The Soccer Thread

[USSoccer]

That goal was equal parts bad on Demerit and Specs. Spector made a bad decision after a good run which leads to a turnover, and Demerit made two errors-didn't slide over to cover the space and played the Turk onside.

[Jon]

Sure wish we had that game back against the Czech Republic. They look like they haven't played with each other in about 3 months.

[USSoccer]

Clint looks bad.

[shnsajax]

Clint looks bad.

 

The entire team looks bad. Gotten better over the last 10 minutes.

 

edit: Forget that last line.

Edited May 29, 2010 by shnsajax

[Guest]

Clint looks bad.

 

The entire team looks bad. Gotten better over the last 10 minutes.

 

Landon's been invisible.

[Jon]

Altidore finally making his presence known. What a beautiful move.

[shnsajax]

Clint looks bad.

 

The entire team looks bad. Gotten better over the last 10 minutes.

 

Landon's been invisible.

 

I just realized I was 15 minutes behind. Great effort Jozy.

[Exile on Waveland]

Gooch not in the lineup. Does that mean they determined he's not fully fit or can't play two games in a week?

 

I didn't hear if he was completely unavailable today or just on the bench?

 

I didn't see the pregame, so I never heard exactly why he's not in the XI.

 

Wow, the defense was leaky. The offense actually seemed fine to me, especially considering Donovan and Dempsey offered nothing. Defending Turkey's counterattack, though, eek. Turkey is definitely a quality side.

[Guest]

They've threatened more in the first three minutes of this half than in the entire first half.

[shnsajax]

They've threatened more in the first three minutes of this half than in the entire first half.

 

Nice play tracking back by Findley. Jozy was very hesitant to challenge that ball in the box.

[USSoccer]

Stunning that the midfield looks better with Clint and Landon on the wings again

[USSoccer]

Robbie Findley?!?!

 

Nice sequence to equalize!

[Guest]

GOAL!!

 

Great play. Started at their own 18 and a superb ball over the top by Findley.

[Jon]

Still weak on the counter attacks, though. Jay risked everything, though it might have been an easy goal had he not gone for the tackle.

[USSoccer]

God I love JFTorres.

[shnsajax]

GOAL!!

 

Great play. Started at our own 18 and a superb ball over the top by Findley.

 

Findley won major points with me on that play alone.

[chuckywang]

Better pressure, but the passing is a little suspect.

[Jon]

Dempsey was not going to be denied a shot on that one. Great effort.

[Guest]

CLINT!

 

Great effort on that one. Just didn't give up.

[shnsajax]

Good tough run by Clint. Hopefully that starts a string like we saw last summer.

[Guest]

Did the time for the England match get changed or something? Because they keep saying and showing that it's at 1:30 p.m. ET but everything I've seen (including the FIFA website) says it's 2:30 p.m. ET.

[Jon]

Did the time for the England match get changed or something? Because they keep saying and showing that it's at 1:30 p.m. ET but everything I've seen (including the FIFA website) says it's 2:30 p.m. ET.

No. I'm pretty sure ESPN lists the times for when their coverage starts, not when the game starts. They had a 12:30 central start for this even though it started at 1 central.

[Exile on Waveland]

I think that's a very encouraging result. Turkey is a quality side and the US generated several good chances -- pretty creatively too. Defending the counterattack has now become a huge concern of mine. Whether or not Findley is the answer as the second striker, Dempsey and Donovan have to be on the wings. Oh, and Jose Torres=yes.

[wolf stansson]

Torres has been playing like we've all wanted with much more confidence and speed. Looks like he belongs.

Also, I guess it's possible that Bob Bradley knows way more about soccer than us. Findley looked like Charlie Davies out there today.

 

So is this our best 11?

 

------------------------------Howard----------------------------------

-----Cherundolo------DeMerit-------Onyewu-------Bocanegra-----

----Donovan---------Bradley--------Torres----------Dempsey------

-------------------Findley-------------Altidore------------------------

 

 

It was only one game, but I can't stress enough how awesome Torres and Findley were. They filled our biggest weaknesses. Link up through the midfield and speed opening up space for Landon. If that 11 had played the whole game, we could have won 4 or 5 nil.

[USSoccer]

I'll rewatch later, but my initial impression is that we wasted the Czech game and it really showed in the first half. We looked terrible. The tactical decision to put Benny at LM was awful and created horrid gaps in our shape.

 

Dempsey was not good up front; equal parts rust and general off-ness. 2nd half, the more he saw of the ball the better he was. Great finish. Needs to play better though. He's too important a part to be rusty and poor for 45.

 

Donovan was not as obviously bad as Clint in the 1st half, but he wasn't good either. Poor service from our mids, a complete brain-cramp in not giving cover to Spector's run helped contribute to the Turk goal.

 

Specs and Bornstein shouldn't see the field. The former is in real poor form and the latter is a calamity of Agoos-proportions. Ditto for Rico Clark. He just isn't as good as the other options.

 

Jozy provided a good run on his goal and a great 1v1 move in the first. He's going to run hot and cold, I think.

 

The real story here was JFT. We haven't looked that dominant and that technical in the midfield in forever. Bradley looked so much better in the 2nd half because he was paired with someone who just orchestrated the entire show, held possession and allowed Junior to make his usual runs. Torres brought the best out of Bradley, and probably LD and CD because they saw so much possession. I don't know if it was because we were down a goal and this kind of up-and-down pace was perfect for Torres, or if it's because he's that good and going to get better, but we were fantastic because of his play.

 

What stands out the most was the last 10 minutes. We spent most of it in their end, because Torres was distributing and unlocking their defense with complete ease.

 

Our back 4 is overall still a real worry. We only played good attacking soccer for a half, scored 2 and hit 2 posts. I think we can score goals. I worry about conceding them like a sieve.