What did we learn from the Gold Cup?

[cpwilson80]

Roughly 6 months ago, the US won the Gold Cup with the following roster:

Armas, Chris
Beasley, DaMarcus
Casey, Conor
Cherundolo, Steve
Conrad, Jimmy
Davis, Brad
Dempsey, Clint
Donovan, Landon
Hahnemann, Marcus
Hejduk, Frankie
Keller, Kasey
Mastroeni, Pablo
Noonan, Pat
O'Brien, John
Olsen, Ben
Onyewu, Oguchi
Pope, Eddie
Quaranta, Santino
Ralston, Steve
Reis, Matt
Sanneh, Tony
Vanney, Greg
Wolff, Josh

With camp in full-swing again, what lessons do you think were learned from the Gold Cup? Here are a few of mine:

Onyewu, Conrad, and Hahnemann helped their World Cup causes the most.

Sanneh, Vanney, and Davis were probably out of the picture after this tourny.

Donovan, Beasley, and Keller showed that as the combo of those three go, so goes our team.

Quaranta, Noonan, or Ralston did not seize the right mid spot, leaving perhaps the biggest question mark heading into the final months of WC06 prep.

Injuries to Pope, Casey, Cherundolo, and Mastroeni showed just how important depth is in a tournament. Those last spots on a 23-man roster do matter.

We're still not the type of team to brush aside inferior competition. The play wasn't pretty -- only Dempsey's goal and Donovan's FK against Cuba and the Donovan-Beasely combo against Jamaica stand out in my mind. However, I think a tough group in Germany is actually a blessing in disguise. We won't overlook any of these games, and I think the element of surprise is still around somewhat (for example, neither the Italian nor the Czech coach could name a single US player.)

Finally, I think this tournament would better serve our needs in January instead of July. Currently, it's a disruption for the MLS season, and there's not as much interest when it occurs around WC Qualifiers.

[cleansheetbsc]

Chris Armas can't take penalty kicks.

[ursula]

I'd say it was a great tournament for Gooch. Although he was heading to starter status without the tournament, he hadn't played much internationally. The Gold Cup provided that. And although he's a long shot for Germany it was a good tournament for Conrad too, showing that the US has quality depth at central defense. Quaranta also had a good tournament, if you think being a late call in (he was only called in when Eddie Johnson went down) who played his way into serious consideration for right wing is a good tournament.

Obviously a bad tournament for Casey, getting hurt and all. But also poor for Ralston and Hedjuk as both of them had an inside track and played either poorly or just blah. Demspey, Wolff, Olsen, Davis, and Noonan also made no impression. Of all these guys in the tournament, only Ralston and Hedjuk played much in the remaining WCQ's.

PK's not counting, Chris Armas had a good tournament, at least in Arena's eyes.

[FirstStar]

I also think we clearly learned that we play in a confederation full of thugs and it's getting to be not worth it to play our full squad in these tournements, especially if FIFA does away with the Confederations Cup.

[FC Tallavana]

We learned that it is still possible for John O'Brien to get healthy for a month during the summer...and that's always nice to know.

[Shackleton]

We're vulnerable to counterattack in a 3-5-2. Beasley should not play forward.

[cleansheetbsc]

-Casey Keller is a pretty good little goalkeeper. He might get a start or two in Germany.

-USMNT can win in hostile enviroments of East Rutherford, Hondouras and East Rutherford, Panama

[Elninho]

I also think we clearly learned that we play in a confederation full of thugs and it's getting to be not worth it to play our full squad in these tournements, especially if FIFA does away with the Confederations Cup.

"We lost four players to the team that won the fair play award." -- Bruce Arena

[FC Tallavana]

-Casey Keller is a pretty good little goalkeeper. He might get a start or two in Germany.

-USMNT can win in hostile enviroments of East Rutherford, Hondouras and East Rutherford, Panama

The Panama match was definitely played before a pro-USA crowd.

[FC Tallavana]

"We lost four players to the team that won the fair play award." -- Bruce Arena

Gotta be one of the best Bruce quotes/quips of all time...and he's had some good ones.

[Ronaldo's Idol]

i think we learned that our B team is better than the rest of Concacaf's A teams (except Mexico). But just barely.

Other than that, well we saw that JOB is still a wonderful passer and centermid, that Beasley can score stunning counter attack goals in a matter of a few seconds, and that playing any of our real starting 11 in the Gold Cup is a bad idea (how many players had or still have lingering injuries from it?). The Gold Cup is absurd for its thuggery, and it should only be used as a proving ground for our fringe players, win or lose.

