The Official US Soccer thread

[Lorenzo]

There was some good. The Altidore goal was a beauty from him out of no where. Altidore was selfless in the assist to Johannson as well. 4 goals for Altidore in last 6 INTL appearances. Poor Ben.

Surrendering late in friendlies don't concern me too much with the amount of substitutions allowed. Bentner played out of his mind last night. The thing that concerns me is that this team cannot hold possession.

Man I'm with you. I don't care about friendly results. that plus you can't overlook the fact that some of our struggles have been on the road against decent opposition. I mean if we were rolling high and winning all of our friendlies what would that matter? we have to improve and that means playing new guys and finding something else other than what we've seen before. I agree about the possession. that is a concern. there need to be improvements everywhere. our backline is a major issue and there are questions everywhere there. they struggle to defend and they don't bring the ball up well. the midfield needs to get better, but don't know who besides Bradley and jones will step up(and really both those 2 play the same position). what about Cameron? where does he fit in if he plays? is he a midfielder or a defender?

jozy looks like a different player with the USA shirt on. don't know why he struggled so much in Europe, probably just was not ready or not comfortable. I only watched him once for about 15 mins as a sub and he looked like one of their most dangerous guys. I heard about all of the struggles. I think he's better off in the MLS like Donovan was.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I can get used to Brek Shea as a LB. He played great there today against Shaqiri, a very dangerous wide player.

Jozy sending off by the ref is pretty shady. Yes he did curse at the ref, but the ref should let that go. It is a friendly. Refs let fouls go all the time that deserve yellow. This should be no different. Especially when you see Shaqiri cursing at the assistant ref in the 90th minute. Now he has to sit games that count. (I think)

Back to the actual game play.... this is the only game in recent memory where we played a European team and I felt like we were the better side until the Jozy red. We had all sorts of dangerous chances, held the ball relatively well etc.

Good progress was made this game.

 

[Stout]

I can get used to Brek Shea as a LB. He played great there today against Shaqiri, a very dangerous wide player.

Jozy sending off by the ref is pretty shady. Yes he did curse at the ref, but the ref should let that go. It is a friendly. Refs let fouls go all the time that deserve yellow. This should be no different. Especially when you see Shaqiri cursing at the assistant ref in the 90th minute. Now he has to sit games that count. (I think)

Back to the actual game play.... this is the only game in recent memory where we played a European team and I felt like we were the better side until the Jozy red. We had all sorts of dangerous chances, held the ball relatively well etc.

Good progress was made this game.

I agree that we made good progress this game. Bradley and Zardez did not take advantage of their golden scoring opportunities, especially Bradley, which is worrisome, but we played well until the red.

I have to disagree about the Altidore red card. He thoroughly earned that. He kept getting angry that the ref wouldn't give him the ticky-tack fouls. He got in bad with the ref in the first half. Also in the first half, he got mad and ran the dribbler down for a deliberate foul, and was lucky not to get a yellow. Then he did it again in the second, which we could tell would be a yellow. By that point, the ref had heard enough of his whining. I kept muttering, "Just shut your mouth and take the yellow, just shut your mouth and take the yellow", because I knew he'd get sent off if he mouthed off. Bonus points for the sending off for cursing the way he did.

It's one thing to curse at the ref during the normal run of play, but when you've routinely pissed him off the whole game and just got a yellow in retaliation, it's moronic. He should be well and truly ashamed.

 

[Lorenzo]

I missed both games. I am excited for Shea. I don't side with refs especially FIFA.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I missed both games. I am excited for Shea. I don't side with refs especially FIFA.

I never thought I'd see the day. I haven't really liked him much in the US left wing spot. He played like a pro like he was a natural there. I like how Garza has played there recently too. LB looks surprisingly strong when it has been a weak spot.

 

[Lorenzo]

I never thought I'd see the day. I haven't really liked him much in the US left wing spot. He played like a pro like he was a natural there. I like how Garza has played there recently too. LB looks surprisingly strong when it has been a weak spot.

Same here. I know some Mexican fans that just rave about how good he would have been if klinsmann took him to Brazil. I've never been a big fan but he doesn't lack confidence. I hope it works our defense being involved in possession is important for keeping the ball rather than just ball watching and clearance which has historically been our style.

 

[Stout]

I never thought I'd see the day. I haven't really liked him much in the US left wing spot. He played like a pro like he was a natural there. I like how Garza has played there recently too. LB looks surprisingly strong when it has been a weak spot.

I thought Garza was terrible. They kept flowing attack after attack down that side, and he couldn't do squat about it.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I thought Garza was terrible. They kept flowing attack after attack down that side, and he couldn't do squat about it.

