Shea and Agudelo both did not have great nights. Shea is timid as ever. I thought Agudelo did better in the second half but he just looks lost out there...he needs to learn how to play as a lone striker. MLS is not the place to do it seems.
To be fair all of NY looked bad,Shea on the other hand had two opportunities near the end of the game to use his speed to rush down the field but instead chooses to hold the hold and attempt to waste time? I dunno but he ended up losing possession both times and gave the ball to NY. Also worth noting that Shea was playing on the right instead of his usual left side because of an injury early in the game
I thought Agudelo was one of the few decent players for New York. Offensively that team was so lost. Agudelo at least didn't turn the ball over every single time he touched it which is more than can be said for everyone other than Henry.
Cameron was very good again for Houston in their 1-0 win over Chivas today. Boswell was good as well. Cameron had a very classy through ball to Ching putting him in on goal, about a 40 yard pass with the outside of his right foot. Great stuff. Anyway that was pretty much all I saw.
Those sequences with Shea was frustrating to watch. He had acres of space and no one in front of him, just defenders that were even. Complete lack of a killer instinct
I think he was spent. The guy looked exhausted at that point (along with almost everyone on the field). Not using that as an excuse, but I think if he had the energy he would have gone to goal.
@Optajack on twitter: "10 - Roger Espinoza and Graham Zusi combined to create 10 chances in Sporting's 1-0 win over DC United." What struck me yesterday while watching Zusi was how relentless and fearless he seemed. When he got the ball he was not afraid to just run at people - and fast. Combined fantastically with Kamara, Espinoza, Cesar, Bunbury, and Convey. Great ball possession and vision. People call KC's attack a 4-3-3 but it's really a 4-2-1-2-1: ----------Bunbury/Sapong----------- --Convey----------------Kamara------ -----------------Zusi----------------- -------Espinoza--------Cesar--------- -------------BACK FOUR-------------- With Sinovic and Myers supplying overlapping runs on the wings. The reason I bring this up (it's the USMNT forum, not KC!) is to highlight the fact that Zusi is morphing into a true #10 before our eyes. With continued growth and seasoning and experience, and if Holden and Torres don't pan out, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that Zusi will get his chance in center midfield for the MNT in the coming years.
One of Bruce Arena's post-game quotes was, "This time of year, players aren't fit enough to be playing that much." I think that misses the point because the bigger reason LA wore out is that they were chasing RSL around all game long. Beckerman completing 79 passes is pretty amazing. It's more than double what any of the Galaxy midfielders had.
I thought both Shea and Agudelo looked decent. Agudelo looked lost in the first half because NY looked lost in the first half. He improved as the game went on which, I think, is encouraging. He clearly is not comfortable playing alone up top. Was impressed with what I saw of Gil on Saturday night. Rowe looked pretty decent in the half of the NE game I saw.
That pass was ridiculous. Very few players in the world can make that pass IMHO. Too bad it didn't make the MLS highlights for the game. Anyone else have it on Youtube or some other link?
Yes. really. Decent. Not good or very good or great. In a season opener that was very physical, chippy and otherwise pretty ugly wherein much of the play was sloppy and disjointed [particularly with respect to the redbulls for the first 60 minutes], I thought they were both decent or adequate or satisfactory or deserving of a C. Setting aside my own expecations or hopes for each player or my view of their respective ceilings as players (i.e. not grading on a curve) I thought they were ok. Sure, they could have been better. I think Brek was lively early on, esp on the left prior to Castillo's departure and was also physical and formidable both ways. I was impressed with his defense and I thought he looked better than he has of late for the US [with the exception of Italy] making me believe he was better rested and confident. I also, unlike many, think he made the right and mature decision to try to kill the game rather than run at goal but that he simply executed poorly. I am reluctant to hyperfocus on that poor execution and to dismiss the other 85 plus minutes he played. Agudelo was lost in the first half but through no fault of his own as NY played with 2 deep holding mid-fielders and 2 very narrow wingers and an Henry who was dropping pretty deep even then. I don't expect him to be able to easily outmuscle Ihemelu, Pitruz and Hernandez by himself and hold the ball up well because that is not his game. Once Richards was removed and Cooper brought in around min. 63, Juan became fairly productive and found space out wide and in the box and, more importantly, facing the play. Many posters seem to want to draw hard and fast conclusions based on single games and my inclination is not to do so given the many variables. So, yeah, really. Decent.
Nice? That pass is phenomenal. Just ridiculous really. He couldn't have placed the ball with his hands in a better position if asked. I think that is part of the reason that people would love to see Cameron get more minutes with the senior team ... he can dribble AND pass out of the back. He showed show of that with a very clever and skillful maneuver to just avoid a corner on one play during that game. If we really want to play the ball out of the back, JK needs to give him a better look. But yeah, he was a wall this week. But then again, it was Chivas.
They are very young and a US fans one to watch frankly. Adu, Okugo, Williams, MacMath, Pfeffer and Mwanga who might be eligible in a year or two. That's six US prospects 21 or younger. EDIT: and I forgot Jack McInerney
Sorry for not being more enthusiastic . It was a great ball, and I think that Cameron has definitely shown that he is capable of producing these types of excellent passes from the back consistently. His dribbling skills are really impressive as well, and so far I haven't seen any other US defenders that are comparable to him in that area. Not sure how much he can use that at the international level, but I'd like to see.
Don't forget the Farfans....its a shame Nowak seemed to not trust them an went out and got a bunch of middle age average SA/CA... I mean if your gonna rebuild go all out.