FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Edson Buddle's goal in the 68th minute gave the United States under-23 men's national team a 1-0 win over Haiti in an exhibition match Wednesday night. Ed Johnson had the assist on the goal, which came shortly after a Haitian handball just outside its penalty area. Goalkeeper D.J. Countess had three saves for the Americans. Are we that bad ??
This link (pulled from another thread) provides a pretty good re-cap of the game: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/Nati...1015211222/view It does give it a more positive spin..... Long and short of it, the U-23s did not look too good last night. As the article discusses, could not control the MF until Landon came in. It was kind of scary. In the 1st half lots of boots, long clearances and punts. The Defenders were not even trying to dribble out. A lot of credit to Haiti and their fans. Good, fun, jubilant crowd. Showed respect to the US players when they entered the pitch and during the national anthem. Haiti played hard. Real hard. Lots of spirit. They are coming off a big win on Sunday against the Dom Rep. in Olympic qualfying. Their technical skills are not top notch (bad 1st touches, errant passes), which meant their efforts went for not quite a bit.... The article does not say that the one shot threatening shot hit the crossbar and I do not think DJ would have gotten to it. Wrt US Players, Donovan changed the complexion of the game. Controlled the MF and brought flow to the game. Testo linked up much better w/ Edson. Borchers was very solid and impressed me, but did get beat 1-2x and made a bad foul late to give Haiti a nice free kick opp (which they drilled into the someone's chest in the middle of the wall). Buddle placed the ball nicely on his goal. And, BTW, Lockhart. Nice SSS. Too bad the Fusion could not survive. Man, if we had that stadium in SW Miami, it would be (have been) incredible.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling .... Deep breath! It's a friendly. P.S. Brian Carroll is probably fifth choice at left mid in any intelligent assessment -- and in the USMNT system, left mid is a key position.
I have never heard a bad word about the fans of any of the island nations -- Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad, whomever. They must be among the world's classiest soccer fans.
To all you "half full" type of people.... Why are '"we" always that bad when so an so aren't here but when the "so and so's" are a game and they lose- excuses are made?I think the 20's had everyone there and they lost. Can we say they are bad ?????After not playing together for a long time a 1-0 match win is not bad-considering Haiti just came off a great win and the stands were full of supporters.
Likely starters missing from last night's game: DaMarcus Beasley Ricardo Clark Bobby Convey Oguchi Onyewu Kelly Gray Plus, potentially another back and, Landon, a sure starter, only played the last 30 minutes. Put all those guys in the starting lineup and you have a different game, I'm guessing. Now, factor these issues in: The team had all of two practices together this camp and hasn't been together since May. Eddie Johnson was being experimented at right mid. Nat Borchers was making his international debut (though it doesn't sound like he was the problem). One of the starters last night is still in college. He won't start in qualifying (I don't think). Carroll, as others have noted, is behind Beas, Convey and Mapp at left mid. And so on... Yeah, it sounds like excuses. But, they are valid excuses and the bottom line is that despite all these issues, we won.
I wouldn't over-generalize. Reportedly, there were some ugly scenes in this summer's Jamaica-Nigeria friendly, and didn't something happen in the recent Jamaica-Cuba U-23 game?
The thing that has me only slightly concerned is the report about Martino as the playmaker....that he was ineffective due to tight marking by the Haiti team. Does that mean he was getting knocked off the ball, or what? He's gotten the hype as being the playmaker of the future, gonna help the full National team, yet he was unable to get it done. Course, that is just one game. Did he need Convey in there with him, do you think, or what? Looks like that anticipated pairing of Buddle/Donovan didn't get to happen (in large part due to Donovan's injury), due to Landon having to take over for Martino. I'm hoping Martino/Convey can take over that role in order to free up LD to pair with Buddle, if for no other reason than that it would really be exciting soccer to see.
Don't forget Eskandarian started at forward...He's been a complete waste of a draft pick so far for DC, he has shown nothing except hard work that achieves absolutely nothing. He's the poorer poor man's Chris Carreri.
The question is not If we are bad or not, the question should be " DO WE HAVE THE RIGHT COACH?? Any coach in USA that do not trash HAITI 11- O need to be fire! no questions ask!!
Re: Re: U23 / long way to go Let's not get carried away there, Cowboy. We are nowhere near as good - and Haiti is nowhere near as bad - as that.
I hear you but the kid (Wingert) did not look out of place at all and Myernick likes him enough to call him into every camp. I say he makes the team as a starter.
A very fair question. I have not seen these two play right back for some time (or left back even where Wingert played last night) so I can't really make the comparison. However, Gooch seems to be getting strong reviews as a central defender and maybe this is his best position. I'm also a big fan of Kelly Gray, who is very versatile and can play many different positions well. I think he has just recently gotten playing time as a 4-4-2 wing back (or am I making this up?) so clue me in on how he has played there. Net net, are Gray and Gooch better central defenders and likely to see most of their time there for the U23s? Wingert keeps it simple, gets forward at the right times, sends in a good cross yet seldom gets caught upfield. He has good speed and good defensive posisioning and 1v1 skills. He is surprisingly good for a college player and I think he's got a real shot a the starting role in qualifying.
How did Lewis look at right back and was there any word as to why Wingert was on the left and not Lewis? I'm guessing that with EJ at right mid, given his defensive inexperience, he wanted Lewis behind him to back him up. Regarding Gray, the Fire plays a 3-5-2 and he's been the marking back on both sides but I don't think he's played RB in a 4-4-2. I do think he played there with the 23s when they beat Mexico in May.
I think LD needs to play as a creative mid or attacking midfielder. While i don't think his play at forward is bad I believe one of his strengths is field vision. I have watched several games where LD just makes the incisive cutting through ball. Plus from the midfield he can use his speed and control to run at defenders and open space for other players. So i would stick with LD in the middle of the pitch and use Edson with another striker. I have not watched eddie johnson much so I am not sure who should be paired up top. Just my 2cents
Re: Re: U23 / long way to go So, where were you when the 23s went down to Mexico and won 3-1 or did well in Portugal in January? Should Mooch have been fired after those results, too?
Lewis put in solid effort defemsively but couldn't get it going much on the offensive side of the ball and this was the difference in comparison to Wingert, who was much more effective working with Carroll in generating offense. EJ's still adapting to the RM role, I think this had alot to do with the lack of offensive success for Lewis and may be the reason he played on the right as well.
He has played the last half of the season at right back because CJ Brown has been hurt. Most of that has been in a 3-5-2, but the last 3 or 4 games, Sarachan has been lining up in a 4-4-2 with Gray wide right -- Perez, Boca, Curtin and Gray across the back. If we're even or down, the first sub is an attacking mid for Perez and we change to the 3-5-2.
Re: Re: U23 / long way to go Just reading the title of this thread and knowing that it would be about the US only winning 1-0 I knew whip's post would be coming.