Silver linings?
Justifications?
Frustrations?
Deja vus?
There were so many sides of the picture swirling around in the wake of Ghana knocking the U.S. out of the 2010 World Cup Saturday in Rustenburg, 2-1 a.e.t., in the Round of 16 to I certainly needed some time to let everything soak in and try to grasp what exactly just happened.
I tried to take my mind off of things with a couple episodes from the first season of "The Sopranos."(*) There was no need to take solace in the endless string of recaps trying to make sense of it all. Nor would knee jerk reactions on Twitter lead to anything other than piling onto the frustration and despair. No need to read columnists debating the pointless argument of soccer's status in America.
(*) If anyone knows modern day Strum und Drang it might be David Chase.
The question my mind kept coming back to was ... why?
Why would Bob Bradley open himself up to such second guessing by starting Ricardo Clark? It was like Bradley was a contestant on "Jeopardy" catching fire, going through the categories with ease and then whiffing on the bet for Final Jeopardy.
It's not so much that Bradley went back to one of "Bob's Guys" in Clark. What kills me is Bradley had already made the most difficult decision of the 2010 Cup in the Algeria match, sitting down Oguchi Onyewu and rolling the dice with Internet whipping boy Jonathan Bornstein.
Clark had already drawn heat for allowing Steven Gerrard to run by him in the Group C opener vs. England two weeks prior. Bradley had turned to Jose Torres and then Maurice Edu.
Why would he go back?
And this isn't to say Clark's giveaway at midfield, which led to Kevin-Prince Boateng's fifth minute goal was the sole reason the U.S. lost.(**) Who's to say Edu or whomever wouldn't have fallen victim to a similar mistake? Sports aren't played by robots ... yet.
(**) The soccer gods have a sick sense of humor. A U.S. midfielder disposed in the World Cup paving the way for a Ghana goal. It didn't end there, as Clark, like Claudio Reyna four years earlier, left before the end of the first half. Simply cruel. If the U.S. ever meets Ghana in the World Cup again I'm moving to Antarctica.
The fact the mistake happened to Clark -- twice -- in the same Cup, each time within five minutes of the opening simply doesn't look good. There's really no way to defend the decision.
Where the problem lies, is now there is a direct line of questioning for people to cast a leery eye at Bradley or the rest of U.S. soccer the next four years.
Why?
It's going to cast a pall over the previous two weeks of goodwill.
The shame of it was that Bradley had built up a fairly bulletproof Cup resume up until that moment -- pulling Clark off to avoid the ex-Dynamo midfielder from getting a second yellow card in the first half -- only compounded matters. Why would he expose himself to a classic second guess?
Don't forget, Bradley had never won over the hearts and minds of U.S. fans, who went as far as to create a fake Twitter name in his honor, making fun of his sideline attire. (Coach Sweats.) During the Cup even the most ardent Bradley-bashers had run low on material.
Now, it's simple to look at the U.S. losing to Ghana and point to Bradley's decision to start Clark over Edu, when we all know it's not that simple.
To wit, the U.S. went through it's second consecutive World Cup without a true "forward/striker" scoring a goal.
The patchwork defense, which had all our sphincters tied in collective knots ahead of the Cup, finally put the U.S. in a hole it couldn't climb out and recover from.
Most maddening, the U.S. yet again fell behind in a World Cup match -- an unexplainable conundrum almost on par with what the island from "Lost" actually was.
Just baffling. Both in the fact it kept happening and the U.S. players and coaching couldn't adequately explain why or rectify the situation.
Amazingly, my brother Pete -- no sports fan -- picked me up to go to watch the match at a friend's house. All he said was, "I just hope they don't give up another early goal."
It was almost surreal to see within about 10 minutes of actual World Cup game time, to see Landon Donovan set off an unprecedented wave of American goodwill toward the National Team with his "Go Go USA" goal in the 91st minute Wednesday vs. Algeria only to see the game against Ghana begin with Boateng's cruel dose of neck tattooed, Berlin ghetto-born, reality.
But that's U.S. soccer, I suppose.
Donovan emerged as a candidate for the All World Cup team. Clint Dempsey once again proved he's an accomplished international goal-scorer, who lays his body on the line every 90 minutes. Michael Bradley (more later) is a cornerstone for the future. Tim Howard, a hero vs. England, couldn't pull out a miracle save when the U.S. needed.
Those were the four best U.S. players and they all had World Cups to be proud about. Their heroic efforts could only carry the rest of the squad so far, regardless of how much game tape the Elder could cram into his brain.
The rest?
A mixed bag.
Most perplexing is certainly Jozy Altidore. On the one hand you want him to bury chances, take over games and be a general force of nature on the field. Then you realize he's only 20 and scored just once in the Premier League last season at Hull City. Jozy will need to keep producing, that's the long and short of it. It's unfair to start lumping him in with Eddie Johnson, but Altidore doesn't get a lifetime free pass even if he's one of the only media/Madison Avenue friendly USMNT players, which tends to give him the benefit of the doubt.
When you boil it down, a nation the size of the U.S. probably shouldn't need to pin it's World Cup hopes on a 20-year-old.
More immediately concerning is state of the U.S. defense. Captain Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo will be 35 come 2014. Jay DeMerit, 34. Even Oguchi Onyewu and Clarence Goodson will be 32.
There's not much in the pipeline, with a string of Michael Parkhurst and Marvell Wynne types, while a certain someone lines up for Serbia.
More than that, did we ever think we'd live in a world where the only U.S. defender we can appreciatively count on going forward to Brazil is Jonathan Bornstein, who'll be 29 in 2014?
Cue the Zinedine Zidane voice ... "the irony."
Take a moment if you need it.
If you need another, go right ahead. We've got four years.
And that's the biggest shame of it. We can take plenty of positives from the U.S.'s time in South Africa. When the immediacy of the loss to Ghana eases, we'll all probably have good memories, topped off by Donovan's transcendent goal vs. Algeria. (Aided, of course, by Ian Darke's pantheon call.)
