Here's my request: If you're going to say that the US should win every game in qualifying (besides Mexico, I guess), I would request that you go to Wikipedia and type in "2010 World Cup Qualifying". Or 2006. Or 2002. Then count how many countries actually do the thing that you think the US should do. Mexico lost to Jamaica and tied Canada in 2010 qualifying. Germany tied Finland. Italy tied Bulgaria. Brazil tied Venezuela. Qualifying for the World Cup is not easy. In this game the US had the better of play and really should have had 2 or maybe 3 goals if the ref makes the correct call. Pappa bangs in a great FK and we draw. The goal is to qualify, this result gets us closer. So that makes us like every other team in the world. Also, remember when Brek Shea mindlessly made a low percentage attacking pass against Guatemala in Olympic qualifying? That's why the USMNT's best-ever field player preferred to keep possession and find combinations rather than full steam ahead it down the sideline like he was Robbie Rogers or something. It wasn't a great Donovan performance, but I'm with the few others here who thought he was much better than he's getting credit for.
Agree that Edu played well. His passing is not great but tonight was acceptable. And he was terrific on defense. Our fastest player to the ball by far tonight. Made some key tackles. Basically forced Guatemala to attack wide.
Getting a goal in the first half helped, but I thought that this was a fairly "shenanigans-free" game. Guatemala came to play. Hell, 4 years ago, Boca's clearly unintentional handball in the box would have been a PK. The refereeing was as good as could be asked for under the circumstances.
So he could come on fresh as a sub against tired players and score. Same reason we brought Jozy on late while allowing quick Gomez to play against the quick Guats early at both ends of the field. That is why you saw that energetic run from Jozy on Bradley's cross late ......ok....check that....
I don't see this at all. We may have had a few nice combinations (that ended in nothing), but Guatemala fluffed a couple very easy chances on goal.
I 100% agree with you. This is a correct analysis of his play tonight, and his poor decision-making. I have no problem with this entire paragraph. He is trying right now to assist galore. This is a problem. He cannot be this for us. We need him to be the guy that played against Scotland. What you have above is NOT what is in the rest of the thread where people write him off and insult him. I'm asking for people to write what you wrote above, not the vitriol I spied earlier. Difference. I hope that makes sense.
In terms of positioning us to make the hex, this was a good result, more because it means Guat dropped two points than we gained one. Sure, we'd like to have gotten all three, so it's not the best possible outcome, but this isn't like the WC group play where 1 v 2 matters for seeding purposes. If you qualify for the hex, you're there, regardless of how it happens. In terms of how we look as a team, there are clearly concerns. Calling LD invisible overstates the case, but he was far from the active, occasionally dominant version of him we've seen. But let's not forget that only a couple weeks back he brought that form against Scotland, so rumors of his demise are well overstated. The Goodson/Boca pairing worked quite well, and props to JK for reading the BigSoccer boards and benching Gooch as we all suggested he should. Cameron seemed competent as well, so I feel less concerned about the CB position at least for now. I have a slight preference for Boca/Goodson over Boca/Cameron, though I suspect someday in the not too distant we'll see Goodson/Cameron, and that could be a solid pairing for the future. Herc did not impress me, and neither did Jozy. The Jozy/EJ comparison from earlier is interesting. They both scored like crazy when they first came up to the team, and then cooled off considerably. I wonder what explains that? Maybe its some kind of complacency thing. Finally, along the lines of Knave's oldie/newbie post, here's some olde wisdom: Away back in qualifying for WC2006, the US needed late goals to salvage draws against both Jamaica and El Salvador in the semi round. But it pulled them out, and still managed to qualify with a game to spare (and then went on to dominate the hex). Lesson is: qualifying in Concacaf is often rocky, especially away from home. Draws may not be fun but they still set you up to advance, and that's the most important thing.
FALSE. Please see the ratings for the game against Antigua & Barbuda where the major analysts all rated his game well. One of them picking him as MOTM.
Yep, ref blew the call for their second goal.This without Salvador's best player, Zelaya, who is injured. Playing in the hex is going to be a dog fight for everybody.
