The Soccer Thread

[wolf stansson]

Here is the difference between Brazil and US.

 

We score on set pieces, they score on ridiculously gorgeous, 9 man possessions that slice through the entire field like a razor blade through butter.

 

1-1 on an incredible run that ended with Howard's save on Kaka bouncing off Onyewu into the net.

 

Newsflash - Kaka, Ronaldhino and Robinho are really, really, really good. Everyone else on Brazil is just really, really good.

[shnsajax]

Altidore needs to be in this game, they need more size up front and someone who can actually feed a 1 touch ball around the box. Not to mention a shot from outside the box.

[shnsajax]

someone is looking for a daytime emmy award on the dive.

[Guest]

It'd be nice to see Altidore or Adu here.

[wolf stansson]

Landon and Clint should've been switched in this game. Landon should've been up top with Clint on the right wing.

 

Ideally I would've wanted Landon up top with Altidore and Beasley, Feilhaber, Adu and Dempsey in the midfield.

 

 

Seth - did Michael Bradley win you over a little bit today? I thought he was pretty good considering his age and who he was playing against. I love his hustle and his physicality. He has zero touch, but he played a role today that I think worked for him. He is the best at winning challenges on our squad.

[shnsajax]

Landon and Clint should've been switched in this game. Landon should've been up top with Clint on the right wing.

 

Ideally I would've wanted Landon up top with Altidore and Beasley, Feilhaber, Adu and Dempsey in the midfield.

 

 

Seth - did Michael Bradley win you over a little bit today? I thought he was pretty good considering his age and who he was playing against. I love his hustle and his physicality. He has zero touch, but he played a role today that I think worked for him. He is the best at winning challenges on our squad.

 

He filled his role well to day, you can't knock his effort. His foot is like a concrete block though.

[wolf stansson]

He filled his role well to day, you can't knock his effort. His foot is like a concrete block though.

 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/krkhinrich/w_bradley_195.jpg

[brinoch]

I thought Bradley played pretty well, but yeah, he has a poor first touch.

[sethuel1]

Bradley absolutely redeemed himself a great deal in my eyes today. Still can't pass, but he was disruptive as hell in the midfield today.

 

More later. Must pass out.

[soccer10k]

Can somebody tell me how Heath Pearce looked? I knew he was on the roster but I was surprised to find out he started and played virtually the whole game.

[wolf stansson]

Can somebody tell me how Heath Pearce looked? I knew he was on the roster but I was surprised to find out he started and played virtually the whole game.

He was okay. First half he was pretty invisible, but he turned it on in the second half and had a couple really hard shots.

[USSoccer]

Pro's:

 

-Bradley needs to give Pearce more chances to win that left back spot. He was mich, much better than Bornstein. He didn't get himself into trouble, got into the attack smoothly, and played under control. Cherundolo played well, too. I think if we had to play a WCQ tomorrow, they would be my starting backs

 

-As Dempsey plays more up front, he's getting more and more comfortable. His finish was clinical, and I doubt the ability of many other USMNT players to be able to finish that smoothly. When Jozy gets here, Clint should stay in the center of the pitch as the focal point of the attack. He's our best offensive player.

 

-DMB looks a million times better than he did 12 months ago

 

-Our central mids closed out attacks pretty well.

 

-Donovan played his best when he was out wide. It's time to keep him there, rather than continually trying to force him into being a #10 or trying to make him Michael Owen.

 

Cons:

 

-If youre going to commit to playing Carlos Bocanegra in the center of the field, you can't play Gooch there at the same time. They make way too many careless mistakes, faster attackers tear them up, they play clumsily and out of control at times. I personally think Jay DeMerit would make the best choice to play alongside Bocanegra, but you have to make one of them the backup for the other, or else you'll see the same screwups that we say throughout 2006 in central defense.

 

-Bobby Convey is going to get buried on the depth chart if he can't grow a right foot.

 

-EJ still sucks. He needs to get to Europe really soon, or else he's gonig to stay what he is now: the homeless man's Robbie Fowler.

 

-We really need an attacking mid to go with either Feilhaber, Bradley or Clark. Adu needs to get capped soon and start his development.

 

Overall, it's hard to be dissapointed about this loss. We gave up a crappy own goal, a free kick off of a really iffy foun outside the 18, and a penalty in stoppage time. We accounted for ourselves pretty well against a top 3 team, all things said.

[wolf stansson]

Why can no one take a free kick or corner for crap?

 

LD's corner from the goal was ok, but some of his others and Beasley's were embarassing.

[soccer10k]

Can somebody tell me how Heath Pearce looked? I knew he was on the roster but I was surprised to find out he started and played virtually the whole game.

He was okay. First half he was pretty invisible, but he turned it on in the second half and had a couple really hard shots.

 

Pro's:

 

-Bradley needs to give Pearce more chances to win that left back spot. He was mich, much better than Bornstein. He didn't get himself into trouble, got into the attack smoothly, and played under control. Cherundolo played well, too. I think if we had to play a WCQ tomorrow, they would be my starting backs.

 

That's good to hear.

