This is my take. It's not impossible we don't qualify. There are legitimate concerns about the players and the coach. All while the competition is getting better.That scoreline flattered the US. Mexico would have put in 3 or 4 on us in the first half. But then this is Concacaf. All teams have issues, except Mexico.
I'm not ready to panic. I saw bad performances which can change after a few days rest. Also, I saw the most beautiful build up goal I have ever seen the US make. So I have hope but I am concerned about the bad performances and the defense.
You put this a lot more succinctly than I did. I will say this. I don't think there are any weak sisters in this hex. The gap between Mexico/USA and the rest of these Hex teams has decreased. Gotta win home games, and pick up some points on the road when you can. For some reason US Soccer fans can't handle losses. Every loss is a sign of an impending apocolypse. Do people remember 1998 World Cup qualifying? We lost in Costa Rica and drew in Guatemala in the 3rd round. In the Hex we failed to win in Jamaica, Costa Rica, El Salvador, & Mexico on the road. We only got one road win in the Hex, and that was in Canada against a mediocre squad (worst team in that hex by some distance.) And we finished 2nd in the hex, and qualified with room to spare. We're going to lose road World Cup Qualifiers. If we scratch a couple of draws, and pick up a win..................we're fine there. We need to win the home matches, which the US has a long history of doing.
99.9 percent of the time I would be right with u. Concerns that are different this time? No Hex patsies. Always had at least one and another clearly weaker squad. No real defined way to play. Continually look disjointed as a team unless playing full bunker. Spoiled? Yup. First time in qualies for two decades that we will have hardcore qualification...like the rest of the world. Still have to fail miserably not to qualify, but for once it seems there could be reality to it. In the past not really. Still don't have full confidence in our coach. No matter what issues I had with coaches from Lothar O to BB I got what they were trying to do. Even if I didn't like things, I saw what was being attempted, and understood the why. I still am not sure I understand this guy.
It would have been better for us if Mexico had won. They are going to win the group and it helps us if they take maximum points away from the other 4 teams. Now Jamaica could be in the mix.
Jamaica's new professional blood put them in the mix already. Professionalism, focus, commitment, hard work and belief can go a long way in this process. They kind of reminded me of what we used to be. Enough talent now to be dangerous along with discipline and drive. The Mexes were physically beaten up in many ways...in Azteca. No patsies.
2012 saw him give the US their best winning percentage for a year, ever. Just saying (you can qualify that however you want but the fact remains that with tougher/easier and more/less meaningful schedules no other coach has done better over the course of a year). So which is more the trend ? 4 select matches, or an entire year's worth ? Anything can be spun to mean anything so I'm not going to get into that shit slinging contest. This is about the Hex and WCQ, period. This is match 1, on the road against the toughest team not named Mexico or USA. I'm not going to panic.
I am giving your the 4 games that mattered and most compared to yesterday's game and compare to the most important matches this year. By all means, it was such a great year 2012, name the game where we played well. Yes we got results, but did we play well? I mean for such a banner year we must be oozing with successes. We played well for two complete games, Scotland (who did not give a crap) and Guatamala in KC. That is it. And even then, we had very poor defensive breakdowns to allow goals.. We also averaged about 3 shots on goal per game last year. There are not too many signs from the 'great' 2012 that say 2013 should be a overwhelming sucess.
That's the thing. Did it feel all that great? Friendlies mean less than ever in this day and age, and I still don't know how we play. What are we? I've never felt so vague, unattached to a US team. To be fair I started feeling like this the year after the cup when BB was in charge also. Maybe it's age, the team....something just isn't right.
I'm not going to panic, but I also have accepted the reality that this team could be in a world of trouble real fast. a bit sad about that, but am a realist... Was pretty discouraged by Klinsy's tactical approach - especially substitutions... and starting a 4-man line that had no real time together playing as a unit?? I get injuries and all but he left experience and leadership (Boca) on the bench... and lack of experience/leadership showed... I am hopeful that line of 4 will get better with time, but they certainly did not play as a unit yesterday... Trial by fire game 1 of Hex in HON was a tough row to hoe... Moreover, just really disappointed in the spats of "slacksadaisical" play... Where was the tough, hardnosed sense of urgency?? HON's lead-up to the bicycle goal was a good example... ball brought to box by HON with no pressure then served through box and nobody makes effort to play the assist man... he has all the time in the world to set and pick his cross target on the right edge of box... and even when we slide late to him, it's on a half-arsed jog... pathetic really. This is world cup qualifying... we go through the motions and jog around the pitch, we ain't going to Brasil... We're no where near good enough to get away with that.
