Exactly how I see it. Deuce was bad and someone needs to tell him he's not Ronaldo or Messi. Get your ass in front of the goal like poacher should be.
Thanks...The narrowness of the pitch tonight cannot be dismissed - it was the single-most important factor outside the wind on the US Attack tonight. The early cross in the area I described allowed depth of field and gave time for players to attack the ball- However...crosses closer to the end-line or corner kicks forced either short balls or over kicks.
GAM!!! But Gomez and Dempsey were rubbish.... More crosses please, especially if that's the gameplan.
Nice observation, both of Zusi's crosses that got Dempsey's ire tonight came from the end-line areas.
Yeah, what was Dempsey's problem tonite? Maybe he needs to ratchet his ego back 2 or 3 clicks when he plays w/ our team.
Maybe... if you noticed there were 7-8 defenders in the box on every US attack and the narrowness of the field negated all attack through 70% of the central pitch or maybe you were too busy reading Freud during the match to notice what was happening... and think that someone who travels tens of thousands of miles to wear our crest and has devoted his life to the game we love maybe doesn't think that everything is about him and is over-the-moon that the USA won tonight.
I agree wholeheartedly. I can understand people's frustration but how does an 10 man team attack another 10 man team all whose defending on that illegal width field. They act like the width of the field has nothing to do with it. The spaces are so narrow you physically can't easily fit a ball on the ground to anyone. Your solution is good but still difficult. The two crosses were unique, Zusi's came on a cross with the left foot on the second pass on the cross . Gordon's cross came on two bouncing one touch passes (Klejstan) from a throw-in. Its almost impossible to get there in a normal buildup from the run of play. If either one took a second touch the play fails. This says nothing about the rain, wind and poor pitch. It also doesn't address the bad defending on their goal either. Just dealin with the attack.
We should have been floating long, chipped type balls into the box all night long. You are right it wasn't a typical deep cross. Not wide enough. But the ball should have been "put into the mixer" more tonight. We kept trying to jam it through a packed middle on a shittay pitch. That was always going to be more difficult than route 1 tonight.
Gordon was decisive. His speed of thought created the goal. He made his decision quickly and one timed it. Another chance was created by Dempsey on one touch pass in which Gomez wasted. The US looked dangerous in the run of play with one touch passes.
In hindsight I agree with you somewhat. But just kicking the ball long from every part of the field would not have solved our problem it would have exasberated it. On a compressed field with no wings you just can't kick the ball everytime into the 'mixer' and follow it up with running midfielders. Then you put yourselves in a numbers disadvantage on the counter if you get long headed balls from their defenders which you invariably do when teams just try to play long ball then send middies to chase the second balls. These long headers and clearances then hit their 2-3 attacking players creating more quality and numerous counter chances with them running at some very slow defenders. That's what they wanted us to do. I had no problem with our possession game but a few more chances could have been had if we selectively and decisively had a plan to loft some more of those non-cross crosses into the box. We act sometimes that if we can type it hear its easily done on the soccer field and that ain't the case with alot of bunkering on a narrow field.
Good points. These one touch passes worked. But alot can't on a 60 yard field with rain, wind, chunks of missing grass and a team waiting to pounce on a pass 6 inches off.
You bring up a good point. I'll come back with, we shouldn't have had Goodson on the backline if we were goign to go high line. Part of teh reason you have a dedicated 6 is so that the rest of your midfield can attack with a certain amount of freedom. There is no reason that Boca, Goodson, Cam and Williams/Jones shouldn't have been able to handle a counter attack. It should have been exactly what we prepared for all week. I'm not saying we should have gone straight Sam Allardyce route 1. But our toothless possession game should have been supplemented regularly by the floated/crossed ball to EJ, Dempsey and Gomez.
Interesting how there is very little talk about the players we were missing. Obviously we should have the depth to beat A+B, but Donovan and Fabian were really missed. We did nothing down the flanks from the run of play.
Agree with everything up to the line about Jozy. The Hex is a different beast than the WC and Brazil is a year and a half away. Jozy is still likely to be a a WC starter, EJ may be playing his way into a super sub role
I hate to beat a dead horse, but the width of the field would not have changed. Donovan and Johnson may have had possibly one or two good runs because of the better quickness but it would not have changed the game much from that dynamic.
That's a bigger issue beyond this game. Interesting to note that speed of thought improves greatly when you are playing on a normal sized field with larger gaps between players on a quality manicured pitch against a team that is not bunkering without wind and rain with all your best players available. Just sayin.
We really missed FJ. Probably don't give up a goal because he doesn't get his pants pulled down like Boca did. Second, he would have given EJ someone to hook up with on his side. EJ was playing a left mid position he's never played before, left alone on an island, and some are crucifying his performance outside the goals. he had no help on his side.
Especially if when you move you run into the passing lane of a teammate or closer to another defender. Ever play regulation soccer with 22 players in a phone booth?
Which is worse Boca playing LB or Danny Williams playing outside Mid? Boca is so slow now I feel bad for him. Boca gets stripped and can't get back. Cameron takes a bad angle and gets beat to the endline, Goodson gets pushed in the shoulder and falls down like a house of cards laying in front of the goal as the ball passes him by for a goal. 3 defenders can't make glaring mistakes like that right after one another for us to have any semblance of an International caliber defense.