With the US done for the year, I thought now was a good time to do a year-end review. Here goes: The good, the bad, and the conservative THE GOOD: No thanks, Lakers: We'll keep our Cobi a little while longer. While in 2004 some experienced vets saw their play fall off big-time, the US might not be where they are today had the ageless wonder Cobi Jones not saved them in not one, but two qualifiers. The key save, though, was on the road against Panama. On one of the ugliest playing fields I have ever seen, in front of a hostile crowd, in a game where the run of play was going completely against the US, Cobi stole a win for the US in the last seconds of the game and broke Panama's heart. Thanks again, Cobi. Streaking: No, not that kind. All US players, including DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan (who have a private competition between themselves about pissing on rivals' soccer fields), kept themselves covered. The US had a run of impressive streaks this season. 10 CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying wins without a loss. 13 games without a loss, period. And at one point, the US had not been scored on in 393 minutes, including 4 straight shutouts. Finally: While in the grand scheme of things this may just look like one relatively insignificant victory, it wasn't The US had not won in Europe under Arena, had been embarrassed in the 1998 France World Cup, and it was beginning to look like the Yanks had a monkey on their back. So when the US won behind a Damarcus Beasley goal in Plock, Poland, US Soccer exhaled a long-held sigh of relief. Perhaps there is hope for the US in Germany after all. Hammer time: The only thing more offensive that US Olympic Coach Mooch Myernick's performance was the behavior of Mexican fans towards our youngsters in Guadalajara. Tension between US and Mexico has been on the rise, fueled primarily by the US' 2-0 win in the 2002 World Cup elimination game versus Mexico. Mexico finally got a measure of revenge early this year by shelling our Olympic Team 4-0. Their team and their fans came to Dallas ready to re-crown themselves the undisputed kings of CONCACAF. They brought the best roster they could muster, while the US brought a young but hungry B team. The game would be played in Dallas, where El Tri would have the crowd on their side. There was no reason to believe that Mexico wouldn't win this game, except for the fact that they haven't yet been able to beat Arena, and haven't scored a goal against him since their 1-0 home win in the Azteca. What the Mexicans got was a thorough ass-kicking in every aspect of the game. They were out-hustled, out-muscled, out-skilled, and out-played. The US was led by the best game Landon Donovan has ever played in a US uniform. He made more than one Mexican player look like a green traffic cone. Donovan's supporting cast stepped up big, too. Mastroeni dominated the back line. Beasley was all over the place. Convey punished the Mexican defense. Surprise player Kerry Zavagnin stepped up out of nowhere and played solid soccer. Frankie Hejduk, after years of trying, finally beat not one, but two Mexicans on a stepover. The 1-0 score line - a win secured in the last seconds by Eddie Pope - didn't tell the truth. The US is the king of the region. Landon and company used the game in Dallas as a hammer - a hammer that drove the final nail in the coffin and buried Mexico's regional reign. Young Guns: 2003 was supposed to be the year that fresh new faces were brought in to take over the team, but it never worked out that way. To our collective surprise, that didn't happen until 2004. Eddie Gaven, after playing inspired soccer in MLS, finally broke through against Poland in Chicago for the US Team. Jonathan Spector, who looked very good in a few starts - yes, starts - for giant Man U, got his first taste of WCQ against Jamaica. So did Clint Dempsey, who also won rookie of the year in MLS, and who looks like may be the heir-apparent in the US central midfielder. Uncharacteristically for Bruce Arena, both Dempsey and Spector got their first cap after their first camp in a World Cup Qualifier. That may say something about Arena's confidence in these kids. Oguchi Onyewu, after a couple of years in Europe's lesser leagues, stepped up to the stage and showed he may be a real option a couple years down the road. Conor Casey started against Poland, and while he hasn't put a strangle-hold on a roster spot, he adds depth to a player pool that more than ever for Bruce Arena, actually has