while it was a great win under the circumstances, what keeps going around and around in my mind was that KK was forced to make too many great saves, imho. this would indicate a defense that wasn't completely in synch. maybe i'm just not remembering the game correctly but, if i am, these types of mistakes will cost us against mexico...hell even against the guats.
I've not been a soccer fan very long, but by the looks of this USA team against teams like Grenada and T&T, i dont think we're going to make it very far in the WC, at least not as far as 2002. Our offense is not very good, we have good ball control...if possesion in middle for minutes at a time counts as ball control, no breakthrough passes or anything. Not enough stand out players IMO. Donovan is great, and hopefully he can play a more attackin position.
[singing loudly] This land is your land, this land is my land From California, to the New York Island From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters This land was made for you and me As I was walking a ribbon of highway I saw above me an endless skyway I saw below me a golden valley This land was made for you and me As I keep cheering, I keep on singing I see the battle, we won't stop fighting The good ol' stars and stripes, they keep on kicking This team was made for you and me !! Awesome victory!! U-S-A !!
basing what we will do in the WC off of our first WCQ of the year, and after having maybe 3 practices together? give me a break. On a side note, the new england patriots played offense againse the Eagles, The US nats attack in their games. no
Nobody looks very good in oppressive heat, against athletic & defensively oriented opponents, on a crap field. We'll look a lot prettier at home, in the nice cool air and on soft grass.
If you are judging a team's WC prospects by their performance against a team like Grenada - you're gonna see some silly results. Grenada virtually packed every man on their side in on defense in the first match. We prevailed 3-0 after a barrage of shots - many of which got deflected away by the crush of defenders. The second game was meaningless once we scored and the weather and lack of terrain eliminated all things soccer about the game. Our performance today against TnT was solid given the lack of training time - and I mean training time together. There were a lot of communication problems out there - but nothing that won't be fixed with more time in camp. Also, BA put out an odd lineup - with Eddie Lewis and Demarcus on the pitch at the same time. The size of the pitch today reduces the importance of standout players - you win by passing and getting players into space. Keep your head up.
I'll be one of the lone voices of dissent in defending Kasey Keller on the late goal... ...after Bocanegra got beat, Keller was in a position where he had to worry more about the sneak shot on goal, than the potential cross... he was in a position awaiting the shot... when the pass was sent hard across, the T&T striker beat whatever defender we had on him by a step... Say Keller doesn't touch the ball, it's getting first-timed in... say he stops it, and doesn't smother it completely, it's getting jammed in as is. Unless he were able to contort his body so that he got both hands down to smother the ball, there was an excellent-excellent chance it was going in. I'm pleased with the win.
Whether you say he's culpable or not on that last one, he saved our rears at least twice prior to that... w/o his stellar skills the game could easly have ended a tie. I think the real question is why our defense fell apart in the last 20 ... we're blaming the keeper for a team problem.
This was similar to Tim Howard's gaffe against Poland. If you can't hold it, you punch it out. The ball seemed to have hit Kasey's wrist and was redirected in. He basically admitted to being at fault for the goal during the post-game interview with JP.
Sorry, Gio, but when the 11th ranked team is playing 61st, there better be more positive than negatives. As to me concentrating on the negatives ... well, someone has to do it. You know what's strange about this? None of those "circumstances" was affecting Steve Cherundolo, who went 90 on Saturday in a pretty chilly Germany. They were however affecting too many other players. Why exactly is that?
I was impressed with the power of both of the US finishes. EJ's header in particular was noteworthy, he went up more vertically than most header efforts and still hit the ball with a lot of power. Bit surprised that both Beasely and Donovan had difficulty beating oponents at times in foot races. They did not get beat, but weren't able to outrace the oponents a couple of times when they tried. That stadium sure was not fan friendly. The ones in house looked a long ways from the field and the TV cameras also were too far away. Given the heat, an away match, and little practice, I'll take the three points.
Good effort and glad to see us look for our chances for most of the game. Beasley, Cherundolo and Pablo seem to have the best game without looking at the tape. Donovan was solid. Lewis and Johnson were up and down with some obvious moments of way up. McBride was not involved and I don't know why. Fitness? he's only get 2 minutes a game at Fulham. Albright was a step down, but largely a non-factor. Dempsey seemed too indecisive and I wonder if it was only tactics that made the TnT threat come alive at the same minute he entered the match. That leaves the defnese other than Steve. Boca seemed okay, but Pope and especially Gibbs scare me. They gave up too many shots (including headers) from 1 v. 1 situations. They will do great for periods and then leave me scratching my head. Keller was very solid and the goal was not his fault in my book. The result is awesome and everything else is little more than nitpicking.