Garza hasn't had the greatest game, but he has looked solid since the WC.

 

[Stout]

Garza hasn't had the greatest game, but he has looked solid since the WC.

Meh, he's looked okay at times, upwards of good, but he's been shredded at other times. I'd rather have someone like Shea, who's looked shaky sometimes but spectacular at others, and who can grow into the position, than someone who is playing his natural position and can look that bad.

 

[Lorenzo]

Man I rewatched the Belgium game last night. I can't believe how close we were to winning and tieing in spite of the quality that Belgium has. We are getting better. Greens goal was world class and dempsey had a poor touch but should of first timed that shot and it would of been an incredible free kick.

 

[Stout]

Man I rewatched the Belgium game last night. I can't believe how close we were to winning and tieing in spite of the quality that Belgium has. We are getting better. Greens goal was world class and dempsey had a poor touch but should of first timed that shot and it would of been an incredible free kick.

Our mistake in that game was Klinsmann parking the bus. Without Howard having literally the game of his life, we'd have been crushed. Without any threat of us going forward, as the game wore on, Belgium just lived in our half.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Our mistake in that game was Klinsmann parking the bus. Without Howard having literally the game of his life, we'd have been crushed. Without any threat of us going forward, as the game wore on, Belgium just lived in our half.

No way. Belgium is clearly a better team that we are. Sometimes when you aren't the better team, you have to park and hope the team makes a mistake or you can capitalize on a set piece. Your Newcastle has to play that way all of the time.

 

[Stout]

No way. Belgium is clearly a better team that we are. Sometimes when you aren't the better team, you have to park and hope the team makes a mistake or you can capitalize on a set piece. Your Newcastle has to play that way all of the time.

My Newcastle playing that way is the reason they suck They actually have decent players, but the manager is so negative in how he wants them to play, it saps all the spirit out of the team.

Now, Klinsmann parking the bus clearly didn't sap team spirit, but let's be realistic--that game should have been a bloodbath. Howard didn't just have the game of his life in net--he basically had the best game of any keeper at the World Cup--EVER. A normal Tim Howard, even a Tim Howard playing better than normal, probably concedes five on a day like that. He made, what, like, 14 saves? Insane. Unheard of.

If you ever go into a game parking the bus from the get-go, be prepared to lose. It doesn't matter who you are or who you are playing. That doesn't mean you can't play a clever counter-attacking game--which is what I think JK tried to have us do in that match--you can't just park the bus--which is what actually happened.

 

[Lorenzo]

Howard had a great game but honestly Belgium blundered a lot of chances. And the ones they hit on goal were almost always right at Howard. Belgium just have too much quality. It's easy to say hey let's send guys forward and attack but you cant if you can't get the ball. I heard klinnsmNn say after the World Cup that they had too much respect for Germany and Belgium. Honestly we just don't have the quality yet. We have too many players that are still ball watchers at that level. And our defenders have to improve a lot. I thought jermaine jones had a great World Cup and late in the Belgium game dropping dempsey helped a lot. I thought in the first half against Belgium it was ok. In the second half we got dominated.

 

[Stout]

Howard had a great game but honestly Belgium blundered a lot of chances. And the ones they hit on goal were almost always right at Howard. Belgium just have too much quality. It's easy to say hey let's send guys forward and attack but you cant if you can't get the ball. I heard klinnsmNn say after the World Cup that they had too much respect for Germany and Belgium. Honestly we just don't have the quality yet. We have too many players that are still ball watchers at that level. And our defenders have to improve a lot. I thought jermaine jones had a great World Cup and late in the Belgium game dropping dempsey helped a lot. I thought in the first half against Belgium it was ok. In the second half we got dominated.

Exactly. He realized what he'd done wrong as a coach, which shows me he's willing to change. Now, we haven't seen results in friendlies yet, really, but we can see he's tinkering to try to make it work.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Putting Wondo in a position to be the one making that kick in front of goal (right before the 90 minute whistle) was a horrible miscalculation IMO. Based on his ability in those spots in the past that should have been Lando, or Eddie coming in to the game.

And that is why Jurgen might be too big for his britches. Some of his decisions are still head-scratching to say the least. I am really interested to see who he chooses to start against Mexico.

 

[Lorenzo]

Putting Wondo in a position to be the one making that kick in front of goal (right before the 90 minute whistle) was a horrible miscalculation IMO. Based on his ability in those spots in the past that should have been Lando, or Eddie coming in to the game.

And that is why Jurgen might be too big for his britches. Some of his decisions are still head-scratching to say the least. I am really interested to see who he chooses to start against Mexico.

