So it came to this, Costa Rica 3, USMNT 1
About two seconds, well actually, two minutes into the match all I could think of was that episode of 'Seinfeld' episode 'The Virgin' -- you know -- with the actress that ended up on 'Fraiser'.
'Horrible, horrible, horrible.'
This one brought me back to the bleak days of the 2006 World Cup (Czech Republic edition) and the grim reality of the 2007 Copa America.
That said, it was only one game and the U.S. still should, stress should, find its way to South Africa next year.
And if you want to be a total apologist for the U.S., there are a couple built in excuses. First and foremost, the turf at Saprissa, though it didn't seem to bother the Ticos. The losses of Frankie Hejduk, Maurice Edu and Brian Ching added to the misery, too.
In fairness, as well, Costa Rica played damn well. I was stunned to find out they had such a massive clean sheet streak on its home turf (turf being the operative word). The Ticos makes the U.S. looks like amateurs, or like it was 1993 again.
Snide comments about FieldTurf aside, after the way Costa Rica played tonight, the Ticos deserve to be atop the CONCACAF Hex.
Yet however you want to sugarcoat it, at this point in the game for the U.S. soccer program is there any reason to get thoroughly chumpatized by a team in CONCACAF? Getting Ole'd in the first half, no less?
And no, I'm not buying how hard it is to play on the road either. It's 2009, after all.
Quite simply, Costa Rica was up for this game from the opening whistle and the U.S. wasn't. Alvaro Saborio's second minute -- repeat second minute -- goal certainly proved this to be the case.
If that didn't, surely Celso Borges's tally in the 13th did.
Let's talk about the three U.S. goals allowed.
Poor clearances and missed hits? Check.
Opponents running through multiple defenders? Check.
Opponents running past an entire defense?, with each of the back four caught out on the counter attack? Check.
Opponents having enough space to operate inside the box to plant a field of posies? Check. (Pablo Herrera's embarrassing third goal in the 69th.)
Ball watching? Check.
Again, horrible, horrible, horrible.
When I wrote my pregame thoughts, I figured this was the game to play for the draw. Go conservative Bob Bradley, right? Instead, maybe due to injuries, we got a 4-3-3 featuring outside defenders of DeMarcus Beasley and Marvel Wynne and Jozy Altidore operating, I think, on the left outside wing.
Again, a second minute goal will make just about any formation look like Swiss Cheese.
Yet was this lineup Bradley threw out there going to get the job done? A midfield of Michael Bradley, flanked by the inexperienced Jose Torres and the calcified Pablo Mastreoni? Unless Landon Donovan got behind the defense or Clint Dempsey shook somebody out of his pants, how as the U.S. going to score? A set piece? Ha! We can't even get a delivery over a two-man wall.
If I wasn't live-blogging, I would have turned it off at halftime.
Suffice to say, this doesn't bode well for the busiest summer of U.S. soccer in recent memory.
Was Italy coach Marcello Lippi able to watch this match with a straight face? (Assuming he watched it in the first place.) Maybe he's not ruing the fact the Azzurri didn't get grouped with New Zealand in the Confederations Cup anymore.
If there's one thing we learned, Beasley is going to need a lot of work if he's the answer at left back. A lot. Maybe in retrospect dropping a guy in who played sparingly at Rangers during the SPL season wasn't the best decision, but one made from necessity. (The lack of playing time for most of the Euro-based players is troublesome, to say the least with most of their futures unsettled. This game didn't earn them any extra Euros in the transfer kitty, that's for sure.)
I still don't understand why Carlos Bocanegra doesn't get a shot at left back. The U.S. could still put guys like Danny Califf or Jay DeMerit with Oguchi Onyewu in the central defense. It's worth a shot, right?
There's no sense singling out any bad performances, except maybe Wynne who looked totally out of his element. Everyone was subpar Wednesday.
At least Freddy Adu got a shot on target ... in the 87th minute. And hey, Donovan scored a penalty! Yeah! One more for the record books!
In the end, this is just one match and it's probably not worth overreacting and jumping off the bus. Of course, Michael Bradley is suspended, thrusting the midfield into chaos for Honduras on Saturday. Plus factor in the fatigue and the pressure of now playing a must-win match and things might just get dicey.
No matter the outside circumstances, this was going going to be a tough fixture. The U.S. hadn't scored in Costa Rica since 2000. Would hunkering down and playing for the draw have worked? That went out the window with the second minute goal.
But a thorough dismantling of the defense and a completely incoherent performance offensively?
There are certainly more questions than answers after tonight. The team, and Bradley especially, don't have a lot of time to get their act together before shipping off to South Africa -- hopefully more than once.
Let's hope it was just a one-time rare, bad performance.
Hey, even 'Seinfeld' had that backwards episode.
About two seconds, well actually, two minutes into the match all I could think of was that episode of 'Seinfeld' episode 'The Virgin' -- you know -- with the actress that ended up on 'Fraiser'.
