My latest Yanks-Abroad article

I'm a columnist for Yanks Abroad.

My latest piece is up.

http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mod ... nt&id=5144

Whether you agree with me, or not, please read my column and offer your opinion.

Go Fulham.

Go USA.

 

Kansas,

Great writing style. It is like you are talking right to your reader. I can't agree more with the US needed to go into every game believing of a win.

Keep up the good work!

 

Good stuff and thanks for the heads up on the article.

"Bob's team lost another game in the second half" - this sentence scares the hell out of me recently and I pray that the squad can put an end to this trend.

 

Thank you for sharing Kansas.

 

Nice article. I have been thinking all along that we better come out attacking and looking to demolish ES. I cannot believe we are in this current situation. Urgency is such a key word that does not appear to be embedded in the US team. I would love to see the killer instinct tomorrow.

 

Edgar, thanks for posting the article and very cool about your gig w/YA. I'm planning a double header viewing party w/my El Tri buddies (they don't brag too much, even they don't consider the Gold Cup final as breaking the "streak"). I'm confident of a win by at least 2 goals, but that doesn't mean I'm not a little nervous. Heard a sound bite from LD that seemed to point towards the US being focused on this one (paraphrasing; 'we have to win this game, and the bottom line is if we can't be El Salvador at home we don't deserve to go").

 

Thanks for the support guys.

Hopefully, Bradley can whip up the guys into a frenzy for tomorrow's game.

Go USA!

 

Kansas, thought I'd give your article a bump. What did you think of the match?

 

Took the weekend "off", so I just read the article. I actually found it a bit alarmist....very Jamie Trecker-esque.

The facts, as I see them are:
1. We have no players who are starting for top European clubs.

2. Losing to Brazil, a team full of players playing for top European clubs, should never be a surprising result. Nonetheless, without a phantom Red card to Michael Bradley, we may very well have had the personnel to hold on to our lead and win the Confed Cup. Not many teams can claim to have gotten THAT close to winning that trophy and beating Brazil in the process.

3. Despite how much American fans want to believe otherwise, there is no shame to losing to Mexico in Azteca stadium. Just like there's no shame when Brazil and Argentina lose there. Fact is, we got a lead on them and beat them on aggregate 3-2. You think any South American team likes their odds in a home-away fixture against Mexico?

For once, the USMNT is consistently competing above their weight class. That should be recognized and applauded, not met with "can't you do more?"

 

Sorry for the tardy response.

Like I expected, the US complicated things for themselves against El Salvador. There is no way the US should have been pushed into their own corner at the end of that game. They should have established control of the midfield and been passing the ball around or trying to capitalize on a desperate El Salvador squad trying to score at all costs.

I was thoroughly disappointed with their performance against Trinidad & Tobago. Yeah, it was a game on the road, but they weren't playing Costa Rica or Honduras. The US could have taken care of things early on and kept T&T from gaining confidence.

If you ask me, if it wasn't for a few great saves by Howard and some luck, the US should have lost this match 3-1.

Nevertheless, luck is always an equation in this game.

I predict the US will get pounded in Honduras, unless they can shock the Catrachos early on and keep them from building on their crowd support.

 

See, with all its resources and increased focus on the US Soccer Federation, the US Men's National Team should be a lot stronger and be performing much better against regional foes (with the exception of two or three) than they have.

However, what we're seeing is spurts of brilliance or a mad scramble to do just enough to win or draw. Yeah, they might win ugly at some points, and the bottom line is to win, but winning ugly means the team avoided a debacle by the bare minimum.

Although I will admit the team is going through a process of "reloading" after most of the World Cup veterans retired, they are supposed to be doing better than this. I blame the man in charge--Bob.

 

I feel the same, and there are many benefits to having someone who knows the US players so well - most people dont seem to take this into account. Bob makes mistakes, but what manager doesnt. We all think Woy is God's gift to Fulham, but many, if not most of us, have complained about something he has done. To this day I still think many of our complaints and criticisms were right on, but the difference is we give Woy his due respect. I'm not saying Bob is on the same level as Woy, but I bet if you threw him at the US MNT today, he would fare no better than Bob between now and next June/July.

However, I still wish Bob had a little Yoda to sit on his shoulder.

 

:banana:

Always makes me chuckle.