The prob. is not Casey, FIRE Arena his mind still in college, Futbol has developed way ahead of him..........
I spent most of the first half wondering why there was a three man backline consisting of two crappy wingbacks tied together by an inexperienced central defender. Donovan gets MOTM in my book for scoring the game winner. He earned the free kick then burried it. It just seemed like no one was going to step up to finish a chance, but he did it. Overall, what a terrible match. Sure I like the result, but the first half was painful to watch. Seemingly nothing hapenned until Cuba scored. The US finally started playing and Dempsey timed his run so well on the goal he seemed confused that he was that wide open. The straight red in the second half was fair from my perspective. That's one of those what are you thinking dude, you just karate kicked him in the chest moments. From there it was just a matter of getting some better players on the pitch in place of Casey, Olsen and Davis. My impression is that I'd rather not see Casey or Sanneh out there again. Casey lacks the desire of McBride to get to every ball, which makes him pretty useless since he's so sluggish. Sanneh is simply past his prime. Quaranta and Dempsey proved to be the most useful non-regulars on the pitch. While both flubbed a few great chances, they were constantly causing trouble near the box. Quaranta especially surprised me with decent speed and a willingness to take on his opponents 1 v 1. Tino looks like he has a good future if he can stay fit.
I'm surprised people are being so kind to Conrad. I thought his first half rivaled Sanneh's. In fact, the one good thing that Sanneh did in the first half was repeatedly close down players running into the space that Conrad kept leaving behind himself. He looked eh in the second half. After Cuba went to 10 men. Which is more than Sanneh can say.
Was not thrilled with the first 87 minutes but nice to know that Landon can have a MAJOR impact on a game!! - Sanneh, Armas & Hedjuk MUST NEVER wear the USMNT jersey again!! - Olsen's time has come & gone, at least with the USMNT! - Casey is USELESS!! - Hahnemann did not thrill me, though the goal was not his fault!! Right, Sanneh?? - Liked Quaranta, Davis & Dempsey, though the finishing could have been better!! - Nice to see JOB in action for the USA again!! - Beasley did not have a great game, until Landon came in. The understanding between the two is truly astounding!!! - Our finishing (until the last 6 minutes) was quite disconcerning. How MANY opportunities did we SQUANDER?? Memo to Bruce: PLEASE NEVER put out such an experimental, eye-popping starting XI like that again!! Your intention, to throw Cuba off, obviously "blew up" in your face. Let's go with the "tried & true" for Canada on Saturday, PLEASE!!
OH MY GOD!!!! I'm going to need a couple of days to recover from this nightmarish game. A couple of thoughts and player evaluatios... First of all, what the hell Bruce? Do you enjoy torturing U.S soccer fans? You play a 3-man back line with Hejduk, Conrad, and Sanneh? Oh, and did you tell everyone to just run around the field and forget where they're supposed to be? 4-1 says absolutely nothing about this game. Thank God it finished like this. Any MLS club would've won comfortably without stressing us out (maybe exept for Chivas and RSL). Hahnemann - Granted he wasn't tested much, but when he was, he was unimpressive. He may get another try, but I think we've got better goalies in MLS. Hejduk - mediocre. as usual. In other words, not National Team material. Conrad - maybe he looked so unimpressive because he was freaked out that he was between Hejduk and an old bear just out of hibernation. Sanneh - Oh what words should I use... slow, slow, slow, oh and stupid. Oh and did I mention he can't mark? Oh ya, he also can't judge the velocity nor the height of a ball coming towards him. In other words, he can't do anything a defender MUST do. I hope he never sees another minute with the Nats. God I hope I don't see him on the Fire squad for next season. Quaranta - Thank God there's something good I can take out of this game. I think we've got ourselves a future starting forward in this guy. Some bad decisions today but that's because of inexperience. Olsen - Didn't do much out there except getting that guy red carded, and deservengly so. Armas - pretty evident his time with the Nats is up, or almost up. And his time with the Fire will soon be up as well. Davis - Who? Dempsey - Oh Dempsey... I love you for your skill but can you please put the ball in the back of the net at least 50% of the time? You should've had at least 3 goals today. Even though he frustrated the hell out of me tonight, I loved the way he was so involved in the offense. He was usually in the right place at the right time... just poor finishing. I think he has a bright