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After the match today against Ghana, and those against Czech Republic and Italy for that matter, I thought that USA fans might want to vent about the national team's performance, or lack of one. So feel free to vent your spleen in comments area of this post. I'll give my impressions of the CONCACAF teams later, with special attention to the US national team.
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| |
G |
Pts |
GD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Costa Rica | 5 | 12 | +4 |
| USA | 5 | 10 | +4 |
| Honduras |
5 | 7 | 0 |
| Mexico | 5 | 6 | -2 |
| El Salvador |
5 | 5 | -1 |
| T&T |
5 | 2 | -5 |
One goal, with all that talent we could only muster one goal.
Posted by: Charles | June 23, 2006 at 06:54 AM
Bruce's fault -- a 4-4-2 needed? I don't know.
My extremely lay impression: a lack of attack. We have fast and nimble players in the forward and mid positions: they should be trying to take it to the opposing defense on the ground -- at least more often than they did.
We tried to play too much of a "vertical" (is that the right term?) passing game -- 4-5-1, hoof it up to McBride and hope.
The backwards passing drove me crazy, too. Guys receiving passes weren't trying to stretch the field or drive past the defenders -- they were immediately passing it back.
Suffice it to say that that clip ESPN showed over and over -- Landon's lack of initiative with a huge amount of space near the goal at end of the Ghana game -- is emblematic of the whole effort. He doesn't necessarily have to shoot it there, but dribbling in there and drawing attention might have freed up something.
I'm not nearly as comfortable attacking the team's "heart" or "desire" or "passion" or even "effort", but I think it's perfectly fair and obvious that they played well below their capability.
Donovan, Beasley, Dempsey, Convey, Gooch, and Johnson are all world-class young players. They'll be better.
My impressions of who shone and who didn't:
Above-average: Dempsey, Conrad, Convey, even Reyna, and the unheralded Cherundolo (not a word of adulation, but he disrupted so many goals and then came down on the other end and made smart plays & passes ... had the attackers taken advantage)
Average: Boca (grrr), Johnson (avg+), Onyewu, Keller, Olsen, McBride, Mastro
Disappointing: Donovan, Beasley, Lewis, Pope
See you in 2010, guys. I'll be there, cheering you on as always.
Posted by: Grey | June 28, 2006 at 10:20 PM