England 2, USA 0
Well, I suppose that makes up for the War of 1812.
It's truly going to be a test to write something after watching that putrid 90 minutes of football from the Yanks. I might even have to revert to the old, 'they put their uniforms on properly' at the onset. It was truly miserable from a American perspective.
Not one player flashed even a glimpse of quality.
The offensive mentality was, well, offensive to watch.
Marking on defense turned into hapless hacking.
In short, flush the game tape and forget this one.
When I wrote the other day how it would raise unrealistic expectations if the U.S. pulled off a win. I never thought they'd have to take it to the opposite extreme.
As usual, this can be leveled at coach Bob Bradley, who fielded the most non-threatening lineup since N'Sync. The middle of the field was an absolute nightmare from Oguchi Oneyewu and Carlos Bocanegra in the back, to the midfield pairing of Ricardo Clark and Michael Bradley to the toothless forward line up Eddie Johnson and Josh Wolff, who might have touched the ball all of one time.
Before ripping the US performance to shreds, it's worth noting that England was very up for the game. Fabio Capello fielded a first-choice lineup with only Steven Gerrard playing wide left out of position. And wouldn't you know it that the King of the Scousers was the best player all night, moving across the field with ease. On top of that Wayne Rooney was his usual, tireless, dogged self, chasing the ball all over the field and terrorizing the U.S. backline on every touch -- a joy to watch.
England XI's all played a solid, team game and did what it took to notch a positive result. The Three Lions weren't exactly rampant, but they let the game come to them and never seemed troubled at all. It's semi-amazing the possession was only 55 percent to England and that the U.S. mounted five shots on goal. Didn't seem like that.
Hell, Gareth Barry comes off the bench and within minutes hooked up with Gerrard on a one-touch through ball for a goal. (Did Gerrard even try hard to score that?)
Compare that with the listless U.S. performance, who's M.O. Wednesday evening in Wembley Stadium appeared to try not to get embarrassed too badly. Things like creativity, initiative, rhythm, etc. were apparently left back home in the States. There were a couple openings in the England team near the end of the first half and after the restart, but the U.S. didn't even make England sweat. Yes, England fielded a lineup of stars, but at this point in our soccer history the U.S. shouldn't be intimidated by anyone. It's not like the fans at Wembley were hurling back of urine or hot coins like the stadia of Central America.
Again, this goes down to Bradley who fielded a lineup that lacked any bite whatsoever. Maybe apologists can say that Landon Donovan's late injury mucked up the plans. Fine. But there always has to be a Plan B. Simply going 4-4-2 against 4-4-2 when you have the 'lesser' players is a recipe for failure.
Where to even start with this mess?
Ricardo Clark has essentially morphed into a poor-man's Pablo Mastroeni. His mindless challenge on Wes Brown -- when DaMarcus Beasley already had him marked -- gift wrapped the first England goal. You have to know as a player when that Beckham fellow is in the opposing lineup not to concede freebies around the goal.
It's probably best to ignore the marking on John Terry's header, since he beat essentially the entire American team to the ball with a FREE form header. (No, JP and John, scoring in a meaningless friendly doesn't offset the Champions League final miss.)
Back to Clark. Kicking Carlos Ruiz in the face during an MLS game is one thing. Bringing nothing to the table but hard play at the international level is not the party. It came to the point when Rooney went in with two-feet and wiped out the Houston Dynamo player, I was actually sort of happy. (How that wasn't a card, beyond me.)
Let's only use him in the future as a hatchetman against the Guatemala's of the world.
The usual other targets of my ire in the U.S. shirts didn't do anything to change my mind either on Wednesday. Oguchi Oneywu continues to excel at one thing -- being enormous. The rest of the game? Goes to show if he's on the Belgium champions, that Flemish league can't be very great. The man they call Gooch was consistently undressed by Rooney and Jermain Defore, who each gave away about a foot to the Maryland-born defender.
Carlos Bocanegra wasn't that much better and seemed a bit out of place most of the game.
The starting forwards? He may be young, but the Eddie Johnson experiment isn't working. How long until we pull the plug? How many minutes did he play in the first team for Fulham since he went over in January? The guy can't score.
Ok, sorry, he did fire wide in the 46th minute for a signal of intent. Hooray!
Josh Wolff, well, that performance ought to get a lot of team's from England's Nationwide Conference calling with job offers. Just goes to show what Bradley thinks of Nate Jacqua, who was the only other true forward available. (Again, terrible roster construction here.)
