Anyway, tonight is a huge game for the United States. Either way, they get another game. They'll either be playing for 1st or 3rd depending on how tonight's game goes. They're playing the #1 team in the world, Argentina, who has the #1 player in the world, Messi, and to say it's a tall order is a massive understatement. The US will be without 3 starters sitting out due to yellow card accumulation suspensions. I think everyone is expecting us to hunker down with 10 in the box and hope for the best on a counter attack. I'm not sure that's the way to go about it. Our back 4 will have to play the games of their lives and Bradley will really have to concentrate on dropping deep to prevent Messi from roaming free. There will be a lot of pressure on the midfielders to prevent overlapping runs into our territory. We'll be without Bobby Wood who does a good job of getting the ball and flipping field position with his speed. I am wondering if Jurgen will give a starting spot to our super 17 year old. I think he can cause some problems for Argentina's back 4, who aren't accustomed to being tested. He's a very German style of attacking forward, which Argentina and South American teams have struggled with in the past. The issue will be getting him the ball. We have a world class striker in Dempsey, but again, getting him the ball will be problematic. There's a chance though... there's a chance. This is easily the best team the US has played in more than 10 years at least.
I'm concerned at our ability to maintain possession through midfield. Our keeper seldom just throws it out to our backs for a sustained attack. Instead we kick the ball deep downfield and lose possession 75% of the time. It reflects on our ball control skills or lack thereof. That being said we are good finishers. it's generating the chances that is the problem. We have a punchers chance but Argentina isn't going to be intimidated by a US crowd.
I do wonder how that crowd will be, will it be a sellout? Will it be loaded with USA fans or will the Houston Hispanic community sellout for their South American cousins?
:idea: Argentina is hated by all Hispanics everywhere, because they're not shy about telling other Hispanics that they're inferior to the mighty Argentines. .........Evita......Evita......Evita...
This tournament has been horribly advertised and it clearly was set up with big stadium draws in mind, instead of actual soccer knowledge. I can't believe the US never played (or anyone) in Columbus, Ohio. It's like we went for all big draw venues. If you watch the Euro, there's stadiums that only seat 40 to 50k that were hosting games and it creates a much better atmosphere. Argentinians don't have a lot in common with Mexicans, or South Americans for that matter, but I bet it'll be a good crowd that will be quite friendly to Argentina. Gipper, I agree with you entirely. We really struggle carrying the ball from the back 4, to the midfield and upward fluidly. Look for some runs up the pitch from Fabian off the backline to try to counter that and create an opportunity or two.
I'm no expert, but Messi's penalty kick was a thing of beauty. Looks like men vs boys out there, they space better than us, pass better than us... Everything better than us.
Gordie Howe was once asked "what makes a great hockey player?" Howe's answer was simple yet on the money. He said a great hockey player "has to make a pass and take a pass." The same is true about soccer players. With the exception of Michael Bradley not one of the US team has world class ball control skills. Once again we're far from being a top world team.
I don't often have a blanket agreement with anyone regarding American football, but I do with Lalas regarding Bradley. If he is dropping back to play a supporting defensive role atop our defensive back 4, he's world class. The second he wanders anywhere else on the pitch, he's mediocre, at best. We have world class players, but we don't have them in the midfield and the fact that suspensions struck our midfield the hardest can't be overlooked. We just don't have a very deep bench and we can't replace guys the way teams in the top 5 can. I think our regular starters in the midfield would have struggled, but I don't think they would have been in awe, the way they played yesterday. Jermaine Jones tends to bring that whole thing back down to earth. I thought a lot of fault here lies at the feet of Jurgen, and he's one I rarely criticize. The lineup was too passive and it didn't meet the lip service he was putting out. We relied on experienced, older guys who are 'MLS good' and not international good. All the while, we have international good sitting on the bench. I think Argentina played so well last night that it really wouldn't have mattered. We would have been looking at 3-1 instead of 4-0. I will say that at least 2 of those goals were due to simply pathetic goal keeping and I really have some major questions about Guzan going forward. If Italy can have a nearly 40 year old GK, why can't we? Why do we have a passing of the torch with Tim Howard, but not in our midfield? We're getting better. We're just not there yet. Also, I hate having Donovan as the announcer.
That's how I see it as a casual fan of men's soccer. I have three granddaughters playing soccer at a pretty high level, so I'm learning more about the game as time passes. I watched the COPA game. I didn't think we lost because we're not good. Argentina is so good, they made us look bad. The comparison that comes to mind is ND vs. Alabama for the National Championship. ND was a very good team that was badly overmatched. Last night, we learned how incredibly far the USA has yet to travel on the bumpy road to the top of the world rankings.
On the womens side we are there, we are now and have been for quite awhile and elite soccer nation. On the men's side I don't see how we'll ever get there, no matter how popular youth soccer is, our best men go into football, baseball and basketball not soccer.
We essentially invented the women's game. It's a shock when we lose because much of the world is trying to catch up. There's really, maybe 2 or 3 teams on the same level with the US and even then the US is favored against them. The men's game is a whole different world.
Meanwhile in the blood bath that is Copa America, Chile jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on Colombia and never looked back. I know US fans are let down about the semifinal loss, but they should consider this. There were 4 teams in the semifinals.. Their FIFA rankings were 1, 5, 9 and the US at 30something. We're getting better. BTW, Chile should be in the top 5 but is ranked 9th. They are a lot better than 9th. This tournament featured half of the top 10 in the FIFA world rankings, but here's the US in the Final Four. I hope we do well and win the 3rd place game. Bradley has already fussed about it (way to go Captain), but I hope the team has better focus. The reality is, 3rd place does matter and it is something we haven't done. We also get another shot at Colombia.
So why is the US Soccer Federation Pres saying we have to play more friendly's with the top Euro clubs if we want to get better? BTW where are you on Klinsman, keep him through the next WC or fire him now?
One other thing I wanted to mention after the Argentina game. The flopping is almost impossible to watch. For the first 20 min. of the second half, Argentines were on the pitch reeling in pain ever 3 min. The minute that they got up 3-0 the flopping started. There wasn't one faux injury the last 25 min. of that game. I loath that part of the soccer culture.
I completely agree. As I posted while watching the match.....drama queens. I agree with Gip. Who do they think they are kidding? It's a terrible part of the game.
No kidding the flopping was almost French/Italian level! But even in that we are not as good as them!
Because he's clueless I have no idea why anyone would want to fire JK now. As I said, we're in this bloodbath of a tournament and we finished no worse than 4th. We're doing just fine. Aside from Germany, who we just beat, and a handful of other teams, there's no competition between South America and Europe.