Debacle in Saprissa Re-Cap

First of all – what was I thinking in saying Marvell Wynne should start at left back. Did I forget that playing well at left back for the MLS is relatively easy given the propensity of teams to go for hulking forwards instead of speed? Did I forget that playing a qualifier on the road is probably the worst place for a young player to make his first U.S. National Team? Did I forget that Sparissa stadium is perhaps the toughest place for the U.S. to play in CONCACAF? Yes, yes and yes.

Many are saying that Bradley showed guts in starting a lot of the youngsters on the road. Well only if satisfying insane idiot bloggers like myself is a sign of courage. Seriously – how do you start a newbie at left back and a guy at right back who not only doesn’t play right back, but hasn’t played competitive soccer since December against Costa Rica in Saprissa Stadium. Now given Bradley’s options perhaps he didn’t have many choices, but a have to believe that Spector’s experience in the Premier League is worth more than Wynne’s MLS experience. At right back, why not put DeMerit as a center back and push Bocanegra to right back – a position he plays for Rennes in Ligue 1 in France. I can’t quibble with the rest of the lineup given the options and I thought Torres played the best of anybody on the U.S. team in the first half. But that raised the question – when Ching went down, why not bring another target forward like, oh I don’t know, Conner Casey? As it was he went with Altidore, Donovan and Dempsey in what was ostensibly a 3 forward attack. The problem with that is that Landycakes never plays forward even when he is one. And Dempsey has been playing midfield for Fulham all season. When a team only has a couple of days to train together, moving folks into positions they don’t usually play just doesn’t strike me as a great idea

All carping aside, this was always going to be a tough game. It was moved up in the schedule to accommodate the Confederations Cup and many of the U.S. players (and not just MLS players) had games over the weekend for their club teams. In addition those in the European leagues (excluding Scandanavia) were coming off the end of a long season. That coupled with the appalling turf surface at Saprissa made this a very difficult game going in. Then when the veterans don’t show up, well you get a 3-1 posting that wasn’t that close.