11/17 US vs El Salvador Post Game [R]

I had to turn the sound off on my tv. Do Rob and Ty ever shut up?

 

Not bad, not bad at all, did anyone see Clint's stomach by the way? Yeesh.

Other than that, Clint did himself good.

 

What bugs me about them, is it's like watching with two guys having a loud conversation that has little to do with the actual game. I wish they would at least discuss the game. They also (especially Ty) don't know when to just stop. At least Rob cut off the interview with Howard when things looked interesting.

 

No they dont and Rob is not funny. He tries to be but he is not. Bring back Jack.

Now to the actual game. It was pretty much boys vs men. The 2-0 scoreline does no justice. Pretty impressive I thought. The defense was shaky at first but played well. I thought Mathis was MOTM. Donovan and Twellman disappeared for most of the game.

 

Good win. At first there seemed to be alot of nerves in the defensive line, but as the game went on I think they settled down.

I thought Olsen showed good fight and his finish was real nice, as was the cross. Second goal seemed a bit lucky on the finish, but it went in so count it!

Lots of so so passing, but for such a young and inexperienced team they showed well today. El Salvador isn't ever much opposition, but they played well enough for this to be really a perfect first time out for the newbies.

I got real tired of seeing #14 in white roll around like a moron EVERY SINGLE TIME he got bumped. He played well enough, but WHY the theatrics?

Congrats on the win and GO USA!!!!!!

 

A workmanlike performance against a young, but crappy bunch of Sallies. A few dodgy moments on the backline the first fifteen minutes. Thereafter, the Yank defense allowed hardly a sniff at goal.

Olsen & Twellman had the dirtiest kits. Donovan & Mathis had the cleanest. Even Leo Cullen made a nice impression. Il Bruce should allow a smile with that post game shot of sambuca.

 

I just rolled my eyes when I heard Rob's voice at the beggining of the broadcast. He thinks he is so cute with his little ha-ha jokes. If he'd drop that part of the act I don't think he'd be so bad, but someone needs to step up and take that booth position.

 

Captain Cletus had a pretty good game. To be honest, I don't take games against weak sides like El Salvador very seriously, but Clint did his part. It looks like Arena is trying to establish a good relationship with Clint for this cycle.

 

WTF

You guys spend more time analyizing the Play by Play than you do the game.

 

it's not too late to put back him on track.

 

Sign #24,916 that the Apocalypse is upon us.

 

LD looked like a man against boys rather than vice versa.

Danny C. makes some very suspect clearances.

All in all, although somewhat drab, some patches of good play by the U.S.

 

i thought donovan was the glue that held this one together, going to the ball all over the field, initiating plays, switching fields, even defending. he wasn't constantly taking men on at full speed or carrying the ball into the area, but that wasn't his role. he was the most mobile player on the field after olsen. i thought it was a good performance in this role with more responsibility than he is probably used to.

am i crazy?

mathis, while making some great plays, and certainly seeing many more than were completed, seemed a little subdued. now, he definitely needed to cool down a bit, but i think he might have calmed too much, due to the captain's armband. i imagine he'll find a middle ground. he did show that he is the most creative passer on the team, if there was any doubt. as such, he's never going to to stay up the whole game, i. e. be an out and out striker.

i was really hoping for more out of bocanegra. can't blame his mistakes on poor communication, as you can many of the other bloopers out there.

 

who gives a sh!t who the announcers are.

The game was ugly, El Salvador sucks, and for the most part the US played well, though against this team you'd expect them to. I don't think there's much you can take away from this game other than the work rate of Twellman & Olsen was nice to see, and Mathis looked good. but again, it was El Salvador. I was just hapy to see some of the younger and newer players blooded against a harmless opponent.

 

I thought Victorine, Bocanegra, and Barrett played well. I am less worried about our defensive depth than I was a few months ago.

Bold move with Victorine to right back. Could be the 2006 version of Tony Sanneh there.

El Salvador was crap for the most part. They couldn't cross to save their lives.

Donovan was very quiet. Didn't link up well with the forwards. When he distributed, it was to Klein or Olsen on the flanks.

There will be some interesting decisions in 2006.

Bocanegra, Victorine, Barrett, Pope, Califf, Surfer, Reyna, Armas, Olsen, Cherundulo, Pablo, Sanneh, Garcia, O'brien, Klein, Lewis,Convey, DMB just off the top of my head... 18 right there... will be competing for about 7 starting slots.

 

I think he is better than Rob. I cares so much about the game and US Soccer. So he is not that good of an announcer, who cares? I know several BS faithful are behind me on this one. I will take someone with passion over knowledge any day.

Plus, he is funny.

 

Re: WTF

we can't help it. Its so shameful!

But you're right. What did everyone think about Twellman? I expected a little more from him, but he did work hard and came close a couple of times. His runs opened up space for Olsen more than once and his play in and around the box was fair.


In my mind he needs a few more friendlies just like this one to get used to the international game and to begin learning to play with Donovan, Mathis, et al.

 

Other than a few of the more recognizable figures out there (Mathis, Donovan, Olsen, Victorine) I had a hard time distinguishing all the new faces during play. Stone and Keogh didnt help...

 

Im not saying he played bad, but I think we have learned to expect much more out of him since the Germany match. He made good runs and is still our best player. But he very well could have done better.

 

Re: Re: WTF

I thought Twellman looked pretty strong on the ball. He didnt exactly get great service-alot of balls were sent behind or too far in front of him.
He was alot more visible in the second half than in the first.

 

Sure! But I don't think today was about Donovan forcing the issue. It was about getting a bunch of guys used to wearing the colors and building experience. I was very happy to see that nearly everyone got plenty of touches, noone got hurt, the team played solidly as a whole, and we won with a shutout. Donovan did his job.

 

Amen