US-Morocco, the Bruce (R)

[superdave]

Discuss tactics and substitutions here.

[superdave]

Bruce's tactics have been making me nervous for 5 years now.

Maybe he'll get off this kick of a) playing Wolff, who doesn't defend and is poor in the attack and b) doing the monumentally stupid thing of playing McBride as a lone striker.

[dmike]

Bruce just playing Smokes and Mirror vs the scouts

[superdave]

Well, then he's also denying our players a chance to get accustomed to one another. Cutting off his nose to spite his face.

[dmike]

Well, then he's also denying our players a chance to get accustomed to one another. Cutting off his nose to spite his face.

SMOKES AND MIRRORS

[kakaboypuf redded]

Maybe Freddy Adu should have been in the starting eleven?

[Globalusation]

fire bruce!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

[CbR]

Bruce just playing Smokes and Mirror vs the scouts

i agree. You can also tell that our players where not making the extra effort. No one wanted to get hurt right before the WC. Moracco on the other hand was fighting tooth and nail for every ball.

[dmike]

i agree. You can also tell that our players where not making the extra effort. No one wanted to get hurt right before the WC. Moracco on the other hand was fighting tooth and nail for every ball.

2-6-2 formation SAID IT ALL

[lurking]

If this game mattered, Bruce would get a grade so foul that I dare not name it.

But it doesnt, so ill just chalk it up to "experimentation".

[RevsRule]

Bruce is in deep do do. Four years to build a team and he didn't

[falvo]

Maybe this is strategy by Bruce Arena to not show the rest of the world or any of our first round opponents anything because at this point , the USMNT looks like crap! They suck so bad! They played horrible soccer! What a joke! Convey looked ok but that Gooch sucked and Cherondolo gave them a goal!
They look worse than 98 or even 90! I still can't believe it Landon looked lost so did Beasley! I didn't see one bright spot out there other than maybe John O'Brien before he left and maybe Bobby Convey did just ok. They got a long way to go! The had better hurry the heck up!
This is the team that will beat Italy & Czech?
This team is ranked 4th in the world and they lose to Morocco?

[TxFan]

I liked the fact that Bruce experiemented with the formation. The 3-4-3 was interesting. I'm not necessarily sold on it just yet. But at least Bruce tried it out.

I think Reyna being taken out didn't hurt us too much, as Mastro was on the top of his game. He looked solid.

Bruce did a good job. He got all four of our forwards some quality time. Tried a different formation. And got out with no serious injuries.

It would have been nice to see the team better focussed after training camp and a bit more aggressive. I don't think we had a lot of shots on goal in the first half.

[CbR]

this is the A-team's first game together. If you expect them to whip out Harlem Globetrotter soccer then you're mistaken.

Give them time

[dmike]

this is the A-team's first game together. If you expect them to whip out Harlem Globetrotter soccer then you're mistaken.

Give them time

That was not our A team


we had no wingers

Josh Wolff was starting

JOB was starting even though he was better than I originally expected he would be.

[RevsRule]

this is the A-team's first game together. If you expect them to whip out Harlem Globetrotter soccer then you're mistaken.

Give them time

It's late in the game to try and gell. This team does not mesh well and we have a week to make it happen

[haven]

I don't understand why you'd ever make a move that has absolutely no upside. If it's just a game of experimentation - that's fine. If you don't want anything out of the game, though - you shouldn't schedule it.

I thought the weirdest decision was to give Wolff a real look. I don't think even Arena believes there's the slightest chance Wolff could be a meaningful producer. So why does he feature in a warm-up game?

Formation doesn't bother me. McBride doesn't bother me. Result annoys me, but only a little.

I just wish we'd either have a true purpose in these games - or not play them.

[CPRoyale]

I think Bruce was a little shocked Morocco batted down the hatches and come out the way they did. I noticed for the first time his voice being picked up by the field mike. He seemed to be yelling a lot. Not sure if he is this vocal regularly.

I was happy to see him use a different formation, but felt Gibbs - Dolo were used to often in an attacking role by the tactic. I saw no danger from Morocco in exploiting this, but a much more dangerous team would have challenged the goal much more. I believe Bruce understood this. Nevertheless, I think the tactical decision using Gibbs - Dolo resulted in poor shots, exchanges, services in the offensive half. There were several times where Donovan layed off for Dolo to shoot. Landon knew better in the second half. Gibbs also had a poor shot if I remember correctly, and did not serve the ball in well. He was playing the Lewis role, but given Gibbs is on the field, why use this style?

I think Bruce waited too long to take off McBride, more to test Ching than the result of the game. All the quick thoughts I have right now...

[TheMutts]

I am also annoyed with the result, i wish somebody could finish,


I agree Ching should've been brought on sooner

[roadkit]

Bruce is in deep do do. Four years to build a team and he didn't

Yeah, good thing we had Chuck Schick available to coach the team during the World Cup qualifiers. :rolleyes: