Well, this feels good! Howard's the MOTM in my opinion. Altidore with a great goal and Dempsey with a fantastic assist and goal, but without the (3?) saves, the goals don't matter.
Great victory, guys. This was very satisfactory. ---------- So how do people feel it is going to go in the final? Who will we play, and can we win? (I'd say we can but I want to hear what others say).
Respect to Costa Rica for another great tournament and respect to their players for not playing dirty like the Salvadorans.
Great win. Dempsey and Altidore did well, but Howard was the man. And what exactly did Morris did all game? Isn't he supposed to be a striker? I rarely see this guy anywhere.
Man, this is tough. I want to go with Nagbe or Besler but Dempsey is my favorite and he changed the game.
You have a point, that's why I said Howard close second (still you can't not celebrate Dempsey's incredible impact, and 57th goal). But if Guzan were playing tonight we'd have lost 3-2.
Donovan was completely joking when he made his comment about the position of his name in the record list. He said it with a laugh, nothing to be made about there.
Costa Rica played their game. We just had great moments of inspired play to pull us through. They had effective counters against us. Howard cam up big.
True. With all the players they lost to injury before this game, they did very well, and yes, they played a clean game. I liked the Ticos.
I never have felt like Costa Rica plays dirty. They battled tough with all those injuries. They brought a team very similar to ours (some big players who play in Europe were out) and ran into some unfortunate situations. Good game.
It was all Dempsey and Howard. Morris and Acosta didn't have a good game, Gonlazlez looks slow at times but he compensate muscling with players. Altidore had that one goal but he didn't do much all game. Poor Costa Rican performance. I don't see any reason why Bruce shouldn't win this tournament.
Right he even joked he should spell his name "DAnavan" so he would still be top alphabetically. Good vibes all around.
Deuce was great, Howard was great. Altidore and NAgbe were good. Arriola and Bradley were better than ok. Acosta was ok. The CB pair wasn't really challenged much but when they were they showed cracks. I don't trust Omar. I do trust Besler. Villafana still telegraphs his crosses but he offered width going forward and Zusi is...limited but I guess he's still useful. I feel like Deuce could have come on a bit earlier but not too many coplaints about the subs. All in all we have the same problems but Deuce is still world class and that makes up for quite a bit.
Both Acosta and Nagbe need to get their asses to Europe if they want to bring their games to the next level. They have skills and potentials, but they need to be challenged at a much higher level on a daily basis.
Thankfully, there's enough praise to go around. So many stepped up tonight and that's just what we needed.
Nagbe lacks killer instinct and its easy to see futbol isnt the center of his universe, still i love watching him play.. today he was very engaged and his quality shows.. seeing him receive the ball he always has his mind made up as far as where he wants to go or touch the ball to.. its a minor thing that many of our players lack.... he dictates the pace at which he plays.... Hes nothing but a cog on any team, but hes essential..best US match in a long time..
Joel Campbell getting Besler suspended 4 years ago by kicking his own leg stands out, but in general I'm with you. CRC don't play the usual nonsense games.
Bradley had a good game but Costa Rica didn't challege him too much today. Let's not hype something that isn't there.
Gonzalez was really the only weak part today. Villafana played better but his crossing is really bad. Better defending, though, so that's a start. I feel like his defending in the oppositions final 1/3 is better than in our own.