This is a serious question. The US will get a win against El Salvador, but look at the last 3 games. If they got 2 draws in those 3 games, very likely, they will only have 15 points. You have to think Mexico is winning 3 more game which would give them 18 points. Costa Rica is a lock to get at least 5 more point which takes them to 17. That leaves the US AND honduras. I have the US losing to Honduras. That means that if they even win one more game they crawl ahead of the US. Basically this means that the US has to get a win in Honduras. Even a draw is to risky. Even if they beat Costa Rica at home they'd only have 17 points which would then come down to goal difference. I know nobody has ever expected this to happen after 2002, but the US is in serious trouble and might not be going to South Africa. Things need to change and they need to change fast.
C'mon FFC24, don't be ridiculous. El Salvador (home) - 3 points Trinidad & Tobago (away) - 3 points Honduras (away) - ? Costa Rica (home) - 3 points The ONLY question mark is the Honduras game and frankly, considering when it is and how much more match fit our European-based players will be (esp. Jozy), I don't see anything less than 1 point here. We're playing 3 of the other 4 teams in the mix during this stretch. Do you really see Mexico getting 10 points from their next 4 games? Do you see ANY team, other than the USA getting 10 points from the next 4 games? The question shouldn't be "will we get an automatic berth" but "will any other team get the top spot over the USA."
My thought is that BB's whole idea was to try and qualify early in order to eliminate the possiblity of a question. That apparently is not working out. I think a main source of my anger is that we did not take this game seriously enough. I think it is just as important as the CC in terms of being an excellent preparation game for the WC. It has all the variables stacked against us. I was hoping for a draw, but I question the tactics employed during this match.
Hey we had our first team guys out there and they played hard. I don't know how that's not taking the game seriously, Eric. If I'm not mistaken, with the exception of Cherundolo and Ching, we had the guys who started against Brazil on the pitch.
I thought that that comment would be taken different from what I was trying to get across. The bunker in and clear it up was not the way to try and play the game against Mexico especially after scoring one. What I thought I saw was an offense/defense drill where we just cleared up to midfield only to have one or two touches from a Mexican player putting it 35 yards out setting up their next attempt. You mentioned that Jozy came in and did nothing in another post, and I agree but I did not think that was his fault. He spent the time chasing the game because there was no attempt at trying to maintain some possession and feed the ball the guys up front. Most of the time it seemed as though Davies had to fight for the ball only to have to face 3 defenders. I think that the display put out there by our team only built the confidence of every other CONCACAF opponent while we took a step back. I thought we would ride in high with confidence coming from the CC, but we sat back and defended - even laying off attackers which I thought was a major reason Brazil did what they wanted in the second half. The only other difference with the Brazil match was Benny for Jr due to a red.
Thanks Don. I love discussing this about our team here b/c there are a lot of informed people (I like to think I am a part of that). It just drove me nuts yesterday, so I tend to dwell on it. I think I can go on and on about it to my wife's detriment. I hear the, "Aren't you supposed to be working instead of talking about the game?" I better get back to work unless someone wants to discuss more.
Our record in Central America is complete garbage and they have to pull off amazing comebacks just to get points against the likes of Panama. So that Honduras game is more likely to be a loss than anything else. Besides, did you see the beatdown they laid on Costa Rica? They beat them by 4 goals. The T&T match is also tricky because they have to do everything possible just to get back into the race. I can easily see a draw here. The El Salvador match is the only sure fire lock. Really the US should beat them by 3 or 4 goals. The Costa Rica match will decide everything. I believe that there will probably be a 4 team battle going into the last match. If the US wins against Costa Rica, they will be in, if they lose they might be on the outside looking out. I'm sorry if I sound negative, but this is something people must consider. We can't simply say that the US will simply plow through the last 4 games as the last 3 games are probably the toughest stretch the US has had in a long time. If the Americans go into these matches thinking it will be easy, they will not be qualifying through an automatic berth.