At the same time, the team had as clear a path as its ever going to get in the World Cup and couldn't get the job done vs. Ghana, falling victim to the same type of mental mistakes which have plagued this team over the past decade.
Will it be a good thing the U.S. likely won over plenty of new hearts and minds these last two weeks in June? Time will tell.
So long as these newcomers file away the pain they felt around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and the empty feeling Sunday morning and remember it in four years when Brazil rolls around, it'll be a building block. It'll make whenever the U.S. finally does breakthrough feel all that much sweeter.(***)
(***) This is why I hate the Florida Marlins more than any other baseball team. They have basically no fans, no history and continually sell off their best players. Yet they've won two World Series in the past 15 years while diehard fans in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Los Angeles and elsewhere continue to struggle.
Winning the World Cup isn't easy, nor is it given to you -- unless you're Italy in 1934 with Benito Mussolini pulling the strings. Don't forget, only seven nations have won the thing with just 11 overall even making the final. You aren't "destined" to win the World Cup because of a string of inspired YouTube reaction videos to Donovan's goal.
The World Cup remains a true sports meritocracy.
Nothing is handed to you -- regardless of the ineptitude of the refs -- the cream ends up rising to the top. Penalty kicks weed it out and provide upsets, but usually the better teams make it through, even if sometimes there's nothing more than an eyelash or the bounce of the ball separating two contenders. That's why it retains it's status as the most important trophy in all of sports, too.
Where the real pain lies for the U.S. and its fans are in those long, seemingly impossible to conceive four years ahead of us, especially when the chance for the U.S. to do something special was so so close that we could taste the salt coming from Diego Forlan's tears.
What other soccer fans around the globe don't realize is that unlike the European teams, who start Euro 2012 qualification next year or the South Americans who get the Copa America or even the Africans who have the biannual Cup of Nations, the U.S. has to wait a long time for some meaningless matches, no disrespect to the Gold Cup, but we all know it's not the same. The only way for the U.S. to prove it belongs on the fringes of the elite is the World Cup. Waiting four years, then watching the tournament end in the blink of an eye is part of what sets the World Cup aside from everything else.
So yeah, the fact that in a matter of hours (from this writing) either England or Germany; or Mexico or Argentina will join the U.S. on the way out of the 2010 tournament. It's nice company to keep, but it's not like the U.S. has the track records of those nations. It doesn't mask over the fact the U.S. had a chance, but maybe ran out of gas after four grueling, high incident matches.
And if we boil it all down, the U.S. at the 2010 World Cup did a lot to establish goodwill in America. Fans all across the globe will respect it's grit, determination, heart and never say die attitude. Casual American fans leery of soccer finally have a positive memory about the World Cup and old media types can't deny nobody in the States cares about soccer.
People had fun following this "cardiac kids" type team and rooting for the one of the few American teams you can truly consider an underdog -- a team that shook off not one, but two perfectly good goals disallowed by the refs. Don't discount this, people were having fun during at their desks at noon. The American public was starting to realize why the world shuts down during the month-long World Cup.
Yet for all the gains and traction made by the USMNT off the field, the team on it still remains a few talent cycles away from being real contenders. The rah-rah attitude, while admirable, can only take you so far. The magic in the feet of Donovan can only conjure something from his bag of tricks so many times.
Thanks for the memories, it was two weeks of thrilling soccer. Yet that lingering "what if" will probably cloud over everything the U.S. achieved. It felt like the team could have done so much more if it didn't consistently shoot itself in the foot with the same mistakes.
The U.S. didn't embarrass itself like in 2006 or 1998, but with the 2010 World Cup marked by the early exits of power soccer nations, this feels like an unfinished novel with the Third Act lost somewhere across the sea.
A minute on Ghana:
Maybe I didn't put too much stock into it, but Ghana certainly played with the pep in its step of a team which had the hopes of an entire continent on its back. That's not the only reason the Black Stars won, but it couldn't hurt.
Obviously any team that scores in the first five minutes is going to look good, but Ghana had a good game plan that utilized its team speed and defensive organization.
Don't discount the fact, either, that Ghana had a run to the African Cup of Nations final less than six months ago, with essentially this entire squad intact. The mere fact this team had that much more cohesion, practice time, etc. than most other World Cup teams certainly showed Saturday.
And Ghana got some good fortune, too. The Black Stars lost Michael Essien, but gained Boateng who played admirably as a soup-kitchen version of the Chelsea star. It's unusual, right, that a European team -- in this case Germany -- loses a would-be player to an African country.
It's crushing, too, that Asamoah Gyan runs down a long ball from the back and hits a picture perfect volley through the defense of Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit. It was something Altidore and Findley, et al couldn't do all tournament.
Ghana was a good side. The assumption the U.S. could step on the field and cruise by them is silly. Yeah, Ghana wasn't Germany, Brazil, Argentina, etc. but the Black Stars were good, organized and had a sting in the tail with Gyan.
And for anyone to assume the U.S. would stroll through Ghana then brush aside a gritty Uruguay team hasn't watched enough international soccer, frankly. Winnable games, yes, but no automatic locks.
The worst part about losing to Ghana -- again -- is that the Black Stars couldn't handle Egypt in the 2010 African Cup of Nations final, yet the U.S. handled Egypt at the 2009 Confederations Cup.
No more diapers:
The nickname Baby Bradley is officially retired.
Michael Bradley had a World Cup to remember, but let's collectively hope its the start of two or three more standout showings on the world's stage.
Going forward, Bradley needs to be the fulcrum of this team. As my friend Mike put it, he could be our Michael Ballack, albeit much less East German ... and less hateable.
In four years time -- I'll assume the U.S. navigates CONCACAF qualification -- whomever is the coach of the U.S. has to build around Bradley. Donovan and Dempsey will be four years old. Alitdore has proven to be an enigma.
Bradley looks like the real deal. A midfield engine, who says Roy Keane is his inspiration.
Bradley is much more than Keane, a classic midfield hardman. Bradley is at his best darting forward, adding to the attack. A tireless midfield beast, with an improving first touch. We need to start thinking of him in more of an attack mode, or box-to-box than a straight holding role. Why waste his energy and legs breaking up attacks, when he's just as apt finishing them off?