'Horrible, horrible, horrible.'
This one brought me back to the bleak days of the 2006 World Cup (Czech Republic edition) and the grim reality of the 2007 Copa America.
That said, it was only one game and the U.S. still should, stress should, find its way to South Africa next year.
And if you want to be a total apologist for the U.S., there are a couple built in excuses. First and foremost, the turf at Saprissa, though it didn't seem to bother the Ticos. The losses of Frankie Hejduk, Maurice Edu and Brian Ching added to the misery, too.
In fairness, as well, Costa Rica played damn well. I was stunned to find out they had such a massive clean sheet streak on its home turf (turf being the operative word). The Ticos makes the U.S. looks like amateurs, or like it was 1993 again.
Snide comments about FieldTurf aside, after the way Costa Rica played tonight, the Ticos deserve to be atop the CONCACAF Hex.
Yet however you want to sugarcoat it, at this point in the game for the U.S. soccer program is there any reason to get thoroughly chumpatized by a team in CONCACAF? Getting Ole'd in the first half, no less?
And no, I'm not buying how hard it is to play on the road either. It's 2009, after all.
Quite simply, Costa Rica was up for this game from the opening whistle and the U.S. wasn't. Alvaro Saborio's second minute -- repeat second minute -- goal certainly proved this to be the case.
If that didn't, surely Celso Borges's tally in the 13th did.
Let's talk about the three U.S. goals allowed.
Poor clearances and missed hits? Check.
Opponents running through multiple defenders? Check.
Opponents running past an entire defense?, with each of the back four caught out on the counter attack? Check.
Opponents having enough space to operate inside the box to plant a field of posies? Check. (Pablo Herrera's embarrassing third goal in the 69th.)
Ball watching? Check.
Again, horrible, horrible, horrible.
When I wrote my pregame thoughts, I figured this was the game to play for the draw. Go conservative Bob Bradley, right? Instead, maybe due to injuries, we got a 4-3-3 featuring outside defenders of DeMarcus Beasley and Marvel Wynne and Jozy Altidore operating, I think, on the left outside wing.
Again, a second minute goal will make just about any formation look like Swiss Cheese.
Yet was this lineup Bradley threw out there going to get the job done? A midfield of Michael Bradley, flanked by the inexperienced Jose Torres and the calcified Pablo Mastreoni? Unless Landon Donovan got behind the defense or Clint Dempsey shook somebody out of his pants, how as the U.S. going to score? A set piece? Ha! We can't even get a delivery over a two-man wall.
If I wasn't live-blogging, I would have turned it off at halftime.
Suffice to say, this doesn't bode well for the busiest summer of U.S. soccer in recent memory.
Was Italy coach Marcello Lippi able to watch this match with a straight face? (Assuming he watched it in the first place.) Maybe he's not ruing the fact the Azzurri didn't get grouped with New Zealand in the Confederations Cup anymore.
If there's one thing we learned, Beasley is going to need a lot of work if he's the answer at left back. A lot. Maybe in retrospect dropping a guy in who played sparingly at Rangers during the SPL season wasn't the best decision, but one made from necessity. (The lack of playing time for most of the Euro-based players is troublesome, to say the least with most of their futures unsettled. This game didn't earn them any extra Euros in the transfer kitty, that's for sure.)
I still don't understand why Carlos Bocanegra doesn't get a shot at left back. The U.S. could still put guys like Danny Califf or Jay DeMerit with Oguchi Onyewu in the central defense. It's worth a shot, right?
There's no sense singling out any bad performances, except maybe Wynne who looked totally out of his element. Everyone was subpar Wednesday.
At least Freddy Adu got a shot on target ... in the 87th minute. And hey, Donovan scored a penalty! Yeah! One more for the record books!
In the end, this is just one match and it's probably not worth overreacting and jumping off the bus. Of course, Michael Bradley is suspended, thrusting the midfield into chaos for Honduras on Saturday. Plus factor in the fatigue and the pressure of now playing a must-win match and things might just get dicey.
No matter the outside circumstances, this was going going to be a tough fixture. The U.S. hadn't scored in Costa Rica since 2000. Would hunkering down and playing for the draw have worked? That went out the window with the second minute goal.
But a thorough dismantling of the defense and a completely incoherent performance offensively?
There are certainly more questions than answers after tonight. The team, and Bradley especially, don't have a lot of time to get their act together before shipping off to South Africa -- hopefully more than once.
Let's hope it was just a one-time rare, bad performance.
Hey, even 'Seinfeld' had that backwards episode.
Labels: bob bradley, concacaf, ESPN sucks, Freddy Adu, Landon Donovan, Soccer, USMNT
I think Franz Beckenbauer said it best -- "You could throw the whole lot of them in a bag, and hit it with a stick, and whoever got hit probably deserved it."
