mexico game wasn't that bad

[elbita]

it wasn't good, but not the utter disaster i read about. i just watched the tape for the first time. we made two poor plays in the back in four minutes, thus we lost. we had several good chances in addition to our goal.
KK made a couple of saves but overall mexico wasn't that dangerous. they had the ball a lot but that was true in korea too.
we could have won the game at azteca.

did anybody else think keller's play on the first goal was a bit odd? when lozano heads the ball, keller is literally throwing himself backward into the net. borgetti heads it into an open goal. it shouldn't have been a surprise that lozano would head the ball back toward the middle. he had almost no angle to go for goal.
but that was not nearly as goofy as double-teaming borgetti on a sky-ball from blanco that hung in the air forever, and leaving sinha with roughly two square acres of free space at the top of the box.

don't get me wrong. keller rocks.

[turbostevo]

i don't remember -- perhaps i have blocked that game from my memory. :)

i only remember thinking that we weren't playing agressive enough -- especially towards the end when we didn't seem to be pressing for the tie.

i will say that you are dedicated if you watched the entire match knowing that we lost. props to you for being dedicated. :D

[robchap628]

I would have to say that in fact that was a pretty poor performance by our side in Mexico. We just looked rediculous out there, Donovan and Reyna, the two players we needed to step up most were just no where to be found. Reyna was exhausted 5 minutes into the match and Donovan was still crying about what happened with Leverkusen, Lewis had a nice goal but other than that we had no offense, it was a really lame game for the US.

[turbostevo]

ah yes. it's all coming back to me now.

i had a flashback of the camera on reyna as he huffed and puffed.

[Frankie Boy]

ah yes. it's all coming back to me now.

i had a flashback of the camera on reyna as he huffed and puffed.

Being that I was in Azteca, what I remember most is the utter silence after the US goal in the 2nd half...and the panic that set in for about 10 minutes until they made defensive subs and shut it down.

A very memorable day....

[turbostevo]

that's great! what a day that must have been -- even though we lost.

how many other usa fans were you with?

[APZ007]

In the game, the formation the US had dictated how they played. The 5-4-1 formation showed that they weren't going to go for the win.

[Frankie Boy]

that's great! what a day that must have been -- even though we lost.

how many other usa fans were you with?

There were about 300 or so USA fans-however, I was with my Mexican brother in law (I was at my in-laws in Tampico and had to fly home that day anyway through Mexico City)- so I arranged a 9 hour stop over in Mexico City...

I figured that going to the game live was better than putting up with my 79 year old father in law in front of his TV...that would have been insufferable.

One thing that pissed me off was hearing obviously native-born USA citizens in green shirts cheering for the green weenies against the USA-to me, you get a pass as an immigrant, a 1/2 pass for the 1st generation, and after that, this is downright treasonous...

Great day overall (even better when I got the box of Cuban Cohibas my brother-in-law bought on a business trip to Havana through customs)...

[dmike]

In the game, the formation the US had dictated how they played. The 5-4-1 formation showed that they weren't going to go for the win.

Ya, all I remember was either LD having the ball being sorrounded by 4 green jerseys or EJ holding the ball by the mexi box and nobody there to pass to. It was pretty much depressing that we came to that game to tie. I know we bunker here and there but that was wayyy too excessive.
I know we may not have Argentinas depth but what they do when with their WCQ matches if they have to play a team in high altitude they use 2 lineups. I think vs Bolivia, Argentina went with a much younger and faster team to play in La Paz. I guess in a couple of years when our depth gets better we may see younger and faster guys in the poison called the azteca.

[Ikari]

Best part of that match:
After we scored, myself and another complete stranger shot out of our seats cheering loudly, and exchanged high-5's.

[JohnR]

you get a pass as an immigrant, a 1/2 pass for the 1st generation, and after that, this is downright treasonous...

Sig material.

[thedeuce_2]

Best part of that match:
After we scored, myself and another complete stranger shot out of our seats cheering loudly, and exchanged high-5's.

That's awesome! Has to be a very memorable moment for you! Simply awesome!!!

[Heathens '87]

did anybody else think keller's play on the first goal was a bit odd? when lozano heads the ball, keller is literally throwing himself backward into the net. borgetti heads it into an open goal. it shouldn't have been a surprise that lozano would head the ball back toward the middle. he had almost no angle to go for goal.


The line-up and formation we put out there essentially meant we were playing for a 0-0 or 1-1 draw. I believe we're past that point in our program's development, so I was very critical of Bruce's game plan. It was flawed from the start, add in a couple of defensive errors, and the plan was pointless.

