The Soccer Thread

[USSoccer]

-M Bizzy was the MOTM. Not just cause he scored both, but because he showed every positive facet of his game. His disrupted the midfield and pretty much controlled everything in the center of the pitch. FAR and away his best game in a US shirt.

 

-Donovan and Beasley played really well. Landon was very creative and unselfish, and Beaz played much better than I thought he would, especially in the first half.

 

-Clint was really good in the first half, and then dropped off in the 2nd.

 

-Sacha K. did nothing on the day. Not a good performance.

 

-The backline really didn't have a good start, but after the first 15 or so they settled down and played well. Credit to Frankie Hejduk. He played a strong game.

 

Overall I thought the team in the first half was really good. They played possession soccer, switched the point of attack and controlled the game. I don't know if it was tactical or weather in the 2nd half, but we didn't do much until a couple counters at the end, and up a man at home I thought we should have gone for the kill. Beaz and Deuce seemed gassed at that point, cause there were a couple times Donovan had to pull up on the break because he had no runners in the box.

[USSoccer]

Howard: 7

Gooch: 5 (not a good game, struggled early with positioning)

Boca: 5 (ditto)

Pearce: 5 (okay at times, killed some attacks. Lack of minutes at Hansa showed as he seemed gassed after 60)

Hejduk: 6 (typical Heydude performance. Lots of running and effort and cutbacks and poor crosses.)

 

Sacha: 4.5 (poor game. didn't get forward much, showed little as far as imposing himself)

Bradley:7.5 (MOTM)

Beaz: 6 (unexpectedly better that I though, strong 1st, meh 2nd)

Dempsey 6 (I might be overrating it by .5 here 'cause he's my guy. Strong 1st half, seemed gassed in the 2nd. Stronger defensively than offensively, but forced Sanchez into a save)

 

Donovan: 6 (BS posters think he was poor, but I saw a guy who Mexico tried to man mark out of the game, and he still managed to set up both goals, and like Clint was a step away from a couple other chances)

Ching: 5.5 (held well but didn't link well.

 

Subs: n/a; not enough minutes, although Jozy was too casual on that first holdup and Clark gave the ball away every time he touched it.

 

Bob Bradley: 5 (Should have subbed Sacha out sooner, probably should have subbed Clint or Beaz out sooner, had the US inexplicably sink back after the Marquez red)

 

1st half rating: 6.5

2nd half rating: 4.5

[wolf stansson]

Dude, we just shut out Mexico in some [expletive] weather! Where's the love?

[Guest]

About to watch on Tivo. :D

[shnsajax]

is mexico's keeper [expletive]

 

Yes, when talking about Sanchez I wish we had the ability to use "Dodger Blues" terms to describe him.

[shnsajax]

Dude, we just shut out Mexico in some Veterans Committee weather! Where's the love?

 

No veterans committee! I'm happy with the performance, actually I'm surprised the weather didn't play more of a role than it did. Either that or the players played through it very well. Either way i am half way loaded and happy. Hopefully this will put the US in position to have 9 points after 3 matches.

[sethuel1]

Holy [expletive] I love me some dumbass Rafa Marquez.

 

[expletive], things aren't going my way. Think I'll spike the keeper in plain view of the ref!

[sethuel1]

Also if Brinoch didn't make a little Mexican boy cry after this one he's really slacking.

[shnsajax]

So when I wake up tomorrow will Sven still be the coach at Mexico?

[sethuel1]

my guess is no

[Guest]

Overall I thought the team in the first half was really good. They played possession soccer, switched the point of attack and controlled the game. I don't know if it was tactical or weather in the 2nd half, but we didn't do much until a couple counters at the end, and up a man at home I thought we should have gone for the kill. Beaz and Deuce seemed gassed at that point, cause there were a couple times Donovan had to pull up on the break because he had no runners in the box.

 

My thoughts as well, especially about the second half after the red card. I really wanted the US to push a bit more than they did when they were up a man, not necessarily take stupid risks, but you can send an extra man forward than you normally would because you're up a man. They were letting Mexico move the ball around too much and generate too many things considering Mexico was a man down.

