Hey Prilosec, you need somebody to film a new ad for your little purple pill?
Right now my stomach is so rocky it might be able to smelt down gold.
Wednesday night's U.S. must-win 2010 qualifier at Trinidad & Tobago isn't helping matters. Hopefully after the 90 minutes are up, Jozy and the boys will have sliced through Gordian Knot at put me at ease.
Right now its a nervy time to follow the U.S. squad.
We have all sorts of qualifying permutations fluttering through our heads, speaking nothing of goal differential. We're fretting out worst-case scenarios should the team fail to take all three points Wednesday. We're worrying why this team continually is playing from behind or how it can't protect leads.
Admittedly, until Jozy Altidore scored the go-ahead goal vs. El Salvador Saturday night in first half stoppage time I truly worried that the U.S. would possibly fail to punch its ticket to South Africa. (And that worry lasted until the final whistle.)
The thing of it is, as worried as I am I sincerely doubt the actual U.S. players feel that way.
Why?
The most tried-and-true motivation technique in American sports -- "The nobody believes/respects us card."
I've seen just about every high school team I've ever written about break this out ... even if they're the supposed best team in the state. Every Monday I get to hear New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce tell WFAN host Mike Francesa how nobody believes in his team. We even saw the U.S. play the card at the Confederations Cup, first against Egypt and then a few days later vs. Spain.
In this age of blogs, Twitter and 24-hour-discussion, there's no doubt in my mind some of the players on the U.S. team have caught wind about its underwhelming display against El Salvador in Utah Saturday. For some reason I'm picturing Michael Bradley reading his laptop in the airport before flying down to Trinidad and quietly steaming about what was written about the U.S. team. (Chalk this up to Bradley dropping an f-bomb in Sports Illustrated during the Confederations Cup.)
This is a weird trend, not just with the USMNT, for whatever the reason some teams either can't find the motivation or can't function unless they perceive to be disrespected or written off entirely. With their backs against the wall, we've seen the best come out from this current U.S. roster.
Look at Landon Donovan. For the last year or so it seems he's been super-humanly fueled by the years of Haterade throw on him by the bulk of U.S. 'Net fans.
Call it yet another enigma swirling around U.S. soccer. In atypical American fashion, they're terrible as favorites in pressure spots, but thrive as the underdog.
That's why everything in my mind says the U.S. goes to down to Port-of-Spain as tight as a drum in a situation fraught with danger and maybe salvages a draw by the skin of its teeth, but in reality they'll probably do down there and take care of business.
Nobody believes in them, right?
About that U.S. defense:
* Well, looks like Edgar Castillo is throwing his hat into the ring as the latest, greatest savior to man the black-hole that is left-back for the U.S. File this away and save that talk for another day. Let's just say I'm more intrigued by what Castillo has to offer the team compared to Jermaine Jones.
Something that's been startling in the last two U.S. matches (loss to Mexico, win vs. El Salvador) is the amount of space the U.S. defense gives opponents in the attacking third of the field. When an opponent is coming at them with the ball, it seems the U.S. defenders are caught between stepping up and closing him off or dropping back to cut down a lane. It's the indecision that kills me.
What makes this all the more stranger is the U.S. showed it has the capacity to be a strong defensive squad, though it seems the defenders are more apt at playing the ball than playing a man with the ball at his feet. If I were an opposing coach I'd never try to go up the flanks and cross it into the box if Oguchi Onyewu is patrolling the middle. By the same token, I'd tell my guys to go right up the gut and if they don't close down on you, fire away.
Wednesday we'll likely see a more representative U.S. backline with Onyewu back from his one-game suspension and Carlos Bocanegra likely shifting back inside with Jay DeMerti not even making the trip to the Caribbean.
I wish there was a more scientific way to say this, but the defense needs to simply step up and play better. Guys seem to be caught out of position or getting split far too often for a high-level international team.
A thought on Trinidad:
* You've got to hand it to Trinidad & Tobago for keeping the 'C' in CONCACAF alive, at least the Caribbean part.
For whatever its worth, Trinidad seems like a bit of an outlier since unlike most of the region, its ties lay with England, not the U.S. Nine players on the current roster play in Great Britain including forwards Jason Scotland and Kenwyne Jones.
The reason I bring this up, unlike the majority of CONCACAF opposition I don't think there's a real hostility when the U.S. travels to Port-of-Spain. It's simply not the cauldron those Central American homefields turn out to be. The antagonistic superpower status the U.S. holds over most of Central America isn't an issue in Trinidad, since it history and loyalties lie with the Queen.
