Post-match: USA v Argentina, the post-match wrap, 6/8/08 {R}

"We still know that the progress with Freddy has got to go at the right speed. It cannot be accelerated unless it's earned the right way."


Cryptic as ever.
Go on Bob...........please tell us........ what's "the right way"?

 

Well said...

What do you guys think about Tim Howard as Obama's running mate?

My two cents, and no disrespect intended...

It was a great game to attend. The atmosphere was fun, and aside from a small fight in section 111, a real joy to attend. The U.S. supporter's section was fantastic...that deal with your flag during the anthem was amazing.

As a Canadian (supporter) born from Argentine parents I was there to take a peak at what Canada might have to face in qualifying, and to see an entertaining game. Overall I was impressed with both teams, but there have been many comments made here on the thread that are lacking context. Here are some thoughts to consider...

-The crowd was primarily pro Argentine. Other posts on this thread lead you to believe otherwise. I would estimate that 65% of the attendees were Argentine supporters.
-Argentina thoroughly dominated the play in the first half. If not for Cruz's inability to finish and Howard's stellar play, the game is a blowout after 35 minutes.
-I am not sure about what was shown on TV, but what was ever apparent in person was how much more physical the US players were on Aguero and Messi. I witnessed numerous shirt pulls and knock downs that should have went down as cards or even a penalty. What frustration you saw from Mascherano and Gago in the second half (also wrong) came as a result of some "no calls" missed by the Refs.
-These Ref's (from El Salvador) should not be allowed to work any more internationals. They were horrible. I believe that the Ref didn't realize that Mastroeni was already on a card! I don't know if it was shown on TV, but Mascherano had walked to the ref after the yellow to Mastroeni to remind him that this was the second and that he had to be taken off. That's ridiculous!
-The US looked very one dimensional in their attack throughout the whole game. Aside from the last 10 minutes where they took the play to Argentina in the rain and produced several corners, they were very unimaginative and incapable of producing a really good scoring chance.
-Oguchi is a monster of a human being...I met the kid at the hotel where we stayed (he was on my floor), and he is absolutely jacked! He is also a super nice guy! I only wish he would have scored on the header off the cross bar!
-Maurice Adu...as a TFC fan, I was happy to see him on the field and while he wasn't great, he definitely held his own. I hope to see him in Europe soon!
-Freddy Edu...what's up with those cross over steps??? Only to then dump that ball back to the defence. It was silly.

Overall, there are some positives to be taken from this game as U.S. fan. However, you still need to keep in mind that the ball needs to put in the net in order to win games. The U.S. offense aside from the last 10 minutes was poor and needs to be much better to be successful against soccer's first world. Too many balls are cheaply given away in the midfield and were the starting point of many Argentine attacks. On this occasion, the wealth of U.S. keeping talent saved the day, but unfortunately has now created some real disillusionment.

The reality is that the U.S. is no where near being able to compete against the world's top 10. There is potential, but they are not there yet.

 

Sounds about right in terms of numbers, but we were louder.

Agree somewhat. I thought the first 10-15 were completely dominated by Argentina, the rest of the first half was pretty even, and the second half went back and forth between even and US-dominated.

Fixed.

Never heard that statement before.

Worse than that--apparently the second yellow was actually intended for Edu (who wears #26), the ref wrote down the wrong number in his book, and insisted on sending off Mastroeni (who wears #25) even after presumably being made aware of his error. It's not even a remotely excusable mistake to make for rather obvious visible reasons.

 

well Eddie lewis didnt exactly help win the game either... im not talking football with you anymore... you seem to not know what you are talking about...

 

ook... but how many of those were great saves tho? (from Abonzieri *sp?*)

 

No, that's not true. A separate caution was issued to Mastro for delaying the restart (really chintzy giving the circumstances, but I'd rather have him getting dinged now than in a qually), and the ref had to be reminded that Mastro was already on a yellow (leading one to suspect that it would have been a verbal warning if the ref had remembered).

 

is there any chance that when Bornstein comes back (assuming that he is in good form) that he and Pearce could play Lb and Rb.... That would provide us with some attacking width...

 

No where near? What was last night? We may not be there, but were near.

 

Thx for the heads up and correction, wonder what game/qualifyer Im mixing this up with?

 

Gold Cup is probably made from plastic - it carries as much weight in terms of viewership and excitement as us crushing Barbados - wonder what the neilsen will be for that?? you're assertion that it's as important only holds weight for blatter bureaucrats making a list somewhere, you need to grow up son and see the way the world really works.

Just because Fifa wants a cup/region doesn't mean that they're important. What's important is what the fans want to see, it also happens to be the money. I'd rather we played 5 "friendlies" against good teams and dropped the gold cup altogether.

