Well, the last road friendly before the big show is in the bag. While it didn't end with a W, there are things we can take from this game that are both good and bad for the Yanks.
The Pros:
First off, this team will NEVER get blown out. Our first team has the ability and talent to hang with anyone (list includes Brazil, Spain, and Netherlands... the top 3 teams in the world according to some). That is a great thing considering our ability to also take advantage of other teams mistakes.
Another piece of good news is our ability on set pieces is still quite good. With how we are going to have to play the big teams, set pieces will make or break us. Bocanegra showed his skill in the air (though I think almost anyone could head that one in) and we nearly added another when Goodson (who is a great rising star) nearly found the net with his wonderful half bike half scissor kick.
Another promising thing from this game was the "youth" on the squad showed they are developing and will be ready for not only this next world cup but the one in Brazil as well. Torress had a decent game in the middle (what a strike) and Holden was doing a pretty decent job until De Jong went all karate on his leg (quick recovery please).
The last thing this team showed in that game and showed in a lot of games is that they face adversity very well. When they went down a goal, it was completely against the run of play at that time. The US was on the attack, and the Dutch were the ones hoping to keep the ball out. In the second half the US had to deal with wave after wave of Dutch attack, and did well to control it. If not for an unlucky deflection (cant be too harsh on Bornstein for that one) then who knows how the game would have ended. The end of the game was the most promising, obviously, as the US showed it can push forward, has the conditioning of the top teams (and maybe even better) and will punish mistakes if they are made most of the time.
The Cons:
While we did see some decent play from certain players, others that needed to step up simply didn't. Findley tops the list with a very lackluster performance. He had opportunities to make the Dutch pay by getting in behind them, but he seemed nervous to really go at them or simply lacked the ability and skill to do so.
Our defense has no depth at LB. I think every other spot in the back 4 is fairly solid given a healthy team. However, the left back position is a scary one. I think, with a healthy team, you would see Bocanegra slide left and Onyewu take his spot in the middle with Demerit, but after Bocanegra, its Bornstein. He has been a weak spot, and if he sees the pitch in SA he will be the likely point of attack for the opponent.
Donovan showed how easily he can be shut down. By taking away his space, the Dutch completely eliminated our best player, which doesn't say much about him. The top players in the world will adjust their game when the other team is keying on them, Donovan didn't seem to do this at all. He got stuck out wide for most of the game and was a non factor. I think if this happens in the world cup, which it almost surely will, adjustments need to be made to slide him into the middle as a "withdrawn forward". If he gets a lot of attention there, it will only open things up for everyone else. On the wing, it doesn't do that as much.
Our best soccer style is going to be an Italian style. While it sounds good to play "Italian football" given they are arguably the second best team all time (behind those damn yellow shirts of course) it does not mean it will be pretty. This style relies heavily on staying composed in the back and in the middle, usually having a more defensive presence. The US can do this fairly well with two center mids that are defensively focused. This will irritate many fans, though, as they want to see an attack or someone be a "#10" but it simply wont happen. We don't have the ability/talent across the board to attack teams like a Brazil, England, or Spain. Given that, I like what Bradley does, sits back, feels out the opponent, and finds gaps to attack with force on the occasion.
Conclusion:
While there is much that could be said about this game, the truth is we saw about half of what the team will look like in South Africa. I have sadly come to the conclusion that if we don't have Davies healthy by June 12th, then a 4-5-1 would likely be the best route for this team. Nobody has stepped up in that other striker position save Ching, and he isn't the type of player you play with Jozy. The starting XI, for me right now, would be this (assuming health to all those expected to return by June):
Timmy
Dolo Demerit Gooch Bocanegra
Dempsey Edu Bradley Holden
Donovan
Jozy
I am optimistic for the world cup. I think this team has the ability, if they stay focused and attack at the right time, to make a run to the final 8. Yes, the final 8. With a healthy Davies, I would guarantee this, but without him its going to be hard to score (as we have seen).