What's best about Bradley is he's done it the right way. Started in MLS, moved to Holland, scooped up by a mid-tier Bundesliga team and poised for a move to a glamor European league. He's a proven commodity and won't sit the bench after someone (Arsene Wenger) snaps him up after the Cup.
Like Obi Wan Kenobi, Bradley going forward, is our collective best hope.
This and That:
* It's easy to kill MLS in wake of the unproducitvity of Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle and especially Robbie Findley. Remember, the U.S. lineup to start Saturday had nine of the 11 players with MLS experience. Only Cherundolo and DeMerit hadn't played in MLS. Substitute Bennie Feilhaber also hasn't played in the league.
* It's minimal solace, but the U.S. did finish ahead of England in Group C.
* No disrespect because they're a good side, but if South Korea had beaten Uruguay earlier Saturday, this loss hurts even more. The U.S. would have been a clear favorite to make the semifinals paired with Ji Sung Park and the boys. South Korea is much more beateable on paper, at least, than Uruguay.
* Cue the Zidane voice again ... the irony that the U.S.'s lost its one normal advantage -- goalkeeping. Tim Howard couldn't dig down and make another set of heroic saves, blocking away either Boateng or Gyan's efforts. Meanwhile Richard Kingson was absolutely immense for Ghana.
* Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger watched this game. 'Nuff said.
* Don't really have anything to say if Bradley the Elder should be retained as coach. Both arguments have plenty of fuel right now. One thought on Jurgen Klinsmann, though. His whole talk during the World Cup on ESPN is "mentality." Perhaps now, after a bitter exit there are enough players in the U.S. camp who will be driven the next four years to rectify Saturday's heartbreak. Perhaps Klinsmann is the man to channel those thoughts into a world class team.
* Okay, one thought on Bradley. Despite his cool, stoic veneer, he did the best with what he had. Is it indictment on Bradley that his pool of forwards was Gomez, Buddle, Findley, Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson?
Is it Bradley's fault the team kept leaking early goals? I don't know, and neither does he.
* One thing the U.S. truly needs, at a youth level especially, is developing players who know how to play center back from a positional, mental standpoint. Far too often at the youth level coaches probably stick the tallest kid in the back of defense, or play a sweeper/stopper combination. Remember, Fabio Cannavaro was 5-foot-9 when he was the World Cup's most outstanding player in 2006. Elite, cultured defenders make building the rest of the squad so much easier.
Closing thought:
The way in which the U.S. went out to Ghana is supremely disconcerting.
In the long run, this tournament did make it possible, though, that come 2014 you wouldn't be laughed out of a bar anywhere on the globe suggesting the U.S. as a darkhorse Cup contender.
Then again, a lot can happen in four years.
Who would have thought four years ago when we were breaking down, gnashing our teeth and despairing over a loss to Ghana in Germany that Charlie Davies would have emerged as a viable standout striker. On top of that, who would even imagined perhaps the American's biggest cause for optimism in 2010 would see his World Cup end before it started with a horrific, life-threatening car crash.
With the World Cup, you just don't know. Four years is a long time.
And all I know as I write this Sunday morning I'm feeling empty -- it's hard to here the ESPN African intro music and not feel a little dead inside. Maybe that's a good thing in the long run, but it won't make it so the U.S. plays Uruguay on Friday. A few more days on this magic carpet ride would have been nice.
There's nothing for the U.S. to be ashamed about for its 2010 performance, yet we'll be wondering the next four years if they left something -- perhaps historic -- on the table.
* * *
More on the World Cup and where America goes from here in the coming days. There's plenty to still chew on.
Justifications?
Frustrations?
Deja vus?
There were so many sides of the picture swirling around in the wake of Ghana knocking the U.S. out of the 2010 World Cup Saturday in Rustenburg, 2-1 a.e.t., in the Round of 16 to I certainly needed some time to let everything soak in and try to grasp what exactly just happened.
I tried to take my mind off of things with a couple episodes from the first season of "The Sopranos."(*) There was no need to take solace in the endless string of recaps trying to make sense of it all. Nor would knee jerk reactions on Twitter lead to anything other than piling onto the frustration and despair. No need to read columnists debating the pointless argument of soccer's status in America.
(*) If anyone knows modern day Strum und Drang it might be David Chase.
The question my mind kept coming back to was ... why?
Why would Bob Bradley open himself up to such second guessing by starting Ricardo Clark? It was like Bradley was a contestant on "Jeopardy" catching fire, going through the categories with ease and then whiffing on the bet for Final Jeopardy.
It's not so much that Bradley went back to one of "Bob's Guys" in Clark. What kills me is Bradley had already made the most difficult decision of the 2010 Cup in the Algeria match, sitting down Oguchi Onyewu and rolling the dice with Internet whipping boy Jonathan Bornstein.
Clark had already drawn heat for allowing Steven Gerrard to run by him in the Group C opener vs. England two weeks prior. Bradley had turned to Jose Torres and then Maurice Edu.
Why would he go back?
And this isn't to say Clark's giveaway at midfield, which led to Kevin-Prince Boateng's fifth minute goal was the sole reason the U.S. lost.(**) Who's to say Edu or whomever wouldn't have fallen victim to a similar mistake? Sports aren't played by robots ... yet.
(**) The soccer gods have a sick sense of humor. A U.S. midfielder disposed in the World Cup paving the way for a Ghana goal. It didn't end there, as Clark, like Claudio Reyna four years earlier, left before the end of the first half. Simply cruel. If the U.S. ever meets Ghana in the World Cup again I'm moving to Antarctica.
The fact the mistake happened to Clark -- twice -- in the same Cup, each time within five minutes of the opening simply doesn't look good. There's really no way to defend the decision.
Where the problem lies, is now there is a direct line of questioning for people to cast a leery eye at Bradley or the rest of U.S. soccer the next four years.
Why?
It's going to cast a pall over the previous two weeks of goodwill.
