USA v. Egypt Confed Cup

Discussion in 'Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International' started by HatterDon, Jun 18, 2009.

  1. terrinh73

    terrinh73 Member

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    Feb 10, 2007
    What is Harkes' deal with Deuce???
     
    #41
  2. SteveM19

    SteveM19 New Member

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    Sep 30, 2007
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    Cleveland OH
    Wow, re: my rant from earlier today, ask and ye shall receive!!

    As Osullyvan stated, my love hate affair w/ the MNT is back on. They showed fire today, and I think (deep breath) Donovan led the way there. He had a lot of help, to be sure. Op, I am as much a critic of Donovan as anyone here, so for me to say he led from the front is quite a change.

    Davies goal warmed my defender's heart -- the ugliest goal in many a moon, all rock and no star.

    I am never in the camp that a bad 4 game spell should cost the coach his job, and I don't know what Bradley did but it was just great to see an inspired performance today. Gooch's stock is up again -- imagine how good he could be with a great manager. I also was impressed with Cheesehead, I hpe he is healthy next year because he has some brass ones; Watford is lucky to have him. Feihaber looks like he is serious about playing now.

    Casey? Join Beasley on the next plane home -- another one I don't need to see in a MNT shirt again.

    Deuce admittedly has had a, um, crappy tournament up until the 3rd goal today. Still, I wonder how Harkes liked that one when he was off the air.

    All I want from Spain? I want another gutty performance like today. That's all I ask. We did that today and even got a lot of luck on our side; who knows about Wednesday. Maybe Torres will oversleep! I'll say a prayer to ask God to unplug Torres' alarm clock! That'll do it.
     
    #42
  3. richardhkirkando

    richardhkirkando New Member

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    Don't know. He must not watch Fulham very often.
     
    #43
  4. timmyg

    timmyg Well-Known Member

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    Nov 20, 2006
    I would really hate to be a fan of the Pharaohs today. Boy did they blow this one.

    Without their best player and only needing a point, so they play defensively. Then their goalkeeper gets kicked in the face by a CB, and later are forced to make three substitutes cause of injury.

    And manage to lose 3-0, the right margin for things to go wrong.

    But without some heart and hustle from the yanks that is all trivial.

    So, so proud.
     
    #44
  5. pettyfog

    pettyfog Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2005
    I dunno for sure because frankly I can never remember a thing he says...

    But I have an idea. Remember I was witness to Harkes mentoring a promising young midfielder named Kyle Martino who most said was our next Harkes or Reyna.
    Martino was excellent when Harkes was on the field with him and for a while after Harkes wasnt there anymore.

    Perhaps Harkes thinks Deuce was dogging it? Or simply not doing what he CAN do? What did we think?
     
    #45
  6. jmh

    jmh New Member

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    Didn't really say much about it earlier, but I agree.
     
    #46
  7. timmyg

    timmyg Well-Known Member

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    Nov 20, 2006
    Because it wasn't that we lost, but how we lost...
     
    #47
  8. FulhamAg

    FulhamAg New Member

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    Great comeback performance and a bit of good fortune. I was really surprised how poorly Italy and Egypt played given the circumstances. But regardless, that's the kind of effort and play I want to see from this team, win, lose or draw.

    With regard to Harkes, I suspect that was due to Dempsey speaking out. With the way Harkes goes on and on about how his sides had heart and character despite lesser talent, it wouldn't surprise me that he'd take offense at someone airing their frustrations. His criticism was uncharacteristically harsh, even in the face of what appeared to be a strategy. Donovan didn't track back as much either, and given the goals we were in need of, I figured we were playing to setup the counter attacks. Egypt was without their top striker and playing overly defensive so it would make sense that we would cheat to the offensive end.

    On the Bradley issue, it wasn't losing to Italy and Brazil. It was the run of subpar performances extending back to the last several qualifiers. It hasn't been all bad. We had a good half against Honduras and I thought the first half against Italy was good, despite the red card. But something has been amiss and tactics and selections have been suspect during that run. Thus, the manager's ability gets questioned. I'm still not sold on Bradley, but hopefully we can build on that performance and get back on track.

    Good to see Feilhaber, DeMerit, Spector and Davies improve their stock. I'd like to see if we can convert Dolo, Hejduk or Spector to LB in the next year and carry Bornstein or Pearce as depth.
     
    #48
  9. jmh

    jmh New Member

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    And there weren't stretches this past year when Fulham didn't look great? I'm glad Roy didn't get fired for a couple of bad games.
     
    #49
  10. bostoncottage

    bostoncottage New Member

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  11. WhitesBhoy

    WhitesBhoy Active Member

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    The Beach, For Now
    Ag, as he does many times, sounds reasonable.

    Look, I don't think the elder Bradley raised his stock that much with the win over Egypt. He looked just as much surprised as anyone. And therein is part of the problem. He is in over his bald head, and really seems to have little knowledge of how to lead the team. It looked more like the collective team of players decided to and won that match, then Bob did anything. And yes, they are partly to blame for the losses as well, but it is Bob's job to get them on track, and get them there at the beginning of tournaments.

    Fair or not, the team is running the USMNT show right now, and Bob is just along for the ride. And a Head Coach shouldn't hardly ever just be riding shotgun.
     
    #51
  12. timmyg

    timmyg Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2006
    But therein lies the difference between club and international footy. A couple of bad games in club footy can be turned around or nullified. In qualifying/tournaments, sometimes all you get is a couple of games.

    And it wasn't that the USA didn't look "great". They looked out of their league, and inappropriately so.
     
    #52
  13. Jensers

    Jensers New Member

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    Apr 18, 2007
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    Royal City, Wa
    What a crazy turn of events. I don't give a crap and watch expecting nothing and they finally produce! I don't expect much from Spain so that may be the recipe for success.
     
    #53
  14. jmh

    jmh New Member

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    Jul 2, 2006
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    95% of the teams in the world, including just recently Italy, look out of their league against Brazil. It happens. We'll probably be overmatched by Spain (the best team in the world according to the FIFA rankings) and everyone will panic again over nothing. Put this team in a reasonable group in the World Cup and they most likely advance.
     
    #54
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