So...this was pretty painful...check that...extraordinarily painful. So what went wrong? Listen, Mexico had 6 players from their last squad of 18 in a WCQ on the field, not even counting the others called in buit not put on the bench. USA had two, Pearce doesn't play, and Ching can't do everything by himself. We predicted our own demise. We knew that we would win every ball in our area in terms of crossing, but our outside backs needed to do well and they...you know...did the opposite. Mexico and the US had two totally different objectives in this tournament, Mexico was searching for identity, and the US was exploring the player pool. To be honest, I thought Mexico would win, but not by that margin. The players that we brought were not used to that kind of atmosphere at all, and the heat only worked to Mexico's favor. Honestly, if I didn't know anyhting about the match, I would have said it took place in Mexico. So maybe this loss isn't that big at first, but the implications of it are huge off the pitch. ESPN will probobly drop their race to get August 12th, and the short spotlight soccer held will have passed over. To tell the truth, both teams completed their objectives. Now we must look to Azteca, and cross our fingers that everything until then falls into place.
It all started when we beat this little country called egypt, then we another chump country called Spain and then we came in second at a competion that mattered...
I was drinking to cool-aid thinking we had some advantages agaisnt el tri.. but really. They were better prepaired, somehow more rested, and of course, a much better team. Bob may still hagve the last laugh... let's hope. And please everybody chill, we had a good run
What happened was our defense broke down and we became disinterested. We couldn't put our chances on target in the first half and couldn't defend in the second half.
ALVA signed up to big soccer... just to say those six words. You think he would've thought of something a but more clever.
I'll take Dos a Cero in the World Cup and tolerate Cinco a Cero in a Gold Cup that didn't have Confederations Cup ramifications.
Technically, it's Cero a Cinco, since Mexico was the "away" team. Tip your hats to Mexico. Taking a loss well is class, too. Realistically, I thought this USA roster overachieved a bit just to get this far. We didn't look like much of a coherent group coming in, and we did better than I expected. Beckerman and Pause being able to maintain a semblance of one-touch ping through midfield was a revelation, and is a huge step up from what even our A team could do just 5 years ago. Mexico was just better in midfield, and all of the forward-vs.-defender matchups were in their favor, in speed, experience, and savvy. Plus, they had Dos Santos as a spearhead, and we had nobody of that caliber. For this particular game, after Mexico's first goal, it looked like USA pushed both Pearce and Heaps up on the wings to get numbers into our attack. We know they both run those overlaps pretty actively. Mexico patiently ate up our fairly helter-skelter forays, and quickly countered 3-vs-{Goodson + Marshall}, with Peace and Heaps not even in the picture. That's not so surprising from this line-up -- a perfect storm of Mexico's great play, cutthroat transition game, Dos Santos masterminding the counter like a Young Steve Nash point guard, our inexperience in the back, and poor communication. It looked a bit like Jim Kelly and the Bills' original no-huddle toasting an inexperienced secondary.
Being heavily outnumbered on our on soil in a major city is growing very old. It looked like a 90-10 advantage in the stands. That's unacceptable. We should be able to at least fill the stands with 40 percent of our guys at this point.
We didn't score in the first half when we generated chances, then we got ran over. A single P.K. caused the team to push and forget to defend. Pause was pulled, and within minutes Beckerman seemed to get injured, and the middle was gone. Mexico is really good on the counter, and it's important to remember that when pushing forward.
Yeah, but it's been that way for a while. When the Gold Cup matches are shown on a specialty sports network and not really publicized in a nation where soccer ranks relatively lower on the sports food chain to Americans with more American heritages, it's a struggle. It's getting better...but it's a slow process.
A bit harsh, but man, has that kid got a future. The USMNT can only dream they had a player like that.
A few star players won't make a whole squad: If Mexico's U20's couldn't even make the WYC, they can have Gio and Vela all they want, but they need other pieces around them to succeed.
Here's my ratings on the debacle Personally, I don't buy the whole "we were playing well until the PK" mantra. We didn't look good, and we certainly weren't the dominant side in teh first half like Ives and Sullivan\Bretos seem to think.
We got our asses handed to us for pretty much the whole game. We sat back and defended. Our midfield was pathetically overmatched and we got nothing from our forwards. So much for Ching being able to relieve pressure and allow people opportunities to score. Him and Arnaud were non existant (and i'm being kind). Dos Santos was by far the best player on the field and it wasn't even close. Our defense completely wore out under that pounding.
You guys are obsessing about this one too much. There was a clear talent difference on the field today, that's what happened. Nothing more, nothing less. It won't really matter because in the end of the day, there are MAYBE 3 Mexican A-team starters on the team that played today, and MAYBE 1 A-team American starter. You'll see completely different teams in Mexico City.
Oswaldo Sanchez is the 4th goalie right now for Mexico. He's not going to be there, unless he bought a ticket.