The shame of it was that Bradley had built up a fairly bulletproof Cup resume up until that moment -- pulling Clark off to avoid the ex-Dynamo midfielder from getting a second yellow card in the first half -- only compounded matters. Why would he expose himself to a classic second guess?
Don't forget, Bradley had never won over the hearts and minds of U.S. fans, who went as far as to create a fake Twitter name in his honor, making fun of his sideline attire. (Coach Sweats.) During the Cup even the most ardent Bradley-bashers had run low on material.
Now, it's simple to look at the U.S. losing to Ghana and point to Bradley's decision to start Clark over Edu, when we all know it's not that simple.
To wit, the U.S. went through it's second consecutive World Cup without a true "forward/striker" scoring a goal.
The patchwork defense, which had all our sphincters tied in collective knots ahead of the Cup, finally put the U.S. in a hole it couldn't climb out and recover from.
Most maddening, the U.S. yet again fell behind in a World Cup match -- an unexplainable conundrum almost on par with what the island from "Lost" actually was.
Just baffling. Both in the fact it kept happening and the U.S. players and coaching couldn't adequately explain why or rectify the situation.
Amazingly, my brother Pete -- no sports fan -- picked me up to go to watch the match at a friend's house. All he said was, "I just hope they don't give up another early goal."
It was almost surreal to see within about 10 minutes of actual World Cup game time, to see Landon Donovan set off an unprecedented wave of American goodwill toward the National Team with his "Go Go USA" goal in the 91st minute Wednesday vs. Algeria only to see the game against Ghana begin with Boateng's cruel dose of neck tattooed, Berlin ghetto-born, reality.
But that's U.S. soccer, I suppose.
Donovan emerged as a candidate for the All World Cup team. Clint Dempsey once again proved he's an accomplished international goal-scorer, who lays his body on the line every 90 minutes. Michael Bradley (more later) is a cornerstone for the future. Tim Howard, a hero vs. England, couldn't pull out a miracle save when the U.S. needed.
Those were the four best U.S. players and they all had World Cups to be proud about. Their heroic efforts could only carry the rest of the squad so far, regardless of how much game tape the Elder could cram into his brain.
The rest?
A mixed bag.
Most perplexing is certainly Jozy Altidore. On the one hand you want him to bury chances, take over games and be a general force of nature on the field. Then you realize he's only 20 and scored just once in the Premier League last season at Hull City. Jozy will need to keep producing, that's the long and short of it. It's unfair to start lumping him in with Eddie Johnson, but Altidore doesn't get a lifetime free pass even if he's one of the only media/Madison Avenue friendly USMNT players, which tends to give him the benefit of the doubt.
When you boil it down, a nation the size of the U.S. probably shouldn't need to pin it's World Cup hopes on a 20-year-old.
More immediately concerning is state of the U.S. defense. Captain Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo will be 35 come 2014. Jay DeMerit, 34. Even Oguchi Onyewu and Clarence Goodson will be 32.
There's not much in the pipeline, with a string of Michael Parkhurst and Marvell Wynne types, while a certain someone lines up for Serbia.
More than that, did we ever think we'd live in a world where the only U.S. defender we can appreciatively count on going forward to Brazil is Jonathan Bornstein, who'll be 29 in 2014?
Cue the Zinedine Zidane voice ... "the irony."
Take a moment if you need it.
If you need another, go right ahead. We've got four years.
And that's the biggest shame of it. We can take plenty of positives from the U.S.'s time in South Africa. When the immediacy of the loss to Ghana eases, we'll all probably have good memories, topped off by Donovan's transcendent goal vs. Algeria. (Aided, of course, by Ian Darke's pantheon call.)
At the same time, the team had as clear a path as its ever going to get in the World Cup and couldn't get the job done vs. Ghana, falling victim to the same type of mental mistakes which have plagued this team over the past decade.
Will it be a good thing the U.S. likely won over plenty of new hearts and minds these last two weeks in June? Time will tell.
So long as these newcomers file away the pain they felt around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and the empty feeling Sunday morning and remember it in four years when Brazil rolls around, it'll be a building block. It'll make whenever the U.S. finally does breakthrough feel all that much sweeter.(***)
(***) This is why I hate the Florida Marlins more than any other baseball team. They have basically no fans, no history and continually sell off their best players. Yet they've won two World Series in the past 15 years while diehard fans in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Los Angeles and elsewhere continue to struggle.
Winning the World Cup isn't easy, nor is it given to you -- unless you're Italy in 1934 with Benito Mussolini pulling the strings. Don't forget, only seven nations have won the thing with just 11 overall even making the final. You aren't "destined" to win the World Cup because of a string of inspired YouTube reaction videos to Donovan's goal.
The World Cup remains a true sports meritocracy.
Nothing is handed to you -- regardless of the ineptitude of the refs -- the cream ends up rising to the top. Penalty kicks weed it out and provide upsets, but usually the better teams make it through, even if sometimes there's nothing more than an eyelash or the bounce of the ball separating two contenders. That's why it retains it's status as the most important trophy in all of sports, too.
Where the real pain lies for the U.S. and its fans are in those long, seemingly impossible to conceive four years ahead of us, especially when the chance for the U.S. to do something special was so so close that we could taste the salt coming from Diego Forlan's tears.
What other soccer fans around the globe don't realize is that unlike the European teams, who start Euro 2012 qualification next year or the South Americans who get the Copa America or even the Africans who have the biannual Cup of Nations, the U.S. has to wait a long time for some meaningless matches, no disrespect to the Gold Cup, but we all know it's not the same. The only way for the U.S. to prove it belongs on the fringes of the elite is the World Cup. Waiting four years, then watching the tournament end in the blink of an eye is part of what sets the World Cup aside from everything else.
So yeah, the fact that in a matter of hours (from this writing) either England or Germany; or Mexico or Argentina will join the U.S. on the way out of the 2010 tournament. It's nice company to keep, but it's not like the U.S. has the track records of those nations. It doesn't mask over the fact the U.S. had a chance, but maybe ran out of gas after four grueling, high incident matches.
