Mission failed. Frankie is out. Normally not a bad thing, but in this pathetic lineup he's one of our best players.
He turned and shot at goal exactly one time tonight- and missed by 3 inches. By touches towards goal, I mean passes. Only Donovan can create a successful pass out of nothing as well as Dempsey does.
The game wasn't played with a ton of skill, but it was still interesting enough. Without question, Dolo was our best player out there. He got forward nicely and defended soundly. Conrad played solid enough. Were we to qualify for the WC, I don't think he has enough to make the squad, but given the absences, he is a perfectly respectable CB for CONCACAF play. Sanneh just doesn't have it anymore. Hejduk has a ton of speed--if only his brain worked as quickly as his legs. Olsen, IMO, had a solid match. He moved the ball well and didn't give it away too much. Armas, on the hand, provided Costa Rice with some of their best attacking passes all night. JOB did fine. Not as active as I would have liked, but that is probably to be expected. Ralston showed himself to be a solid player in our region, but against the best, he just won't cut it. The same is true for Noonan. You can see both players know what to do, they just can't play at the speed that is needed at the highest level. Dempsey also needs to play a quicker game, though I see his upside being far greater than that of Noonan's. It is also the case that he isn't a forward.
Sanneh was great for us in WC '02, I agree, but even then he wasn't that good. It was great how he was able to push up and support the midfield and the offense, but his poor marking, questionable decisions and lack of agility was evident back then too. Nobody remembers his lapses because they ended up being irrelevant, but if the situations were different, Sanneh would have been a villain instead of a hero in WC '02, costing us qualification from the group stage. Two plays that stand out in my mind: 1. Against Poland, he didn't pay attention to the guy he was supposed to keep an eye on, the Poland player was passed to, Sanneh couldn't catch up and took the guy's legs out for a pk. Friedel stopped the PK so lucky for him, no big deal. 2. Against South Korea he again lost his man, and the Korean had a wide-open shot from the 6 against Friedel. Lucky for Sanneh again, the Korean sent his shot way over the crossbar. Sanneh is done. His age exposes his weakneses much more now. He had 2 bad decisions today, and other then that he did fine. But do we really want to see the likes of Robben, Henry, Kaka, Adriano, and Shevchenko go at him? I don't. If I'm Arena, he never gets called up again after the Gold Cup. Oh yeah, if I remember correctly, Ballack outjumped SANNEH for Germany's lone goal in the quorters. And Sanneh was positioned in front of Ballack on that goal! It's all coming back now... Sanneh also had a header in the last 5 minutes or so in the Germany game from about 4 yards out and hit the side netting. So let's keep it in perspective and realize Sanneh was never a superstar.
everyone says that the gold cup is not a big tournament for the US. My question is, which tournaments does the USA play in? and which are the important tournaments(besides the world cup)? Do we have to win this tournament to go to the confederations cup? HELP!!!!
I've had turf toe and it's a tough injury to get over simply because of the fact that it only takes one bad step to re-injure yourself. I first suffered this injury almost 10 years ago and it still bothers me sometimes today when I bend my foot in a funny way. Besides, it has been reported that EJ's injury was, in fact, a cracked bone instead of turf toe which would actually be a good thing in terms of getting a full recovery. Back on subject, I can't agree with those who believed Sanneh and Conrad had a good game. Their lack of speed was horrifying. Every time the ball crossed midfield I cringed knowing they were back there. Other thoughts: -I'm glad JOB is back to full health and it was good to see him sticking his nose in there on some 50/50 balls, but he was virtually invisible in terms of creating anything on offense. -Ben Olsen shooting = instant goal kick -Some nice crosses by Ralston, but his lack of speed was apparent. There were times when a faster player could have pushed deeper into opposing territory before crossing, but his lack of speed caused him to have to cut back instead of pushing forward. -BA's lineup selection left me scratching my head like everyone else. -Cherundolo was solid once again -I think the playing surface may have had something to do with the lack of pace in the game. It just looked like a slow track out there. So much for the wide open game from two teams with nothing to lose that we were all talking about Overall I was underwhelmed by the performance tonight. I guess I'm just spoiled.
Actually, mission a success - Frankies out. One more thing, he is not one of our best players, I won't admit it....never...don't care who is in the line-up.
