Murica vs. Ukraine

Either way, freedom wins.

 

Not sure what we will get out of this. Playing in a near empty stadium (seriously how many locals are going to see this juggernaut matchup?) against a team that has to be thinking of home and not exactly motivated to play a friendly after blowing a 2-0 lead in their WC playoff against France.

 

lol good one

 

JK has them in a 4-2-3-1: Howard; Castillo, Brooks, Gooch, Cameron; Kljestan, Jones; F. Johnson, Dempsey, Bedoya; Altidore

Nice to see Gooch and Kljestan in there; here's hoping they impress.

 

Well hopefully we will get to see Jozy score a goal, Dempsey do something, Gooch not get injured and be a beast, Shea do more than one good thing in the game, Juan Swagudelo come of age, Aron Bacon sizzle, Johnson give them fits, Cameron play right back, Sasha demonstrate once again he is more useful than jones, and Morales & Green play. But basically as long as I get to see Jonathan Spector I'll be happy.

 

And in addition, their passports should be revoked after today...to go to the extremities of criticism. However, for JK to throw in a pair of CBs that never played together against a squad that's very good, and with a chip on their shoulder, is patently unfair. But, it does make Der Kommissar's decision on the back four much easier.

Only followed match reports, but they were not kind to the US CBs.

And, nobody scored - hard to win under those conditions.

 

Yeah, Brooks and Gooch did not play well. No one really did.

Howard had no chance on either goal, but did make a great initial save on both of them.

I guess if anyone did "help" their stock today, it maybe was Bedoya.

 

Brek Shea: big, fast, good first touch, left footed....and can't pass the ball to save his life. :doh:

Jozy, Clint, Jones; what a difference a year makes. Very concerned with all 3 going forward.

ray: Michael Bradley gets and stays healthy.

Best piece of skill, was Bacon's sizzling volley from the corner kick that was saved off the line. Just sucked it took 86 minutes to see it.

 

Shea has a good first touch?

I wish Klinsi would find a way to fit ArJo into the lineup. He is one of our best attacking players and probably the most in form player right now.

 

I can. Dempsey goes to the bench.

 

:text-+1:

 

:lol: Well, maybe not a good first touch, but compared to his passing...

Totally agree about Bacon.

As much as I like Fabian in the midfield, our best team is probably him at LB. Was surprised to hear is playing RB w/his Bundesliga team.

 

I thought Gooch and Brooks were far past poor yesterday if I'm being honest. They were repeatedly carved open with runs straight up the center of the pitch and it could have easily been 3-0 at the half. Brooks is a young man who probably wasn't going to get a 2014 WC roster spot before last night. He may or may not have a bright future ahead of him but he made far too many costly mistakes yesterday. Gooch is no longer a young prospect and could have played himself completely out of the US picture altogether. As far as the rest of the defense goes I thought Timmy was good, Cameron was pretty good barring the majority of his crosses and Castillo was invisible.

In the first half I thought the entire midfield was pretty woeful. Klejstan and Bedoya had some bright spots going forward in the second half and I really wish Dempsey had been pulled for Aron instead of Klejstan. Jones once again looked poor without Bradley at his side and Fabian Johnson was using the same brand of invisibility cloak issued to Castillo.

Up front Dempsey was poor, wasteful and a bit petulant at times. Jozy wasn't entirely useless but he was no where close to the beast mode form he found in the Gold Cup.

I didn't feel like the US offered any threat from the left until Brek Shea entered the match but his performance can be summed up no better than Joe's astute observation.

That comment gets a big :text-+1:

I am not sure exactly where Johannson fits in the starting eleven but he is becoming a regular threat that may prove difficult to leave on the bench. He seems to only be a goal and an injection of confidence from playing his way into the starting eleven.

With regard to Hatter's starting eleven, my guess is that it is extremely unlikely that Lichaj will even make the preliminary roster. On top of the fact that Klinsman hasn't been calling him into camp you can pile on recent fitness problems. Whatever inroads to a call up he might have been making by playing regularly for Forest have been set back by not playing regularly recently due to injury. As of today he is reportedly sidelined for at least a month. Barring a rash of injuries at the right back position I can't see him getting called in.

 

The Guardian's Amy Lawrence has a decent take on the thing.

USA may wish to borrow England's psychologist

Jürgen Klinsmann was always ahead of the game in terms of preparation and opening players' minds to find ways to think positively. The USA team are dearly in need of a boost after a woeful 2-0 defeat against Ukraine. All in all this was an unsettling experience. To start with there had been doubts about the game as first it was moved from Kiev due to the instability in Ukraine, and then there was a suggestion it would even be cancelled. Finally it was on, and the US team headed to an almost empty stadium in Cyprus for the last warm-up match involving the squad's European-based players before Klinsmann narrows down his selection in May. The coach was left dissecting a performance with almost no redeeming features. A fair number of the fringe players Klinsmann tried will not be expecting a place on the plane to Brazil. Of the regulars, only Tim Howard could escape censure. A World Cup mission that looked intimidating enough anyway - Germany, Portugal and Ghana make up Group G – suddenly looks tougher than ever. Amy Lawrence