photo courtesy of US Soccer
Blake here
I wanted to offer a few thoughts on the U.S. Men’s team performance against El Salvador and T&T. First having read a few of the commentaries on the first game, I just want to know – how much does Landon shell out to soccer journalists? I didn’t see a rating less then 6.5. This is the guy who is supposed to be our best player and he has no influence on the game. None. I remember nothing about his performance in either half and for a guy who claims the mantle of leadership and talks about being a leader – well, that just isn’t going to cut it. He is the Alex Rodriguez of the Men’s national team. All stats and chokes in the clutch. Second – is their a more up and down player then Frankie Hejduk? He makes 7 or 8 bad crosses in the game against El Salvador and then makes one perfect cross and it results in a goal. He follows that up by shoving Altidore out of the way to score the typing goal. Plus every time he goes in for one of his two footed tackles you just cringe, usually he manages not to take the guy’s legs out and get the red card, but how long can that last. Third – could a player who has scored three goals in a friendly have had a worse game that Sacha Kljestan did against El Salvador – oh wait – I forgot some of Eddie Johnson’s games, my bad. And yet I read countless posts on other sites from folks who seem to think that the only way the U.S. will do well in South Africa (assuming we qualify – knock on wood) is if he is playing. No doubt now that Jozy Altidore has had his hat trick we will hear the same thing about him. (Oh wait, we already have. Has everyone already forgotten the lesson of Eddie Johnson?)
For the first 75 minutes the El Salvador game was the worst non-friendly I have seen the U.S. play since the first round games in Germany in 06. Once the El Salvador players started diving and wasting time, the U.S. team woke up and Frankie Hejduk made a deal with the devil (kidding – I think). Two ways we could have won the game, if Ching puts that shot 5 inches either way it’s the third goal or if the ref had given the 15 minutes of extra time. We timed the goalie’s injury, it was over 11 minutes plus all the other injuries El Salvador players were feigning all over the field. The big question is, how could they have played like such crap for 75 minutes? Had they played the first 75 minutes like they did the last 20 we win 6 or 7 to 0. I have seen some of the other commentators blame Coach Bradley for this. Perhaps – but sometimes players play badly. What you can fault him for is his preference for Califf to replace Onyewu as opposed to some other choices such as Parkhurst who played a few games in the Gold Cup in 2007and looked good not to mention his excellent record with the New England Revolution. Or maybe that just Bradley’s sneaky way of getting him capped with the U.S. so he would never play for Ireland?
Against T&T the U.S. looked great but really it was the same as the qualifier against T&T in the last qualifying round on U.S. soil. Yes, Jozy gets the hat trick (although that third goal shouldn't count) and once again we had a slew of opportunities.
The team is in first place in their group and Mexico has two losses. And yes I have read all the usual arguments about Mexico playing 3 of their toughest games in the first three – but they have 2 loses and one win out of those three. And they haven’t played Costa Rica in Costa Rica and they still have to play the U.S. in Azteca. A game Bradley very badly wants to win. It would be one more thing he did that the great Arena did not do. So, while the U.S. didn’t have the toughest three games and certainly the tie to El Salvador cannot be seen as anything other than a poor results – it was a tie. Not a loss.
That said, we still have issues at Right and Left Back. If Hejduk is still in the rotation in South Africa – well I don’t think reaching the quarterfinals is likely. The same can be said for Pearce. And we have the Landon aka Rodriguez problem. It’s impossible to sit him, but if you’re expecting him to be the leader (or counting on it) then disappointment will be the order of the day. Plus, I for one, am not sure we have solved our striker issues. I like Ching (in spite of myself – as a longtime Revs fan) but he is a workhorse. He creates the opportunities and does all the dirty work of the target, but we need another forward to use those opportunities created. Is Altidore the answer? Well, let’s not be hasty. I can remember when Eddie Johnson was the answer. They are both sitting on the bench for teams playing in the second division of glamour leagues in Europe. Everyone else is worried about finding that #10, but I am not too concerned about that. We have a lot of midfielders who can play both ways and make passes, Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan – when he is awake in the game, and Mastroeni. There is also a host of possible youngsters including Edu, Torres, Kljestan. And yes I have left Adu off that list. I just don’t see him handling the physical play.
Well that’s all for now. Until the next post.
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