US - ivory coast post game discussion [R]

Nice work. Wish I could have seen it.

 

Did you say easy?????? I don't know what game you were watching. I was scared as hell in the first half because the Ivory Coast was ALL OVER our squad. They could have scored 5 goals easily ...... and i'm not kidding. This became fairly easy in the 2nd half, when we played up a man after the sending off of the goalkeeper. Our tactics leave a lot to be desired, still. too much long ball play and giving away easy possession. I just can't for the life of me understand why we do that when our skilled players are NOT big plodders. EJ looked dangerous again, but for goodness' sake, can he please finish on a wide open shot. He's missed quite a few absolute sitters. Also EJ, if you are gonna take a penalty kick, don't tell everyone that you go to your left every time, and then proceed to prove your point by going left 3 times. He's gonna get stopped on a PK in a crucial time of the game, because everyone knows where he is going.

 

Cronin kept us in it until we found our game. The 2nd goal if not the red card took all of their wind away. First goal great individual plays by Convey and Mapp. Nice run by Freddy for the penalty- speed kills. Great run in the 2nd half by Johnson- he turned and just hit the afterburners. Freddy need to improve his D. Ref was pretty decent- linesman were not as accomplished.

 

Nice first half, I didn't even know freddy was in, until 10 minutes into the game, he doesn't look useful wide left.

Second half was the most negative soccer I have seen in a long time, were we just feeling sorry after they lost their goalie, even worse after they lost the player with the hamstring pull.

Almost gave up a goal or two playing so negative.

oh well, on to the quarterfinals.

 

Jean-Jacques Gosso, of Ivory Coast, right, fights for ball with USA'S Ed Johnson, left, during a game for the world U20 Soccer Championship at Al-maktoum Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday Dec. 8, 2003.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

 

I thought that this was our best tactical half of the tournament. Playing against a 10 man Ivory Coast we didn't need any more goals so we didn't tak4e any risks. But we also counter-attacked with very good efficiency and that kept the quicker IC from blitzing us for 45 minutes. They had no real pressure and no real chances on us. Also for the last 15 minutes we pretty much posses the ball and made them chase us all over the place. Ed Johnson showed some Thierry Henry type acceleration there but he's gotta finish with more power and authority. He tried to finesse both of those shots there. It reminds me very much of what Landon Donvan had to go through and I have no doubts in my mind he'll improve his finishing as he gets more PT in MLS.

Let's give some credit to Ricardo Clark and Ned Grabavoy and Drew Moore for coming back from difficult 1st halves to play much better second halves. Also give a lot of credit to Justin Mapp, who I thought was our 2nd best field player behind Convey.

I think it might be time to bench Freddy Adu. I know thats heresy round these parts but really he faded in and out much too much, and he doesn't provide enough offensivly to make up for his lack of defense. I say bring back Santino Quaranta. We can bring Freddy on inthe 60th minute of we need him, and take out Grabavoy or something.

 

you must not have seen the Korea game.

 

What a great first half. Almost a shame their keeper had to be sent off, but its automatic in that situation isn't it? The first half was like a track meet. Could have been 7-6. EJ sure should have had a few goals. Very unimpressed with his finishing. He looks great otherwise. IC was a pretty impressive group.

Cronin was amazing. Moor's save off the line changed the game. Was it his giveaway that led to the absurd chance though?

Great finish by Justin Mapp. I'm not sure why the other US players don't angle their runs toward the goal. Seemed like EJ ran himself into poor angle shots on a few occasions.

We were lucky to win that one. Not lucky in the sense that we didn't deserve to be in the game but won somehow, but lucky because it surely could have gone either way.

 

Agree about the first half. For about 25 minutes Ivory Coast went to Hyper-Drive and our defense couldn't match them. Cornin really saved us there. But I think even if we did go down we could have scored 4 - 5 goals against them.

 

• Johnson: 6 - Did well holding the ball and checking back, but blew a couple of shots that could have been put away. Penalty was a little lucky not to be stopped.
  
• Convey: 8 - What can you say? The kid has game. His flick to Mapp was really nice stuff.
  
• Adu: 5 - He drew the PK, but like a lot of inexperience players, he backed down defensively, or didn't play D at all. Not a huge impact today.
  
• Mapp: 7 - Nice, cool finish. Good combination work for a lot of the game, still can be too cute at times on the ball, but overall, great potential here.
  
• Grabavoy: 4 - If this were a magic show, I'd give him a 10 for his disappearing act.
  
• Clark: 5 - Not his best game of the tournament, was slow to track back and help out the D. Still, he's just a special talent.
  
• Whitbread: 5 - He got juked out of his shorts too often today, but a couple of really nice crosses and dead-on long balls out of the back.
  
• Cochrane: 5 - Best of the defenders, but that's not saying a lot.
  
• Marshall: 4 - Not a good game at all.
  
• Moore: 4 - Played marginally better than Marshall, accept when he tried to serve up a CIV goal on a platter with a terrible decision.
  
