Very happy with that first half, no the most dominating... but hell, it IS Argentina. More impressed with the guts the boys are showing.
Whatever happens in the 2nd half that was a solid half of soccer. We definitely sat back a bunch but we took our shots too. Full marks to the back 4, and full credit to Bornstein who has been not only solid but forcing some turnovers. I think Twellman is stuck. He doesnt have the athletic ability to be a problem by himself, but he isnt going to have the support behind him with Benny and Rico playing so deep. Bring in Gaven or Herc for him in my mind. They may not bring the speed that EJ has, but unlike EJ he will push the issue if he gets a hip on someone. Sick and tired of watching EJ have a burst of speed and have no idea how to beat a defender. Even the PK was caused by him having to slow up to figure out what to do. Pretty nice save by keller on the shot from Verron as well.
To answer christopher d's question, we have Herc and Davies as forwards on the bench. Can't remember who else.
C'mon U.S.!!! 1-1 At the half. Bornstein is playing well against Messi. Argentina is playing some boring soccer right now. We are making the most of our chances, although they are few in number. I would like to see some more Mapp in the 2nd half. Start running at them boy!!
we should take ej out and twellman...defense is not that bad...we need the other two strikers on the bench
Hercules is needed, Twellman's been a disaster, but I cant blame Bradley for starting him, he has more experience after all. Wynne's looked uncomfortable
Argentina looks tired. Remember Maracaibo is a very humid city and most of our guys are used to play in humid cities & the argies are coming from a full/long euro season. Eddie needs some help out there. Twellman is nowhere to be found.
Good first half performance. We looked a little shaky going into the end of the first half. Hopefully we'll be able to clean it up. We desperately need someone who can win headers in the midfield. Especially with Keller's distribution tactics.
Bornstein's doing very well in shutting down AND frustrating Messi. I don't think anyone on BS expected a MLS back to be able to frustrate Messi. Clark and the 2 central defenders have been great at challenging and cleaning up as well.
Very impressed with the defensive effort by this young and relatively inexperienced team (with the exception of the clownishly disorganized reaction to the fk that led to the Argentine goal). The Mexican announcers keep pointing out how few llegadas (goalscoring chances) the Argies have created. The first ten or so minutes of the second half will be key, but if we can show well then we might just be able to get a result out of this one. Excited for the second half.
Gongrats to EJ. Nice PK very cool and collective. Good job holding down the greatest, most spectacular, supercalafragalisticeskyalidocius Argies.
From the last thread: Brazil is playing Polonia in the U-20 World Cup, which kicks off Saturday. And this is not the US "C". if you think it is, you just don't know soccer very much.
I think the scoreline flatters us - it reminds me of our 1-0 loss to Brazil in USA 94, sure, we "hung" with Brazil on the scoreboard, but it was all one-way traffic. Seems the same tonight - it's nice the score is tied, but our football looks like us from the 90s more than the 00s.