Belgium: Population: 11 million. I blame the idiotic 'club' system, youth soccer in general, abusive kids 'coaches', out of control parents...the whole lot of 'em....the USA just is NOT producing close to enough quality players.....Look out Sunday.....could get real ugly...
Ian Darke said it best: None of our opponents in qualifying will have the quality of this Belgian side. Relax people, this was a good learning experience.
Yeah, but LD's still needs to show he's getting there, and, um, commitment and chemistry and stuff like that.
I don't see how one decent cross and running down balls makes you "one of the best". He looked fine, but if we are really expecting EJ to start then we are screwed for the foreseeable future. The guy simply isn't very good, and depending on him will not get us anywhere.
He was active, I will give him that. I just think that he did next to nothing when he had the ball. The PK that we got was from a bad cross/shot from EJ that hit the hand of the defender. The cross that Evans got injured on was a play where EJ could have simply played the ball on the ground to Boyd and its an easy goal, but he put in a bad cross instead. He got dispossessed a few times as well.
He was making good runs from the minute he came on the field and was generally more dangerous than almost the rest of our team combined. He did well.
Brad Evans. Wow. It's a good thing that Landon is being put in his place. Let's hope that he's learned his lesson.
I agree. He isn't awful, but if he is the best we have off the bench to give our offense a boost, we are in trouble.
He was being EJ. Which is fast. The guy is very good at running onto balls (well, not in the middle of the park) and doing stepovers. Everything else is sort of meh.
He played Dempsey and Jones 90 minutes. He subbed of Jozy and the keeper at halftime, and when it came time to bring on Holden, it was Kljestan who made way. This result is nothing but a friendly result that means nothing, yada yada yada. But he just rode the two most crucial players who played today 90 full minutes. Is he going to sub one of them off during the Germany match? I can't imagine that he won't start the captain. Or Jones. You think he wants to come off in THAT match?
We should start a thread for the refereeing, which was LOLable in our favor. We honestly could have lost this 5-1 if we hadn't been given that ridiculous handball penalty and Besler had been called for his taking down of Benteke. Now, results don't matter, but that right there is something to keep in mind. The scoreline (sadly) flattered us I thought.
Hopefully they very quickly come upon the correct answers: 1. Friendly with several fringe players vs. qualifier 2. Mexico != Belgium
Eden Hazard didn't even play....we haven't produced anyone near his level. It is what it is and it is depressing.
DOn't take it the wrong way; I meant that EJ looked great this game. Do I want him as a L wing forward over Donovan, FJ, or say Castillo even? Not necessarily...but in a rotation he's a solid player to throw in there if we need him. He had some sharp 1 touch in tight area passes combining well. I agree on that cross to boyd though.. Took 1 too many touches there. Had he just crossed after 1 bounce Boyd would have scored there. EIther way though, GAM made things happen anytime he had the ball; he and the Beas' were our probably most dangerous attackers the whole game.....
Oh I just don't like his douchey relatives coming on here telling us how the U.S. is doing everything wrong and blah blah blah like always. Kenny is a great guy who I've talked to quite a few times.
Same old s*** for us in the attack but this back line may be worse than we thought. Belgium...let's just nip this in the bud right now: They are who we thought they were: A middling, UEFA side that can take advantage of mistakes you make. Leading their WCQ group? That's because their group SUCKS and is one that the US would probably get out of. They're a goal better or a tie vs the US, nothing more. And I do not know why there is this tendency in soccer commentary to announce a "golden generation" every couple of years for a UEFA or conmebol side that is decent but not really a contender. Belgium is to the US what the US is to Scotland- better but not 5-1 better and Belgium is prolly 2-1 or 1-0 better than the US. The US actually possessed very well they just had no ideas going forward. Couple no bite or creativity in the attack and gifting goals to your opponents whose idea of a buildup is chip it over defenders who are playing too high a line and tonight's what you get. We'll have a better idea of where this team is after a match against a true world power in Germany.
Positive: Tenacious B (DaMarcus Beasley) - best player out there IMO. EJ - Enough with the EJ hate. He's proven in multiple games he belongs out there, possibly a starter, definitely a back-up. Jermain Jones - (the little engine that could) Par: Tim Howard - If only for his screaming nipple twister face in disgust of his teams defense. Graham Zusi Sacha Kljestan - Think he did better than people claim. Jozy Altidore Geoff Cameron - Only because he happened to make a goal. Stuart Holden - Not as extraordinary as people claim, but decent. Brad Guzan Dempsey - SHOULD NOT be placed behind Jozy. He's not a creator. Some good moments, some SMH moments as well. Negative: Everyone else.
Just got home from the game. Pretty terrible display, but I have to say that Belgium was damned impressive. The speed with which they pass and move and their (largely) impeccable first touches were too much for us. We labor to move the ball from ball to front, they did it in 3-5 passes. We were outclassed - I really hope Jurgen learned some things.