U-20 World Cup - USA/El Salvador post game thread (R)

I saw the game on the willowtv internet broadcast (it was either spend 15 on that, or drink 15 worth of beer at the bar: no contest).

My thoughts:
The red was not justified. Sure, it was a stupid play by 'Tino to hack the guy, and certainly worth a yellow, but stupidity does not equal a red card. Harsh call, IMHO.

After the card, ES attacked a bit more and had more posession than before, but it was never very dangerous in the first half. The US by far had the better opportunities, and had more dangerous possession in the ES half, but poor decision making and general indecisiveness cost us. Convey's run at the end of the half was breathtaking. Barclay blew a great chance earlier. In the first half, our best players seemed to be Convey, Mapp, and our right back, Klass (sp?), who looked dangerous going forward and was solid in defending. Johnson looked good at times, but generally, was too cute and gave the ball away needlessly too many times.

In the second half, both teams looked sharper, but ES still looked inoccuous in the final 3rd for the most part. The US was able to maintain possession and had some very crisp passing in the final 3rd, but the goal wouldn't come. Ricardo Clark, who was pretty absent in the first half, had a good run of play, making smart, simple, and dangerous passes, beating his man on the dribble, and snuffing out the ES attack. Convey continued to shine. Mapp looked dangerous, too. E. Johnson was better this half, but still failed to really impress.

The ES own goal was a thing of beauty: Convey served a nice, swerving corner into the 6 yard box, and the ES defender just sort of fell into it and knocked it in with his head. Agoos-like, for sure.

After the goal, ES pressed, and the US bunkered. ES forced a nice save by Cronin with a 45 yard bomb to the upper 90. Seconds later, Cronin made a sprawling, low save to his left to maintain the lead.

The ref actually did a decent job. The crowd was small and quiet. The pitch was good and fast.

This game was rather frustrating to watch, as a US fan. Its obvious the talent is there. Convey and Mapp looked excellent all game long, and Clark looked like a world-beater for stretches. They just didn't seem like they were all on the same page. Chemistry just doesn't seem to be there. This was most apparent in the final 3rd, where many potential chances never materialized. Our D looked solid for most of the game, save a few moments when balls would bounce around the 18 a few times before they were cleared. Our backs were offensive liabilities, with the exception of the aforementioned Klass (sp?).

Nobody from ES was that impressive, save their keeper, who made a few nice plays, including a great, diving save on a deadly Convey freek kick from well outside the 18.

The willowtv picture was pretty good, as was the commentary.

 

Ref sucked

Lots of thoughts, so I'll break em up into several posts.

Refs seemed one-sided. Santino's hack from behind was clearly a cardable offense. I woulda called it a yellow, but I'm not going to argue the red.

BUT, there were clearly at least a half dozen worse fouls committed by El Salvador in front of the Refs that weren't called. Totally one sided. Many times when we were fouled it wasn't called, but every time we did the same thing, it was called. I'm not disputing any of the calls against us, by and large they were correct IMHO. But, the Ref just wasn't calling the same stuff on ES, and that's patently unfair. If Santino's actions were red-worthy, then ES should have finished the game with 8 players.

After Convey was harshly hacked from behind--again--and fell to the grass on pain--yet again--Rongen finally pulled him and gave the Ref a piece of his mind ... and Rongen was red carded. The final foul on Convey was this ... step on his right ankle from directly behind him, take a step, step on his left ankle from directly behind him. But he did it with his palms up, so I guess it wasn't a foul. Give me a friggen break! Card? Of course not.

B freaking S.

-Tron

 

The referee was atrocious in this match. Quaranta's foul however was a borderline red. It could have gone either way.

The non-call that infuriated me was the unbelievable dive that a Salvadoran striker made in the first half. This guy clearly went to the Luis Hernandez School of Drama. There were also a fair amount of challenges that should have been yellow cards.

The US team showed a lot of grit and got a deserved victory. Soccer is not often just but I found it ironic that Escobar scored the own goal. He's the guy who was fouled by Quaranta.

BTW, Clark was terrible in the first half with his passing. Cronin's distribution went from great to crap in one game. Nice shot stopping though in final five minutes.

It was also great to see two ex MLS coaches on the sideline for the US. Dir will get to handle the team for the Canada game.

 

Players:

Convey
He definitely did well on the ball and dominated their central defense, but he wasn't a real difference maker this game. His holding of the ball seemed superb and his dribbling was Etch-esque but at an excellent pace. But he typically had very little help. Too much ball-watching by teammates hampered his effectiveness. As the captain, he needs to tell them that. Unfortunately, he wandered too often and wasn't available in the middle as much as he needs to be. He played tough defensively but not smartly IMHO. He had a lot of hard side tackles that were close to being from behind. If an astute attacker is approached like that a slight turn could draw a red card.

