Expectations too high? So I'm supposed to expect that we look like junk against Costa Rica and aren't able to play talented opponents? *deleted angry comments* Look, we're not stupid. We know we aren't fielding a team full of Kaka's. That said, we are better than this! As a life time fan of the national team I expect that our team, staff, and organization are fully committed to being the absolute best. I don't mean I expect to win the world cup next year. I mean I expect us to do everything we can to try to win the world cup next year, and the one after that, and the next 400 after that. That's not happening. Let's not start to suggest that our performance in the latest stretch of games is anything but a step backwards. How many times are we going to start games out slow before everyone can finally admit that's the coach's fault?
I didn't see a whole lot of running out of Beasley when he inexcusably whiffed on the corner kick pass which led to the 2nd Brazil goal. He should have been hauling *ss to recover the ball and/or make a play on the counter.
i expect, ney demand, that our U.S. team plays: -- tough -- cohesively -- disciplined -- with maximum effort -- with the fighting spirit that has become the USA's trademark 2 of our last 3 gigantic games (CRC, Brazil), we exhibited ZERO of those five criteria. THAT is unacceptable, especially one year out from a WC. notice that nowhere in there did I say "US soccer team must beat England 5-0, Italy 4-1, Spain 6-0 and Brazil 4-0." I did not say that. If we have a team that accomplishes all 5 of my criteria, then I will be happy. if we lose doing that, than so be it. So Dyer ... you missed the point again (sorry, because I know you read BigSoccer, but you whiffed on this puff piece).
Dyer's right. US fans here is something more suited for you. How do you get better without better coaches? Players in Italy and Brazil don't develop themselves. He's also misunderstands what US fans want. Asprilla got it.
Asprilla - no reason to be sorry. It's an op-ed, so there has to be a flip side to my view, or multiple flip sides. Not everyone can be as brilliant as say, PrimeTime Now that's a guy with a noggin on his shoulders! But with that being said, I do find it laughable that a tournament which most people didn't want us to be in (in 2007, many fans wanted to emphasize Copa America over the Gold Cup) has now become grounds to fire Bradley. Essentially a series of meaningless friendlies. If we won the games, people would say it's not a real tournament. If we lose, it's fire the coach. Bob Bradley can't win! With all that being said, I've got no issues with starting Beasley against Brazil, especially since he's performed well in so many big games in the past. But, who is really a better option at this point? We can all rattle off names, but I'm not sure of most who watch the national team day in and day out would disagree that Beasley is the best option right now. I'm not happy with that, but just saying. Beyond all that, I went into the tournament with the expectation that we play three and out. Try some formations, have a good experience and get used to the lifestyle of a place that we'll be in next year. I think that almost any coach, right now, would achieve similar results with this team. And if I whiffed on this piece, then it's par for the course for an American this week, no? So, thanks all for reading, disagreeing and your emails pointing out my numerous faults and errors, oh yeah, and that couple in New Jersey who agree with me. I wish those two nice people well as they continue their time in the sanatorium. KD
I think it's an unfortunate article because it insults the intelligence of USMNT supporters. I'm pretty confident most here went into this tournament with realistic expectations once the groups were announced. Hope for 1 point out of Brazil or Italy and possibly a tough fought win/tie against Egypt. I don't think many expected to advance out of this group, hoped yes, expected no. I would have felt like we did really well with 4 points, ok with 2 or 3 and disappointed with 1 or less. The truth is that has changed, we could get 3 out of Egypt and I would still disappointed because not only did we get beat but we looked amateur while getting beat. We've given up 10 goals and scored 4 in our last 4 games, none from the run of play. I didn't have high expectations, how can expecting to not advance be high expectations? I only hope the folks at US Soccer don't agree, that would be a low bar of expectations.
i appreciate you responding KD. sorry if that was viewed as an insult. you may have whiffed, but it wasn't as bad as DMB whiffed on that corner. it's all subjective, as you point out. i will admit that you can make an argument for or against Bradley that is pretty strong. and in the end we all know that the "FOR" will win out, unless we drop major points after the Mexico game. -- You can make the argument FOR Bradley that it's not time to panic, that he's only lost 3 tough games. They are 3 games we were probably gonna lose under most circumstances. He's still on track to qualify for the WC finals. -- But you make an easy argument AGAINST Bradley: in that the team has not played all that well in the HEX, and that they are lucky to be where they are. AND that current trends (CRC, Confed Cup) indicate that he can't prepare the team for tough games on the road. and that the team is going downhill quick. we were lucky to get Mexico when they were in a shambles (and later fired their coach). We were extremely lucky to get an 88th minute equalizer at ELS, the 2nd worst team in the HEX. Results are results, but we could easily be in a much, much different situation in the standings (and that would change the argument). And we still have road games at Azteca (L) and at Honduras (likely L) left on the schedule. AND ... if this goes down to the wire, we're stuck with a Matchday 10 closer against Costa Rica -- not a situation where you'd want to be NEEDING a result. So Bob can sit pretty knowing that we're in 2nd, after the easy 1/2 of our HEX schedule. but one could argue that the situation ain't so rosey OTOH. I knew you'd put a lot of emphasis on the CC -- it's easier to make your argument that way -- but if you look at where the US is at OVERALL. it certainly looks to a lot of people like most trends are pointing downward.
Torres was NOT one of our best players in Costa Rica. He was one of the prettiest, and yet he was flat-out getting his pants beat, though he played better in the last 15 minutes than he did in the previous 30. He WAS one of our best in El Salvador, however. And further, there were a lot of mitigating circumstances towards Torres putting in an off-performance in CR (starting a game in one of the worst venues for us to play after joining camp late, in a formation that's unfamiliar to the team, and being one of the least experienced with the team to begin with, having to cover for Beasley who was having an all-around horrible performance, having his defensive help in the midfield--Pablo--completely sucking on the night, etc.). That said, there were games that he might likely have made an impact in where he hasn't. Ditto Adu, considering that Beasley and Kljestan have been in such poor form and that Bradley continues to go with them when he's got Torres and Adu waiting in the wings.
