Thoughts and Reflections on the T&T game

Blake here,

After thinking back a bit more on the U.S. Men’s team match against T&T I still don’t know what to think. The away game against Costa Rica on June 6^th will be a much better indicator of where the U.S. is as a team. We have never beaten Costa Rica on their home field (a fact which doesn’t get mentioned a lot unlike our lack of success against Mexico) and a win there would be a truer indicator of our dominance in CONCACAF claimed by so many fans and commentators. Yet another home win against T&T? Even a dominant one? Not so much. As for the players, one of the things that has become apparent is how much Dempsey’s game has been improved by his time in the English Premier league. He is much quicker with the pass and far less likely to lose the ball in traffic. He seems to always attract two or three defenders and rarely gives the ball away. In addition his defense has improved significantly. When he was with the Revs, he wasn’t necessarily a weak link on defense but was certainly not one of their stronger players on defense. Plus he was prone to the occasional yellow when he would get beaten on defense and take the player down to prevent a fast break. Now he is a much more complete player and rarely seems to get caught out of position. Bradley has improved significantly as well. Although he did pick up one of his trademark foolish yellow cards against El Salvador, against both Mexico and T&T he played a complete controlled game. It will be interesting to see how he does in the hostile climates of Costa Rica and Mexico for the away games in those countries. And what to think about Altidore? He has his champions and certainly played as complete a game as you could expect against T&T for a kid his age. And his goal in the El Salvador game obviously was critical in sparking the comeback. But the image of him getting shoved out of the way by Hejduk prior to Hejduk scoring the tying goal just sticks in my mind. A true goal scoring forward would not have let that happen. It was, well, Landon-like. Now if he starts and scores a brace against either Costa Rica or Mexico on their home fields – well maybe then I might jump on the Altidore bandwagon. Until then I will be cautiously hopeful…