I'm with you, Cardillo -- I thought this was a conservative-let-Ching-muscle-it-out special. Only Michael Bradley seemed to have the sense to kick ass out there, and true to form, got himself some yellow paper for his troubles. I liked seeing Charlie Davies out there, but perhaps that's because he was the only guy hustling in garbage time. I'm surprised Paco Torres got pulled, but maybe I got sold by Harkes' commentary on him.
Timmeh got left on an island out there. I was surprised to see Marvell out there, since I thought Coach Bradley had a chubby for the Born-star.
"Man, I really wish Frankie Hejduk was playing right now."
Can't be a good sign when I'm actually saying that out loud during a WCQ, right?
And not because he's a way better defender than Wynne or Beasley would have been last night (although he is) - it's because he's the only player who looks like he gives a damn every single time he plays a game for the national team. We're in trouble if we don't get three on Saturday. I just don't think the USSF looks at it the same way, which is so disappointing
I ask, in all seriousness, does this team actually deserve a World Cup finals bid?
One year out, this is the best team the US can field in the biggest game of the qualification?
Road game? There were 24,000 people, not 240,000 or 2.4 million.
Let's face it, the only reason the US gets to the finals every time is because the CONCACAF gets too many slots.
Meanwhile, too many actually decent teams stay home.
...we got a 4-3-3 featuring outside defenders of DeMarcus Beasley and Marvel Wynne and Jozy Altidore operating, I think, on the left outside wing.
There's the rub. I've seen more clearly defined formations in pick-up games at the park. Players with a better first touch, too, something the turf really exposed about the Americans.
I'd give Bradley 6 out of 10 for providing whatever good passes the Americans mustered and making a couple of good runs toward the Costa Rica box. Of course, with Bradley making a run there was no one who could play the ball to his feet and take advantage of those runs.
His work rate alongside awful partners deserves some commendation as well. Especially in contrast to Clint Dempsey who looks like he's barely tolerating playing for the National Team at this point.
The talent level is really low right now and, though qualification is probably not in doubt, the 2010 World Cup itself could be gruesome if Altidore and Adu don't get regular playing time with their clubs next season.
Boy, that escalated quickly... I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
Those Telemundo muthaf%$as are mean.
Bradley The Elder was obviously handicapped by his team's injury situation. It would be easy to blast the coach for the bad decisions to start DMB and Wynne in defense, but I'm not sure what better options he had and (more importantly) how much of a difference those could have made.
That being said, why can't the coach keep his very talented son from being a Rooney Tunes-esque hot-head. That sh#t is not gonna end well on a big stage in a big game.
Rattled is as rattled does. The US is still going to qualify for SA, but these games put a point on how far the USMNT has to go. The fact that they looked so out of it and befuddled for much of the match doesn't give much hope for this fixture in the future.
Scheduling tough international friendlies against England and Argentina is a strong statement of where the team hopes to go. But losing road WC qualification games in this fashion makes the case for where the team really 'is'.
The USMNT doesn't (at this juncture) have the players to be much better than this. The turf in Saprissa was not the 'problem.' A fancy new Euro manager (Klinsy) won't make Beasley a top notch defender or summon a better option from the ether. A different line-up from the current coach would not have generated a significantly different outcome.
By far the worst NAT's performance in recent memory. Where to start? I think Mastroeni had a role in both early goals, or rather his inability contributed. Rico doesn't make the half hearted tackles or gives that much space. I think it's time to dump Mastroeni. Dempsey didn't contribute anything other than some embarrassingly botched up step overs. Jozy looked like he would do the hold up role, but is that what we want him for? Torres I'll give the benefit of the doubt but I also wanted to crucify him for his role in the first goal. He seemed to be able to hold the ball even if he didn't do anything more with it. This team needs to learn to create plays not hoof it forward and chase it. We outran no one last night. I wrote on FB, we're just not good enough.
I don't watch the US national team that often, so perhaps this was a blip or due to the surface, but my god was that some bad football. I felt like I was watching a women's high school game. Nobody could string passes together, nobody making runs, pitiful defending, no rhythm, beyond horrible first touches, nobody could dribble, on and on. It was beyond pathetic to watch.
I have no clue how Conacaf gets this many WC spots. Give them 1 spot and the 2nd can play someone from Asia or the hilarious Oceanic winner (hi New Zealand) for the 2nd. Anymore is wasting places that should go to more deserving countries.
Jeeez... everybody deserves to be fired after that performance. Not one played well that game. well, maybe charlie davies and Adu when they checked in, but by that point who cared?
Does anyone think this going to be the end of freewheeling Bob Bradley? (tounge planted firmly in cheek). Are we going to see 3 holding mids and ching alone up top on saturday?
Well, almost everything I had to say has already been said on here. In short, that sucked.
If there was one bright spot for me, it was Charlie Davies. That was actually the first time I'd ever seen him play. The match was already over by that point, but I was impressed by his effort if nothing else.