Pre-match: US vs Mexico @ Azteca, Tuesday 3/26, 10:30 PM EST

i'm afraid of Salcido and Severo, i hope they remember how played in their best days. Meza has had only one "perfect" game, i can't believe what NT was in that game and what kind of players in front.

 

They were also missing Aquino, who is first choice. Regardless, the competition was inferior because of the setting and circumstances. A crowd half full and half into it at best, a lethargic Mexico who clearly weren't that interested until we scored...and missing 2 key players.

Its a completely different game.

 

ImaPuppy,
Thanks for the replay buddy.

I do agree about his ability,versatility,potential and physical advance etc.
I think Bursaspor period gived a lot to his game. almost everything went positive. (only one unluck unfair redcard).

Not just only his own club fans,but neutral clubs fans and big footy journalist every week point him and prized him.

I think He will echo his positiveness and morale boost as a new Edu to the NT games.

And thats why I believe best best to continue to his good perform at his own position area in NT too...
but, As You Folks said; Team need him in the CB role, well, Edu will shine in this area too.
he is in his good form and shape alongside got full of positive morale boost in his club times ,currently...

over all;
if is needed in CB, well,He can do his best to help his NT .
He is in good conditions in many way ...as I mentioned above ,This will echo to NT 'where ever he play on the pitch i believe....

I see 1-2 or 0-1 final result by the way .

Good luck.

 

Aquino's really only been starting for El Tri since October. Barrera has been the first choice RW for a long time, and certainly was when Mexico played USA. The real point here is that Edu did just fine at CB against some very good attackers.

 

Yes, only their most potent play maker, and one of the sole reasons they've gotten so much better since the last cycle. Aside from him, totally the A team.

Honestly, Gio scares me the most. The thought of him drifting out wide and going 1 v1 against DMB terrifies me.

With Omar in the back, I think we are going to be relatively strong against crosses. I think we will be most vulnerable against Gio being sprung on a counter (especially if Goodson is the other cb), and his constant floating around the box, which can pull our defense out of shape.

 

I hope to God Chepo starts Torrado. That is all.

 

Most of Mexico's crosses are either on the ground or low to the ground, where having tall players isn't that important. The way to defend Mexico's crosses is being smart and quick to anticipate Chicharo's late runs. Look at the first goal from the Honduras game that CH14 scored. Awareness and positioning is more important in order to defend against crosses from the wings. Omar was good against CR who just lobbed the ball up to Saborio.

 

Hello my Turkish friend, I was thinking one thing about Edu playing in Turkey is that the Mexicans in Azteca are amateurs when it comes to displaying passion like the Turks. If he is not intimidated going on the road in Turkey to a team like Istanbul or Galatsaray then Azteca is going to be no big deal to him.

I do not think he will play CB for us. He may, but I look for him to play as a DM in front of the Back four as a shield and a link between the back and the midfield. He has mostly shown well for the USMNT under this coach, and I look for his confidence to be sky high since he has seemed to find a place where he is getting on the field, and has very quickly become an important piece of Bursa making Euros at least and an outside chance at CL.

 

Nice work.

 

When you have long legs, it makes it much easier to cut off early ground crosses by sliding.
Also, if you go and watch all of Chicharitos goals for Mexico, the amount of goals he's scored from low crosses is about the same as how many he's scored on high crosses. He also gets behind the back line a lot, but I don't expect us to be playing a high line, so I'm not too worried about that.

Either way, we don't want them crossing the ball at will, which makes our LB situation a big problem.

 

Hmmm...I haven't seen CH14 score many goals on high crosses, mostly because he's pretty short. But he is absolutely deadly when they come in low or on cutback crosses. As for LB, I don't see it being as much of a problem as RB. Cameron has no experience playing in Mexico, and Guardado is going to give him some real problems down that flank. But I have enough confidence in Beasley on the left.

 

@Edu ;

Edu in the club games, He gets back defens quickly, and aswell help defens and side wings, and he dont play as a ghost image when his teammate needed him... he always showed up in the area where his teammate desperatly needed help.

opposite players most scene were struggle to match up vs edu. aspecialy in phycial level at air at floor, evin not turkish player but aswell african ,balkans and scandinavian players. in some scene refs helped them to call whistle etc


a defensive duty he did his work good.
what else he did; alongside ,he helped offensive end too, his chemistry with the team were almost very good.


He added much positive things to his own game style and thats a key points for a player in his calibre..... he got quality.

ps:

where he gonna play is,crutial and one of the key position in this game;
and ,plus point is; currently He is in good shape ,form,morale etc...
I realy like to see the echo of his new Edu to the NT too.