I think the Mexico game reminding us that strange things happen to all teams over the course of qualification is reassuring.
And the Mexico game showed us that Jamaica's pretty good..................and Zoidberg's right that there are no patsies in the Hex. When you think about it....................Mexico's just dropped two points at home. Do we think they're going to have it easy in Honduras? One could even argue that Mexico and Panama failing to win winnable home matches are worse results than the US failing to win a game on the road to Honduras. Honduras is the team that did what they were expected to do yesterday. They won their home game, which they rigged to give themselves the best possible home field advantage (which they should.) I'm not going to be worried at all about qualification until I see our performance against Costa Rica on March 22nd. If we fail to win that game, then I'll be worried. Let's remember that in 2010, 16 points were required for a 3rd place finish. 16. We're not expected to win every game. We can't even expect to have good performances every game. We had an apocolyptic loss in Costa Rica last cycle, and an abysmal performance in El Salvador..................and we finished in first in the hex standings when all was said and done. Lets face it. People panic on these boards every cycle when our first bad result occurs. As if this isn't sports and bad results happen all the time. Unlike the U20 World Cup qualifiers or the U23 Olympic qualifiers, World Cup qualification doesn't come down to a single game. The best teams over the course of a 10 game span are the ones that qualify. I have every faith that after the 10 games, we'll have safely qualified. Will it be as "pretty" as some people want it to be? No. But these things are rarely pretty.
Or, you know .... we garnered results with the play you've described. Something we've not done ever before like we did in 2012. Is getting results with shit play not an improvement when you couldn't do that before ? Like I said, it can be spun however you'd like by you or myself. Last I checked, results are what mattered .... not how they are gained.
The defensive lapses leading the goals conceded and the near-goals were pretty shocking. These kind of lapses are not new to the team, but they seem to be more pronounced than ever now. The result was fair given how poor our play was. I could not believe the amount of times the ball was turned over by the midfield and the back four. The play is not characteristic of the play the players put in with their clubs. It's almost impossible for me to imagine Gonzalez, for example, making these kind of mistakes playing for LAG at the HDC. Altidore has been scoring at will with his club. On the other hand, Jerry Bengtson scored two goals for NER over the entire 2012 season. How does the defense simply let him in on that second goal? The run was plain as day. There's something wrong about Klinsmann's sides. It seems as though the players are just going through the motions and they don't really care like they used to. I don't believe he has their confidence. Player selections and tactics are questionable at best. I think we're very fortunate to have not seen worse results at this stage.
I agree we won't qualify easily, but i do think we will qualify comfortably. Finishing in the top 3 is something we should do even playing poorly. we palyed poorly in the last round and qualfied comfortably, in first, but not easily
We've gotten ugly results before. Just not milestone ones like last year. Both in friendlies and meaningful matches. Its not like we reached new heights. But last year was 'historic.' We did not get results @Guatemala, jamaica, @Antigua. Those were the only road games that mattered.
Post of the month. Jamaica were a team. And there is a lot of headroom there. Jk's case is, apparently, that the USA contingent has room to grow because individual players were not playing up to their usual standards at the away World Cup qualifier at Honduras. Do you buy that? "He had a bad game".
In that we need to finish in the top 3, yes, but it also, hopefully, adds anadditional sense of urgency to our boys. I hope Jamaica will continue the good play and continue to take points away from CR and Hon. Long ways to go my friend.
Bengston's second goal? There is a difference between a guy's performance playing for the paycheck in New England and playing for flag in front of thousands of home countrymen. Just as there is a difference between a player's effectiveness in Nat games with teams assembled on two day's notice and his effectiveness at the club level where he plays all year with the same people. The two just had a not so freindly meeting in Honduras last night.
Yup, drop points at home with Azteca looming and the frying pan gets hot. CR has a history fo being very organized defensively against us. Expect them to be compact and counter of course. This isn't the Guats. Can we create enough chances playing deliberately? Can we minimize the counter chances and defensive errors? Isn't that really all it comes down to?
I never really follow them that much. I don't have the hardcore rivalry thing unless we play them... ...but, I am looking forward to watching that game in Hondo. That will tell us a lot. Could set up the most crucial 3rd round game in a 10 game Hex we have seen for quite some time. Delicious.
To the "we always panic and always qualify" crowd I would say this: the hex teams are better than previous cycles and, because improvement and progress is expected, I would suggest that maybe we are not better which would spell trouble this time.