Up front, let me say I was semi-distracted during the game, but... I thought the Bradley pass to nowhere was his fault - a bad pass - I was screaming WTF! Jozy was wide open. You're telling me it was Jozy's? Wasn't Jozy taken down for an obvious PK - that wasn't called? And... didn't he put away another goal that should've counted if the ref had made the correct advantage call? I thought he looked decent... but I had the sound down and wasn't glued.
The refereeing was fine which seems to have escaped Bradley who was complaining every time to the ref early in the game as if he was blindly following JK's urgings to get on the ref in general. If the ref isn't calling the game against you, don't complain. Johnson could have held his hands down around his opponents chest and the ref would never have seen a hold but he brought his hands up to the head right in view of the ref and the ref called the free kick which went for the score.
Back from the bar, and what a disappointed bar it was. Lousy wing play. Our opponents can give us that space because we know we can't hurt them from there. Donovan didn't have it.....again. Our cuteness in the final third IS costing us scoring opportunities. Bradley had what I thought was his worst game in a while. He did not look sharp. Edu had a solid game, finally. Jones put in a decent shift as well. Has a player become so quickly one of our 5 best as Fabian Johnson has. Didn't see those nervous moments that others have metioned. Howard played well, aside from the Pappa goal, but perhaps slow motion is making that look worse than it actually is. Oh, and Carlos Ruiz can always be relied upon to be, well, himself.
His passing was downright awful. Many many turnovers. Made up for it with some great tackles and some fantastic hustle. Agreed.
I watched from about the 55th minute and I don't think the USA had 1 shot on goal. Looked clueless in the final 3rd. Guys need to be more selfish and take the shot instead of trying to pass the ball all the way to the goal. Ya, it's Central America... but that is no excuse. We are lucky to escape with one point. Need to play with two strikers. If we play with one striker we need some actual wingers. Jermaine Jones trying to play RW isn't going to work.
Since I've been focusing on the negatives, I do want to say I saw a lot of good coming out of Edu, Jones, and Cameron. All three were very impressive tonight. I was apprehensive about missing Torres, but Edu did really well. Very pleased.
He should be, I was starting to worry that we wouldn't see any sort of emotion from him other than silly smiling.
Seems Like our attack converges at the top of the box and clusters there, becoming a mess, hoping something will pop loose ( like it did for Jozy on the advantagen't) Dempsey can make the most of that, but that isnt where LD will ever be effective. His best moves came when he drove to the end line and crossed.
And he had a good little steal and other play that reminded me that he is probably a midfielder in style of play. I'm guessing he'll be faultless if he plays a whole season at LB for Hoffenheim but we'll see where they play him when the season starts.
We just fired our coach last summer -- a successful coach -- because of this "frustration" that we should be getting better quicker, better enough to not have to sweat a result against a concacaf side anywhere and beat them all by multiple goals. What are we to do now? Fire Klinsmann? Building a better national team is a generational thing. I'm sorry, it sucks, but that is the reality. Spain JUST won a world cup. England invented the game and has the best league in the world and hasn't made the semi final of a major tournament since the 1996 Euros. They've done no better than us really in world cups over that span. Sometimes you just hit a plateau. Portugal has hit one as well. It will sort itself out generationally. In the meantime, we need to get on with grinding out points.
MauriceEdu Maurice Edu Tough 1 tonight! Thought we deserved the 3 points! We'll take the point and keep moving forward! #USMNT IanDarkeESPN Ian Darke Bottom line . It is a good point for USA. World cup qualification is a rocky road for most teams. IanDarkeESPN Ian Darke @ @carlos16shaw the name of the game is qualifying and USA position is healthy
Yeah, saw that. My theory is that he was angry that a US player was fouled on what should have been a breakaway, so the Guat player should have been red carded. The camera pulled away just as that seemed to be developing, and then returned only after the foul had been given (w no cards). Then JK was throwing a fit and grabbing his shirt as though a clear shirt-pull wasn't called. Then again, thanks to the ham-handed camera work, the play wasn't actually shown, so this is just a conjecture and could well be all wrong.
That would be the midfield that failed to produce a goal - at home - against Canada's U-23 team a few months back. Not really obvious why one would expect them to be difference-makers in tough qualifiers.