U.S.-Argentina: Five Things

2009-12-02T16:28:24-05:00

2008-06-08T23:00:07-04:00

2008-09-10T06:38:35-04:00

2008-06-10T01:34:34-04:00

GoFire!

Cedar Rapids 404166

Why not play Bradley up top instead of Dempsey? Or how about Sasha Klejstan, Brian Ching, or Kenny Cooper? They are all in mid-season form and playing tremendously. Other tidbits...It was clear how much better we are with Donovan in the side... You're absolutely right about Adu. Let that kid loose at center mid, and let him hone his craft because he is so much more creative and dangerous than any of our other mids. Heck, the kid got us in the Olympics nearly single-handedly. 1942862

2008-06-10T00:04:37-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/415/811/thumb/Copy_of_Talking_Toupee_Dog_D-Wreck.bmp 6977 IN

D-Wreck

Bloomington 416251

ATH: Great points on Dempsey, Bradley, etc.--I would say that you actually are somewhat of a soccer officiato... At least you have powers of perception... Madridist--I loved watching freddy get in their face. I have been saying this for awhile... Where is the swagger and trash-talking we could always expect from Dempsey? Good to see it from Freddy.... 1942732

2008-06-09T21:01:46-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/215/98/thumb/MadridistAmericano.jpg 945 GA

MadridistAmericano

Decatur 21638

The final whistle blew. The camera was on Freddy. Gago was barking nonsense at him. I read Freddy's lips They said "F.uck off....F.UCK OFF!!" He dismissively waved his hand at Gago like he was talking to an old drunk man and walked off. My heart filled with joy all over again. 1941216

2008-06-09T19:10:40-04:00

ATHMusicFan

Athens 396849

Does no one want to even mention the terrible touch of Klejstan at the end of the game (91st minute)? He came on as a sub, so there's no excuse. He should have had a wide open shot with his right foot. Instead he needlessly hesitated, was forced to make a cut to his left foot and settled the ball poorly underneath him, managing only a pitiful, deflected attempt for such a promising build up. I'm not bragging on EJ, but I think even he would have done better. Props to LD for the brilliant vision and timing and Freddy Adu for getting the pass to LD. Freddy Adu needs to be our attacking midfield leader, and LD needs to be to his left. This combo set up almost ALL of our most promising attempts of the second half. M. Bradley needs to be moved to his natural position or to the bench. I do think he has the ability to be an outstanding midfield player for the US, but he needs more time ... maybe as a defending winger behind Adu? Only time well tell about Altidore, and I think everyone knows he'll get a shot at it pretty soon. I agree that it's time for Jaqua and Ching to get theirs. I want the American team to be a great team on the international level, but we just aren't anywhere close to that. With WC qualifying beginning on Sunday, I'm afraid Bob and Co. have no choice but to stick with the players who -- thanks to the heroics of Tim Howard -- will benefit greatly from the confidence boost as a result of their gritty effort against the Argentines. That means that strengths need to be utilized and weaknesses avoided. Aside from stellar goalkeepers (yes Howard is unreal, but Guzan is no slouch), I think the biggest strength is conditioning. All teams will/should be well conditioned, but I do not think any team is MORE conditioned than the USA. If any kind of possession game can be implemented and the team can avoid getting behind by more than a goal, the second half can be a time when the USA can make their move. More early defensive pressure by our attacking players would really help our inept midfield. Also, since the midfield can't seem to hold the ball, the ball needs to move from the back line through the midfield as quickly as possible. I don't mean continue to boot the ball and let our forwards run, but this team is just not going to be able to mount a patient attack with any sort of potency. The team's youth is a source of both weakness and strength. If someone, ANYONE, can show real leadership (sorry, but Donovan is and I think always will be a sorry excuse for a field general even if he is the best we have right now) I think the youth will look more like vigor as opposed to lack of focus and timidness. Candidates: Adu and Edu. As a fan of his and a fellow Furman Univ. grad, I have to be terribly disappointed with Clint Dempsey. First, I don't really think he's a forward, but I'm no expert in soccer tactics. Second, he needs to get out of the *#%&ING corner of the attacking end and make some more threatening moves in the middle of the field. Last, and most importantly, he needs to show the fire and emotion he's shown in the past like during last WC and during the Gold Cup. 1940531

2008-06-09T16:03:40-04:00

Mr. Wednesday

South Bend 438409

100% agreed on the difficulty telling the jerseys apart. Oftentimes, I would be straining to see if it was a turnover or a pass when the ball changed hands. Both the U.S. and Argentina have dark blue change strips, and one of the teams should have been wearing theirs. 1939311