 

Thanks for the post. Against Mexico tomorrow night, I think Jozy Altidore should start as the one pure forward in a 4-2-3-1. He was active and his hold-up play was good against Costa Rica on Friday night. Also, his shot led to Clint Dempsey’s goal. In addition, he is bigger, faster, stronger and more athletic than Gomez. Altidore’s physical traits could give Mexico some trouble. Mexico is better technically than they are in terms of their pure physical qualities. Finally, Altidore has been in exceptional form for his club this season. Across all competitions, Altidore has 25 goals in 33 games. No U.S. player has scored that many goals in a season in Europe before. Gomez has been in good form for his club too. But not as good as Altidore.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that when the U.S. has played one pure forward under Klinsmann, the offense has tended to be better when someone other than Altidore has played as the one pure forward. The sample size is too small and the other variables too important to reasonably conclude that Altidore’s not being the one pure forward was an important reason for the team’s better offensive play when Altidore was not the one pure forward. The U.S. has played 24 games under Klinsmann. In only six of those games did Altidore play significant minutes as the one pure forward, namely against Costa Rica in Carson, California (the U.S. lost 1-0 in Klinsmann’s second game as head coach of the U.S.), against Belgium in Brussels (the U.S. lost 1-0), against France in Paris (the U.S. lost 1-0), against Italy in Genoa (the U.S. won 1-0), against Russia in Krasnodar (the U.S. tied 2-2) and against Costa Rica in Denver (the U.S. won 1-0). So, the U.S. tended to play very good teams when Altidore started as the one pure forward. Belgium is leading its group in World Cup qualifying and is ranked 21 in the Elo World Rankings. France is leading its group in World Cup qualifying and is ranked 12 in the Elo rankings. Italy made it to the finals of the 2012 European Championships, is leading its group in World Cup qualifying and is rated 7 in Elo rankings. Russia is leading its group in World Cup qualifying and is 11 in the Elo rankings. So, weak offensive play by the U.S. when Altidore is the one pure forward (and I’m not convinced that there is) can’t reasonably be attributed to Altidore’s being the forward. At least I don’t think it has been a major cause. Also, Altidore had the assist to Clint Dempsey in the U.S.’s 1-0 win against Italy in Genoa. It was a nice assist. And it was a big win. We had never beaten Italy away before.

In addition, Altidore played well Friday night. As far as whether he should start tomorrow at center forward, his good play Friday night should carry more weight than how the U.S. offense has played over the last year and one-half when Altidore has been the one true forward. For example, suppose a forward has a poor run of form for a team in which he scores zero goals in 10 games. Then he starts then next game and scores four goals. Prima facie, he should start the next game after his four-goal game.

I agree that the U.S. played the offside trap well against Italy in Genoa when Clarence Goodson was in there. And I’m also uneasy about switching the center back pairing after Friday night’s match against Costa Rica. There is something to be said for starting a center back pairing the game after it has a good game together. However, I don’t think we should read that much into the team’s defensive performance on Friday night. The conditions of the match were so bizarre. It was hard for Costa Rica to even control the ball in the second half. They often had to resort to kicking long balls, and Goodson is good in the air. Moreover, it’s not as if Maurice Edu and Omar Gonzales are not familiar with each other’s play. For one, they overlapped with each other one year at the University of Maryland. So, if they were to start next to each other at center back against Mexico, there would be some familiarity with each other’s play.

In addition, I think sticking with a center back pairing one game after the pairing had a good game is less important than playing the players that are likely to do the best in the next game. For instance, suppose Carlos Bocanegra and Clarence Goodson played well at center back in game X. And suppose Vincent Kompany is on your roster and ready to play. Prima facie, I’m going to start Kompany instead of Bocanegra or Goodson in the game after X. Similarly, I think Edu is likely to be better against Mexico than Goodson is. Chicharito and Dos Santos are very quick and Dos Santos is fast. Edu is quick, fast and a good athlete. He also is composed player. How would Goodson hold up in the second half with the smog and the altitude? Edu did well in Azteca at center back. He seemed to handle the playing conditions reasonably well.

However, your point is well-taken. The U.S. looked good on defense against Costa Rica on Friday night. Should we change things now? For the reasons I’ve given, I think so. But I think it is a very hard call. My feelings say that Goodson should start at center back and Edu at central midfield. My critical analysis and assessment leads me to the conclusion that Edu should start at center back and Kyle Beckerman at central midfield. I’m not sure whether my feelings or critical analysis and assessment have a better track-record on these kinds of issues. Moreover, I would prefer Goodson at center back and Edu at central midfield over Edu at center back and Sacha Kljestan at central midfield.

