Costa Rica Result - some things done well, some not [R]

[BlackLotus]

some things that went well:

-CASEY KELLER
-Donovan has channelled his mood swings into one focused laserbeam of desire to beat whoever is next in line to get beat by us (according to him, and I don't fault his attitude). looking at his most recent interviews before this game, and this comments leading into the game, it's apparent something changed him from a boy into a man, and is fostering (dare I say) a mean streak in him - and most of all, he backed it up on the field. i wonder if we are seeing the metamorphosis of a player into a killer before our eyes - hopefully that's what he's making himself into for WC '06 because it's exactly what the team needs. :)


some things that didn't:
-finishing chances! i am starting to get pissed off at this point to still keep seeing our attack continue to waste chances that should have at the very least produced a shot on goal, particularly in the 2nd half (instead of being like shooting fish in a barrel, it was like shooting fish in a swimming pool) we need to inject deadly finishing into our offensive arsenal - WE NEED TWELLMAN.

-RALSTON SUCKS. he started as a side midfielder, yet all his serves have been either weak as hell that dribble even behind the nearest defender, or loop 100 feet in the air and clear over the box for a worthless waste of possession. get him out of there and off the team until he displays a high level of proficiency in at least one skill, then maybe he can prove himself useful for something.



lastly, i'm glad to see DMB wasn't knocked out of the game - there were a couple of scary moments in the 1st half when he went down grabbing that leg.

[lmorin]

In a post game interview, KK suggested that the US actually "played" only 70 of the 90 min. I'd agree. I thought the US looked pretty poor a lot of the first half. Couldn't keep possession because their passing was poor. Passing was poor because there seemed to be too little movement off the ball. DMB, especially, looked out of sorts. I am not sure he should have been playing. One of the announcers (Balboa?) said that DMB might only be 90% but DMB said there "was no way he could be kept out of the game." IMHO, a 90% DMB is no where near as good as a 100% Dempsey. I'd have rather seen Dempsey start with DMB brought on later.

I thought the defensive organization sucked, frankly, at least in the middle and on the left. Steve did fine.

[aaronbrown]

[QUOTE=BlackLotus]some things that went well:

-CASEY KELLER

Casey with a K

[fischerw]

-RALSTON SUCKS. he started as a side midfielder, yet all his serves have been either weak as hell that dribble even behind the nearest defender, or loop 100 feet in the air and clear over the box for a worthless waste of possession. get him out of there and off the team until he displays a high level of proficiency in at least one skill, then maybe he can prove himself useful for something.



Ralston does not suck. He is by no means a long term answer at right mid. And yes, perhaps he plays the back pass a bit more than he should. But that's better than making a bad pass forward when he doesn't have a forward option or getting stripped. Although his crosses weren't stellar today, he showed good composure when he found himself in the center of the field and really helped the US maintain posession today. He was a plus far more than a minus today.

[metro24freak]

There was nothing horribly wrong. I do have to agree with what kasey keller said after the game, we need to play for 90 minutes. According to him we played for 70 and I must agree with him, there was a period of time where they seemed a bit out of it.

[LuckyNat]

And thanks for putting the [R] in the thread title.

[PSsoccer123]

He said Costa Rica Result...so it would only have taken common sense to know the thread contained a result.

[BlackLotus]

He said Costa Rica Result...so it would only have taken common sense to know the thread contained a result.
good post - it's good to know there are still SOME mature people using this site

[ddw31089]

He said Costa Rica Result...so it would only have taken common sense to know the thread contained a result.
seconded

[grandinquisitor28]

My Problems with today:

1.We didn't finish well at all. The same opportunities squandered last week were squandered again. Only Donovan and McBride appeared capable of putting a shot on net. That's a concern.

2. The same defensive lapses that plagued us against England were a problem in one chunk of the game against Costa Rica. That has to stop, the team appeared laiksadaisical at the opening of the second half, surrendered too much possession, had sloppy attacks, and the defending was disorganized until Donovan's second goal.

