Thank you. I was having a hard time in my slightly drunken state putting this thought to words, but we were up by one and had two insane scrambles in front of goal toward the end.
Is this most of your guys' first time through qualifying as a fan? It's always like this, it always will be. This 6 team mini-tournament known as the Hex is El Salvador's World Cup. This will always, always, always be difficult. Frustrating nights, like tonight, are the rule, not the exception. I don't care who our coach is. We generally played well. Our defense couldn't clear, but we were missing 2 of them and the other two were arguably playing out of position. The midfield dominated more than any of you seem to realize, they just didn't do it the way you want them to. Altidore/Davies played very, very well. The subs left something to be desired, other than Holden, but they weren't terrible. If Gooch wasn't suspended, then we don't need to play Bornstein. Bornstein doesn't play, and ESA doesn't score, and we might score one more with possessions that Bornstein either squandered or failed to create. Please relax.
A win is a win. We did not play well but it was good enough to win. Bornstein shouldn't start ever again.
I agree with everything you said. dempsey needs to have his shirt yanked from him, I've said that for a while, it's guaranteed for him by BB and he's clearly one of his faves but it needs to stop. He gets a lucky poachers goal and the rest of the 89mins are shite. little Mikey was shite as well, it's time for the nepotism to stop, his out of form with his club team and doens't deserve to start. Period. And Harkes calling his "work rate" great when he made a bit of a run to try and get a goal isn't the same as his workrate when he's supposed to be defending. and Beckerman, this sub was just rediculous. Somebody needs to tell Bob that he's running the US Mens National Team and not some youth club. He's shown a CLEAR pattern of this before, remember the gold cup when he'd bring a player on and play him out of position just to play him in front of his home fans? This isn't the AYSO anymore Bob.
Bad call(s) or not, we sqeeked out a win against a tiny Central American country with a population under 8 million. Is it too much to ask for some consistency in form. Could we at least have the illusion that we're building up to a real run next year? Why is Kyle Beckerman in this squad? Why does Bradley play 90 minutes every game? Why is Torres not getting playing time? Why do we struggle against CONCACAF minnows- AT HOME? Has Bob Braqdley always been a tactical moron? Good enough to qualify...sure. Good enough to get out of the group stage next summer? No way.
Bc we were superior we tried to poses the ball which is not our game and led to a lot of pointless pases and turnovers -Howard for the most part good game but out of position on the goal -Bornstein was sh!t -Spector was brilliant offensively but sucked defensively. Some how out jumped for the goal WTF -Boca and Marshall not on the same page -Bradley was great -Benny was avg -Demps had a great goal but should have finished a couple more -LD brilliant -Davies is becoming the man. speed with moves and puts them in use -Altidore looked good. that was a goal -holden was alright rest of the subs eh
I think M. Bradley is fine player, one of our best. But something's got to change in the midfield. Except for Donovan, they hung the back four out to dry time and time again. If we played like that against ANY of the CONCACAF contenders, or against the South American 5th-place team, we are so screwed.
New to this forum, I see? But, to be fair, we looked like shit much of the night. But that offside call was shittier than anything our team did.
If the ref didn't rob us of a goal, then what? If Gooch wasn't suspended/Demerit hurt, and Bornstein therefore didn't play and therefore didn't give up a goal, then what? Your useless "what if" BS doesn't prove anything more than mine does. Who had the vision problem?
I have made a conclusion that we as whole are the sorriest bunch of winners (and whinners). If I didn't watch the game and just read these posts, I would have seriously thought we lost. Do people really enjoy bashing the shit our of guys win, lose, or draw? I'll be the first to say it's wasn't pretty. I'll be the first to say some guys were sub-par. But is it ever pretty and free flowing when have a CONCACAF opponent? Nope. This game was never in doubt. I thought we controlled it. That's not to say we dominated but we clearly has the better of the opportunities. Our defenders were fair to poor but it's no surprise given the two absences. If anyone thought the defense was going to play lights out or be dominate they are smoking crack. The attack was showed flashes. Some good movement; some nice counters. I can go on and on about what we did right and what we did wrong; who played well and who didn't. Some might argue this was a must win. The boys prevailed. The bottom line is we won. That should be celebrated. That should be commended. The CONCACAF table is tight right now. The remaining games (not just in our region) will not be pretty. It's all about survival at this point. We won. We can march ahead.
That which you describe in EACH of those sentences loses a game in a World Cups. I'm not interested in ANOTHER three-and-out. Thanks.
Bornsteing totally out classed today. Thank God we didn't get any yellows and Gooch will be back. What IN THE HELL was the ref call on our break away 3rd goal? I mean WHAT IN THE HELL?! MLS refs wouldn't have even screwed that up. Great save by the ES goalie at the end on Torres's shot. Thank God we got our 3 points now let's get 3 more on Wed. Mexico just scored in added time in the 1st half . . . glad we're not playing them again. Adios ladies.
Do you not see anything wrong with almost tying El Salvador at home after beating Spain 2-0 in South Africa? How is this not getting through your head? The problem isn't winning, it's the way we played.
Bob Bradley screwed up with regards to the Beckerman sub. I had no problems with the starting lineup. None. But come on.. the poor performace was on the players on this one. How many opportunities did the USA waste? On any other night we get 4 goals in this one at least.
Yes, we all complained when the US beat Spain, the 85th ranked team in the world, at Rio Tinto Stadium.
I thought Bornstein was pretty good outside of the one horribly unfortunate play that led to the ES goal. I understand that it was an inexcusably bad play, but he was fine otherwise. I thought he had a much better defensive game than Spector had. I'm shocked by the Dempsey hating. I thought he was brilliant tonight. His run on the first goal was great, his passing was very good and his assist on the wrongly disallowed goal would have been (was!) one of the best assists of the cycle. Donovan was very good tonight. Bradley and Benny were solid. Davies is becoming our most dangerous player, if he isn't there already. I hope he's OK for Wednesday. Overall, I thought we dominated the game and were jobbed by the ref.
Some people are too blind to see the trouble on the horizon. Perfect candidates to replace Gulati when he decides to step down
It is like people forget that you need to play defense too. By the mid-point of the second half Feilhaber was no longer closing down spaces in the middle and despite the pretty passes, he was leaving El Salvador a ton of space. Beckerman was the right sub. He was terrible (nerves?) but he was the right sub. If Clark was on the bench, he would have come in...why wasn't he? The Torres sub was surprising because it seemed like the time for Ching, but he did almost score a great header.