USMNT v. Cuba, 2nd Leg

Re: RE: Re: USMNT v. Cuba, 2nd Leg

I hope there are no more defections even though the Cuban gov't probably deserves the message. It's got to be discouraging for their soccer program.

For me the big question is will Bradley play Torres to lock him in for the US national team.

 

I went to their training yesterday, got to meet Bob, talk to Michael, it was pretty entertaining. I didn't see DeMerit, which makes sense because I read today he has an injured hamstring.

Everyone looked pretty good, except Jozy. He looked very sore. I was suprised that my buddy and I were literally the only fans there.

 

I would have liked to see Cooper get another chance with the USMNT.

 

Re: RE: Re: USMNT v. Cuba, 2nd Leg

I'm assuming you didnt have insider info on this.. you win the PF prescience award:
And that would be 2 ... so far.

 

Does Fanz recognize what team's he's coaching? It's Cuba. Of course they can handcuff them to their own rooms if they wanted to.

Anyway: I don't care about the lineup or the result as long as that result is a big fat W. Give me 3, Bob!

 

You are right Don. They played with a lot of class in Cuba (not enough lights, but the class did shine). I really enjoyed the attacking style. And to think these are the second tier players due to defections. I wish we had that attacking mentality up front.

 

I already emailed everyone on both of my boys' teams to suggest they watch it. McBride fans think alike.

 

I hope to be home in time to watch the match this evening. A little ice cream cake and a soccer match with the kids sounds like a great way to spend my birthday to me.

 

Happy Birthday Barry! :banana: :banana: :banana:

 

Thank you Mo! I have had a great birthday so far. I spent the morning at the soccer field with Katie. In the afternoon Terri and I took the kids to the second largest street festival in the US and I am now settling in to watch the USMNT with my youngest son Josh. Lets hope my good day continues in fine style.

 

Talk about continuing the evening in style. WOW!

I am going to have to pull out my thesaurus and dictionary for some new positive adjectives before commenting on the players.

Run DMB was sharp tonight and I am sure that is the biggest understatement I will make today. As good as he was playing left mid his speed at left back late in the match brought a whole new dimension to the team. He earns my MOM.

The rest of the starters were somewhere between very good and excellent. Kljestan, Donovan and Ching all stood out for me. Dempsey must feel a little unlucky to have walked away without notching at least one more goal. I don't have a lot of good things to say about the defenders but that is primarily because they only made cameo appearances. Goths header however was really nice.

The subs

Jozy was impressive. As good as Ching has looked recently Bob is going to have trouble keeping Jozy on the bench. Jozy provides the combination of touch, speed and power that no one else in the US staple of players can offer.

Torres is one to watch. I have no idea who he would replace at the moment but I liked this first twenty minutes for the national team.

Adu's cross to Gooch was a thing of beauty. The build-up play was tremendous but Adu once again showed he has a real clue of what to do with the ball when he gets it in the final third.

 

Did Demps's through ball for Altidore's goal remind anyone of the ball Murphy played through to Kamara for the winner at Man City last year? In terms of position it was played from, weighting of the ball, run the forward made to get onto it, etc? Just curious.

 

Yep, exactly what I thought.

 

hey mon, how about those Reggae boyz!
:banana:

Guess Sven hasnt learned to speak Spanish yet.

As far as Cuba's one goal, has anyone ever scored on a toe ball at this level before?

I have to hand it to Cuba, though, they worked their butts off.

 

It was a fun game to be at. The fans were a bit flat at first, I think because the team started a bit cautiously, but around the 9-10 minute mark (right before the first goal), the team tempo rose and the fans rose to match it.

I was going to post my predictions for the T&T roster, but I when I went to check the US site, they had already announced the roster:

http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewAr ... 87460.html

 

Finally got to watch the game yesterday. DMB was outstanding and my MOM, with Landycakes coming in a close second.

Everyone had the kind of game that they should expect against opposition that is not as good as they are, I didn't notice anyone on the team having a clunker.

How mad is Timmy that the only time he had to roust himself from his boredom, a lucky toe poke floated over his head for a goal that wouldn't happen 19 out of 20 times?