blaming the wrong Bradley on the spacing, it was a problem for all of the games. We had no width and support that we did have was too close and therefore more than 1 person could be covered by one. Spacing is a tactics decision and we were very poor at it. Bob needs to split a field vertically and teach support in zones. He also needs to teach running off the ball, we don't move. Anyway getting back .. Ultimately, because he lost the ball Clark has the most blame but other certainly share. I am glad he ran back hard but he also did the same thing on the england goal. To be honest I think Michael Bradley deserves the least blame of a group of 3-5 people. I think one of our central defenders must step to the ball and a near post goal is the goal a goalie should not give up.
no I am responding to the people who said the spacing is poor on our team. Also, we always knew that Ricardo had a bad first touch, so why is he out there after 2 good performances by Maurice Edu. So that is Bob's fault. As far as Michael's pass, honestly not that bad. Any professional player should be able to receive that pass and play(not dribble) themselves out of danger
you're right. any player that belongs at this level should be able to deal with that and not give the ball away that easily. rico had no business being out there. that said the pass from mikey was lousy and it wasn't the only lousy pass he made that game. he had his worst game of the tournament at the worst time
I haven't read the entire thread so pardon me if I am repeating something here. Today was the first day I was able to stomach watching this sequence in full and here is my assessment. Of what happened. 1. M. Bradley. Bad pass to Clark that led him right into the Ghana 'defender' 2. Clark, terrible decision to take the man on which was compounded by a lazy and pointless run of the ball by Bradley 3. Bad play by Demerit for not closing the man down 4. Tim off his line. He needs to make that save. So all that said I would say Clark's mistake was the worst but that goal was a team 'effort'. Oh and yes Why the hell did Clark start. Both Edu and Benny should have been preferred over Clark.
agree Michael had HIS worst game of the tournament. But I thought he was the best group player on the field we had. Bad time to play not his best. . But since there is no appropiate support for the pass maybe no other option No matter what people think of Michael, you can not fault his work ethic. If you do, watch the tape of all the games again. He works harder than every player on our team.
Blame Clark? No. It was a curious move to start him. He made a bad play... and I'll credit him with about 1/3 of the blame on that goal. I don't recall him being in the game all that much longer... and he certainly wasn't the guy missing good USA scoring opportunity after good scoring opportunity for about the middle 60 minutes of the match.
Earth to the OP, we didn't lose 1-0. Clark wasn't even on the field when the winning goal was scored.
No first goal for Ghana and they have no opportunity for a second in extra time. We would have sent them home 1-0.
How about this: Bradley's pass to Clark: Apportioned Blame - 10% Clark's turnover in midfield: Apportioned Blame - 45% Boca/Demerit lack of defense: Apportioned Blame - 30% Howard not doing as well as he should have: Apportioned Blame - 15% Yeah, a lot of it was on Clark but you can easily share this one. And guess what? They do.
Giving up easy balls in the midfield has lead to more conceded goals than I can remember, Dempsey was guilty of this all throughout qualifiers by doing the same exact thing Clark did, making a lazy attempt at beating a man without having cover behind him. I blame Clark more than anyone, this is the type of mistake the team should have learned from long ago.
Curiously, Bradley said he started Clark because he thought he would have fresh legs. Hmmm that's curious then why play him instead of Edu when Edu played the equivwlent o about one game the whole tournament hmmmm. Why not start him instead in place of the Dmid who had played every minute of every game and who DID end up looking lethargic against Ghana... Hmmm could it be because the other D mid is named BRADLEY??????
