That's no longer a good enough excuse. We have Adu back so we don't need him as a face anymore. The USMNT needs him to step up his game and this will likely mean a permanent return to Europe. He likes to take it easy, he likes the short season (which he won't have anymore if Klinsi has his way). He played great after returning from Everton but I think that the fact that he had just finished a stint in the EPL was a big part of that. We need that type of form otherwise I'd rather see a younger guy out there in his place. It's no longer acceptable to rely on past accomplishments on this team anymore. If it's Europe that is needed to get the best out of him, then so be it, he needs to go back. We know there are teams that will start him over there. That's not an excuse anymore. If he doesn't care enough then that's a problem.
Really impressed with Torres. He has shown how he is now ready to play consistently at this level. Gone is the days of him being timid and weak on tackles. He knows how to take hits to win fouls, and also how to hold it up with getting strong physilcal guys knocking at his door. Edu played well, passed it off well in front of the defense to torres. Donovan and shea both played well in the first 30, but after that started to fade. Shea was getting easily read on the outside. He has promise though, and gets the give and go style. Rogers didnt do well, looked invisible. Started off strong like donovan, but faded. Donovan, same. Started off strong, but faded. Our defense looked good, never looking in troulbe until the goal. Orozco needs to tighten it up, but out the back his passing was smooth when we'd lose it in the box, he'd one touch it out calmly to start a play. He still needs work though. Chandler is something though, his speed, physicality, and ability to move up when needed is good. Cherundolo jr in the making. our forwards, in Jozy didnt look well when in, although he fought well, he seemed 'off' and still not used to the give and go style. Agudelo always dangerous, makes something out of nothing, and plays so loose and comfortable out there. Think he should have started or should start from now on. Jozy needs to start off the bench for now. He has plenty of years to up his game though. Holland will help. Donovan wasnt being the central midfield presence needed. I rather see him play on the wings, maybe on the right with dempsey moved up and shea on left. Torres in the middle with Edu.
Why do people refuse to understand that we do not care. We're sports fans, not Oprah fans! You want to watch famous people be happy? Watch any of a thousand talk shows or reality shows. All we are interested in, is seeing our team do well, and our players kick ass.
Costa Rica were very organized defensively and for the most part cut out passing lanes in the final third, making it difficult for us to do much of anything. The lack of width or threat from a cross with just one man in the box made their job substantially easier. Sure, we had a lot of possession, but they were happy enough to concede it through the first 50-60 minutes. Rogers is taking a lot of slack for being late to the pass, but I think a lot of the time the passing lane didn't exist early enough to match Altidore's runs. Again, they were organized...and Rogers was predictable. Torres started out well, but became enamored with the time and space he had on the ball. That said, there were a lot of times where the movement off the ball wasn't helping him speed the play up, either. The short, all encompassing, way of putting it is that the midfield three did not work very well together despite the possession (early days, I know). Of course their is a slight personal bias here, but Donovan was slotted where Spector has spent his more successful waning days at West Ham. I would have liked to see Donovan push out wide and have Spector slot in...while he is a very ordinary player he anticipates attacks very well, and Donovan would have provided the much needed width when the game started to open up in the second half, and Spector the second man into the box. Obviously this a trivial concern as Holden or Dempsey will more than likely be top candidates to be slotted there once they return (sooner rather than later, hopefully). All in all it seems right now Klinsey is taking the time to learn what his players can do. If 4-3-3 is the future then we should all be prepared for a lot of growing pains over the next year or so.
I'd rather that Agudelo-style trialing that leads to something so soon is kept at a minimum tbh. Having said that, events and form might dictate otherwise for JK.
Re: USA vs. Costa Rica 9/3 Post-Mortem [R] Absolute agree. He broke up more plays, controlled the def mid, had good distribution. Fact is, our offense in the first half (LD, Shea, Torres, Rogers, Altidore) did not do what Klinsman had evidently been encouraging them to do: attack, attack, attack. They weren't taking players on in their end and only Aguedelo seriously did that in the second half. My question is why didn't Coach (Wannabe) K send in Beckerman and Bunbury once we were down and pull out Shea who was not the same player he was against Mex and, yes, LD. Sound crazy? Bench your star players and watch everyone step up. Coach (let's hope he becomes) K praised Wenger for benching Djorkief to bring up his game, and I don't agree that LD has lost a step, but perhaps losing his passion for the USMNT. Understandable after 2002.