 

But the first half was well played by the US outside of the first couple minutes that Mexico controlled the play. It's really nice to start the Hex off this way, even though it would take a miracle for them not to advance.

[sethuel1]

Hahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

one of Mexico's assistants bitch slapped Hejduk in the locker room tunnel

 

http://www.univision.com/content/videoplayer.jhtml?cid=1835906

 

see: Agresion de Paco Ramirez a Hejduk

[bukie]

Damn it, my wife turned off the DVR to watch something else. I really hope they show the game again somewhere.

[Guest]

Damn it, my wife turned off the DVR to watch something else. I really hope they show the game again somewhere.

 

I don't know if you're still awake, but it's being aired at midnight tonight out here on ESPN2.

[USSoccer]

Dude, we just shut out Mexico in some Veterans Committee weather! Where's the love?

 

Oh, much love. I thought we were fantastic in the 1st. The wind probably had a bigger affect on the 2nd half than anything else.

 

I rated them on the same scale I rate my peeps at work: 5 is average, anything above 7 is very good.

 

I would have been interested to see this game played in neutral conditions. I think it could have been more lopsided. Mexico isn't very good, and without Vela, Guardado, Magdallon, etc...they're flat bad.

[shnsajax]

Dude, we just shut out Mexico in some Veterans Committee weather! Where's the love?

 

Oh, much love. I thought we were fantastic in the 1st. The wind probably had a bigger affect on the 2nd half than anything else.

 

I rated them on the same scale I rate my peeps at work: 5 is average, anything above 7 is very good.

 

I would have been interested to see this game played in neutral conditions. I think it could have been more lopsided. Mexico isn't very good, and without Vela, Guardado, Magdallon, etc...they're flat bad.

 

The more I think about it, this could be the team that could actually win in Azteca. I won't get my hopes up, but probably the best chance ever.

[wolf stansson]

Good article on Michael Bradley by Ives on Soccernet. It features Landon's great bi-annual, post-Mexico quote:

 

"They always want to play, they try to play, but it wasn't going to happen today," Landon Donovan said of Mexico. "It was too hard."

 

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=618360&sec=us&root=us&cc=5901

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- As far as games in U.S. national team history go, few midfielders have played as complete a game as Michael Bradley played on Wednesday night against Mexico.

 

Michael Bradley, right, provided the spark for the U.S. offense against Mexico.

From the opening whistle, Bradley raced around breaking up Mexican attacks and setting up teammates with perfect passes, serving as the engine in an American midfield that thoroughly outplayed Mexico on its way to a 2-0 victory in their opening match of the Hexagonal Round of World Cup qualifying. Before he even scored his first goal in the 43rd minute, and well before he finished the game off with his second goal in second-half stoppage time, Bradley had already put his stamp on the game.

 

"I think everybody on the team was really excited to play today," Bradley said. "Any time you play against Mexico it's special, and on top of it, a really important World Cup qualifier so to be a part of a team effort like that and come away with three points, it's a great feeling."

 

"I think he was fantastic, aside from the goals," U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard said of Bradley. "He was up and down the field, side to side, steaming into tackles, winning balls, collecting second balls, winning balls without fouling, which is important.

 

"He did everything right, and then obviously the goals were fantastic."

 

Bradley's evolution as a player has continued since his move from the Dutch League to the German Bundesliga last summer. After some struggles to establish himself with Borussia Moenchengladbach early on -- struggles due in part to coaching changes and his late arrival to the club in the fall -- Bradley has persevered and re-established himself as a starter for the German club.

 

"Throughout all that I just kept working hard and believing that I could play at that level and now I'm playing and I feel like I'm improving and helping the team," Bradley said earlier in the week. "As a player, you always want to be playing and getting better and I've never doubted that I would be able to prove myself and settle in with the club."

 

On Wednesday night, the 21-year-old Bradley played like a seasoned veteran rather than like the youngest player in the starting lineup for the U.S. national team, which he was by two years. He thoroughly outplayed Mexico veteran Pavel Pardo, who was rendered largely invisible. Bradley combined with Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley and Sacha Kljestan to thoroughly control the midfield, to the extent that Mexico was forced into the unfamiliar tactic of bypassing its midfield and playing long balls.