If someone had the time to break it down, it would be an eye-opening stat to see the breakdown for U.S. results on the road broken up between Central America and the Caribbean. (My guess, the U.S. is it would turn up quite lopsided since the only legit Caribbean countries are Jamaica and Trinidad.)
So that said, the U.S. really doesn't have built-in excuse about how hard it is to win on the road. At the very least, I doubt too many bags of urine are in circulation at Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Other stuff:
* Russell Latapy is really coaching Trinidad? Really? Guess you have to throw some respect at a guy who was a player/coach at Falkirk in the SPL.
* Fulham ace Bobby Zamora was hurt in pre-match training ahead of the Saturday game vs. Honduras, so who knows if he'll play Wednesday. (Trinidad has a lot more "name" guys than El Salvador, but sometimes its the unknown grinders that worry me more.)
* Again, via Twitter, Charlie Davies thinks he'll be okay to play after limping off Saturday. If Davies isn't 100 percent, does Bob Bradley go Clint Dempsey up front with Altidore or dust off the old war horse Brian Ching?
* I think this goes for just about every U.S. fan, we'd rather see Jonathon Spector slightly out of position at left back as opposed to Jonathan Bornstein anywhere on the field.
* Right now I'm not sure what worries me more, the U.S. scoring early then trying to figure out how to play with a one-goal lead or the U.S. allowing a goal against the run of play and having to fight back?
* Trinidad is officially eliminated with a loss. To me this isn't a motivating factor because they're super longshots as it stands even with a win over the U.S. Yeah, it's a home game but it's human nature for some of the players to have checked off mentally.
* Open question to FIFA. I once had a stopover in Ireland for about two hours. Does that make me eligible to play for the Republic?
* If there's one question for Bradley the Elder it's who pairs with his son in the center of midfield. The candidates are Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber and Jose Torres. If you gave me truth serum, there's not a lot to separate these three, though Torres would be a gamble, he offers plenty of upside. You just wonder, Torres biggest asset is passing around and holding possession. Does that click with the rest of the team, which is far too careless with the ball?
* The bigger question for Bradley, which ties into midfield selection, is how to play this match? Come out as the aggressor? Absorb pressure and play off the counter? A combination of both?
* That Grant Wahl interview with Bob Bradley? Well, I'll say this, it was one of the longest pieces I've read without the interview subject revealing anything juicy. It was like reading a college essay on coaching soccer.
* You all know I'm fully on the Altidore bandwagon. On the flip side, what does he bring to the table if he doesn't find the back of the net? It's a valid concern, but not enough to play Ching over him.
* To borrow another line from a white rapper, "Can the real Clint Dempsey please stand up?"
Lineup guess:
GK -- Howard
DEF -- Cherundolo -- Onyewu -- Bocanegra -- Spector
MID -- Dempsey -- Clark -- Bradley -- Donovan
FOR -- Altidore -- Davies
Closing thought:
Much like Saturday night, the U.S. has to dig deep and find a way.
This is it in terms of margin of error for the U.S. Take three points and we can all let out a sigh of relief. A draw or worse? That means a lot of second guessing and number crunching between now and Oct. 10 at Honduras.
For all the unflattering things I've written about Bradley the Elder the last couple years, I'll respect his intelligence. I'm sure he knows the ramifications if the U.S. stumbles Wednesday on the island.
Let's hope he passes that along to his charges and they realize their backs are against the wall if they fly back to the States without three points stashed safely away in the overhead compartments.
Right now my stomach is so rocky it might be able to smelt down gold.
Wednesday night's U.S. must-win 2010 qualifier at Trinidad & Tobago isn't helping matters. Hopefully after the 90 minutes are up, Jozy and the boys will have sliced through Gordian Knot at put me at ease.
Right now its a nervy time to follow the U.S. squad.
We have all sorts of qualifying permutations fluttering through our heads, speaking nothing of goal differential. We're fretting out worst-case scenarios should the team fail to take all three points Wednesday. We're worrying why this team continually is playing from behind or how it can't protect leads.
Admittedly, until Jozy Altidore scored the go-ahead goal vs. El Salvador Saturday night in first half stoppage time I truly worried that the U.S. would possibly fail to punch its ticket to South Africa. (And that worry lasted until the final whistle.)
The thing of it is, as worried as I am I sincerely doubt the actual U.S. players feel that way.
Why?
The most tried-and-true motivation technique in American sports -- "The nobody believes/respects us card."
