USA U-20 WC Post match thread - USA vs Paraguay Good result, bad start for the USA.. Settled into the match late in the first half and played well the rest of the way.. I thought defensively we were getting beaten quite often on 50/50 balls early but turned that around in the second half.. I think physically the Paraguyans wore down with all the big bodies laying on them, except for C.J. Klaas who looks even smaller than ABMOD if that's possible.. I thought Ed Johnson had a monster game and Mike Magee scores his usual garbage goal (Magee reminds me a whole lot of MLS's all-time garbage goal scorer- Steve Rammel) and Convey had an absolute golazo by winning the ball about 35 yards out and definitely juking the hell out of the Paraguyan defender and burying the shot upper 90.. Of course, in MLS that shot never would have gotten off because everyone knows Convey goes to his left all the time.. Quaranta, outside of his great assist to Johnson, was brutally awful today, as was Justin Mapp at times though I must concede that them switching positions at halftime seemed to do the trick for the USA.. Good result - bring on the Germans
Whitbread is impressive. Magee is some goal scorer. He just seems to show up in the right place. Fantastic goal by Convey and he and Rico did a good job in the center today. Mapp, EJ, and Tino made some plays today. I thought the central defenders and Klaas were much better the second half than the first and Cronin made a couple of big saves to keep us in the game.
Goal recap: Paraguay scored on a Free Kick from 20 yards that nicked the left post on the way in. US Equalized in the second half on a Ed Johnson goal - Cross from Santino Quatanta. US went ahead 2-1 on a Goal my Mike Magee. Ed Johnson was sent in on a flick by Justin Mapp. His shot was saved, but Magee finished the Rebound. Finally, Bobby Convey scored a spectacular goal in to the upper left corner. Jordan Stone found Ed Johnson on the left side, he passed to Convey who dribbled just inside the box and ripped a shot to the far top corner.
I thought Whitbread did OK too but seemed to lose a lot of 50/50 challenges in the air which is suprising seeing how he is pretty damn big.. Needs work on his crosses though..
Well, we flat out dominated them in the second half. Quaranta played much better on the left side and the team played with much more confidence overall. Tino served a nice ball to Edward Johnson's head for the first goal. We sure do like to run the ball through Whitbread every chance we get. Paraguay had no answer for EJ in the second half. He played much, much better. He held off defenders and used his speed to get around them. Magee got his trademark goal. Clark and Convey did a nice job in the middle of the field. Convey's goal was fantastic. Unfortuantely, Mapp got injured in the second half. The defense made enough plays to keep Paraguay from seriously threatening after we got the equalizer. Cochrane stepped up for some key interceptions. Cronin made an excellent save to keep us in the game. Great start!
E. Johnson seemed hardly noticeable in the first half but everywhere in the second. Whatever he did at half time, could he please do that before the next game?
Rongen's tactical changes at halftime made the difference. Every attack in the first half was Whitbread going Route 1 or Whitbread trying to spring Mapp down the left flank. Rongen switched Mapp and Quaranta at halftime and we stretched the Paraguayan defense. Rico Clark and Ed Johnson had great games. Cronin did well to keep us in the game. Quaranta was awful in the first half and Klaas is slow. MLS has done wonders for our U-20s. I always got the sense that our MLS guys were always covering for the collegiates. I long for the the day where we can field an all MLS U-20 team.
The size, excluding Klaas, on the backline is nice to have, but you could really see which defender was a pro and which were college players. Unless one of the other defenders booted the ball to clear it, Whitbread almost always had the ball in the back. He was the safety for the other defenders, seemed to be quite confident on the ball and started most of the attacks from the back. I was impressed with my first viewing of him, but after some of his first touches he took too long deciding what to do which led to some cross attempts that came too slowly and allowed the defender to close and block them. Definitely a lack of cohesiveness in the back, but that's to be expected with the short amount of time these guys have been together.
