Guatemala v USMNT

You know these won't be ideal conditions. Hope the boys bring their headphones because the hotel will be bombarded with noise tonight. Don't care how it's done, as long as it gets done. 3 points and get on the plane.

 

I say we just unleash the red card waiting to happen that is Jermaine Jones and nick them before they nick us. If we win, hey, that's a bonus.

 

ESPN showed highlights from the last WCQ in Guatemala during their Euro coverage. It was even worse than I remembered in terms of hack and whack.

 

This is from poster Sarasota on Soccer By Ives = may be good for a chuckle.

Breaking News: Look Alike Arrested for Abducting and Impersonating Jurgen Klinsmann.
AP: INTERPOL security officials announced today they had uncovered a plot to kidnap and replace USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann with an imposter.
The lead investigator in the case, Sgt. Hans Schultz, said his agency began having suspicions of “foul play” when the goal scoring legend began fielding three defensive midfielders, only one of whom has skill and purpose on the ball. Klinsmann had promised to bring a more possession and attack oriented style of play when named head coach.
Said Shultz, “We noticed the team has looked very un-Klinsmann like lately. “The three defensive midfielders’ inability to possess, pass and create quality chances has stifled the US attack. “As a midfield threesome, they have been clumsy and awkward in their interplay and have given the ball away more than they have generated chances. “Another significant clue that helped us break the case was the imposter’s use of a lone forward who has been frequently stranded on an island. “We knew the real Klinsmann would be more aggressive and use two well-matched forwards to play off of one another in front of goal.”
The Klinsmann look alike, identified by INTERPOL as Jay Göppingen of California, was said to be cooperating with authorities regarding the whereabouts of the real Jurgen Klinsmann. Interpol spokesperson, Gertrude Oberholtzer, said Klinsmann was believed to be safe and would hopefully be located and returned to the team in time for their next qualifying game in Guatemala. Ms. Oberholtzer declined to comment on rampant speculation that the Mexican Futbol Federation was involved in the kidnapping and subsequent charade by the double

 

DEMPSEY!!!

 

Watching the stream here http://atdhe.tw/watch.php?id=320067

I'm gonna hang out in the chat room for a bit if anyone wants to join me.

 

Damn, wish I'd have seen this earlier, AG. I couldn't find a decent feed and couldn't remember the atd site that I use to watch Fulham. What happened with the Guatemala free kick that scored? By all intents and purposes, I deduce the refs were shit, but that's to be expected at this point. Was it that bad? Please let me know b/c a draw isn't the worst of results at the end of the day. I'm waiting for EF Hutton...

 

Refs were fine, it's not easy when both sides are constantly fouling. And while it was physical it wasnt the anything like last time. Free kick was a good call and an excellent shot. Draw was more than deserved. USA didnt get the job done, simple as that. First time Guatemala has score on us in 14 yrs. Woo hoo we are sooooo much better now.

 

Yeah, the free kick came off an obvious yellow card by Johnson. He lunged at him and had his arm/elbow high.

I really had no problem with the ref aside from not playing advantage on the ball that Altidore would have scored.

A pretty sloppy game by both teams.

I understand why they took Goodson off with the yellow card and he was playing pretty aggressive to point where I could have seen him pick up a second in the second half, but Cameron did not look good at all.

Awesome footwork by Dempsey on that goal.

Not the end of the world that we only got a point at Guatemala (especially since they lost to Jamaica in their first game), but I would have liked to have three points considering we were 15 minutes away from it.

 

True, I forgot aboout that one. Shocking call.

 

I think we've got serious defensive issues. They had too many chances in the 2nd half, and if we can't hold a 1-nil lead against these guys, even on the road, that does not bode well for the immediate future.

It's time to take a serious look at some younger, fleeter defenders during the next cycle, in my opinion. I'd have been tempted to leave Goodson in and take my chances. We should still be able to hold out a man down against this side. Sweet move by our man Demps. Damn, he's good.

 

http://www.ussoccer.com/media-library/V ... -Goal.aspx

Great goal on the equalizer for Guatemala. As pointed out slyly in the article Nev posted, the midfield of Edu, Jones, and Bradley isn't exactly the play-making, creative trio. I know Sacha looked bad the last time out in Italy, but he was playing out of position. Who else is available in the play-making role in the center of the pitch? Benny Feilhaber? The fact we are counting on Holden to come back after 2 knee surgeries and a year away from the game is very disconcerting.

 

I'm surprised by those GF v GA numbers between Bradley and Klinsmann's last 10 games. We had so few goals in Klinsmann's handful of initial games that I would have expected the ratios to be similar. Plus the team looked more organized and structured under Bradley's tenure that if required to bet, I would have bet on Bradley as having the better ratio. So is the difference the fact the Klinsmann has often used 3 defensive midfielders or more goals?

 

Lest anyone read what Heather wrote and question my chivalry (which is beyond reproach, I'll have you know), I did not call her old. I'd said that any footballer born in my decade should be putting a lot more thought into retirement than playing in WC2014. Heather then said she & Dolo were the same age and we agreed that due to that (and a couple of other factors) she shouldn't be considered for the WC either (nor should I for that matter as I'm older than both of them...by a little bit). We did agree that she's certainly capable of delivering a better free kick than the satellite Jermaine Jones put into orbit.

Boca and Dolo look quite a bit the worse for wear now than they did in the Confed Cup and I'm concerned what 2 more years is going to look like. Obviously, we're qualifying now, so we should put our best options on the pitch to achieve that end and worry about integrating whoever is going to play in the WC after. However, I'm starting to question if they really are the best options.

As for the match, I thought we earned the point, but both teams had good shots at taking all 3. We had the whistle when Altidore was played through 1 v 1 and they had the sitter that Ruiz skied over the bar. For most of the 2nd half though, we didn't bother trying to maintain any possession and until we conceded, we didn't look overly interested in attacking. Once we were tied we bombed down their flanks with relative ease.

I agree with Mo, the ref was poor, but equally so for both clubs, so at least he was fair. :think:

As for the last 10 #'s, a few things. First, I have Bradley's GF/A at 11-13, fwiw. For Bradley, 6 of those matches were Gold Cup (9-6) & the other 4 were friendlies (2-7). Of the 13 goals conceded, 8 came in 2 matches, Mexico (2-4) in the GC Final and Spain in a friendly (0-4). We didn't have any big wins under Bob in that span (a pair of 2-0's). For Klinsmann, the split is 8 friendlies (12-8) and 2 WCQ's (4-2). Of the 16 goals scored, 8 came in 2 matches, Scotland (5-1) in a friendly and A&B (3-1) in WCQ's. The only bad loss was 1-4 against Brazil in a friendly. In those spans, we had 4 clean sheets (all in GC) under BB and 5 under JK (all in friendlies). What does all of that mean? Not a whole lot imo, other than the fact that BB's numbers come from more competitive matches. It's apples to oranges mostly. The eye test leads me to think we're not as strong defensively under JK, even with 3 defensive mids, despite what the #'s say. Time will tell.

As for Holden, he's going to have to play outside when he comes back unless we go with Dempsey at striker or move Dempsey outside (which is something JK has said he didn't want to do). For me, Dempsey is a 10 and should stay in that role. Stuart's a nice player when healthy, but he can't lace Clint's boots when it comes to scoring goals.