---------------Altidore---------------- -----------------------Adu------------ ---Shea------Holden-------LD------- -----------------Edu------------------ --LB?--Boca--Goodson--Chandler-- ---------------Howard---------------- Dempsey off the bench who can play attacking mid/wing or striker. JA may be better than Altidore by 2014, too. Jones and Bradley can fill in for Edu or Holden (or Holden can go outside) there's a lot of versatility there and i want Adu on the pitch.
514 you gonna fix that sig anytime soon? I seize everytime I see that block of code and it reminds me what I used to be.
PHILADELPHIA -- Expectation left to metastasize unchecked inevitably breeds disappointment. But while the actual game in Jurgen Klinsmann's maiden run-out in charge of the U.S. national team may have been tepidly disappointing, the outcome against archrival Mexico and the initial touches the shiny new German head coach has put on the squad should leave the U.S. deeply satisfied. First, the outcome. Given that the U.S. underwent a regime change just 12 days ago and that the new man in charge is supposed to be the antithesis of his predecessor, the fired Bob Bradley -- and thus wouldn't have been able to get away with leaving things more or less the same in his first game -- a 1-1 outcome is as good as the U.S. might have hoped for. This is even more true given that it was overrun virtually the entire game. Mexico, like it did in the two teams' epic 4-2 Gold Cup final in June, commanded the play in quantity and quality. Mostly, the U.S. walked away with a draw in which it actually had the bulk of chances because Mexico didn't look sufficiently perturbed by the score line to actually do something about it. Then, those alterations. The U.S. was well-organized defensively with Kyle Beckerman and Jermaine Jones playing behind the newly advanced Michael Bradley. Collectively, they crashed into space well and covered the runners into the box. Offensively, the U.S. used its space better than it has in the past, advancing its wing backs high up the field and splitting the center backs to cover the back territory by themselves -- with the help of a holding midfielder who would drop back when in need. Although this seemed risky, it helped the U.S. establish the manpower in midfield that was necessary to stymie somewhat the flow of Mexico's technically dazzling midfielders. Tweet, tweet Don't miss a moment of the latest soccer coverage from around the world. Follow us on Twitter and stay informed. Join » Yet much that ails this team is still far from resolved. Mexico eventually began running through the lines, tapping the U.S. into oblivion and picking it apart like it had in June, destroying the Yanks in the possession department. It was only the U.S.'s sturdy play in the middle and El Tri's inability to connect with a forward through the middle that kept the scoring floodgates from opening. Not until Mexico tired in the final 20 minutes did the U.S. start producing on offense, when young forwards Robbie Rogers, Juan Agudelo and Brek Shea created problems for Mexico with their movement. Before then, however, the U.S. had mustered nothing of consequence on offense, establishing a presence neither on the wings, through the middle nor at center forward. Even under Klinsmann -- and no miracles could ever be expected of him, no matter how long his tenure was longed for -- the U.S. has structural problems. It is missing the talent and manpower up front to have a lone striker hold the line by himself. Yet it also can't afford to lose a man in midfield or on defense, prone to getting overrun as it was today. Klinsmann has been confronted with this truth about this team early. It's a quandary he'll have to set about solving, if his tenure is to be a success. With that, here are the grades for the U.S. players: Grades: (1-10; 10 = best) GK Tim Howard, 6: Games against Mexico are seldom so uneventful for U.S. keepers. Howard had little to do and was blameless on Mexico's goal. D Steve Cherundolo, 6: Cherundolo was predictably solid and steady. D Michael Orozco Fiscal, 5.5: Orozco was a tad shaky early and sometimes dodgy on the ball. But he did what he had to do, especially given that he's fairly new to the team. D Carlos Bocanegra, 7.5: The captain is still completely irreplaceable in the middle of the U.S. defense. He had another strong game and was caught out just once by Rafa Marquez. D Edgar Castillo, 4.5: Castillo was sometimes useful on offense but a liability in the back. He isn't sharp yet and sent some bad passes. Still, he's an upgrade over Jonathan Bornstein. M Kyle Beckerman, 5.5: Playing just behind Bradley, Beckerman had one of his better games for the U.S. But is he suited long term for this level? Probably not. M Jermaine Jones, 5: Playing in a holding role behind Michael Bradley, Jones was at times useful but not as often as he was invisible. For large swaths of his 60 minutes on the field he was nowhere to be found in spite of very much being in the center of the field -- a worrying reoccurrence in his short tenure with the U.S. M Michael Bradley, 6.5: Another ambiguous night for the no-longer-coach's son. He played well as a central attacking midfielder, distributing well with square balls and still getting back to do plenty of defensive work. His return to the position he played at Heerenveen earlier in his career was a success. The Mexico goal in the 17th minute in which he let Oribe Peralta swivel around him and dink in the 1-0 was not. M Jose Torres, 5: Torres is no winger, we learned that much. He dropped too deep and drifted too central. What's more, he was delinquent defensively, even if he was solid on the ball. F Landon Donovan, 5.5: The U.S.'s somewhat mercurial stalwart underdelivered today. He sent in the odd dangerous cross from the wing, but didn't have enough impact. F Edson Buddle, 4.5: With almost none to absolutely no service coming his way, and with little support out of the midfield or from the wings, Buddle had a chance to brush up on his Spanish, surrounded as he was by green jerseys. Subs: F Juan Agudelo, 7: The much-hyped youngster was instantly dangerous after coming on and did good preparatory work on the American equalizer. M Brek Shea, 7.5: At last Shea translated his club form with FC Dallas to the national team, after two ineffectual caps. The giant winger was mobile, physical and active, and set up Rogers' equalizer beautifully. F Robbie Rogers, 6.5: The usually underachieving winger scored the equalizer and went on dangerous runs, one of which saw him through on goal alone before being brought down (when inexplicably only a yellow card was drawn). He fluffed a shot or two as well though. Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at
i was watching it online last night when my internet crashed just before half-time. here are my thoughts... First Half a. it was tough to watch with only Buddle up top. I will say this though, when the ball is up in the air Buddle is great at positioning, using his height and controlling the ball. He's a lot better at it than Altidore who only seems to know how to extend his elbows and box out. b. I'll agree with most others here and the commentators... Jermaine Jones was disappointing. It was partly due to his position and his role last night but I've seen better from him. c. Beckerman was a pleasant surprise and Torres has such good feet. d. Had to be a pretty emotional game for Michael Bradley. Second Half e. Bocanegra is sooo fucking crucial to this team. It'll be sad to see him go one of these days. f. Shea and Agudelo were so fun to watch... g. Good to see Robbie Rodgers put one in the back of the net. Hopefully it'll be a nice confidence boost for him. We've been cursed by the lack of speed up front ever since Davies' car accident but Rodgers' goal was a pleasant surprise. Robbie Findley would've put that one in the upper deck. h. Personally, I would've liked seeing Adu-Shea-Agudelo-Torres and Donovon in there for the last 10 minutes. That would've been a ridiculous ball-control, one touch lineup that would've had the mexicans running in circles around their sombreros. i. Donovan is so fucking talented. He was all over the field all night and had the energy to make people look like fools in extra time... I don't get why the ESPN dude gave him a 5.5 rating.
