US - ivory coast post game discussion [R]

My opinion, based on many viewings of River Plate games, is that Cavenaghi has got more finishing ability in one toenail than the entire Ivory Coast team put together. The guy is lethal...and he's got a mullet, so watch out for that. I just don't see our defense keeping him off the score sheet.

Argentina will be a far greater challenge than the Ivory Coast, perhaps even unsurmountable.

 

you concentrate on an individual against Argnetina, you lose. They are better than anyone else in the world at playing the beautiful game. You want to stop Cavenaghi? Stop the intricate passing game that Argentina possesses.

And guys, this is NOT Mission Impossible. Have some faith. I doubt there is a team in this tournament that can shut down Convey, Ed Johnson, Justin Mapp, and Freddy Adu at the same time. In relative terms, this is easily our best attacking team we've EVER fielded. None of our teams have ever looked this good offensivly. At least none that I can remember. We have to deal with the beautiful game, but they have to deal with Bobby Convey. So far, he's been the best player every time hes stepped on the field. For perhaps the first time ever, stopping on of OUR players will be the key to winning this game.

 

Oh oh. We really are in trouble.

 

Random thoughts after viewing tape:

Mapp finally shows up. Seems to jog past sprinters.

Why did Alvarez have to get injured instead of Quaranta? We NEED him out there.

Since he got moved to right mid at Metros, Clark has become far worse than at the start of his career. Hopefully just rookie wall.

Grabavoy and Clark gave away the ball way too many times. D-mids aren't supposed to do this.

Our D-line can't defend against the dribble.

It's not what you do with the ball that determines the game, it's what you do without it. IC played high midfield pressure with offside trap to emphasize the speed and deemphasize the size of their defenders. The US just took what they gave us and played balls over the top.

BCon and EJ know when the scouts are watching (and when they aren't).

 

I have read anything else here, except the very last post. Didn't get to follow the match either here or tv.

Good job Guys, keep it up against Argentina.

 

I absolutely agree with you.

I agree. But it's funny how I used to worry much more about the offense than the defense in the past (90's).

 

Yes, his game did deteriorate from the middle to the end of the season. One reason was we needed a wing mid, and coach played him there. He did not understand how you can get the most out of the position, and mix that with how to get the most out of his normal game.

One of the reasons why the team went belly up was because he was the player that reversed our field under pressure. When he played inside the field. He stopped playing inside the field, and worse then that when he moved inside during the run of play. He did not reverse the field at that opportunity either.

He is not reversing the field much now either, and no one else is either outside of Convey. Except the backs, but we are not gaining an advantage very much when our backs do it.

He is playing his normal position with this team, and has looked good in only one game so far that I can remember. He is not rising to the occassion. His performance here will hurt him in his quest to get a look with the big team.

He needs a very big game against Argentina.

Richie

 

My analysis of Adu: when he's on the field, we've given up 0 goals and scored 5, I don't think it's exactly what he's doing, teams are just so worried about having him on the field that they over-compensate and don't focus as much on Mapp, Convey, Johnson etc.., as well as taking players away from the attack to account for him.

 

He also almost always is involved in a critical play to the outcome of any match he's in.
He is showing that he has the ability to see the field and make good passes and some of them very good.
He'll only get better and this playing time is important.

 

I just noticed this. That number 7 on Adu late in the game pulled a muscle. They gave him the ball a few times. We should have high pressured him, and also attack him put our speed against him with a ball into space.

That would have taken a quick adjustment on our part, but it would have worked. Too bad we didn't do it.

 

Don't thank DC ESPNZone. thank your friendly neighborhood onefineesq! when i got there, they were not showing the game on ANY tv ......... even the small ones. I was told that they would not show it by some low level employee. I went to another person and expressed my displeasure. he told me to go to a 3rd person, where i repeated the process, whereupon they told me that they didn't even know the game was on. after about 5 minutes of sitting at a side table (i was the ahem ........ coloured guy right in front of the tv ...... lol), they finally came to me and told me that they would put the game on the big screen. At least they were responsive to the verbal barrage i gave them ............ "what do you mean you aren't going to show it. there's no live basketball on. no live football. no live hockey. no live baseball. this is the USA playing a live event, and you're telling me that you would rather show ESPN news on the big screen!!! are you kidding me?????" (example of how the convo started) lol

 

Guys,

Could you please try to avoid calling each other names?

