Though the scoreline was very close, I feel as though that was one of the most beautiful attacking displays I've seen out of the USMNT in some time. We didn't finish our chances, and that was the story, if we finished two of those, and Jozy's goal was counted, it would have been 5-1. donovan was deadly on the wing, and dempsey managed his game well, despite poor poor finishing. I felt Feilhaber's presence, unlike some who think he didn't do much good. maybe put Holden or Torres in that spot and see what happens. Bradley did very well breaking up opposing attacks, although he lost the handle of the ball on occassion, his defense was superb, as well as having some very dangerous runs. Spector did very well getting forward, and, once again, provided very dangerous service. Bornstein was a weak point, but if you put Spector at LB and Dolo at RB, they'll be serving in crosses like no one's business. Which brings us to Davies and Altidore. They ARE the future. They give the NT dimensions I don't ever recall us having. Jozy has McBride's strength, yet has good skill on the ball, and is a big threat to score. Davies is so fast both with and without the ball it's ridiculous. When we get Gooch and Jay back, I think we pummel Trinidad. Though it was 2-1, the cylinders were clicking. Like I said, once we get our defensive line back, I don't see us as anything less than a top 10 team if we move the ball like we did yesterday.
I like the optimism, there were some really bright sports on the attacking end that we have definitely lacked in the past, I mean it wasn't that long ago when our top two options up top were EJ and Twellman...thats just awful. We still needed to get more of the possession against ES, they had more energy at the end than we did. Maybe it was the altitude but thats no excuse, they only get one point out of that game and they are pretty much punching a ticket vs CONMEBOL. The game at T&T is winnable and we will have a more normal back 4 than in this game. We win that game we are truly on track for avoiding South America. Bob's gamble of holding out Clark for Yellows worked.
Signed. Our front 4 looked incredibly potent, even when the goals just wouldn't happen. So nice to have a forward in Davies who can create his own trouble. Dempsey is due for a hat-trick. Holden is making it hard to keep him off the field. I just want to see Jozy hold off EPL defenders for a year, then we're gonna be a real threat.
Our front 4 is as good as we've ever had with Donovan, Dempsey, Davies, and Jozy. If we could add a 5th at caliber of player, we'd create goals at a consistent level against anyone.
This is all true.. I generally didn't have much of a problem with what Bob Bradley did until the Beckerman substitution.. which was awful From the start of the game through the Beckerman sub, the right players were put in the right positions for the USA to score a whole bunch of goals last night.. on any other night and with proper officiating, the USA scores 4 or 5. As for defense, getting Gooch back should help things quite a bit.
Yes, we had some bright spots. But the cheap giveaways in the midfield were horrible. We played with no energy and no urgency for long stretches. I can't divorce the bright spots from the blight spots so easily.
Beckerman had done well at the GC. How would Bradley know that Beckerman would do poorly? He gave him a shot-that is a normal thing to do. Some take the chance some don't.
Count me in the camp that says it's scary to roll Beckerman out in such a HUGE game. I would have rather have had Clark be available off the bench. But obviously at d-mid we have Clark, Edu, and Jones. If none of those guys are available, I would still rather go with Mastroeni than Beckerman. Pablo may have no real shot at making the World Cup roster, but I would certainly trust him for 10 minutes at home in a WCQ against a CONCACAF opponent. He's not going to crap his pants. It's the same way I am a strongly in the favor of getting Hedjuk into camp and starting him at LB Wednesday. I know it doesn't have much of a chance of happening, but I still think it's the best idea.
I agree. I really enjoyed this game. We are just now getting a glimpse at what these two will be capable of. The Dynamic Duo of Davies and AltiDore! I thought Benny was solid last night. What about Benny in the middle with Landon and Clint on the wings. From what I hear Jones may be our best DM option when he's available. Stick Jones in behind Benny. How would that midfield work out? I also like what Holden and Torres bring to the pitch. How do they work into the above lineup? Grogtank
As far as that 5th player to rotate in, I think Holden has what it takes. There are so many lineup combinations with those 5 attacking players it's ridiculous. I think that Feilhaber and Torres can both thrive in that attacking midfielder role, but so could Donovan or Holden if slotted there.
