June 23, 2010.
United States 1, Algeria 0.
To borrow a phrase from commenter "macarthur31" -- any given Wednesday.
Too many thoughts swirling through my head right now to even attempt a coherent post.
Potential screw job -- again -- from the refs, only to be offset by Landon Donovan, umm, writing the future. (Huge assist from his Nike-ad compatriot -- Tim Howard. Not to toot my own horn, but what have I been saying about goalkeeper distribution...?)
Algeria bizarrely playing for a scoreless tie?
Miss after miss after miss ... after miss.
Clint Dempsey bloodied and bruised.
Jozy Altidore running and running and running and running.
Stomachs in knots.
Blood pressure raising to the boiling point.
Tight chests and hears in throats.
Jonathan Bornstein involved in a World Cup victory -- and cleansheet -- no less.
What a day.
The day soccer, or at least the World Cup, finally arrived in the United States.
June 23, 2010.
* * *
One other quick takeaway, Michael Bradley made himself some stacks of sweet, sweet money cake today. Total class in the midfield.
United States 1, Algeria 0.
To borrow a phrase from commenter "macarthur31" -- any given Wednesday.
Too many thoughts swirling through my head right now to even attempt a coherent post.
Potential screw job -- again -- from the refs, only to be offset by Landon Donovan, umm, writing the future. (Huge assist from his Nike-ad compatriot -- Tim Howard. Not to toot my own horn, but what have I been saying about goalkeeper distribution...?)
Algeria bizarrely playing for a scoreless tie?
Miss after miss after miss ... after miss.
Clint Dempsey bloodied and bruised.
Jozy Altidore running and running and running and running.
Stomachs in knots.
Blood pressure raising to the boiling point.
Tight chests and hears in throats.
Jonathan Bornstein involved in a World Cup victory -- and cleansheet -- no less.
What a day.
The day soccer, or at least the World Cup, finally arrived in the United States.
June 23, 2010.
One other quick takeaway, Michael Bradley made himself some stacks of sweet, sweet money cake today. Total class in the midfield.
Labels: 2010 world cup, Landon Donovan, Soccer, tim howard, USMNT
ummm....WOOOOOOOOO!
(thank god)
landon donovan....wow, son. the first goal against slovenia. the winner today. amazing stuff. it actually feels like we're watching the best american player ever.
while most of the year at hull was a waste, jozy did spend some time learning all the little tricks. jumping in front of a defender to earn a free-kick on the edge of the box? yep. turning every touch into a court case? yep. if he ever learns how to put the ball in the net he'll really be a handful. that said, he was excellent today.
bob bradley...i don't understand a lot of the internet grief. look, i'll never pretend to comprehend his obsession with bornstein or rico clark. but he's ditched some of "his guys" (to his credit) -- clark, onyewu -- over the last two weeks. he went for it against slovenia and again here (buddle for edu, dmb for bornstein). and its hard to argue with his career results (gold cup '07, confed cup '09, wc qualifying top of the group) outside of the collective shit sandwich that was copa '07. seems like he's made a lot of the right moves so far. tactically the usa handled the 3-5-2 of algeria miles better than england did.
michael bradley...what do the commenters on unprofessional foul have to say now, after the last game and a half? still think he doesn't deserve his place? if you're paying attention at all he's one of the first names on the team sheet for the usa.
algeria...why wouldn't you play to win in the second half? if they get a couple goals they go to the next round ahead of slovenia. bizarre. i think you play one way (defensively) for so long that when another style is needed you don't know what to do. if algeria had some sort of soccer media, they should be asking a lot of questions now.
can't wait til saturday.
I made a bit of an ass of myself in the Guardian's minute-by-minute: wrong about predicting Bornstein to be a disaster, overreacting to the assumption that poor play and being victimized by bad refereeing are mutually exclusive, and rising to anti-American bait, so let me try and redeem myself here...
Bornstein was fine today though I still don't want to see him out there against a team with more attacking intent.
Our finishing was diabolical but the number of chances created was a hopeful sign.
Altidore continues to impress.
Michael Bradley has arrived.
The national team as a whole hasn't arrived but we played a pretty poor first match-and-a-half, had a couple big calls go against us, dodged a huge bullet early today, missed a bunch of sitters, and still won the group. That's progress.
Algeria did need to win by two goals (or by one in a really high-scoring game) with England beating Slovenia by one. Maybe they were hoping England would get something late? Still need the first goal, though.
It was a tough scenario for them to advance (sort of - at least they controlled their own destiny with a two goal win), but it wasn't anything like what South Africa needed. No reason at all for them to play for a literal yet "moral" 1-0 victory, and especially no reason to draw. Odd (and frustrating) negative play from the Algerians.