And if we boil it all down, the U.S. at the 2010 World Cup did a lot to establish goodwill in America. Fans all across the globe will respect it's grit, determination, heart and never say die attitude. Casual American fans leery of soccer finally have a positive memory about the World Cup and old media types can't deny nobody in the States cares about soccer.
People had fun following this "cardiac kids" type team and rooting for the one of the few American teams you can truly consider an underdog -- a team that shook off not one, but two perfectly good goals disallowed by the refs. Don't discount this, people were having fun during at their desks at noon. The American public was starting to realize why the world shuts down during the month-long World Cup.
Yet for all the gains and traction made by the USMNT off the field, the team on it still remains a few talent cycles away from being real contenders. The rah-rah attitude, while admirable, can only take you so far. The magic in the feet of Donovan can only conjure something from his bag of tricks so many times.
Thanks for the memories, it was two weeks of thrilling soccer. Yet that lingering "what if" will probably cloud over everything the U.S. achieved. It felt like the team could have done so much more if it didn't consistently shoot itself in the foot with the same mistakes.
The U.S. didn't embarrass itself like in 2006 or 1998, but with the 2010 World Cup marked by the early exits of power soccer nations, this feels like an unfinished novel with the Third Act lost somewhere across the sea.
A minute on Ghana:
Maybe I didn't put too much stock into it, but Ghana certainly played with the pep in its step of a team which had the hopes of an entire continent on its back. That's not the only reason the Black Stars won, but it couldn't hurt.
Obviously any team that scores in the first five minutes is going to look good, but Ghana had a good game plan that utilized its team speed and defensive organization.
Don't discount the fact, either, that Ghana had a run to the African Cup of Nations final less than six months ago, with essentially this entire squad intact. The mere fact this team had that much more cohesion, practice time, etc. than most other World Cup teams certainly showed Saturday.
And Ghana got some good fortune, too. The Black Stars lost Michael Essien, but gained Boateng who played admirably as a soup-kitchen version of the Chelsea star. It's unusual, right, that a European team -- in this case Germany -- loses a would-be player to an African country.
It's crushing, too, that Asamoah Gyan runs down a long ball from the back and hits a picture perfect volley through the defense of Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit. It was something Altidore and Findley, et al couldn't do all tournament.
Ghana was a good side. The assumption the U.S. could step on the field and cruise by them is silly. Yeah, Ghana wasn't Germany, Brazil, Argentina, etc. but the Black Stars were good, organized and had a sting in the tail with Gyan.
And for anyone to assume the U.S. would stroll through Ghana then brush aside a gritty Uruguay team hasn't watched enough international soccer, frankly. Winnable games, yes, but no automatic locks.
The worst part about losing to Ghana -- again -- is that the Black Stars couldn't handle Egypt in the 2010 African Cup of Nations final, yet the U.S. handled Egypt at the 2009 Confederations Cup.
No more diapers:
The nickname Baby Bradley is officially retired.
Michael Bradley had a World Cup to remember, but let's collectively hope its the start of two or three more standout showings on the world's stage.
Going forward, Bradley needs to be the fulcrum of this team. As my friend Mike put it, he could be our Michael Ballack, albeit much less East German ... and less hateable.
In four years time -- I'll assume the U.S. navigates CONCACAF qualification -- whomever is the coach of the U.S. has to build around Bradley. Donovan and Dempsey will be four years old. Alitdore has proven to be an enigma.
Bradley looks like the real deal. A midfield engine, who says Roy Keane is his inspiration.
Bradley is much more than Keane, a classic midfield hardman. Bradley is at his best darting forward, adding to the attack. A tireless midfield beast, with an improving first touch. We need to start thinking of him in more of an attack mode, or box-to-box than a straight holding role. Why waste his energy and legs breaking up attacks, when he's just as apt finishing them off?
What's best about Bradley is he's done it the right way. Started in MLS, moved to Holland, scooped up by a mid-tier Bundesliga team and poised for a move to a glamor European league. He's a proven commodity and won't sit the bench after someone (Arsene Wenger) snaps him up after the Cup.
Like Obi Wan Kenobi, Bradley going forward, is our collective best hope.
This and That:
* It's easy to kill MLS in wake of the unproducitvity of Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle and especially Robbie Findley. Remember, the U.S. lineup to start Saturday had nine of the 11 players with MLS experience. Only Cherundolo and DeMerit hadn't played in MLS. Substitute Bennie Feilhaber also hasn't played in the league.
* It's minimal solace, but the U.S. did finish ahead of England in Group C.
* No disrespect because they're a good side, but if South Korea had beaten Uruguay earlier Saturday, this loss hurts even more. The U.S. would have been a clear favorite to make the semifinals paired with Ji Sung Park and the boys. South Korea is much more beateable on paper, at least, than Uruguay.
* Cue the Zidane voice again ... the irony that the U.S.'s lost its one normal advantage -- goalkeeping. Tim Howard couldn't dig down and make another set of heroic saves, blocking away either Boateng or Gyan's efforts. Meanwhile Richard Kingson was absolutely immense for Ghana.
* Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger watched this game. 'Nuff said.
* Don't really have anything to say if Bradley the Elder should be retained as coach. Both arguments have plenty of fuel right now. One thought on Jurgen Klinsmann, though. His whole talk during the World Cup on ESPN is "mentality." Perhaps now, after a bitter exit there are enough players in the U.S. camp who will be driven the next four years to rectify Saturday's heartbreak. Perhaps Klinsmann is the man to channel those thoughts into a world class team.
* Okay, one thought on Bradley. Despite his cool, stoic veneer, he did the best with what he had. Is it indictment on Bradley that his pool of forwards was Gomez, Buddle, Findley, Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson?
Is it Bradley's fault the team kept leaking early goals? I don't know, and neither does he.
* One thing the U.S. truly needs, at a youth level especially, is developing players who know how to play center back from a positional, mental standpoint. Far too often at the youth level coaches probably stick the tallest kid in the back of defense, or play a sweeper/stopper combination. Remember, Fabio Cannavaro was 5-foot-9 when he was the World Cup's most outstanding player in 2006. Elite, cultured defenders make building the rest of the squad so much easier.
