US v Guatemala in Columbus

Well it's backs up against the wall time. Anything but a win and the US would have to get help from T&T when they play Guatemala in order to advance. Even the thought of that is mystifying, but with the fog this team has been in for a year+ I'm actually a little nervous about this game. Yes the Guat GK made a couple of good saves, but it wasn't like he stood on his head for 90 minutes, we were that pathetic. A bonehead breakdown early by the US and they'll park the bus and start rolling around in pain the rest of the way.

Two years ago Michael Bradley was arguably the best player in this region, and we can gripe about JK all we want, but maybe the weight of the life changing contract he got in Toronto has hurt his game, because he's been at best inconsistent.

HD referred to this on the other thread, but for the Love of Gawd can we put players in the same spot they actually play in regularly. Playing Mix as a defensive mid was bad enough (apparently JK forgot how disastrous it was when he tried Bedoya in the same position), but it's time to hand the keys of the creative role to Nagbe full time and see how it goes.

Any type of win and JK is safe through the summer, but I'm expecting the Copa to be a disaster at this point. Don pleaded with Bob Bradley to come back home, but he's staying in France and chasing (still only 1 point behind) promotion to Ligue 1. Personally I'd like another JK to take over. Jason Kreis built RSL into a powerhouse, but was always on thin ice with NYFC where got only 1 season before the bigwigs at Man City decided to replace him with Vieira. He was hired in Jan. as some sort of assistant to the Nats.

 

I've always thought Kreis was the man in waiting...however, I don't think he sees a chance at this point as I suspect US soccer will go with another route (i.e., a foreign coach). I don't see anything wrong with that approach as long as the person can employ the tactics to fit the personnel and not the other way around. The frustrating point, as set forth in prior posts, was that lack of fire/desire/ethos that has been the hallmark of USMNT for the past couple of decades. In the absence of such a display, now ongoing for some time, I believe the locker room is probably a mess.

 

There are a lot of frustrating things about Klinsmann but playing guys out of position or not having consistent lineups is becoming the most frustrating. I think the crazy and telling stat is we have gone something like 25-30+ straight games since the World Cup without starting the same backline from one game to the next.

 

Would really like to go, but I'm on call on Tuesday nights. Our only saving grace is that there is not, at least to my knowledge, a significant Guatemalan population in Central Ohio. We usually put in a good effort there, but I'm really concerned about our psyche. We are definitely trending downward, and if we don't get a result here, it SHOULD be time for a change in the touch line. I, too, hype Klinsmann puts people in their regular club positions, but I ain't holding my breath. I keep thinking how Roy's new stars (Vardy's 29, not exactly young) kept after the Germans in Berlin and got a result after going down by 2 goals. Don't think you'd have seen that with Rooney, Lampard & Terry, et al.

 

Still having a hard time wrapping my head around the thought of this being a must-win situation.

Really need the Outlaws to pick up the squad tonight.

It's squeaky bum time for whoever has the TV rights to next WC in the US.

 

The players sound incredibly calm & confident about tonight's match. I'm hanging my hat on that...for the next 3 hours or so, anyway.

 

It's official...those kits SUCK!

 

We're going to win tonight. We'll probably get through to the Hex. But it won't solve any of our problems. It's going to be a long slog, folks...

 

Made that look easy. Strong performances across the board. Probably should have been 6-0 but for Wood spitting up a hairball & the bad offside call on Finley.

No excuse for not duplicating this effort in the next 2 given the opponent & venue.

 

Either Darke or Twellman with the question of the night....how did we lose to these guys four days ago?

 

The officiating was VERY poor. If we hadn't been so dominant, it could have gotten ugly. Finley's goal should have counted, and refs who don't see their assistant's flags up should go back to remedial rules class...and hand over their whistle for several months. I mean, seriously, do those bloody headsets work?

 

I'm just glad that Klinsmann decided to play Cameron and Yedlin out of position for this one.

 

He claimed that he didn't play any players out of position for the match in Guatemala, so I would assume that they were out of position when he moved them for the Columbus match.