The sky is not falling

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by RalleeMonkey, Jun 26, 2011.

  1. RalleeMonkey

    RalleeMonkey Member+

    Aug 30, 2004
    here
    I don't think it was a good to try to "out Mexico" Mexico. It wasn't a good decision to play them straight up, go toe to toe with them. When we were playing relative minnows who were going to sit back, it was a good strategy to play ball control and dissect them. But, not against a team as skillful as Mexico. They're one of the better attacking teams in the world.

    As to Donovan, I like him w/ some room in front of him. I don't like him up top. For one thing, he's too easy to mark when he's up top.

    That 451 worked ok against teams that were sitting back, defending. Then, it's a good system for getting numbers into the attack and trying to patiently break the other team down. But, against a skillful team that is going to attack us ...... we're not there yet.

    Hindsight is 20/20, but I'd have gone w/ Bob's old 4-4-2. Put Agudelo as a forward, Freddie as a forward, or in the hole. And, Dempsey & Donovan as the dual attacking mids, or wide mids, whatever you want to call that position. And, play good ol' How to Beat Mexico 101 Counter Attack and Score On Set Pieces Football.

    I'm not as wigged out as a lot of people about this. This is at best, a verrry transitional line-up. You could call it make-shift, or pieced together, as well. When you're talking Agudelo, Adu, Jones, Goodson, Lichaj, Bedoya, these guys have verrry little time on the field together. As a result, we are not playing well right now. That's 6 guys that played no role in the WC a year ago. Just give this group more games together and they'll improve dramatically. Let alone the addition of a few key new players.

    I put it down to 5 things: 1) the traansitional player pool. The pool will get better. I'm saying that a year from now we've got a better, probably 2 better, "3d fullbacks" than what Bornstein showed. Chandler might be one of them. Personally, I think Boca & Goodson are a good pairing by U.S. standards, the thing that exposed them was points 2 & 3; 2) I said before (after the Canada match? before the Canada match?), heaven help us the day we don't get World Class goal keeping. Tim got his hand on 2 balls the ended up going into the net. That funky cross/shot one. And, he had his hand on the ball at GDS's foot before the chip. He holds those balls and it's a different game. sometimes he's that good. And, that is almost always what keeps us in games. 3) For some reason Bob tried to go toe to toe w/ Mex. Bad move. We're not there yet. We can beat them playing old school defend, counter, score on set pieces. 4) Mex had an incredible home field advantage. Maybe better than Azteca. 5) Mexico's attack is increible

    We're in a trough in the cycle. We'll come back around (as long as our keeping stays phenomenal).

    Again, hindsight is 20/20, but it sure would have been nice to have Gomez & Buddle on the roster. Bob could have plugged those guys in last night and we could have played our usual "how to beat Mexico" game.

    We've got a year to find a 3d fullback (I think Cherundolo & Lichaj make a good pair). We have to find forwards. Very worst case scenario we go back to Jozy and Findley (I said very worst case) and even that will be an improvement over the WC pairing, as Jozy has gotten the confidence to take shots that he used to pass up.

    The sky is not falling. Here me now, believe me later.

    And, to cut any Mexi-trolls off at the pass, Mexico is clearly the better team right now.
     
  2. An Unpaved Road

    An Unpaved Road Member+

    Mar 22, 2006
    Club:
    --other--
    I don't know, this team has a lot of issues right now. Terrible d, non-existent strikers, shaky Howard during several key big games in recent history and an emptying pipeline of keepers behind him are big problems. And like someone put it so eloquently in the post-game thread last night, one of our best players on the pitch last suited up at the club level in the Turkish second division.

    Maybe the sky isn't falling, but my faith in the U.S. team is at a pretty low point right now.
     
  3. soccerdisciple

    Mar 8, 2004
    It is not the end of the world. It is one game. And Mexico is has yet to prove that they can hang with the Spain's and Brazil's of the world. They have a tendency to play friendlies against the likes of New Zealand, etc. The Gold Cup is a money - maker but not one of the premier tournaments. Remember when Mexico had a run of 10 or 12 consecutive losses against the USA in USA soil? US also beat them at World Cup. Lets see how they do when Mexico has play qualification games in Honduras , Costa Rica, etc. What the Gold Cup showed was that Panama and Jamaica will be tough at home in WC qualification games. USA will bounce back. However, I think they have better club coaches than we have.
     
  4. RedBaron

    RedBaron Member

    Sep 9, 2001
    Pennsylvania
    Club:
    ACF Fiorentina
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I agree, to a certain extent. However, and as a quick counterpoint, I see it as highly illustrative how the team played against Guadeloupe. Coming off that loss to Panama, I would have expected to see these guys absolutely pound that team. What did we get though? Another narrow win where the result was technically still in the balance the whole game through. That suggested to me that there is just a general sense of complacency, coasting....call it whatever you will...that needs to be seriously addressed. Perhaps some of the personnel, familiarity and tactical issues can be effectively handled over the next 12 months, but I don't think you can get at this other issue without seriously contemplating a coaching switch.
     
  5. KluivertsBoots

    Jun 16, 2009
    Houston, TX
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The sky isn't falling, but that doesn't mean a coaching change and fresh approach is not needed (and it's necessary in this case).
     
  6. mcontento

    mcontento Member

    Jun 26, 2000
    Catalina Wine Mixer
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ???

    Although the current 2011 Mexico team hasn't faced Brazil yet, Mexico has defeated Brazil several times in the last decade, including the 2007 Copa America, 2005 Confederations Cup and 2001 Copa America.
     
  7. Lithium858

    Lithium858 Member

    Aug 11, 2002
    Baton Rouge
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's too much creativity for Bradley to handle.
     
  8. JcUSA

    JcUSA New Member

    Jul 26, 2003
    Boca Raton, Fl
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The only thing that matters is Mexico won 4-2. They were MUCH better than us.

    I dont care about how Mexico is going to look in the future. I am worried about the lack of talent in the US team compared to Mexico.
     
  9. Wessoman

    Wessoman Member+

    Sep 26, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I just came by to say THIS.

    The sky isn't falling, but it will be very soon if we don't shake this tree up.
     
  10. Scott e Dio93

    Scott e Dio93 New Member

    Jul 1, 2006
    Montevideo, URU
    Two failures under Gulati's cycle, we need more winner mentality & preparition for any international events. Right now, we need more program friendlies (even vs C or B teams) for experience & develop understanding for new players.
     

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