Benny and Clark looked good as did the Mapster. Those three are keepers. The others are hamburger helper type material, except maybe for Nguyen.
Please send Olsen home. Mapp brought the team alive. Who ever was playing left half, have him kidnapped or something.
clark played very well, the only one willing to shoot, maybe needs to be more of a destroyer. feilhaber played as i expected him to play, same as all other games in a nat jersey, good forward passing, sometimes gets caught on the dribble and loses possesion. kljestan- thought he played decent olsen-is it a coincidence that when he is taken out we let up a few goals. played good d and was pleasantly surprised with his offensive touches and combinations. mapp- two good runs, i don't think he should start because he is not consistant enough. doesnt have a right foot nguyen- everyone wants him to start, but he is not ready, needs more club minutes. didnt do much
nguyen is super SLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW. Mapp is an enigma Clark and Benny are the future Sacha is OK Olsen will help us qualify in 2010
Some terrible mis-weighted passes, due to the turf, sure, but still - get used to it! Olsen did as well as he could, hustle, a few creative plays, a good spark, can't ask for more, those are his limits. Feilhaber and Clark are ready for the big-time; oozing confidence, solid positionally, still a few bad giveaways, but excellent creation of opportunities, bringing people in, etc. Kljestan looked like he was over his head for a while, eventually settled - nothing noteworthy, jury is still out for me. Overall, a little too unwilling to step up and be the one to carry the ball forward save for Feilhaber, who consequently did it a time or two too often and looked a bit on his own at times. Subs: Mapp with several good splits of defenders, good to see that he can do it at this level (might be a valuable super-sub for the US A team). Terrible decision-making though, wasted not only the one clear breakaway with a missed shot, but also two other trips into the box with wrong decisions. He's too old to coast, and he needs to realize that at this level, calm thinking is crucial - looks as though he needs to practice the situation of "I just split two defenders, now what do I do" with his teammates more. Nguyen, no idea, didn't have a chance to make an impact other than a lot of hustle as the fresh legs. Not sure if he can hack a start against a team as physical as Colombia.
IMHO I though this was Feilhaber's best game by far, the guy showed so much poise adn class on teh ball. Obviously him Clark were the class of the US today, both look like starters come 2010.
Obviously, were all disappointed rigt now. But let's focus on the good. I like what I saw in lee Nguyen. Technically precise, knack for being in the right place at the right time, good decision making. Only bad I saw was when he was beat to a loose ball on the right wing.
send olsen home. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? he was the heart and soul of this young team over the last two games not to mention one of our most consistent players. great defense, great service, and always fighting for the ball. what more could you ask for?
Feilhaber- was MOM for the USA, works wonders on the ball, this guy has #10 written all over him. He needs more experience though. Seems fatigued too, probably wont play against Columbia. Clark- he scored which is nice but he needs to take notes for Mastroeni on how to be tough. He is not enough of a "destroyer". Olsen- always tries his hardest, he doesn't have much skills though so u get what u expect. Played as good as u could ask for. No complaints. Klejstan- was played out of position but did ok....he should never really play LM again though. Subs: Mapp- did well but favors that left foot way to much, should have started in my opinion. Nguyen- didn't even touch the ball, not his fault. Should start next game.
Actually, he played well enough to make me wish we hadn't brought him. . . You're like: But what I'm thinking is that we'll never entirely know how much help he was keeping us in games versus some of the young guys like Kljestan. Him, Feilhaber, Clark, Wynne, Bornstein, etc, all learned some harsh lessons in places, but they all showed enough to make me think they're good prospects. Seemed to me the only place where this wasn't a highly valuable experience for the guys was at forward (well, and maybe GK), where we're using guys we've used a lot but still not getting a whole lot of production.
i think clark should play forward. or atleast teach forwards that when in front of the goal were gonna do this little thing called taking a shot
Nguyen is an interesting example of what I think will become an increasing problem for the national team. He is a skilled player, but he doesn't fit our style very well. He can't hit fast on the counter, and he doesn't apply pressure. He's a Dutch-style ball control player who would be excellent if we had 3-6 more guys like him. However, he was a poor choice for a late game sub because he lacks the speed needed for that time in the game. I think he deserves a chance to start against Columbia, but in the long run over this cycle, I'm not confident that he can integrate with Donovan and Beasley, and with the overall style Bradley wishes to play.
I only saw the second half but it looked like the midfield played an excellent half. We need to work on NOT crossing the ball across the field and out of bounds though...that's so frustrating. Benny was the best player on the field
Beasley----------Donovan ----------Feilhaber------- -----Clark---------------- I think this is locked down for the next year.
- Clark and Feilhaber are now the class of central midfield. Feilhaber in particular played well again tonight. His passes were intelligent and were connecting with their targets. He does have a tendency to get dispossessed on the dribble though, and he needs to improve that. However, he and Clark play off of one another very well, and both are totally unafraid to shoot from distance and get stuck in. - I thought Kljestan was actually quite poor on the left. I was surprised at how poor his defensive decision-making was. He was totally caught ball-watching on the first Paraguayan goal. Bornstein moved forward to trap Conrad's man and probably expected Kljestan to cover for him. Instead, Kljestan just stood there while Bornstein's man took the pass and finished past Keller. - Olsen, as I stated after the Argentina game, will be useful during qualifying. - Mapp needs to improve his decision-making in the final third. I like that he is willing to take players on 1 v 1 and on the dribble, and his splitting two defenders was unreal. Still, he doesn't seem to know what to do once he's gotten past them. He also needed to make that final pass to Eddie (for a sure tap-in goal) when instead he took the shot himself. His future role will be as a super-sub until he can show better decision-making, consistency, and defensive effort. - Nguyen gets a big fat N/A from me. Not enough time on the field.
Nguyen--Hoping it's just a fitness thing. If not, he's too slow and small. Clark--In for 2010. Benny--Starter in 2010. Olsen--can play a role in WC qualifying Kljestan--nothin special Mapp--needs to improve in the tactical aspects
I think Mapp is very nearly in for 2010, but almost certainly as a sub. His skills seem to be better used as a change of pace when trying to solve a defense we haven't yet cracked. Certainly, against Paraguay, it darn near worked. (And frankly, I don't blame him for selfishness in this game. . . he was watching the same forwards the rest of us were.)
Klejstan was awful. Barely involved in the play at all. I appreciated Olsen's infectious tenacity. Clark was SOLID. I also thought this game was a huge step for Feilhaber. He was very active, made a lot of nice plays, but also made a lot of mistakes (especially holding the ball too long at times)--at the same time, I felt like the reason he was making these mistakes is because he was trying to carry the team to victory. In the end, he couldn't do it but the fact that he tried means a lot going forward. Mapp showed he'll be a very valuable contributor going forward. Too bad he didn't get on earlier. (And too bad he missed that breakaway.) I don't really have anything to say about Nguyen.