Match Recap: USA 0 - 1 Columbia
Well, thank god that this is over. An entire group of guys who are green as Dollars play the worst game I have ever seen played by guys in the Red, White & Blue. I hope that they learned something.
I learned the following:
- Kyle Beckerman must never, ever be allowed to wear the Red, White & Blue, again! He was so ineffective in the midfield that the USA might have been better off playing with 10 men.
- Eddie Johnson is dead to me. I have said it before and I am hopefully going to say it for the last time. Eddie Johnson doesn't know how to play forward on the international stage. He is slow, cannot think of what to do next and doesn't understand what his position is supposed to do. Ray Hudson himself said that Johnson was frustrated because he couldn't find anyone to pass to. He shouldn't be passing at all. He should be getting the ball and running at the goal. Hell, he even had an empty net and he refused to take a shot when he had the ball. Eddie Johnson no longer deserves to wear the Red, White & Blue.
- US depth isn't that great. Well, it isn't much deeper than the second level. The First team is set and we saw what would be considered the second team in the match against Trinidad & Tobago. After the second team, we really have got a bunch of guys who don't really have an understanding of how the international game is played.
Overall, I have to say that the expected results from this tournament came about. We seemed to wilt and collapse alot easier than I expected us to do. The match tonight was ok for the second half, but if Bradley had started our "Copa First team" then I think we would have picked up the 3 points.
Honestly, I think that the biggest problem with our squad wasn't who we left off for summer break, it was who we sent to the U20 World Cup. Had Bradley been able to get Adu, Altidore, Szetela & Bradley into the squad and see how they could work with the likes of Clark, Feilhaber, DeMerit & Conrad I think we would have a better learning environment and a better over all squad.
Ok, so now that the Copa America is over, I hope that the players go back to their clubs and apply what they have learned. I hope that Boswell uses his experience to help solidify the DC United back line. I hope that Jay DeMerit goes back to England and either with Watford or with whomever he is sold to, gets to apply all of the experiences towards having a stronger season.
I also hope that the coaching staff is done tinkering. Something is always good to be said of trying out several different formations to see works the best together. I think that Bradley should have a much better understanding of what that formation is and should use the last few matches of 2007 to get those same group of guys together and have them train together and play as many minutes as possible.
If it were me, this would be my starting 11:
Not sure how the coaching staff will approach the Sweden, Catalonia & Switzerland matches. Hopefully the rumored matches against South Africa and Mexico are going to be secured, as they would both be great chances for road matches which should challenge the players. I would also like to see Adu, Altidore, Bradley, Cooper (once healthy) and Szetela called into those squads. If these guys are going to be a part of the 2010 World Cup, might as well get them involved now. They have got to be better than Beckerman, Gaven, Bornstein & Johnson.
I learned the following:
- Kyle Beckerman must never, ever be allowed to wear the Red, White & Blue, again! He was so ineffective in the midfield that the USA might have been better off playing with 10 men.
- Eddie Johnson is dead to me. I have said it before and I am hopefully going to say it for the last time. Eddie Johnson doesn't know how to play forward on the international stage. He is slow, cannot think of what to do next and doesn't understand what his position is supposed to do. Ray Hudson himself said that Johnson was frustrated because he couldn't find anyone to pass to. He shouldn't be passing at all. He should be getting the ball and running at the goal. Hell, he even had an empty net and he refused to take a shot when he had the ball. Eddie Johnson no longer deserves to wear the Red, White & Blue.
- US depth isn't that great. Well, it isn't much deeper than the second level. The First team is set and we saw what would be considered the second team in the match against Trinidad & Tobago. After the second team, we really have got a bunch of guys who don't really have an understanding of how the international game is played.
Overall, I have to say that the expected results from this tournament came about. We seemed to wilt and collapse alot easier than I expected us to do. The match tonight was ok for the second half, but if Bradley had started our "Copa First team" then I think we would have picked up the 3 points.
Honestly, I think that the biggest problem with our squad wasn't who we left off for summer break, it was who we sent to the U20 World Cup. Had Bradley been able to get Adu, Altidore, Szetela & Bradley into the squad and see how they could work with the likes of Clark, Feilhaber, DeMerit & Conrad I think we would have a better learning environment and a better over all squad.
