We looked totally outclassed v. Argentina. That was all Howard on that result. Chile sent a rookie team too. Nothing to brag about.
This. When the hell does the US start getting traction in the WC scope? It's not good enough just to beat the CONCACAF squads of the world.
Unfortunately, not true. There's a very good chance the US will lose to Canada, and losing to Canada by any score will definitely be worse. Canada hasn't beaten US since '85 (!), so they are going to bring everything and then some. Soccer is such a game of 'who's in form', and right now, it ain't us. Just sayin'.
probably the same thought went through his mind when lining up Heaps in the last GC final... Just friggin' saying..and just as a reminder, this dude was signed for FOUR years, correct?
How are you getting to this conclusion? And please spare me the "we looked awful with our B team against Spain's!!!"
About 5-10 yrs after we start true professional residential youth development academies like the top countries in the world. This isn't going to change hoping it will. It will take alot of hard work changing our development infrastructure. We do not train players like the rest of the world in the numbers needed.
I said in my post it would have been stupid in a friendly, but it is the only way to beat Spain, you let them have space to pass and to play, they will beat anyone, Netherlands realized this in the world cup and almost beat them. The only other option is just to accept defeat, unless the team in question has had years upon years to perfect a certain style of football to the level in which they would be better than the world champions at that style. The only way to combat a beautiful game is with an ugly one, its how teams like Wolves can sometimes defeat Manchester United, this was not an option to the US and should not have been. I thought all in all, while a bad loss, the US national team, should not look down upon this performance, as there was no sense in going all out against Spain in an exhibition match and a fair few US players showed a lot of promise.
Well, the last time we faced them in the GC, they were equal if not better anyway, we were fortunate. There's that. Also, the law of averages does exist, and it would lead to my conclusion there is a very good chance we could lose. Third, Canada is beyond motivated to beat us. That game alone is their WC, don't underestimate it. And finally, the US hasn't played well at all since the WC, they just haven't. You can spare me with the B team stuff as well. Donovan maybe gets us a goal, but it's still a drubbing, and who else could have stemmed that tide today? Spain didn't even try and it was NO CONTEST.
Spain: As someone who supports and watches Spain unless it's against the U.S. I can tell you that this was their best game since beating Germany in the WC semifinal. The players really came out looking for revenge for 09' and maybe to win over Del Bosque for a starting spot. Even though they brought most of their "A" players they started with a "B" squad. U.S. Where to begin? I'm not a BB fan but I can't blame his tactics for this one because even Sir Alex couldn't find a way to stop these players and Spain isn't the reigning WC and Euro Champions for nothing. I do criticize his player selections. We all know what Rogers and Sascha K. can and can't do. He might as well have played Adu since it was a blow out anyway. So what if they score another 2 on us if Adu comes in. Maybe Spain felt disrespected since they came over here after a long season only to play a "B" squad. You don't do that to the defending champs. And before anyone mentions that the Gold Cup is only three days away, I know that and agree but are we really that scared of Canada and Guadeloupe that we can't start our primary squad? Altidore was useless and the whole back line just plain sucked! Dolo' gets my MOTM.
It wasn't a game to get conclusions. I'm sure USNT will show its best face in the Golden, soon. And don't forget that -IMHO- lost againts USA in South Africa Confed Cup '09, was the best advice and lesson for Spain to pay special attention in the World Cup '10. Thank you. Good luck.
BINGO !!!!!!!! Some people are asking why we didn't attack Spain more, like we had a choice in the matter. The large majority of our players dont have the close control or technical ability to consistently attack truly elite squads. Also it seems like Bradley has lost the ability to motivate the team, if he cant figure this out by the gold cup final he should be fired.
Took 28 minutes to score the first goal in the first half... 28 minutes to score the first goal in the second half
B team???? The only player we were missing who's meaningful who would have played is Donovan. We still would have lost 4-0 or worst. Please, man. B team, lol. No wonder why Mexicans laugh at us, we have our best players in the pool here. Only Donovan is missing from today is who really important. Far from a B team. A B team is like the one we had two years ago in the Gold Cup. This is our A team.
LOL. No comment. I don't think the sky is falling for the USA by any means, I think when they hit the Gold Cup they will use this loss as motivation, for some reason the US can often pull it out of the bag in a tournament setting, it may be hard to be truly motivated in a friendly. I am optimistic.
