Rossi chose Italy for the money, He is a ITALIAN international... Do you know what that means for him in terms of setting up a contract.... Transfer value.... There are just to many golden boys on the NATS. DMB does NOT deserve a call up... LD is playing like crap... Mastroni was Pablo in 2002 since then 0... There are hungry players on the nats like Davis, Torres, Adu, Jozy.. It´s time for them to shine....
because concacaf is a great region because the field was bad (not for torres or adu) because the players were bad, not the coach who knowingly put them there because in 1806 our national team couldnt beat costa rica away, so that means we can't win there get your head out of your ass
Settle down. All I was saying was that the team had played like garbage at all of their away games during this WCQ. Hell, it's a miracle we got a point out of the sallies. Who are far inferior to the Costa Rican side. This team, and Bradley haven't been ready for an away match yet, and they deserve all kinds of criticism for it. I just didn't expect, nor do I see why anybody else did, a dramatic shift in performance trotting out the same coach, and team, at one of the toughest places to play in CONCACAF.
For my money, there are very easy and obvious solutions that are available to us, but we have to overcome the inherent conservative nature of US soccer coaching. Specifically, I think US Soccer has failed to effectively incorporate the dream U20 team which for me, put on one of the best US Soccer performances ever. I don't discount the value of veterans as well as the need to work youth or rookies into the system slowly so that they "pay their dues," but as is becoming increasingly obvious to me and many others, the "veterans" are consistently putting in some of the worst performances while the youth talent looks far more dangerous, albeit with the more limited time they get. With the exception of Wynne, the rookies again were the "best" on the night. Freddy Adu, Davies, and Altidore were the three "best" US players for me. Freddy Adu in particular is someone who needs to be incorporated as a starter. It's just ridiculous at this point how US soccer seems to be squandering him. True, he only touched the ball a few times, but with those few touches, he strung dangerous passes and showed great skill. Altidore didn't have much good service to work with, but was probably the only player showing initiative, holding the ball up, taking guys on, and drawing fouls in dangerous areas. Davies looked very dangerous in the limited time he had. Donovan, Beasley, Mastro, and Wyne all had howlers. Dempsey showed a couple of flashes of brilliance but didn't see much of the ball...sub-par performance. I couldn't see b/c freakin' local cable wouldn't show the change to ESPN2, but through my online stream it looked like Howard got beat near post on the last one...which shouldn't happen. But again, I'll have to see the replay. The backline was atrociously disorganized with both Beasley and Wynne screwing it up routinely. With the likes of Spector, Demerit, and Bornstein as options, there's no excuse from a coaching standpoint to have that backline even to start, but what's worse was that it wasn't changed after the coaching staff saw their back line get chewed up virtually every single time CR went forward. A mess, to say the least.
What an absolute f****** travesty. Wynalda was dead on with his criticisms and even pulled his punches a bit too much for my taste. Dellacamera was way off base crediting CR. They had ONE good goal, they didn't dominate play and the defense just s*** the bed on goals 2 and 3 [this goes to Howard too on goal #3, it may not have been an easy shot to stop but it WAS near post and you're not a rec. league player]. JP, this would be an embarrassment if it happened at Azteca! I thought, going into this game, worst case scenario: US loses 1-0 or 2-1. The US lived in their end for most of the second half and could do nothing because they couldn't string three forward passes together. BTW- LD....when your team is down 2-0 on the road in a WCQ and you have an absolutely unmolested, uncontested, free, open-look half volley 20 yards from goal you can at least do yourself, your teammates and your fans the small service of cracking the GD thing on FRAME!!!! [if you don't actually score from a non-PK, I know that may be too much to ask...]. Oh, and those men wearing blue that stand 10 yards from your free kick on a set play- you want to try and get the ball over them. Why Mastroeni and Bradley as center-mids? They're both destroyer/stopper types, not creative mids. Put LD as offensive center-mid and put two workhorses up top who are good in the air like any combination of Altidore/Twellman/Ching/Cooper. Beasley's a flank middie who can help out sometimes on defense, not a defender. If you're down late in the game put LD and Adu in the central midfield and PRAY that Gooch and Bocanegra can hold down the fort. That's what's missing from the team, creative playmaking from the center of the park, a distributor/field general type who can direct the game. Mastroeni and Bradley are good enforcers but that's where it ends. If the Federation wants to have ambitions beyond the first round of the WC they have to go into these matches expecting to win and bringing the personnel and tactics to do it. I was certainly not sanguine on their talent level prior to this game but I may just turn out to be a cockeyed optimist because I didn't think we could turn in a stinker like that anymore. We're the best team in CONCACAF but more and more that seems like being the valedictorian at summer school.