Get your US flags, jerseys, and bandannas ready. The world cup is less than 100 days away
Cheers,
15 to 32
3.04.2010
2.26.2010
The USA Men's National Team and World Cup 2010
This coming summer is going to be one that soccer fans wont forget for a long time, if ever. Whenever there is a world cup, there is drama, there is miracles, and there is something we all take away from it. In 2006 it was the horrendous reffing, the Ronaldo Rooney drama, that miracle of a shot by Rodriguez against Mexico in the knockout phases, the dreadful draw and play of the Americans, the Brazilians chocking against the French, and the French choking against the Italians. Zidane etches his name in history as one of the greatest just to put a giant asterisk next to it as the guy that famously headbutted another player. You cant just make this stuff up, the world cup always brings out the best and worst of a country, its players, its fans, etc. With that said, lets look at the world cup for the United States of America.
Lets first examine the group phase for the Yanks. While there is no such thing as a "easy draw" in a world cup, this one is more than favorable. Playing against England wont be "fun" by any means, but Algeria and Slovenia are teams people were saying would be the best case scenario for the US of A. I see this group phase being much harder then some will say, but it wont be anything like the 2006 group phase. Opening against England will be a plus in my book. The US will have that game out of the way, and any points gained in it are a HUGE plus. I honestly see us drawing against the three lions with a healthy squad. That is a huge if, I know, but not impossible. Against the next two I expect wins. They aren't going to be blow outs or easy wins, but the US should be able to get 6 points off of Algeria and Slovenia (again with a healthy squad) and see our way through the group phases. Now, say we somehow catch a break against England and win, that would be awesome for a couple reasons. First, everyone hates England. Even if you "like them" you know, given this scenario, you will hate them. John Terry is a douche, Frank Lampard is a sock puppet, Wayne Rooney is good but not THAT good, and Jermaine Defoe couldn't get past Gooch on his birthday. It will also be good because if we win the group, we will also avoid (likely) having to play the Germans in the next match. While revenge against those bastards would be nice (you know 2002 still pisses you off) avoiding them would also be nice (they are damn good). So, to do this, I have said we will need a healthy team. Here is the 23 man (assuming health) roster:
3 GK) Howard, Guzan, Hahnemann
8 DF) Bornstein, Gooch, Demerit, Bocanegra, Dolo, Spector, Goodson, Pearce
9 MF) Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Edu, Clark, Feilhaber, Holden, Torres, Kljestan/Beasley
3 FW) Jozy, Davies, Ching
Lets examine the potential players that wont be fully fit:
Gooch: I think Gooch will be fully fit, but if by some freak accident (again) he isnt. Chad Marshall will step up. Right now, he isn't in because Goodson has impressed while Marshall sure hasn't.
Dolo: I think he will also be fit, but again if there is a freak accident Simek would be my backup.
Dempsey: He better be fit, a lot of the US hopes ride on his shoulders. If he isn't, I think you will see Findley maybe get a chance, or whoever gets left off between Kljestan and Beasley slide in.
Feilhaber: This is one of my favorite players on the squad, if he isn't fit it will really hurt his career (that seems to never really "take off"). If he is out, along with another mid, Findley will be in and the other person in the Kljestan/Beasley combo will stay as well.
Davies: While many, including myself, thought it would take more than a miracle for this kid to even have hopes of playing again, its now an AWESOME possibility. I haven't seen someone with this kids drive ever in my life. To be where he is at right now is incredible (France). I say he is there, but if he has some complications (sure hope not) then I think we see Eddie Johnson be the first pick. Now that doesn't make much sense at first, but I think you have to look at what is on the squad. Why wouldn't it be Findley if he is out? Because Findley doesn't have the touch to play in a WC yet. Johnson, while not as athletic or fast as Findley, has a better touch. He slides up, only if Davies is out though. Weird, but its just how I see it.
