Who the hell is the idiot at USSF who decides that it would be a good idea to play a WCQ at home at altitude? Against a country who live at about 2500' themselves? We look like we were dying out there, totally exhausted. Maybe if we weren't playing at 4800' or whatever it is, our guys could catch their breath.
Recently back from the game.... First thoughts. Great to get the win. 3 points is 3 points Way, way to much blue in Rio Tinto. Looked like 60/40 pro US crowd, might have been as much as 70/30 but hard to tell with US fans wearing blue, black, green, whatever. Dissapointing. Landon rocked it all night long. Setting up plays, making runs, playing with full effort the whole time. We kept trying to figure out how that goal of Jozy's was dissallowed. Dempsy jumped over they guy trying to cleat him studs up. Jozy was very onside and had the defender hanging on him from behind. A very clear example of the poor officiating all game long, from both teams perspective judging from what I heard from ES fans. The center was bad, the linesmen were beyond bad. Timmy was great. It was nice hearing the US fans drown out any ES chants, and the USA chants getting stronger as the game went on. El Salvador needs to lay off the diving. But I guess if the ref buys it, it will continue to happen. Overall, great venue, good energy from the crowd. USSSC paid for itself with the members invite to go down on the field after the game and take pictures in goal, on the field, and on the bench. Extra bonus of Jay Demerit and Steve Cherundolo showing up for pix and autographs.
Look, it wasn't a great outing tonight. The US did a number of things wrong. But it controlled most of the game and got three points. There are legitimate criticisms to be made about the team's organization, about its finishing, and Bradley's coaching (Beckerman?!). But, really, the hysterical panic and belligerence in this thread is unnecessary. In fact, some of you are making me think that you're the victims of a disinformation campaign. So here's a quote from an Aug. 2009 government press release that I think might help clear some stuff up:
WOW, just wow, You guys are bitching and crying, but you never give El Salvador any credit? Learn to respect your opponent, El Salvador is very good. I was born in US, but felt embarrased at how many fouls US needed to keep the game. I am divided 50/50 usually because my parents are from ES, but geez, the US made it pretty easy for me to pick a side, if you didn't see all the fouls, then ???
We have in the past. We didn't do a good job of it tonight. Bradley had a poor game and overall, the midfield we put on the field tonight is not good at closing down spaces, applying defensive pressure, and winning 50/50 balls. My biggest problem with the game was that we lost possession too easily with poor passes and touches. We have talent but our players seem to display at times a naivety in their game and lack just a little bit of the focus, polish and individual experience of top tier teams that separates the boys from the men. We're still young and getting close but not quite there yet. BTW, I'm not a Mike Bradley hater. In fact I think he can become a great player for the US. But I'm beginning to agree with other posters that he shouldn't be an automatic starter, playing the full 90 every game. When Jones dons the US uniform and is fit, he should be the choice to start over Bradley, paired with either Feilhaber or Holden. Lee
THIS. Throughout the game, I asked myself if the refs didn't have it out for us (especially considering the ridiculous disallowed goal)--but the fact that we got no yellows tonight makes me think the refs were TRYING to call an even game. They failed at it, to be sure, but there was nothing nefarious going on. Just incompetence.
I wondered whether Bornstein knew what position he was playing. El Salvador had acres of space on the right, as Bornstein seemed to push up and in leaving our left wide open.
They have improved quite a bit in this cycle. I think I saw they've gone up in the FIFA rankings by 50 places or something, I guess too many of us are stuck in the past when El Salvador was a team of very small players and just our height alone was just about enough to beat them.
Bob Bradley has me seriously missing the days of Bruce Arena. Bruce always had us organized in the back and very difficult to break down. We could finish off a game with a goal lead with out having a heart attack. I believe Bruce would be doing a much better job with this talent. We did not have defenders clearing balls into our own goal area!!
They're good at taking their few chances and they're good at being pesky and winding the other team up. For a possession team that plays a possession game, they create very few chances. Not a particularly good team. But real pests to have to play; the type of team that can take a good team and force them to play down to their level for most of the match.
ES isn't a strong team. Alverez has 0 chance of getting called into a B-team US camp, and he's an immediate ES starter. We should win against them home or away. They played with a lot of heart and fight today, so I'm not avoiding giving them credit for playing tough, but really the US should have had it much easier if they were playing like we expect. I'd be surprised if there was much difference in fouls between the 2 teams. Seemed pretty even, I can't find any stats. I don't remember any cynical fouls from the US though. The officiating tonight was just horrible. IIRC the only yellow came from a ES player throwing the ball after the ref gave the wrong decision on a throw in, which happened frequently. They cost us a goal, and I don't think anyone knows why they stopped play. There was 1 or 2 handballs (not in the box) that were so crazy obvious it's insane that they were not called. The US had a breakaway stopped because of offsides flag 40 yards behind the play. Late in the game Jozy outran their left back to the ball, then got tripped from behind, and the linesman called a foul on Jozy. These guys were terrible, and not just against the US, but the 1 giant decision cost us a goal.
You and the ref both need to realize this is not U10s, the foul should not always get called on the larger player....
Amen. El Salvador, or any team in the final Hex, aren't bottom feeders, they earned their right to be here, just like we did. These are the top 6 teams in the region, and all the nut jobs on here predicting 5-1 and this nonsense never cease to amaze me. I guess stupidity is resistant to almost everything. Still, we could have easily had more if not for Dempsey's wastefulness, and our teammates getting in each others way a couple times. Davies ball cleared off the line, Torres' header, and the horrid call to deny the third goal. In many ways, a squeaker (ES took the lead, and had a decent chance to tie the game at two). In others, it could have been a blowout. For me: Best US players: Donovan, Davies. Good: Bocanegra, Marshall, Feilhaber, Altidore + Holden (limited time) Average: Spector, Dempsey + Torres (limited time) Poor: Bradley, Howard. Dreadful: Bornstein, Beckerman
And El Salvador wasn't hacking, taking cheap shots, and generally playing a gamesmanship game? The Salvadorans were constantly pulling the old "push they big guy, get shoved back, fall and get the call" trick. After taking the lead, the keeper was "injured" again, just as down in San Salvador... but only until we took the lead.
Alverez walked into their starting 11. He can't even be the ball boy for our *gold cup* team. Come on now...
In case anyone was wondering about Chuck D.....his injury is supposedly a calf contusion"that doesn't seem to be serious." So we have that, at least.