It was a friendly. I think all judgement should be put aside, until WCQ. And, I think a lot of guys saw the competitor as they were - Haiti. Let's see how they do in Poland.
I don't really care about this game either way, but there seems to be an important point that has gone missing. This was a nothing game for the US players (save Wolyniec who seemed to know this was his chance and apparently worked hard at least) and it was a gigantic game for Haiti. Without going into a post better left for the politics board, the Haitians wanted to win this game very, very badly at a time when their nation is being torn apart. And they had extra motivation to beat the US. Given that — and the fact that Haiti is an uncomfortable team to play at the best of times: fast, somewhat skillful and physical — it's no real surprise to me that they out-played the US. I still expected the US to win, but I'm not really surprised the Haitians out-played you. Scary thought: I'd completely written off Haiti against Jamaica after a dismal performance against Turks and Caicos where they beat them 2-0 on an OG and a PK in Miami. Maybe we won't see any of the 23-0 games the nay-sayers of the WCQ format were predicting. cheers, hobbes
There's really not much more to say than what's already been said. It was an awful match that showed just how high we sit on that high horse for no apparent reason - at least not in terms of team depth. Our A team can definitely grind out some results, but we're two or three injuries at the wrong time away from being a mediocre side at the moment. This will change. You can't fire on all cylinders at all times without burning out - no one understands this better than Bruce Arena. I'm not panicking, yet, but hopefully things look much better against Poland. Props to all the USA fans who showed up at KEGS in Orange County to watch the match. It made the long drive worthwhile.
Does the USSF have any authority over who Arena has as assistants? I believe that Glenn Myernick showed w/ the U-23s that perhaps it is time to move on.....Just an idea....Judging from other posters who have written at length about what he's done (or not) for the Rapids, and the U-23s....he seems to be trying to bite more than he could chew....Even if some people say that he planned the strategy vs. Portugal (don't recall who), well, perhaps that is the most we will get out of the guy......Again, just a thought.....Our tactics seem to have stagnated the las ttwo yrs. and teams are catching up to it....... maybe a new assistant can provide some fresh air and give Bruce a little push to be more innovative (one can always hope)
My response to that is "so what?" Look at some point we need to wonder about why we're suddenly going to start scoring goals when all of the sudden the games count. Since Donovan's 4 goal outburst against Cuba (a team probably better than this Haiti side) we've played 5 games. Central defenders have scored 3 goals for us since then and the only goal we've gotten from a forward was Donovan's penalty against Denmark. We're 1-2-2 in those games. We should have lost to a team we definitely have vastly superior individual talent to, so I'd say this is a bad result. Obviously it's easy to overreact to this kind of game and obviously people have, but on the other side of the coin, we're clearly not playing very well, particularly offensively. How does not addressing these possible problems showing up in friendlies help us in qualifying? Is taking the "who cares, we'll start playing well in qualifying" approach really the best of ideas? Fortunately Haiti is a level above Grenada and we'll have a game or two to warm up in qualifying. It seems to me if your forwards aren't scoring goals and the two American forwards with the best strike rates the last two years aren't getting call ups (Buddle and Twellman), maybe that's a start to addressing the problem.
Does anyone question the mental toughness of some of our young talent besides me? Donovan has a ton of talent, but he can not seem to get it together for some of these games. Haiti and the U-23 Mexico game come to mind. Yes he plays a lot of games, but so do all the other international calibre players, so I don't see that as an excuse. That pretty much goes for Convey and the others as well. These guys need to be ready to play every game, instead of mailing it in. As far as firing Arena goes, I think that's rash. He's a quality coach, and he has been experimenting quite a bit lately, and a lot of it has not worked out well. Is that a firable offense? No. I think this type of experimentation is necessary when players like McBride, Reyna and O'Brien are all injury prone. I'd also like to see the US schedule a few more games on European soil so that guys like Gooch, Yi, Casey, Whitbread and Barrett can get a few games at the Senior level. All are talented players, but they are rarely released from their clubs to show what they can do. I think most would agree that experimenting with those I mentioned above would be more palatable than having Wolly and Ralston on the field.
To be fair to Haiti, they were mostly playing their 'B team' in the 2nd game where they only won 2-0. They completely dominated TCI in the first game, winning 5-0 and I read on the match summary that they had a TON of other opportunities to score that they didn't convert on. Haiti's goalie also had ZERO saves in the first game, because they did not allow TCI to even get a shot on goal. The Reggae Boyz better not take Haiti lightly, or they might get to watch a rematch of last night in the semifinals... from their homes in Jamaica.
Well,I think the OB attendance is done by idiots.I thought there were twice this many there and I'm usually pretty accurate.The entire north lower bowl was almost filled,and there were about 500-1000 on the other side.I also thought the Gold Cup Brazil reported attendance of 35K was 15K off. They are so bad at the ticket offices that they just let people in at half time when the lines back up, I'm guessing this happened again, as it did vs Brazil. You should have seen their looks of incomprehension when I asked for a seating chart when buying my seat!
Yeah, what's with under 9,000 attendance? I remember when we were slagged off in Richmond for a few more than that in a friendly with New Zealand -- and they're a heck of a lot more Haitians in Miami than Kiwis in Richmond. Didn't see the game but it sounds like a lot of pre-season, non-match fit MLSers went out unmotivated because it was only Haiti and met a team that's been sitting in Miami training while their country fell apart who decided to release some of that nervous energy onthe Nats.