That 5th player has just gone out on loan to Belenenses in Portugal. Give him a season of club PT and he'll be hitting his stride just in time for SA 2010. [crossing fingers, hoping that doesn't derail this thread]
Benny only starts against lesser opponents at this point. His defense isn't quite up to snuff, though he is improving. But against better teams with more physical or more cultured midfielders, Benny is a second-half sub. But on teams that we can impose our will on, our front five is pretty magnificent. The USMNT has never even really come close to the type of attacking talent we currently have. And going back to the Egypt game, we've scored ten goals in five games, and nine(!) have been from the run of play. And our bench has guys who would have started on previous USMNT squads, guys like Torres, Edu, and Holden. These are quality guys, short on experience, but with plenty of talent. We still haven't quite seen the team gel like it could, except in that three-game run at the Confed. The parts are definitely there though.
One other point. In those five games, the scoring breakdown: Altidore - 2 goals (Spain, ES) Bradley - 1 goal (Egypt) Davies - 2 goals (Egypt, Mexico) Dempsey - 4 goals (Egypt, Spain, Brazil, ES) Donovan - 1 goal (Brazil) So the goals are coming from all four guys on our attacking line. I believe Donovan has another 4 assists as well (second Spain goal, Mexico, both ES goals). It's interesting to note the types of guys we have too. Two speed guys with good ball-skills and finishing skills, a power guy who can finish, and a wild card with maybe the best tactical understanding of the group.
Actually 5 assists, since I believe he assisted Bradley's goal against Egypt as well. Altidore, Spector (twice), Dempsey, and Davies were the other players with assists during these past 5 games. So, in our past 5 games, Altidore and Davies have directly contributed to three goals each, Dempsey has contributed to 5 goals, and Donovan has contributed to 6. Include the inexplicably called-back goal yesterday, and you can add to Altidore's and Dempsey's tallies. Production like that from our front four against the type of opposition we've been facing is extraordinary.
Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Remember how posters on BS were always bitching about how we couldn't score from the run of play? Our counterattacking goals are down to Davies being integrated into the attack, and the headed goals are down to Spector's and Donovan's crossing. And good point about the opposition. Extraordinary is right. The scary thing is that Davies is getting better, and better integrated into the attack.
I don't think the impact Davies has had on the team can be understated. The guy is a warrior who will fight for every ball. My favorite non-goal of the game was when Spector cleared the puck from the back right, the ball went over Altidore's head and into two El Salvadoran defenders, and Davies just burned and muscled his way between them. All the sudden a wicked shot just wide comes from nowhere, and the El Salvadoran defenders look at each other like, "how the f#ck did that just happen?" Charlie is a guy the other team has to account for, all the time. It frees up a lot of room for other guys like Dempsey, Altidore, and Donovan. When he left the game, they had less time and space to create. Of all the revelations of the Confed Cup, Charlie may be the most important over the long run.
A big part of the improvement has to do with who Davies has replaced. Ching has been a loyal soldier for the nats who deserves our gratitude. But he provides very little danger against a strong international side. Davies and Altidore are dangerous against ANY defense. Same with Donovan and Dempsey. I don't think we've every had four attacking players about whom this could be said. At one point we had three (McBride, Donovan, Mathis). But it didn't often happen that those three were on the field at the same time.
Even into our midfield, we've have guys who can finish as well. Bradley picks up goals here and there. Feilhaber has it in him as well, though he's more of an orchestrator. All across our front six we have guys that are dangerous. And Holden is another provider on the bench. When DMB fell out of form, Donovan no longer had that guy he could play off of on the break, but Davies has stepped into that role. The bonus with Davies is that he is a finisher as well. Altidore and Dempsey continue to get better. If we could find another top-class centerback and leftback, the USMNT would be scary indeed.