With the news coming out around the time of the game that Brian McBride was leaving Fulham to return to the U.S., is there a chance we could coax him out of international retirement? Please?
Maybe the scariest development was the continued decline of Clint Dempsey in the U.S. shirt. How many times do we need to see him as the right midfielder in the straight 4-4-2 set up and not contribute? If Wednesday doesn't convince Bradley to shake things up with Deuce, then nothing will.
The only guy that seemed to play with any bite was Heath Pearce coming out of the left back and that might even be a reach. Brad Guzan was also competent in goal in the second half.
Considering the Bradley had six substitutions to play with, why did it take so long for Freddy Adu to see the field? It was crystal clear from my television the U.S. lacked any sort of creativity. The England defense basically had to stay in their lanes and just wait for an American to make a wrong pass.
As crazy as it sounds, Eddie Lewis had the best attacking play of the game when he chipped in from the right side and made David James (w/afro) leapt and tipped it away.
Long story short, this same team takes on Spain in a week. If major changes aren't made it could get ugly. It's doubtful the Spaniards will take it as easy as our former colonial masters did at Wembley. Yes, England was good but the Americans didn't even bother to show up.
The saddest thing about this match, the highlight came in the player introductions, when the Wembley P.A. system played Sigur Ros' "Hoppípolla."
Hate to finish this on an overtly negative tone, but what -- other than a nice fat paycheck -- did the U.S. take away from this one?
Well, I suppose that makes up for the War of 1812.
It's truly going to be a test to write something after watching that putrid 90 minutes of football from the Yanks. I might even have to revert to the old, 'they put their uniforms on properly' at the onset. It was truly miserable from a American perspective.
Not one player flashed even a glimpse of quality.
The offensive mentality was, well, offensive to watch.
Marking on defense turned into hapless hacking.
In short, flush the game tape and forget this one.
When I wrote the other day how it would raise unrealistic expectations if the U.S. pulled off a win. I never thought they'd have to take it to the opposite extreme.
As usual, this can be leveled at coach Bob Bradley, who fielded the most non-threatening lineup since N'Sync. The middle of the field was an absolute nightmare from Oguchi Oneyewu and Carlos Bocanegra in the back, to the midfield pairing of Ricardo Clark and Michael Bradley to the toothless forward line up Eddie Johnson and Josh Wolff, who might have touched the ball all of one time.
Before ripping the US performance to shreds, it's worth noting that England was very up for the game. Fabio Capello fielded a first-choice lineup with only Steven Gerrard playing wide left out of position. And wouldn't you know it that the King of the Scousers was the best player all night, moving across the field with ease. On top of that Wayne Rooney was his usual, tireless, dogged self, chasing the ball all over the field and terrorizing the U.S. backline on every touch -- a joy to watch.
England XI's all played a solid, team game and did what it took to notch a positive result. The Three Lions weren't exactly rampant, but they let the game come to them and never seemed troubled at all. It's semi-amazing the possession was only 55 percent to England and that the U.S. mounted five shots on goal. Didn't seem like that.
Hell, Gareth Barry comes off the bench and within minutes hooked up with Gerrard on a one-touch through ball for a goal. (Did Gerrard even try hard to score that?)
Compare that with the listless U.S. performance, who's M.O. Wednesday evening in Wembley Stadium appeared to try not to get embarrassed too badly. Things like creativity, initiative, rhythm, etc. were apparently left back home in the States. There were a couple openings in the England team near the end of the first half and after the restart, but the U.S. didn't even make England sweat. Yes, England fielded a lineup of stars, but at this point in our soccer history the U.S. shouldn't be intimidated by anyone. It's not like the fans at Wembley were hurling back of urine or hot coins like the stadia of Central America.
Again, this goes down to Bradley who fielded a lineup that lacked any bite whatsoever. Maybe apologists can say that Landon Donovan's late injury mucked up the plans. Fine. But there always has to be a Plan B. Simply going 4-4-2 against 4-4-2 when you have the 'lesser' players is a recipe for failure.
Where to even start with this mess?
Ricardo Clark has essentially morphed into a poor-man's Pablo Mastroeni. His mindless challenge on Wes Brown -- when DaMarcus Beasley already had him marked -- gift wrapped the first England goal. You have to know as a player when that Beckham fellow is in the opposing lineup not to concede freebies around the goal.
It's probably best to ignore the marking on John Terry's header, since he beat essentially the entire American team to the ball with a FREE form header. (No, JP and John, scoring in a meaningless friendly doesn't offset the Champions League final miss.)
