Back to Blogging - The National Team Plays Holland

Blake here. So I know I am late to the blogging party after the Holland game and no doubt everything that could be said has been said. And yes it seems like this blog has been on sabbatical for quite some time. In my defense, I have none.

So Holland and the U.S. The standout player in the first half was Stuart Holden until the vicious tackle by De Jong. On the replay of the De Jong tackle, it is pretty clear it was intentional. No one has remarked on this, but the ball is already out of reach when De Jong begins his slide. Then he clearly kicks Holder aiming for the ankle. FIFA won't do anything of course because De Jong plays for Holland and Holden plays for the U.S., but that should have resulted not just in a red card, but in a several game suspension.

In the second half it was DeMarcus Beasley, really!I think we have seen the resurrection of DeMarcus Beasley's corpse. Presumed dead after the disastrous Confederations Cup in Africa last summer, he was the best player on the pitch in the second half for the U.S. tormenting the Dutch back line. Bedoya was also a revelation, he created chances with great runs and opened up space. I would like to see more of him.

And where was Landon? The darling of the Everton supporters was invisible in this game. I can’t think of a single play he made that had any impact on the game. Landon rarely shows up to play against "better teams", to put it another way if he's not the prettiest girl at the ball he doesn't dance.

Now for who stood out for the wrong reason, how many catastrophic mistakes does Bornstein get? The tug on the jersey in the box was the kind of mistake that loses games. And it's not like Bornstein has done anything near enough to earn the benefit of the doubt for that kind of mistake. What happens if he makes a mistake like that in June? He may be faster then Pearce, but Pearce provides much better service and seems to be much smarter positionally. This is one of Bradley's blind spots much like Arena's with Agoos in 2002 and Reyna in 2006.

So what did we learn? Well, we learned that the U.S. can go toe to toe with the Dutch. Yes the Dutch won 2-1 but one of those goals was a penalty and the other a deflected shot (Bornstein again). In the second half the U.S. was taking the game to the Dutch and I am sure that was a pretty nervous team in the final 10 minutes. The U.S. still has trouble building through the middle and we still don’t have a replacement for Charlie Davies. Robbie Findlay is not ready and Eddie Johnson still can’t play at the speed he needs or take advantage of chances that come his way. Johnson has the skills I think, but lacks the necessary arrogance to impose his will. A telling side note – in a game earlier (much earlier) in the Premier League, he come on late in the second half for Fulham. He makes a great play to steal the ball and has a clear shot on goal, but rolls in just wide. What happens if he makes that shot? Does his confidence explode? He would be the hero of the game and no doubt get more playing time with Fulham. But the chance and the opportunity goes begging. That I think is the story of Eddie Johnson.