I've seen just about every high school team I've ever written about break this out ... even if they're the supposed best team in the state. Every Monday I get to hear New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce tell WFAN host Mike Francesa how nobody believes in his team. We even saw the U.S. play the card at the Confederations Cup, first against Egypt and then a few days later vs. Spain.
In this age of blogs, Twitter and 24-hour-discussion, there's no doubt in my mind some of the players on the U.S. team have caught wind about its underwhelming display against El Salvador in Utah Saturday. For some reason I'm picturing Michael Bradley reading his laptop in the airport before flying down to Trinidad and quietly steaming about what was written about the U.S. team. (Chalk this up to Bradley dropping an f-bomb in Sports Illustrated during the Confederations Cup.)
This is a weird trend, not just with the USMNT, for whatever the reason some teams either can't find the motivation or can't function unless they perceive to be disrespected or written off entirely. With their backs against the wall, we've seen the best come out from this current U.S. roster.
Look at Landon Donovan. For the last year or so it seems he's been super-humanly fueled by the years of Haterade throw on him by the bulk of U.S. 'Net fans.
Call it yet another enigma swirling around U.S. soccer. In atypical American fashion, they're terrible as favorites in pressure spots, but thrive as the underdog.
That's why everything in my mind says the U.S. goes to down to Port-of-Spain as tight as a drum in a situation fraught with danger and maybe salvages a draw by the skin of its teeth, but in reality they'll probably do down there and take care of business.
Nobody believes in them, right?
About that U.S. defense:
* Well, looks like Edgar Castillo is throwing his hat into the ring as the latest, greatest savior to man the black-hole that is left-back for the U.S. File this away and save that talk for another day. Let's just say I'm more intrigued by what Castillo has to offer the team compared to Jermaine Jones.
Something that's been startling in the last two U.S. matches (loss to Mexico, win vs. El Salvador) is the amount of space the U.S. defense gives opponents in the attacking third of the field. When an opponent is coming at them with the ball, it seems the U.S. defenders are caught between stepping up and closing him off or dropping back to cut down a lane. It's the indecision that kills me.
What makes this all the more stranger is the U.S. showed it has the capacity to be a strong defensive squad, though it seems the defenders are more apt at playing the ball than playing a man with the ball at his feet. If I were an opposing coach I'd never try to go up the flanks and cross it into the box if Oguchi Onyewu is patrolling the middle. By the same token, I'd tell my guys to go right up the gut and if they don't close down on you, fire away.
Wednesday we'll likely see a more representative U.S. backline with Onyewu back from his one-game suspension and Carlos Bocanegra likely shifting back inside with Jay DeMerti not even making the trip to the Caribbean.
I wish there was a more scientific way to say this, but the defense needs to simply step up and play better. Guys seem to be caught out of position or getting split far too often for a high-level international team.
A thought on Trinidad:
* You've got to hand it to Trinidad & Tobago for keeping the 'C' in CONCACAF alive, at least the Caribbean part.
For whatever its worth, Trinidad seems like a bit of an outlier since unlike most of the region, its ties lay with England, not the U.S. Nine players on the current roster play in Great Britain including forwards Jason Scotland and Kenwyne Jones.
The reason I bring this up, unlike the majority of CONCACAF opposition I don't think there's a real hostility when the U.S. travels to Port-of-Spain. It's simply not the cauldron those Central American homefields turn out to be. The antagonistic superpower status the U.S. holds over most of Central America isn't an issue in Trinidad, since it history and loyalties lie with the Queen.
If someone had the time to break it down, it would be an eye-opening stat to see the breakdown for U.S. results on the road broken up between Central America and the Caribbean. (My guess, the U.S. is it would turn up quite lopsided since the only legit Caribbean countries are Jamaica and Trinidad.)
So that said, the U.S. really doesn't have built-in excuse about how hard it is to win on the road. At the very least, I doubt too many bags of urine are in circulation at Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Other stuff:
* Russell Latapy is really coaching Trinidad? Really? Guess you have to throw some respect at a guy who was a player/coach at Falkirk in the SPL.
* Fulham ace Bobby Zamora was hurt in pre-match training ahead of the Saturday game vs. Honduras, so who knows if he'll play Wednesday. (Trinidad has a lot more "name" guys than El Salvador, but sometimes its the unknown grinders that worry me more.)
* Again, via Twitter, Charlie Davies thinks he'll be okay to play after limping off Saturday. If Davies isn't 100 percent, does Bob Bradley go Clint Dempsey up front with Altidore or dust off the old war horse Brian Ching?
