[AmeriMex]

Look this team was going to rise of fall on McIrney's shoulders. He didn't produce, the U.S. lost.
Still, there are a lot of positives to garner from this. For the first time I can remember the US is the "possession' team. Players like Gil, Duran, Palodichic, Polak are raw but hold the ball very well. Shinsky shows signs of life/determination. Jerome reminds me a bit of Beasley at his age but with better tactical awareness. Sarle and Aguedelo and Martinez are all capable.
Cabrera rode his horse (McIrney) as far as it would take him...and at the end of the day he didn't produce. It happens. Not a bad strategy, but we can fault him for it as it didn't work. I like this team even without the studs Renken and Gyau. I'm not as sold on LLeget as others, but the first two are keepers.

[Clint Eastwood]

What we saw out there was a match between professionals and amateurs.

[Matrim55]

Originally Posted by Pagefan

How is it poor analysis? What you describe is exactly what Brian Ownby is, except Ownby actually showed hints he might be capable of finishing on occasion.

Ownby is lead-footed both in terms of straight-line speed and agility. He also never played a one-two that I saw, though to be fair that was emblematic of the U-20s as a whole.

There's simply no resemblance between the two players.

[#1 Feilhaber and Adu]

Originally Posted by Pagefan

How is it poor analysis? What you describe is exactly what Brian Ownby is, except Ownby actually showed hints he might be capable of finishing on occasion.

Sarle is not a winger. Jerome is not a winger. Agudelo is not a winger. Gil is not a winger. Cabrera's formation failed these players. I was putting Sarle in my lineup as a winger only because Corea and Gyau were not on the team but in genereal the four above should have been up-top or CAM.

[kokoplus10]

Originally Posted by #1 Feilhaber and Adu

Its time to hire coaches whoa arent obsessed with Ching's(Mcinerney) players who are good vs CONCACAF minnows but blow chances vs quality but continue to get chances becuase thy are good vs CONCACAF as their pre-requisite.

Well the problem is that you have to qualify OUT of Concacaf first. For which players like Ching/McInerney are very useful.

What strikes me is that at any level the U.S. team can do one or two things very well, but they're never a "complete" team that can kill you in a number of ways. This is no surprise given that we don't have the soccer culture or history of most nations, but it's frustrating none-the-less.

This team was good at moving the ball on the floor and creating chances through the midfield. However, they were woeful in their wide play, and finishing.

The senior team has good team defending, counter-attacking prowess, and set piece execution, but they can't move the ball on the floor or play the ball through the midfield to save their life, and their collective first touch is just plain awful.

I wonder how long it's going to take for a U.S. team to put it altogether. Doesn't look like we're very close. I'd say at least another decade...maybe even two....

[rep21]

Originally Posted by Pagefan

The sad thing about this team is that two years ago it looked like this might be a revolutionary group of players. Now it would be very difficult to argue that this team is any better than the 2007 iteration.

You didn't watch the 2007 team then. This 2009 team is a million times better than 07. That Hackworth led team was the second worst usa team I have ever seen, next to Rongen's 09 version of the same generation.

[BrooklynSoccer]

Originally Posted by AmeriMex

Still, there are a lot of positives to garner from this. For the first time I can remember the US is the "possession' team. Players like Gil, Duran, Palodichic,

True here. They just werent' aware. They don't understand the nuances of the game.

[Matrim55]

Originally Posted by AmeriMex

Jerome reminds me a bit of Beasley at his age but with better tactical awareness.

Not even close. DMB's tactical awareness when he was that age was second to none, Donovan included. He was far and away the most tactically astute player on that '99 team, and probably the best of any U-17 we've ever had.

[Pagefan]

Originally Posted by Matrim55

Ownby is lead-footed both in terms of straight-line speed and agility. He also never played a one-two that I saw, though to be fair that was emblematic of the U-20s as a whole.

There's simply no resemblance between the two players.

Ownby's entire game was speed and agility (and wayward crosses and falling down on the endline, just like Sarle)! Maybe we're thinking of different players or something.

[Clint Eastwood]

Originally Posted by kokoplus10

I wonder how long it's going to take for a U.S. team to put it altogether. Doesn't look like we're very close. I'd say at least another decade...maybe even two....

Yeah, but we knew that before this game.

This Italian U17 team is awfully good. All of their players are at clubs like Milan, Inter, Juventus, Fiorentina, etc. Some of them like Berreta are about to break into the first teams. We'll never be consistently beating teams like Italy or Spain until our domestic league takes youth player development seriously. Bradenton was a band-aid we placed on a broken arm. It's not going to take a decade......it's going to take at least a generation. At this world cup level we're competing against nations like Argentina that have perfected the craft of youth development over generations.