Dallas horrendous season/Kries' injury did so much for E. Johnson. Now "the man" was unbelievable in the match. You could see he's much more discipline in the game. Maybe playing right wing (whoever idea was it) for Dallas was the turning point of his idea. He was everywhere, winning high ball than tracking them, disturbing nice passes (best of all our players in the game), beating players on dribble, strong body work, come back for defense. Definitely best player of the match. As for magee, he's a whining bitch... I thought Ricardo Clark was nasty out there. Winning alot of challenges in the 2nd half and show us what he can do in def midfielder role for Metrostars next year! F William! Honorable mention to Steve Cronin. He was the star for us in the 1st half and made a tremendous save in the start of 2nd half.
Johnson looked pretty dangerous; seems like he should be playing forward somewhere... He was very effective on several levels and needs to play up top on the club level somewhere. Thought Whitbread looked very good. His service was on a different level from the rest of our backline--a number of pinpoint passes and crosses. Seemed to see the game quicker than the other defenders. I like Rico's game. Mapp looked dangerous (to both teams). Convey seemed to settle in and really orchestrate things better towards the end of the 1st half on into the second. I agree with Cweed re Bobby's goal, but it was still a great strike... Seemed like the game was played at a pretty high level and very fast. Guys who streak by the opposition in MLS (Ed, Convey, Mapp, etc.) could not just burn past the Para defense, but we still did the job.
Best players of the game for me. Cronin did well and really wasn't at fault on a very well taken restart.
Can anybody please acknowledge that I was the only one to predict a victory, with score and everything. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=1864013#post1864013
Actually, the first goal WAS Cronin's fault, from the nonsensical foul that set up the free kick, to the poorly placed wall, to the poor positioning behind the wall - even though it was a well taken free. However, he played a solid 84 minutes after that, including one brilliant save on a 25 yard laser. Rico was a destroyer out there until about 5 minutes before he was taken out of the game, when he seemed totally gassed. Q was awful for most of the game IMO, except for the nice cross that set up EJ I thought EJ was not very good in the first half - the second worst player on the pitch. But he was the best player in the second half, I don't know what the hell Rongen said to him at halftime, but it worked (maybe he threatened to send him back to the Burn ). Convey was hit or miss, but eventually put his stamp on the game in the second half. I thought the D won just about every 50/50 ball in the second half. Magee is a whining little bitch, but he's our whining little bitch. (US and Metros for me) On the goals - the first two were mistakes by the Paraguayan keeper (yes, they did well to finish those mistakes, but they should never have happened). The first goal was a teasing cross, but the keeper charged recklessly and EJ simply beat him and the defender to the ball. The second goal was a gorgeous backheel by Mapp (who was erratic, but played better in the 2nd half after switching sides) and a speedy turn that used the Paraguayan defender by EJ, but again the keeper should have done better than to turn the ball right into Magee's path. however, good instincts by Magee who always seems to, in hockey parlance, "crash the net" The third was simply brilliant. Convey went to his left (and yes, he would never have gotten away with the move in MLS), and powered a shot home off the keeper's fingertips upper 90. All in all, a slow start and a fast finish for the U-20s. And I definitely agree that MLS has done wonders for this team. Evenmore so at this level, because you have these guys pushed into games situations, whereas I would think most U-20s from other teams are in reserve games or on the bench. You can tell who the MLS players are.
Cronin did do well, but he was at fault for the first goal. He put a wall on the right side, and then stood behind it, just leaving that space for them to hit it into. There's no point in having a wall if you're going to stand behind it. He had a great fingertip save on that one shot, though.