Closing thought:
The way in which the U.S. went out to Ghana is supremely disconcerting.
In the long run, this tournament did make it possible, though, that come 2014 you wouldn't be laughed out of a bar anywhere on the globe suggesting the U.S. as a darkhorse Cup contender.
Then again, a lot can happen in four years.
Who would have thought four years ago when we were breaking down, gnashing our teeth and despairing over a loss to Ghana in Germany that Charlie Davies would have emerged as a viable standout striker. On top of that, who would even imagined perhaps the American's biggest cause for optimism in 2010 would see his World Cup end before it started with a horrific, life-threatening car crash.
With the World Cup, you just don't know. Four years is a long time.
And all I know as I write this Sunday morning I'm feeling empty -- it's hard to here the ESPN African intro music and not feel a little dead inside. Maybe that's a good thing in the long run, but it won't make it so the U.S. plays Uruguay on Friday. A few more days on this magic carpet ride would have been nice.
There's nothing for the U.S. to be ashamed about for its 2010 performance, yet we'll be wondering the next four years if they left something -- perhaps historic -- on the table.
More on the World Cup and where America goes from here in the coming days. There's plenty to still chew on.
Labels: 2010 world cup, bob bradley, ghana, jonathan bornstein, kevin-prince boateng, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Soccer, tim howard, USMNT
I'm really not that crushed. I would have been if we had failed to get out of the group stage, but I didn't really entertain fantasies of us making the semis. Whatever the stupid FIFA rankings say, Ghana are really good, as we should know by now. Uruguay are even better. The Ghana game was a coinflip with maybe a slight edge to Ghana for being on home soil more or less, and I don't think we beat Uruguay more than 1 in 3 games on current form. We had a chance, but I don't think it was a golden one.
In the end, these guys are who we thought they are. A top 20 team, but towards the bottom end of that class. Mentally tough, and with real skill at some positions, but uneven and ultimately flawed.
I don't know how much to blame or praise Bradley. He got about what you'd expect out of the talent given to him. He made some mistakes and also some great recoveries from those mistakes. I can quibble on this or that call by him, but ultimately that's not what decided our fate. The one thing I still can't understand is Rico Clark, but it is what it is. We still had a very shaky defense and strikers who couldn't score, and there wasn't much to be done about that in the end.
I'm just happy we got things back on track, and can leave this World Cup with some good memories and with our heads held high. It's something to build on for the future, but the future is still pretty far away if that means being in the class of the real contenders. The future for soccer in America, however, is looking pretty damned bright as far as I can see.
A few thoughts:
Early game mental lapses are a mentality/preparation issue. Does it merit a coaching change? I dont know.
Poor personnel decisions are easy to second guess, but Clark was hard to defend at the time and is harder to defend now.
I'm not worried about 2014 yet. Who knows what players will develop in the next few years? Now I'm not the superfan that some of y'all are, but Charlie Davies wasn't on my radar 4 years ago. Neither was Jozy (though I'd heard of him, I didnt know he'd end up in the EPL or starting for the USMNT).
Nothing changes for me: I'll still support Americans abroad and at home. I'll still watch games, and wear my jerseys at work every day during the summer (nothing better for hot weather). I'll still talk soccer with my friends and family.
One last thing: FIFA needs to recognize that bad refereeing decisions are a real problem. Just ask England. In the US, I think the worst aspect is that it turns off casual/new fans (I'm watching it happen amongst my friends). Turned-off fans cost soccer money, because they dont spend money. Fix the problem. We have the technology.
I think this is a bit of an end of an era, the Donovan era. Going forward, this is now Bradley's team, and possibly Altidore if he can turn himself into a top striker.
While I can see both Donovan and Dempsey in Brazil, its probably as older subs, who are there to teach whoever the young guys are Frankie H. if you will.
Bradley said he started Clark for the same reason that I would have sat Dempsey or Donovan to start, fresh legs. Its to bad that Clark is just not up to this level. I wont knock him there, because I would have done the same, just maybe at different positions.
Not sure what this team accomplished outside of getting some buzz in the states. They won the group, but led in all 3 games for a total of maybe 3 minutes. That has probably never been done before and never will. They could have been out before the game against Algeria if not for Green's gaff.
We all had get past group stage, which they did, so I guess they did the bare minimum. But maybe they accomplished more because of the lack of forwards and dmen.
In the end, they did get beat on a nice goal, credit to Ghana there.
I dont see Bradley coming back. Another 4 years is a bit much. Even Gulati said in an interview with Wahl that Arena for 8 was a bit much and a new approach is probably needed. I hope for Nichol of the Revs, I think he could push them a bit more, and he knows how to run a team with a dominant destroyer in the middle.
When the next gold cup? Next year or in 2?
What makes this loss so tough was that the lineup choices were avoidable. If we had gone out there with our proven best lineup of Altidore up front and a midfield of Dempsey (or as a deep lying striker), Donovan, Feilhaber, Bradley and Edu and Ghana were too good for us then you admit they were better. When the coach makes another boneheaded decision and then burns two subs by the start of the second half it hurts much more. The coach is supposed to put the team in the best position to win and Bradley repeatedly did not do that in the first half of games in this World Cup.
Michael, Donovan and Dempsey will only be 32 and 31 respectively not exactly done as players for the next go round. Unless they both suffer injuries as they age there is no reason to think they won't be key parts of the starting lineup. I like your idea of Steve Nicol from the Revs as the coach with the European experience and American knowledge.
Dr. JwB, you've got it right when it comes to 4 years from now. Players develop at different speeds and all of a sudden a guy comes out of nowhere to be a key player. Not everyone young player develops like Donovan did (see Adu).
Cardillo, I hope when you say that Bradley is much more than Keane that you just mean he is more versatile.
I think that MLS deserves credit for its ability to develop players. Most of this team is made up of former MLS players who went off to Europe to continue their develop. My issue with MLS is that the leadership won't acknowledge they are a feeder league and that players need to leave to continue to develop. Just look at Gomez who developed more in a season in Mexico than he did in MLS or Donovan at Everton. Could they improve with their development of players? Obviously, but I think the problem with development is at a younger age than MLS.