 

"They always want to play, they try to play, but it wasn't going to happen today," Landon Donovan said of Mexico. "It was too hard. The few times they tried, it got picked off and they were in trouble, so they kind of had to resort to [playing long balls] but you could see that's not their strength."

 

A lot of the credit for that went to Bradley, who closed down Mexican players any time they had the ball in midfield, and worked swiftly to move the ball into the attack.

 

"People forget he does a lot of hard work and gets in lanes and does that kind of stuff, but he can also score goals," Donovan said of Bradley. "He's a good, smart player."

 

U.S. vs. Mexico

Last five home World Cup qualifiers

 

Feb. 11, 2009 -- W, 2-0, Columbus, Ohio

 

Sept. 3, 2005 -- W, 2-0, Columbus, Ohio

 

Feb. 28, 2001 -- W, 2-0, Columbus, Ohio

 

April 20, 1997 -- T, 2-2, Foxborough, Mass.

 

Nov. 23, 1980 -- W, 2-1, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

 

Bradley also showed off the goal-scoring ability that helped him be one of the Dutch League's leading goal-scorers in the 2007-2008 season with Heerenveen. His half-volley finish inside the six-yard box on the first goal, and his 30-yard knuckling blast to finish the game off were the chances of a player who is confident he can put away chances when they come.

 

While Bradley's work in the last round of World Cup qualifying should have quelled any notions that Bradley started more often than he deserved to in 2008 (a common refrain among his critics), Bradley's masterful performance on Wednesday night should signal his arrival as one of the national team's most important players, a box-to-box midfielder who can score goals as well as neutralize an opposing attack.

 

The scary thing for Mexico, and all other U.S. opponents in World Cup qualifying, is that at 21, Bradley can only get better, which is somethi ng his teammates are confident will happen.

 

"Michael doesn't take any shorts," Howard said. "He's one of the hardest working guys on the team. He demands a lot of himself, which is the epitome of a big-time player, which I think Michael will be."

[bukie]

Damn it, my wife turned off the DVR to watch something else. I really hope they show the game again somewhere.

 

I don't know if you're still awake, but it's being aired at midnight tonight out here on ESPN2.

Thanks for this, I actually got it recorded this time. I'll have to watch it later today.

[Jon]

The remaining qualifier locations have been officially announced:

 

June 6 vs. Honduras - Chicago @ Soldier Field - 7 PM central

September 5 vs. El Salvador - Salt Lake City @ Rio Tinto Stadium - 5:30 PM mountain

October 14 vs. Costa Rica - DC @ RFK Stadium - TBD

[Transmogrified Tiger]

http://www.soccerbyives.net/.a/6a00e54ef2975b88330111685d5ef8970c-pi

[shnsajax]

The remaining qualifier locations have been officially announced:

 

June 6 vs. Honduras - Chicago @ Soldier Field - 7 PM central

September 5 vs. El Salvador - Salt Lake City @ Rio Tinto Stadium - 5:30 PM mountain

October 14 vs. Costa Rica - DC @ RFK Stadium - TBD

 

WTF, can't we at least host El Salvador or T&T in Dallas. I am pretty sure we can outnumber their supporters down here.

[wolf stansson]

I'm 80% going to Azteca and 95% going to SLC.

[brinoch]

Also if Brinoch didn't make a little Mexican boy cry after this one he's really slacking.

 

I made Mexican fans who had the temerity to sit in the US supporter sections leave.

 

It was an unbelievably awesome game experience. The US fans were loud and great... singing all the time and mocking where appropriate. I don't know if you guys saw on tv, but after the game, the entire team came over to the supporter area. They were riling us up, thanking us and they threw their shirts into the stands... awesome.

[brinoch]

I still have no voice.

[shnsajax]

Also if Brinoch didn't make a little Mexican boy cry after this one he's really slacking.

 

I made Mexican fans who had the temerity to sit in the US supporter sections leave.

 

It was an unbelievably awesome game experience. The US fans were loud and great... singing all the time and mocking where appropriate. I don't know if you guys saw on tv, but after the game, the entire team came over to the supporter area. They were riling us up, thanking us and they threw their shirts into the stands... awesome.

 

Awesome, it looked like a great crowd.