I thought Gibbs did all right (r) OK, so several ¨glitches¨ with ball at feet (or lack thereof) in first half- some easily fixable (missing ball, letting run out twice...probably nerves, trying to do something to quickly- which Brazil forces other teams to do), and a few distributions out of back which were poor, but hopefully will improve with time, experience (How many Nats start their first game against Brazil?)....So, ball skills will need monitoring- but at 22, and decent/good technique (technique was not the problem- really too slow in thinking in a few spots....problem for entire team today) What I did like....is he seems very quick/fairly quick to recognize situation and get to the ¨spot¨.....he appeared to win most balls in his area in the air- with exception of goaline save by Howard (was that his man?). A couple times, I was impressed how he left his man, recognizing the clear danger, and closed on a Brazilian near goal....there was one sequence late in 1st half in which he kept up very well with Ronaldinho, and recovered well off a slip. He is clearly athletic, deceptively fast, and had some good tackles to disrupt plays before they started... I also like his composure...never appears to be playing out of control...the comparison to Eddie Pope at 22 are not at all ridiculous...very similar in many respects.. I do hope he lands a good club situation for next year(s) for the potential is certainly there for him to be Eddie Pope, plus. He should continue to get big minutes from Bruce, for his upside much greater than Vanney, Berthalter, etc. All things considered (especially opponent), I thought it was a decent, above-average starting debut...and I would like to see him paired more with Boca (I think they work well together) Some other random thoughts: Beasley did a good job- what he does well, he does well consistently- and his defensive hustle and speed are a great weapon. It is becoming apparent to me that Landon and Clint are becoming hurt by playing MLS....they need to play in a faster, more skillful league in order to get them to play a gear higher...they get away with performing at less than their maximum in MLS, and still being stars....and you simply can´t turn on raising your game at the highest level. The US is still miles away on an individual skill level than the Brazilians....US will likely never match Brazil in our lifetime (man 2 man skills) but the gap remains persistently wide....however, that is not the only thing that wins soccer games, but US just does not have enough athleticism, finishing skills, confidence, and grit to make up for this..... It is disappointing that it took US about 60 minutes to feel comfortable on the ball...Klein is simply out of his league on this level....I was surprised Martino did not get some minutes...this is the kind of game I think he could have done well... Overall, a bit disappointing.....Berthalter made a mistake US can not make and beat best teams in world....US simply is not going to beat world´s best sides unless everything is clicking....that is, until Freddy is old enough gg
I too liked Gibbs today, and chalk up the first bad touches to nerves. After about 10 minutes, he settled down and played very well in the back. Hell, our whole back line looked fine except for that one guy (who will not be named out of hatred). I've seen Gibbs play in Germany for St. Pauli, and he's been pretty damn good for them. Not great, but good. I did see a yellow he got two seasons ago that led to a PK and cost St. Pauli an important game. It was a dumb holding foul on a free kick, and it was a stupid foul - no need to commit it. Otherwise, however, he's looked very good, as he did today. One last thing - notice how 'Dolo and Gibbs didn't always look to just boot the ball upfield, but passed it forward, even into tight space?
I'll support the rest of you. Apart from those crazy missed touches early on, Gibbs was really quite stable. He did a few well-timed slide tackles when tested deep on the flank; his positioning seemed equisite to me. As JRI said, he seems to read the developments very well. I like the comparison with Pope. I also think it is simply a matter of more international play before he starts applying attacking pressure as well. My sense on that goal line play was that the attacker came through the middle and was the initial responsibility of someone else.
Like I said before, it's not his ball handling that bothers me. He left wide open so much space on his side of the goal that the Brazilians strolled right through the edge of the box on more than one occasion. He should be so lucky that his carelessness didn't lead to the Adriano goal.
His nerves clearly had the better of him at the start, but then did seem to settle down. We can only hope that his ball skills and thinking improve. If they do, the US could have a very solid defender who will give us the size and athleticism that we need on the back line. I mean, it's one thing for the US to lack the ball skills of a Brazil, a Turkey or pretty much any team in Europe. Without our top 11 -- and even with them -- that's not going to change for a long time. But why should we lack athleticism and size? Even in our darker, older days, we could hold our own against a Brazil ('94 WC) due to athleticism and height and strength in the back. For all their faults, some times I do miss the bulk of vintage Balboa and Lalas in the back. Not to mention their grit. If he can get on a decent team and develop, Gibbs could give us what we need. But it is a rather sad indictment of US soccer that one of our best defensive prospects is playing the German 3rd D.
I noticed the same thing as the rest of you. Gibbs had an obvious case of the nerves when the ball was at his feet, but I think he did well in the man on man situations. His size and athleticism is also key. Just think, if Gibbs progresses well and Sanneh gets healthy, our back 4 could be pretty good. And big. And athletic. And all those other things you expect from American teams.