Beckerman isn’t an ideal starter. And you’re right that he didn’t play particularly well against Jamaica in Kingston. But I favor starting Edu at center back in a 4-2-3-1. And if Edu starts at center back, then I think Beckerman is the best option to start next to Michael Bradley in a 4-2-3-1. I think Beckerman has done at least as well for the national team overall over the last year and one-half as Sacha Kljestan has. For instance, Beckerman played reasonably well against Slovenia (November of 2011). And I remember him not playing badly against France. He also played pretty well against Mexico in Azteca in the friendly that the U.S. won in August of 2012. And he played well against Canada in January. Kljestan played reasonably well for the U.S. against (1) Antigua and Barbuda away on October 12, (2) Guatemala in Kansas City on October 16 and (3) Russia on November 14. However, he played poorly against Honduras and Italy. And, for me, Beckerman should be given the edge because he has shown more mental toughness than Kljestan and because he played pretty well in Azteca, a very tough venue and where tomorrow’s game will be played.

I favor starting Eddie Johnson on the left. He has played well there for the U.S. He played well there against Antigua and Barbuda (a match in which he scored two nice goals) and Guatemala in Kansas City (a match in which he had the game-winning assist), and pretty well there against Honduras in February (a match in which he almost had an assist to Jozy Altidore). He also scored an excellent goal for the Seattle Sounders against Mexican club Tigres while coming down the left side of the field. Also, Herculez Gomez has played more on the right side than the left side for Santos Laguna. I also think Gomez would have an easier time getting off crosses from the right side than from the left. It would be easier for him to cross with his preferred right foot from the right side. In contrast, although Eddie Johnson is right-footed, he has been good at getting crosses off from the left side. His game-winning assist to Dempsey against Guatemala in Kansas City came from the left side.

Also, I watched the first half hour of the U.S.-Costa Rica game a second time in order to focus on how well Beasley and Gomez worked together on the left side. They worked well together. But it wasn’t anything spectacular. They only completed four passes total to each other in the part I saw. Also, how much should we read into that game? The conditions were so weird. Obviously, it is better if they worked well together than if they didn’t. But it is just one game, and it was a very unusual game.

 

edcrocker

Are you by chance a novelist?

 

We aren't going to win this one. The best would be a 0-0 or 1-1 tie. The odds are stacked heavily against with us winning the last game in Mexico (yeah, it was only a friendly) and a defense which hasn't stabilized as a unit.

Keys to the Game:

• Don't give up a goal in the first 20-30 minutes.
• Guzan - channel his inner Keller (who is the best US GK ever in qualification)
• Play physical with Gio
• Altidore - Build upon his performance against CR. Pressure their defense early and hold the ball when necessary.

To win this game, we need someone to sacrifice their left nut at the alter of Heydude. Who is going to do it?

 

My right nut is plenty large, I'll do it.

P.S. How the hell are we going to score without Orozco-Fiscal?!

 

I disagree with the bold. How do you play a soccer game lethargically? I sure as heck can't, and professional (pick your sport) players are notoriously overly competitive to the point of being obnoxious, so I doubt if they could either.



Go to 3:38 and look at how disappointed he is to miss that chance. Maybe the fans didn't care, but there's no way the players on the field didn't want that.

 

Perhaps. It just seemed to me that throughout the entire match as a whole, Mexico seemed far less motivated to beat us than they would in a WCQ. That goes without saying of course, but it was just a point I was trying to make as it pertains to how the situation will differ tomorrow, almost completely.

Just my opinion of course.

 

Why worry about keys to the game and sacrifices if we're going to lose?

 

@GrantWahl

1h​

Classy move by MEX coach MT @goaleric Chepo de la Torre publicly pleaded with Mexican fans today not to boo USA's national anthem Tuesday.

 

Not that this will make a difference, but kind gesture none-the-less. I strangely enjoy the booing, personally. The rivalry wouldn't be the same without it.

 

oh dear God...

 

Lol, this is so lame.

 

A tie my friend. A simple tie would be huge. Both from a point perspective and team confidence...

Besides, I already got someone willing to scarifice. We may win now!

 

Hell the way some posters are going on one would be led to believe Mexico fielded a U-17 team at that Azteca match. As far as I know Dempsey, Altidore, and Bradley were missing from that match as well.

Gio was as at the Jamaica match...