* I think this goes for just about every U.S. fan, we'd rather see Jonathon Spector slightly out of position at left back as opposed to Jonathan Bornstein anywhere on the field.
* Right now I'm not sure what worries me more, the U.S. scoring early then trying to figure out how to play with a one-goal lead or the U.S. allowing a goal against the run of play and having to fight back?
* Trinidad is officially eliminated with a loss. To me this isn't a motivating factor because they're super longshots as it stands even with a win over the U.S. Yeah, it's a home game but it's human nature for some of the players to have checked off mentally.
* Open question to FIFA. I once had a stopover in Ireland for about two hours. Does that make me eligible to play for the Republic?
* If there's one question for Bradley the Elder it's who pairs with his son in the center of midfield. The candidates are Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber and Jose Torres. If you gave me truth serum, there's not a lot to separate these three, though Torres would be a gamble, he offers plenty of upside. You just wonder, Torres biggest asset is passing around and holding possession. Does that click with the rest of the team, which is far too careless with the ball?
* The bigger question for Bradley, which ties into midfield selection, is how to play this match? Come out as the aggressor? Absorb pressure and play off the counter? A combination of both?
* That Grant Wahl interview with Bob Bradley? Well, I'll say this, it was one of the longest pieces I've read without the interview subject revealing anything juicy. It was like reading a college essay on coaching soccer.
* You all know I'm fully on the Altidore bandwagon. On the flip side, what does he bring to the table if he doesn't find the back of the net? It's a valid concern, but not enough to play Ching over him.
* To borrow another line from a white rapper, "Can the real Clint Dempsey please stand up?"
Lineup guess:
GK -- Howard
DEF -- Cherundolo -- Onyewu -- Bocanegra -- Spector
MID -- Dempsey -- Clark -- Bradley -- Donovan
FOR -- Altidore -- Davies
Closing thought:
Much like Saturday night, the U.S. has to dig deep and find a way.
This is it in terms of margin of error for the U.S. Take three points and we can all let out a sigh of relief. A draw or worse? That means a lot of second guessing and number crunching between now and Oct. 10 at Honduras.
For all the unflattering things I've written about Bradley the Elder the last couple years, I'll respect his intelligence. I'm sure he knows the ramifications if the U.S. stumbles Wednesday on the island.
Let's hope he passes that along to his charges and they realize their backs are against the wall if they fly back to the States without three points stashed safely away in the overhead compartments.
Labels: bob bradley, charlie davies, clint dempsey, concacaf, Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Soccer, world cup qualifying
Spot on with that Bradley article. It felt like pages 249-304 of an insurance contract. I find pieces of cardboard more captivating. If anything, I thought Wahl was pretty correct with calling him Rain Man. Perhaps a new nickname?
Not that I care - we just need a result. I see a rejuvenated Davies running rampant and shoving one in. Then we will bunker down. US 1 - T&T 0.
Hey Andrew...nice website. Ever think of doing anything inspired by the U.S. team. Or more specifically, why hasn't Landon Donovan asked you to artistically render his bald spot?
Cardillo - You are spot on with the 'less anti-US anger in TNT' point. Jamaica as well? I would assume all smaller countries have some, umm, grievances with former colonial powers or nations that manipulated their elections and/or offed their leaders. Thus the Caribbean nations are more focused on England. But there is also that complicated emotion where many of the folks in Mexico or SLV would like to emigrate (or know family members who have). It is a love/hate kind of thing that the US just doesn't have with the English-colonized (or French, like Guadalupe) nations in the Caribbean.
Obviously Jozy is not perfect but what is that 'other' thing that you feel he doesn't provide? Tracking back on defense? The Elder rarely plays that fore-checking style like Barça does so pressure D from the forwards is not usually required.
I imagine the US is due for another one of their 'good' games. Seems likely against TNT. It wouldn't surprise me if the US was up two or three goals and then cruised but with a late 'Screaming Timmay' give back goal that hardly matters.
One thing that hasn't been talked about the next match against Honduras, is all the political shenanigans our State Dept is involved in regarding the ouster of their President. We've been meddling with their affairs and the Hondurans don't like it. We cut off aid to them in retaliation. Don't be surprised if there's a big brouhaha about this next month. This makes tonight's 3 points even more important.
The culture of the Caribbean plays a big part in game atmosphere. People are more laid back in places like T&T. The fans have plenty of passion but they seem to turn that energy into a party instead of a hostile enviroment. There's a reason Billy Ocean doens't have any songs called "Mexico City Queen".