US win 2-0. Still not firing on all cylinders - hopefully we can improve as the tournament progresses.
I didn't follow the pbp so forgive me if this was covered but was it impossible to see the actoin on the near side of the field due to the shadows on the field? Or do I need to adjust my TV?
The thing about Gooch is 1) when he's being physical, it hardly seems like it 2) he does things so fluidly that we forget that a guy his size shouldn't be able to do them. Agree MOTM.
All I can say is that 3rd forward on the USMNT is completely up for grabs and nobody seems to want it.
I thought Noonan looked fairly decent. A bit unlucky but had a couple of good looks. Him and Dempsy seemed to help their causes in this tournement so far imo.
This has been said, but I will repeat it, and I hope it will continue to be repeated: Oguchi Onyewu is a BEAST. Physically, yes, but defensively even more so. He has a lot to learn at the international level, but man is he impressive.
Would it kill the mids to learn a cutback move? The Beasley-Donovan connection in the 90th was pretty. The boys are going to have to pick it up a couple of notches if they want to go anywhere in the GC this year.
Not positive but I think the next game is not important at all. Here is a schedule of competition play in PDF form: http://www.concacaf.com/competitions/goldcup/2005/downloads/GC2005_english_scheduleV4.pdf As it is, we are through so we'll either finish B1 or B2. That means we will face (A3 or C3) or A1 respectively. IIRC, Colombia didn't bring a strong team right? So it looks as though the game against CR is a great time to test some players like Marcus H. as had been suggested by Andy.
He was.... ok. I really dont remember him doing anything of note in the match but then again the Spanish commentary was the only keeping me awake at times. He probably should've buried that header off that classly run and cross from Ralston.
We definitely played better all-around in this game than we did against Cuba. Of course, the line up had a lot to do with that. I thought we were in clear control of the match except for a couple little sequences by Canada. Keller wasn't really challenged until they started throwing everyone forward in the last 10 minutes. We dominated possession for the most part. I was very impressed with Onyewu, O'Brien and Cherundolo. Donovan had a quiet game, but could have easily ended with a brace if he gets a clean shot off on that one beautiful build up in front of the goal...flick on by Ralston or Wolff. Ralston did some nice things, but could have done much better. I'll be extremely happy when we get EJ back because he seems to be the only forward we have, other than McBride, that can get a clean shot off most of the time. Noonan was non-existant in the first half, and almost redeemed himself with a sweet chip effort off the crossbar in the second. Wolff made some outstanding passes. Definitely more of a set up man than a scorer. As a team, I thought we played well but we obviously need to capitalize better on our scoring opportunities. The game wasn't the most exciting in the world, but I never sensed a real threat from the Canadian side outside of a couple De Rosario runs. As far as our top strikers are concerned...here is who I think our biggest threats to score are... 1. Landon Donovan 2. Eddie Johnson 3. Brian McBride 4. Clint Dempsey 5. DaMarcus Beasley and obviously John O'Brien when he's completely rounded back into form. Earth-shattering list, I know .
I thought the US looked completely unconvincing. They just couldn't keep possession of the ball - it was stripped away by Canada almost every time. I hope this isn't the team that's going to Germany that's all because whoever is in that group stage is going to be a LOT tougher than Cuba and Canada!
My thoughts exactly! We can't finish for the life of us. Donovan early point blank. Noonan flubbed a training ground move on the ball that was put right on his head in the 2nd half. ...sweet chip in the 1st half though.
Massive case of sleepwalking. Another case of when the other team sags back and gives us too much space in midfield, we play the ball verys lowly. Very slow ball movement allowed Canada to sit back int he box and defend.
Noonan's problem is that he just doesn't have that extra bit of pace that is needed at the highest level. You can see he knows what to do with the ball, and his field vision is quite good, but I am not quite sure his speed of play is at the level required for international matches.