Rowe is doing ok, this is Corona's team, good for him, hoping Bruce brings Torres in the future as well.
All of our attacking players have been good today, although to be honest I think it's partly attributable to some horrid Ghanian defending so far. They really, really need to regroup.
Yeah, should have been red. But at the same time I'm glad it's still 11 v 11; better that way for our preparation.
Acosta needs a little more disciple in his positioning. The gap has been a little large at times in front of the CB's.
I have my hopes that Ghana can turn their campaign around. I've seen far too many snooze fests from Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt to count, and just enjoy the flair of many Sub-Saharan African teams so much more (primarily Ghana, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon and Nigeria when they have their <blank> together, could also mention D.R. Congo who seem to be turning a corner lately). For Ghana to qualify though, one of three things needs to happen: Ghana needs Egypt to falter, while they collect all home points, and 4 at minimum on the road. Ghana needs to sweep 3 points in all remaining games, and they need Egypt to lose another road game beyond their match at Ghana at the conclusion of group play. I think Ghana can qualify if they collect 4 wins in their 4 games, and Egypt lose to Ghana and draw another match if memory serves. Right now my desires are being fulfilled except with Ghana, and in that insane group of death with Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia and Algeria (cycle after cycle CAF seems to do a horrible job of qualifying their best teams) I think the last cycle was a rare instance in which nearly all of their truly best sides made it (except Egypt). To me, if one were to rate the very best sides in Africa, Qualifying Group B would house 4 of the 7 or 8 strongest overall and how you can create a group like that for qualifying is just beyond me. It would be like UEFA having a qualifying Group where only one team advances but Germany, Italy, England, and Portugal are housed in it. It's just stupid.
Acosta is not showing much today. Stupid freekick to give up. Hospital balls all over the place. Dwyer is the only one impressing so far.
The reason why Corona is looking great is because we have 2 smart players behind him. Dax and Acosta are looking sharpe, that gives Corona the freedom to showcase his talent.
I’ll never understand the argument for more lenient officiating in friendlies. The only valid reason to not see as many cards, especially red, in non-competitive games is because the *play* might not be as aggressive. But if the players commit the fouls, the refs need to act accordingly. There is just no argument for going easy on a player who commits that egregious of a foul. Plus, it puts the players in danger.
Acosta really needs to go to a faster-paced, better league than MLS where he doesn't have so much time when he has the ball
Yep and figuring out where players stand. It's a friendly and you won't learn much by being up a man against Ghana. Down a man maybe, up a man won't help. I want to see what these guys can do heads up. Onto a separate topic not brought up by you: As for Zusi, I imagine he keeps getting run because of chemistry, intangibles/leadership, his corners, and Bruce's efforts to develop depth options going forward. He has a year (if we qualify) to figure out the first XI, super subs, game killing subs, depths for positions of weakness, youthful pieces that might be able to add key elements a year from now, our best formations for differing kinds of opponents, the overall depth chart in general, and of course to rebuild the mentality that had gone straight down the drain during the Jurgen era. A lot on that to do list. A guy like Zusi is probably there because he hits multiple area's of the check list: Probably chemistry and intangibles for the mentality, probably depth, and probably corners, not enough people are celebrating that Bruce has clearly recognized the weakness of letting Bradley take corners, and Zusi is one of the options there as well. All that being said, I think his time is past, and I don't see how he can be relevant no matter what impact he has in the room or on corners, to me he just isn't good enough. But Bruce see's more there. I don't see it, but he's such a brilliant man manager that I can't help but think that if its related to chemistry and intangibles he may have a point.