Discuss. First of all, the result isn't terrible. This Guatemalan side has a real possibility of dropping points to A&B, although they are poor. I think we are clearly pretty comfortable as long as we get the expected results (wins at home, draws away except A&B.) Second, that goal we had called back where the ref didn't play advantage was a poor decision, but an expected one. The ref was good generally. Jozy was lazy, Jones was tired after getting beaten up all match long. Fabian was fantastic. Landon was poor and was taking too long to make decisions. He blew an opportunity for a 2 on 1 that he and Altidore could have had. Edu is a major liability in possession and as usual was making simple passes look tough. I thought our defense was generally good. Howard could have gotten to that Pappa FK, it wasn't THAT nice. Overall its fine, but I don't think we played well at all. I'm worried about Donovan, Edu, and our general shape.
Good result. There was a lot of hyperbole in the PBP thread. Really though getting out of Guatemala with a tie is fine. I'm more concerned about the yellows we picked up. We aren't as good as some would like to think and road qualifiers are always rough. We did what we needed to do. When you aren't getting the calls it's easy to lose and easier to look bad. As a huge Dolo fan, it's sad to see him decline so quickly. Perhaps we need to send Chandler hookers or flowers or something. Huge props to Jermaine for playing well and avoiding a booking.
I'm starting to suspect that someone on the coaching staff is telling the players to pass the ball while in the box. Not the foggiest idea on why they would do that though.
Not good, but about what we expect in Central America. We need to do better with the lead. Jozy was definitely still off. I couldn't tell too well from my stream, but I think Cameron seems to have played fine. We just couldn't get an attack together. Donovan hasn't been on his game in months.
Jozy needs to stop falling to the ground so easily in order to mask his lack of confidence to take on defenders when he has the ball.
I made this point in the other thread, but it bears repeating here. A draw away in Central American is a perfectly respectable result. Period. But we still played badly.
Fabian is cap-tied, although I thought he played pretty poorly. Nobody played particularly well. Maybe Howard. But no one got injured, and Jones didn't pick up any cards. And other results have gone pretty favorably for us thusfar.
Here's a fun stat: Player A: 49 caps, 13 goals (.265 goals/game) Player B: 42 caps, 12 goals (.286 goals/game) Care to guess who these players are? A is Jozy Altidore, B is Eddie ****ing Johnson. Altidore actually has a worse strike rate (on a per match basis) than the worst striker this country has ever sent abroad.
I thought he was quite dangerous going forward and got beat only once that I remember. Maybe twice? I was watching on a choppy stream, so maybe you saw something I didn't.
How was that not a PK on Altidore? Also if the ref played advantage we would have won. Oh well. I think Klinnsmann should have subbed a more defensive mind midfielder earlier. The US did not get one free kick anywhere near on target. The guy outside the stadium was more in danger of getting hit by the ball than the actual goal. I am disappointed. 2 points lost .
Huge letdown in the 2nd half. Where was the concentration and focus? Where was the drive and determination?
Not surprising at all. There are like 10 MLS strikers I'd rather have over him. Says a lot about Jozy, rather than the MLS strikers.
Seemed like this team got progressively worse after the Brazil match. Did this team run out of gas or something?? Something needs to be addressed. Never looked comfortable out there. Cant believe the ref didnt allow the advantage to continue. Weird feeling for this game. Let 3 points slip away but it also feels this team is lucky to get the 1 point.
Good to have some perspective on this thread from someone who remembers when a draw away in CONCACAF was an accomplishment as opposed to a disappointment. Result (along with Jamaica's) provides a significant platform for Hex qualification. We'll have better days, but we've had much worse ones as well. You can't win the World Cup in the first stage of CONCACAF qualifying -- all you can do is advance to the next stage.
Seemed like he did, not that the stream I was watching was exactly in HD... Oh, and what was the point of waiting so long to try out Cameron again? Couldn't we have seen him during the latter friendlies?
It was on his left foot. What definitely would've been an easy shot is if Altidore would've made a simple run without pretending he was hit in the eye by a rock.