US - Canada (R)

Details please

 

Great scoreline - how's the play? Do the kids look good?

 

Match tracker has never worked for me. The only thing that I can ever open is the "Players" section.

"Commentary" (which I surmise I want) has never opened.

So if someone has seen the match will they please post. TIA

 

play was erratic, the young guys all pretty much had just fair performances at best. Twellman... was he on the field? Donavan..so so...Mathis still has that scorers touch deadly in front.... Beasley, Convey, Olsen, Mastro and Ralston all pretty solid. Bocanegra solid..unlucky not to have 2 tonight. Califf the jury is still out, just still seems uncomfortable, Victorine good against this level, Probably will get torched against the Argies. Cunningham imo did better than Twellman, still first touch problems BUT the upside is he is creative on the dribble it just didn't work that well today. Vagenas had a nightmare, Klien..Future lock on the team IMO. The crap field did not help the situation. Canada offered zero. A couple of fair defenders and 1 or 2 others and that was it. It would have been a better test for the US U-20'S.

 

Aalborg - I agree, 2 games that Twellman has been invisible; can't be too many more chances... The Nats just don't play enough for him to get those chances and I would think that he may be "playing" himself off of the team... I just get the impression that he's another Kreis or Agoos, good in MLS but piss poor in the international game.

 

Both games Twellman played for the nats took place on poor field conditions. Still early to write him off yet.

Could Twellman be the next Jason Kreis?

 

I agree about Twellman, He had a horrible touch in front of the goal when he was all alone. Touched it right out of the end line without a shot. Piss poor. I liked the move of having Convey on the backline. I thought he was outstanding back there and provided something new to the lineup with his advances forward and he combined quite well with DMB. I also liked the combo of Victorine and Klein hooking up on the right side. Ralston did not impress me much with the exception of his goal. It was a nice run with an even nicer pass from Donovan. Overall all though I was not impressed with Ralstons performance. I think Bocanegra and Olson played great as well. Garcia looked a little shaky in his limited time in the game. Mathis looked out of touch a bit until his goal. And was it me or did Clint look a little heavier than in the past? Overall there was great speed on this team, and I liked that.

 

Good start to 2003 [R]

I didn't see the match, but at least I saw the scoreline. A good start to the USA Men's schedule.

Good to see Bocanegra get his first International Goal, as well as Chris Klein. It's always nice to see Clint put a goal on the ledger.

Once again spliting time with Timmy & Rimando. I think sooner or later one of these two are going to have to get a full 90 under there belts.

 

How did Timmy do? I know he got the shut out, but did he play well (confident in goal, nice saves, etc.)?

 

Had my daughter tape the game will see it later today.

But, I would still like to ask some questions, and even make an oberservation.

On Mathis in this match did he try to take players on off the dribble? If so did he beat them one on one even once in the game?

I am looking to see that this year from him. He has to be able to do that to kick some butt. Before the acl injury he would take people on, and beat them. He has not beat people since then.

So did he try it, and beat anyone one on one in this match?
-------------------

Also observation on Vagenas. The only time that I actually have seen him play in games was in the Olympics. My first impression of him then I could say in one word "Ordinary." If he has passing vision of a special player I did not see it.

So I have not seen him play in a long time. Is he special at all, does he have any qualities that would make him a national team quality player? He doesn't turn over the ball is the only thing I saw in his game back then, but he did not seem like a creator to me then.

Richie

 

pur-ty

Saw some clips, some of those goals looked damned good. Sorry to America Jr. Maybe next time? eh?

 

Aloha Dan just noticed you are a poster how the helle are you?

Richie

 

Twellman shouldn't be written off yet. Both games he's played in were on slipery fields that turned into slop in front of the goals. I think he's more skilled then Kreis but won't e a starter over Wolff, Mathis, or McBride but he'll likely have to beat out Cunningham out for a regular call up.

 

Demarcus Beasley was outstanding last night. He reminds me of a young French winger that was converted to striker by his current manager at Arsenal-Thierry Henry. DMB is super comfortable taking guys on the dribble and holding the ball under pressure. He had one move the broke the Canucks ankles and freed himself up to rip a shot that Hirschfield had to turn away. I think in the future we will see him move up top and use his speed. He was a forward on the youth national teams with Landon as his strike partner when he won the Silver Ball. This would also free up Convey to play out wide.
Landon Donovan was the best player on the field. I think in the next two years we will see him really put a stamp on US soccer. He controlled the game last night.
I am definitely not sold on Klein. Granted he is a big guy and a workhorse, I just don't see him a a wide midfielder of the future. But for some reason Bruce likes him (and he also liked Agoos)

 

what was the attendence like?

And how big was Sams Army?

 

6,549 people were in attendance. I'd like to know the attendance of the Olimpia-Alianza friendly that was played at the Orange Bowl at around the same time.

 

19,315, according to an article linked to the following thread...

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=29284

 

FWIW, Contacto Deportivo had a reporter at the OB who said the crowd was around 10,000. I certainly have no idea which number is more accurate. They did show a crowd shot - it looked like everyone was kept on one side of the stadium. Who knows.

In any event, I doubt that there was much potential audience overlap. The tourney at the OB involves only four club teams (Atletico Nacional, Alianza Lima, Olimpia (Hon), and Barcelona (Ecu)), so that still left a lot of Colombians, Hondurans, etc. in South Florida with no interest whatsoever in the OB event.

 

DMB and Convey switched back and forth between fullback and midfield and gaves the Canadians fits. They had no answer.

IIRC with the youth teams, they played a 4-2-3-1 with DMB and LDo along the 'three' row. Convey may have been there also.

 

for me, the best part of the broadcast was when Landon was being interviewed for "man of the match" honors. when asked about upcoming matches he said something to the effect of:

"Well...Argentina is no Canada"

I'm chomping at the bit for 24 hours after the result to end so I can make that my signature

 

Just a few post game awards to hand out...

1. The Kavorkian (spelling??) Killer Finish Award -- goes to Clint Mathis for a lethal display in the 31st minute.

2. The Kreis-itis Diagnosis -- goes to Taylor Twellman for being a scoring force in MLS who has yet to hit the broadside of a barn for the NATS.

3. The Pesky Midget Award -- goes to Run DMB for being a consistent thorn around the ankle areas of the Canucks. (Honorable mention - Ben Olson)

I also would like to acknowledge Clint Mathis' efforts to obtain a marketing contract with Budweiser with the 31st minute gut sighting.

All in all I think the game provided good minutes for prospective players. The Canucks have little depth without the EPL players however and were never really in the match.

 

I agree. How dare TT go roughly 110 minutes without scoring. He's probably hoping Maryland will let him finish up his degree because he clearly doesn't have what it takes to play at this level.

Oh, and FIFA doesn't allow barns on the pitch, so I hope he never hits the broadside of one because that would have to be a miserable shot.