If we get 3 points off Egypt I for one will be ecstatic. That is one seriously underrated team. Don't let CAF qualifying fool you, that is the single most difficult qualifying tournament to get out of, UEFA included.
I may be. No one can be correct all the time. But I do appreciate the manner in which you argued my opinion. No childish name-calling, just threw your spin on it and posted. As simple as it sounds, it is rare to see around here. Repped.
No, no...it's not that I underestimate Egypt, it's that it won't change what we've already seen these last 4 games. I watched the Egypt/Italy game, they won't sneak up on me. Despite me making fun of Bob for saying the thing that impresses him most about Egypt is how much they run, they do run a lot. I don't mean logging meters tracking back I mean guys busting it all over the field. I would not be surprised if they left their best games this tournament on the field against Brazil and Italy. If we beat Egypt I would be happy with the outcome but not the state of US soccer.
Something that has nothing to do with Bob one way or the other: the most significant trends that will point toward success or failure in the WC (assuming that we make it, and I am assuming that we will, one way or another) will be the second half of the next Euro season. Who's fit and in form and who's injured and/or sucking by this time next year? Plus, there's one other significant addition about to join our squad, and how he manages to make things easier for Bob and the attacking corps in front of him, or not.
Honestly, you think that people wouldn't have given Bob props if he had come out and beaten Brazil and Italy? Seriously? I appreciate you coming here sharing your take on your article, but that's simply silly talk there. American fans would have been over the moon if we had come out and beaten those teams. Brazil and Italy aren't Poland and Ecuador. The point is that most people here expected the US to be three and out, myself included (and by the way, I'm also one of the people here who always was perfectly fine with sending a b team to Copa America based upon the situation we were in at that time). But I never would have imagined that it would happen in such a limpdick way as has happened. I expected us to fight hard, make a good showing, but just not be able to get over the hump. Has that happened? Have we shown any fight? Has the team looked organized? Good gracious man, that's the expectation that most sane people have when going up against the world's best.
Let's be honest, how many people really think Egypt has substantially more talent than the U.S.? How many people would say we don't have the same hopes as Egypt? Yes, that's what I thought. And they have a win and hard-fought loss to their name.
take out the word substantially and i absolutely do. only people who are not paying attention to soccer all over the world (and, unfortunately, that seems to be the average bs poster, who doesn't even seem to pay attention to soccer in this country) would disagree. i don't know how you can look at their performance in the african championships the last two tournaments and not think that they have better soccer players than we do! egypt are african champions two tournaments in a row. we'd crap our pants in that championship. egypt has better soccer players than we do at just about every position on the field. we have no athletic/fitness advantage that i can see over egypt. egypt is playing in their own backyard. if we beat egypt, i would be delighted, and i would be semi-satisfied (there's always stuff we can do better) with the state of u.s. soccer. for the most part i agree with you more than i disagree with you. but it's just me and those two nice people in the sanitarium.
to be fair to both sides though, you are weakening our argument by placing so much emphasis on the CC. keep in mind, overall Egypt is not on schedule to qualify for the WC finals, we are. granted, qualification in CAF is a whole 'nuther ballgame from CONCACAF. i'm just saying, let's keep our sample size a little bigger than just two games.
Not me, after seeing them against Brazil and Italy, I know if we did beat them it would only mean we caught them on a bad day, no long term issues solved.
if i go with that argument, i can say that italy and especially brazil caught us on our bad days. no long term issues that we didn't know of raised.
For 60 minutes against Italy. Which I'll agree is not enough. The thing we've been harping on the most in this board is Bradley, which is a subject worth harping on. A bigger subject worth harping on (apart from our youth development, as always) is our inability to have 11 players finish the match. I'm of the opinion that the subs of Montolivio and Rossi for Gattuso and Cambiasso (who would be our two best players if they were American, for certain, by the way) probably killed us. But what turned the game from a probably hard-fought loss or draw into a 3-1 lopsided loss was the red card in the 33rd minute. Then against Brazil we couldn't get anything right until just before Kljestan got sent off. A poor showing made poorer and almost impossible to come back from. And even at that, we hit woodwork twice in the last 20 mins. We were inches (in the case of Feilhaber's strike, make that millimeters) away from having a very respectable-looking scoreline. It STILL would've been a game in which we'd been thoroughly outplayed and schooled, but for 2 red cards and a little luck our GD could've well looked more like 5-3 rather than 6-1. Now I'm not saying that we haven't underperformed, and I'm not saying that Bob's put all the right guys in all the right places. Two cases in point: Beasley and Kljestan, both of whom have been in horrid form for months, when he's got guys like Torres and Adu waiting for their chances. (And Feilhaber on the right wing... FFS, Bob, haven't you already learned your lesson on that one already? Feilhaber has ONE role he can play on this team, and that's in the middle!!!!) Neither am I drinking the Kool-Aid that says that Torres and Adu would've most likely torn it up, either...
You are being very very kind about the Brazil game. Brazil called off the dogs because we were absolutely toothless. Pointing to the two posts at the very end of the game is meaningless to me because they only happened with the game out of reach, two of Brazil's best attackers taken off the field to save them, and the Brazilian team generally just trying to finish out the game unhurt. The Beasley and Kljestan thing are the issues that continue to confound me. If Bob is so resistant to change now, when the games technically don't "mean" anything, what can we expect from him when they do? As Dempsey hinted at, it seems that Bob is the one who is nervous and/or scared. That says everything I need to know.