USA v. Spain...the day after/improvements

[UCmeDV8]

First off, Congrats to the national team! :D Awesome effort and thank you for no reds and finally scoring in the run of play!

However, there were some problems that need to be fixed against Spain. Landon had two awesome chances to score and blew it! While he needs to be on the field because his handling and passing is awesome, Landon clearly lacks confidence when it comes to shooting in the run of play. He tried to pass during one opportunity and then tried to dribble it in on another. C'mon dude, grow a pair and shoot! When was the last time he scored during an international match that wasn't in the pk spot?

Have we learned our lesson on poor slide-tackling? I'd say no. We got two yellows against Egypt for shitty slide-tackling and it wasn't from MLS players this time. Don't blow it against Spain!

Ricardo Clark looked timid in the mid-field. He held on to the ball for too long and made way too many mistakes. He shouldn't be on the field and is clearly the weakest link on the pitch. I would replace with Feilhaber or Torres, with Feilhaber being the more likely replacement from RoboBob.

Additionally, the defense allowed too many passes across and into our box. We really were lucky that the Egyptians never connected with any for a truly powerful shot on goal that could have easily cost us our semi-final berth. Put immediate pressure on those with the ball to prevent these dangerous crossess...PLEASE!

I have to admit that I was surprised to see Guzan get the start and was happy to see that his positioning was spot on. I haven't seen too much criticism of Howard on BS, but I thought his positioning could have prevented goals against Brazil and Italy, especially since some of those shots were from distance. Guzan impressed when he aggressively came out and when he actually caught the balls instead of punching them back to the opposition like Howard likes to do. Start catching the ball Howard!!!



-------------Davies--------------Altidore--------------

Donovan -------------------------------------Dempsey

---------------Bradley--------Feilhaber------------------

Boca--------Demerit------Onyewu----Spector

----------------------- Howard -----------------------.

[UCmeDV8]

Oops...the thread title should read USA v. Egypt not Spain. Any other glaring mistakes that should be improved upon from yesterday's match?

[Jimbo]

With Donovan and Dempsey as the outside backs, and the way they get forward, there were times when the outside attacking players for Egypt had acres of space which, luckily, the Pharohs did not exploit. Against Spain the US will be punished if both of their outside midfielders repeatedly get caught upfield, forcing Bradley and Clark (or whoever plays in that spot) to shift over to cover for them. The US is going to have to play with more discipline if they're going to have a chance against Spain because their midfield is very, very good at shifting the point of attack and pinballing passes around and through disorganized defenses. Likewise, we can't allow space and time to the wing players or we'll end up with a New Zealand score line.

[moytoy12]

Ricardo Clark looked timid in the mid-field. He held on to the ball for too long and made way too many mistakes. He shouldn't be on the field and is clearly the weakest link on the pitch. I would replace with Feilhaber or Torres, with Feilhaber being the more likely replacement from RoboBob.



Thank you. I can't believe others don't see this about Clark.