Back to Clark. Kicking Carlos Ruiz in the face during an MLS game is one thing. Bringing nothing to the table but hard play at the international level is not the party. It came to the point when Rooney went in with two-feet and wiped out the Houston Dynamo player, I was actually sort of happy. (How that wasn't a card, beyond me.)
Let's only use him in the future as a hatchetman against the Guatemala's of the world.
The usual other targets of my ire in the U.S. shirts didn't do anything to change my mind either on Wednesday. Oguchi Oneywu continues to excel at one thing -- being enormous. The rest of the game? Goes to show if he's on the Belgium champions, that Flemish league can't be very great. The man they call Gooch was consistently undressed by Rooney and Jermain Defore, who each gave away about a foot to the Maryland-born defender.
Carlos Bocanegra wasn't that much better and seemed a bit out of place most of the game.
The starting forwards? He may be young, but the Eddie Johnson experiment isn't working. How long until we pull the plug? How many minutes did he play in the first team for Fulham since he went over in January? The guy can't score.
Ok, sorry, he did fire wide in the 46th minute for a signal of intent. Hooray!
Josh Wolff, well, that performance ought to get a lot of team's from England's Nationwide Conference calling with job offers. Just goes to show what Bradley thinks of Nate Jacqua, who was the only other true forward available. (Again, terrible roster construction here.)
With the news coming out around the time of the game that Brian McBride was leaving Fulham to return to the U.S., is there a chance we could coax him out of international retirement? Please?
Maybe the scariest development was the continued decline of Clint Dempsey in the U.S. shirt. How many times do we need to see him as the right midfielder in the straight 4-4-2 set up and not contribute? If Wednesday doesn't convince Bradley to shake things up with Deuce, then nothing will.
The only guy that seemed to play with any bite was Heath Pearce coming out of the left back and that might even be a reach. Brad Guzan was also competent in goal in the second half.
Considering the Bradley had six substitutions to play with, why did it take so long for Freddy Adu to see the field? It was crystal clear from my television the U.S. lacked any sort of creativity. The England defense basically had to stay in their lanes and just wait for an American to make a wrong pass.
As crazy as it sounds, Eddie Lewis had the best attacking play of the game when he chipped in from the right side and made David James (w/afro) leapt and tipped it away.
Long story short, this same team takes on Spain in a week. If major changes aren't made it could get ugly. It's doubtful the Spaniards will take it as easy as our former colonial masters did at Wembley. Yes, England was good but the Americans didn't even bother to show up.
The saddest thing about this match, the highlight came in the player introductions, when the Wembley P.A. system played Sigur Ros' "Hoppípolla."
Hate to finish this on an overtly negative tone, but what -- other than a nice fat paycheck -- did the U.S. take away from this one?
Labels: bob bradley, England, Soccer, USMNT
I cannot fathom why Hedjuk, Lewis, and Wolff continue to play.
Don't get me wrong, I would replace some of the other guys, but at least they're young.
Am I to understand that someone like Parkhurst couldn't do a better job in central defense? How about seeing what Sal Zizzo can offer on a wing?
The only thing positive about this game was that I kind of like Pearce. I think he's decent.
Your giving far too much credit by even claiming they were up for it, it was a pointless game for every member of the England squad. They hardly broke a sweat and didn't have too. That wasn't an especially strong team they were facing and they still looked horrible. I personally thought the game was a hysterical demonstration of the peril of America's idolization of a mediocre footballing country, as you pointed out in this blog earlier in the week.
Anyone else find the lack of latin players in the US team shocking.
Agree with Steve I'll add as well. Anyone who can't make the field for the worst team in the history of the English first division has no right even making the bench to face their national team.
I don't blame the team for not trying though, International Friendlies are a massive yawn.
That was sad, really sad. You can't allow England to look like a good passing team. They completely undressed the us.
However, when you think about it, who else are we sticking in there. The cupboard isn't exactly full and judging by the Toulon tournament there's not much in the grocery bad either.
Ugh. Not fun to watch at all. That ESPN announcing crew did not make it any better. I feel like they are Erik Estrada selling me late night real estate on cable when they start pimping how good the US is. I have eyes, and I can tell a desolate landscape when I see one, Ponch.
I agree that not too much should be read into this one game, but I am definitely wondering about Dempsey. Is he hurt? Or, are my expectations too high? Deuce plays in midfield for a team that finished 17th in the Prem, two opposing midfielders (Lampard and the Canadian) played for teams that went 1 & 2 in both the Prem and the world's premiere club championship. Perhaps expecting Dempsey to keep up is my mistake rather than his.
