USMNT v. T&T

Back home, this should be 3 points. After all, we have Timmy Howard!!!!! (anybody have a USMNT song for this guy?) Dude is increcible, and please allow me to pontificate, Everton's best player (yeah, Lescott, Arteta, and Yakubu, I'm looking at you.)

ESPN2 5:00pm PST.

Arguably the sternest test yet in qualifying.

Howard
'dolo (Wynne??), Gooch, Boca, Pearce
Klestjan, Bradley, Beasley
Dempsey, Donovan
Ching

 

Here's a truly tasteless one about Timmy and Tourette's --

Tim Timminy, Tim Timminy, Tim Tim Teroo,
We've got Timmy Howard and he says "F__K YOU!!!"

 

The standings don't lie and the team is all but assured of moving on to the next stage, but there will be no excuse (i.e. dirty opponent, crap conditions) on Wed. for another sub-standard performance. Where would we be w/out Tim Howard??? Probably with 1 point and in full panic mode and calling for Bradley's head.

 

Simple answer is neither can do the job as well as him. Tim is certainly one of the best 10 goalies in the world. Hopefully Guzan is following around Freidal at Villa like a puppy and soaking up every word Brad has to say.

 

This match is going to be most telling. If we squeak 1-0, again, then I'd start to worry.

There's really not much you can take from the last two matches. Bradley was obviously playing it tight and only cared about 3 points. And I agree with the strategy, the World Cup is 21 months away.

Do I want the see the USA beat Cuba and Guatemala 5-0? Yes. Would it give a false sense of security, a la the Arena era? YEP!

We're going to the World Cup. Just what we'll do there worries me.

 

Here's my line-up

-------------Howard----------------

'Dolo---Gooch----Boca---Pearce--

Donovan--Bradley--Dempsey--Beasley

----------EJ-------------Ching-------


Or maybe rest the Beas and put Edu in there

Since Woy hasnt given up on EJ, I want him to play and start makin' it happen - now!

Would like to see Sacha come in sooner rather than later, Marvelous come in for 5 min. or so, and bring in Lewis if we need to score.

 

I'm hopeful for a very strong showing.
The movement in Cuba looked like it was improving, but the conditions and the shape of the field were bad enough to thwart the guys a number of times.
We still don't play at near the speed of the world powerhouses and until we can play much faster I don't see us getting very far on an international level (i.e. - beyond the group stages of the WC depending on the group).
Personally, I'd like to see some of these qualifying matches used as opportunities to hone off ball movement and more "one touch passing" inspired posession, but that doesn't really seem like Bradley's style ... unfortunately.

 

Was Cherundolo called into camp even though he was suspended for the Cuba match?

I like Mo's lineup except I'd swap Dempsey and Donovan; in the past it's seemed to me like Landon gets lost when he's played out wide.

 

I like Mo's lineup too, but I agree with jmh, that Donovan cannot be played wide. He's a great direct attacker and he also tracks back - withdrawn forward is ideal. Withdrawn forward or advanced central mid are his most effective positions. And, why doesn't BB realize this? Because he plays 2 defensive mids every game like the sun rises in the east. Come on, BB, every squad in our region doesn't deserve this respect. Please try to fuc# one of them up for a change.

BB, doesn't need to go entirely, but, as I've stated myriad times before, the USMNT needs a better manager. And he or she needs to come from Europe or South America. I don't see BB being able to advance the US out of the groups at 2010...keep him involved, but please, USMNT, acquire an internationally qualified manager for 2010. It's not too late.

 

Why? Why Europe or South America? The team's getting results, they've played tougher friendlies this year, and the team seems to be happy with them. There is literally no basis for Bradley to be fired or replaced.

So the US isn't dominating their opponents. Even the WC champions have games where they struggle - like their late 2-1 win over Cyprus on August 6. Could the US be playing better? Yes. Could they be attacking better? Yes - but I don't think calling up the young players and placing the burden of the attack on them will yield improvement. But right now, they are doing good enough and I can't criticize the results.

 

I don't know much about the game but I like the idea of having a US coach, coach the US team. It would be less satisfying to have an international coach, coach a US team.

 

They're getting results, true, but the team is stagnant and not improving in my opinion. Sunil, not I, promised a big name coach...BB was "interim" manager for a while. Klinsman told them to feck off and BB's interim label went away. I don't disparage the guy, but I want better for the captain of the usmnt ship.

I said that a euro or south america mgr would be better bc, inter alia, they have coaches that have been in charge of big championship squads and they will bring a fresh perspective to the usmnt.

And the us looked fairly shitty for 2/3 of the tougher friendlies they've played the past summer, so while better than playing barbados, that doesn't fly with me.

Maybe I have a higher bar set for the squad, but we (the team and its supporters) should want better than what we've seen.

Maybe the us sucks and I'm delusional, but I doubt that the usmnt sucks (I may be delusional though).

The usmnt will qualify for 2010 without question, and they could do so with krusty the clown at the helm. My beef is that BB doesn't have the ability to get the usmnt out of the groups. And getting out of the groups should be our goal at this point.

I hope he proves me wrong, bc I don't think he's leaving before 2010.

 

Bob is not going anywhere unless we DON'T qualify for WC2010. If he gets us a ticket to the dance, he's going to take us there.

Really, how we play the 10 games in the Hex is what really matters; the 6 games in the group stage are just necessary evils before getting to the real competition.

Personally, if we beat Mexico in Azteca Stadium next year, I won't care one whit how "exciting and attacking" our football was.

 

I wish we had guys who would regularly take an opposing player on and try to beat him. These guys have great skills with the ball at their feet (obviously some more than others), but there is some hesitation to make the move. Deuce tries it sometimes, Freddy has no problem trying it, but there are so many others who just don't do it. It seems like good things happen when Deuce and Freddy beat someone off the dribble. The slow possession game of passing it back and back does not put any fear into our opposition. Beat a guy, cause the other defenders to commit and then we can possibly create something on the attack. That might be an interesting exercise - see how many times our players attempt to take on a guy and what happened next - and I think this goes for both squads.

One thing I noticed about Cuba was that those guys were not afraid to take on our defenders. And some of these players probably would not have made the Cuban team if it wasn't for the defections over the last few years.

 

I would like to see a few more players (Donovan for one) take on an opposing player, but I dont wont to see a lot more of it. Once Adu is in the line-up regularly we will definitely have a good dose of that in each game. What I would like to see more is attacking runs with the ball. When we get the ball in the right position, I would like to see full speed attacking dribbling that puts the defense on fast retreat. Too many times we get the ball and automatically transition into midfield possesion passing. I would also like to see more movement/runs off the ball. Basically, I want to see more variety in the way we play the game - including the occasional long ball.

But in truth, if I get to see Gooch mow down some Mexicans, that'll be good too.

 

Obviously Mo wants to see more of Sacha!