Hejduk played well, and that was one of Bradley's decisions, so he gets credit for that. Ching over Altidore was another decision, and that one didn't work. Still, we scored on a setpiece, and I felt like the gameplan was good.
but in-game after the Mexico red card, he was poor...If you have players struggling out there, don't keep them on.... make some changes, try to switch positions..... Do something, but DO NOT let Mexico dictate or at least share posession 50/50 with the US , when the US is at home and a man up....and even allow them to have chances, and fouling Mexico on silly spots....Good thing we were not punished, but that was not thanks to Bob, more to Mexico's inefficiencies, and Michael scoring the 2nd to lift the weight off the team's shoulders......that to me was the worst part... he has to be more decisive when he sees the tide turning.... not rely on tired players .....and almost completely abandon the attack....Bob needs to stop being so conservative on certain spots....
Abysmal. We won despite Bob's poor decisions, and I rarely criticize his coaching. He either fell asleep or was paralyzed with indecision from the time Marquez got tossed. A team even slightly better than Mexico should have walked away with this one. We scored on a goal mouth scramble and a howler from a goalie while Mexico missed several sitters. What was Bob doing from minute 60 until minute 80? First, when the other team goes down a man and you are in the lead, at home, you automatically play with more width to make the other team's 10 men cover more ground. Somehow, the USA played narrower after the Marquez ejection. Next, substitutions. Bob did a poor job adjusting to being 1 man up, but his subbing was so bad I had to keep rubbing my eyes in disbelief. Several players stopped playing around this time. From minute 60 on: 1. Sascha needed a sub because he disappeared......in central midfield. He had a decent game but needed to come out. I forgot he was on the field at one point. 2. Pearce faded. Badly. Some really poor decisions with the ball told me Pearce was "tired body=tired mind". And he didn't play well when he was not tired either. In future games, we need to slide Boca over and bring in Califf or somebody. 3. Beasley. Again, does not play much club soccer anymore and it showed. Needed a sub. 4. Dempsey ran his socks off but I saw him dribble into Mexican defenders several times in the second half and he just fell down. And Beasley stinks at free kicks and corners. On the goalmouth scramble goal, he airmailed the corner badly and I don't think Donovan (or the Mexican defenders) was expecting it. The other ones he could not get it past the first man. We got lucky as heck. Bottom line: After the Marquez ejection, two of these guys should have been pulled and we should have played with far more width. Instead we played narrower with no subs. Poor, poor, decision making. Good thing this is the worst Mexico team I have seen.
Bob was horribly outperformed by his son. The thing is, one will have to go after 2010, and it ain't gonna be Michael. Bob has a ways to go to become an international manager.
He needed to sub earlier. I would've brought on Altidore for Ching and switched Donovan and Dempsey at the same time. 65-70th minute. I would've brought Paco on for Kljestan over Clark. 80the minute. I would've brought Bornstein on for Pearce. 85th minute.
I would have subbed Ching out earlier, Kljestan out earlier, and probably Dempsey out, too. Kljestan had a poor game, Ching worked his butt off; Dempsey just didn't look on his game offensively.
Tank commander Bradley I could not agree more with the above assesments. I kept screaming at the screen for Bradley to make a sub... any sub even before the Marquez red card. After Bradley was absent to do anything while hejduk limps around the field for 10 minutes, and Howard is hobbled. then to make matters worse the midfield giving the ball away every possesion. If you turned the game on late and didn't know mexico was down a man since the 65th minute... you would have never been able to tell from the horrible play from the boys after that point. Mexico had the better chances, Mexico's passing was slightly more fluid, and US just about gave up til Josie and Clark came in way to late for my tastes in the game. Bob Bradley is winning by luck and fortune and not by decisions or lack there of as the coach of the US nats.
I agree with all of the above. Frankie was a good choice to start, but once he got hurt he needed to come out. Bob's decision to play ten minutes of 10 v 10 (with Frankie hurt) was VERY dangerous and almost cost us two points. NO ONE should be happy with Bob Bradley's performance in this match. When that red card came out, we should have gone into a more attacking set. Bob made two of the right subs (Wynne for Frankie and Torres for Beasley were the other two moves that would have been "right"). At that point, with Mexico back on their heels, you should go for the juggular and knock them out. Instead we stayed static, played with a hurt player and allowed Mexico to get mentally back into the match. We were lucky they didn't score- after which point Bradley would not have been open to take that shot at the end. Anyway, the Jozy sub was good (if too late)-- Chinger would not have gotten that ball out to Donovan, which led to Mikey's second goal. Overall, I rate Bob Bradley's performance as "F--ing joke". The rest of the soccer world must just laugh and laugh when they look at him and his inability to manage a match.
A win is a win so I was overall very happy with our performance, but I thought that the team looked a lot sloppier than a 5 week camp and in form players from Europe should look. The defense and midfield lines often lost their shape, particularly after we went a man up. Which just confused me. Some players were clearly tired which prevented us from keeping our shape on the field and should have been subbed. When the team's a goal and a man up I expect at least two subs by at least minute 70 to bring fresh speed and better shape to the team. Of course I also have some problems with the centerbacks, but it's a rivalry game so I can allow the mistakes for now. We're slowly approaching the World Cup though and we've simply got better ballers waiting in the wings than Boca and Gooch. I mean the rest of the entire backline is up for debate for me too. Great veteran performance by Frankie though. A win's a win so overall not that much to complain about.