2008-06-09T15:09:40-04:00

MHC

Philadelphia 438393

Grant- I had a really good view of the bizarre Pablo yellow card fiasco (seventh row from the field) and here's what happened: Edu got a card for a hard tackle. Pablo came over and complained to ref and the ref ever so quickly flashed his card again. Both parties walked their separate ways. I leaned over to my brother and said, "thats his second yellow and the ref doesn't realize." Mascherano came over to the ref and "informed him" (meaning- barked like a rabid dog) that he had already received a yellow. Thus, the red card. I have no doubt in my mind that had the ref remembered that Pablo was already booked he wouldn't have shown him the second yellow. But since had already shown it, he had no other option. A completely bone-headed move. But that is 100% what happened. I'm certain of it. Just like I'm certain that Eddie Johnson would loose a fight to a jockey- what an absolute sissy. LEARN HOW TO HOLD THE BALL UP! 1938846

2008-06-09T14:56:45-04:00

futbolbob

Baltimore 438283

One of the things that frustrates me on a team level is our poor technical ability. We give crappy crosses and we have horrible first touches. I watched the germans yeasterday and it was nice to see every first touch was perfect. every ball stopped at their feet without popping up in the air and without jumping out 10 feet form them. I have seen high school teams with better first touches than our team. It is ridiculous that PROFESSIONALS who do this every day can have such poor trapping skills. Crosses, whether from a set piece or from open play is also reprehensible. It is shocking to me that we can't find wingers who can place playable balls into the middle. Running fast and being gritty only goes so far in soccer, at some point you need people who actually know how to play the game. 1938689

2008-06-09T14:56:12-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/415/811/thumb/Copy_of_Talking_Toupee_Dog_D-Wreck.bmp 6977 IN

D-Wreck

Bloomington 416251

"Donovan can't dribble in tight spaces, can't cross, can only shoot against second-tier CONCACAF teams." Dedmonds: I'm not sure what game you watched yesterday, and I haven't always been a Donovan defender--but not only did Donovan have some great crosses off corners, he also at times dribbled around, and in between Argentinian defenders, tight and otherwise. Also, Buffalo, I agree that Beasley was not at his top, and that since 2004 he hasn't been that impressive, but his effort was admirable, and he did track back several times and get loose balls. I am only thankful that Wolff was not on the field. Now there is a disgrace of a player! And Bocanegra needed a rest to--he's been very weak in the back. I'd rather see Demerit back there, and Califf wasn't half bad. Lastly, I have been pounding on EJ for a long time for not living up to his hype, but I feel the last three games were "okay" for him. The number of errors were heavily reduced and he still works back to the ball well and gives 100%. The problem is that he can't FINISH. And if you can't FINISH, you can't play at strike. Period. I heard Kenny Copper's name, but what about Ching? He scored two goals last night for Houston. He's strong, sturdy, and generally reliable. Also, I think there is a way to play Adu and Donovan together. I think if Altidore isn't healthy I would go with the following lineup. ---------------Dempsey------------------- ----Adu--------------------Donovan------- E Lewis------Maestreoni--------Sasha C Pierce---Demerit----Onyewu---Cherundolo --------------------Howard----------------------- 1938686

2008-06-09T12:56:18-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/116/547/thumb/logobraves.gif 2429 NY

BuffaloTF

Buffalo 116847

the U.S. couldn???t manage to do much more than kick the ball 30 yards in the air, and run around FAST. Great, we???re fast. What other tricks do we have? I'm glad to see other people realizing that Beasley is terrible. Even after the 2002 World Cup where everyone thought he was so amazing, I felt he was trash. Cut the reigns off Bob. Open up the offense. Let Adu try and run things in the middle instead of Donovan for a change. Everyone wants to knock him cuz he can get tackled easily.... Donovan is what..... a whole INCH taller and a few pounds heavier than Adu? Adu has better ball skills and can dribble much more effectively. It's time to rotate these players in their positions... Maybe Landon would be better in a Beckham role on the outside of midfield.. 1937365

2008-06-09T12:20:53-04:00

dedmonds

Wrentham 438359

I have to agree, EJ is a disgrace. His touch is horrendous, his vision even worse. He can't shoot or pass, and his movement off the ball is nonexistent. He is an embarassment and a testament to how far behind the US ideology of football is. Beasely and Johnson have "speed" so they should play? EJ was beaten by Heinze on multiple occassions, and even when he did get the ball there was never anyone to offer support because of this "kick and run" counterattack strategy. EJ's most embarassing moment, perhaps the most embarassing thing I've ever seen a US player do, was when he lost the ball to Mascherano and proceded to grab his genitals to cause a foul. That mysterious sequence that had Mascherano writhing on the ground and looking down his shorts isn't that mysterious at a second glance. Michael Bradley is being played out of position, but that's Bob Bradley's fault for being unaware of his personnel. Damarcus Beasely is 130lbs soaking wet in boots, can't dribble, can't shoot, can't cross. Donovan can't dribble in tight spaces, can't cross, can only shoot against second-tier CONCACAF teams. Bradley's making some questionable decisions and just not cutting it in terms of playing functional, intelligent football, neither is Peter Nowak with the U-23's (see Toulon Tournament or Olympic Qualifying campaign). The initial excitement around this team is fading fast, the US will have another mediocre World Cup at this rate, and will probably make the same excuses that it was a great "experience." Many of the players on this team are better than they are presently performing, perhaps the defeatist/amateurish mentality of the USSF is to blame. 1936986