i agree with the sentiments that our front four are turning into a relatively prolific group, and that we need to find a 5th player to compliment them. i'd say if we're playing against a truly world class team we probably stay in the bucket and play a 4-2-2-2: ---------davies-----altidore donovan---------------------dempsey ---------bradley------xxxx with xxxx being jones, edu, or clark. but against clubs where we aren't going to be overrun in midfield, then i think we'd be most effective in a 4-1-3-2: ---------davies-----altidore donovan--------xxxx-------dempsey ----------------yyyy with xxxx being feilhaber or torres, both of whom have shown a consistent ability to possess and play the killer through ball. and with yyyy being jones, bradley, edu, or clark; all of whom can destroy attacks, but none of whom have the ability to pull the strings in mf effectively. i think in terms of the evolution of the u.s. attack leading up to the worldcup, the key question will be who can play that cm in front of a dmid; and i think the answer will ultimately prove to be torres (although i'm comfortable with feilhaber being the guy there). and hopefully jones can be the revelation that we all are hoping for, and we can drop the twin dmid formation.
The team is evolving just like it does for any international side. Every coach pretty much has his guys, and they are going to stay his guys until one of them burns him (see: Beasley, DaMarcus) or gets injured, opening the door for a younger, more talented player to make the spot his own (see: Ching, Brian). People have ragged Bradley to no end about player selection, but I really don't think Altidore and Davies could have been brought along any better. People were griping about them not playing more a year ago in more or less meaningless games, but they were brought along at just the right pace for them to be unleashed now, where the games are critical. I don't think Beckerman is ever going to play in a World Cup for the U.S., but cut the guy some slack. He played pretty damn well throughout the Gold Cup, so he earned a shot. Everyone knows he can play much better than he showed against El Salvador. Quit acting like bringing him on when we didn't really have other options at the position was the most unreasonable substitution in the world.
I recently re-watched this game and I will admit you are dead right here. The scoreline should have been 4-1....For one, the disallowed Altidore goal was bogus, and the non-penalty call for Charlie Davies was disturbing--That was a clear penalty which resulted in Davies being injured in the box..How we weren't awarded with a call and how El Salvador ended the match with 11 men is beyond my comprehension. But Bradley's plan was the best plan for breaking down Coach Cobos--He really did learn a lot from the first leg, especially in the realization that El Salvador with tired legs was helpless against Torres. The only real fault in his plan was the continued dependence on Micheal Bradley--Who has dropped in form a bit. The more I watched the game the more I realized how out of character the Beckerman sub was for Bradley. Historically, Bradley would have played Ching or Clark and held the midfield and kept the lead. To put him in was very out of sorts--Something tells me this may have been a marketing decision from Sunil--Because all it did was energize the crowd for two minutes before everybody realized how worthless Beckerman was. It made no sense--Feilhaber was playing very well and was starting to link up with Holden. Considering the horrible tradition of the US giving out caps to "Hometown" players, I suspect that Beckerman's sub came from a higher payscale.
I'm with the original poster on this one. I don't see why everyone is so up in arms about the U.S.'s performance. They played attacking soccer, something that many have been clamoring for. However, it was plainly visible to see what happens when the U.S. puts an attacking mindset. They get forward and create chances, but they leave themselves a bit too exposed at the back. If the U.S. took this type of gameplan to Spain in the Confed. Cup, they would have been punished. So despite this new found offensive creativity, I still expect the team to play defensively against more talented teams by keeping their shape, and picking their spots to attack on the counter.
It still bothers me a lot that we wait until conceding a goal to really step up the offensive pressure. I thought we were doing OK, but as soon as we went down a goal our guys really came alive... Why not start the game that way? We were lucky not to have conceded another with about five minutes to go. Exciting for sure, just not what we need to see at this moment. I like Dempsey a lot but he seems so adrift at times that I wonder if we wouldn't be better off playing him up top the whole game. His defense is pretty much non-existent out there on the wings, but he does a good job of pickpocketing defenders when he is up top. It just seems like he is out of his element too often in USMNT games. At Fulham his defensive responsibilities are almost nil, while Bob has him marking guys who run circles around him most of the game. I would sit Jozy and play Deuce up top with Davies and run Holden out wide. His defense isn't great either but at least he can run. Dempsey just fouls guys instead of risking being beaten badly. Holden is much more capable of playing both ways as a true wide mid, and I think Dempsey finds more ways to score than Jozy at this point. I feel like Deuce is having to work too hard to get the chances that would come easily if he were playing closer to the goal, plus he is kind of a liability playing around with the ball in the midfield like he does.