Judging from our opponents, with the exception of Ghana, I think our games are going to have to be defensive struggles for US to get out of the group. Both Italy and the Czech Republic boast two very strong defenses and without a doubt the two best goalkeepers in the world, hands down. That means that chances will be few and far between in these two matches, and when they do occur it will take a special effort to get past either Buffon or Cech. So, seeing as we'll need AT LEAST one point from our first two matches, our success could lie in the hands of our defense. Realistically, we can't expect to score more than one, two if we are playing very well, against either of our first two opponents. That means shutting down the likes of Nedved, Rosicky, Koller, Baros, Poborsky, Totti, Toni, Gilardino, Del Piero, Camoranesi, and Pirlo will rest on the shoulders of the US defense. I think our key component has to be Onyewu. He has to play like a stud. We need him to be very physical, win every ball out of the air, and play stiffling defense. I am not sure who will pair with him in the center, but we need to be defesively sound. It is for this reason I am starting to question Lewis as the starting left back. We have two other much better defenders that could start there instead of him. Yeah our attack might suffer; however, I think that we could rely on our extremely talented outside mids (DMB, Convey, Dempsey) to provide enough offense to generate scoring opportunities. Both Bocanegra and Gibbs have shown that they can play LB. Both options are much better defensively, and I'm not sure that we would really lose all that much defensively. If I were BA, I would start Gibbs at LB and either Pope or Boca with Onyewu in the center. I think that Gibbs's speed allows him to be a great fit for outside back (better than Boca) and it allows us to get another one of our talented CBs (arguably our deepest position) on the field. I think it is imperative that our defense is as strong as it potentially can be because the teams we will face in group play have countless attacking threats.
Your thinking is defense will be key, but I think we need to be clicking in every department. Like you said the Czechs & Italy have great goalkeepers and are diffucult to score on, therefore we are going to need our forwards to make good shots and make goals if they get any easy chances. Don't forget unlike hockey where a goalie can practically win a game all by himself, a goalkeeper can't quite do that. You get a shot out of his reach and there isn't anything he can do about it. Also our midfielders are going to have to be dangerous on offense and do a good job helping out on the defense. Our defensive midfielders need to win a lot of 50-50 balls. I can go on and on, on what we need to do in order to win, but were basically going to need some luck like we got against Portugal & Mexico, and no bad luck, like we got against Poland & Germany. The refs have a lot to do with the luck factor.
I get sick of people saying this kind of crap, as if it is as simple as shutting the some of the best players int he world; All Pope has to do is mark Totti. Gooch just needs to mark Nedven and Toni...Landon can out run these guys...as if any of our players are anywhere near the level of these guys.... Yes we can beat either team, but any way you try to look at it, the Czechs and Azzuri are WAY better than us. If they take us seriously, which they will, they will probably hand our asses to us. I don't want to see that, but if you watch Italian and Spanish futbol, its not hard draw that conclusion.
The problem with the original poster's theory is that our outside mids, while talented, are probably not anything so special that the US can afford to have outside defenders who can't pose a threat. The way to be more defensive is to cover from central midfield more and deploy all of players more defensively.
I think for possession reasons we must have Lewis on the field against the Czech Republic. We cannot afford to have one of those Germany friendly type games where we cede possession the entire game and our defense is pressured the whole match. If we cede possession the entire match then our defense, hell anyones defense will wilt and concede goals. Now I'm not saying that we're going to be even on the possession percentage with CR. But we will at least have to have some. I also wouldn't overrate the CR defense so much. They are an attacking team that has given up goals in the past, so I think with Donovan and Beasley's speed we will be able to exploit them. Despite the very difficult game against the Czech Republich, the toughest game in the group will be Italy. Depending on which team shows up we may get dominated from start to finish.
Basically, no one's allowed to be tired, suffering from an injury or lazy. Everyone has to cover about 5-10% more of the field than they normally do, and still not get tired until after 90+ minutes. Each individual has to play about 1.1 positions at all times. If we do, we could beat either team. Our defense can't handle their offenses. Our defenses with two defensive midfielders can. Our midfield can't handle their midfields, especially if we have two defensive midfielders tracking back to help on defense. Our midfield with an attacking left back and to outside midfielders that track back can hold its own. Our forwards, with the possible exception of McBride, unfortunately need very opportunistic chances to score. Without a revelation at this position, I don't expect much production out of our forwards during the run of play. Looks to me like we clog the midfield and back, and hope to score on a counter attack or set piece.
good grief.Did you all forget your SSRI's this morning? Tough group, so we need to play very well. Plain and simple. No tricks will work. We need to play good smart soccer, which we are very capable of doing.
Ok, but what do you do when your offense is mediocre, and your defense is going up against 2 top-of-the line world class offenses?