There is a lot I could go into on the world cup, and I fully intend to, but that's for another post. I fully plan on evaluating each of the groups before the start of the world cup (summer cant come soon enough) and I plan on evaluating a handful of teams I see as having a chance at it or just as something that would be interesting to look into. For now though, lets all hope for a fast recovery to the injured Americans. A fully healthy squad could do some serious damage at the World Cup this summer, I fully believe that.
Cheers,
15 to 32
Lets first examine the group phase for the Yanks. While there is no such thing as a "easy draw" in a world cup, this one is more than favorable. Playing against England wont be "fun" by any means, but Algeria and Slovenia are teams people were saying would be the best case scenario for the US of A. I see this group phase being much harder then some will say, but it wont be anything like the 2006 group phase. Opening against England will be a plus in my book. The US will have that game out of the way, and any points gained in it are a HUGE plus. I honestly see us drawing against the three lions with a healthy squad. That is a huge if, I know, but not impossible. Against the next two I expect wins. They aren't going to be blow outs or easy wins, but the US should be able to get 6 points off of Algeria and Slovenia (again with a healthy squad) and see our way through the group phases. Now, say we somehow catch a break against England and win, that would be awesome for a couple reasons. First, everyone hates England. Even if you "like them" you know, given this scenario, you will hate them. John Terry is a douche, Frank Lampard is a sock puppet, Wayne Rooney is good but not THAT good, and Jermaine Defoe couldn't get past Gooch on his birthday. It will also be good because if we win the group, we will also avoid (likely) having to play the Germans in the next match. While revenge against those bastards would be nice (you know 2002 still pisses you off) avoiding them would also be nice (they are damn good). So, to do this, I have said we will need a healthy team. Here is the 23 man (assuming health) roster:
3 GK) Howard, Guzan, Hahnemann
8 DF) Bornstein, Gooch, Demerit, Bocanegra, Dolo, Spector, Goodson, Pearce
9 MF) Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Edu, Clark, Feilhaber, Holden, Torres, Kljestan/Beasley
3 FW) Jozy, Davies, Ching
Lets examine the potential players that wont be fully fit:
Gooch: I think Gooch will be fully fit, but if by some freak accident (again) he isnt. Chad Marshall will step up. Right now, he isn't in because Goodson has impressed while Marshall sure hasn't.
Dolo: I think he will also be fit, but again if there is a freak accident Simek would be my backup.
Dempsey: He better be fit, a lot of the US hopes ride on his shoulders. If he isn't, I think you will see Findley maybe get a chance, or whoever gets left off between Kljestan and Beasley slide in.
Feilhaber: This is one of my favorite players on the squad, if he isn't fit it will really hurt his career (that seems to never really "take off"). If he is out, along with another mid, Findley will be in and the other person in the Kljestan/Beasley combo will stay as well.
Davies: While many, including myself, thought it would take more than a miracle for this kid to even have hopes of playing again, its now an AWESOME possibility. I haven't seen someone with this kids drive ever in my life. To be where he is at right now is incredible (France). I say he is there, but if he has some complications (sure hope not) then I think we see Eddie Johnson be the first pick. Now that doesn't make much sense at first, but I think you have to look at what is on the squad. Why wouldn't it be Findley if he is out? Because Findley doesn't have the touch to play in a WC yet. Johnson, while not as athletic or fast as Findley, has a better touch. He slides up, only if Davies is out though. Weird, but its just how I see it.
There is a lot I could go into on the world cup, and I fully intend to, but that's for another post. I fully plan on evaluating each of the groups before the start of the world cup (summer cant come soon enough) and I plan on evaluating a handful of teams I see as having a chance at it or just as something that would be interesting to look into. For now though, lets all hope for a fast recovery to the injured Americans. A fully healthy squad could do some serious damage at the World Cup this summer, I fully believe that.
Cheers,
15 to 32
2.17.2010
Quickly Getting Caught Up
Well its been far too long since my last post and I apologize for that. School, work, family, and soccer have become more of a life than it seems I can handle at times (see my report card for last semester) but I still am invested fully into this team (RSL) and to the beautiful sport itself. This coming year is going to be a great one for soccer fans, especially those that call Utah their home or that have a connection to Real Salt Lake.
