2/9, USA at T&T, WCQ -- pre-, during- & post-match thread {R}

pretty much...the ball went under kellers hand down by his feet from a very sharp angle.

bigger point, i think, is that the team seriously faded from around the 75 minute onward. about the time albright came in...not saying he was the cause.

 

keller is motm despite not being perfect at the end....

weather caused all sorts of fatigue, hence the defensive minded subs...

can't argue with arena going defensive....fresh legs should have performed a bit better, but on the whole, the experience to demspey is a strong positive...

I agree EJ needs a new partner, and I suspect arena is well aware of it, and it'll be the job of casey or ching to take it away from him....

I can't imagine mcbride being a major factor in the finals, although arena is loyal to his guys, and will keep playing him until usa advances....

nice 3 points and the grade is B- overall...

 

can't give M-O-M to a keeper that doesn't shut'em out!

mom.eddie lewis

 

It was a cross, not a shot and would have gone across the face of the goal had Keller not got his hand on it. You can't blame him for trying to stop the cross - it was just bad luck that he couldn't hold it or get enough force on it to push it out.

 

In the two previous editions of the Hex, the US has won away only once, against Canada in 1997 and Honduras in 2001. In both qualifying phases, the US qualified on 17 points. As such, the US will most likely qualify if they win out at home (w/ no draws, 18 points). If they slip at home, the next most likely place to earn full points is in Panama, then Guatemala, but a top three finish was possible with only five wins for Korea, four for France.

So, winning at T&T was not absolutely necessary, but it gives the US a lot of breathing room very early on.

 

You got it!

 

Ah. thnx for the clarification. It was such a tight angle I couldn't really tell where it was headed....

 

While I see that BMB's days are numbered. He does have a solid role on the team. I think he'll see time in the road/hostile games, where his character and experience will be an asset. I think he got the minutes today due to the striker pool being kinda shallow in terms of match fitness.

Besides, why beat on McBride? If you don't like his play just wait a couple of weeks and he'll get some sort of freak injury that'll put him out for 6 months.

But I see Casey, Ching, and Eskandarian pushing for time in the coming months.

 

I can see the headlines now: 28-MAR-05 - Johnson ties Stewart's record with hat trick in 4-1 win in Mexico

Just trying to proliferate the legend.

 

btw, you can see that T&T goal (and all the US ones) at
http://www.ussoccer.com/

 

Oh, hey, clips already. Thanks.

JP called the game. Nice.

 

Fixed your post.

Note that Casey, Ching, and Eskandarian were not on the final roster. Right now, Arena thinks Twellman is ahead of them.

 

buddle, twellman, casey, ching, and esky maybe

 

Good call, I forgot about Twellman. Hopefully he can produce for Arena, and not be the next Jason Kreis (great in MLS, mediocre on the Nats).

 

I thought JP and Marcel Balboa did a great job with the PBP today. Really nice job.

And not one mention of haVOK.

 

ditto.. especially for as far away from the field as they were.

 

Well, since JP's day job is in limbo (PBP for NHL's Atlanta Thrashers) we may hear him more often, which is a win for us! Cello also was good, I hadn't heard his high def work, but heard good things.....all apparently true.

I was getting a little ticked at how they kept saying that only all but three of the US starters were MLS based (Pope, Mastro, and EJ). But neglected to mention that the number of players who were MLS based a year ago is 5 (add Landon, DMB, and Gibbs) and another two if you go back two years (Boca, and McBride). It would have been a great promo for MLS if they had mentioned that.

 

The f....in US defense better wake up when we play against Mehico, that was poor display last 20 min, and Keller was to busy for my taste, ............. if not we looking at a big trashing

screw Bruce for going to D instead of keeping up the attack, and playing possesion

 

I don't understand. I thought we won.

We won, right? I was half asleep, really, it was the middle of the night over here. But the announcers were shouting about Johnson and a goal, that much I remember. So we won, I'm assuming?

Right? Am I right? Did I get that wrong?

I mean, I could be wrong. I might be happy for no real reason, but someone gave me the impression that we left T&T with all three points. I guess that means it's a win.

It's a win, right? We won, didn't we?

C'mon, didn't we? Huh? Huh? Huh?

 

yeah barely,

we did look like can go and score more , right after we were leading 2-0

but NO Bruce had to kill the game and keep us on the edge, that is what i don't undestand WHY ?

it is very simple, McBride was playing poor, you need to change and keep going score more , keep up the same style of play for 90 minutes,if its working why change it, but no he had to go to defense

Look, we are trying to move forward and win away from home,yes they did it, but they need to build more confidence, for this kind of display won't fly at Azteca

 

EJ is the nizzle!!!