USA v. Mexico General Post-Game Analysis (R)

This just in... Mexico wins a World Cup qualifier at Azteca...

Thrillsville.

The USSF has just announced that the return leg in Columbus will not be played at Crew Stadium as previously announced, but at the Columbus Aquarium, in the newly constructed shark-tank, underwater.

 

Come on man, lets be realistic. There is a bigger chance that Guatemala will beat US than Panama beating mexico because........

1. US played horrible at Azteca and the people who are blaming it all on home field advantage are fooling themselves

2. While Mexico did not play all that well, they were still able to outplay the US and man handle them. If they could have finished, this would have been very embarassing for the US.

3. Panama just lost to CR in an empty Saprissa

4. Guatemala is coming off a killing from their 5-1 win over Trinidad, who the US only beat 2-1

Not saying that Mexico or the US will lose. But for Adam to say that if an upset will occur, it will happen in Panama, is laughable and very ignorant

 

ok, panama lost on a 90th minute goal in saprissa...

so, their hex is in big doo-doo unless they get a result wednesday...

and mexico has just won....

how many times does a team coming off a big win, STINK the next game...

as to guatemala they'll sit and bunker...

so, if you're afraid of the chapines wednesday night, get a dog...

and panama's speed will give el tri much problemo

 

No need to fear them...I am a little afraid of the 0-0 draw, however.

 

Beasley was crap -- maybe one of his worst games ever for the nats. I don't think he ever beat anyone one on one (although he did try). Most of the time he got the ball, he turned it over. I'm hoping that it was because he was playing out of position. Starting Beasley in the center was just a strange decision -- he is so dangerous running down the flanks, I just don't understand what Bruce was thinking.

Reyna was crap as well -- did he do anything productive all game? I think I remember him completing one forward pass at some point midway through the second half.

Our backline was atrocious. It was amazing how many times Mexico waltzed into our penalty box without even being challenged. It's been a long time since I've seen us look that disorganized in the back. We were lucky to lose only 2-1. Mexico's final pass was off, and the score could easily have been 4-1 or 5-1.

Keller had a great game. His save on that free-kick in the second half was sick -- that shot was low and headed for the side netting, and Keller did a fantastic job of getting down to block it.

I thought EJ had a decent game. He seems so comfortable receiving and holding the ball with his back to the goal, and laying off passes. I really can't remember him losing possession -- he always seemed to make a safe pass. I would have liked to have seen him try to turn on his defender once in awhile when he received the ball with his back to the goal. And he never really took anyone on off the dribble. But he did a really nice job of setting up the U.S. goal, by faking the shot and then playing a nice ball to Donovan.

 

No, the people thinking we were "horrible" are fooling themselves. It's this kind of hysterical exaggeration that causes most post-match analysis to devolve into crap.

There's lots and lots of room for criticism, but Jesus people, we lost by one. IMO, the result was pretty fair. They missed a few more good chances than we did. Alot of our final passes were a yard off or a second late, but those don't show up in the stats.

One thing I've noticed, if we ever outshoot the opponents 11-5 (or whatever) and win by one, it was a close match that we were lucky to win. When we get outshot 11-5 and lose by one, we were dominated. Whatever.

 

i was flipping through the channels and jim rome was talking about the us game. saying that it seems liek we play mexico every week and no one cares and asking if we have ever beaten them and that with this loss it seems like we wont qualify and that he hopes we dont qualify, and then gave some ********ing coment about the us team eating orange slices and drinking caprisuns. I swear if i ever met him i would probably punch him and kick him in the nuts, and im not a violent person at all.

 

Exactly.

Certainly our lineup and tactics can be questioned. But besides the complete and utter breakdown which led to the second goal, the game was fairly even overall.

I'm disappointed by the outcome, but in reality, both side were pretty poor in the first half.

 

My thoughts exactly. And that 11-5 shot adavntage has to be taken with a grain of salt. At least 4-6 og Mexico's shots came in the last 10-15 minutes when Arena had basically taken out the entire D and they were playing counterattack into the huge open spaces.

 

Jim Rome talked smack about soccer, eh? How about that. Of equal interest, I've just heard news reports that the sun rose in the east and set in the west yesterday.

Now, if that prick ever took a break from his pedestrian jocksniffery to utter an interesting or original observation, that would be news.

 

Oh really, I don't know what Concacaf qualifying means? You think St. Kitts and Nevis is in the same 'league' as Northern Ireland?? For your info, Northern Ireland played in (at least) two World Cups, 1982 and 1986. In 1982 in Spain, they finished first, FIRST, in their group with Spain!!!

So there goes your 'big upset' of Northern Ireland even passing these joke Concacaf tests. Do you even understand football?? Do you watch football outside MLS and US Nats?

 

Did you watch the game? Forget about the score. You cannot rely on an opponent to miss that many sure goals. Not even Mexico, if they had those chances again, will miss them again. And this is not counting the passes that Mexico had that were "a yard off or second late", which were more than the US even then and "dont show up in the stats. If you are going to take those into account for the US, its only fair to take them into account for Mexico. If you watched this game and you watched the U-23 Olympic Qualifier, there wasnt much of a difference between those two game. If you want to disguise the US's horrible play behind the scoreline, go ahead, but lets hope Bruce and the Nats dont do the same.

