much chasing and do not organize themselves too well. Spain had their way on either flank. As Charles and I mentioned the lack of creativity in the finishing 3rd was one reason for Spain not being able to dirty the clean sheet yesterday. The other was the spirited defending shown by the US squad
Egypt..tough loss on what I thought what should have been a no call. Agree????
I did not see the game, but I'll wager you a beer that you meant South Africa?
Post a Comment