Ok, so now that the Copa America is over, I hope that the players go back to their clubs and apply what they have learned. I hope that Boswell uses his experience to help solidify the DC United back line. I hope that Jay DeMerit goes back to England and either with Watford or with whomever he is sold to, gets to apply all of the experiences towards having a stronger season.
I also hope that the coaching staff is done tinkering. Something is always good to be said of trying out several different formations to see works the best together. I think that Bradley should have a much better understanding of what that formation is and should use the last few matches of 2007 to get those same group of guys together and have them train together and play as many minutes as possible.
If it were me, this would be my starting 11:
Howard
Spector ---- Conrad ----- Onyweu ---- Bocanegra
Clark
Donovan ---- Feilhaber ---- Beasely
Twellman ---- Ching
Not sure how the coaching staff will approach the Sweden, Catalonia & Switzerland matches. Hopefully the rumored matches against South Africa and Mexico are going to be secured, as they would both be great chances for road matches which should challenge the players. I would also like to see Adu, Altidore, Bradley, Cooper (once healthy) and Szetela called into those squads. If these guys are going to be a part of the 2010 World Cup, might as well get them involved now. They have got to be better than Beckerman, Gaven, Bornstein & Johnson.
Labels: Copa Sudamericana, US Soccer
posted by Brian at 7:28 PM
7 Comments:
Our depth is improving, but we have a long way to go. I hoped that these 3 tournaments would go a long way towards finding a few warm bodies to fill our biggest gaps (need 2+ forwards, a defensive mid, a right back, a #2 keeper). For that reason I'm glad Bradley experimented with multiple players.
I think a few questions may have been answered -- especially in the midfield as several show a lot of promise. However, forwards are still a major concern. Hopefully we can pull somebody out of the U-20 ranks in 3 years time. Lord knows Twellman and EJ are remarkably inept.
I don’t have much of an issue with most of what you said. But, if you’re done with EJ, how in the world do you have Twellman in your starting 11??? Both were rather poor throughout this tournament, but even with his penchant for negative play, EJ was still much more involved in organizing and developing consistent attack from the front.
I’m still not sure if EJ’s negative tendency was less about him not knowing how to go at a defender as it was trying to be at least one guy on the team who tried to retain position. I think BB made it pretty clear that the team couldn’t keep handing over possession so quickly or they’d die after 60 minutes as they did in the first match. EJ probably worried too much about possession, but he did set up quite a few good chances.
Either way, they were both poor, but I think EJ did more to keep himself on the roster than Taylor did.
I added Twellman because when he and Ching worked together during the Gold Cup, I saw them perform very well together, much better than Johnson with anyone.
My best suggestion would be to have Ching, Twellman, Donovan & Deuce all on the field together. Ching and Twellman worked well together, Twellman and Deuce work well together, Deuce and Donovan work well together and Donovan and Ching work well together.
I think that if those four are on the best offensive situation we can get. Throw in Beasley & Feilhaber and we have a very potent line up.
dempsey has got to be on the pitch for us. he is not a pure striker--we dont have one--but he is one of our best attackers. twellman is useless other than his incessant hustling which might work for the final 15 of a match. altidore will be a fine addition!
I didn't see Twellman do much of anything let alone work well with someone else.
I think with all of that talent, and the fact that none of them really worked all that well together has to come back, at least somewhat, to Bob Bradley. Even in the Gold Cup we won pretty ugly. This team just didn't seem as prepared as they should have been.
was just me or it seemed we have no speed on the squad.
EJ's attempts at dribbling were comical at best - what is the point of doing all those step overs when ur just standing. Twellman, EJ experiment is now over - time to find others.
Does anyone know why Pat Noonan or Brad Davis were not selected? Where is John O'Brien - has he quit soccer?
That Charlie Davis kids seems to have speed and Altidore has some. Lets hope that these two guys get to see more first team action in the near future.
I believe that our biggest problem is we are trying to select forwards from a poor list.
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