US v Honduras

Thanks to Der Kairser (pro and con) a couple meaningless friendlies are curious affairs. Glancing back at the call-ups I noticed Guzan isn't on there, does anyone know his situation? I'm guessing Howard and Duece will play and be on a plane back to England before the Ecuador match, so the lineup I'm guessing will be;

Howard
Chandler Gooch Boca Dolo
Shea Edu Bradley Deuce
Jozy Buddle

Would like Klins to experiment w/Clint playing in the center and Edu in front of the back 4, since there is no Holden or Torres, but I doubt he'll try it. Just hope he puts in 2 forwards (please don't leave Jozy to fend for himself).

 

HD, only reason I mentioned Buddle is the need to have another forward play w/Jozy. Don't really care if it's Buddle, Bunbury, or Ageudelo. As for Buddle at least knows where the net is, looked it up and since going to LA in '07 he's scored 50 goals in 110 matches, and scored twice last week in Germany.

 

concacaf regulations (and der kommissar's gesetz) prohibit a squad from starting two forwards who each have last names that begin with the letter "A".

 

I'm not expecting Der Cheerlieter to relent on his attacking formations yet, but I think he may go back to the 4-2-3-1 he played v Mexico. I predict we'll see something like this with the subs in ( ):

‘dolo - Gooch - Boca -Chandler
Beckerman(Williams) - Edu
Bradley - Dempsey - Beasley(Shea)
Altidore(Agudelo)


What I would like to see with my subs in ( ):

dolo - Gooch - Boca - Chandler(Orozco)
Dempsey - Bradley(Spector) - Edu - Beasley(Shea)
Altidore - Buddle (Agudelo)

If I remember correctly Orozco played left back for us in the last Olympics and did a good job until he was red carded early in the game v Nigeria and pretty much extinguished our chances. If Klinsi is going to insist on bringing him into camp then I would like to him play in this position.

 

Glad to see the US get their first win under Klinsmann.


Didnt get the watch the game but saw some of the highlights. What a goal from Dempsey!

 

I don't know what that move Deuce made to switch the ball to his other foot to give him room to shoot that dart, but the whole thing was sweet! Got gyped on the second one. Glad we got the result, too.

 

I didnt get to watch it either and forgot to push record before I left. Fox is rebroadcasting it tonight at 8pm ET.

 

Demps second was a regular concacaf eff up bc that was a good goal. Boca is beginning to look slow at the intl level - still an asset, but the trends are showing. Orozco at his point should be a backup and good to see gooch despite his incredible miss. Shea, despite his noonaning the open goal, showed improvement again. He's not long for mls and the sky's the limit at the moment. Williams was ok, beckerman is steady, but a step slow and I loved Beas' pace late. Altidore seemed to work his tail off and looked pretty good. Bradley was an asset but seemed to make a few nervous passes that were uncharacteristic in my mind.
Howard was a beast. Is he getting better with age?
The goal by Dempsey really showed his class - to the folks who slag his intl play, $&@?! Off

 

Nice writeup, Don.

I didnt even know they were playing. How bad is that.

But I have been following the discussion on Klinnsmann a little.. sorry to say he's a worse fit than I thought he would be and I thought that because of his issues before Bradley was picked.

A head coach/manager needs FOCUS.

Right, Jim Tressel?

 

It should be a great game and there are no meaningless friendlies if there were no friendlies how would some players get a chance to show them self to a coach so it is great to have friendlies sometimes in there

 

Thanks for the write-up HatterDon. I pretty much agree with everything you said. Here are a few of my observations now that I've seen the match. Okay way more than a few.

The Good - Clint Dempsey of course. I suspect Klinsmann gives him more freedom than some coaches have given and I think he enjoys it. I agree with Don that he is in the form of his life. Everything about his game seems a little bit sharper than it was this time last year. The left footed goal was a thing of beauty.

Jozy is also in the form of his life and hopefully it is only the beginning. I think Don implied he is the best striker the US has and I agree with that. His off the ball movement and vision in the match was very good. He might also be benefitting from loosened reigns because it wasnt that long ago that he seemed clueless on off the ball movement for Villarreal.

