USA v El Salvador [R]

Taylor did not seem to into the game at all. He just seemed to be at the wrong place all the time. Landon seemed to be more of the set up guy than the attacking guy, although he ripped that awesome shot late in the game. He was more into the controlling the ball in the middle. Wade was one of the best players out there, I think. He was awesome on defense and was awesome on offense when he came up. I definitely think Bruce was impressed. All Around, not a bad outing for the guys, especially for being so young and not being used to playing with each other. Great way to end a great year

 

I think we'll see Victorine and Barrett in the next WC for sure. Richie will be there too.

 

No dear, Great way to start the road to 2006.
Am I alone in finding Rob Stone's method of announcing to be really quirky and annoying? I don't see him as much of an improvement over Jack. I mean "two-love?" Cut the tennis crap, Rob!
I liked Ty today, though, he was going gaga nuts over Wade. I knew Keough had some sense, somewhere.

 

I thought Stone was good.

As far as Mr. Barrett goes, make yourself comfortable buddy. you're going to be with the Nats for a little while. I'm so excited he played well and I'd love to turn over the left back slot to him and see how it turns out. but i'm biased.

 

Stone bothers me, but so does ESPN's coverage of soccer in general. Lose the two-man booth and stick to commentating on the game (I don't care who's getting married) like the rest of the world.

As for the game, I thought overall it was a pretty good showing. Twellman and Califf I thought were the only really noticeable duds. Olsen played exceptionally well as did Barret, Bocanegra, Victorine, Klein, and even Cullen. I hope we can only build on performances like this one.

Note: I think I about died in the first fifteen minutes. It looked like an early July DC United squad out there, totally out of synch and lacking creative energy.

 

yeah and im not sure which one said this, but one of the announcers was talking about someone getting married during a break in action. Im not sure about the rest of yall but I dont really care about someone getting married while I'm watching soccer. And I heard the whole 2 love thing, I was like what.

 

Luckily, we watched at a bar where you couldn't hear the commentary over the din of Packers and Giants fans.

Barrett played very well -- defending well, simple passes, attacked effectively, helped the attack maintain possession. He had one fantastic cross that was very nearly a goal by Mathis (I think). Wade, Landon and Olsen looked like they belonged. Mathis had an OK game, including a very nice assist. Victorine was spotty at right back, a handful of clumsy mistakes. but you can see he has some upside (like Tony Sanneh).

Bad news for Joe Cannon: Tim Howard was very good.

The last 20 minutes were really forgettable, but that's what you get with November post-WC friendlies.

The main thing: We're so far ahead of where we were at the same stage 4 years ago, it's scary!

 

Defensively, I didn't think Sweaty Victorine played that well. Sure he scored a goal, but he gave away a lot of balls in the back. I think he was concentrating too much on helping offensively and was slow to return to the defense. I could have sworn I heard Ty or Rob refer to this.

 

I agree. "Back in the day" (the days of Bill Stern, Jack Brickhouse, Don Dunthy) that's the way it was done here in the U.S., too. I cannot remember when the "colorman" idea came in, I think it was sometime during the 1960's. Prior to that all sports, baseball, football, horse racing, boxing, you name it were covered by only one announcer. Another guy might have come in during half time or between rounds for some analysis, but that was it. I've always found the colorman idea a bit annoying.

 

That's for sure. Look for the frequent "on national team duty" for the Wadester.

 

With Sasha, it's impossible to tell.

(pretend there's a smiley)

 

Continuing the discussion:

*Twellman was a bit of a dud because the US failed to get him the ball in dangerous situations...much because I still think that Donovan is miscast in the Claudio Reyna role. He's not the holding midfielder...he's not the playmaking midfielder...he's best as the attacking midfielder. I thought Clint Mathis did a better job of playmaking than did Donovan.

*Barrett was exceptional for a debutante. I also feel bad that all the discussion on these boards was "would Eddie play? would Eddie not play?", and Wade's appearance was summarily ignored.

*Regarding the TV coverage, what makes you think that soccer should be immune from televised bombast? There are precious few TV (or radio, for that matter) announcers that can carry a broadcast anymore without "expert analysis". And this country doesn't seem to be developing any Martin Tylers here.... I never thought I'd be pining for John Paul Dellacamera, but...

 

I understand your feelings, but Eddie was the dark horse, not Wade. I was sure that Wade would be in that lineup. The question was whether Robinson would be in there. I don't think the Wadester was getting short-changed.

 

Once again, about the commentary: Color commentary is fine for other sports (although I could have done without Tim McCarver during the World Series), particularly football, I don't mind it much, as it's not nearly as difficult to follow the action. Soccer however, is a completely different sport that requires completely different commentary...oh, and was anyone else bothered by Ty and Rob's complete lack of adjectives? What happened to words like "delightful," "sublime," "beautiful," etc.?

Victorine's problems, like many mentioned, were his defensive skills, he let a bunch of dangerous crosses get by him. Don't look for him to be a mainstay on defense. Bruce probably just wanted to test out Victorine's versatility, which I think he proved he had.

I'm looking forward to future tests for Twellman. While today wasn't a great day for him, he showed some promise and fought hard all match. If he improves and takes on the role of a complete poacher/striker, things will be looking really good for the USMNT come WC qualifying.

 

Wade Barrett...simply outstanding!

 

I thought Little Nicky did well too. And (I know this is MLS but...)he was one of the few things if not THE only thing giving DC a fighting chance to make the playoffs in 2002. With Little Nicky and Timmy I really can't see how Joe fits into the team. At least at this point.

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Wade was awesome.

Landon seemed to disappear. Though he did have his moments. With the way Mathis was playing, I would have liked to have seen Lando and Taylor up front with Clint in Landon's spot. I'd at least like to see how that would work.

As much as I hate to say this, Baby Benny had a great game. I'm glad to have a player of his talent on the US team. There I got it out! UGH!!!!

Kinda sad we didn't get to see Eddie play. At least for a few minutes. Get Califf off the field!! And put Eddie in his spot!! Califf stunk the field up. Eddie would have been much better.

 

I loved this game. It was the best game I've seen. There was a team effort throughtout the whole field. Ben Olsen is amazing. I'm so happy he is back. If we continue like this then we have a bright future ahead of us. Yesterdays game was a pure example on how American soccer should be played. I didn't see one thing that made me cringe or get mad at the tv. Lando hardly did anything though.

How is it that the shortest goalie in the MLS that is a worser player then our Joe C. got on the Nat team and Joey didn't?

TRANSFORM
MARI

 

It's a matter of opinion I guess. But he's on the team cuz he's a better player than Joe. I hate saying that, but have to give credit where it's due.

 

Fair enough.

TRANSFORM
MARI

 

I think it's probably a moot point whether Rimando is or isn't better than Joe. Howard and Rimando are four years younger than joe, and that's why we saw them out there an not Joe.