Yeah but he would not have made the run. Also here is Steven Goff's ratings. Hilarious to see the various opinions of Beckerman. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...video-ratings/2011/08/11/gIQAFmgu7I_blog.html
Beckerman's positioning was solid and he did well to break up play on occasion, but he was horrible in possession, getting caught out several times due to holding onto the ball for too long
the 4-1-4-1 is interesting though, mainly because it puts Landon in the middle where he can impact the game more -----------------------Altidore------------------------ Shea----------Holden---------Landon---------Dempsey --------------------------Edu----------------------------- would look similar to the 2nd half last night, with Holden filling the Torres role and Edu taking Becks spot
that's because he was looking to move the ball forward instead of backward like Jermaine Jones was all night. I agree that Beckerman's performance was far from perfect. When I first saw his name in the starting lineup my first thought was 'oh shit, we're in trouble'. In the end, he didn't make nearly as many turnovers in tight spots than Torres did... I said he was a pleasant surprise b/c I expected him to tank last night and instead he played aggressively, looked upfield and covered his men well on defense. just my 4-1-4-1 sounds tight...
Only thing about playing with one forward is Jozy has shown he is much better with a partner then being by himself.
No. That's silly imo. We were just as rudderless and unsure of how to hold the ball as we've ever been for at least 80% of the game, and folks want to act like there was some drastic difference in the way we performed last night to games from the last few years... It's not like we didn't attack prior to last night... come on. edit- Reading more of the thread I feel like a number of you are overreacting. It's not as if we've never been fluid and attacking against good teams before. Even under Bob there have been moments when the U.S. produced attractive, exciting, attacking forward play. I can understand getting excited because Klinsmann is charismatic and saying all of the things you want him to say, but to suggest that last nights performance represented a dramatic shift in our approach to this game I think you're kidding yourselves.
Wouldnt mind seeing something like this with LD dropping back if need be... ---------------Altidore---------------- -----------------------LD-------------- ---Shea------Holden-------Dempsey--- -----------------Edu-------------------- --LB----Boca--Goodson----Chandler-- ---------------Howard---------------- If Holden isn't healthy you can put in Bradley or Torres who looked good once he was moved inside from his winger spot earlier in the game.
I ride hard for Torres. I think he and Holden are the future if we want to build a fluent side that can dictate a game against teams that aren't concacaf minnows. He maybe isn't as hardened as we want him to be quite yet, he sort of lacks physical presence, but he's great on the ball and does a ton of little things very well. He's also got terrific vision. It's absurd to try putting him up against a sideline. It kills me seeing him used as a wide player.
I hear ya BB. Torres' feet are insanely quick, unlike some of the other US midfielders who look like they're clunking around out there (ahem, J. Jones).
If Torres plays, definitely need to have a destroyer at DM and the only 2 really in the pool right now like that are Jones and Clark. Edu can play a little deeper but has developed into a box-to-box CM like Bradley and Holden. I think Torres is best for playing against Latin and Asian sides, he'll struggle against bigger Euro (see Slovenia game) and African sides.
Jones has a very bipolar game. He can put in a man of the match performance and turn around and disappear for several games. I don't get it.
He was the most dominant player in a lot of our GC games. Looked terrible yesterday, however. Bradley, on the other hand, has been consistently bad in all of them.
This guy is a fucking retard. I can hardly imagine a worse breakdown of the match than what he wrote. Marginalizing the USMNT while fellating Mexico like they're Spain. He's basically saying Mexico just phoned it in and the USMNT lucked out. Nevermind that their goal was just as much of a fluke as ours, and they had to throw our sub to the ground just to keep the scoreline level. Fuck that hater. There was a dramatic shift. The attacking approach last night was intentional.
Also important was the fact that the "kids" played well when put in the game. Jurgen is giving everyone a chance, and if they play well, they'll get the benefit of the doubt over the retreads.
TV numbers from the match via Grant Wahl USA-Mexico soccer had average U.S. TV audience of 5.57 million (4.49m Univisión, 1.08m ESPN2). Very good for a mid-week friendly.