When Donovan scored that goal my kid started balling because mommy and daddy were screaming so loud. This is the best soccer day ever.
Any given Wednesday, indeed.
Bornstein didn't kill us today, and that is reason enough to pour out the Moet. The back four did just enough to keep us in the game (I'd offer up Dolo as your second place MVP?).
Vince -- I agree with you on questioning the Bradley hate. Does he overthink it? Possibly -- but you got to give him credit for making moves. I thought Gomez at the topic was definitely a curveball, and Herc almost paid him back with two good looks.
Either way this was going to be Bob's last stand. USA loses, and he gets fired. USA wins and gets through, he'll probably get a look from some Euro club teams -- which I imagine is where he'd rather be. I can't imagine being a national team coach is more of an honor/duty than being fun -- you only get your players for maybe 2 months out of the year, and you have to deal with the whole club v. country BS, and finally you get so few opps to showcase your work, you get second-guessed to death. I had a rueful laugh seeing DMB getting subbed in at 80' -- perhaps he was gonna go down his way, indeed.
Huge huge win today. Baby Bradley showed us why he makes Wenger wet. (He's 22!). I also like him/Edu together. Thought Dempsey was courageous, albeit a bit clumsy on a few touches. Donovan was rather quiet, but showed up trumps when he needed to.
Now, the US is playing with house money. Any chance the Soccerroos pull out a miracle?
Gonna put the win over Spain a bit higher on my personal list of great games. Taking extra time to beat a weak Algerian team compared to Spain, come on people. Just because the WC gets more coverage, doesnt make the result that much bigger.
I am not big in to the whole "soccer has arrived in the US". IF they lose to Germany or whoever in the next round, the majority of bandwagon fans will go back to their regular sports after they go to their first MLS match and realize what drop of quality the game is.
Anyway, before Donovan scored, we deserved to lose. You cannot put the ball in the net against Algeria, you should not be moving on. I could not believe the added time was 4 minutes, there were not that many stoppages.
Loved the lineup outside of Bornstein. But he played well. Not having Gooch in there was huge. With the next game being on Saturday though, I wonder if he plays and Demerit sits? Probably also means Edu out and Clark in. Wonder if Holden gets a sniff on the wing and Dempsey is up top.
Was surprised to see Gomez pulled so early, felt he was playing a good game, at least getting shots off compared to Findlay. Wonder if Findlay get the start, or Gomez on Saturday?
On to the late games to see who we get.
@Michael B
...here's why this was a big turning point:
1) dramatic end
2) team lived up to hype for once.
On the flip side, if the US went out after back-to-back bad calls by the refs to wave off goals LOTS of people would be turned off and skeptical in 2014.
You're right, from a technical standpoint, beating Spain is a better win for Amreican soccer. Today, was a bigger win for soccer in America.
Kevin: my kid did the same thing...couldn't understand why Dad was running around the room screaming. Now if the US can get through the next round, I'll be watching them on July 2nd in jo-burg...Go Australia!
Completely disagree that the Algerians didn't play to advance. Once England went up 1-0, they simply needed someone else to score in that game. The entire f'ing world knew that they weren't scoring two goals against the US without some type of divine intervention. They clearly just don't have the capability at the front end. And if you needed any proof of that, the 15 seconds prior to the American goal proved it--all alone 10 yards in front of the net and you get off a weak shot. Let's not confuse poor offensive play for a defensive strategy.
Any thought that Bornstein didn't hurt the team because that team was Algeria?
@DoubleB...
See your point, to a degree, but if England won 2-0, all they had to do was lodge a 1-0 result.
At some point, be it the 75th minute they had to go for it.
Playing for a counter attack almost worked, Bocanegra saved the day at the last minute.
But this is the world cup. You have to score to advance. Not my problem though. Algeria put up the goose egg and adios.
@ Card and D-B,
I'm with DoubleB on this one. I don't think Algeria had it in them to do anything but defend and counter, that's just who they are as a team. I also think that the Algerians knew that and as the game went on they became more and more resigned to the fact that they weren't getting anywhere with us. That's why all the hang-dog looks and slow movement on their part. We had them beat mentally. At least we did right up to the 90th minute when they broke through the D and shanked a good scoring op.
Man those last couple minutes were an emotional roller coaster.
Oh yeah and add to the bad refereeing pile. Not only did the linesman blow it on our goal, but the ref gave the wrong Algerian a yellow card. Their Captain shouldn't have been booted, the ref just couldn't tell them apart.
@MB
Are you lawst?
The Confederations Cup = Coaches vs. Cancer Classic
World Cup = NCAA Final Four
This was by far the best moment in American soccer history. As of now, Donovan is the best American to ever play "the sport."