depth. But no young player has stepped up - ever - for US Soccer like Eddie Johnson. Just don't make the mistake of calling him young. He's the Grown-Ass Man. 3 games, 5 goals. There just isn't anything left to say after that. Want some of D's?: Perhaps the single best story in US Soccer in 2004 has been the transition of DaMarcus and Donovan from emerging stars to legitimate team leaders and in Landon's case, captain. This year these two kids took over the team. Beasley was the best player on the field for 20 minutes against Holland. He then scored the game-winning goal against Poland, and for safety's sake, added a couple more against Grenada that helped us advance in WCQ. Donovan was dominant against Mexico, and then took over as Captain when Captain America went down with yet another not-so-shocking injury. With Beasley at PSV and Donovan soon to be at Leverkusen, the US will be led by a couple seasoned vets in 2006, and both will be younger than 25 years old. THE BAD Eh, what's up, Doc?: It wasn't all roses for the US team in 2004. Key players missed long stretches of play due to injury, including 2002 World Cup hero John O'brien, who has played in only one game since the Cup. It's gotten so bad that Bruce Arena has publicly stated that at this point, he can't even consider JOB as part of the squad. Claudio Reyna went down again in England, and after 3 successive years of long-term injury layoffs, his durability going forward is seriously under question. Brad Friedel started out the season injured, and like O'brien, has played only once for the US since the World Cup. And Chris Armas, after a very healthy and successful 2003 MLS season, broke down in a big way in 2004. For each of these players, age and/or injury beg the question - is 2006 really an option for them? Slip N Slide: As in a couple players showed signs - sometimes of the 200' tall neon light variety - that they are on the downside of their career and sliding quickly. Earnie Stewart was the most obvious, as he struggled when called to act as a leader in Jamaica. More troubling, Eddie Pope lost some of his edge, and was caught too many times in the wrong spot or getting beat by his mark. Greg Vanney, though not old, showed hints that his time has past by committing gaffes that led to two costly goals in World Cup Qualifying. THE CONSERVATIVE They're no Germany: 2004 overall was a great year for US Soccer, but two games flat-out stunk. The first was early in the year against Holland, where the Dutch team that had hoped to play Germany instead had to invite the US over in preparation for the European Championships. In a game where the US had nothing to lose, Bruce Arena instead played his team as if his family's lives depended on the outcome. It was such a conservative, uninspiring performance that it led Dutch coach Dick Advocaat to say, "We missed some sharpness and performing against such conservative opponents didn't inspire us," said Advocaat. "We were supposed to meet the Germans tonight and then we'd have had a match with enthusiasm and prestige." Ouch. The second clam-up came against Jamaica. That "Oh-so-tricky" Arena first tried to outwit those dangerous Jamaicans (who have yet to ever beat the USA) with a little pre-game gamesmanship. No roster was released by US Soccer. What we heard through the rumor-mill, though, wasn't encouraging. Earnie, Reyna, Frankie, Vanney, and Armas all to start? "Say it aint so, Bruce..." But it was so, and despite Arena's attempts to catch Jamaica off-guard, this ultra-conservative lineup got worked all over the field by Jamaica in the Office, and fell down 1-0. Bruce finally loosened his jock enough to sub in Ching, Lewis, and Cobi, and finally the US broke through at game's end with Donovan finding his buddy "The First Hawaiian To Ever Play For The US Team" for the tying goal. SUMMARY As previously stated, 2004 was a very successful year for the US Soccer, and 2005 looks to hold even more promise. Young players are on the horizon and about to break through. Young standouts like DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan are taking over as the team leaders. And aside from the World Cup itself, no event is more intense, fierce, and fun to watch as a fan than the US competing in the CONCACAF Hex.
Thanks for the nice read, N. I will always remember this year for the emergence of: Ching Gaven Gooch Johnson Spector and Dempsey -- even if was at the last minute. Add these young guns to Boca, Masto, LD, DMB, SC, etc., etc. and next year is looking like fun.