Well, hasn't only one team actually won on the road in the hex so far? Only one time, in fact? More to the point, no team has ever got 15+ points and DIDN'T get a top 3 spot in the CONCACAF Hex. Truth be told, bank on the US getting 6 at home and at least 1 point on the two road games alone will secure it for sure. I think they'll win 3 of their last 4, maybe dropping the Honduras road game. But at that point, will it matter? Vis a vis yesterday's game, while it was hard to watch, I understand the logic. Mexico at Azetca loves to move the ball around, trying to draw in defenders, and so create spaces. Since all that would is basically tire out the Yanks that much sooner, it didn't make much sense to give chase, really. Yesterday was an example of how counter attacking soccer really requires proper clearances. Too many times did the US make a stop on defense and then basically turn the ball over on a bad pass. Even so, it wasn't as if the Mexican NT looked all that super - that style works at Azteca, but where else in the world? I do not know. Lastly: Costa Rica "won" the Hex for WC2002. Not sayin, just sayin.
The team that tied El Salvador away and lost at Saprissa is not the same team we'll be playing the rest of our games with. It won't even be the same team that played a close game in Azteca. The USMNT is only going to get stronger as the European seasons progress. Altdiore will get major PT and will be match fit and match sharp. Up through October, ALL of our players will be getting signficant playing time and will be sharp and fit. Edu will be back and healthy. Jermaine Jones will be available. Our coach is now comfortable enough to play 4-4-2 with a more attacking posture. Really, folks, I don't think things have every looked better.
Let's see -- currently we are at: Costa Rica, 12 pts, GD 0 US, 10 pts, +3 GD Honduras, 10pts, +4 Mexico, 9 pts, -1 GD Remaining fixtures -- Costa Rica 5 Sep -- v. Mexico, I call this a win 9 Sep -- @ El Salvador, a draw 10 Oct -- v TNT, a win 14 Oct -- @ USA, a draw 8 points USA 5 Sep -- v El Salvador , a win 9 Sep -- @ TNT, win 10 Oct -- @ Honduras, a loss 14 Oct -- v Costa Rica, a draw. 7 points I see 7 points as being the worst case scenario, these predictions are not me saying "The US will drop points to the Ticos at home!!" I see more points than that for the US, so please humor me. Honduras 5 Sep -- v TNT -- win 9 Sep -- @ Mexico -- loss 10 Oct -- V USA, -- win 14 Oct -- @ El Salvador (shudder -- call in the troops for this one) -- loss 6 Pts Mexico 5 Sep -- @ Costa Rica, loss 9 Sep -- v Honduras -- win 10 Oct -- v El Salvador -- win 14 Oct -- @ TNT -- draw 7 pts I didn't bother w/ El Salvador and TNT. So, the SteveM19 final standings 1 -- Costa Rica -- 12pts + 8 projected pts, 20 total 2 -- USA -- 10 pts plus 7 projected pts, 17 total 3 -- Honduras -- 10 pts + 6 projected pts, 16 total 4 -- Mexico -- 9 pts + 7 projected pts, 16 total. Again, these estimates are pretty conservative, I would like to think. Eric D made his post while I was writing this -- I second his comments, we are only going to get better as we go forward. Pardon me if I don't think the sky is falling.
I could only get through most of the first half, and it was difficult. After Davis' goal (just kidding - Balboa should know it is Davies), it seemed as though Mexico planted their flag in our side of the field. I was trying to count the time we had the ball compared to Mexico, and it was like 2 minutes to 20 seconds. There were multiple clears that went nowhere or right to their players. Even LD kicked the ball 40 yds across the field only to go out of bounds. We were putting a lot of pressure in the first 12 minutes. I was happy to see LD forcing Guardardo to kick the ball OB and Ching (I think) forcing the defender to kick past the endline for a US corner. That all stopped. I just do not understand. I am hoping we do not see that going forward in other qualifying matches. I like Aguirre's take in terms of just get the result and not worry about the "beautiful" game. We just need the results, but it will be difficult if we play like we did in Mexico.