[sethuel1]

Ok, here are my thoughts:

 

Dolo and Pearce looked good. Dolo I almost always expect a decent performance out of, especially if he's not up against someone significantly taller or more physical than he is. Pearce was very cautious early, but held his position well and broke up the always-dangerous Brazil attack with little fanfare. A welcome difference compared the the Jonathan Bornstein chicken-with-his-head-cut-off routine. I agree with USS on the Boca and Gooch not playing well together thing, although I think that it's Boca who shouldn't start anymore 9based mostly on his recent performances for Fulham, which have been pretty bad). That being said, Boca was the better of the two in this game, I think, and only one of the 4 brazil goals can really be said to be the fault of the defense.

 

LD should definitely stay out wide, although the problem with that is that he has defensive responsibilities out there if he does so, and he can't defend for crap. Feilhaber wasn't in rhythm. I don't really blame him, as he hasn't played club ball yet this year. I think Clark may have been a better choice here for this game. Dempsey was definitely our most threatening offensive player, and his growth as an offensive force has been fun to watch. Beasley was also dangerous, as his ability to sneak into the middle from a more wide position caught the Brazilians out of position a couple of times. Wolff just looked overmatched a lot of the time. Jozy can't come soon enough.

 

Bradley, as I said earlier, was very good. Very disruptive, didn't try to do too much with his passing or ballhandling, which is what usually gets him in trouble. If he ends up being a poor man's Gattuso, I can be happy with that. "Gattuso-like" is a decent description of his play yesterday, I think. And he damn near scored as well. Frankly, I've only ever seen him play that well one other time, which was against Canada in the Gold Cup semis (until he had a brain lapse and got red carded) and I figured it was a fluke. If he can work on his consistency and prove that his other recent performances (most of the U-20s, Sweden) were the flukes, I'll be quite happy.

 

Frankly, had we gotten the obvious PK call, it would've been a different game, I think, but I can't complain too much. We went toe to toe with Brazil and acquitted ourselves nicely.

 

Howard was decent, but not great. Ronaldinho's free kick goal really could've been stopped had the either positioned the wall or himself better.

 

As far as Brazil, I was way more impressed with Kaka and Robinho than Ronaldinho. Kaka was much taller than I thought he was, and when he gets a head of steam and starts barreling toward goal, he's a sight to behold. Such incredible ball control while he's running at full speed. Robinho was slippery as hell. Ronaldinho will get more credit considering his free kick goal, but the other two were way more threatening, in my opinion.

[wolf stansson]

Ronaldinho seems like he has lost a step, but not because of anything physical. He just doesn't seem like he is as prone to taking guys on off the dribble anymore. A little lazy?

 

Kaka is huge.

[sethuel1]

Ronaldinho seems like he has lost a step, but not because of anything physical. He just doesn't seem like he is as prone to taking guys on off the dribble anymore. A little lazy?

 

All he does is stand off the ball and wait for someone to pass it to him, do some fancy footwork, and then pass it off again.

[sethuel1]

Kaka is huge.

Seriously. When he started a freight train counterattack midway through the 1st half, my heart was in my throat.

[USSoccer]

I agree with USS on the Boca and Gooch not playing well together thing, although I think that it's Boca who shouldn't start anymore 9based mostly on his recent performances for Fulham, which have been pretty bad). That being said, Boca was the better of the two in this game, I think, and only one of the 4 brazil goals can really be said to be the fault of the defense.

 

I personally agree, but given that Bradley has given the armband for Bocanegra for reasons unknown, playing DeMerit over Gooch is your best bet.

 

I'd personally rather see Conrad/DeMerit, honestly, unless we're playing a side with a big, physical striker. Then I'd play Gooch/DeMerit. To me, Bocanegra is a backup. He's way too erratic, and people forget that aside from his idiotic clearance attempt against Ghana which led to the bad PK, he nearly headed 2 balls into his own net against Italy last summer.

 

If Michael Bradley ends up at 70% Gattuso I'd call that a win, but you still need an attacking central mid.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

If Michael Bradley ends up at 70% Gattuso I'd call that a win, but you still need an attacking central mid.

 

Wouldn't that be Clint once Altidore is established as a target player?

[sethuel1]

but you still need an attacking central mid.

 

How about an eventual 4-3-2-1 in a couple of years? i won't bother to name the defense now, but a midfield/attack of

 

LD Bradley/Edu/Clark Beasley

Deuce Adu

Altidore

 

Too much pressure on LD to play defense? Also, no Feilhaber.

 

I'm just thinking off hte top of my head, here.

Edited September 10, 2007 by sethuel1

[wolf stansson]

You like Maurice more than Benny?

 

I haven't seen much of him other than one MLS game, but is he really someone to look forward to? That'd be cool.

 

Deuce is making it so Landon had better start worrying about defense a little more because it's becoming his team in the eyes of nearly all US fans.

 

Edit - Don't forget about Szetela. He'll figure in that log jam as well unless he wants to play for Poland which isn't near likely.

[sethuel1]

You like Maurice more than Benny?

 

I haven't seen much of him other than one MLS game, but is he really someone to look forward to? That'd be cool.

 

Deuce is making it so Landon had better start worrying about defense a little more because it's becoming his team in the eyes of nearly all US fans.

 

I don't, but i think we'd need a defensive hammer in the middle, and I think Edu will be able to provide that in a couple of years. Feilhaber is much more of an offensive threat than a d-mid, IMO.

 

yeah, I didn't even think of Szetela.

[Jon]

Where's a good place to download the game?

[sethuel1]

Where's a good place to download the game?

http://www.mininova.org/tor/881002