What chance in hell are we going to have against a team like France, if we can't beat a former french colony? And they're not even a former colony from Africa! (senegal)
I'd guess there were 10-12,000 at the game. - Upper Bowl closed - Lower Bowl - East End closed - Lower Bowl - South Side maybe 500, doubtful any "paid" attendance, likely all VIPs. - Lower Bowl - North Side maybe half full.
Didn't see the game. I'm kind of glad, too. But it should be pointed out that Haiti was also missing key foreign-based players: Jean Jacques Pierre - defender, Peñarol (Uruguay) Wagneau Eloi - forward, Lens (France) For whatever that's worth......
By half time the north side was almost full ,IMO. I paid for southside, I can't be only one. Don't they count total gate, not just paid? Where were you? I did seen some media in the stands,there were a couple of Haitians with Media badges ,who I swear were doing pbp by cell phone and radio behind me!
A boring game and a useless tie with Hati of all teams... Hope our boys can get it together and really trash Guyana.... God I can't belive I just wrote that the Quaterfinalist of the last world cup as to get it together to beat Guyana!!! Dear god, may he help us all.
Luckily we don't have to play Guyana... Grenada already knocked them out with an 8-1 aggregate. USA vs Grenada is the next match up.
I like someone else's suggestion to dump Myernick. Why? Bad mojo. Poor track record wherever he's been. But more importantly, I think the US' inability to possess the ball in midfield exposes some potentially fatal flaws in the US coaching system. We can't possess the ball because coaches rarely teach US players how to hold the ball with the dribble. All of our emphasis is on playing one and two touch soccer, which is a great ideal, but what does a player do when such an option isn't on. If you watch Arsenal, Vieira and others are magicians at dribbling out of trouble and then making sensible passes to keep possession. Of course, foreign players learn these skills from playing pick-up soccer. Ideally then, we need to get more US youth players to play pick up games modeled after pick up basketball games in the US where the emphasis is on individual skills and creativity (even if it means trying to show other people up with your skill). But since US youth players aren't playing as much pick-up soccer as they should (to produce elite class players at the world level), we need to create an environment at organized practices where we invite players to learn to dribble out of pressure and keep possession. So here's a charge to youth coaches. Devise a soccer correlate of the basketball game of '21' where your players (about four or five per game), all play '1 v the rest' to a small goal. Reward creativity and skill in your players. Urge defenders to clutch and grab the dribbler so that they get used to physical pressure. Urge dribblers to use their arms and bodies to create space for themselves. Dribble with their heads up as well. More intermediate work would focus on situational coaching to teach kids when and how it's appropriate to dribble out of pressure (i.e. receiving a ball in your own half on a wing and without passing options turn and advance down the wing 30-50 yards before putting a foot on the ball and then looking for support). Too often American youth players who dribble have one focus and goal--'do' every defender and score a goal. Thus, our players are often out of control as they dribble. We need to teach our players how to dribble under control to find space so that support can have time to materialize. For those with playing experience, we can simply complain here on Bigsoccer or we can try to bring about change by getting onto the fields and coaching!! (Of course, everyone has a right to simply complain!).
1. any one who reports on the attendance will give you the same figure, thats what was announced.. on very rare occasions have i seen the article (in any sport) state that "although announced attendance was BLAHBLAH it seemed more to me" there are a few guys posting who were actually there (like me) who seem to think the attendance was understated.. ive seen it alot at the OB 2. us soccer does not "work well with others".. the company handling local promo for them had a hard time getting a hold of anyone when they needed answers. i know this cause i worked there.. same story for the argentina same story in games past.. fill your jollies?
i think it was emily latella that said neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever miiiiiiiinnnnd.... rosanne rosana dana was another charcter all together...
GenXer - I agree with everything that you write. In particular, I agree that our youth players are enormously impatient, and that in teaching them how to "play faster" our youth coaches are treading on dangerous ground. I have seen European U12 teams in the past, and I saw several of the top U.S. U12 teams at President's Day Cup last month. When compared with the Europeans, the U.S. kids dribbled less, got rid of the ball faster, and completed a lower percentage of passes. I would cite Convey & Donovan as the prototypical U.S. youth player -- having the virtues of an attacking mentality and the willingess to move the ball, and the vice of the inability to play a possession game under pressure. It's just not their game, to hold the ball without attempting to run by somebody. I will tell you that some friends of mine who are experienced coaches tell me that this belief system is greatly oversimplified to the point of inaccuracy.
I dunno, that seems an awful lot like closing the barn doors after horses get out. If he's still coaching the U23s when it comes time to prepare for the 2008 Olympics, then we definitely have a problem. As far as his being Arena's assistant, Arena can hire whoever he wants as his on the field assistants as long as he's coach. Not arguing with the question of Myernick's competency to run a team at this level (clearly an issue in question), just that punitively firing him as Arena's assistant doesn't really solve anything now that we've been bounced from the Olympics. Has the US recently hired a famous foreign coach type guy to come in and live here for 6 months, observe the entire American soccer landscape and make observations and recommendations on what it is we're up to? I think it would be fascinating reading, and often probably quite amusing. I could only imagine what a Trapattoni or Carlos Bianchi might have to say about the ODP system. Or why our MLS coaches take numerous off-season scouting trips to Latin America and Europe, but never hop in the car and drive to Nebraska for the same purpose.