I thought this was one of his more elegant performances in a while. Lacked the killer pass, but there were others who were suppposed to do that.
Having singers come in to sing it is the worst thing ever. It's nothing personal against any of the ones I've seen, but it's fxcking terrible. It's fine for every other sport and for MLS, but for a national team game let the fans sing it.
Well, I don't get harshing on Bradley this time. No goals or assists, but everything went through him all night and he rarely put a foot wrong. A bit worrying that the stars tonight were Bradley, Howard and Dempsey with a dash of Altidore. Arriola so much effort for so little accomplished (although very useful on defense), Nagbe so much flash with rare penetration. Villafana was our most effective creator almost, with quite a few lovely flashes into the box. And Acosta, was he playing? Felt like a 4-3-2 tonight. He did do a great job of putting himself exactly in the wrong place to receive the ball most of the night until he started moving forward some. Go figure. Still, props to Costa Rica, since I guess this is a team that keeps clean sheets and I can see why. Not easy to break them down. Rare obvious errors in their organization. And serious mistakes from Besler and Villafana along the way. Boy, Brooks and Cameron can go back to sleep I guess.
this was the tourney for the kids to step up. Morris looked like he could contribute in some situations. Zardes is "better" than his contribution. But the game tonight was an "old guys rule" t-shirt ad.
Good win. Dempsey was the difference maker. Such a great player. I see him as our Klose. As long as he is healthy and he wants to be a part of this team we should play him until he is in his 40s. And those who say Jozy only scores "meaningless goals", get out of here. My favorite part of the match was when they showed a close up of their Danny DeVito type of manager almost crying at the end. And is it just me or do some of Costa Rica's players look like straight up punks? I mean seriously maybe it was the intensity on their faces but they looked like villains from a comic book movie some of them (especially the one with the weird man bun.) They all looked kinda sad at the end too which delighted me. Good stuff.
Actually I think it's very likely we'll get punked in Russia, so don't worry, you'll be proved "right" in the end and will be celebrating while we sob.
I want Mexico. Just to read all the posts in BSMX along these lines: "LOL Nads brought their A-team to beat us! "Yeah they needed their best." "And this was like our D team!" "Yeah, good thing we don't talk about A/B/C/D/E etc. teams, no?" "Yeah talking about A/B/C/D teams is SO nad!" "Good thing we never do that. Even though this was like our Z team!"
Is it just me or Acosta is showing how bad he is with the ball at his feet? I guess the tougher the competition is getting, the more he is showing his lack of ball control. He is still young but by know he should be more comfy with the ball at his feet, specially playing as a cm, hoping he doesn't turn into the next Beckerman.
No, it's not just you. I was impressed with Acosta during the friendly with Ghana. He was everywhere, worked hard, aggressive, defend well and distribute well. However, this tournament really exposed his current limitations. Simply put, the speed of the game is too fast for him. He no longer has the time he used to in MLS to think and react. At this level and up, you need to know exactly several steps ahead before the ball even reaches you. And as you said, as the tournament goes on, the game became faster, the opponent better, and he looks quite mediocre. Like I've said many times, If he wants to improve vastly, he needs to get his but over to the BL, EPL, Series A, LA Liga. There's nothing like going against some of the best in the world on a weekly basis, in terms of growth and development. Sorry, MLS is great as an entry level league, but you got to go where the stars are to get to the next level.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE] Having Bradley whom with already know how he plays vs Argentina or top competitions next to Acosta, that's not a good combo for the World Cup, Dempsey, Pulisic or hopelly Benny should be next to them, someone in the middle have to be able to create vs higher level teams.
He looks to me like a guy who is still kind of learning the game. I think Arena has concerns with his positioning as twice I heard him scream "Kelyn! " with some kind of instruction I couldn't understand. I heard him doing the same in previous games but I don't hear him doing it to other players. He is still young. Hopefully he continues to progress.
The tactical part doesn't worry me as much as the technical, he is 21, as a center mid, he should be better with the ball at his feet, if no, he needs to start doing the wings or fullback positions, at least at this level.
It's not just you. However, I would say that being the next Beckerman would be a step up from where he is now. I think Beckerman would have actually shut down some attacks and made a safe pass rather than chasing after the play like a lost duck quacking "that looks like fun. Can I play too?"
[/QUOTE] OTOH, most objective analysis of his play at the Azteca was positive. I'd say that was fairly high level, albeit a different set of circumstances.
For the Final, be prepared to see it drowned out by all the Mexicans singing theirs in Southern California. It's infuriating how the USSF has no say on where the final can be hosted. Southern California might as well be a home game for Mexico, given how many of them live there.
For some reason, I had thought it was in Pasadena. Either way, expect a majority of the crowd to not be rooting for the US.
Gonzo, as well, shouldn't be considered a lock starter. Was lucky Howard bailed him out after losing track of Urena at least twice.
That I agree with, Beckerman was much more physical at that age, I used to enjoy Beckerman when he was younger, he was strong and clean, his ball skils were just never good enough for out of concacaf competition. As we dump the college system, we need to start setting the bar higher, at 21they have to be better CMs, if no, move out so we have more Pulisics and Dempseys.
But why should the USSF decide where a GC final is? I don't even know why we're always the host. IMO other countries should get a chance to host.
I think increasingly serious players delay college to pursue professional carreers at 18. Morris may be the last college player to make the team We have too many Pulisics, Mckennies and the like for players to skip four years and catch up later.
If you are a young player or a parent reading this, you want to compete vs Neymar, forget about college, you won't hang too long if you do.