Okay, I'm getting cheesed by the USMNT. Tonight we played a Paraguay team that, as good as it is, is several notches below Argentina. That played a major role in the fact that the US looked much more solid than in its first game. Not only did we have good possession, we had a half dozen (or more) solid chances on goal. Great goal by Dynamo-Clark to end the first half, and he almost ended the second half with an even better strike.
And for all the grief I give Twellman, his assist was complete quality and showed amazing vision.
But good gravy! The game should've ended 1-1, except for a horrible back pass by Bornstein to Keller that left the GK out to dry. Perhaps Conrad could've gotten to it, but he was caught flat-footed by the lazy pass as well. (I hinted at this before, but now I'm loudly proclaiming that Bornstein has talent, but those talents do not involve defense. Put the bloke in as left mid.) And that final Paraguayan goal was well placed, but (1) what a horrible and unnecessary foul by Califf that should never have happened, and (2) I can't help but believe that Keller could've gotten to it had he been better positioned from the onset.
The first goal was well played right down our middle and we were completely disorganized as a result. An organized and disciplined (as in, "non-ball-watching") defense could have stopped that run, but I'll give a pass on that one since it was executed so quickly. Yet those last two goals were, I think, completely preventable.
This result cheeses me more than the Argentina result. On the positives, I've got to say that Clark had a good game and I'm glad he bounced back. Moor did better than I thought he would, shame about the missed open header at the end. In the "beating a dead horse" category: can we please, PLEASE find some forwards in this nation of 302 million people? Our defense has usually been strong and our midfield is becoming more and more talented, but our corps of forwards is very weak, with even the talented ones seemingly hesitant to go to goal or put away good opportunities. I think this might haunt us for some time, but hopefully we figure it out before 2010.
***
Speaking of lame forwards...
Here's some other news that cheeses me. Dynamo are losing Gray and gaining Nate Jaqua. Gray had his faults, but he was a good utility player to fill holes due to call-ups or injury. He is also young and cheap. Jaqua is a forward (don't we have a bunch of those already?) and not a very good one. And he's expensive. So we're obliging AEG's favorite team, the Gals, by taking their expensive cast-offs. Great.
I think this means that Dalglish is no longer a Dynamo. Daggers, we hardly knew ye. I guess that'll put an end for good to the Braveheart game intro.
It's just a day to be cheesed.
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3 comments:
Disgraceful and a failure, only a miracle will put us in the 2nd phase, lets remember that we have a minus five goal differential, our only chance is Chile, they have a minus two goal differential, if the U.S. wins by two and Chile loses by two U.S. gets a minus three and Chile a minus four, or if we win by two and Chile loses by one both teams will have minus three, but if Chile loses without scoring any goals they will only have 3 goals to their advantage, if the U.S. wins by 2, even if it is 2-0 they will have at least 4 goals to their advantage.
But as I said, this will be a miracle, the next rival of Chile is Mexico, who is already qualified, they will probably bench every player that has a yellow card (2 yellow cards in the first phase and you can't play a game), and probably use many of the players that would not start a game otherwise, this way they get some learning experience for some young guys without losing any respect (MLS, is this so hard to understand?, yes , I know your teams were demanding their players but the USNT is more important), which means Chile will probably tie or win the game (but then again, you never know).
If the miracle doesn't happens, this will be a huge failure, HUGE, 3 games and out just like our last World Cup, and not only 3 games and out, we received 4 goals in one and 3 on the other, talk about losing respect.
And I will not accept any "this is our B team" excuses, there is no A team, or B team, there is only one team, the National team, the 11 guys that get to wear those sacred jerseys are THE National team, and look at Mexico, they are using 8 different starters from their Gold Cup squad and they are playing better, not that I was expecting a better performance from this squad, but honestly, if you can only get 11 decent players who can start a game and play good soccer against real teams then you don't have a good National Team.
One thing I will praise of the team today, they are in great shape, which was made so obvious by the lousy shape the Paraguayan players have, in the last 15 minutes the U.S. players had total control of the game because the Paraguayans couldn't run anymore, they were trying, but their legs just couldn't respond, which makes the fact that they scored the 3rd goal in the 90th minute more embarrassing, they couldn't even run and yet they scored the 3rd one instead of us scoring the 2nd one.
So you think Daggers is on his way out? Sounds about right, I suppose, since we hardly did know him. Somehow, I wonder if the heat and other elements were not par for his style.
It's a shame but he's got plenty to fall back on and it was nice having another Scotsman in our squad if only for a short time.
If, of course, he leaves.
Funny thing about Gray is that he's actually looked a bit sharper recently. I understand the move but isn't Jacqua, a sleeping giant? I'll reserve further comment until he arrives and for now welcome him to the Dynamo Family.
I have full confidence in Dom, so (unless there WAS pressure from AEG), he must see something in Jaqua that we can use. Jaqua is a Dynamo now; here's wishing him a successful season.
But now Brad Davis may be out indefinitely due to his knee? Ai-yi-yi. Time for Holden and Ashe to show the world how good they are over the long term.
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