What was interesting about Gibbs is that it took Ronaldinho running at him to settle him down. That usually has the opposite effect I thought he played OK, not great, but OK for a match against Brazil. Sachin
Excellent starting debut for Gibbs. Wasn't particularly outstanding, but on the other hand we didn't really notice him after the few minutes much, did we? And that's a good thing, like not noticing a ref's heavy hand. He was never truly exposed, and other than a few basic screw ups due to nerves, he made no mistakes of consequence that I noticed. Though Howard had to make a few great saves during the game, I still got the feeling that Boca, Dolo and Gibbs were all playing fairly well against a pretty skilled Brazilian side (let's not forget that they rolled Nigeria about 9 days ago 3-0 while playing w/jet lag, they got only one goal on us and it was deeply flukey). Dolo has been maddeningly inconsistent, but he seems miles better than every other defender we've got at distribution, at doing something other than just banging a kick to the opposition or out of bounds. When Dolo has the ball you can safely assume that we'll probably push it forward past the half-line w/o losing possession and that's always good for build ups. Not much to say about Boca, he's dangerous on set pieces for us, and he's a pretty darn solid defender, not outstanding, but consistently solid (only one poor game on the year in my view). All in all, Gibbs has only had two caps but certainly looks like a nice option to start along with Boca. Dolo certainly is a nice option as well, particularly when we're playing weaker teams in qualifying. Right now I think we might have found ourselves two nice defenders (and a third whose a nice opposition seemingly every other game in Dolo), lets hope we can find another three that we can count on that aren't named Califf, Berhalter, or Hejduk.
What I think is typical for Gibbs is that he doesn't get frustrated if things don't work at the beginning. How many players would be totally insecure after these two major stopping mistakes at the beginning? Gibbs, however, doesn't give up and fights himself back into the game. Sure it wasn't top level what he was playing yesterday, but there's a slight difference between playing Burghausen and Brazil.
agree completely.Onthe other hand, Berhalter has no such excuse.Really, he must be dropped from the team, not because of nerves, but because he is just not good enough.
One difference I noted between Berthalter and Gibbs...although it is only one game: There was a sequence in 1st half, in which the dude with "A" name went to right corner of box (Berthalter, I think, thought he was offside, but then recovered)...but then Berthalter made an absolutely unforgiveable mistake (besides the one that led for a goal)..he went for the guy's fake at a narrow angle (the guy had no shot, it was covered), and allow the Brazilian forward to cut back to middle and get shot off.....that was unforgiveable postioning and going for fake on Berthalter's part... Again, it was only one game....but if you look at the slo-mo sequences in front of goal, Gibbs was very well positioned/poised for whatever happened next...rarely off balance, rarely overreacting or going for ball fakes.....he recovered extremely well on Ronaldihno, after slipping.... Gibbs will HAVE to get better on the ball to play reguarly against the Brazil's etc. (likely his ball confidence would have been much higher against a minnow)...but I'd rather have a defender at 22 who is "ahead" on positioning aspect, and tackles clean and well- and who needs to get more polished on ball...then other way around.....the 2nd part (polish on ball....is easier to learn....although not a given). Bruce would be wise, IMO, to keep giving the guy minutes over next year....IMO, he is clearly (at least) a good D2 type defender...which means he good be a top flight MLS guy too....by 2005, his club situation should be better, and with another year under belt, I think he'll be in mix, if not starter for Nats by 2005...
Gibbs had a rough start, everyone is nervous the first time they play Brazil, but played well. Given his size, speed and ball skill we are going to be seeing a lot of him in the future with the Nats. I think he will have to play his way out of a job. By the way, I thought Cherundolo was very solid. He has a future with this team.
Gibbs won't be in the German 3rd division long, maybe not even next season. Gibbs is also not likely to be nervous the next time he plays in a big match, either. Kind of like how you're better at things the second time around philosophy I suppose....
I have to agree with almost everyone, Gibbs was pretty solid after the first few shaky touches. He brings a physical presence to the back line, which is an advantage and as was noted earlier he settled down after having Ronaldinho run at him. In my opinion thats a positive sign that once he gets into the flow of the game he will be fine. Once he gets used to playing for the Nats and no longer gets the ealry jitters the better off he will be. Then again thats what Bruce is using this tournament for to get these guys some experience at this level.
"Then again thats what Bruce is using this tournament for to get these guys some experience at this level." Exactly. That's the terrific thing about this tournament, even if the results have stunk so far (of course the Cameroon game could provide another revisal), we've learned some things. We've learned that the midfield w/o Reyna and O'Brien (which will be an ongoing issue in qualifying when both are unable to get out of club duties) has problems, and needs to play better particularly in terms of possession and precision passing and in moving the ball forward, rather than backward and square. But as this thread suggests, the biggest aide it was for us was in determining where we stand as a defense when facing some skilled attacking teams that don't really play like the opponents we normally schedule for friendlies and play in qualifying. The key was that we needed to find someone other than Pope and Boca who could play as a part of the back four, effectively. And sure enough, we've potentially found an answer in Gibbs. No superstar, but he is a stabilizing force back there, and Dolo looked pretty darn nice as well. We all know that that he can easily do that, and look absolutely awful in the next game, so who knows what the next couple years hold in store for him. That being said, we've learned that Berhalter, Vanney, Califf and Hejduk simply aren't the answers we're seeking, at least in the long term, but that in Gibbs and maybe in Dolo, we've found some guys we could pair with Pope and Boca. That alone is worth the tournament.
I guess I have to dissent, but the game confirmed some of my misgivings about Gibbs-- the best things about Gibbs were a couple of forward runs and the fact that he didn't let early mistakes take him out of the game. I feel like he didn't win his matchups, but unlike Berhalter (though purely through good fortune), none of his miscues led to anything worse. That said, I think he's shown more than enough to keep on playing in games like these and friendlies. I don't want to see him playing just yet in a qualifier at Azteca, but given his age and his position, that's not really much of an insult.
Gibbs was solid defensively. However as a left back in a 4-4-2, he was very mediocre. In that position, one needs to do ... well what Dolo did. Luckily for Gibbs, we don't have very many players who can do what Dolo does offensively fromt he left back position. I don't know if Gibbs can play centrally, though there is certainly potential for that. Basically, he is worth continued looks, especially if he gets himself to a better level of competition for this club, but he has a ways to go.