All share the blame, but I am most disappointed in Howard. For all of Timmy's heroics--and any of us who have followed the team know them--there are times when he is simply out of position. First goal scored by Slovenia was a clear case. The the first goal by Ghana was even clearer. He got beat by a near-post shot that, quite frankly, was hit decently but by no means was a "rocket." This was not a laser beam from the left foot of Lukas Podolski or Christiano Ronaldo. Not even close. And not only was he unable to save such a near-post shot, he didn't even come close! Look back at the replay...he was not even in the same time zone as the shot. I have no idea what he was doing or thinking but he was not even remotely close to the position on the field he should have been when that shot was taken. He was just flat out-of-position, end of story. Inexcusable for any goalie at the WC, even more inexcusable for one who is supposedly a top-10 or top-5 in the world GK. I love Tim Howard and would possibly even consider him to be my "favorite" player on the USMNT but geez...that was just a real stinker of a goal to let in. And while the giveaway on the part of Clark was pretty boneheaded, (as was the pass that led to the turnover), the fact is the giveaway happened just barely on our side of the midfield line, with I think 4 of our players behind the ball when the turnover occurred, should not have been such a tragic turn of events. I mean, it's not like our farthest-back CB gave away a bad turnover on the edge of our own penalty box. The turnover was by a MIDFIELDER basically at the MIDFIELD STRIPE with our entire compliment of defenders in our defensive half of the field. I'm sorry, that should not be a "code red" situation for the defense. One of our backs needs to either slow him down or force him to a more difficult angle...and that didn't happen. But most of all, if I could have, I would have cast my vote for most of the blame being on BB. Why Clark was starting in that game over Edu (or Fielhaber or whomever) is simply beyond me.
By and large i thought our defense as a whole was slow and the weak link of the team. In the future we will have guys like Gale , Omar or Opara with real speed to and ability to cover the ocassional mistakes. The first Goal against England and both against Ghana could have been prevented with faster players in the back 4
wise beyond your years. The fact that so many here can't see the plain nepotism right in front of their faces says... well, this is Big Soccer right?
No need to scapegoat Clark. He played poorly, but we managed only one goal in 120 minutes. And others were to blame on the first goal too. And there is blame for the second goal too.
That's a save Howard makes 9 out of 10 times. There were many errors on that play but that one was the most egregious.
This is funny! If the Kevin Prince Boateng was not good enough, he would not have been able to finish on the turnover. And what were the U.S defenders doing? Were they not beaten? Similar turnovers have happened in the World Cup that did not end in a goal against the team that turned the ball over. Interestingly, some of you think without that goal, the U.S would have won 1-0. I don't think some of you really understand soccer. Ghana were not confined to two chances. Do you really think they would have relented if they did not have a goal. Seeing them play Uruguay, I could see how they overwhelmed the South Americans with their fast and pacy soccer. I also remember how they gave Germany fits. Even Klinsmann admitted after the match between Ghana and Germany that Ghana had the better chances. When are we going to give credit where it is due? Ghana was better. Better teams are able to transition from moments of slump in a game to win. It was clear the much acclaimed very fit U.S team was very tired going into extra time. Saw same thing against Uruguay. The Uruguayans were tired. The Africans pasted them in the end with their fast passing game. The U.S.A competed but Ghana were better. Ghana never conceded more than one goal in the tourney. You just cannot just overlook the attributes of the team the U.S lost to. Some find it hard to accept but the U.S lost to a better team. Compare how Ghana contested the Germans to England and Argentina. In the end, the U.S becomes a better team from the loss. The U.S team really needs to upgrade their skill level.
I agree about Ghana. They were much better than many people give them credit - as was Uruguay. Starting one player over another would have changed some dynamics of the match but doesn't guarantee a differnt outcome. Ghana was fast, skilled, strong and are not tactically naive as many pundits like to call African squads. They had solid players at every position. As I continue watching the WC, I am fairly satisfied that the US achieved what it could reasonably expect to achieve.
I give credit to Ghana. I'm willing to accept that Ghana was a good team: they had all the cliched skill and athleticism of African teams plus they were very well (if uninspiringly) organized. I'm willing to accept that they didn't have their best game against us. I'm willing to accept that if the game went exactly the other way -- that we basically swapped shirts before the game -- we would not be questioning our win as undeserved. How many times have we played a similiar game against Mexico and walked away chanting "Dos a Cero"? But we outplayed Ghana, they weren't a better team than us and we could just as easily be in the semifinals. Even as a self-conscious fan, I am allowed to believe that. If scoreboards told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I'm not sure I'd watch games.
it's whatever, turnovers happen all the time in soccer. you just hope the back line covers the mistakes
No, it isn't fair... but soccer is not fair and neither is life. Clark is to blame for the fact that it wasn't us getting eaten alive by the Dutch today, and he should be eternally scorned alongside Donnie Moore and Scott Norwood for that.