3. If you're going to start a thread, do yourself a favor and spell the first word, written in CAPS no less, correctly.

4. Awful Lineup: Convey, Ralston, Pope, Wolf? To think that three years after our World Cup success we have to start this garbage against Costa Rica at home? Maybe Garbage isn't fair to the once great Pope, and to the on and off performances of Convey, but really, this lineup is hard to stomach now and would cause food poisoning like responses if it were remotely similar to what we field a year from now in Germany. Ralston doesn't appear Concacaf-ready which is sad. Pope looks past it, though better than a week ago. The knee injuries caught up to Wolf, and it's hugely alarming to imagine that he's the best we can do after Eddie Johnson and Brian McBride at forward, even with injuries. Convey shined for the U-20's, but really has no business on the field at this point, though he didn't have a particularly poor game. In the final analysis I was just really depressed to see such an ordinary, functional, lineup, so lacking in creativity. Is Ralston really a better option than Gaven at this point? Seriously? He's had two poor games in a row. Hopefully Arena will find real long term answers in the Gold Cup, and in the run up to the World Cup because I really can't stomach the thought of any of these guys starting a World Cup game, and subbing for any of them is also a concern.


5. McBride: I love his work rate, I love his willingness to give up the body and I loved the way he played the second half. But I really thought he'd be one of the older guys who'd lose his starting job and potentially his place by now. We needed new blood to pass him, but in the three years since his sterling 2 goal performance in S. Korea, the only Forward whose layed claim to a starting position is Eddie Johnson, and that's only happened within the past six month. We should not, and cannot rely on a nearly mid-thirty year old forward with an injury history to start in the World Cup, but right now all the Target Forward options behind him have failed to really stake a legit claim to the gig. I love McBride the player, but I really hate our dependence on him. If we were to lose him AND Donovan this team would be completely and utterly lost. Hopefully we find another legit Forward option in nine months but I don't see it happening.

5. Noonan and Zavagnin:
Noonan's play left a lot to be desired today. Got a chance to show what he had in a big time game, and he came up empty. Lost possession a few times, didn't do much of anything well, hopefully if he gets a chance wednesday, he plays much much better because he gave us nothing today. As for Zavagnin, and utterly invisible performance from what I saw, for a guy trying to stake a claim to a D-Mid slot, his play was a HUGE disappointment. Added nothing that I saw to the attack, and played no key role breaking up attacks that I saw. I could be totally off here, as I didn't pay much attention to him because I rarely saw him doing anything but what I did see, I wasn't happy with.

[Scarecrow]

Ok not to complain cause we did win 3-0, but that score had everything to do with a GREAT, great (did I say GREAT) game by Keller. The defense let far too many plays get through them. And the US did not play a full game.

Wolff showed some good stuff today, but him starting? I don't think so, his crosses still sucked all game.

Still though, a great result and now time to move on to Wed. in Panama. They will need to play a full 90+ there.

[PSsoccer123]

Everyone says Wolff shouldn't have started. Well who should have instead? Other than playing Dempsey and a 4-4-2 with BMB and LD up top, I don't think there's a better option. We really don't have any better forwards after BMB and GAM then Wolff.

[Scarecrow]

Everyone says Wolff shouldn't have started. Well who should have instead? Other than playing Dempsey and a 4-4-2 with BMB and LD up top, I don't think there's a better option. We really don't have any better forwards after BMB and GAM then Wolff.

Where was Ching?

[dmike]

When our best striker is missing then their will be some bad finishes. Which was what we saw today. Ching had some terrible misses vs Guatemala so I dont know if hes the answer. Regardless we won 3-0 and we had that wierd lapse @ the start of the game.

If anyone told me we were gonna win 3-0 against a Desperate CR team that needed to win with a team that didint have our key players,our best striker,using a new defensive formation and Beas playing his first game since his injury. I would of called you a liar.

[USA4Life]

Ching was hurt.

The US tied CR at home the last time around. Clearly progress has been made. I love how people complain about certain players without offering a solution.

My only complaint was the subs.

Cobi could have helped here.
Noonan doesn't do much for me.

Dempsey should have come on sooner.

[grandinquisitor28]

Actually I believe we beat Costa Rica 1-0 in the hex last time and lost 0-2 at Costa Rica six months later. Costa Rica hasn't really looked the same at all since the Hex finished, even in the runup to the Cup in Spring 2002 they didnt look the same (although they played nice against China and Turkey and attacked well against Brazil).