I'm still feeling a bit hollow. Was this a flawed team? Hell yes. But I think they had a USOC Hockey 1980 type run in them where they would just feed off of their confidence.
Agreed with the comments above, plus this:
How big of a deal was 3 days rest? In hindsight, I think it was a very big deal from the physical and mental standpoint. The media jammed 7 days of hype in 3 days, and that had to be a factor. If anything, Bradley doesn't have the "Fresh Legs" excuse and rolls with Edu instead of Clark.
The DAD was a mixed bag. Donovan scored goals. Dempsey was unlucky, but worked his tail off. Altidore muffed his few chances, but showed signs of being a good target striker. (Well, except for the scoring goals part.) I'd love to see that trifecta work together in two years (Is there a Copa Libertadores or something we can get into to see that?).
As I said earlier, I just don't see Bradley sticking around. I think it'll be mutual -- I'm sure Bradley will get club offers, as in Europe I imagine he's being viewed quite positively; plus Suge Galati doesn't seem long for the 8 year term.
Caught the post-Eng/Ger convo with Macca, Lalas and Klinsi. As a die-hard Bulls fan, it was hard not to see the analogy of: Doug Collins: Bob Bradley; Phil Jackson: Jurgen Klinsmann. After much reflection, I'm finding that our bad habit of giving up early goals is due less to tactics and more to mentality -- which Klinsi seems to have a grasp on. Plus if any coach understands being second guessed, it would have to JK silencing the critics on the way to taking Mannschaft to the semis.
Right now, my semi-final take on the Bob Bradley era. He was a step up from the Arena regime. He made a decent chicken salad out of the US talent pool.
Only FIFA can make the BCS look like a paragon of excellence. IMHO it can do two easy things: Goal-line cameras, and video review of cards after games to deter simulation. The fact that it doesn't suggests that they're crooked and inept.
To comment on the "fresh legs" excuse, that is just BS from Coach Sweats. Ghana played their final group match on the same day as the US and it was a later kick off. The Ghanaian central midfield was the same in both games (Annan, Asamoah and Boateng). Unless Edu completely lacks fitness (which seems doubtful since he came on 30 minutes in and was fine for 90) then Bradley is just making up an excuse for a poor tactical adjustment. There were also more US players that could have used a rest ahead of a player who hadn't even played that many minutes.
The big question to me is "Is the USMNT any better now than it was at the end of the 2002 World Cup campaign?" The answer, at least to me, is unequivocally no. While the end of that 2002 run left us all legitimately upbeat about the possibilities of soccer in America, these seem like the same arguments rehashed 8 years later. Even if you allow for the fact 2002 was an aberration, I don't think 1 victory in the next 7 World Cup games would have been satisfactory at the time, and frankly it probably shouldn't be now. In fact it's a microcosm of the state of US soccer. Draws versus power teams Italy and England (yes I know that's a stretch right now) as well as Slovenia. Losses to Ghana twice and the Czechs. A stoppage time winner versus Algeria. The USMNT can hang with just about anybody at our best. They can also lose to just about anyone when not at our best.
Mike discussed this in his post, but it can't be stated enough. Our defense blows. We've played 22 World Cup games since 1990. We've shut out exactly 2 teams--Mexico in 2002 (a team we know as well as anyone) and Algeria on Wednesday. I went back and looked at South Korea's results over that time frame and they've shut out 5 teams over the exact same amount of games (22) and nobody is ever going to mistake them for the Azzurri. When you add to the fact that we've had quality goaltending in that time frame, it further highlights the problems in the backline.
On the bright side, I personally think the offense is better than its ever been. I had some serious concerns that the team would score against World Cup caliber defenses. I was wrong. We scored in every game. We had 2 legitimate goals disallowed. And without any film breakdown, I just felt we had more chances and were always dangerous moving forward. I think this is the one area that is cause for legitimate optimism going forward.
I'll let others more knowledgable than I discuss the coaching. But regardless of whether playing Clark was a good decision or not (his reasoning seemed sound but it clearly backfired), he shouldn't be making ANY decisions based on whether he thinks he'll be second-guessed. To his credit, he clearly didn't do that. And also to his credit, he realized it wasn't working and made a change early. Personally, on the list of issues regarding the USMNT, I don't think coaching is in the top 5.
Disappointing to me because we didn't get screwed over by refs or extremely unlucky with a post or bounce...
We just weren't good enough.
Jozy "I'm faster than [David] Villa" Altidore is not an enigma, as you call him. He was shockingly poor. I don't think I saw him beat a defender to a loose ball or beat a defender one-on-one the entire tournament. Did he have a shot on target? I can't recall one. That's not a national team striker.
Otherwise, good write up, capturing a lot of the questions and emotions right now. Thanks.
p.s. the source for the quote above...was he being facetious?
http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/altidore-and-life-in-the-fast-lane/
Purely on a performance level, it was pretty mediocre. We all knew they were capable of playing better against each of those opponents, really.
As an experience though, it was phenomenal. Don't overlook the buzz that the Slovenia and Algeria games created in the US. I think that bodes extremely well for the talent pipeline in the years to come.
For 2014, we have to hope that some help does in fact out of nowhere. Continued improvement from Jozy and Bradley won't be enough if we can't find anyone who can defend. On another note, can we hope Freddy Adu gets his shite together in time for Brazil?
Reviewing some footage, I realized I'd forgotten that I was pretty upset with the lack of off-the-ball movement and the poor spacing demonstrated by the US. We dont have a good first touch, which is just fatal if you dont have good spacing. Just one more thing for the next coach to work on.
I'd love to see an off the cuff lineup projection for 2012 or 2014.
Just doesn't make sense that as America we can't produce better defenders. You'd think that would be our strength.
As much as ESPN, and nearly everyone in the US press wanted us to think the US team was doing something special, they weren't. The only had one win, against a team the were vastly more talented than, and had to score a stoppage time goal to get it. Otherwise, they lead only three minutes of the tournament. They were supposed to get the the knockout round, that wasn't an achievement, but the base expectation. The talent level just isn't there.