Thanks,

Nancy

 

Ref Killed the Match

A major referee's error killed what had been a very entertaining game that could have gone either way. The error was the yellow card -- and the resulting double-yellow send-off -- of the IC keeper for handling. The penalty was proper. The keeper legally took possession of the ball just inside the area. His sliding momentum took him and the ball less than a yard outside the area, creating a violation. However, there was no intent to handle the ball outside the area in a manner to disadvantage the opponent. That's the handling yellow-card offense, not what amounts to accidental handling. The free kick was proper. The yellow card wasn't. I felt very sorry for the IC -- and myself as the second half turned from a brisk two-way game into dull USA defensive keepaway. An 11-0n-11 second half could have been a viewing treat. Blame the Colombian ref, who otherwise had a good game. Are blunders like that part of the reason they provide security details for refs in South America?
Thoughts on USA: Cronin's saves were crucial to win, but he got lucky a couple of times when he came off his line too early and the attackers overhit their chip shots. I'd love to see Rongen move Convey to his best position -- outside left -- and slot Adu into attacking midfield to bring him into the action and take advantage of his bag of offensive skills, especially passing. Adu's defense isn't up to the rest of his game and is a liability on the outside. Convey is a two-way end-to-end player. Adu isn't -- yet. I'm impressed with Whitbred's passing ability and willingness to get into the attack. As he matures, he'll be making fewer defensive errors. (He's not making that many.) I hope the U20s can do better against Argentina than Team USA and the U17s did against Brazil, that other South American powerhouse, in tourneys earlier this year. How long will we be asking: is the USA, whatever the age group, ready for prime time?

 

Re: Ref Killed the Match

Maybe a ref will weigh in but I thought it was pretty much an automatic yellow, intentional or not, if a goalkeeper handles it outside the box?
Besides.. How could it be argued that it was not intentional? He surely meant to secure the ball and it was outside the box.. He reached for it. Impossible to be considered unintentional.. IMO

 

"there was no intent to handle the ball outside the area in a manner to disadvantage the opponent. That's the handling yellow-card offense, not what amounts to accidental handling."

the gk most certainly disadvantaged the team on offense. we had a man right on him; the gk clearly knew he was in the wrong; the ref was right there- he had to call it. 2 yellows=red, simple as that.

 

During the end of this game our backs were playing pretty close to their attackers. Did you guys notice we stepped up as the ball was passed, and intercepted some of those balls. Also when we didn't intercept the pass we turned some of their passes into 50/50 balls.

That is what we should try to do in the Argentina game.

In zone you may give them the pass, and try to contain them after that. We shouldn't give them the pass in this game. We should also try to pressure the dribbler whoever is the dribbler as he toches the ball. That will help our defenders marking their receivers.

You don't see this much now because that is how you defend when playing man.

If we do this and attack off the pressure, and forget all the back passing we might just hand them a surprise. With Johnson, Adu, Mapp and Convey leading the attack.. We might get some good attacks going at times against Argentina.

If you guys have good memories. That is the way Argentina played against our mens team when they played us with their younger team, and beat us. Anybody recall that?

Let's give them a taste of that from us. Actually I have the feeling we might try that. From how we played against IC in the second half. I hope we do.


Richie

 

That's the game report. In a nutshell.

It wasn't very scintillating offense but we took advantage of Ivory Coast's big weakness. The FIFA website 1st round match reports indicated that faulty offside traps had been responsible for several of the goals the Snakebit Young Elephants had conceded.

The 2nd yellow on their keeper seemed harsh to me, too. He definitely initiated contact inside the penalty area before his momentum carried his slide over the line.

Edited to add:

REMEMBER PAYSANDU!!!!!

 

Just got done watching the game on TIVO.

I totally agree with lurking. Ned Grabavoy has been excellent in the past two games as a starter and the Germany game as a sub. This kid has vision and the ability to move the ball. He looks alot more comfortable on the ball than Ricardo. And he hustles on the defensive end. I think that Grabavoy has shown that he deserves to be out on the pitch as he links up well with the forwards and the defense.

I also think that the defense has settled some over the past few games, especially with the insertion of Moor over CJ. CJ is way to shaky on the ball. Marshall and Cochrane have stepped up.

 

My general sense is that the team was pretty average today. Sometimes fantastic, sometimes poor. The definitely deserved to be in the game, and in the round of 8. They had some good fortune against a quality opponent. Such are the ways of a competitive team.

The real thing that interests me is just how far we've come. I've been watching USA soccer closely for 15 years now. I'm pretty certain this team would have beaten the '94 world cup team. They might have gotted outmuscled a bit, but they are CLEARLY more skilled and more tactically aware. As proud I am of how the '94 team did, they could barely string passes together. No way that team holds the ball for long stretches, even against 10 men, like our U-20's did in the second half today. They literally didn't have the skill to do it.

It has been a great time to be a fan.

 

Ok, I'm weighing in to say I've removed some posts that offended some readers. However, let me make one point very clear:


This is a US National Team board. If you come here and say you wish that the our team had lost or you rooted for the other team, I will not defend you. Instead, you'll be considered a troll and your posts will be deleted.

Now, carry on.

 

(This team would have beat the 94 World Cup team)..

hey, let's be enthusiastic...but let's not be ridiculous..

 

I missed the first half but from the highlights, the Convey backward-over-his-head pass and Mapp's heading the pass down in-stride was awesome. Nice finish as well. For the first 30 minutes of the second half, it sure looked like IC was the team with the lead. The U.S. defense didn't look like they had bunker down, but with a man up, could have done more to keep IC on their heels, but I won't complain.

Good luck Friday guys.

 

You're so fast I never get to read the troll stuff...
Nancy is the best mod, of course.

 

No, but they would have beat the 1990 WC team.