[carpediem175]

I keep thinking of how we were unable to finish our chances, particularly in the final two games. 37 shots on goal with only two goals to show for it, and none of them were scored by fowards. I think this shows how incredibly thin we are with fowards. McBride and EJ were not in the mix, so that left us with Noonan, Wolff, Quaranta who are still in the mix. Casey forget about, he has never produced for the Nats. Now we are looking adding Twellman (who until recently has been struggling) and Ching who needs to find his touch. Unlike some other countries we have no "money in the bank" type stiker. We do have a good group of guys with big hearts, but I feel we need a bit more to challenge for the Cup.

[Elninho]

That's where Rolfe and (possibly) Gomez come in.

I'm not ready to pass judgment on Ching yet. The main reason is: he actually produced with the national team before he was injured, to the tune of two crucial goals in the semifinal qualifying round and a number of scoring chances created for other players. He was also red-hot in MLS at the time he was injured. I'm hoping he recovers his form, because outside of McBride and him, there isn't an American targetman who has produced anything for club or country lately. That said, if he still looks bad in February, then he'll probably have played himself off the team.

[numerista]

i think we learned that our B team is better than the rest of Concacaf's A teams (except Mexico). But just barely.

I hate to break the news, but we only faced two countries' A-teams: Cuba (who suck) and Panama (who we tied).

[numerista]

Onyewu, Conrad, and Hahnemann helped their World Cup causes the most.


Agree about the first two, not about Hahnemann, who faced only one difficult chance and it was a goal.

Sanneh, Vanney, and Davis were probably out of the picture after this tourny.

Again, agree with the first two (though we might see Vanney again) ... Davis got hurt and never got a proper look (though he doesn't belong on the team, anyway)

Donovan, Beasley, and Keller showed that as the combo of those three go, so goes our team.

Not sold on this ... Keller played well, but we should've lost to Honduras anyway. We can't afford a defense as poor as the one we had.

Quaranta, Noonan, or Ralston did not seize the right mid spot, leaving perhaps the biggest question mark heading into the final months of WC06 prep.

Neither Quaranta (who helped himself) nor Ralston (who started well but was tired out) was ever going to seize that position in this tournament ... also, I thought Noonan was being used as a forward?

Injuries to Pope, Casey, Cherundolo, and Mastroeni showed just how important depth is in a tournament. Those last spots on a 23-man roster do matter.

Right on ... also, it's foolish to send out a player who's far from 100%, even (especially?) if he's Eddie Pope. (Expecting out-of-form players to miraculously recover was one of Sampson's worst mistakes in 1998, too.)

Also of note ...
-- the failure to find a role for Clint Dempsey
-- the dismal Armas/Olsen pairing in defensive midfield

When it came to tactics, our attempted modifications all fell flat.

[GalaxyOne]

I keep thinking of how we were unable to finish our chances, particularly in the final two games. 37 shots on goal with only two goals to show for it, and none of them were scored by fowards. I think this shows how incredibly thin we are with fowards. McBride and EJ were not in the mix, so that left us with Noonan, Wolff, Quaranta who are still in the mix. Casey forget about, he has never produced for the Nats. Now we are looking adding Twellman (who until recently has been struggling) and Ching who needs to find his touch. Unlike some other countries we have no "money in the bank" type stiker. We do have a good group of guys with big hearts, but I feel we need a bit more to challenge for the Cup.

We need better strikers. Can someone tell me again WHY Heruclez isn't in the USMNT camp???

We barely squeaked by Panama...not exactly a really strong showing.

[SamsArmySam]

I learned two things:

1. Our attack can become very one-dimensional and easy to defend at times. The one dimension at the Gold Cup was through balls to players making attacking runs into the box. Missing dimensions (mostly) were crosses from the wings and shots from distance. Against CONCACAF teams bunkering to protect against the counter, our attack was pretty toothless.

2. Superior conditioning gives us a chance to steal goals in the last 15. Seems like every game was either tied or won in the last 15 minutes when we capitalized on a tired defense's error. And that superior conditioning was no coincidence. It's become a hallmark of the team under Arena, and it's why other countries who know anything about us know they're in for a tough 90.

[Davids26]

Brad Davis doesn't fold under pressure.

[carpediem175]

- the failure to find a role for Clint Dempsey

From watching him during the MLS season and also in the Gold Cup, he seemed like the kind of person who can give opponents headaches. Particularly at the Gold Cup, even though he didn't score there were numerous times he had the defense scrambling. He always seems to be in a dangerous place, I don't know if it is through luck or he has a sense of where to be but he is always in the middle of the action, especially in the opponents 18 yard box.

[AminKor02]

When it came to tactics, our attempted modifications all fell flat.good time to find that out, the summer before the WC instead of during the WC. Hope it helped.