USMNT vs A & B

Who's the ref and where's he from?

 

Starting at LB is almost as bad as being on the cover of Madden.

 

Agree on Gooch. It's a shame, but signing with AC Milan was his Madden cover. I don't see any reason to give him any more call ups when there are plenty of others who are better at this stage.

As for the match, the 3 goals we scored don't do justice to the number of chances we generated. However, on the whole it didn't seem like it was a very strong outing for us. Dempsey and Donovan linked up well together, but taking into account the opposition, I expect those two to waltz through their defense.

 

Wow, the future looks really bright. I remember last cycle scores of 9-0, 6-1 when we played teams like this but we still struggled against the El Sals and Honduras's. How we will do against them now I have to really wonder.

The only player that looked good was Boca and he still made some mistakes. Oh and Gomez again looked good.

A & B had the worst goal keeper I have ever seen at this level in terms of positioning. All you had to do was shoot, shoot, shoot. I wondered if maybe thats why Landy kept passing rather than shooting. Maybe he thought that was the best way to capitalize on his indecisive positioning.

 

After this effort, we'll find out what we're really made of under JK in Guatemala. Still glad for the win, though, a win is a win is a win and 3 points in what REALLY was a must win home match against a clearly outclassed opponent. The best you can say about it was that at least we took care of business. Lots to work on, that's for sure. Sadly, Gooch IS done, but it's questionable whether he and some other long time stalwarts were gonna be around in two years anyway. It's a cruel game that way, and it appears we need faster, quicker defenders anyway (see baby Brazil loss), so the next round of qualifiers (assuming we advaNce, of course) will tell a lot. ON TO G'MALA! COYY!

 

Re: USMNT vs A & B

How is Landon the all-time leading scorer in US history? He doesn't shoot!!

Gooch is horrible.

 

Don't get me wrong, I thought we should have won by a slightly bigger score, but CONCACAF is a different beast compared to four years ago. Teams are getting better.

Hell, Mexico, who impressed a lot of people last week with its win over Brazil, only beat Guyana 3-1 and from everything I have read so far, didn't look great.

 

Far from an ideal start, way too cute in the final third, but aside from a calamitous error by Gooch, and a horrific back pass (Donovan?) it wasn't a poor performance in bad conditions.

• Clint needs to put his bag of tricks away and bring his Prem style more.
• Gooch..ugh. Torres is probably out, so he might have to play. Perhaps JK can move Edu to the backline.
• Bradley and Jones need to play much better.
• Let's give A&B a little CREDIT. This was a typical performance you'd see in a FA Cup w/a minnow against a big club. They were organized in the back and put together smartly by the coach. A player from Reading, Nottingham Forest, Wycombe, and basically the rest of the team on the same USL squad.

 

Re: USMNT vs A & B

Not taking away for A&B, but they were clearly inferior. Their goalie should have been tested more.

-Jones has been bad the last few games. He's physical, but his touch is lacking.

-LB - we're screwed at this spot. I don't know what to do, but Gooch is NOT reliable by any means (obviously shifting someone else to LB so Gooch is in CB). Take away the bad handball call against Brazil and his performances have still been downright horrible. He's lost out there and everyone knows it.

 

To your last point JackCaz; worse yet Gooch looks like he knows it too.

 

Then I have to ask the question, does that mean the USA hasnt gotten any better in four years? Does that also mean Mexico is not a level above us like a certain person has repeatedly stated.

 

Re: USMNT vs A & B

I'm not up-to-date on the entire thread, but I believe Mexico very well may be a level above us right now. Their play over the last year and a half has been impressive.

That said, they still need to do it on the big stage.

 

It was 3 points. It was an ugly 3 points but it was still 3 points. I'll forgo any commentary because of what my momma taught me.