bradley needs to stop giving certain players automatic call ups. maybe then, people who give 100% would be on the field
yeah, i'm sure bradley and altidore would have liked to have those two flubs in front of the goal back
Feilhaber was completely out of his depth. DeMerit was mediocre. Rico was great at the beginning, then stupid as hell. Yes, the red was harsh, probably stupid, but there is no reason to put the ref in the position to toss you in that part of the field and that point in the game. Altidore was pretty good, and was beaten up, but he got really lazy the last 15 or 20 minutes he was on the field. Apart from that, I don't really have any complaints, other than the clear penalty that went uncalled in the second half, and the fact that Bradley didn't yank Feilhaber at the half.
Rico deserved a yellow... I'm not going to say there is no doubt that it wan't a red, but that was really harsh considering it was his first foul and there were no signs of overly physical play by either side to show that the foul had bad intentions. With that said, it was late and reckless and I guess that constitutes a red. All the goals Italy scored were nice, but they were all pretty much a result of playing a man down. However they were all preventable to an extent. You have to close Rossi down earlier on the first goal, and while the second goal wasn't the biggest blunder, I have no idea what Onyewu was doing by kicking with his right leg at a ball going to his left... he might not have his the ball anyways, but I was thinking about it and with my limited soccer skills I still don't think I'd ever do that. The third like all the others was a result of us being a man down and a player being wide open.
It was a very poor result. That last goal should have never happened. Not sure who it was, but a US defender backed off the ball IN THE BOX, giving the Italian player room to cross.
I walk into the Mezz 65 minutes in and see 1-1 and think we're doing good, but wow what happened? That last Rossi goal...where the hell was the marking??!! Damn! Makes you wonder if the Dynamo back line would give more hustle for a full 90.
I think I've become spoiled watching Dynamo games. I expect free kicks and corner kicks to result in a goal.
I completely disagree except in regards to Clark. Feilhaber wasn't spectacular but he played some very nice passes. Demerit played well, IMO and Jozy was shocking in the second half before coming off (although he did play pretty well the first half). Best US player though was Spector. He needs to start either at LB or RB in every game from here through the World Cup.
Rico's red could have gone either way, from a referee standpoint (yes I am one) it very well could be conceived as serious foul play. It was late and high at the knees. Doesn't matter if it was his first foul or not. (I'm still not happy with it) Feilhaber was the weakest link. Was in the game WAY to long. Dempsey didn't suck this go around. Wish Bradley and Altidore had those flubbers back. Great finishes by the Italians, but the US can't let anyone run free 40 yards in. We kept backing away from them. I thought that was unacceptable. I don't fault the Americans for the third goal, great individual effort on the wing to embarrass his man and then wait for Rossi to get free. Great chip, great finish, US was tired at this point. Where's the PK for jumping on Donovan? The ref called that foul several times during the run of play for lesser contact. The defender took Donovan out of the play by jumping on top of him, Donovan had a play on the ball.....PK, no doubt. We didn't play bad, we had our chances. Can't completely blame the ref for not winning that match, but please be consistent.
Feilhaber was awful. Not a little bad, not unspectacular, just awful. He had no sense of what sort of pressure was coming when he received the ball, was caught in possession multipl]e times, made ill advised forward passes into groups of 3 and 4 defenders, and ran around with absolutely no purpose when Italy was attacking. He did have a couple nice passes, but when you just play the ball forward every time you get it, a couple are bound to find their way through. He has absolutely no business on the field at that level. one appearance like that on a Kinnear team and he'd have a permanent spot on the bench. Altidore did his job in the first half, playing alone, back to goal, and trying to cause problems against world class defenders with virtually no support. He should have been yanked about 20 minutes earlier than he was, as I said before, but he did a job until he ran out of gas. And trust me, I'm no Jozy fan boy, I'm just giving credit where it is due today. Hell, the only reason I mentioned him was because I tend to be critical of the kid when people get carried away. You're dead on about Spector, though. The kid is a stud, and should have had a spot locked down for a couple years now. I am not a referee, but I think you need to have a little common sense on that call. "High at the knees" is an exaggeration, it was more like mid-shin, and Rico obviously pulled out of the tackle rather than following through. With no overt tension between the 2 players, and no clear intent injure, give the yellow to prevent further recklessness and move on. If it is at all questionable, refs need to air on the side of not deciding the outcome of the game.
Absolute wank call against Clark and let's just go ahead and be honest here but the USA were really starting to come into the match and create chances as well as put a little pressure on the Italians. Well the red card changed that and the Italians did what they were supposed to do and take advantage. Absolutely steaming here.
You should be mad at Clark, that was one of those plays in which a yellow or a red are the right call depending on your pov, Clark should have never put himself and the team in that position, those cleats passed really close to the knee, that is on Clark, not the ref.
We had about 25 people. A good sized group for us since we normally don't ever open for lunch. And it's even rarer to open for breakfast, so looking forward to Thursday morning! Eggs, Bacon, Pancakes, Hashbrowns, Sausage & Gravy with Biscuits.. all you can eat for $6.50.
I don't know...It was kind of hard to focus on the match with people in the back yelling about hating people from the country of Georgia.
Rico's red card was one of those fouls that looks worse than it was, but it was late and kind of high. I think the call stinks but I can't say that it was absurd. However, if Italy does that, I don't think it is a red. I think there is a clear anti-US bias in most international referees, where the US rarely gets "the breaks" (see Hugh Dallas, 2002 WC vs. Germany: Markus Merk, 2006 WC vs. Ghana, the corrupt guy from Uruguay in WC 2006 vs. Italy, not to mention my favorite, Peter Prendergast)
jajajajajajajaja. what an a-hole. ps - apparently he dislikes joel osteen too. pps - also remember, under no circumstances are you ever to drink vodka with russians nor bring up WW2.
Anyone that defends the red card can only be trying to make sense of a senseless call after having watched it several times. That's, at best, a yellow card on a high school pitch. The call was terrible, match changing and was followed up with poor inconsistencies. The PK was given for the kick to Altidore's knee in the box but where was the card (of any color?) How can anyone justify no PK given when the Italian jumped on top of Donovan in the second half? Relying on PKs to save your bacon is a weak strategy, but that's where we were after Rico was shown the door. The poorly given red card notwithstanding, Bradley was outcoached. He subbed too late to save anything from this match. Down a man against the reigning world champions he should have started the second half with more defense. When he didn't, he should have answered the Italian's first offensive-minded subs.
I think the red card was harsh. Rico shares some of the blame for coming in that late. That being said, the bias against the USA is blatantly obvious! Not only were the Italians not getting cards the ref wasn't even warning them not to do it again or they would risk cards. Grabing and kicking Altidore to prevent a clear one on one was a red card. Elbowing Landon in the face moments after sending off Clark was a yellow card. Jumping on Landon's back could have been a pk and/or a card. Flipping Altidore (who is a big guy) on his back was at least a yellow card. But yesterday there was nothing.....nada! It was just "thanks for playing USA. BTW I don't like you could you tell??"