Why did we take out Mathis? Granted I've had a few drinks, but I think Mathis should've stayed on the field. We had enough runners, no guns. Somebody had to be able to play the telling ball, and in the first half that was Mathis. Beasely as Man of the Match? If he could freaking finish, Clint would have at least one assist by halftime, and the US probably takes this game. And US soccer conquers Houston. P.S. McBride with another shot for the throw-in. I got an idea - try subbing HIS ass.
It's probably pre-arranged deal to have Mathis play half and Stewart play half. Or Mathis injuried something.
B/c Mathis has to rest up for the big match against much hated DC United. METROSTARS, METROSTARS!!!!!
My guess is that he just isn't up to playing a full 90 at the international level just yet (he did just have hernia surgury a little over a month ago.). I also see Arena as one of those coaches who looks down the road a little. I think he knew that he was going to bring Convey on in the middle, and that meant subbing one of Donovan, McBride or Mathis. With Donovan being able to run all day, and McBride on such a good run lately, the move made sense.
He's fine, + he's just fit(took a bit of time). He left early so he can rest up to score 2 in 65 min on sat.
Except that Clint was playing better than McBride, and is clearly a bigger threat than McBride. And then there's Earnie...
mcbride is the shizzzel,,that nutmeg he made was world class mathis still needs some time did we have a free kick oppertunity in this game?
As it turned out after watching Stewart taking mathis out was a mistake. 45 minutes stupid. He should have got at least an hour before stewart came in. When stewart came in he should have played a striker or a right wing mid and not an offensive mid. if he was a striker then Jones play a wing and bring Landow as a mid. Donovan attackes in the flow so he will still be up when it counts. I hate Mathis taking corners as a Metrostar and I hate him taking corners on the national team. I want to see him putting in corners as a taget player for both teams
McBride blew 2 chances to finish off a goal. The cross from convey(i think) was superb, and he let it glide right off his shin. Not saying clint was flawless...but i will say he was playing better than McBride.
I don't think Mathis should have been replaced at halftime (in hindsight, of course...stewart did wonders vs venezuela and was just a lil off tonight) but no way clint played better than mcbride tonight...clint had some nice touches, but was almost entirely invisible for the first 30 minutes.
Why did we take out Mathis? That wasn't a shot, that was a knock down for Hejduk. Don't know what he thought Frankie would do with it had he been there (my guess is that Frankie would have seen the ball in the box and instinctively tried to clear it), but that was the plan. Should have tried something else. We need some shooting practice. Should have netted at least one tonight.
His problem is when he passes he admires his pass and does not get into the flow of play. If he did he would get three shots more on goal a game then he is getting now. Then will translate into a goal a game scored by Mathis. Maybe, Arena is telling him not to follow his pass? He had Beasily comming back, he had hejuk comming back he had the three backs and he had mastro and Armas back. I just can't believe Arena actually wanted Mathis to stay back after the pass as well. If Mathis moved into the flow Arena would never have taken him out in my view. He would be too dangerous to be taken out. It is very annoying watching him watch his pass I hate when he does that.
Why dose BA continue with this guy he has nothing.. All the stuff he had during the WCQ and WC are gone... No commitment, no energy, slow, just don't see what's so good about him. he had 1 good season for the USA, 2001- 2002, after that nothing.
I didn't realize that the top third of the thigh is now called a "shin". Good work by Convey to get free and whip in a driven cross, but it came to just the wrong height for McBride to do anything with.
I think you've had too much to drink, Noah. Mathis played reasonably well, but McBride played very well, IMO.
I think Arena was trying to get someone into the game who could control the ball in midfield. Mathis, as he tends to do, had a few good touches but was also invisible for large parts of the game. Thats fine when he is a forward, but the U.S. needed someone who could control the ball. Obviously in retrospect this was a mistake as Earnie didn't do much at all, but the idea was sound. It would've been nice to see Convey in that role, as he and Martino are by far the best domestic options for the holding midfield position.
El Mono - Did you miss the three decisive balls that Mathis played in his 45 tonight? First ball was a penetrating pass to I believe McBride at the top of the eighteen. McBride laid it back for a quality opportunity. Then the through ball to Beasley that was tackled away at the last moment. Then the head ball across the box to Beasley that should have at least resulted on a shot on goal from 10 yards out. I was more than satisfied with his vision tonight.
McBride vs. Mathis is a bad comparison. Mathis vs. Stewart is whats at issue here, and I thought Mathis was the better of the two. I was confused by Bruce's subs in general, they struck me as odd.
I agree. In his forty-five minutes, he created perhaps the three best scoring chances we had all night. Too bad he was not also on the receiving end of those passes, as he is our best finisher.
There was another Mathis pass that should have been a scoring chance. He slotted the ball to Donovan, but Landon couldn't settle it, which gave the defender the split second he needed to keep Donovan from breaking downfield.
Does anyone knows for sure Mathis's pace worsened because of injury or fitness issue or weight gain? What's the deal? I know some players became permanently slower after an injury, like Alan Shearer comes to mind,
Mathis made all his good touches and became a factor in the game only after he switched positions with Donovan, about 30 minutes in. Mathis was invisible as attacking mid. Subbing him was the right thing to do because he wasn't doing the job he was assigned at the beginning of the game.
That's what I wanted to note. At about the 10 minute mark, Rob in his squeaky voice asked Ty, "You're Bruce right now, what do you do?" No response, and neither of them realized the change Arena made on the field. Mathis wasn't playing up top. Instead it seemed to me that McBride had become a pure striker, with Mathis and Landon roaming around behind him. That is when I feel we changed the pace a lot on Mexico. Mathis in the game? I liked the fact that he was very physical. I was laughing out loud, when he went into the corner and grabbed the player to get the ball. That is the Clint you want on your team. Someone who won't take their crap. I also would have liked to have seen Mathis follow up his passes with runs. He made many nice passes, but he has to quicken up the pace a little I believe. He is too deliberate on the field. However, I would have him over any of our forwards. As for McBride. He again won a ton of headers, that all went to Mexico. I don't know who played better between the two, but McBride was not sharp IMO.
I thought he did a good job showing for the ball, running off-ball, and passing. That 2nd-half chance Donovan & Beasley had (where Donovan was whistled for a foul) was off a ball played over the top by McBride. A little too cute sometimes, but if he's running at people, he's willing to take them on (the nutmeg), which he rarely did before.
If you check post game comments by Bruce on MLSnet, it states the plan was not to give Mathis more than 60 minutes in any event. He states that the whole team wasn't fit enough for the entire game, and Mathis is still recovering from a relatively recent surgery. And someone made a comment about not understanding his substitution patterns...wasn't that what people were claiming was part of his 'genius' at the WC (i.e. Claudio Reyna as a right back).