Great summary - thanks. To add to the above observations - US is king of the region - that is, until the next meeting. It's going to be a war in the HEX. I'm looking forward to it. Mexico looks like they're putting together a pretty good team. The US certainly dominated beautifully in Dallas - I'll remember that game fondly for a long time. And re: the match against Holland - the US was playing conservatively, but I thought Advocaat's comments were laughable. Holland played boring, possession soccer & passed the ball around their defense & midfield ad infinitum. To blame that on a lack of inspiration from their opponent was ridiculous & condescending. I was really disappointed in both teams.
I'm really hoping to see more of the young guns Gaven, Dempsey and Johnson in the next cycle. Dempsey impressed in his time against Jamaica and I want to see more of him in internationals. Gaven, get that hernia all better and Johnson, keep up the scoring streak.
2004 was a great year for US Soccer, some young guns stepped up, some guys made The Leap, and we showed Mexico who the power is around here. Life is good for Sam's Army, let's hope 2005 is all the better.
What the Mexicans got was a thorough ass-kicking in every aspect of the game. They were out-hustled, out-muscled, out-skilled, and out-played. The US was led by the best game Landon Donovan has ever played in a US uniform. He made more than one Mexican player look like a green traffic cone. Donovan's supporting cast stepped up big, too. Mastroeni dominated the back line. Beasley was all over the place. Convey punished the Mexican defense. Surprise player Kerry Zavagnin stepped up out of nowhere and played solid soccer. Frankie Hejduk, after years of trying, finally beat not one, but two Mexicans on a stepover. The 1-0 score line - a win secured in the last seconds by Eddie Pope - didn't tell the truth. Thanks for reminding me of Mastroeni's performance in that ass-kicking of Mexico. His performace in the recent WCQ draw with Jamaica was also spectacular, IMO. He's starting to solidify a place on the roster for WC06. Also, add Reyna to the list of players that are on the decline. To me LD has taken his spot in the starting lineup and will carry the captain's armband for the forseeable future.
I'd quibble with the statement about an "A" line-up for Mexico. Compared to whom Lavolpe took to Copa America, the Dallas roster featured a lot of youngsters.
And the US "B" team had Donovan, Beasly, Pope, Mastro, Casey, Hejduk... who else was on that team. EDIT: Also T Ho has to be in the 'what's up doc' category.
Great read, thanks Nutmeg. The Great Stuff 1) Donovan showed that he can take over a game. In the Mexico game, the Panama game, etc. It is very good he got humilated in that 0:4 Olympic disaster when all Mexican fans are yelling "Landon Who?" I am sure everytime when we face Mexico, he will be remained that game. The good event is that Donovan became the team's captain and answered the call. In the old time, when Keller, Pope, Sanneh, McBride are on the field, Landon will step back to let the vets taking the spot light. Now the problem is how about Reyna returns to the lineup? Will Landon take a step back as usual? How Bruce resolve this problem? How about make Landon the captain on the field, but Reyna off the field so Landon doesn't need to sleep with Captain's armband under his pillow? :>) This may be the one of the most important decision for the team. It is Landon's team now and he needs to step up everytime. (still feel sad why Agoos and Mulrooney still be the captains of EQ). 2) Beasley's move to PSV. Frankly, the most thing got me frastruated about DMB is when he breaks his touches are not clean and the ball always slowed him down when he dribble. Now with a big shoe to fill for Robben, he is relieved the defense responsiblilty but has to be the main attacker that needs to beat more than one defenders most of time. He is more dangerous when he breaks behind the defense with his first class speed on a good long ball, but his touch is cleaner and his shot is calmer. Also his dribbles in the traffic and get away with multiple defenders on his back are vastly improved. It is demonstrated in Panama game. 3) Johnson's ascending, aka. Grown Ass Man. Finally, we have