It was Harkes, not Wynalda. I wish it was wynalda though, he wouldn't of pulled punches the way Harkes did. He would've been on a tirade.
The personnel has clearly declined. The bedrock that our teams were based on from 2002-2005 (I think most would agree that timeframe was when our team was at its best) was our great defending. The attack and midfield, as they would often do, would fade in and out of games but the defense would stand up and reject everything coming at them, and then occasionally that would create a goal on a counter. The defense has clearly taken a step downward as the replacements are not up to par of the previous "generation" and now they can't stop everything coming at them like they used to. Even if someone made a mistake to give the opponent some space in the box 5 years ago, he would've gotten pounced on immediately back then and would likely turn the ball over or do some awkward bad shot that had no chance. Not to mention Keller was always good to occasionally make a miraculous save to stop a goal that should've gone in.
on summary Bradley ...horrible decisions like to pull Torres and to place beasley on the back,and when you play CR which has better ball control and is fast you need a better midfield, people who can take the ball away and control the pace and slow down a team like CR Beasley.. he shouldn't be there period, he cannot defend ,cannot control the ball ,passes were horrible and the only thing he got which is speed is gone,even when he went forward he didn't hold the ball and he make me feel he was just making sure he won't get any injury,simply put he doesn't belong there anymore Team: the whole team need to put more effort ,i guess they thought that just wearing the shirt was enough since we have been told we were the team to beat in the Concacaf,sorry guys yesterday we needed more Cojones and the Coaching assistant should have help read the game to Bradley ,hopefully they watch the game over and over and see all the mistakes that were made together since we are the USA bradley will keep his job but in other places he would be on shaky grounds
Watched the game at 1:30 in the morning and was surprised (to put it mildly) by what happened. I figured we'd be lucky to get a point there but still... First off Costa Rica was better than the US. We did have a couple of stretches where we put several passes together, but Costa Rica was more creative and effective in their attacks. I don't want to hear about the bad turf; the Ticos would have probably whipped us on grass down there. Second, defense was atrocious (and I usually don't use extreme words). DaMarcus Beasley is an offensive-minded player, not a defender. I was mystified as to why he was playing left back, unless Bradley was trying to make an Ashley Cole out of him, a defender who loves joining attacks. I'm not gonna blame Tim Howard for any of those goals, because his defense was on vacation. Third, why was Torres taken out? I noticed the Ticos were playing him physical, but he was okay in the time he was there. I've been watching this team play and it's becoming obvious that we're not as good as the 2006 WCQ Edition (which by the way was pretty good). We still have to play at Mexico and at Honduras, two places where we traditionally do not do well at. We should make the WC if get all of our points at home. If we start dropping points at home well...things are going to get real interesting.
This is the most disturbing fact of the whole thing. We're one year from the big show and we dont even have a sign of have a set roster to start building timing and game plans on. Somewhere Bruce Arena is laughing his ass off. Honestly the only American left to invest in as far as coaching is Dominic Kinnear. If he cant do beter I wouldnt invest in another American coach for 20 years. The USSF has proven useless our whole system needs to be completely overhauled.
I don't understand why Torres was pulled while Beasley, who hadn't played in two months was allowed to flounder in a position he cannot play. Adu would have done a better job as left back. Enough has been mentioned about the team mailing it in last night, but it is about time Bradley puts players on the pitch who all are actually playing with regularity with their club teams.
I saw a couple of things that were interesting. I think Torres was taken off because of his poor defending. He looked great offensively but defensively looked lost. In fact, he had some blame in the first two goals. I would have kept him on because we needed some kind of attack in the midfield and he was the only one holding on to the ball. The other thing that was interesting is how disgusted Clint Dempsey was that he was pulled. Clint has pulled this one before. I don't think BB and him get along very well. If I was BB I don't care if Clint is a star in the EPL or not, I am in his face telling him to "wake up" and asking him if he truly wants to represent his country. No fire at all for country but has plenty of fire for his EPL club. Michael Bradley is a good player but makes some truly bone headed fouls. I like his fire but don't like how he fouls at stupid times.