We simply can't afford a loss in our first game. A tight Czech team(and I do think they will come out tight) is good for us as we will not be tight. We will wait to get tight come Ghana. Also, an eliminated Ghana will be more difficult for us than one that must win. Just like the Poland game. African teams are unpredictable to begin with, but one that is loose will be hell for us. If we have 3 or 4 points, we will be running around like we have coals up our asses like the Poland game. Our best scenario is beat Czech, whatever against Italy(we don't match up well with them) and face a must win Ghana. That could give us six points and maybe win the group.
This has been my prediction since the group was announced. 6 points to win the group. That and Rolfe making the team.
If we go into the games defending from the start , we wont get out of our group . Defending all game just invites attack , and if we are just focusing on defending we wont score and we wont get out of our group . Our defense must be playing well to try and control the talented forwards and mids we will be playing against, but our mids need to be playing well and attacking well and keeping possession well . If we just decide to defend , there is no way we can get out of the group .
No, we can't just defend. But I was saying everyone must play the equivalent of 1.1 players. That means everyone running harder, covering more ground and backing up their teammates more than they would normally expect to do. Without that kind of effor we'll probably lose.
There is NO team in the world that can do this. So basically your strategy is to cede possession the whole game and hit some wonder balls up top and hope that we get lucky.
OK WOW!!! I guess I did not make myself very clear. It seems as though everyone who has posted on this thread was almost personally offended by what I said. LET ME CLARIFY. I am NOT saying that the US should come out in our first two games and pack 6 guys in defense and play for a draw. In fact, I am strongly against those kind of tactics. My suggestion was that the US play players in the BACK FOUR who are the most defensively capable. Call me crazy, but I have faith in our midfield and I'm willing to stake the US's chances on this belief. Dempsey is playing out of his mind right now. Beasley has been getting more time with PSV and should be at the top of his game when he reports to camp (he is VERY good when he is at the top of his game). Donovan always plays well when the pressure is on. Reyna is most likely our best player. And the list goes on...O'Brien, Convey, etc. By having a stronger back four the US would be able to throw more players into the attack. Hence, increasing our chances of scoring. One key to having a strong attack is being secure with your defense. I think we'd be pretty secure with Gibbs/Onyewu/Cherundolo/Pope or Boca. I am not knocking Lewis. I love the guy, and I think he is great player. However, he has played defense all of ONE GAME.
No, my point is we have to WIN possession by running more than you normally would. Covering more ground on the field, and running to cover the person that has pushed that extra step. We have to get to the balls first, and get to the balls that shouldn't be ours.
Simply not true, Lewis played in the back against Poland and in World Cup qualifiers home against T&T and Mexico. I note that all three of those games were against World Cup Finals qualifiers.
to get out of the group, usa needs NOT to make an defensive errors.... so the central pairing, onyewu and whomever need to establish control centrally.... cherundolo and lewis need to get forward, so usa has attacking options wide, and the usa wide game needs to make the other guys leary....convey, beasley and dempsey need to be effective... mastroeni, reyna, o'brien the dmid/holding mids need to control the tempo, bog down the other guys attack, settle possession and spring the attack forward... personally , donovan as forward is a must, as I don't see any other forward being able to create scoring chances.... get 5 points to be in the mix to advance.... the pressure is on italy and the czechs to perform... the longer the matches go 0-0 or usa up a goal, the tighter they'll become... two 0-0 matches the first two matches... beat ghana 3-1 and I like usa chances
I don't think playing too negatively is going to be good for the USA, teams liek the Czech Rpeublic and Italy play lotys of teams who try to sit back with men behind the ball and will be quite happy for the USA to do this. What the USA needs to do is play postively, it needs wingers who are't overly constarined by having to track back too much, but at the same time it needs to keep it's defence very tight and not make errors.
No offense, but what decent team have the Czechs beaten? Norway? C'mon! As for the Italians, so what, they stomped Germany at home. Guess what, our B team ran with that same team, when the Germans were more motivated. They also tied a ton of teams out there that I would think we would beat. Stop being so negative people! I think we can play with both these teams. It's coming up before you know it!
Whilst being negative ceratinly won't help the USA it's not good to undersestimate the oppsotion and be overconfident, CZE and ITA are amongst the best in the World, if the USA isn't tight at the back it could go down in flames.
I agree with the sentiment, but disagree on one general point. The wingers need to be free to move forward, but I do think they need to track back. This is what I mean when I say everyone needs to play 1.1 positions. Each player is going to have to sacrifice themselves by running to cover more ground. I think that's how we beat these two teams. Beasley and Donovan have shown that they can run for 90 minutes. We're going to need more of this.
You'd expect them to do soem defnsive duties, but wingers are mainly about attack - once you forget that you're playing negative football.