Johnson
Player of the game ... again. He toyed with their defense, but because their entire defense collapsed on him, he never really could find space. He played excellent defense on their back line and was dynamite holding the ball. His speed, quickness and ball skills were exquisite, but he didn't get good service and didn't really have many chances to finish. Having Santino get a red so early really hurt Johnson's chances to score.

Santino
Looked OK but not particularly impressive early, then the stupid foul that changed the game completely. Prior to the red card the US clearly dominated the game and spent almost the entire time attacking, afterwards we played much more conservatively. Stupid frustration foul from behind after he lost the ball.

Barclay
Bad game. He rarely ventured forward and when he did it wasn't particularly effective. I cut him a little slack because Rongen clearly didn't want to venture much past midfield after we were reduced to 10 men, but still, Barclay just wasn't ever a threat.

Mapp
90% of his night was subpar. He did a very good job of getting off crosses on offense, but his placement of those crosses wasn't there tonight. He had about 3 or 4 fascinating combinations of Preki-esque dribbling wizardry and blinding quickness and speed that make you drool. But in the end, he didn't play good defense and never really looked to combine from the wing after receiving the ball.

Ricardo Clark
Good game, but not a great game like he had Wednesday. He is a monster ball-winner, and he did a great job tonight, but he had to cover too much ground after Santino was ejected and all aspects of his game suffered.

Cochrane
Good game, but not nearly as good as Wednesday. Offensively he didn't have many opportunities (because of being a man down) and defensively we had some gaps. But 1v1, he shut his man down consistently.

Marshall
He was a bit hit and miss tonight. ES realized they could beat him with speed and exploited that several times. Tactically he let them run by him without using his bigger stronger body. I'd like for him to get used to playing a tad more physically to minimize the speed deficit. Dominant in the air.

CJ Klaas
Decent game, but his forte is attacking, and we didn't get the chance to do that really this game because of the 10 men. He was solid in defense, but the sparkle of his game was limited by necessity.

Harvey
Solid game. Nothing spectacular but he contributed and did what the coaches wanted.

Cronin
Looks like he has all the tools but unfortunately playing behind Cochrane all the time can prevent a keeper from showing his skills all that often. He's certainly got the physical tools and appears to have the positioning.

I think we dominated this game with only 10 men because the coaching staff really really has the team focused on their roles. Our team shape rarely broke down. While we definitely had more cohesion in midfield with Convey, we didn't really jell offensively, mostly because we were a man down. But defensively, even on a slightly off night, we covered for one another well and that's very heartening.

-Tron

 

Re: Ref sucked

you can red-card coaches? I didn't know that. Does a player have to come off the field for that and will Rongen be suspended for the Canada game?

 

I think, technically, (correct me if I'm wrong) the ref can card anyone in the stadium - even fans. You don't play a man down if the coach gets a red. But the coach does sit out the next game.

 

I dunno, but the TV showed a Red Card and Thomas Rongen's name, so I figured that was the offical name for it. I'm sure it was the Red Card graphic, because they used the same one for Santino.

I'm glad to see the Coach sticking up for his team. Now that the US has qualified, it just means Dave Dir will get to lead the team, so even if he was carded it's not really a loss situation.

Kudos to Rongen for protecting his players who were being hacked to death at the end of the game. BTW, Brazil is the only team in quite some time to beat Rongen's U-20's. He seems to have them playing very well IMHO.

-Tron

 

Like any other red carded player, a coach has to leave the field for the duration of the match. Some of you might remember that the Slovenian coach was sent off during the World Cup, and was later caught in the stands by the TV cameras.

Dave

 

Rongen was sent to the stand for coming out on the pitch during the fracas between the US trainer and some Salvadoran players. This happened after Convey was hacked down. The Salvadorans apparently thought the trainer was stalling, and some pushing took place (the Salvadorans afterward claimed the trainer had given their player a low blow).

Rongen explained afterward that he knew he would be sent off for coming out to break it up (which is what he did, he was not involved in the pushing) but he would rather do that than let the fracas develop into a real brawl. The trainer was also sent off. No Salvadorans were booked for that incident by the Mexican referee.

Great character and grit from the USA, and what a trio of saves from Cronin, one before the goal and two in the final minute. He was Kelleresque with the reflexes and athleticism on those - no exaggeration.

 

Re: Re: Ref sucked

didn't arena get a red card against CR in a qualifier a couple of years ago?

 

Re: Re: Re: Ref sucked

No. He was suspended for two (I think) games after the match for his post-match comments about the officiating.