I disagree. Both donovan and Johnson were struggling to score goals in a forward friendly MLS for months. He made the right choice to leave them off. If anything maybe donovan should have been called to play midfield not forward but Donovan's entitled attitude is why he didn't make the team. eJ had a bad attitude as well always has. Now should wondo have been pulled for green or someone else on the squad? Maybe.

As far as wondo I'm not a huge fan of him but he was scoring a lot of goals in that time. He was the hot player. He just missed it. If you want to have the benefit of looking back sure anyone can do that. But don't forget dempsey missed what should of been a gimme goal off that free kick.

 

[Stout]

I disagree. Both donovan and Johnson were struggling to score goals in a forward friendly MLS for months. He made the right choice to leave them off. If anything maybe donovan should have been called to play midfield not forward but Donovan's entitled attitude is why he didn't make the team. eJ had a bad attitude as well always has. Now should wondo have been pulled for green or someone else on the squad? Maybe.

As far as wondo I'm not a huge fan of him but he was scoring a lot of goals in that time. He was the hot player. He just missed it. If you want to have the benefit of looking back sure anyone can do that. But don't forget dempsey missed what should of been a gimme goal off that free kick.

Let's just put it this way: If Wondo is the quality of striker who we have in late in a World Cup elimination round game, we're screwed.

 

[Lorenzo]

Let's just put it this way: If Wondo is the quality of striker who we have in late in a World Cup elimination round game, we're screwed.

We have dempsey and Jozy and although they are the best we have. I'd rather see dempsey play midfield but we just don't have a plethora of quality strikerS We lost jozy and that hurt. Donovan never had a chance to be a true striker on the national side in his prime after 2002 because he was needed to play midfield. Hopefully in the future our quality will improve.

 

[Stout]

We have dempsey and Jozy and although they are the best we have. I'd rather see dempsey play midfield but we just don't have a plethora of quality strikerS We lost jozy and that hurt. Donovan never had a chance to be a true striker on the national side in his prime after 2002 because he was needed to play midfield. Hopefully in the future our quality will improve.

I hope we develop more quality strikers too.

 

[Zeno]

C team versus C team but it is US V Mex. Nice build up and goal for the young US forward, Morris is going to be a big part of the U23's.

 

[Zeno]

That field was awful but the USA at least looked competent in the second half. Really nice goal by Agudelo.

Dos a Cero

 

[Stout]

Can't beat a good Dos a Cero US v Mexico result

Morris was a nice player on the field. The buildup to the goal was just a bunch of lucky bounces, but Morris jumped on the ball and finished really well.

Diskeruud, man, I love his work rate and attitude any more. Dude's nails.

Agudelo...nice! I bet that redemption felt pretty good.

Beckerman...sigh...he had his requisite handful of stupid giveaways. He's one of the most negative players I've ever seen. If he touches the ball, you can guarantee there's almost no chance of him passing it forward. Dude doesn't even try to play positive.

Zardes isn't going to be one for the future for me, so far. He's fast and gets in good spots, but has absolutely zero touch. Can't control the ball to save his life, it seems.

I bagged on Bradley a lot watching the game--he kept going for overly cutesy passes instead of just picking out the RIGHT pass--but I blame Klinsmann more than Bradley for that. I think JK is pushing him to play like that. We could have had several more goals if Bradley doesn't give it away trying to make the perfect pass, ending up making an awful pass. Oh well, the experiment continues.

Yeah, not the prettiest of games, not the prettiest of sides, but I'll take Dos a Cero.

 

[Zeno]

Personally I thought Bradley was the best player on the field all game long, I didn't see much reason to criticize him. He should be the permanent captain IMO, not Dempsey...he just has a fire about him (as opposed to being the hothead he was when he was younger).

I agree with you on Beckerman, he always looks to pass square or back when he gets the ball, I am a big Perry Kitchen fan, I think he will give you the defensive bite Beckerman does (Beckermans biggest positive is he breaks up a lot of passes) but Kitchen offers you more in attack.

I think Zardes isn't ready for the Int'l game yet, he has work to do but he does have a lot of the physical tools. The thing he has going for him is he is supposedly a hard worker and seeks out advice of veterans, practicing with Robbie Keane and being coached by Bruce Arena should help his development.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens on the Gold Cup roster, lots of roster battles IMO.

 

[Lorenzo]

I think the pitch was terrible. There was a lot of possession lost for both teams where it was just a poor bounce or ball that was too hard to control. I agree about Bradley being too cute but I think he was the best player on the field for either side and it showed. Zardes does seem lost I think the new guy out played him but I thought the point was made that zardes did run a lot. I thought the defense was much better than I've seen them in a very long time. It might have something to do with Mexicos quality but they looked good both in defense and attack which was a good sight. Yedlin also looked good. Bradley could have used him more.