Some of these were learned the hard way. Some were good revelations. 1) Stay on your feet, kids. 2) KISS - 4.4.2 works for us. Messing with formations and roles doesn't. 3) Our commitment level must be 100%, every game. 4) Player combinations matter - Gooch and Demerit are good, Davies and Altidore might be. 5) Donovan at LM. 6) We are better with a pure DM. 7) Subs - find ones you trust in and don't be afraid to use them. 8) We could help ourselves by having players who can better possess the ball.
Most important lesson is that Bob needs more combinations of players. We need to be able to play all of our field players. Otherwise we are going to get worn down when we have to play 2-3 games a week. We can just have a normal first XI. We need to be able to play more players.
Or Altidore. I like him - he's young and extremely talented. But right now he needs to get back to match fitness and get a lot of playing time. If that doesn't happen, he shouldn't be anything more than a super sub in '10.
Good thing that he's upgrading himself then. He turned 23 during the tournament. Weren't these basically the first consecutive important matches he had started for us? Hasn't he reportedly earned looks from Ligue 1 clubs before this tourney?
Who do you want to play? Think Conor Casey or Brian Ching would have scored that goal against Spain? Think again.
??? I thought he showed a level of hustle that Altidore didn't show vs. Egypt and vs. Brazil today. And it showed with a balls out goal and a brilliant assist in those two games. (Note: this isn't ragging on Jozy, it's more of a props to Davies).
I should have been more diplomatic. I like what he brings to the table, and truly and honestly appreciate it. He brings a dimension to the top of our formation we don't really have - pure speed, hustle, and a strikers mentality to go with it. That said I think he's lacking a bit technically and would like to see either him or Jozy with a more technically gifted player. I think the lesson is that you to be careful in how you partner your forwards and make sure they complement each other. These two don't really do that - but they do complement our Attacking Midfielders.
Like a lot of you, I'm disappointed that we did not win. But also happy with the team's achievement. I'm sure we're gonna be a much better team after this. Although I still had no confidence with our coach. I just hope that Bob learn from this experience to make the right decisions as quick as possible during the game. When Brazil began to stretch our defense, he did nothing until it's too late. And put in the wrong players. I feel good moving forward. A year from now we'll see a deeper and much improve team. If everyone stays healthy and play regularly for their club, it'll be a fun World Cup for us. Remember that we were missing some key players. Next time, it would be a different result if we have Hejduk and Cherundolo available in the second half to kill Brazil's penetrations on the wings. It would be different if we have Bradley starting and Edu and Jones instead of Klestjan on the squad. Or Ching instead of Casey fighting for the ball. So I'm really looking forward for the coming games and see some of the injured key players back and the new guy Jones in the sqaud. Let's see if they can keep up the tremendous effort we've seen the last few games.
Who???? Do we have a technically gifted forward??? Isn't it plainly obvious that that is our strength? Shouldn't we play to our strengths? ------------------------------------- And maybe they don't compliment each other because: They never played up top together before this tournament............
Not mine. I thought he was a pretty big revelation this tournament. He's got some good skills and could become a pretty damned good option for us at forward, especially if he continues to get more minutes for his club. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get a few offers to lure him away from Hammarby.
I just don't think we should be starting out-of-form 19 year-olds returning from injury who haven't played club ball in months. A lot can change in one year, but right now Altidore is not the answer. And yes, I'd rather see Ching pair with Davies until Altidore gets more playing time with his club and regains his fitness.
Agree with all of these. Also like to add. 9. Altidore and Davies showed flashes, but they absolutely must improve steadily if we want to rely on them in the world cup. 10. Any starters who aren't fit to go 90 need to get that way. I'm looking at you, Jozy, since Benny probably doesn't have more than a sub role in a Bradley/Jones midfield. 11. Whatdya know, we do miss Brian Ching. He needs to be there at about 65' when Jozy wears down and we need to hold up the ball. 12. Spector at outside back. Some good 1v1 defending and a couple excellent assists. 13. The first 20 minutes are vital to getting us into a battle and not a slaughter.
A few things to add to the initial list: 1) Jonathan Spector is our RB in 2010 2) We still need a LB 3) Clark is better than I, and I expect many others gave him credit for. 4) We need to better utilize our subs 5) DMB is done for the time being 6) Benny is a legitimate option
I will take Charlie Davies over Ching, Conor Casey, and any other forward (with the exception of Clint Dempsey) right now. Davies stretched the field. he pushed up and applied pressure. One of the revelations (along with Spector and DeMerit) of the tournament. The threat of a Davies- or Donovan-led counter makes the other side respect us and not commit as many numbers forward (not that Brazil needed a lot of numbers forward to score 3 in the second half). We're a different team with Davies than Ching or others on the field.
What's wrong with Bocanegra on the left? Also, Spector's good, but a healthy Steve Cherundolo could give him some competition. Having serious competition when players like Cherundolo and Edu get healthy should be great for the squad. I would agree that we learned that 100% effort is required for every match. I would say that it was the biggest thing that we took away from the tournament, and with how the USSF is scheduling friendlies, it's something that we shouldn't have time to forget in the next year.
Agree with those who mentioned Spector as a revelation. Considering the level of competition, the kid showed him to be a very classy player. Assisted on two goals. Might have had an assist on the beautiful pass to Donovan against Spain that was called offside. Already our most composed defender on the ball. He got beat a few times and could use a little more pace, so he ain't perfect. But he is pretty darned good.
These are all big misses on my part - nice work. Spector was fantastic. Ching would have been a huge help. We really need our guys to get 90 min fit. And starting out games prepared was the toughest lesson learned of the recent past.
Here's a couple of others lost in the shuffle: Brad Guzan can play at this level - he got the do or die game against Egypt and came through... Beasley appears to have hit the Jeff Agoos wall - which is better than having him hit that wall in 2010. It doesn't matter what the draw is this December - I guarantee you we won't have a tougher run of games than Italy-Brazil-Egypt-Spain-Brazil (in fact, if you want to go back a little further, 7 matches in 25 day so you can toss Costa Rica-Honduras as a prefix to the above list...)
WADR, I think you guys are sometimes very silly. This is tournament play. Not the WC. Some of the players you just watches will not be on the WC roster. No, not just how they play, some will not be healthy for the WC. All that matters in tournament play is the chance to play, and the chance for the coaches to teach and observe. A top notch result is nice, but not for glory and greatness -- please try and remember this is the Confederations Cup. The extra two games the USMT got to play, in SA, against high quality talent is the real reward. THAT is what will pay dividends in the WC. That noted, two lessons worth remembering. . . 1. Bradley is not Arena when it come to underachieving players. That does not mean Beasley will not be on the WC roster, but he must get playing time. 2. Howard is that good, and will only get better. The USMT is on its way from being a middling defense to a pretty damn good defense. That's about it. Except for this one big problem they must overcome. THE HOSPITAL BALL. They should fine players for half speed passes that destroy momentum and curry injuries. I know I would.
Boca is decent defender but too slow for a fullback on the international stage. Spain and Brazil exposed him repeatedly; if Donovan hadn't tracked back so much it would have been uglier. Oh, and Spector can play in every slot on the back line, plus DM. There's no reason we have to choose between he and Cherundolo; we can have both.
With Davies in the lineup, we exploded for seven goals in the run of play in two and a half games. I'll give rep to the poster that calculates how many games it took us to score our last seven goals in open play, lets say Qualifiers and FIFA events only (no friendlies). Yeah, it's obviously not all Davies. But he's certainly helping, and he directly contributed to two goals.