Confed cup is another cup which is never taken remotely seriously. Scouts go there, but do you think it gets prime time tv coverage in most places in the world?? Please.

 

Would it not be fair to say that Bob knows Freddy as a person and as a player far better than any of us here? His comments were carefully worded, as always. Sometimes it's better NOT to go into more detail.

 

No.

 

I get your point. You want some of that polite coaches speak after the game. "They were a great opponent, they gave us all we could handle" type of banter. I hear ya.

I perfer to know what these guys really think. The above tells us zippo. Nada. Its just polite meaningless bullsh!t. I'd rather hear something other than the typical script, but I can see why some others perfer the feel good statements too.

Different strokes.

 

the return of the veteran players (for Argentina) --

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=796733.html#riquelme+veron+return

-----
Playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme and midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron have been recalled by Argentina for this month's 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifiers against Ecuador and Brazil.

Riquelme has not played for Argentina this year because of club commitments with Boca Juniors, and was criticised for his performance last week when Boca were knocked out of the Libertadores Cup semi-finals by Brazil's Fluminense.

But coach Alfio Basile told Argentine news agency Telam on Monday that Riquelme was still top choice in midfield and praised his partnership with striker Lionel Messi.

Former Lazio, Inter Milan, Manchester United and Chelsea midfielder Veron, 33, last played in the Copa America final against Brazil in July, when Argentina were thumped 3-0. Veron's recall is a reward for his consistently strong performances for Estudiantes, where he pulls the strings in midfield.

The two were among five locally-based players added to the squad which faced Mexico and the USA in friendlies last week. Argentina hammered Mexico 4-1 and were held 0-0 by the U.S.
-------

 

Here's the thing. Tipping his hat would have been, not just polite and appropriate, but undeniably deserved. I don't want to hear lame ass excuses -- that apply equally to both teams -- and intelelctual dishonesty even if he truly believes it. I don't think anyone was looking for Cappello to give the US credit for anything, because we didn't deserve it in that one. But in this one, we did deserve it and it shows a lack of respect to make excuses rather than acknowledging the accomplishments of your opponent.

 

allow me to quote myself...

 

Listened I think we deserved credit too. But why do you care if Argentina coach gives us credit, why does it matter? Don't we know that we played well already? Don't we already know we gave the best team in the world a good match? We do, we know this already, still, his points were completely accurate. I said the exact same thing to a friend when it seemed like a sub came into the match every 2 seconds. It killed the match a little. It definately did. So why not say it? Whats the big deal?

On top of that, he didnt outright say anything disparaging. Second, it was only 3 lines of his post match interview, do we even know that he didnt say any appeciative things in other parts of his talk? I don't know that he didnt.

Anyway, if you guys want to be aggravated at this supposid slight, I think you are looking for it. Nothing I have seen was especially inaccurate nor offensive. The only thing he didnt do from what I can tell is jerk-off over our performance.... and I can live without that.

 

Whether I already know we played well is irrelevant to the question of whether Argentina's coach should have given credit where credit was due. He did not; that's my beef. I don't need to hear him say that we played well in order to boost my ego. I just think he should have said it and I am simply noting that he did not say it and that, as a result, I think he's a sore-tier.

It's just a lame excuse for why they tied. Same with flights, and heat, and Bob Loblaw. Especially when you fail to even mention the superhuman effort by the opposing keeper.

Gee, thanks.

You can bet that ussoccer.com would have published his words of praise had he spoken them.

The complaint is that, when asked about the game, he did not mention anything about us playing well and did mention about 5 lame excuses that applied equally to both teams, if not more to ours than to theirs. That's the beef.

No one was looking for tons of praise. Any of "the Americans played well," "we had trouble with their keeper", etc. would have sufficed.

 

You can have the last word on this one.

 

I don't really expect many coaches from world powers to say the United States has played well against them. There will always be an excuse, as that's the worlds perspective of our soccer program.

 

well then, i guess our eddy of conversation has died! Your understanding of "big is not mine. I think you ought to apply for a job with Sepp, you'd be great.

 

I beg to differ. They mean something to me, enough for me to shell out £220 for tix to see them play England.

There was a time when all that existed was friendly games or "challenge matches". I'm with Fabio Capello - there is no such thing as a friendly, all games exist to be won.

 

While one should be happy at the US performance let us not forget the USA played 3 friendlies in a week and still has NOT scored... While the side improved the same problems are ever present. The USA is still a team that can't score goals.

 

I'm not worried about the team not scoring goals......even Argentina doesn't score goals (Unless they are playing Mexico, but who can't score against them?)