Mathis looked absolutely HORRIBLE Did anyone else feel embarrassed by Clint's play in the USA vs. Argentina game? He looked like a flat, average player, with the exception of one dribbling combination where he split two defenders and stayed on his feet. His shots were wide and his passes were not on the mark. A very poor performance for the player who is touted as one of USA's best strikers. Or was Argentina just that good? Tim Howard could not be faulted on the lone goal that he gave up, and he made two or three AMAZING! saves to at least keep us in the hunt. On a side note, Rob Stone and Ty Keough are two of the worste announcers I have ever listened to in my life. Bumbling idiots. At various times, their conversation centered on: -tennis -technical terminology for bruises -making jokes about Dave Dir -the weather in Florida They fu(kin' sucked.
i wouldnt worry too much about clint(midfield was overpowered for most of the game),,i'd worry about ben olsen if i was a dc fan,,,,timmy is the man,,,lets enjoy watching him play in mls while we still can and about the announcers,,,, JP should be the voice of US soccer PERIOD!!
I'd love to hear what Max Bretos & the other FSW callers could bring to the national stage. Their commentary is always entertaining, insightful, and often flat-out funny. ESPN just sucks. What was that full-screen interview with BA while the game was going on?! I watched the game mostly on Telemundo. The only problem was that the feed never looked good & the crowd sound was muted. And the US looked out of it for the most part. -g bugout
Convey was the one that most visibly struggled. How many positions is Arena going to try to force this kid to fit into so that he can show he belongs on this team? He doesn't belong there right now.
that's ridiculous. the boy is 19! and was completely played out of position. did you see how he beat 3 defenders when moved to midfield. (which by the way is where he belongs and thrives.) overated -- please! he is only playing for 3 (count them 3!) national levels U-20, U-23, and the full nats. check yourself. at least give our boys everything they deserve -- they didn't all play badly -- the argies were just too good.
- For the most part, the entire US team looked flat and uninspired so there's no reason to single Mathis out. -Mathis still isn't as conditioned and active as he was pre-injury but I don't know how much of a conclusion you can draw from just this game. There is plenty of time before the season opener. -Convey is a quality midfielder but struggled defensively. This is to be expected as he adjusts to a new position. He could be a monster in MLS this year. -Argentina's "B" team are a quality side. Don't take that away from them. -Dave Dir was refreshing and insightful. He should replace Ty Keough on all US Nats and MLS broadcasts.
i'm pretty sure the whole squad looked terrible. clint and landon were both dissapointing. and DMB only looked god on the defensive side of the ball.
". A very poor performance for the player who is touted as one of USA's best strikers. Or was Argentina just that good?" The whole team played poorly. A big part of that was Argentina was just that good. The only difference between this team and the first team is this team has less finishers on it. Defensively Argentina was pretty good. They do a lot of intercepting which tells me they played some man defense. Plus when they missed times their runs to intercept the pass they bumped the receiver. That through them off balance and they were still able to win the ball. That my friends is a foul but your not getting the call if the receiver remains on his feet. We should do some of that. The scarey part for me was Argentina was able to control the ball on the flanks even when their space was congested. They did that a little to easy to suit my taste. Their first goal was nice they square passed their way up field and put the ball over Howards head as he came out perfect. Argentines ate Victorine for breakfast. Victorine and Convey look good at the back position when they can attack more and defend less. When it is the other way around then you see their weakness. On Mathis in the first half with him and Donovin up who gets them the ball? Better one up and one in the mid they can reverse rolls during the game. Lastly on the Argentines on defense they were very quick beat us to the ball on 50/50 balls. On our game we play too much in the air. On crosses and even on goal kicks did we win any headers? On Howard he need to throw more and kick less.
yeah it was tough for mathis to get involved in the match where the US midfeilders and defense were letting the Argentinian players streak down the feild. they played really well in my oppinion, tons of great runs, passes, dummies, just a really classy team. plus they had more to prove today than the US did, its just a shame that the US team didn't realize that.