Those aren't B teamers. Rogers is but the rest aren't. They are probably going to be prominent in this cycle.
So in better news....after this performance....I wouldn't be surprised if Bradley is getting another contract extension
I like the Confederations Cup, but I don't think I mind number 3 that much, at least as long as Mexico doesn't win it either. It seems about time for another country to win it.
I don't have a problem losing to Spain. I didn't expect us to win. Spain is a far superior team. What pisses me off is that we scheduled the game at all when we clearly had no intention of putting our best foot forward. It's disrespectful to the fans. 60,000 people paid money to see this garbage. Too many of us wasted our time watching it on TV. It's disrespectful to the media (ESPN). Remember, without ESPN's help, the game won't grow in this country. A joke performance on one of their top channels won't inspire ESPN to keep broadcasting games since ratings will eventually crater. It's disrespectful to Spain. And I don't care if Spain rested a lot of their stars. They can afford to and still give a good performance. We can't. And if we don't intend to take the game seriously, we shouldn't have scheduled it. If you are a Spanish player, you just wasted a few days of your offseason. Spain could have sent their Olympic team and won this game. And if I'm the Spanish federation, that's what I'd send next time. I cannot believe our federation was stupid enough to schedule a game like this 3 days before the Gold cup. It was pointless. Bradley had no choice but to field a subpar lineup when our first Gold Cup game is only a few hours away. What's next? Send a B/C squad to the Copa America? Oh, wait... Bottom line: Don't schedule prestigious games unless you intend to seriously compete. Otherwise you waste everyone's time and make yourself look foolish which will hurt efforts to grow the game in the US.
I won't say Mexico will win either but I don't think US will. Mexico is the best team but they can get beat by Costa Rica. Favorites- Mexico Sleepers- Costa Rica
Spain played their stars. The only player that was major they didn't have was Xavi and we didn't have Donovan.
The most amusing thing in this thread are the people who must think Bob Bradley teaches the team to play out of position and lack general awareness about what's happening on the field. Bradley actually pushes for increased off-the-ball movement and players running into spaces and playing with a more attractive style - we just don't have the players to do it. I think it was during the run-up to the Chile game that he we telling the team to "play like Barcelona."
My takes on this game: We are a mediocre team. This is not breaking news, as far as I'm concerned. People bitched and moaned about the Ghana game as if we were supposed to beat them, but they have better talent and more players getting minutes on elite clubs. Let's take a second to remember that WE DON'T HAVE A SINGLE PLAYER ON A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TEAM IN A TOP 5 LEAGUE. So it's not all about Bob and tactics. Some of it's just a matter of not having the horses. Even Spain's B+ team had Pique, Albiol, Ramos, Alonso, Torres, Silva, and Villa. Players who get minutes on ELITE clubs. We don't have ONE guy like that. We have no depth. When Spain is forced to rest guys like Xavi and Fabregas, they have players like Silva and Valero who can give them a lot of the same things. When we are forced to rest guys like Donovan and Dempsey, we have NO ONE who can come in and do what they do. So while this result was brutal, I think it will be hard to judge our Gold Cup prospects until we see our entire A team out there together. We will be a lot better with Dempsey, Donovan, Bradley, etc. playing from the opening whistle. As for particular players... - Kljestan and Rogers have no business wearing a USA shirt. - Spector tries hard and is a fairly smart player, but he's a liability in defense. He got taken to school on the flank at least once today. I really hope we never see him play fullback for the Nats ever again. He's not good enough. Period. - Agudelo shows more hustle, desire, and soccer intelligence than Altidore. I know Jozy had no service, but the dude was a ghost. He seemingly has NO HEART. Wondo didn't do much, but he still looked better than Jozy. - Dempsey and Bradley are easily among our best players (duh). I know it helped that the game was over by the time they got in, but they looked a cut above the rest. I will never again call for MB to be benched, at least not until someone legitimately deserves to play ahead of him. - Ream got skinned. He really hasn't impressed me at all this year. Let's hope Agbossoumonde improves rapidly, because he'll be needed soon. - Jones looked out of sorts. Given his solid club career, he has been a disappointment so far for the USA. - Lichaj, Agudelo, and Wondo look like they deserve more minutes.
Not really: Puyol-out Xavi-out Fabregas-out Pedro-out Villa- half Torres- half Sergio B.- half Iniesta- half Capdevila- less than a half