future with the Nats. Casey - Please, please stay in Europe. If Bruce loves him so much for his size, Jaqua would have done a hell of a lot better job than this guy did tonight, and in all his previous games. Jaqua's taller too and can move better. Heck, Ching is twice as good as Casey. I seriously cannot figure out why Bruce keeps putting this guy on the field. Beasley - Still has a ton of skill and speed, but where was his fire tonight? Some bad passes, didn't chase the ball like he ALWAYS did, and pretty sluggish out there compared to his old self. He's still a very, very valuable player for us but I didn't like his output today (even though it ends up he got a goal and 2 assists today ) O'brien - needs to get more playing time. Donovan - say what you wanna say San Jose fans, but he's our best player. Period. Wolff - another player that aggravates the hell out of me. Never seems to get anything done on the field except for running around and looking like he's a good soccer player. 3 players I saw today that I never want to see on the National Team again: 1st place goes to: Tony Sanneh 2nd place goes to: Conor Casey 3rd place goes to: Josh Wolff
If Bruce knows what's best for him, he won't read bigsoccer because of posts like this. For months, everyone was begging for Bruce to mix things up this tournment and experiment. He experiments with new things tonight with a different formation, newer players to see if they are ready, and older players to see if they still have it. It didn' go that smoothly and some people freak out. We wanted some experimenting this tournament and Bruce is doing it. This tournament is about learning about players and chemestry. We learned a few things tonight so tonight was very useful.
I have no problem with a C-team lineup, particularly with players out for injury or to let them earn a spot with their overseas club. With multiple games in a short time, and the weakest opponent first, it makes sense. If things go awry, you have Donovan to come on late as he did today. My problem is more that the game seems to have been used to rule out older players rather than to look at a Gaven and Marshall. btw-did I see that correctly on the USsoccer site that Marshall has more goals than Casey for the Nats? I wouldn't panic. Relax yourself by listing all the players who are clearly ahead of the guys in the starting lineup. Keller, EJ, Gibbs, Pope, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Landon, McBride, Maestoenni, Cherundolo, Ching, Reyna, Howard, Noonan ........all the way down to the Ralston line.
One bit of analysis from me...it seemed like Olsen and Armas were just trying to play the same position and not working with each other well. Armas gave the ball away too much, Olsen left his feet too much. I think each would show better if the played a central d-mid by themselves.
There was a time not long ago when I thought we'd seen the last of JOB in the USMNT colors. It wasn't a pretty game, but seeing him back on the field gave me a nice warm feeling inside and a sense that something was again right with the world. Long live John O'Brien! Props to Landon for showing his quality yet again. He bailed us out with his confident play. I think ol' Bruce was spot checking some vets to see what they had left (i.e. Sanneh, Armas and Olsen). I don't feel that any of those guys have much to add to next years WC squad. Thanks for the memories guys, I still look forward to seeing you on the weekends in MLS, but no longer for the NT. I thought Conrad looked good out there. He's certainly got the size and skills to add to the backline. I'm feeling better about the backline considering the emergence of Marshall, Onyewu, Spector and Conrad. We've got some options back there now when you add Gibbs, Boca, Pope, Dude, and Dolo to that list. With the riches we have on the left side of midfield, I am thinking an in form JOB could potentially solve our left back hole. I know that isn't the most popular spot for him among BS posters, but he did play there for Ajax and did it well. Dempsey has some nice touch in front of the pipes. I've noticed that he has that sense of urgency and a quick one-time touch in the box. Sure, he misses maybe 2 of 3, but he's quick enough to have a go at it. A good contrast is Casey's snail-like play inside the box. I think Dempsey continues to rise on the depth chart while Casey is in free fall. The Beas had a nice game after a handful of lacklustre ones. Good to see him get a few assists and nice icing goal. This was a much closer game than I expected due in large part to a fairly impressive Cuban side (at least in the first half) and an experimental lineup for the USMNT. If I were the Cuban coach I would be fuming at the total collapse of my team in the final 5 minutes. What a huge dissappointment for them after a decent 85 minutes... Bring on the Canucks!
