After a more objective second viewing of USA vs. Belgium...

We will see how they do tommorow.

 

Germany has depth is the difference. They lose Reus and don't even care really. They have tons of talented kids and don't need to go begging kids to play for them. Look at the way Italy has so much talent to spare they left Rossi off (even though after that showing in the WC they should have taken his ass) yet we would have built our team around him. Does that mean Rossi is not an amazing player?

 

Have to disagree. Jozy went down in the first few minutes of the tournament and we got through the group and held Belguim scoreless in regulation time, even though we were favored to fail. We adopted to his injury by adding a third CM-- the right call IMO. Had we started 2 forwards, Belguim would have killed us in regulation time. JK played it right; went with defense which as shaky as it was kept the game at 0-0. He went for a second striker late--again the right move -- and played to get one or two real chances. The strategy worked. But we didn't put the ball in the net. IMO,this strategy maximizes your chance of winning when you play against a much stronger opponent with as much fire power as Belguim.

Alleged mistake #1: why do you think they would have been good enough to back up Jozy? All three were evaluated and dropped. None is in Jozy's class and none is demonstrably better than AJ or playing with 3CMs.
Mistake # 2: I agree that not taking Donovan was a mistake, and am convinced that we don't have the full story. Contrary to JK, I saw LD as an outside mid, better in the attack than all the outside mids brought to Brazil. Whether he would have have better than Wondo, who knows. Wondo had the great chance that was perfect for skill set; and failed. I don't put that on the coach.
Alleged mistake #3: as stated above, going with 3CMs makes more sense to me than 2 forwards. we can argue about this all day, but going with 5 mids was a sensible tactic and the 2 goals given up after we switched to 2 forwards doesn't doesn't suggest that Starting with 2 was the way to go.

 

Zonal Marking write up

He was really puzzled by the decision to swap Cameron in for Beckerman

 

Not much of a mystery. Beckerman is a lateral player, while Cameron distributes more to the sides. Maybe Klinsmann wanted his side mids to help the attack more. But Bedoya and Zusi were seriously outmatched.

 

Too much homer here. The correct answer is Fabian Johnson and that's it.

 

He's better than Balotelli anyway

If these guys are so good, how come they didnt get out of group?

 

For reasons that have nothing to do with their player's individual talent level, and I agree he is better than Balotelli, who pretty much did nothing but stand around and bitch if a through ball didn't go exactly to his feet.

 

Just put some of my thoughts here:

1. Our team is not too good on combination plays even in CONCACAF. So forget about World Cup where even good combination plays will not fool world class defenders.
So brill lent individual players needed, such as a 20 years Donovan. So it is naive to expect Bedoya, Zusi, Davis can do much in World Cup.

2. Every one is high on Yedlin, but my opinion is that his defense and positioning is still not there (Belgium's 2nd goal). And his attacking is one way - cross ( I rather see wing backs also cut inside to threat the goal as Cherundolo and Fabian Johnson showed).
So if you need that attacking option, you should take Agudelo.

3. Formation wise, we probably will have 1 center with 1 withdraw in a 4-4-1-1 or 1 center 2 wingers in 4-3-3.
So I will not take Zusi, Davis instead of Donovan, Agudelo.
For Bedoya, I am not trust his decision making around box and also his scoring ability. I would take EJ over Wondo for his speed and header ability. And also take Boyd as an emergency forward when we throw everything out.

 

I really think the plan was later to push FJ up to the left and set Yedlin off to the right slide Geoff to the right and bring on Wondo and go for it . Even if we pit Yedlin and FJ on the right they were going forward that was our offensive plan. Geoffrey could cover that spot and an EPL Rb ought to be adequate cover.

The other thought is fresh legs. Maybe just as simple as Geoff is a bit faster and was fresh. That probably was part of the plan. Geoff can be useful, and I really like the guy but I would not be mad if it got to where he was excess to requirements or at least not a regular starter even if he gets minutes. I felt that he played a good Ghana game and after that his weakness(es) seemed to get exploited.

 

Too much homer? And now I'm supposed to call you a Eurosnob?

This is N&A buddy. Feel free to point out why JJ/MB are not at least as good at Fellaini and can not take on Witsel. Or what's so amazing about Van Buyten and Vertonghen. And why Dempsey can't compete with Belgium's ineffective forwards. Otherwise just stay silent.

 

I wouldn't call examining hypothetical situations wherein Americans and Belgians play on the same international team analysis. I'd call it fantasy.

It's grasping at straws to back a tenuous point, and to convince the uninterested to argue an unprovable one.

 

Thanks for pointing this out. A very sharp observation, especially coming from someone like you.

And I totally agree: it is an 'examination of a hypothetical situation". We can of course argue whether such examinations belong in N&A. Can you start a new thread?

But someone asked me the question about the American players on the Belgian team. I don't know why that person is "grasping at straws" or what "tenuous point he's trying to back". Maybe you can ask him?

I've merely answered @DHC1 's question.

 

I have to presume that he was asked to press forward and we subsequently lost the ball on a turnover. I'm not sure you can blame him one bit for that, although I agree his "half-court" defense is still suspect in general.

 

Participation is down and continues a downward trend.

Membership Statistics
US Youth Soccer Annual Registration of Players1974 - 103,432
1980 - 810,793
1985 - 1,210,408
1990 - 1,615,041
1995 - 2,388,719
2000 - 3,020,442
2005 - 3,050,465
2007 - 3,123,698
2008 - 3,148,114
2009 - 3,094,868
2010 - 3,036,438
2011 - 3,025,551
2012 - 3,020,633

Gender Breakdown (boys/girls)1995 - 55/45
2000 - 55/45
2008 - 52/48


http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/media_kit/keystatistics/

 

To me, the big thing was possession and dispossession. We did OK with possession against, but not with attacking ideas. Dispossession to me was a big problem throughout the tournament. It took a lot of effort to get turnovers.

 

The other thing, watching the last 15 the other night ..... we really should have drawn even. Just too many good half-chances not to put one in. But we were gassed and the touch failed us.

 

Ann Coulter is winning.

 

More like lacrosse is winning.

 

Which is perhaps part of why the decision was made to make the change to JK. For the same reasons JK became an international Icon during his day, he has raised the profile of the sport in this country. The higher the profile of the sport the more likely youths are to take it up.

 

There is a difference between giving up shots and being historically bad

 

Does this support the narrative that we just gave them all a bit too much respect? As in afraid to take a chance playing just a half step further away fearing they might run right by us and make us look silly?

If that is the case does it then create a negative feedback loop where we give them more and more space? Since we start a bit further off they have a bit more time and space which improves their passing. This improved passing makes guys start watching over their shoulders allowing even more time and space.

Your point was interesting.

 

Depends on the profile.

Klinsmann is smart but he uses his smarts to fill his bank account. He cares about US Soccer but it is a secondary worry. The Commissioner of MLS is an NFL guy. The outlook is worrisome. Look at the troubles Beckham is having in Miami.

 

I was trying to remember if Cameron ever played the holding mid since losing 3-1 to Costa Rica. I dont think he did.

When they announced the lineups I thought klinsmann might be looking for the flexibility of moving Fabian into midfield and putting Cameron at rb with Beckerman coming in at dmid position. 3 new positions with one sub, a defender in front of Hazard and a crafty midfielder behind Hazard who could also defend like a fb.

Anyway, Belgium sure had a lot of shots on goal. Maybe SamHamwich can give us his views because I know he is one of those who thinks Cameron's natural position is at the 6.