It's more about just knowing talent rather than a formula about playing time. It's especially true for us b/c US players have unique situations in Europe. Adu and Altidore didn't get much club PT this season (each for their own complex reasons), but they both should be obvious starters. Beasley is a veteren nat's player with a ton of fan support. That's why he started. It certainly wasn't playing time and certainly not his recent form for the Nat's. I think it's been since '06 WC Qualifiers that I've seen him in form for the Nat's. The backline is very weak right now, but I totally disagree that we don't have the talent right now to do something about that. Spector, Demerit, and Bornstein are all fine defenders. Spector and Demerit in particular need more looks. I just think there's a lot of old US Soccer mentalities at play when it comes to coaching that we simply can't shake. US Soccer establishment is anti-football in my view. Skilled players are seen as arrogant. Mediocre talent is considered heroically humble.
They had Dempsey that is one of these "skilled" players and he didn't show up. I do wish we had some more creative players but I don't think that is ever going to happen until (or if) we become a soccer nation.
The result was pitiful but the emotions from the players in the game were even worse. We didnt look like we were trying. Looked more like we had already qualified for the WC and just showed up because we had too. I really hope someone laid it into these guys and woke their asses up. Aside from that...the table does still play in our favor. Providing we win saturday...and we get good results from the other clubs playing i think we could breathe a little after this weekend. It could shape things out in who needs to do what to finish booking their trip or could have us holding our breaths until august and september. Let us not forget in 2006 we did qualify tops with 2 losses and they were against Mexico and Costa Rico away.
Ohh come on now! Let me say that I am not backing up CD on this one, since he's clearly very bad last night. But, have you wonder why guys that played really well for their clubs (Dempsey, Bradley, Davies, Gooch, Boca, etc.) on a consistent basis looks like crap when they play for the Nat? Do they not care any bit about the jersey they're representing? If that's the case, as a coach you have no business calling them up, not to mention starting them repeatedly. Or is it the coaching staff on the Nat just not able to make full use of their prospetive talents? Why do these players showed so much desire, competitiveness, and contributions to their clubs yet unable to demonstrate anything close to it with the Nat? Why? It's the COACH. Say what you will, but MLS coaches are third tier at most in the soccer world. These European guys are trained/taught at a much higher level on a daily basis. And then they are thrown under and MLS level Nat coach and expected to perform like they do at Fulham/Renes/Standard, etc.? That ain't gonna happen. Why? It's the COACH Does anyone honestly think that we are a much better team than we were 10/15 years ago? I doubt it. Our 1994 squad would beat the crap out of this team any time. Just their guts and determination would run these guys off the field. Yes, our pool have gotten much better. Individually, our players are more talented and play consistenly at a much higher level in Europe. But as a team, are they better? NO, why? It's the COACH.
so the question is.. How can we pressure Sunil to change the coach how do we change or put pressure on the Federation ( or Sunil) since to start is not a professional federation but one based on amateur leagues and even the MLS owners have not a say so in any of the USA federation matters,(correct me if I'm wrong )
Ok I slept it off so I could make a coherent post. The US was awful, end of. I was reminded of the Czech Republic game, where I had a great bit of hope, only to have it come down in the first few minutes. The first goal was PUTRID defending capped off by a great finish. If you're Tim Howard you're yelling the shit out of Beasley, Mastro and Torres (I have to think the turf had SOME effect on Mastro's crumble, yet it is still relatively inexcusable from someone who has been more or less dependable through the years) Beasley's problem is that he is used to being covered by the last line of defense. Guess what? You ARE the last line of defense now. Well maybe not now, since he's going back to midfield, or the bench. The good news is that we realized that this conversion sucked now and not in our first WC game against say Cameroon. Wynne was slightly better, though not saying much. He pushed up and contributed well to the attack, but found himself stuck there, with Gooch having to cover his ass multiple times. I don't think we should scrap him immediately, but I would like to see some seasoning before he gets back out in qualifying, preferably lemon pepper, or Italy. Both Gooch and Boca had some communication errors with their portero, which nearly made my heart jump out of my throat when Gooch had to head it out of bounds instead of Howard making a simple catch, or Boca dribbling past Howard toward an empty net. For three players who had worked together for years, and for