I know you had too. But my feeling right now is that the positives should outweigh the negatives in this paticular match. Like I have said, no friendly matches, just 2 1/2 weeks of trainning, also that 91 degree heat in Port of Spain. You could tell very slowly but surely our boys looked gasses out there. I'm not blaming Kasey for that goal being let in at the 89th minute, just maybe a different way to stop it could have been made. Possibly a two handed stop, but I understand what he did was the right thing, just sadly it went in. We showed everyone in the football world that said the USA wasn't going to win this match or at least barely climb into the top three positions of the final table, that even without any friendly matches as well as having a handshake agreement with both parties, the better side won today. Smart tactics and smart decisions prevailed for us today, agreed that some of the things should have been executed better, but this match was a different one than in the past and what will be in the future. This in my mind was more important to have, not so much the opponent but of past events leading up to this match. Eddie Johnson strikes again. BRILLIENT! Eddie Lewis fabulous goal after that Keller save on Fitzpatrcik BRILLIENT! Kasey Keller deserves M.O.T.M. BRILLIENT!
I suggest you familiarize yourself with recent happenings before you judge the National Team (who played well today) so quickly. But that aside, welcome to the beautiful game!
it's always good to see 3 points on the board, especially on the road anywhere I've seen A's and C pluses thrown around, i'd say you're both about right. An A for the first 70 minutes... were in control of the game, pope and gibbs were quietly keeping Trinidad's attack at bay- and they controlled the ball trhough the middle when they had it... for the first 60 i was surprisingly impressed with Donovan's ability to hang back in the midfield, and to pick his opportunities when they came (like the very mature ball to lewis). Johnson, an excellent performance, very poised on the road. Beasley and lewis were quieter than usual, but maybe i'm just so used to seeing the US always bringing the ball up on the wings (more on beas to come) For the last 20 though, a definite C, mainly for the reason of fitness. Sure there was the strike issue, but when 8 starters are playing in Europe, thats no excuse. What worried me more was that I didn't see much of an impact by the subs, who should have been fresh enough to chase down the balls that some players couldn't. Furthermore, I find it unlikely we'll get up to a 2-0 lead in the azteca, and if we're going to need to run with them the whole 90 to get any points. 'Dolo and Beasley are the 2 main exceptions here as they kept working through the end. Donovan looked pretty solid too. Pope and Boca were just tanked, though. On a side note, were the announcers standing on the roof?
I think a lot of people are arguing the same thing. We should have, would have played better if we had more time to practice but we played well none the less and got three points on the road. Either you look at and say, wow they played better than I thought they would given the conditions or they need to play better to beat better teams. Basically we played our game (modified to our lessened fitness) where we held the ball more than we normally would and this dictated the game. We did not play ugly football, but we didn't play as beautiful as we can. Things I noticed (most already mentioned): 1. EJ CAN SCORE, however he needs to have more vision on his runs as he was continually holding up the ball on through or over passes. 2. Our midfield dictated the game, but with a little more practice they could link up more and have more quality chances on goal. I was suprised that there was a disconnect between Beas and LD, but it was the whole midfield. Played the game like it was supposed to be played but some possibly great passes were a foot or two off. 3. I don't think anyone has mentioned this but our defense worked the offsides trap like a fill in your metaphor here for great. Away, without much time together recently, and up against quality forwards. They were however occasionally muscled too easily off the ball and allowed some dangerous chances because of it. 4. Keller was great, may have let in that last one but I don't think so as it was a hard play to make. I think that he was just angry at himself because he thinks he expects himself to make those.
Mexico didn't look bad in beating CR in CR. They are vulnerable to a counter, and the second half they didn't play as well as the first half. But they get 3 in CR so the US v Mexico game should be a good one. I think the US has a reasonable chance of getting a W there, a tie is not out of the question. I wonder if for the Mexico game BA shouldn't just put EJ in later?
brian mcbride? invisible. 'dolo? scattering crosses everywhere -- though he gets somewhat of a pass for hitting one good cross to GAM.
As far as milking the clock, I was disappointed. We didn't take it to the corners and sit on it. Starting at the 80-85 minute mark, a good team will kill minutes doing that. Instead we were still taking it to goal 2 v 4. Donovan and Beasley especially should know better. If we had sat it in the corner more, maybe T&T doesn't score.