What's the best thing that you can say about them? That they try hard and don't give up? That's nice, but we are well beyond that kind of 'rah rah' stuff. That was for the 1990 team. To qualify this as anything other than a disappointment is not looking at it clearly.
We've got two years before qualifying. Bradley had his opportunity, ran his system, had his players - and it wasn't nearly good enough. Use the two years to develop the next generation (probably under a new coach).
Having said all that, the teams that have moved forward are the best in the world, clearly, and I think we are in store for a series of terrific matches. This will end up being a great world cup.
Anonymous, that's harsh on the US, who advanced in spite of two massive ref errors. Just look at what ref errors did to England and Mexico's campaigns (admittedly against better competition, but still).
With the caveat that I wasn't able to watch today's games, it seems like England and Mexico (or maybe just some of their fans) are using the refs as a built-in excuse, when perhaps the truth is that they were outclassed or, in the case of England, never showed up to begin with.
To its credit, the US did what it needed to do to advance, in spite of having perhaps the least threatening forward lineup in the tournament. No goals scored by the forwards, combined with two good goals disallowed (two goals would have been a good tournament for us some years) - none of those by the forwards either - and then the early goals allowed... that's a pretty big hurdle for a team trying to put up some sexy results. Given the massive flaws in the roster, the US did OK for me. Moving on...
I think the US, Ghana, Uruguay, etc. are all at a similar tier, and it was unrealistic to expect the US to waltz through to the semis (even though it was a great setup and perhaps a singular opportunity - that still doesn't make Findley world class).
And the rankings - what are they even trying to measure? The only meaningful inter-confederation games are played at the World Cup every 4 years. There is simply not enough data to draw any conclusions about the relative strength of teams, especially when so many sides change radically between Cups - look at 06's finalists for the prime example. Maybe you can get general trends from them - but those trends are formed from a majority of intra-confederation games - qualifiers and Gold Cups et al. And all of those trends are obvious anyways - Germany always advances past the group stage, they're pretty good, etc.
To me, maybe the best way to do it is to rank teams within their confederation/association and then have a "Top 25" overall power poll - no formulas. At least that would carry some meaning.
Pretty ambivalent towards Bradley. I feel like he'd be a good choice on a side with less gaps - maybe a hypothetical US team 20 years down the road. He does a credible job, and we generally put forth a respectable showing under his coaching. That would be a great leap forward for the talented-but-mercurial Frances of the world, and perhaps good enough to get a team with the right players to the finals (though would the right players respond to Bradley, or is he at his best with the hard-tryers? Conundrum.). For now, I think we need more of a magician, lightning-in-a-bottle type to give us a puncher's chance in 2014.
Long post, so I'll end it on this note. You know what I just thought of? Would have been nice to have Brian Ching available to bring on for Jozy after full time, since we inevitably hoofed it down the pitch time and again (or barring that, turned it over while unpressured). That obviously could have backfired if he went 90 in each of the group stage games, but there it is.
I think things were patched together with duct tape and bailing wire at the outset - our great heart and superior fitness and the established guys - Donovan, Dempsey, Howard (though maybe could have done better on a couple goals?) and the newly minted The Man - Mike Bradley all bailed us out and into the knock out round.
In these knock out games, you need a moment of magic - a half chance that you make the most of. Look at Suarez's goal, Gyan's left foot volley, Klose latching on to a long ball that was misplayed. We just didn't get one for this game.
Overall, I'm going to parrot the line that none of our 5 (7) goals came from our forwards - and only one on a set piece? In CONCACAF, that's our bread and butter.
4 years is a long ways away...
KK
Some comments:
1. US overall talent is still pretty poor. When you start a centre back who plays in the Championship, and another one who has been injured the whole year, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO ONE ELSE, you're not going to go too far.
2. As a team, everyone has a pretty poor first touch. I would say that that is the single biggest thing which would make the US a contender. This is why neutrals (I am a non-American who lived in NY for 4 years) think your team isn't good. Because no matter how hard you run, if half your team can't trap and pass at an int'l level, you won't be a consistent threat. There are plenty of teams in the EPL who can huff and puff, and steal a result. We all know who they are, and their fans know it too.
3. The US needs a bona fide star. Someone like a Gheorge Hagi or even Essien. (in case you forget, Ghana didn't have Essien and used Appiah as a sub.) LD and CD are decent players, but a neutral will never say that either is among the 10 best in their position in the world. MB has no chance, unless his first touch miraculously improves. Altidore is the closest - people are saying that he had a poor Cup but from the games, it was clear that every team the US played respected him. And he won free kicks, got chances (which he missed), and created chances for others. He's the only US forward since 2006 which int'l defenders respect.
4. Going forward, I see the US as 30/70 to make it out of the 2014 WC group stage, depending on the draw. If you end up with one of the top drawer unseeded European teams or a South American team (playing on home continent), it will be very difficult. Could you beat Chile in Brasil? Let's find out... I wonder if the Fed will arrange for a few friendlies this cycle to be held in Bogota or Montevideo.
good read and good comments by all. If you compare this go round to 2002 we still look like we're going backwards but when you compare the results to 2006 this world cup looks more like an amazing sucess. To go from 1 tie and 2 losses to 1 win 2 ties and 1 loss is a pretty big improvement. I think a lot of credit should and has been going to Bob Bradley. I know we did well in 2002, but we were god-awful in 2006.
Of course Bob has probably taken the team about as far as he can. The early goals the findley and clark mistakes, these all kinda reinforce the net-nerd argument that Bob Bradley isn't an elite coach. He's done a good job, but he's never going to take the team to the next level, and that's what the USSF needs to focus on now. 14 million americans watched that game on saturday, the fans are there. The MLS is expanding and slowly but surely US soccer accademies are popping up. Hopefully taking some of the burden off the broken youth club system. Also more of our boys are finding their way overseas. The stars are aligning for us, it would be a shame if we didn't pull out all the stops for 2014.