This wasnt mixing things up, this was just being stupid. Noone paying any attention really needed to see Sanneh and Hedjuk in a 3-5-2, poor Conrad gets his chance as a lone center back next to one guy many feel is over the hill and another who's defending is getting worse and worse. Playing Davis as a left wing in a 3-5-2 is nothing but insane, the guy is not a touchline to touchline outside mid, if your going to play him, you back him with a left back. Olsen and Armas is nothing but 2 slow center mids who most people arent particularly excited to see. Beasley in the center of the field as a withdrawn forward is an experiment none of us needed to see. Casey Im neutral on. Ill give him credit for Quaranta though. Even though he really isnt the guy Id like to see, at least he brought in one new guy and put him in a position to succeed. And he finally played Dempsey as an A-mid. One look at that lineup and my thought was "WTF is that?" Pretty much what I expected.
You sent me a neg rep cause I said apparently you didn't watch the game and you think that is a personnel attack? Grow up kid. You either didn't watch, or you had your teams mixed up if you think the US was outplayed for 86 mins. Or you don't know anything about soccer.
Keep the personnel [sic] pissing matches offline please. That's what the PM system is for. Let's keep it civil out here. Thanks, son.
We won 4-1 and got a look see at some young and fringe players. THat's all that matters about this game. Hahnemann - 5 --Not much to do. Did get burned on the goal, but also made some good saves (esp. on the snap header off of a corner). Hejduk - 4.5 --Frankie played a great game going forward, not so great in the back (but he didn't have to today). Adequate to good crosses, and a whole lot of bite and heart. Those last two qualities will be why he'll be on the team in Germany despite our collective teeth gnashing. Conrad - 6 -- I actually thought he played well in the back. He could have done better on the set pieces, but he appears to be very adequate cover for Gooch, Eddie, Carlos, and Corey. Sanneh - 3.5 -- Not a good night for the big cat. Quaranta - 6.5 --Great tatoos (and nice freeze frame view of them from Telefutura), and a very good game. Othe rposters are right--he couldn't put it quite together in the box, but he showed that he has the talent to play at this level. Olsen - 4--Lots of fire and heart, but not quite up to the job. Armas - 4 --Made some good passes, made some (very) bad passes, did a little destroying. I hope he won't make the WC team, but he's adequate for this level. Davis - 5 --Has potential. made some good combos, had some good dribbling forays, but did disappear at times. Deserves another look. Dempsey - 8 -- Clearly the best peformer until Donovan came on. Good finish on the goal, some good passing, unlucky not to score more. Casey - 4-- Not a great night for Conor. Beasley - 7-- Really combines well with Donovan, had some great moments playing with Dempsey, but was ineffective for much of the first half. O'brien - 7 -- He was the best passer on the field for the US. He clearly needs to get back in game shape, but he can thread the ball like no one else on the team. Donovan - 9 -- Best player out there. The USA is his team. Wolff - 6 --Hustled and put on pressure, but not much came of it.
Also, Jimmy sent some poor long balls. I wasn't thrilled by his performance. Quaranta has decent skills, but he plays on edge and sometimes without purpose. Nevertheless, he's got potential to grow into a mature, tactically astute player. But '06 is too soon for him. Brad Davis looked a bit lost out there. He needs to improve his tactical understanding, but because he has some skills, he's worth calling in for friendlies down the road. Frankie is Frankie, what you see is what you get. Sanneh is a shadow of the '02 performer. Poor Benny, what might have been had he not had those injuries. Armas also has a way to go to convince anyone that he's in the mix. Dempsey is a nice player, but he's still not mature in his movement and tactical decisions. However, if he takes in everything the coaches tell him, he should be ready to contribute in '06. Part of me thinks that CC was looking for a knock to get off the field. But in fairness I think he showed much worse than what he's capable of due to unfamiliarity with a lot of his teammates. On the other hand, if he had a match race against EJ, I would sell my home and liquidate my financial accounts to bet against him. DMB, as others have mentioned, should be out wide. Hahnemann was OK, but didn't have enough to do to really evaluate him properly. I can't fault him on the goal, but some others swear that KK would have saved it. Who knows? LD is frustrating to watch. It looks like he turns it on and off, whenever he feels like it. Having said that, LD giving 80% effort is better than most of the others at 100%. I'd like to see JOB get a half next time. Then we'll have a better idea of how he's progressing.