 

Not a huge Mathis fan, but does anyone else feel that his no fear/ take some ridiculas chances could have helped a little yesterday, possible as a late sub? I just felt like nobody wanted to step up and take it at the Mexican defense?

 

this is the bane of our team, personified by captain candy-landy.

 

I just hope Wednesday we come out with a little more attitude and " pissed off " (an under controlled pissed off). I want players on the field who will play with the passion and determination the other teams in the HEX play with.

 

Actually, Mexico missed about 3 times as many, including 6 breakaways, against Costa Rica. Borgetti missed a couple of gimme headers and Fonseca whiffed on 3 one-on-ones.

 

Let me add my approval to this point of view. The fact that so many of us think this match was the end of the world just shows how far the USNMT has come. A few years ago we would have been thrilled to come out of there with a 2-1 loss. Now it's a dissapointment.

I agree we didn't show enough urgency. I agree DMB was played out of position. I agree LD didn't seem to want to take anyone on. I too, grew tired of Mexico watzing unopposed down our left side. But, hey, in the end Lewis' goal left us with at least a chance to come away with a fluke point.

As long as we take care of business against Guatemala well be on track. As Arena pointed out, if we come away from the first three games (two on the road) with 6 points, we're not doing too bad.

On a completely different note. And forgive me if anyone addressed this earlier in the thread, the TV coverage didn't really show what happened on the field after the game. So much was made of Mexico walking off at the WC without shaking hands or exchanging jerseys, I was curious to see if any of that took place this time. Anybody know?

 

I think this is a really important point. We were putting pressure on them in the second half, scored the goal, and after that every time we got the ball deep in their end the passes would start to come back toward midfield. Then Mexico was able to get 9 men back. It was so frustrating to watch. And then as the game wound down we resorted to the long ball, which is a low percentage move. The positive is that we fought back and played hard in the second half but I think a draw was in our sights and we let it get away. I was hoping that this recent run of victories would lead to a degree of confidence that would manifest itself in attacking football, but we seemed to play scared for the first half and then when we had it clicking in the second half, shot ourselves in the foot. Take care.

 

Well, I've watched the game, actually a couple times now on tape. I counted more 'near misses' by us than by them, actually. Calling our play 'horrible' is just silly. We were playing a tactical game, IMHO, that broke down a couple times, but held an incredibly talented Mexican side to two goals, and battled back to get within spitting distance of a point, at a venue where we have NEVER won. I think Bruce knew we couldn't match up with them man for man at a high pace, at that altitude, for 90 minutes. You can surely criticize some of the tactical thinking (LD outside/DMB inside? Reyna just off the IR?) but for me the fact that we, in spite of it, come within a couple inches of a tie is pretty remarkable, in retrospect.

 

I'll let you know how good St. Kitts and Nevis are after we face them in the hex.

Thanks for proving my point.

 

I agree the lack of anyone wanting to take a long shot or even chance a scoring opp. bothered me. The US can pass pretty well, the ball control wasn't as good as we have seen, but it wasn't horrible either.

I would like to see them shoot more often and take more chances in the offensive zone. Reyna needs to quit holding the ball so much and quit killing the attack with his incessent back passes. I agree that sometimes he needs to set up the attack, but not everytime, it would be nice if he would use the speed of the guys up front a bit more.

 

Yeah gotta watch out for Lux. and Lich.

http://www.goal.com/DWH_championship.aspx?idTorneo=22

Looking here I see some real powerhouses....

 

How exactly do you define a "near miss"? You cant tell me that the US had any near misses like the one Fonseca and Carmona had in the second half.

 

I did the counting of chances to score .....Mexico 9... US 3.....

I think BA really did put too inexperienced (Gooch) and slow (berhalter) D out there... coupled with an unreliable (vs. good teams) BOca on the left back spot... The fact that we lost by one really should serve of no consolation...

We could not string passes together, we could not defend properly (an understatement if there is one)...We left EJ stranded out there on his own.... NO midfield supported him for 85%-90% of the match.... What do you call "horrible", then? Would the term "quite poorly" make you feel less annoyed?

The fact that we lost does not really bother me that much..Azteca is no easy visit.....It really should bother me more, as it is a clasico and pride is involved.... But the fact our MLSers were in offseason, etc.... makes me feel less bad about it.......Yet, the way in which we lost: THAT pisses me off....

For better or worse, looking at the present qualifiers, there are only a handful of games to show ourselves how far we've come....The two games vs. Mexico, away at CR, away at Guatemala..... and i really stop counting REALLY challenging matches..... Anything can happen on game day (thinking of Wed.) but to perform so poorly, nope, can't be satisfied.....
I'd have rather lost by two goals IF at least i could complain about the many chances WE had to score, or rave about the crisp passing, the lack of fear from BA's tactics, the determination of LD and DMB... But this game leaves a bad taste in the mouth, .... it really does, because i cannot claim many positives about it.... BA hopefully takes note and learns from this.... not only by beating Guatemala, but by doing well whenever we again meet an opponent of good level...... and hopefully, not experimenting so much that it hurts us....

There is a balance between experimentation (usually in friendlies and/or easier qualifiers) and thinking oneself so arrogant as to change so many things for such a pivotal game (competitive/pride wise) in such tough conditions......

 

You were talking about Northern Ireland reaching the hex as being a major upset right? Or what??

You don't have any point, mate. Not ones that are valid anyway.