And what have we learned? Well, we scored a grand total of 0 goals. Zero. Zilch. Nada. That's, um, a problem, despite a great effort tonight.
We've learned: Timmy Howard is still the man. Just how valuable Landon is. Freddy can now contribute. Heath Pearce is decent (fabulous against Arg), but we still need other options at LB. EJ doesn't have it. Josh Wolff doesn't have it. Cherundolo is looking a little shaky. Michael Bradley is not quite ready for the big time. Bob Bradley picks very poor lineups.
Howard is stepping up into Brad Friedel territory. Edu has established himself as the most and gifted of the true central mids. Pearce is the number #1 left back and hopefully made himself some money if not this season then down the road. Adu needs to start. EJ needs to sit. Bradley should not be an automatic starter. Eddie Lewis > Beasley Kljestan ready for the next level? Fire Bob.
I'll agree with everything, but the Cherundolo line. He's probably the most unappreciated Nat we've go. We played Spain and England away, and Argentina at home, and gave up a grand total of 4 goals. That's actually very good. Mexico lost just to Argentina 4-1 this past week. You're going to give up goals to those teams, they just have so much talent. So the defense (and especially the goalkeeping) are in good shape going into qualifying. I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about where the goals are gonna come from. Not against Barbados, or Cuba, or El Salvador. Against the top teams in the world we seem to be a bit naive up top. I'd say SIT EDDIE! But I'm not sure the other options are any better. Altidore's still got something to prove at this level. Let me re-phrase. I'm not sure the other options are better, but I'm certainly willing to find out.
Agreed, the defense was decent, given the competition. But we HAVE to figure out how to score in the run of play. We're too dependent on set pieces and we can't even convert those against good comp. We're turning into England lite, and this squad looks too much like the one we saw in the WC 2 years ago.
It is the same thing that has always plagued the NT: poor finishing. Also, the Argentina game showed me we have some young players that need to be unleashed. Finally, desperately want to see three things, all concerning our attack: 1. Robbie Rogers: there is a reason he is being hacked unmercifully right now in MLS. 2. Kenny Cooper: unlike EJ, he has some confidence in from of goal. 3. Jozy Altidore: there were extenuating circumstances, but I can't wait until he becomes a full-timer for us.
Did I miss one someplace? 2-0 to England (Terry, Gerrard) 1-0 to Spain (Xavi) ; 0-0 against Argentina
Goal-scoring is still a MAJOR problem...especially, in the run of play!! But I did like the way we got better with each game...from HORRIBLE v England to SOLID v Argentina!! And I have NO doubt that we will score A PLENTY next week!! Oh yeah...Tim Howard is THE man!!!
At this point in time. He just came off an injury and has not looked particularly sharp, though he looked better today than in the other two matches. Nevertheless, if I'm filling out my line-up card for the first game against Barbados, Lewis's name is on the first XI and Beasley's is not.
Don't know that I'd say there was improvement; it just seems that Tim Howard had a great game for us.
No. Cherundolo looked fine in all 3 matches. He's far and away still our best RB, as proven when Hejduk got absolutely scorched in the 2nd half against Spain. As Clint Eastwood rightly points out, Steve Cherundolo is probably the most underappreciated player on our squad.
It's tough to score goals when you insist on always playing with two dmids and one forward - It's also easier to keep the score down. The real test of Bradley is if he comes out against Barbados with his normal (suckass) formation, or if he comes out to win the game. If it's the former, Sunil should fire him at the end of the game.
bob bradley has effectively neutered the team. and so long as he is in charge, we will remain offensively inept. its not the players, its the system . . . the sad thing is, the 0-0 draw from today will buoy those that can't see how bad things are.
Uh, that one just seems obvious? I'm sure Nowak saw that performance and thought Edu looked like a marvelous central defender, though.
Don't hold your breath. Going through a hypothetical starting 11, I realized it came down to Rogers or Donovan. I know you're a fan, but I hope you're not a delusional one.
We learned that Tim Howard saved Bob Bradley's job tonight because we should have been down 4-0 at halftime with that stupid ass lineup. We also learned that we can be very resilient and that Adu/Edu should be on the field, and we look good when we PUSH FORWARD AND NOT DEFEND INCESSANTLY FOR 90 MINUTES. As much as I hate Bob for the lineup, I will give him credit for the subs in finally taking baby Bradley and Dempsey off, and having a go at Argentina. That's all we've been asking of Bob to do, have a go at people, and look how good we looked in the second half doing it!