an improvement than Wolfe. With a cautious defense of Jamaica (they have fast defenders too!), GAM is able to create four chances with his fast movement. I don't know how many defenders in the world can take abuse from him for 90 minutes. The Good Stuff 1) Young defenders are growing. The old guards from last world cup are almost all gone. With 1.5 years left before next World Cup, the lists of Boca, Gibbs, Albright, Russel, Onyewu, Simak, Whitbread, Spector, Marshall are showing promising right now. Of course, they need more time to mature, but it looks good now. 2) Forwards depth. Finally we don't have put Landon as forward anymore. Beside McBride and EJ, Ching, Wolfe, Twellman, Buddle, Casey, Esky showed that they can be a servicable forward if we need them. The depth is never be that thick. 3) Young and big center midfielders. If we look on all old center midfielders--Reyna, Armas, Mastronei, JOB, Zavagnin, they are all small body types. Now we begin to have Gaven, Clark, Dempsey and Szetela those are around 6' tall guys. The Bad Stuff 1) Convey is struggling. What kind of player and what kind of roles most fit in for him? How can he gets out of current bad form? How can he be more consistent when a scoring chance is presented? 2) Hedjuk is still our number 1 right back. Cherundolo as good as he is, isn't too physical as a back. We haven't see the real Russel yet, but he was beaten repeatly by Beasley. So how can he handle the likes of Robben, C. Ronaldo, etc.? I am glad Albright looks like a real deal in the right back, but need to see him steps up against some real players. 3) We still have no good left back. How can we get a 1998-Regis? Vanney is not fast enough, Convey is not safe enough. Boca and Gibbs can play but they are really center defenders (also Whitbread). Spector can play too but what we really need is kind of players like Cole or Clichy. Maybe Burciaga is a potential fit, or Karb turns out a great left back. 4) We still have no good right winger. We still need Cobi sometimes. Klein is Ralston, so is Mullan. Can Mapp becomes a Reyes even though he used to play in left? How good is Philipakos? How much improvement West makes with his European experience? Do we need to make Cherundolo a right winger? Or Quaranta finally takes a lesson from his buddy EJ, and breaks out at the right mid? 5) How our three best goalkeepers are not good as last year? We may need export more of them to make up the loses. The Ugly Stuff 1) Clint Mathis. He is no longer able to bring anything to the US team without a negative package. Clinic finish? EJ. Freekick? Donovan. Long shots out of the box? Clark and Dempsey. I don't think any of his positives can overcome the negatives any more.
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Nutmeg again. And on that note, this thread is worthy of a sticky. At least for a little while (maybe for a fortnight or so).
excellent review!! A few comments: 1) with the depth of talent, arena has a host of options...long gone are the days when a couple critical injuires to reyna and job forced the usa to field a canada-like lineup... 2) while the usa has had a good phase against mexico, I do NOT discount the mexicans as a rival....they are VERY capable of getting 3 points off the usa during the hex.... 3) the 2005 hex and gold cup should offer arena an excellent opportunity to evaluate 25-30 players towards a 23 man roster in germany...with the relative weakness of the hex, a germany spot SHOULD be clinched so matches 9 and 10 become jamaica type matches...the players to use in these would be those who participate in the GOLD CUP...
And so did Brian Ching, on another ocassion, IIRC. Not to suggest that our team falls into the "better lucky than good" category, but part of the reason why we went unbeaten in the WCQ matches this is stems from the fact that we were able to gain points-- whether it's one point or three at a pop-- when we didn't play our absolute best. That's a sign of a team of destiny-- and believe me, the signs are there to suggest that the best is yet to come.
Great read...but what about the other crappy match...against Panama. Sure, we kept pelting shots at goal. But it wasn't until Cobi was found "onside" right in front of the goal til' we put in the equilizer...