Cochrane really blew it to lead to the first goal. Instead of supporting Marshall on an air ball, he knocked into his back, causing him to head the ball backwards leading to the free kick from which Paraguay scored. He seemed to recover from that blunder and got stronger as the game went on. C.J. Klaas appears to be the weakest in the back. Hopefully, discipline on his part and solid support from the other three will help to hide his weaknesses both technically and athletically. Whitbread is obviously playing out of position, but is a good enough player with enough experience that he pulled it off today. A couple of times he really looked weak when isolated defensively out wide. The majority of the game, his experience and discipline got the job done for him. I think he may end up being a very, very good center back for us. Marshall did a nice job as a ball winner and playing good team defense. Like Cochrane, I thought his marking and support improved as the game wore on. What can you say about Eddie Johnson? Over the past year this kid has shown both his huge downside and his huge upside. If nothing else, he has proven himself to be a player to be worth working hard with and staying with. Great game breaking plays today. Needs to read how the ref is calling the game more quickly though. It was obvious from the beginning that the ref was not calling shoving fouls today. He could have fought through at least one of the fouls that he went down for if not more. When you are playing the role that he plays, understanding the ref can make the difference of a goal. Overall, wonderful effort. Bobby Convey plays much better when he has a role in a system of play. This is something that he did not have this past season at DC United. What I like about what Rongen has done is that Convey can evaluate and incrementally build on his performances. This is something that he needs and something that he has missed of late. Ricardo Clark was Ricardo Clark. The kid is a classy pro and we are lucky to have him. I thought that he was unlucky on the yellow card. Just my opinion. Rongen's team surprised me with their sense of accountability in front of both goals that they showed. He has always been good at implementing systems of play, but I was concerned about his ability to develop a team focused on getting a result. They needed three points from this match and they got it. Props to Rongen. I think that it just gets harder from here. It will be interesting to see where they are able to get additional points from their remaining two games. Regardless, nice win today. Over the next two games, the task should be more difficult. Enjoy the win for today, guys. You earned it!
Tale of two halves Must be critical and be honest First half: Perhaps due to jitters, lack of experience (esp. our mostly college-based defenders) Sorry, but we played awful..I could not see anytime in which we put even two minutes of consistent pressure into Paraguay's D Our defense was also exposed a lot by a team that attacked a lot on the right (IIRC)...That's why I thought Whitbread did not look good at all (I know i'm disagreeing with all the other posters' opinions) Yes, he gets well into the attack and can cross, but he is a defender first and, together with the whole defense, looked bad in the first half And Quaranta, my god....If Rongen is placing him in an "experimental" positions he is not used to, can't we think of someone who could do better BTW, each US team I see presents more better and better technical players...Problem is we don't get to see those attributes as often in a collective basis (mostly individually) WHy? Too much long ball tactics 2nd Half Just like in every game the US plays, we do not lack spirit, hard work and a winning attitude We started to combine a bit more long balls and build ups in midfield, but not at the beginning...Cronin's save with his fingertip was pivotal... The goal by EJ came as much due to his effort as by a bad miscommunication between GK and D in Paraguay..It was a break, but then what is soccer without some breaks? After that we played our best soccer..We CAN play some sort of possession game, or at least a combo of this and our already known tactical long ball style....Every single line gained composure and we took the game to Paraguay, even if not in such an organized way...We also played a bit with fire by retreating a bit too much when leading by only one goal, but hey Rongen should also get some credit for changing the face of the game, not just for the screw ups...Overall great comeback, good showing and attitude to overcome what at first lloked was going to be a nightmare
I had similar thoughts on Whitbread as you, purojogo. Clearly, our defense was lacking the first half as shown by the volume of chances by Paraguay. Zak made some nice crosses - nowhere and to Paraguay in the first half. But the rest of the defense was also bad, so what can you say.
Good second half and a nice turn about the 35 minute mark on of the 1st. The goal by Johnson took a lot out of Paraguay. They really let down their play. Johnson was man of the match for me. Also Ricardo Clark played very well. Santino was terrible, he improved in the second half, but he did not impress. I must say after the initial Paraguayan goal and 30 minutes of several defensive lapses (perhaps we will continue to have problems with set pieces defensively) we settled down and played well. Also I saw a lot of skill in the back. We were calm and played the ball to our players. There were very few aimless balls to the opposition. Our technical level is very good. I would say it was superior to Paraguay.