4-1-4-1 line-up. It will be good to see some younger guys get a chance. There are a few players I am really excited to see and hope they can impress in the coming years.
The team looks pretty good which is kind of depressing to see. A lot of energy. Horvath made a terrible error though.
I love the energy I'm seeing. These guys know how to play. I'm extremely impressed with McKennie. Not just the great goal, but I love his ability to tackle and win the ball without fouling! And the way he gets in the passing lanes and his anticipation. Very very impressive.
Didn't see a whole lot of the game - I'm at work - but did see the goal, very nice (even though McKennie's first touch got away from him a bit), and towards the end I saw a studly tackle by Cameron Carter-Vickers that made me go wow. The collision between Williams and Acosta - ouchy ouch. Too bad about the goalkeeping error. Way to go, Dave Sarachan and coaching staff. Proud performance.
Not that it's particularly Galaxy related, but I am waiting with bated breath for the wailing and gnashing of teeth regarding Italy's failure to make the world cup. Obviously this would not have happened if their fans took soccer seriously, or more of their national team played in Europe or if they had relegation and promotion.
Italy's in a bit of a down period. Can you name a prime-age Italian superstar? The one most people know plays in MLS and wasn't called in.
I suppose the energy level is related to their youth I don't want to make the mistake the Klinsifiles did of reading way too much into a friendly. Having said that, a couple of things. First, given that Dave was such a long-time Arena disciple, it amazed me how LITTLE that looked like any Bruce team. Not even our best squads at LAG played that high press. And it was effective. I don't think Portugal expected it. Dave is not likely to be in the running for USMNT coach, but he is auditioning for another shot at coaching an MLS club - and people could do worse. Second, I worry about Yedlin as a regular on the Nats. His speed is an asset, but his crosses are worse than Ema's. Holden keeps raving about his one on one defending and I keep seeing him either out of position or getting beaten by the guy he is supposed to be marking. Now I have to admit a bias. I believe nothing good has ever come out of Seattle, and that may be skewing my perception. But I really don't care for what I see. Lastly, I hope Horvath gets another chance to show this mistake was an aberration. It made him look like a certain England keeper.
Who would he get ahead of though? Belotti scores for fun in Serie A. Zaza has 9 goals in 11 games for Valenica. Immobile has 14 goals in 11 games for Lazio. Even last season he was a 20+ goal scorer. Then we have Balotelli who wasn't even called in despite having 6 goals in 8 league games for Nice. Balotelli is also doing very well in Europa league. It's kind of hard to justify bringing in Giovinco who plays in a far inferior league than the guys who are dominating europe's best league. Could you imagine the hate any US manager would get if say Wood, Sargent, Johannsson, etc were scoring for fun in Europe's top leagues, but Jozy Altidore was brought in instead of one of them?
Except Immobile is immobile, Belotti showed no success under pressure, and there was a startling lack of skill on the ball for an Italian team [certainly compared to years past]. Finesse was badly lacking, and that is something Giovinco [& Insigne] could well have offered. Ventura chose to play a crude, direct, style. One that often could have used someone genuinely gifted on set pieces. Someone like Giovinco. As for that "far inferior", outside of the top 3 teams or so you would be hard pressed to back that up. What you have in the end is as simple as this: Ventura was an idiot manager who idiotically threw away the WC through a remarkable obtuseness. This Italian era is not as strong as it was back in the mid 2000's, but certainly strong enough to defeat a Sweden. But that was not reflected by the team Ventura put out, nor in the style he demanded they play. Absolutely Italy could have qualified without Giovinco. Absolutely they could have used him in qualifying. When you fail, the chickens...as it is said...come home to roost.
I can only name 2 players on Italy's national team: Buffon and El Sharraway. Not that this is particularly relevant. The point is that we have had lots of criticisms of the US and MLS and how the team would be better if things were more like Europe. Clearly even with a long history and strong culture making the world cup is not a given. Just for grins, how many Italian fans came name players on the USMNT roster. I would be surprised if they can name more than 2 (Pulisic and Bradley).
Actually he resembled a fair number of U-10 AYSO keepers, the better ones have learned to kneel so the ball can't dribble through their hands. It wasn't a howler, it was a total disregard for fundamentals.
Not that I'm generally making the case that Italy should've called in Giovinco or that they would've qualified with him, but none of those guys are really "dominating" Europe or particularly accomplished in any meaningful way. My point is they are fairly underwhelming by Italian standards; none are true superstars that have won important titles for big teams. Balotelli was a cut above in terms of pedigree, accomplishments and performance in big games. Scored a brace against Germany to knock them out of the 2012 Euros and scored in the last World Cup. A real star.
This match showed both ends of the spectrum with playing the youth. Imagine a young player making a mistake like Horvath's, only it causes the US to miss out on a World Cup? (granted, both Omar and Howard had pretty big errors leading directly to US disqualification)
This may be an extended rant, so skip to the next post if you are easily bored. One of the most stupid and meaningless things being said about how to change the fortune of the Nats is that we must "change our culture." Let's think about that. Of what does "culture" consist - those things that let you know you are in one country vs. another. Mode of dress, cuisine, customs, language. Really - you want to changer those things? Big order, but let's pick a culture that has world cup success and see if it helps. We can all start speaking French, eating snails and crepes, smoking, laughing at Jerry Lewis movies, and putting bechamel sauce on anything that moves. That will do it! OK Mr. Smarty pants, we said "Change our culture" but we meant "Change our sporting culture." Think about what the key sporting culture characteristic is of every country that has has significant World Cup success: soccer is the only game in town that the whole nation (more or less) cares about passionately. Given our sporting history in this country, does anyone think we will ever get to that level of single-minded focus? Do you really think baseball, football, NASCAR, hockey, and basketball are all going to whither away so soccer has pride of place in everyone's sporting interest? Dream on. Yes, there are things that need to be done to improve our club and national soccer. But anyone who say "change our culture" is the answer is covering up problems and not offering any meaningful answers. It's an absolutely bogus meme.
Italy and the US are similar in that they both have clueless coaches! Arena was a disgrace. Getting only 4 points from the last 4 matches against CR, Honduras, Panama, and T&T, really?
If he had just played Pulisic up top and centrally in all the games like I told him to do we would have qualified and Bruce would be considered a hero now. Never could get that guy to listen to me...
It seems Geoff Cameron really hated Bruce. Not surprising with how poorly Arena treated Cameron towards the end of the qualifying cycle. Bruce didn't start Cameron in the crucial Trinidad match, and then said that if we made the world cup, Cameron would have been on the bench as well with Miazga being favored. A lot of pundits actually have spoken poorly of Bruce.
Not starting Cameron, or preferring Miazga going forward, is not treating him poorly. That's what a coach does is choose between his options. You can disagree with his decisions, of course.