• Cronin: 10 - I don't give 10's out - ever -but Cronin was that good today.

 

Yes. He played extraordinarily bad in the first half. But he improved 1000% on the 2nd half so him some props for being resiliant

 

Well, he put it away again. And now one would think the next keeper he faces will go to EJ's left no matter what and then perhaps EJ will go right and score another one. Not disagreeing with you but how can one complain if it hits the back of the net. Next comment will be "geeze I could have stopped that one" or something equally ridiculous.

I'm only going to make a few quick comments on what I saw and leave it at that because I know it will get ridiculous in here soon. I think what we saw today (and in other games) is how much the youth teams owe to the MLS. The strong midfield and attacking players are light years ahead of the defenders. Why? Because the attackers are playing in the MLS and the defenders are playing in college (or youth clubs).
Arguements will be made that we are tactically weak but honestly, our defense does not posses the skill to initiate a proper attack. They are basically a group of hard working stoppers who repel attacks but do not gain control of the ball and start the offense. Because of this the team will continue to be forced to play, for the most part, counter-attacking soccer. They will absorb a lot of offensive push from their opponents and try and strike back. That's due to the talent, or lack there of, of the defense as much as anything.

 

Convey, Mapp and Cronin were terrific. Glad I got to see this one.

Convey's assist was priceless.

 

very happy with the win, but bad tactics.

we were lucky to be up 1-0 when we got the pk. ic was all over us in the first half. great convey/mapp play for a beauty of a goal.

i don't understand wrongen. we're up a man and he decides to sit on a 2-0 lead...which is not a safe lead at all.

we should've pushed forward. play our game, not just try and prevent theirs.

as for the korea game, that was the biggest snoozer of the tourney.....then the second half of this game.

two better chips and ic would've tied it.

 

you're probably right about this. I'm still wondering why he didn't pull the trigger when he he recieved the ball from Klaas on that last counter right before the end of the match. He was wide open and had nothing between him and goalie but air. Around 18 feet of it.

 

I worry that our defensive slip ups will cost us in the next round.

 

No doubt that their defense left a lot to be desired. I think we could have scored 4 or 5 goals if we played beginning to end as well. what's funny is that i am already seeing the people come out and call for Santino Quaranta to replace Freddy in the lineup ........ what a joke. lol His plays in the last 3 games have only set up 2 goals off of free kicks that he induced and a 3rd goal on a penalty that he drew. Quaranta is gonna do soooooooooo much more (laughing hysterically). Let's see now .......... Adu has been on the field for exactly .............. 0 goals against. Quaranta in less time .......... 4 goals against. Yeah, we definitely need Quaranta to replace Freddy for defensive purposes.

 

Huh? We were up 1-0 in the 7th minute. How did he "keep us in the game"? Now if you said "held the lead", Id agree with you, he was up to everything IC through at him. But IC has taken a ton of shots this tournament, and hasnt scored that many goals. Thats pretty much their MO.

 

someone making sense? stop it now, this the us mens forum...sense is not allowed...

 

Freddy does play defense like a 14 year old. He doesn't have the maturity yet to control a game over the entire 90 but he is still the kind of player that will make things happen. While he was quiet for the majority of the game he did produce a penalty kick and send through an absolutely perfectly weighted ball that got their keeper sent off. He had a couple other beautiful passes that weren't converted. I say stay with Freddy. His positives far outweigh his negatives.

 

It was a good win, but a 2-0 score is flatters the US. If we play that game against Argentina we lose 4-1. Our second half was solid, a very Italian finish to the game, sitting perfectly on the lead. The first half was a scramble, and IC could have been up 2-0 instead of us.

Quality finish by Mapp and good job by Adu getting to Convey's ball to draw the PK. I am glad the team won, but I am a little nervous heading into the argie game.

 

random thoughts

EJ w/ 2 nearly identical clear scoring chances comes up emtpy, still the (MOTM) by creating havoc on their backs, fouling them and winning most 50/50 balls. He’s converted on 3PK’s with silky authority, banging in all three hard and to the left w/ varying stutters to throw the GKs timing. 13 offsides and I don’t think any were his. Why can’t he play like this for the Burn more than once a year?

Tino was horribly a fuerra de linia on one play, totally inexcusable. Mapp has done a great job showcasing his ability and had a quality finish. He’s been a consummate thorn on the right flanks-sometimes switching on the left. While Whitbread had a quite 2nd half, IC applied more pressure overlapping Klaas & Moor. Knox Cameron has a big body but seems a bit stiff & doesn’t use it to his advantage like Conner Casey, TT & McHead. Ned Grabavoy was certainly less active this match than in the last, but he still has lots of ability and looks similarly skilled to Convey despite still being at IU. Convey was solid in getting stuck in and tracking back from playmaking to break up loose balls. Cronin looked very Keller-like again w/ early stops that preserved another shutout.

CONCACAF 2 CAF 0