I am confident that if we have Donovan, Adu and a striker with halfway decent touch on the field we will score.
You're basing everything on one vs one. Rankings are based on international games. You need to compare how well team 1 does vs international competition vs how well team 2 does against international competition, and not to spoil the party but when was the last time the u.s. scored? Everyone just thinks rankings are based on head to head, if that was the case wouldn't Mexico be ranked higher than Brazil because they've beaten them 8 out of 10 times this past decade or something close to that? Get the point?
If you're not worried about the fact that the u.s. can't score any goals then what the hell are you looking forward to every match? A bunker fest? Sorry, but i watch soccer to see some goals not three games and ZERO goals.
I believe Pablo was quoted confirming this. As for us not scoring, why in hell was Adu not in this game from the beginning? We looked like a different team when he came on, especially with the great form LD is in right now. In fact, we looked like a team that was one striker and one right wing MF away from being fairly decent. It was refreshing to see a US player with some huevos to actually take on a player 1v1...and beat them. Well done, Landon and Adu. Let's hope to see more of this as we progress closer to SA 2010.
Finally got to watch my Tivo of the game. My quick and dirty observations 1) Mastro. I thought he (and LD) added a huge bunch of confidence and leadership to the whole team and, most importantly, actually stayed in that hole right in front of the defense like a d-mid is supposed to. No doubt he struggled with the quick give and go's etc. of Argentina but there are only two or three teams in the world that can do that stuff. He asked for the ball all the time and made a simple possession pass quickly and confidently. Definitely should be in the squad for WC qualifiers. a) Bradley was "ok" but went on walk about too often like he always does. I would love to see him just stay in front of the d mid and cover the area 10 yards from each touch line. b) Edu comes in and plays two nice chip/through balls within 5 minutes. We had not seen one nice weighted pass like that up to that point. To me that makes it obvious. He is the offensive mid and Bob has three other d mids to choose from. We can't keep playing without a playmaker. 2) Johnson still pisses me off but he could be serviceable next to a striker that can actually score. 3) LD made a big difference as well. I wish he would have ran at the goal early in the game instead of passing (or at least got into the box and drawn a few more defenders before dishing to MB) but he did try to run at them a few times later. The one thing he brings is that threat of a first touch that will beat players and the Argy's knew it. 4) The old Beas was back and I can't wait to see our pacey guys join up with the next generation of guys coming through. 5) Pearce is a lock as far as I am concerned. He picks his moments to go forward so much better than Bornstein and is a much better crosser. He is also physically much stronger. 6) Gooch played fine but is remains susceptible to balls over the top. He just doesn't seem to anticipate the pass. That is my bread and butter when playing sweeper or center back and is actually the easiest part of the position. Not sure if it is because tactically they are supposed to be pushing the line all the time. I would just like to see a the weak side player drop and give cover much quicker (is a sweeper such a bad thing against a team like Argy). Califf was okay and I liked his aggressiveness. I mean it is easy to pick at a back line when facing Messi and company but they can do that to almost anyone. For every mistake they made, they also made some great last ditch tackles AND were throwing themselves in front of shots better than I have ever seen. In fact, one glaring difference between most good Euro defenders and US players is shot blocking and we are finally doing it. 7) Dempsey is always steady but I would like to see him have a break out game. Not sure if it because nobody can decide where he should play. He also must still be tired from the Prem season. I do think he would play better in the middle. I missed the last ten minutes as the Tivo ran out which is too bad as I guess that was some of our best stuff.
The USSF match report says that Mastro received a card for "unsporting behavior". I've seen secondhand reports that Mastro himself said he was cautioned for throwing the ball to a teammate, and also secondhand reports that Mascherano complained to the ref when he showed Mastro a yellow and did not immediately show him a red. The rest is my conclusion from putting all of that information together.
my thoughts on the ref is he wanted to give argentina their chance to win, so gave mastro the weak yellow which turned into the red....
If that were true don't you think he would have let Mascherano slide on his second yellow? Clearly Mascherano's (studs up, no ball contact, hit Donovan in the shin) tackle was cardable, but if the ref was biased toward Argentina then that was a perfect opportunity for him to act out that bias and he didn't. I'm all for saying Mastroeni's second yellow was a dumb call, given the circumstances, but I have a hard time seeing it as an example of bias.
Here is a photo gallery of the game that i found. It has some field shots and some crowd shots as well. http://www.identidadlatina.com/news.php?nid=2091
It was a preemptive red, because he knew Pablo was liable to commit a second bookable offense later in the game.
that's why i frown upon mastro or clark playing anywhere on thr road in wcq ... both give the ref ample chances to red them... edu doesn't.... i'd prefer edu starting and clark being the option when he can't... eventually having bradley, edu, clark and mastro, 2 could easily end up missing time die to card accumulation... so having 4 is good
Anybody know the total attendance for this game vs Argentina?? I m curious as to how fans turned out compared to other big games...
I just watched the game again for the purpose of seeing how the younger players really did. Adu started slowly and wasn't involved until 80+ minutes. From then on he was great. He took people on and looked dangerous. The one I was the most impressed with though was Sacha. I've seen him in MLS and U23 and he looked very good at this level too. He was not afraid to go at them and has one thing Dempsey will never have ... speed. I know he played about 20 minutes but I really would like to see him for a longer stretch. Donovan, Adu and Sacha seemed to really click and pushed Argentina
I happy to hear he looked so good this game (I was one of the many poor souls whose TIVO cut off at the 80th minute). Before this he has looked great in MLS and mediocre at best in his National Team chances (Overall he was pretty poor in U23 qualifying) so the question has always been if his success and skills would translate to a higher level. It's good to see there's a chance that they might. I would love to see him move to a better league to raise his game. To me he has already has little left to prove in the MLS in terms of individual quality.
Maybe you are not aware, but Adu moved to the Protuguese professional league over a year ago, joining the storied Benfica FC. He has not gotten much playing time but has made the most of the minutes he's gotten and he's a big crowd pleaser. I think he has 3-4 goals, and has only appeared in 9-10 games, as a subsititute. He is getting very good coaching and getting to rub elbows with some very seasoned European professionals, as well as getting some playing time in UEFA Cup matches. This past summer he had a break out U20s world cup in Canada, finishing in the top 3-4 players in voting for the Golden Boot of the tournament (Argentina's Segio Aguero was the GB), and scored a hat trick when the US side dismantled the Polish team 6-1, and then set up numerous scoring chances and the winning goal v. Brazil in their final qualifying round game, where the US U20s beat Brazil 2-1 sending them out of the tournament. If you go to the FIFA web-site you can see highlights of his goals in that tournament. He is not far from repeating that kind of dynamo performance for the full men's national team. He just turned 19 June 2, and on the 4th played a very respectable first half v. Spain, the number 4 team in the world. He has a bright future on the USMNT, and he will fire the imagination of any team he takes the field with.