If we are gonna look this disjointed and weak, I vote we look disjointed, weak and YOUNG. Adu, Edu, et al need to get the playing time. Sorry Wolffman.
And McBride retiring... Kind of a bummer. I was hoping for one more year out of his battle-scarred dome at the Cottage. Nothing but respect for that man, and it seems that Hodgson and others in the British game feel the same way. Now we are down to just keepers as the only Americans who are guaranteed won't embarrass us next Prem season.
Not a fun day for the US game.
As soon as I saw Johnson and Wolff up top, I knew it was over. What the hell is Bradley smoking?
Also, nice work on leaving the best player available sitting on the bench for 70 minutes, Coach.
What a disgrace. If we field a team like that against Spain and Argentina, we'll be seeing some fairly ugly scorelines.
That said, I'm sure the Pudlians are such absolutely salivating over that possible Barry-Gerrard connection even moreso now. (If Villa sells. Which they might not.)
The Fan's Attic - don't judge our future by the Toulon Tournament, those were the guys fighting for the final spots for the Olympics. That's the place to see how our future looks.
Cardillo, I agree on every single point you made, brilliant stuff. What's the solution though? Do you think Bradley should go now?
To answer that question, in the words of Mike Francesa, "I just don't know. I don't know how to answer that."
Stylistically, the 4-4-2 isn't working with the players in there.
Wolff could be effective in a 4-3-3, maybe if only for speed.
If Bradley is insistent on two holding type midfielders they have to shift to more of a 4-5-1, with three-to-four creative attackers occupying different spaces at the front.
You can't keep hammering square pegs into round holes.
It's shockingn to think how much Landon Donovan truly does mean for this team. In the words of James Hetfield, sad but true.
I just wish everyone at the USSF had a little more confidence. There's no swagger anywhere, from the top on down.
Today was simply frustrating and I'll try not to think about it too much.
Adios
Surprising why?
A game like this is why it's so frustrating to be a soccer fan in the US. At least the game wasn't on during prime time and most people will only see the ESPN ticker.
It's nice to feel like we got in on the ground level but I'm ready for the band wagon to start filling up now.
funny Cardillo...I was just about to post the same thoughts on Lando. I can't believe I am about to say this, but yesterday made me really realize how important he is to the squad. They had ZERO creativity, ZERO pace and ZERO fluidity. There were no real build-ups, save for Eddie Lewis' little chip that James pushed aside, and the left footed strike from EJ that went wide. They came from build-ups...and that was IT. I was screaming for Freddy all match, because mistake prone as he may be...at least he brings some creativity to the table. It was so frustrating. I have no clue what was to be gained by throwing Josh Wolff in there. Not to pick on the guy, but he brings nothing. I would rather have an inexperienced Freddy that a non-factor like Wolff. Eddie Johnson...ugh...i can't even waste time re-hashing what has already been said on every soccer site in the world. He just falls down any time anyone comes near him. UGH i say...UGH
Lastly, why couldn't Rooney just break Ricardo Clark's legs on that tackle?
Ricardo, I despise you.
Two words came to mind after watching that pitiful US performance; 1) Oy and 2) Vey. I too was resigned to the fact it would be a looong 90 minutes when I saw the Johnson/Wolff pairing up front. Other than the ability to run fast in a straight line they bring no discernible footballing skills to the table.
- I cannot stand to watch Onyewu mindlessly attempt to play 50 yard balls in the air. It's like he cannot help himself.
- The marking on set pieces was brutal.
- I don't think I saw a single US player take a ball in stride. Compared to England, who seemingly hit either Rooney, Gerrard, or Defoe in stride all night, the US forwards (when they managed to get a touch) were stationary and had their backs to goal. Not good.
- Other than Deuce (who should be playing a central role in between the midfield and the forwards) and Freddy there is zero creativity on the pitch.
- Did anyone notice how well Rooney distributed the ball? Damn.
- As mentioned previously, I am very much looking forward to watching the U23's in Beijing.
US soccer will never play quality football. They play teenage kickball. Kick the ball and run after and see if we can get it. And on top of it the MLS is a bigger joke than Carlos Mencia.
I understand that American soccer can't touch the rest of the world. And I understand that the reason is because not enough people care about soccer in the US.
But how is it possible that we CANNOT produce ELEVEN decent soccer players? I mean, we don't need 250 world class talents to compete on the grand stage ... WE ONLY NEED ELEVEN!!!
Surely Nigel Tufnel can understand.
ELEVEN!!