Also, how grueling must a Bob Bradley training session be? Our squad has Lance-Armstrong-doped-on-Kenyan-blood stamina.
And, really, that's the only reason we were able to play 90+ minutes of end-to-end soccer. The Algerians were tasting their own bile by the 70th minute.
What's been forgotten in the advancement hubbub is the benefit of actually winning the group. The team, should they advance, draws S.Korea-Uruguay, as opposed to Argentina (which could have been ugly with our defense). A run to the semifinals seems somewhat realistic at this moment.
@Mike:
But the USMNT had to score as well. Knowing that they were going all out to score AND had the ability to do so, playing for the counter off those opportunities seems like the right strategy to me. They did move forward in stoppage time and lost the game because of it.
My main point was that I never felt Algeria was playing for a draw watching the game. They created some chances, they hit the post, they had 6 corners, and they had about equal possession. They just flat out blow offensively.
I wouldn't have pegged Slovenia to go up 2-0 on the US either. I don't think it's out of the question for any team in the World Cup Finals to score a couple against us with the general shakiness of the back line. Throw in that the hypothetical first goal for Algeria could have changed everything for them.
Also, any 1 goal win for England would have still forced Algeria to win by 2 or make up the goals scored difference. So if England goes up 2-0 and gives up a cheap one at the last gasp, Algeria's strategy is inadequate.
I can see trying to counter and play defensively at the start, hoping the US is hyperagressive, but at some point, you have to try to advance on your own merit. Counting on a mercurial England or an overachieving Slovenia to get you most of the way there just isn't a solid option (as proven when England produced just about the worst result possible for Algeria).
The eventual ramifications of winning this group IF this teams goes quarters/semis/final (!!!!!) will be huge. We created a nice path for us ahead, especially with a chance to play Ghana/Australia next. Really don't want to face another European squad until we have to.
Like it has been said before, Michael Bradley has made an incredible of money this tournament. Brits and soccerites alike I have talked to all rave about his performances. He seems possessed.
Funny game.
Michael Bradley really has taken the mantle of the best box to box midfielder the U.S. has ever had.
Bornstein played the best game I have ever seen him play. Perhaps caused by the Algerians inability to discern his lack of positioning. Yet he stayed back mostly.
Donovan. Best U.S. player ever
Dempsey, quixotic
Demerit: I want him on my team
Altidore: Best game by him, aside from that finish, let this not be a meme in his career
Overall, instead of hanging myself watching a Herzog movie I live
Even after such a spectacular win, I reserve the right to be bitter about the blown calls. And if this is how soccer is supposed to be played, and referee errors "add to the drama", according to FIFA, then I'm much less enthusiastic about the sport than I've ever been in my 30+ years as a fan.
Would have loved to have heard Clinton's comments after the bad call . . .
Great game for Edu, proving once again that I am idiot for doubting him. But I thought the midfield play suffered when he came out.
Bornstein still stinks. Even a bad sponge soaks up a little water. And ALG are a very small amount of water, when it comes to offense.
Donovan, Bradley, wow. Jozy, you are young, dont worry, we'll hire some old timers to teach you how to finish. Dempsey, you've never been a favorite, but today I was impressed.
Whew. On to Ghana.
wondering how much chris jones, esquire writer on the dime, got paid for his piece at espn today. really shameful for decent writers like yourself
Its my opinion, what can I say. Just because the US wasn't watching last year in SA, doesnt mean the victory over Spain is less in my mind over a last ditch goal in the WC to Algeria.
Its a great win, but one that should have not been in doubt so late if our best players could slot home more then enough chances.
Dramatic, yes. Turning point, talk to me 8 years when we see what type of team US sends to where ever the cup will be after Brazil, when we have a whole new roster of players, outside of Jozy.
I think the big question is, how do we turn this around for Ghana? How much do Dempsey, Donovan, Jozy, Cherundo have left in their legs? Who are the Top 5 guys for PKs? Do you maybe look to slot Holden or DMB in, and maybe start Dempsey up top, or bring him in a sub? Even though Edu has been great in the center, do we go back to a more rested Clark? Gooch is back in, but for who?
That debate is way more exciting to me then will this turn up US soccer a notch.
Michael - the only reason I can think of to disagree with you is that the US wasn't expected to beat Spain, just like we weren't expected to beat England 60 years ago, nor Portugal 8 years ago. We have it in us to play well when no one expects use to do squat; however, this time we were expected to advance and even though we didn't play lights out and finish every chance that we should've, we still found a way to win and advance.
You're right the execution of the game plan against Spain was technically better, but this victory was more important from the perspective of the sport in this country.