a threesome that BB is trying to solidify as THE three, I can't take Saprissa as an excuse. The central midfield. It was always going to be tough too have three central mids when Beasley and Wynne are your backs. Torres, Mastro, and Bradley each gave up a goal somewhere in the game, but at least Bradley had somewhat of an excuse; he was waiting for a double team (where were you Beasley?) only to have a defender cut in on a frustrated, fatigued player and send a nice near post shot past Timmy. Not saying I dismiss his cardinal sin of not following his mark, but Bradley had to cover for not only his midfield (who seldom helped back on defense, letting the Ticos get the ball at the 30 with literally no one covering them) but Wynne and Beasley who were too far upfield. Torres did have a stinker in the beginning, but he did pick it up shortly afterwards, making nice plays with Beasley and Altidore. Why he was taken off at halftime I'll never know, although I sure hope that he starts in the midfield on Saturday. Given Bradley's suspension and Mastro's disappearance, I wouldn't be surprised to see him with Kljestan. Donovan and Dempsey need the balls at their feet to make shit happen, and they never received them, so shit didn't happen. I think I saw a stat around the 80th minute that said that Donovan had 25 touches at that point. For your best player, that is simply not enough. Although they both had bad games, at least Donovan had the gumption to try and dribble past players (albeit quickly dispossessed). I gotta be honest, I though Donovan would miss that PK, given how things went in that game. Kudos to him for finishing it off. Who knows? GD might count in the end. Altidore showed he should be starting. Sure he had a few bad touches, but he relatively looked composed on the ball (at least more than others), helped contribute to the attack, and drew some good fouls that sadly went wasted from mediocre FK's. I applaud Bradley for trying something ballsy, but I always thought this lineup was doomed to start. Yes it was a 4-3-3 like ManU or Barca, but instead of Evra and O'Shea, we got Wynne and Beasley. You can't put so much weight on those two. I can see why Bradley went with those two: fast, can compete on turf, especially Wynne at TFC, but Wynne was average at best, while Beasley looks like he doesn't even have the speed anymore, his greatest attribute. Troubling for his future. As for Honduras: ------------------Howard------------------ --------Gooch---------------Boca--------- Spector--------------------------Bornstein ---------Torres----------Kljestan--------- Donovan------------------------Dempsey ---------Altidore---------Ching----------- Although if Hejduk was available, of course I'd take him. I don't think we can underestimate his importance anymore. Ditto to a lesser extent for Ching. I think we'll miss Baby Bradley a lot, so Kljestan and Torres will have a lot of defensive responsibilities. I could also see Clark taking one of the midfield roles. I can also see Dempsey being benched in favor of getting all three midfielders on, although that would just invite another 4-3-3, something which I'm a little more reluctant to utilize with this personnel. Look, a loss isn't the end of our qualifying; everyone's held serve at home and we should be able to do so here. Although if we don't then I will have to look back and reevaluate if we're really putting our best team out there to win, aka our coach. If we draw or lose, then we'll have to pick up points at Azteca or at San Pedro. 17 is the (unofficial) magic number, three more wins and a tie (Honduras, el Salvador, @T&T, CR) should do it. Hopefull sooner than later, I don't want qualification have to come down with our rematch with the Ticos.
some interesting tidbits supporting my arguments above. http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/9646072/Dismal-display-in-Costa-Rica-opens-door-for-criticism "............There's also a huge cultural gap. Players who go abroad realize quickly what full-time professional practices and veteran European coaches look like. They may be stunned to come back to our national team camp and run around cones. Privately, players have griped about this for years, but nothing has been done about because U.S. Soccer seems unwilling — or unable — to bring in a coach with real, top-level club and country management skills.........................."
I'm assuming Bradley pulled Torres out so he could rest for Saturday. At least I WANT to assume that.
I can't figure out if the problem last night was due to a lack of game plan or lack of execution. I'm leaning toward the latter. No execution resulting from no confidence, stemming from being scared out of their shorts and the inability to play on the surface. Ordinarily we would have prepared better, but club committments provided for late assimilation and a fuzzy strategy going into this match. Let's hope the Beasley experiment is over. Wynne is clearly not an international.
We let the whole scene - the surface, the atmosphere, etc - beat us before we even set foot on the pitch. If you read all the pregame commentary now after the fact, it sounds like we were ready-making excuses. I have to put that on the team leaders and the coach, I guess.