US v Azerbaijan

I still like Cameron better as a midfielder. Unfortunately we a) have plenty and b) need him desperately in the back.

 

I am going tonight, looking forward to it. I'll try to write something up tomorrow.

 

How exactly does Vogt advise Klinsmann on defense and then coach Azerbaijan at the same time :think:

Have a great time Nevzter, don't throw too many rotten tomatoes at Klinsmann for me Just a few will do

When I went to the send-off game in Philly before 2010 WC, we took a sign saying "thank you Brian Ching" since he was cut. We weren't the only ones with such a sign and we got tons of positive comments. I have to think you will see similar signs regarding Donovan, possibly Goodsen

 

Given Donovan's history with SJ, and that Goodsen plays with them currently, I believe we'll see a few signs. For you, Mo, I'll be sure the tomatoes aren't ripe so they'll sting a bit on impact.

 

Umm, I don't see number 8 out there....

 

Is anyone else as frustrated as I am? This does not bode well.

 

A late scratch due to a sore groin. Just a safety thing and he should be good in a day or two.

The first half was pretty blah as they looked like a team with tired legs after ~10 days of double training sessions. No one really wow-ed me but Bedoya put in a good shift on the left side and Mix continues to do well and making stuff happen coming off the bench. And Brad Davis provided some nice balls off set pieces.

I wouldn't look too much into what happened last night (remember when Jose Torres looked like Xavi against Turkey in 2010?), especially since I doubt Ghana/Germany/Portugal will sit back as much as Azerbaijan did tonight.

 

Went to bed at halftime. DVR'ed all of it, so will try to watch the second half tonight. Glad to see we won, and that two of the younger guys got the goals. That can only boost their confidence down the road.
With all deferrence to our Bay Area friends, I think the biggest factor was the venue. Us long time National League fans can attest to the fact that Candlestick Park is way beyond breezy in the good ol' summertime. Watching the ball roll off it's spot during a visitor free kick brought back memories (horror stories?) of Cardinals-Giants tilts of yore. And the fleeces and coats reminded me of an old quote from either Mark Twain or Will Rogers, I forget..."The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." I don't know much about the climate at the various Brazilian venues, but I doubt any of them will be similar to The Stick. Just hope everybody gets through these sendoffs healthy, and we should be OK. I really want to see Clint out there. I think he's gonna be the Diego Forlan of this tournament. At least I hope so.

 

Lol, immediately thought of the Giants of yesteryear at the Stick, with hotdog wrappers flying around the warning track..For some strange climate phenomena the wind at the spot howled in the summer compared to the fall and winter when the Niners played. You'll laugh at some of the passes affected in the 2nd half.

 

Quick summary - I cannot wait for Candlestick to be blown to pieces. Having been a veteran of myriad night games with the Giants, I should've been better prepared for the weather, but damn if I didn't freeze my tuchus off. The wind was unbearable and trash was blowing about - the only thing missing was the old chainlink fence in the outfield with garbage stuck to it. The hot chocolate vendors made a killing last night.

As for the match, we had good seats at midfield about 25 rows up and the lower bowl eventually filled about 20 minutes into the match. Unfortunately, I was opposite the US bench and couldn't use my tomatoes, Mo. In sum, the squad looked a little disjointed and will need to pull things together in the next couple of matches. Bradley wasn't his usual self for most of the match as he didn't push forward too much and passed back a number times - my buddy noticed this. Bedoya wasn't afraid of contact and played very hard. Wondo moved well and had a nice header denied by an even greater save. Jozy made some nice moves but didn't pull the trigger a few times when the entire stadium thought he should shoot. Chandler is pretty damn fast in person and Jones will most likely be the deep lying midfielder, with Cameron as CB. Davis had some nice moves and balls and obviously, the goals by the two subs were relief for a match that was not as sharp as I expected. The US supporters section was loud and active all night which was cool.

One more shot at the 'Stick, and going to the comments above, why choose that venue prior to Brazil? Stanford, where they are training (and which was 80+ degrees yesterday), seemed so much more logical.

Anyway, it was a great time and I had a blast. COUSMNT!

 

Also, there were a couple of Donovan signs and 10,000 Donovan shirts. Every once in a while, somebody would yell 'put in Donovan!!!' or something regarding his omission that's NSFW.

 

With regard to the selection issues, I'm 90% with you - only drawback is that Spector is always injured. AJ should start with Jozy as well. And HD, it's time to accept you're in denial about Jones - unless he's hurt, he's the holding midfielder since Goodsen was dropped. JK has a man-crush. Wondo was ok, and it's obvious he and Jozy have no chemistry. And we're about to be...

 

Michael Caley of Cartilage Free Captain (a Spurs blog but does some great stats work) summed it up best:

No other opponents will play us like Azerbaijan did, but the blueprint to beat us soundly is out there

 

:text-+1:

After skimming through the second half, there's no doubt there's still a lot of work left to do with this group. But The Right Honourable Senator from Mary Land has summed up my feelings about our group pretty well.