Sasha, Ching and Dempsey should have come out about five minutes earlier than they did (Dempsey should have come out about the 86th minute).
We won. He gets a passing grade. I questioned why he didn't sub earlier....but we got the result. Ask yourself this, when has Bradley lost a game that he absolutely had to win? Listen, it wasn't a great coaching job, but by no means was it horrible.
The scoreline vindicated Bob's subbing policy. If we had gone with some of the posters here we would've subbed out Howard after Rafa's red.
if we are looking towards playing the WC with him in charge, it'd be better to see him improve as time goes by, just like our players have......so we may be ready to face teams that may not be as forgiving as Mexico..... BTW checking Futbol Picante....they say there was a PK before the red card Marquez incident.... Looking at the replay -have to be fair- it is clear that Gio is pulled down...So in essence, we avoided a bullet there..... Anyway..... while Bob is not horrible, he needs to still improve though IMHO
Bob's commitment to squeezing every last ounce of energy from his starting 11 tells me that somewhere in the Bradley Household there is a collection of almost empty Ketchup bottles turned upside down - Just one more drop!!!
Landon Donovan was the target on the corner kick goal. Why? Because he gets forgotten with all the "trees" coming forward. He plays the second ball in, and Gooch and the boys were waiting, sans organized markers. That was straight off the practice field kids. When is the coach Bradley hate going to end? The guy has yet to lose a meaningful game. The guy has yet to DRAW a meaningful game. The defense and midfield are organized. They rarely concede goals or chances. They looked cohesive. Bradley, Klejstan, Beasley and Dempsey always knew where the other players were. The only thing missing is the final third, and that will come when more talent is added. The US is a hard team to beat right now. And what more can you ask of Bob given the talent at hand?
lol such a joke. You think Mexico would leave him unmarked? That was all Landon's smart soccer brain. You might like the coach, but to say that was on Bob is ridiculous.
Almost everyone here had the lineup picked. As usual I thought the subs were 10 minutes late, but BB's philosophy is consistent on this.
I agree with everyone's sentiment on this thread. I simply can't believe anyone out there thinks this guy has a clue how to manage at the international level. This game clearly illustrates that. ppl complaining about the subbing are dead on , but what else to expect? We've seen this so many times it's just too predictible. it was about the 83rd min. when he first subbed, simply rediculous!!!! this after Frankie was limping around for awhile when he had 7 backs on his 18 man lineup! the second goal will only serve to take attention away from his horrible coaching decisions. The US Soccer Fed ought to be ashamed that they've let this guy get this far. ESPN flashed a stat up around the 62min, we're 40-0-10 in CONCACAF Qualifiing since 2001. He's simply doing what any manager should be doing but this team is winning inspite of BB. He's way too conservative with lineups, formations, subs, and tactics.
Once Hejduk was injured, we were basically playing with three in the back. Hustle is the man's game, which he can't do unless he has both wheels. To take advantage of 10 v. 11, you have to have 11 on the field. Frankie should've come off. Surprisingly, we started losing the midfield battle once Marquez was sent off. I'm sure it was a combination of determination on the Mexicans' part and being laxadaisical on ours. Either way, Sacha should've come off earlier. Props to Bob for having this team ready to play, playing a high line on defense, and pressuring their midfield into mistakes. Really, really should've started to sub around the 70-75th minute (especially for Frankie).
The team was prepared: Bradly had his son prepared for this game with all the minutes played prior to this. The same can be said for the entire lineup. Guys were familiar with one another. Needed to sub Josy in for Ching no later than minute 75. I prefer the first sub at minute 70 so the sub has time to get into the game. I would have liked to see Donovan in Midfield after the red card. Clark needed to come in earlier so he could get into the flow. He was 5 to 10 minutes too late. I predicted the subs so Bradley is clearly consistant and should be easy for the players to understand. The subbing pattern when ahead should be: Sub 1 at minute 70-75 Sub2 at minute 80. Sub3 at minute 85. I am still a Bob fan.
Coach gets a B-. Wins over Mexico in meaningful matches can never be dismissed. The starting lineup was logical and exactly what everyone expected. The US played well in the 1st half and deserved the 1-0 lead. Good preparation after a short few days of practice with the main squad (much less time than SGE had to work with Mexico's full squad). But the US was fading in the 2nd half, and one or two subs needed to be made between the 60th and 70th minutes. Dempsey, Beasley, and Ching were all wearing down. Then, when Mexico fell to 10 players, the time was ripe for Altidore to come in and stick in the dagger, but BB still waited.
A cone could have managed the game today because Mexico showed no interest in being there let alone winning. Our guys played with great effort and organization, but that was the weakest attempt from a Mexican team I've ever seen. A WCQ without a yellow card until Marquez went crazy? For a while I thought I was watching a friendly, by the nature of the tackles. Hell, Marquez may have done that on purpose to end his night and take the next game off.