I will say we definitely seem to have advanced since that qualification cycle, my major concern remains that we really haven't found any legit answers at Forward opposite McBride and Johnson. I'd like Donovan to be used as a Forward more, but Bruce apparently doesn't think the young potential A-Mid's are really ready to do the job and he probably doesn't want to use a Forward line of Donovan, and Johnson, I guess he believes (and maybe rightly so), that having McBride, Johnson, and Donovan behind them, is better than trying to develop an A-Mid while starting Donovan and Johnson up top. Anyway, hopefully one of our forward prospects, particularly target forward prospects will find themselves and soon. Ditto Right Midfielder, we need someone behind Lewis and Beaseley on the wings (I imagine that would be his who he started if he played four midfielders, on the wings), Ralston is not the answer there at all.

[K.P.]

My Problems with today:

4. Awful Lineup: Convey, Ralston, Pope, Wolf? To think that three years after our World Cup success we have to start this garbage against Costa Rica at home? Maybe Garbage isn't fair to the once great Pope, and to the on and off performances of Convey, but really, this lineup is hard to stomach now and would cause food poisoning like responses if it were remotely similar to what we field a year from now in Germany. ... Is Ralston really a better option than Gaven at this point?


I agree with your sentiment, but in fairness to Arena Gaven has gone to Holland to play with the U-20's. On balance I think that experience will be more beneficial to him than the experience of playing in these two world cup qualifiers. In spite of that, I'm not sure why Arena decided to start Ralston over Dempsey.

[K.P.]

5. McBride: ... but right now all the Target Forward options behind him have failed to really stake a legit claim to the gig. I love McBride the player, but I really hate our dependence on him.

Again, I agree with the sentiment but as someone else pointed out, Brian Ching was hurt. Assuming they are both healthy and make the roster, I doubt McBride will start ahead of Ching in Germany in part because Ching is more likely to go a full 90.

[seahawkdad]

In a post game interview, KK suggested that the US actually "played" only 70 of the 90 min. I'd agree. I thought the US looked pretty poor a lot of the first half. Couldn't keep possession because their passing was poor. Passing was poor because there seemed to be too little movement off the ball...Got to agree. I felt like yelling out "Do you guys ever practice together?", but didn't, since I was 50 rows up.

[wsmaugham]

My Problems with today:

5. Noonan and Zavagnin:
Noonan's play left a lot to be desired today. Got a chance to show what he had in a big time game, and he came up empty. Lost possession a few times, didn't do much of anything well, hopefully if he gets a chance wednesday, he plays much much better because he gave us nothing today. As for Zavagnin, and utterly invisible performance from what I saw, for a guy trying to stake a claim to a D-Mid slot, his play was a HUGE disappointment. Added nothing that I saw to the attack, and played no key role breaking up attacks that I saw. I could be totally off here, as I didn't pay much attention to him because I rarely saw him doing anything but what I did see, I wasn't happy with.

I have to respectfully disagree about Noonan. Granted, I've only had one viewing, but I didn't notice anything glaringly inept about Noonan's play and I thought that he showed flashes of on the ball skill that just didn't quite come off. Although most celebrate Donovan as one of the U.S.'s only stable offensive threats, his lack of a ball-keeping and creating mentality is the one glaring weaknesses in his game as an offensive midfielder, (Donovan), he treats the ball like a hot potato, almost like he doesn't want to be exposed as a mediocre dribbler. And this is not to take anything away from Donovan, who converted 2/3 chances in a game that actually matters, but rather, I still don't see a guy creating chances, just one who, if it happens to sit for him, will bury it every other time. Atleast Noonan has the sack to try and create.

Kudos to Beasley as well, man has he matured in the last year, so composed on the ball, whether he gets played off of it or not he doesn't lack for confidence, although a bit nonchalant in front of goal.

All in all, not complaining, just don't like seeing people dish negativity on players who try to show a bit of offensive flair as opposed to constant one touch, not me type passing. Not to say it isn't effective, it just seems to not come off well without atleast one player actually beating his man to create advantage.

Sound off.