First off, we have the defending MLS cup champs in our very own city. Quite an amazing feat they accomplished, and I still believe KC is waiting on that fruit basket. There will be much more on this in the future, but the main point here is that we all should be excited (as if I had to tell you). This team has shown its potential (knocking off arguably the 3 best teams in the league last year all in a row on the road... sorta) and looks as though it might have fixed some of its "problems" from previous seasons. We can only hope that the road woes are behind us and that this team will at least contend on the road, and continue to play dominate soccer at home. I see us making the post season this year, I really do. From there... who knows. Last season I thought we had a chance to win it, but that was before the season began. Then we went through possibly the worst season in terms of health for its fans and ended up hoisting that lovely trophy in Seattle (great city, great venue, put on a wonderful show. Thank you Seattle). RSL will be a force and they will have a big target on their backs. It should be interesting to see how JK and co. handle it.
Next is the greatest sporting event in the world hands down. The super bowl is great... in the US. The Olympics can be wonderful too... but they don't have the same effect as... The world cup. It is great... EVERYWHERE. The US drew a pretty "easy" group in terms of what they could have gotten (by no means am I saying it will be easy for them, there aren't really any "bad" teams at the world cup, qualifiers do their best to make sure of that). I believe the Nats have a chance honestly (don't get ahead of yourselves, I will explain this). It will be great to open up against our "rivals" England and see if we can shock them by getting a draw or even somehow taking all 3 points. I believe the US will advance out of the group stages then depending on who we draw next (Germany's group) we could advance from there. If somehow we can avoid the Germans, we could go another round or two I think. If we do draw the Germans... revenge for that bull shit in 2002 is SO OVERDUE.
So grab your seats soccer lovers, its going to be a great year for soccer all around.
Cheers,
15 to 32
p.s. hopefully the CBA negotiations get figured out so that we can watch RSL this year... or ever again for that matter (yes I fear it could be that bad with a strike)
First off, we have the defending MLS cup champs in our very own city. Quite an amazing feat they accomplished, and I still believe KC is waiting on that fruit basket. There will be much more on this in the future, but the main point here is that we all should be excited (as if I had to tell you). This team has shown its potential (knocking off arguably the 3 best teams in the league last year all in a row on the road... sorta) and looks as though it might have fixed some of its "problems" from previous seasons. We can only hope that the road woes are behind us and that this team will at least contend on the road, and continue to play dominate soccer at home. I see us making the post season this year, I really do. From there... who knows. Last season I thought we had a chance to win it, but that was before the season began. Then we went through possibly the worst season in terms of health for its fans and ended up hoisting that lovely trophy in Seattle (great city, great venue, put on a wonderful show. Thank you Seattle). RSL will be a force and they will have a big target on their backs. It should be interesting to see how JK and co. handle it.
Next is the greatest sporting event in the world hands down. The super bowl is great... in the US. The Olympics can be wonderful too... but they don't have the same effect as... The world cup. It is great... EVERYWHERE. The US drew a pretty "easy" group in terms of what they could have gotten (by no means am I saying it will be easy for them, there aren't really any "bad" teams at the world cup, qualifiers do their best to make sure of that). I believe the Nats have a chance honestly (don't get ahead of yourselves, I will explain this). It will be great to open up against our "rivals" England and see if we can shock them by getting a draw or even somehow taking all 3 points. I believe the US will advance out of the group stages then depending on who we draw next (Germany's group) we could advance from there. If somehow we can avoid the Germans, we could go another round or two I think. If we do draw the Germans... revenge for that bull shit in 2002 is SO OVERDUE.
So grab your seats soccer lovers, its going to be a great year for soccer all around.
Cheers,
15 to 32
p.s. hopefully the CBA negotiations get figured out so that we can watch RSL this year... or ever again for that matter (yes I fear it could be that bad with a strike)
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