I also don't REALLy fault Mathis for the for first half. We gave them the midfield, and didn't have much defense on the flanks to stop them once they were through. The worst part of the defense were the blind kicks forward. I wonder what Clint or Landon could have done with service. The team looked flat. Considering that the mix of players is relatively young and haven't really made a great connection yet leaves me interested in what is to come, not worried about what we saw. Now, NEXT time against Argentina, with both full sides playing a friendly setting up for the last round of qualifiers, THAT is gonna be fun! BTW, thought Garcia was the biggest liability out there. Why even fight for the ball if you don't really know what you are going to do with it if you win?
I know nobody cares what I think, so don't waste your time telling me BUT: Clint is Clint. You take what he gives you, accept it, and forget that he could be so much more. He is who he is, and that's plenty good enough. I'd take the guy in a heartbeat if you're tired of him. The guy you OUGHT to be excited about is Howard. The guy is rapidly approaching Friedel/Keller level. I like him better every time I see him. He obviously has a ways to go in terms of experience, but he's the whole friggin package. What a horse you have there. I just hope he gets enough USA time to quallie for an EPL work permit. I can think of half a dozen clubs who he should be starting for tomorrow.
Mathis Player evaluations with an eye to how this game affected their chances with the Nats, is here. We clearly missed Eddie Pope: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/NationalTeams/1044751065/view -Tron
"One game and Mathis loses his god status?" I always told my players your only as good as your last game.
Timmy had a tremendously great game. He owned every lose ball that was played around him, whether it be crosses, corners, shots, everything. If he can keep this up, he'll probably get the nod to start come 2006. Clint's performance wasn't really his fault. The midfield had a tough time bringing the ball upfield. He had like what, 10 touches? Convey should be playing attacking mid, not left back. He dribbled past every one when he got past half field. US didn't try as hard as they normally do. Argentina also played really tough, and were lucky not to escape with two more red cards, most rememberable was the one when Donovon had a 60 yard run, then get tackled from behind when he surely beat his man. US did well for a team that was playing most of their players out of postioned.
Don't worry, we are plenty excited about Tim. I think he showed again today that he is the class of MLS. I, for one, think Tim will be starting in 2006. Now I need to go the the U.S. forum and see if someone can explain why Bruce thought Ben Olsen could play center mid...
Argentina just flat-out outplayed the US all over the field. Nats had a few nice moments, but the speed and desire of the Argentinians was too much. Mathis didn't look great, but neither did Donovan or Olsen or Twellman or Cunningham. The Argentine defenders played very well and were clearly out to prove they belonged on the full national side regardless of whether their European-based teammates are available or not. Howard made some nice saves and really took command on the crosses into the box. Displayed his athleticism very well. I'm also glad that Pope just sat on the bench and rested those creaky knees. Califf, Bocanegra and Garcia all need the experience of playing a top side anyway. Not sure how anyone can badmouth Convey either. For a guy playing out of position, he acquitted himself nicely.
Good point. What was Donovan trying to do by acting that way - get himself carded??? It was embarrassin as a fan of the USMNT to see him act that way in an international friendly. Bruce Arena better address that problem quickly.
I can't get over how complete these Argentine young Turks are -- physically fast, technically quick, and extremely tough-minded. Gifted as they are, they never hesitated to use force, letting the ref sort out the fouls if and when he caught them. It was all part of a plan to dominate every aspect of the match, which they did. We need a better midfield; I'm satisfied our forewards can score if they see enough of the ball. And while this was not our first line of defense, they could have done better had the midfield not been so porous. Mastroene needed help out there, and none was available. I kept remembering how Bora emphasized defense through the center, with Dooley and Sorber in front of Balboa and Lalas, back in the days of 'first defend, then defend, then attack if you get the chance.' On the other hand the 5-3-2 D-shell we brought to Costa Rica during the qualifiers was little more than an embarrassment. The only real answer is better players and a faster team in every respect. Lets hope both show up in the next two years.