Agree with Nevzter that the sky appears to be the limit at the moment for Shea. I'm looking forward to he and Jozy giving defenses all they can handle for years to come and in Olympic qualifying. The combo of his passing and ability to dribble at defenders is a serious weapon. I didnt think his flubbed chance was that bad, the ball took a little skip and didnt arrive quite where he was expecting. Hopefully, when he does go to Europe he'll have learned from Jozy and Freddy's experiences and will end up in a place where he is supported.

Edu was threatening most of his minutes, almost got a goal. I look forward to the day he scores a goal that isnt disallowed.

Like others said it was great to Beasley and Gooch again. Beasley appears to be in form again and his long European nightmare is over. He will definitely be useful for world cup qualifying. I agree with Don that he was the most lively sub.

Chandler and Willilams are both skilled players that regularly make the right pass and the right decision. I do think Chandler needs to be on the right.

I was most happy about Spector getting some time. In the ten or so minutes he played, he put in the best cross of the night from any player with his far post feed to Dempsey on the disallowed goal. He also had a nice cross to Beasley that almost split the defenders and led to a good goal scoring opportunity. He is easily the best US player that doesnt get minutes.

Bradley played well and was the smartest player on the field for the US. Our midfield was clearly better once he was in.

Finally, Timmy as usual was among the good with great saves, focus, and energy.

The Bad Orozco again did not play in a way that justified his starting and perhaps his call-up. If Klinsmann wants to try him at Left back I have no problem with him getting future looks otherwise we have better central defenders. I'm really not getting this idea of needing to have a central defender in there as a distributer. I think it is just a fad. Any professional defender can pass out of the back to the deep midfielders. If you want longer accurate distribution then the midfielders and goalkeepers can do that; it's their job. We need central defenders that can defend first and foremost. The US simply isnt good enough to afford the luxury of a Ream or Orozco that is incrementally better at distributing the ball.

While Beckerman wasnt bad, I agree with Nevzter that he was too slow. Some games he looks international quality and some games he doesnt. Considering we have Edu, Bradley, Spector, Jones and perhaps Williams that can all play his role, I dont think he should be in the mix. For me he is like Torres, definitely a good player but not good enough to beat out the other players at that position.

The most notable bad of the night was our defense. I could discern very little organization, especially in the first half. The time Costly got in behind our defense he was NOT offside. 'Dolo kept him onside and Orozco had no idea where our line was. Based on the US defensive performances under Klinsmann, I have little doubt that Lamm was being honest when he said that Klinsmann leaves the defensive tactics up to the players.

The Ugly The Miami fans. Not because of how they looked but because until the day before the match less than 3000 tickets had been purchased, and 300 of those were Jozy's friends and family. US soccer had to give away free tickets to get the 21,000 they got.

The weather.

The Fox Soccer report for describing that as a dominant US performance. I thought it was far from it and am not at all convinced on Klinsmann.

 

Great write-up HD! Had to help chaparone 170 jr. high kids to the UCLA-Washington St. gridiron game on last second notice and missed it except for the highlights. Happy to read Shea played well again, and hope all parties involved in where he goes puts him in a good situation.

Couldn't help but notice Clint wore the #10, wonder how that came about :?:

Have to give it up to the Beas. Seriously how many times have all of us written him off? I know I was guilty big time. Just goes to show that when you go about your business, work hard, and believe in your abilities, good things happen. What a model professional.

I know he missed a good chance, but what did everyone think of Gooch's performance? Does he look like he's moving better?

 

You need to change that to, ". . . how many times have all of us, except Mo, written him off". I believe Spencer didnt write him off either but it might have been Ian.

I should have put Klinsmann numbering game in my bad or ugly section. If he wants to determine the US "style" then please let us have our numbers rather than the classic futbol #'s 1 -11. It's almost as if any part of the American style that has been established, without his enlightenment, he wants to take away. Dempsey is # 8, Landycakes is # 10, people paid good money to buy jerseys that way, dammit. Hands off! Oh and please give us our names on the back. We want our heros and we want to be able to profile for prima donas when the point to their name.

 

I keep looking at Dempsey's goal over and over and over and over. Just sick, how good that kid is. That little switch move he made rolling the sole of his boot over the top of the ball BACKWARDS to his left foot, then letting fly with that lazer to the corner. Just too sweet. Gotta go. Gonna watch it again....