 

My question is the following: Can we ever have a match against a Central American team without it turning into an aggrofest? Have we ever seen Concacaf refs not try to tuck it to big Uncle?

Hey, Central Americans: Put down your copy of Soccer in Shadow and Sun and grab a tape of a game between the States and a European opponent. You may be surprised to see that games can be fiercely contested and still not lack sportsmanship. Your supposedly poetic, balletic, lyrical approach to the game is getting a bit old. Your players are hacks and dive-merchants, your fans animals, and your refs cheats.

Of course you'll never see that mentioned on Republica Deportiva.

Que pena pero así es la vaina.

 

I thought that Canada took them out last year in Rhody. Canada is an up-and-comer. We better be up for that match.

 

Canada will be working hard for a victory and we've qualified already. Sunday's game might be interesting.

 

An own goal by Escobar for the US isn't just ironic...it borders on the eerie...

 

Oh, that explains things.

 

Didn't see the game, but here's Wagman's take. He likes Bobby:

http://www.soccertimes.com/usteams/2002/nov15.htm

 

Interesting write-up on www.elsalvador.com, entitled "It was like committing suicide."

Their take is that El Salvador controlled most of the match. The biggest problem was that their attackers were individually unimpressive, unable to break down a well organized defense. In addition, they felt that Convey and Johnson were individually dangerous, but that they were given too much space on the counterattack.

 

Observations

Perhaps it was because I was at the game rather than watching it on TV, but I have to disagree with Tron's player evaluations. I also believe that Tron's evaluations fail to appreciate the difficulty and tactical changes required of playing down a man, in a qualifying match, for 70 minutes.

As soon as Quaranta was ejected (quite rightfully from the perspective of most unbiased watchers of the game I might add), the strategy became one of defending first and attacking only when the right opportunity presented itself, and then in a balanced way.

In my book, Convey was the player of the match. Not just because he hit the corner that ended up winning the match but because he covered the midfield, offensively and defensively, tirelessly. Clark was equally hard working but properly restricted his role to defending.

In the goal, Cronin was superb, although he may have made a couple of the late saves a little flashier than they should have been.

All in all, putting this game into its proper qualifying and age group context, it was a superb team effort, with excellent individual performances. I expect this team to do better than the 2001 team did at the World Champioships, with last night's effort being an importnat building block in hteir cohesion as a team.

Johnson's job last night was to receive the ball and hold it to long enough to give the rest of the team to move forward as a unit. He did not do this well. That is not intended as a slam against Johnson, as he showed strength, speed and grit. Also, many of the balls that were played to him were difficult balls to win in the first place and he cannot be faulted for not controlling them. But, in last night's game, the smarter play was to receive, hold, dish and support, rather than to turn and try to beat two or three defenders.

Barclay and Mapp played similarly last night and did exactly what outside midfielders should do in a man down situation. Their first priority was defending, but they both looked for opportunities to break forward. Barclay in particular, in the second half, got behind the defense a number of times, once putting the ball on to Johnson's foot for the best, in the run of play opportunity in the second half. He also, if I recall correctly, earned the corner kick that Convey scored. I was not in a position to comment on his shot, but again, it was a case of Mapp and Barclay covering the full field to create the opportunity, while still being able to get back and defend for 90 minutes. Barclay also made a brilliant sliding tackle, in the box, late in the second half to prevent a 1 on 1 situation with the keeper. Mapp, in the second half, played more centrally than Barclay, and several times beat multiple defenders only to be hacked down at the end.

My evaluation of the defenders in last night's game would be the same as for Wednesday's game. They are disciplined and organized. They make very few mistakes in the air, and cover for each other's mistakes on the ground. Their distribution was a bit rough last night but, again, under the circumstances, they were playing intelligently. Last night was not the time to be threading the needle from the back.

 

***************ing typical

 

The nucleus of this team, minus Covey, got whacked at the U-17 WC in T&T.

Can Convey add enough for a good showing in the WC?

 

"The nucleus of this team, minus Covey, got whacked at the U-17 WC in T&T.

Can Convey add enough for a good showing in the WC?"

The tournament also took place no less then a week after the WTC tragedies and no doubt took an effect. I'm not going to put all the blame on that but the fact is they under performed rather then being outplayed. It's already been proven that this team can compete with the best in the world. (ie the international tournament in Spain in which the beat U21 teams of Italy, Urkraine, Uruguay, and barely lost to Brazil 1-0 in group and in the final). If the team shows up to play, they'll do fine.

 

Why doesn't this behavior surprise me, you may ask?

Because I've been to too many games at RFK and seen it in the stands....