Onyewu looked young, which he is, and Berhalter is serviceable, but not against that style of play. Reyna's lack of fitness was stunning, and Bruce made no substitutions until the 70th minute, and then not even for Reyna. Odd decisions.....

....and while criticizing Keller on BS is cause for a public flogging, he badly over-committed to the initial attempt. Keller's a smart man, and I'm sure he understands the error. Give his reaction to the attempt, I wonder if he didn't have a good view of the ball, and if unable to decide his reaction, simply reacted with a full blown save attempt. It put him badly out of position for the second attempt, and Mexico is a team that will finish.

Take away about 15 minutes in that game, and we didn't play poorly. The difference between playing Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, etc... and Mexico is that El Tri has the ability to take advantage of such lapses. It'll be the same way in Germany, and Bruce's next challenge is to get the team to play 90+ minutes of solid football, each and every game. They haven't always done that in qualifying.......

[swedust]

Not that I'm not thinking more of the upcoming Mexico match than the previous one, but I have to agree with thread premise. I'm glad that we all had high standards for the result we wanted to get, but that performance was no embarassment.

Clearly there was a crucial lack of concentration in that spell of the game that proved insurmountable. But I thought overall it was a good showing. And I'm no Reyna-phile but most criticisms of his performance I thought were totally off-base: it seems to me he played exactly the role he needed to (and was probably told to by BA).

And I also don't think the game "proved" we shouldn't play 4-5-1, either. Rather, it looked like just what it was: a new formation with a new player mix in a difficult away match in a very difficult stadium to play in, one of the 3 or 4 greatest home-field-advantages in the world, really.

Now, bring on the return leg!

[FirstStar]

....and while criticizing Keller on BS is cause for a public flogging, he badly over-committed to the initial attempt. Keller's a smart man, and I'm sure he understands the error. Give his reaction to the attempt, I wonder if he didn't have a good view of the ball, and if unable to decide his reaction, simply reacted with a full blown save attempt. It put him badly out of position for the second attempt, and Mexico is a team that will finish.



The hard thing about that play was watching Brad Friedel stay at home and block the EXACT same play when RVN and Rooney attempted it in league action the next weekend.

[turbostevo]

One thing that pissed me off was hearing obviously native-born USA citizens in green shirts cheering for the green weenies against the USA-to me, you get a pass as an immigrant, a 1/2 pass for the 1st generation, and after that, this is downright treasonous...

hey, you are preaching to the choir on this one. it irks me to no end.

Great day overall (even better when I got the box of Cuban Cohibas my brother-in-law bought on a business trip to Havana through customs)...

very nice. just had a couple cohibas with some buddies a couple of weeks ago. :)

[turbostevo]

Best part of that match:
After we scored, myself and another complete stranger shot out of our seats cheering loudly, and exchanged high-5's.

love it! great stuff.

[turbostevo]

The hard thing about that play was watching Brad Friedel stay at home and block the EXACT same play when RVN and Rooney attempted it in league action the next weekend.

i love friedel and have no doubt he could have done the same thing for the USMNT that day -- but rvn and rooney didn't attempt the play in azteca. that changes everything.

[sidefootsitter]

it wasn't good, but not the utter disaster i read about.... As I recall, Mexico had a 9:3 advantage in goal scoring chances. Kikin Fonseca blew several all by himself; Kasey had a great save off Ramoncito Morales's free kick; Boca was eaten alive by Alberto Medina in the 2nd half; etc.

[Heathens '87]

i love friedel and have no doubt he could have done the same thing for the USMNT that day -- but rvn and rooney didn't attempt the play in azteca. that changes everything.


I don't think the success of that play has that much to do with the opponent that is executing it, other than the fact they have the skill to do so.

An experienced keeper should be able to read the play, and I think it's something like rule #3 of goalkeeping.....if the ball is not in your control, stay on your feet in-position. (Rule #4 is if you're not on your feet and the ball is not in your hands, get on your feet and into position ASAP.)

Keller over-committed, and that's an error on his part. I'd be sure that Keller admitted as such in reviewing the tape. An inexperienced keeper might make such an error, but Keller has enough seasoning not to bite on this. Mistakes happen, and when you're a keeper, a mistake usually results in a goal.

Keller's are few and far between, so I'm more than comfortable letting him beat himself up to whatever degree he cares to about that goal. In case we all forget...Kasey is human.