Now this was better. The difference between the U.S.’s 0-0 tie against Argentina and the two dreary losses in the past 10 days (to England and Spain) wasn’t just that the Yanks got a result in this one against the world’s top-ranked team. The bigger change was this: the Americans went for it. They went for it by going for broke and attacking during the 15 minutes they were down a man in the second half, not just pushing men behind the ball. They went for it by getting in the Argentines’ faces (see: Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Freddy Adu) instead of playing in fear (word from the England camp was that some U.S. players’ hands were shaking during pre-game handshakes at Wembley last week). And they went for it by putting a nearly full-strength Argentine team on its heels during parts of Sunday’s game, performing better than arch-rival Mexico had in a 4-1 beat-down to the Albicelestes on Wednesday. Oh, the U.S. had its issues, not least its continued inability to score goals. Oguchi Onyewu hit the crossbar with a header, but that was the closest the Americans got. Eddie Johnson put himself in some threatening positions in the past three games, but his nerve and his first touch continue to fail him once he gets into the penalty box. Here are five other things we learned from Sunday’s night’s game: • Freddy Adu needs to start against Barbados. It says here that Adu should have started against Argentina after being the U.S.’s most dangerous player against both Spain and (to a lesser extent) England. But Adu played well again against the Argentines after coming on in the 65th minute, pushing the offense forward and drawing several fouls, including a couple when he had no business doing so in one-on-two situations. It may seem crazy to some folks, but if Bob Bradley is going to continue to play two holding midfielders, I'd start Adu in the central midfield with Donovan on the right, Beasley on the left and Dempsey up top (at least until Jozy Altidore is healthy again). • Tim Howard is in dynamite form. The U.S. goalkeeper made some marvelous saves, especially in the first half when Julio Cruz got in on goal and should have put Argentina on top. Granted, Howard got away with a clear penalty when he clattered into Sergio Agüero in the box (somehow drawing no whistle from the thoroughly overmatched ref, Joel Aguilar Chicas of El Salvador), but Howard was otherwise in control all night. If he keeps this up, Howard will save the U.S. points in World Cup qualifying. • Concacaf referees are still a disaster. The missed penalty on Howard was bad enough, but Chicas’ red card for Pablo Mastroeni raised the bar for incompetence by a Concacaf zebra. It’s still unclear why Chicas gave Mastroeni a second yellow card in the 71st minute after a play in which Mastroeni didn’t even play a part. But television replays indicated that the referee simply confused Mastroeni for Maurice Edu, the player who’d actually committed the foul (and been shown yellow by Chicas just seconds earlier). How anyone could confuse Mastroeni for Edu is beyond me, but leave it to the man from Concacaf to make it happen. Absolutely disgraceful. Somewhere Peter Prendergast chuckles.• Oguchi Onyewu is Mr. Plus/Minus. The positives and negatives of Onyewu were on display in a five-minute stretch of the second half. In the 47th minute, Onyewu crashed his header into the crossbar off a corner kick by Donovan, the closest U.S. chance on the night. But five minutes later Onyewu pulled his once-a-game boner by ranging way too far upfield, allowing Argentina to send a ball over his head on the play that eventually should have been the penalty against Howard. It was clear, though, too, that Onyewu got into the head of his mark, Argentina’s Cruz, with his physical play. (Side note: Argentina has a ton of amazing players, but I’ve never been that impressed by Cruz; it’s the same way I always felt about Claudio López when he used to get a ton of time for the national team a few years ago.) • DaMarcus Beasley’s knee remains a concern. I know he’s just coming back from a long injury lay-off, but the old Beasley would have turned on the jets to beat Nicolas Burdisso to a ball in the U.S. attacking third in minute 42. Yet this Beasley just didn’t have that burst of speed in him. Through-balls: I can’t think of any U.S. player who has a bigger difference of responsibilities between his positions at club and country than Michael Bradley. Why don’t we ever see the guy who scored 19 club goals last season doing anything remotely similar in a U.S. jersey? ... The old guys can still contribute: Mastroeni was pretty solid in holding midfield before his ejection, and Eddie Lewis continues to show some life in those old legs ... The U.S. still lost possession too easily, especially in the first half, when guys were too quick just to boot the ball downfield to no one ... Was it just me, or was it hard to tell the difference between the colors of the jerseys the teams were wearing? Maybe it was just the result of having to watch in blurry low-def, but one of the teams should have been in dark jerseys ... The U.S. outside backs (Steve Cherundolo and Heath Pearce) were more dangerous getting upfield in the attack than they had been in the previous two games ... Lionel Messi had some dangerous moments during his 45 minutes, but the U.S. defense did an O.K. job keeping him in check ... Too bad Altidore's dinged ankle kept him from getting any time before the Giants Stadium faithful before he heads off to Spain ... Dempsey was slightly better than he was in a bad outing against Spain, but he still hasn’t had a stand-out game for the U.S. in quite a while. Feel free to post your comments below ... http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/194/315/thumb/wahl_grant.jpg 11 MD

Grant Wahl

Baltimore 194615 1349