Great substitutions from Bradley, it was the players who didn't come through on the night. We gave the ball away way too easily in our own half. That, along with some piss poor officiating made for a poor second half. Oh well, 3 points, job done. On to Trinidad.
quick observations weakest link - Bornstein waste of a sub - Beckerman Spector disappointintment for me tonight wrong sub - Altidore ( should have been Dempsey) our defence - graded D+ Donovan - best player we have, wish we had 4 more like him ref - called back that goal for a panthom fault otherwise they were C+ passing/possesion - tough to swallow D- overlall performance of our team C-
Right, what a brilliant idea to have NO FORWARDS on the field for the last ten minutes, while we're trying to hold the ball.
We finished poorly. But otherwise it was, on balance, acceptable. And we got three points. Relax, my friends.
It was a "foul" on Dempsey..who had released the ball before the other player made any contact with him.
Can we please learn basic clearing of the box? I'm sick of our defenders "clearing" the ball to someone on the other team who's standing at the corner of the box.
Am I the only one that thought that Dempsey played atrociously? Lucky goal and should have had about 4 more. Horrible. Bornstein is a joke. Bradley brought Beckerman in to cater to the hometown fans, what a joke that was. Altidore-Davies looked dangerous all night. Donovan was great. Bradley was bad plain and simple. Spector is so dangerous with his crosses.
It is incredible that you guys are so disappointed with 3 points. Don't be naive, this was never going to be an easy game. We held possession pretty well and should have won 3-1 save for a blown call. 3-1 and you guys wouldn't even be talking about the "players not coming through" how ridiculous, don't be results oriented.
We did ok. A few poor finishes and a good goal called back kept it from being a rout. Timmy got his one good save for the game and other than that they hardly threatened. Our midfield possession and pressure was nonexistant though. Not sure if we just respected their dribbling too much or what, but they had way too much space in the middle of the field. Their wingers were a handful.
Don't be results oriented? What a wonderful idea, I'll forward that to FIFA and they can decide to just decide games by possession percentage and shot count. Goals shouldn't matter anyway. The fact remains that even if that goal goes in, even if Jozy scores and it's 4-1, Bradley played like crap, Bornstein was an embarrassment, and Dempsey lost the ball too much.
Anyone remember the last time a USMNT backline in an important game was this crap? It's ironic, because the defense and D-Mid is generally seen by people on BS as our deepest positions, but they were our weakest links on the field today.
dempsey played up top. doesnt mean he's a forward. he had 3 good opportunities and butchered all but one
I disagree. Our defense looked vulnerable all night. Even at 3-1 I wouldn't have been happy. All I can say is welcome back, Gooch. And Jay, please, please be available for Wed., so we can slide Carlos over and dump Jonny boy.
We're screwed. Bob's going to find a way to keep us home in 2010. We have three games left, and I'm not sure we'll win any of them if we play like this.
More Charlie and Jozy please. Feilhaber needs to be a permanent fixture. Bradley can't keep pace with the quick passing/thinking of Feilhaber, Donovan, and Dempsey. Outside backs were attrocious tonight. CONCACRAP officiating at its most absurd.
Even though the best outcome for us tonight was to get 3 points, which we did, I'm an American Soccer Fan on bigsoccer therefore i'm going to bitch at our team like they all shot three goals a piece into our own net and Bob Bradley personally gunned down my puppy.
Hmm, well we were missing our two starting center backs and our replacements (marshall, and bornstein due to boca moving inside) are a big drop off. This is incredible that you guys think we played so bad and the fact that you figure the backline wouldn't be as good as usual. Yes, Dempsey lost the ball too much and looked bad, but I thought in general we looked GREAT going forward, and more dangerous than I have seen in a long time. 3 points is exactly what we needed and we got it. As far as being results oriented what I am saying is, a few of you on here wouldn't even pay attention to how players played if that goal had been counted. 3-1 would equal "the U.S. played well!" but no, a bad call, and all of the sudden we played like crap? I'm sorry there is something wrong with the logic. THAT is what don't be results oriented means, we are not fifa, we are fans, knowledgeable and otherwise. The players didn't blow anything people, quit acting like we lost.
I want to see Feilhaber and Jones... that'd be intriguing. I doubt that Michael Bradley will get dropped though... has he ever been subbed when he's not injured? Ever?