To be fair a lot of national sides are quick to bring their rising talents into the national squad...maybe not as young as Agudelo but plenty of the newly minted 20 year old variety like Gatt is. Hopefully there will be more 'B' team friendlies that provide opportunities for fringe youth players in low pressure situations. At some point we're going to have say we can only get so far with our current crop of players and their is another World Cup in three years.
Re: USA vs. Costa Rica 9/3 Post-Mortem [R] I didn't know that Beckerman and Bunbury were even on the bench.
Edu showed his prowess. Donovan did appear like his head wasn't in it. Torres kept the ball moving and needs time with Edu and Holden to gel the spine of our midfield.
i agree. i do envision torres as the crux for our midfield possession and attack. but i would like to believe that fabian johnson, rather than edu, will back-up torres. we need more of adu and feilhaber's creativity. shea doesn't cut it, nor does rogers, although they both work quite hard out there.
Last night was my first time at a soccer game and even though the USA lost it was a freaking awesome experience. Won't miss another US friendly at HDC ever again. These thoughts are from someone sitting behind the goal that Howard defended in the first half. The team had a really good first half. Second half was more even and the players did seem to look tired. Torres was fantastic. The only player I was personally disappointed with was Donovan, didn't do much offensively other than miss a golden chance at the start. Castillo got outmuscled a few times but did ok defensively IMO. His passing was poor a bit too many times for anyones liking though. I was hoping to see Chandler get involved more on the attack. Once Jozy was caught offside on that scoring opportunity in the second half, it seemed like the whole team just stopped trying to play a ball down the middle. Instead they kept going wide which lead to mostly poor crosses or the guy cutting back in and then losing the ball. It also might have been nice for the team to attempt a few more shots outside the box. The team played hard and well, but they were seriously lacking any sort of quality in the final third.
I haven't waded through the thirty pages yet. To me, before any sort of rational analysis is even possible, it needs to be figured out what the priorities are. Is it results? Is it how we play? is it somewhere in between? In all honesty, the loss to me is meaningless other than as a point of pride. Had we played ugly and won 1-0, a month from now who cares? Big deal. That we played extremely well and dominantly for some 60 of the 90 minutes in a manner in which I cannot recall having seen us play might be someting of far greater significance than the scoreline. I am just gonna link these good posts because they say it far better than I could. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=24271124&postcount=38 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=24268640&postcount=387 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=24268554&postcount=334
I know this is Bigsoccer and so you are required to overreact but sheeesh. The positives: Torres, Shea and Chandler The first 20 minutes was the most entertaining soccer the us has EVER played. The hispanic commentator was glowing and I agree. There was some attacking plan other than connect 4 passes in the back, knock it back to Howard and watch him clear it forward. Throw Holden in the midfield behind Dono and Torres, Put Dempsey wide rt instead of Rogers. Take out Castillo and Orozco, put in a proper cb and cherundolo/johnson wide. It was a friendly. Klinsmann started off with Germany very slow too.
He's starting to have Big Player mentality. Most Big Players never show up for friendlies, they just walk around the field and wait to be subbed.
Re: USA vs. Costa Rica 9/3 Post-Mortem [R] I would be more concerned if you knew they were on the bench.
Re: USA vs. Costa Rica 9/3 Post-Mortem [R] The problem with Kyle is that he's 29 already. Too bad he's only finding his right place in the team now.
Re: USA vs. Costa Rica 9/3 Post-Mortem [R] If he hits his peak at 31 I'd be okay with that. Assuming his peak means a lot of US wins. Otherwise he's the devil and we should all shun him forever
This is along the lines of how I feel. I also think Chandler played ok, but not up to all of this potential I've been hearing. Worst game I've seen from Donovan in a while. We need to see John and Gonzalez for the next camp. I agree with posters saying that Boca has lost his speed already, and come 2014 it's going to be a whole lot worse.
Re: USA vs. Costa Rica 9/3 Post-Mortem [R] Nothing wrong with being useful for the team for a few years.
Also add me to this list. With a friendly the important thing is how did we look? We actually looked pretty darn good for a large stretch. I think the result flatters Costa Rica a lot but they did well to contain the attack and they generated their stuff. The US looks pretty good considering that there is a lot of new blood on the field. Torres and Shea look like keepers. Rodgers should be Shea's back-up and we looked pretty good with only one defensive mid in the back, let's see how well that works in Belgium. Castillo is no immediate improvement but he's not a downgrade either, he deserve more looks. I thought Bocanegra was good. Not terribly impressed by Orozco I think a few others deserve some looks instead of him.