yeah thats what confused me, mentioninghim in a RW section, reyes is a left wing and a center forward/withdrawn striker
Just wanted to say thanks for the kind words, both public and private, regarding this thread. I did, however, screw up on some of my facts. Looks like I am canning yet another one of my editors: Arena has been beaten by Mexico - once. Thanks Bajoro Cobi did not steal a win - he stole a draw. Thanks DK
Riiiight, because Hejduk was physical enough to handle Arjen Robben in Holland? Why isn't Steve C physical enough? Is it because he's short? Frankie is all of two inches taller than him. How many matches have you seen where he was dominated physically by the opposing team? Was he dominated by the big Polish forwards that we saw in that match? No, he stood up remarkably well against guys much bigger than him. I mean, if he wasn't physical enough surely he wouldn't be a lock starter on a Bundasliga team, because, that league isn't physical at all. Since when do you have to be Physical to handle a Christiano Ronaldo? That guy wants to fall to the grass every time he touches the ball. Frankie is in no way better than Steve Cherundolo. There is no reason that he should start over him when Cherundolo is healthy and available. Frankie is a complete liability going forward and when faced with an attacker with a little more than a speed move (ex. Robben) his lack of skill gets exposed. This "Steve Cherundolo is too small/not physical enough" myth needs to get put to bed.
Not totally agree. Cherundolo's weak point is that when the US defense line is pulled to the left, then there is a cross coming from the right with a tall attacker crashing the far post. Remember in the WCQ game against Costa Rica, Wanchope tried that but Keller stopped the headers. Frankie is little better on that. So normally, when Bruce needs more defense, he puts on Frankie, but when he needs more offense, he puts on Steve. Frankly, Steve is more a right winger type with a speed on pair with Lewis. In Albright, he has no problems to defense those crashing headers. Also, US pulling a tie late in game is not about lucky, is about their determination and fitness. Remember the Mexico game? Mexican annoucers are gushed about the high pressure speed game US plays. Then they said "They cannot do that for 90 minutes. (so we can get back on them.)". Well, US can do it for 90 mintues.
Well it will get put too bed when Dolo shows he can defend -- as Shaster says -- against tall players crashing the box on his side. He was weak in this area in the last Hex. Perphaps he has improved in Germany in this area in the last two years but perphaps the two inches and weight he gives up to Hejduk simply can't be compensated for. Dolo has a number of advantages over Hejduk, but Frankie is stronger and can handle taller players better. Finally, Robben beating Hejduk has nothing to do with what we are talking about. Robben beat Hejduk with speed and skill and after watching Robben easily beat better defenders than both Hejduk and Dolo in the EPL, I can't take seriously the argument that Dolo would have shut off Robben if isolated one-on-one like Hejduk was.
Nutmeg discussed the games against Holland and Jamaica not because we sucked but because Arena was -- in his view-- too conservative. That was not the case in Panama where Arena was, if anything, not conservative enough. Whatever the problem there was -- lack of motivation, tough environment, rain etc., it was not because Arena was conservative with a modifield that included Donovan, Mathis and Beasley plus two forwards.
recollections had cherundolo being forced into wcq 2002 in jamaica, and strugggling mightyly as the boyz targeted their attack on him at the back post... albrights presence took that away from the boyz... anyone else surprised as I am at the relative INEFFECTIVENESS of jamaica attacking the usa last wednesday....I had expected more inspired play... more desparation...to a big expect, the physical backline arena through out there negated the boyz major strength...along with the slippery pitch
My personal opinion is Bruce Arena is an agressive guy in general. Remember the Argentina game, he puts Olsen as center mid for a three in front attack. That exposes Mastroeni in the midfield. In Holland game, I don't blame Bruce for too conservative. If your players cannot held the ball (McBride) and cannot string more than three passes together, how you can play? Convey is playing center midfielder and he isn't up to that job. In Jamaica game (the first one), Klein is suppose to be the starting right midfielder (He was killing Jamaica in the last friendly there). Arena used Stewart for the cover, but Stewart is so bad. McBride is bad too in that game. In Panama game, we actually go aggressive with a midfield only Reyna as the defensive cover. The problems are that during the first 30 minutes, Mathis, Casey etc. didn't convert the chances. Then the bad play on Vanney in the left, and Pope in the mid, really making troubles for us. In the second Jamaica game, our defenders are too strong for any one vs. one play that is normally Jamaica's game. Jamaica is also very concerned about the team shape in defense for deadly US conterattack (GAM still kill them with the speed). Think about if Beasley is in that game, things will be very ugly for Jamaica.