Wow, what an ugly 2-1 loss for the US. Does this team even have any strengths? Bradley was absolutely dreadful today in every aspect of the game. And outside of Jones' sweet assist he didn't do shit. The defending was pathetic, we play FAR too narrow which allows teams to pick us apart from the wings. Without big, tall, athletic guys in the middle we just sit back and take it. We have no attacking midfield, we just let Deuce roam around looking for something to do and Jozy gets to walk around for 85 minutes because nobody can get him the ********ing ball. It appears that Honduras and Costa Rica have caught up to the US in terms of ability while Mexico is running laps around CONCACAF laughing at the kids fighting for 2nd and 3rd.
Yeah, there was so much wrong with that game it's hard to know where to start. Serious questions on both sides of the ball.
I really don't get the plan for klinnsman. He starts with an aggressive lineup yet is content to just absorb. The he makes all 3 subs in a matter of minutes that all were bad to worse. Why isn't gomez playing? Why does kljesghfgjutan still get minutes? Why is omars first cap at honduras? No boca!? Etc etc
Great post. I agree with all your points. As far as the defense, I thought Fabian Johnson was the best of the 4, and he wasn't very good. Chandler was atrocious! I don't get leaving Boca out of that game, unless he was hurt or something. Jones was the best of the midfield, and he wasn't very good. EJ out wide? Really Klinsmann? And the game management/substitution pattern by Klinsmann was terrible!
So Klinnsy's been hanging with Kyle, he saw that VW commercial on Sunday - and then he stopped by Kingston on the way to Honduras for a little 'pick-me-up' layover. The team shared a good 'mind-opening experience' and now Jurgen is all 'don't worry - be happy'...and then tonight's reality will set in.
This makes sense, as long as the players got loaded last night, too. And again right before the game.
By far the best performance by a Yank on day one of the 2013 Hex? Mark Geiger by a mile. Called a great game at the Azteca in Mexico's 0-0 tie with Jamaica.
Also great from that game: the Mexican fans shouting Ole! Ole! for the Jamaican passes and booing their own squad lustily from about minute 75 on. They did that for a US team once, in a World Cup Qualifier in 1997 (maybe 1996) when a ten-man US tied El Tri 0-0.
IMO Beckerman could have helped the US today as could have "any two way left midfielder". Agree that Chandler looked dreadful. The heat/humidity/long-grass looked to tire everyone. I can only assume they were gassed, because so many plays occurred where the US was not even trying to close out on shooters or crossers etc. Bradley had two sweet passes early that 'could have been'. Jack's Bar in SJ is a cozy little place to watch a game - good friendly scene. Don't begrudge Honduras the points. I only saw half one but they were the better side.
Strictly from a coaching standpoint, my take is that this game was lost before the players stepped on the pitch. While Honduras had energy and enthusiasm, the US, across the board, looked like they were playing through a mental and physical fog. Klinsy and the rest of the staff haven't learned how to manage the travel, climate differences, and time zone differences to be able to allow the players, especially the European ones, to be able to compete. Chandler and Fabian looked SLOW (and we know they have great speed)...Bradley looked lazy (and we all know about his motor)...Jones seriously couldn't run, at all. The greatest coaching tactical minds in the world couldn't have done a darned thing in that game. Klinsy truly believes that professionals can just step up and get the job done. He obviously completely underestimated how much the elements and travel would affect his players. It was interesting to see which players were able to adjust their game to the fact that they were playing at 75% capacity. (Altidore was notable in his ability to move.) Beyond that, I think any evaluation of this game is a wasted exercise.
While I agree that this is something relatively new to him (UEFA doesn't have nearly the same kind of drastic climate changes), it's not like he hasn't done it before. He's been at the helm for over a year, and he's gone to most of the CONCACAF countries for friendlies and qualifiers. He should know what's going on travel wise, and he should've had his A-Team in training last week. None of this show up Monday and be ready to go by Wednesday. I feel like the whole January camp was a relative waste. Sure, he got an idea of who he could use as fringe players, but did it prepare the team for the qualifier? No. Shouldn't that have been the end goal?
I don't have these problems. But, this is probably because I run all kinds of adblock, flash shut down, popupblocking software.
There was confusion, laziness or completely lack of recognition of the fact that the ball might stay in bounds. Either way, no US player closed down the space allowing the man on the wing to pick any of several targets is most likely to be fruitful. That was the failure. None of the rest after that could be stopped once the cross was allowed to be served with such a luxurious amount of time and space.
You're correct, but I was talking about the 2nd Honduras goal. Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to Geoff Cameron not clearing the ball instead of trying to let Howard get it, and Gonzalez not following his man who had the easy tap in. That goal could've easily been avoided, but they seemed to give up for that 10 second span.
Here's something not US-Honduras debacle related, but US national team related, I guess. Spurs beat Newcastle 2-1 today (Saturday). With all the stoppage time added, the game went almost 100 minutes and Deuce played the whole time. He didn't score any goals, but he was out there just being Deuce. The annoucers mentioned the fact that he didn't score any goals, but that he had just flown back from a World Cup qualifier in Honduras on Wednesday (where of course, he scored. Yea!) and then ran up and down the pitch for the full 90 minutes.
He didn't just play 90, he played the lone striker (Spur's are terribly depleted due to injury). On the second Spurs goal Dempsey made the hopeful over the top pass to Adabeyor who controlled it gently into the path of Bale who ruined the keeper's day. I seem to recall him being involved in the first goal, also, but I can't remember specifics... probably not really true, then.