This is strange writting.. At USsoccer it says the USA's 18 game unbeaten streak ended with the 0-0 tie.. How does a tie end an unbeaten streak? "BOSTON (July 12) - The U.S. MNT had their first ever blemish in Gold Cup group play as their 18-game undefeated streak came to an end with a scoreless draw with Costa Rica this evening at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro..."
Thats why the majority on Bs think he should be in the midfield. If you look at were this kid has come in in a year and a half of pro ball it's amazing and he gets better and better. Out of our 10 field players he was our most skilled outside of O'Brien ---------------- We have to find a RM! Ralston is just to inconsistant! Thats why I woul;d have loved to have Quaranta there again to see what he has. If we go to WC '06 with Ralston at RM we will be in big trouble and will not be able to use our talented RB they way we should be.
For the other stuff... WTF was up with the ref? He was horrible. Where's he from anyway? Fouls all over the place not getting called. Sanneh, you know for a few minutes I'm thinking, "Tony looks a lot better" then he heads the ball 4 feet to a red jersey. Just not up to it in this tournament. Conrad looked pretty solid, basically without help in the middle ('Yo, Tony, when I'm chasing after the ball with 2 attackers hot on my heels you mind not just standing around?'). Will really need to work on his ditribution though. Armas just doesn't look quick enough anymore and his passing is really hurting. Olsen was better than Armas anyway. Covered more ground and his passes were at least to his teammates, though too often bouncing rather than rolling. Being a DCU fan, I'd still like to see him get a game as the only D-Mid, he and Armas were constantly getting in each other's way. JOB needs games. Noonan, out of his depth. Ralston's lack of speed was exposed, but then CR started giving him room on the side, and that dude can put in a cross...usually (not his best night for crosses). Best thing about tonight was that Bruce got to rest (most of) his starting 11 for the elimination game next round. Hope that means Quaranta gets a go...
1. Armas should have been much better! He is done! Roll him up and smoke him, let him go out on a high --------- 2. Agree with the Dempsey comment
I think it shows the fact that this match was meaningless. he could have picked a better team with the one he left off the field
Dempsey is our Lampard. Our poor-man's Lampard. I hope Dempsey watches Frank's tapes, learns to do that inside-out shot that Lampard can spot in the corner and learns everything he can about...cough, cough...maybe the best all-around midfielder in the world. Dempsey has the platform to be Lampard-esque, at some lower level in all likelihood (like a mid-level Premiership vs. a Chelsea). Still, that would be a damn good career peak..now he just has to work at it..
read that statement again EDIT - see what your saying. I think you can take it both ways. Iview undefeated as not losing points
I would have liked to see more of Quaranta in this game as well. What i'm hoping, though, is that Bruce liked enough of what he saw in his first outing to use him more heavily in the knockout stages-where the stakes'll be higher and the talent surrounding him will be better. If that's true, maybe we'll get a good read on where he's at, and whether or not he might be an option at right mid.
I think Dempsey has better ball skills than Lampard, I'd put him closer to Ballack. I'd hope Dempsey could develop a long-range shot like Frank L., however. He's not in the Gerrard mold. Gerrard plays much better high, closer to the strikers and he's effective with 2 DMs (Alonso, Hamann) behind him.
He's saying for right mid. Revs fans can be more definitive, but late last year, when everyone was healthy, the were playing with Ralston at right fullback, a central midfield of Cancela and Joseph (now THERE'S a guy who would end any debate as to whom we should start at DM for us), with Dempsey nominally at right wing. I, personally, didn't like him there, but Revs fans could give you a better take. I will say this...Steve Nicol, the ultimate English system coach, was so unenamored with that lineup that he changed to a 3-5-2 this year. IMO, he wanted to get Dempsey, Joseph, and Cancela all in the middle, and that was the only way to do it, and he went against his genetic coding and abandoned the 4-4-2 with lots of wing play that he loves so much.
I agree. I think the first thing he needs to do is get a little stronger on the ball. It seems like he goes to ground way too easily (this was really evident in the England game). He was definitely the most dangerous player out there for us tonight.
He is the only American player with a true soccer brain. He doesn't look like he is following memorized instructions on the pitch. He is a total player and because of that will be good even when the footspeed fades and reflexes begin to slow. The game is played, by the great ones, mostly in the head.
The biggest thing missing tonight was creativity. The 2nd biggest thing missing tonight was finishing. Other than that, I thought we played ok.