USA v. Brazil: In-Game PBP Thread, 9/9 (R)

We tried our best and at least we are all still really good friends.

 

Try watching the replay. I just did, several times. The ball went through a Brazilian spot in the wall. Convey turning his head made no difference.

 

Needless to say, I wholeheartedly agree. Freddy and Lee may not be ready yet but we desperately need players like this to develop to a high caliber and level if we ever want to be consistently competitive with the world's best. We absolutely have to have players with a high degree of of technical ability, unorthodox creativity and unpredictibility in the attacking third. Too often our attackers simply lack ideas and are just much too slow in speed of thought and agressiveness. Throw in a potential clinical finisher like Altidore and the US would be in decent shape going forward. Sure we still wouldn't be in the class of a Brazil, but we would be able to pull off a result against them once in a while if players such as these become the players we hope they will become.

The U-20's game against Brazil was a case in point. In a close hard fought game in which the Brazilians were maybe slightly better, what was the difference? A half chance taken by Altidore absolutely clinically for the first goal. And a moment of absolute genius and creativity by Freddy which led to the second by Altidore.

 

Some good points about the state of the USMNT in this thread. Overall, I thought we were never really in the match despite the score. Brazil were playing just as hard as they needed to. A good part of the match they were in autopilot, especially Ronaldinho. The refs were not even close to being the reason for the loss. Calls went both ways, and in the midfield the U.S. got away with quite a bit that wasn't called. Bottom line is that this team simply lacks what it takes to beat upper echelon teams. I agree with those folks who are critical of the composition of the team.

 

The only thing I disagree with is Freddy not being ready there's no way anyone can say that Bradley Jr. is ready to play not only ready to play but start and Freddy isn't? Is Bob really seriously trying to say that Josh Wolff is a better option up front than Fred? I think Bob is afraid of his personality in my opinion but you know what? What superstar player doesn't have a personality? When he gets too out of line tell him sit down and shutup look at the NBA how many times did we hear about personality issues with Shaq and Kobi? You know what though they still were the best men for the job and you play them period and how many championships did the Lakers win? He can still always play for Ghana with Essien but he wants to play here. However if I had the shot to play in a world cup I wouldn't pass up an opportunity because some guy didn't think I was up to par. Benfica has visited the Champion's cup tourney regularly and they believe he's quality. He was also like in the top 3 in the 20 world cup with all the credibility and stats behind him plus all the holes we have up front but Josh Wolff gets a spot??? So his son fits but all he does is make tackles and give up stupid free kicks and pk's in tight one goal games, but gives us no real option going forward. We've got plenty of central midfielders who can do that...something stinks in Bob Bradley's selection process and I'm ::waving the BS flag:: to fend off the smell.

 

Don't get me wrong I would love to see Freddy out there but I just don't think he's ready physically just yet. If you saw the first leg of the Champions League Qualifier against FC Copenhagen it seemed he was bumped off the ball a little too easily and also lost possession a lot. It seemed he struggled a bit with the size of the bigger defenders. Now if he had trouble with those guys think how he would struggle against skilled brickhouses like Lucio. Let him get some first team minutes with Benfica first to see if he can find out how to deal with the strength of older defenders and then call him into the national team if he succeeds. If he does succeed call him in ASAP. We need him badly.

 

I want to say that I believe the US played a very competitive match... Brazil showed why they are ranked #1 in the world, I don't know what it is about Robinho in a Brazilian shirt, it just seems like he elevates his game by 3 or 4 notches, I never see him play like that for Real Madrid, absolute world class and for the record, that was a dive on his part, but it was a penalty regardless, Onyewu had his leg sticking out before Robinho went around him. it was a clear foul... I think Boca had a very good game, he booted a lot of balls out, but if you go back and look at it, he was the one saving those through balls and stopping Brazilians from getting on the end of them... I like Micheal Bradley, no really I do, but I mean we have Rico Clark who actually has the athletic talent that he doesn't have to slide into every ball and he also has an offensive game also, so I cannot understand how Bradley is getting called up and Clark isn't... I mean I know he's the coaches son and everything, but come on... Cut the bs, Adu and Altidore need to be called up now!!! Why are we calling up Wolff and Convey, how much of an impact are they going to have on our roster for the 2010 World Cup??? I don't know what Bradley is on, but this is really starting to piss me off...

 

You know what I do agree with you there he does need to realize he needs to hit the gym and put on some more muscle. Your right about that he should have done that in the off season because he doesn't have time to do it now. Lets watch and see what happens because we do need him badly

 

Perhaps you should pay attention before you get pissed off. Ricardo and Jozy had club commitments and Jozy was supposedly injured. I'm a little on the fence about Adu as Benfica won't have a game due to the international break. How much do you think they train during these such breaks? I doubt it would have hurt his chances of PT at Benfica if he was in camp and played in this match.

Wolff likely won't be a big player in our 2010 qualifying and WC, but like it or not, everyone, Convey will be.

 

Amen brother that's what I said...I agree with another poster though Adu needs more muscle his only problem is he's a little soft on the ball. If he can sort that out he needs to be called up

 

True...but Rico doesn't get to play even when he's on the roster. Bobby isn't neccessarily a shoe in either. He's going to have to get some kind of right foot or he won't make it. Truthfully Justin Mapp is a better player and more effective on the left. Though he's best left footed he also works well with his right and his vision. Bobby is good with the crosses but his timing is bad with getting through balls to the front runners. We'll see what happens we still have a ways to go. Remember we've got some good 20's that should come in as a factor. The midfield should get shifted around a couple of times and tested with a lot people. We're go with Donavyn on the right flank but we're not too solid on the flanks. I'd expect to see a lot of people rotate around through the midfield.

 

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