USA vs. CZE Review
Note: Blogger.com has been non-cooperative lately, so it's taken quite some time for me to get these latest posts up.
Many days have passed since we faced the Czechs and I have to admit that my desire to rip the team a new one has lessened. Nevertheless, I think a line or two dedicated to what I think went wrong and continues to be wrong with our team will maybe help me move on and get back to the "never say never" attitude the team has always been associated with. We need 6 six points. Italy still isn't its old self, will surely be letting their guard down given our last result, and given the right US line up with a couple of players who still hold an element of surprise, 3 points in Kaiserslautern isn't that much of a longshot.
Reality is a painful pill to swallow, but let's face it: Our passing game reeks of MLS. If you watch MLS matches, you feel me. What's dumbfounding, is that 80% of our starting lineup plays in Europe. I've watched almost all of the World Cup matches so far and one of the the things I've always known, but was dramatically illustrated in the Czech match is that our passing game is just not nearly as precise as we would like to think. The USMNT has flashes of a precision passing game, but nothing that can be sustained throughout a match. Watch any European team and it's apparent that passing comes second nature to them. My point is that the USMNT relies sometimes too much on pure athleticism and long balls. The lack of crisp, precise passing is just a basic, fundamental problem that will continue to follow us where ever we go, no matter whom we play. We inexplicably lack it.
Ok, before I go any farther, I'll just bulletpoint my issues with the game and players:
1.) Donovan: Golden Boy never showed up. For the past year, he has consistently been a non-factor in our matches. Because he was zero aggressive, he rarely touched the ball and thus, didn't add any creative flavor to the game or influence the flow at all. I've always been on the fence when it comes to Donovan. He's moody. He only plays when he feels inspired and shys away from sometimes even moderately aggressive defenses. Evidence of this is that I can't remotely remember the last time Lando has even suffered a minor injury.
2.) DMB: Unlike Donovan, Beazo DID have a lot of touches and was fairly involved. However, his touches were amateurish at best. He had several noticeably poor receiving touches which resulted in subsequently poor passes, turnovers, or wasted time recovering. I was hoping Arena would pull him at halftime but instead, Arena moved him to the right flank...Bease plays the left side, period. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
3.) McBride: His stock is quickly falling. He, like Donovan, fails to affect the game at all. He's tall so he's a target forward, but that seems to be it. He's not a playmaker. His skill is that he's amazing in the air and precise with headers. He again waited around for things to come to him. This being obvious, Arena pulled him in the second half for an Eddie Johnson who actually looked like he gave 2 $%^&'s about winning and provided quite a spark, delivering a couple of shots on goal. Expect EJ in Saturday's starting eleven and McBride to ride the pine.
4.) Convey: I hope he brought a pair of clean drawers. It was his first World Cup experience and he was quickly closed down. He had shown pure magic in the send-off matches which won him a starting position Monday, but he simply soiled himself. Arena should have pulled him for a Dempsey.
5.) Arena: He had no surprise factor. His lineup was grossly predictable. He made it to the quarterfinals in 2002 based on then unknowns like Donovan, Beasely, and Wolff. The one surprise factor he has left is "da Deuce" aka Clint Dempsey. Dempsey has the balls to the wall mentality, massive creativity, and a sometimes unbridled aggressiveness that the US so desperately needed Monday. The other qualm with Arena is that he took too long to switch things up. The problems we had at halftime were the same that were blinding me 10 minutes into the match. I was hoping Bruce would have changed things up a little quicker.
Now for with the positives:
1.) EJ: Eddie Johnson demonstrated his creativity and hopefully will be seen in starting eleven against Italy. He was fast and showed the most spark of anyone on the team.
2.) Gooch: Gooch did his part in the back against a strong Czech front. Gave his man a little too much space at times but always seemed to make up for it.
3.) Lewis: He was the only other shining offensive factor in the game, and he's a left back. His crosses weren't always on but he at least looked comfortable.
4.) Wolff: Josh came on in the second half and also created some chances. Our bench proved themselves very well.
What it came down to for me was that the USMNT simply beat themselves. The Czech's didn't do anything magical, their opponent was just tenative and slow. I'm hoping we've gotten all of out butterflies out because nothing short of a win in Italy gets us to where we need to be.
Many days have passed since we faced the Czechs and I have to admit that my desire to rip the team a new one has lessened. Nevertheless, I think a line or two dedicated to what I think went wrong and continues to be wrong with our team will maybe help me move on and get back to the "never say never" attitude the team has always been associated with. We need 6 six points. Italy still isn't its old self, will surely be letting their guard down given our last result, and given the right US line up with a couple of players who still hold an element of surprise, 3 points in Kaiserslautern isn't that much of a longshot.
Reality is a painful pill to swallow, but let's face it: Our passing game reeks of MLS. If you watch MLS matches, you feel me. What's dumbfounding, is that 80% of our starting lineup plays in Europe. I've watched almost all of the World Cup matches so far and one of the the things I've always known, but was dramatically illustrated in the Czech match is that our passing game is just not nearly as precise as we would like to think. The USMNT has flashes of a precision passing game, but nothing that can be sustained throughout a match. Watch any European team and it's apparent that passing comes second nature to them. My point is that the USMNT relies sometimes too much on pure athleticism and long balls. The lack of crisp, precise passing is just a basic, fundamental problem that will continue to follow us where ever we go, no matter whom we play. We inexplicably lack it.
Ok, before I go any farther, I'll just bulletpoint my issues with the game and players:
1.) Donovan: Golden Boy never showed up. For the past year, he has consistently been a non-factor in our matches. Because he was zero aggressive, he rarely touched the ball and thus, didn't add any creative flavor to the game or influence the flow at all. I've always been on the fence when it comes to Donovan. He's moody. He only plays when he feels inspired and shys away from sometimes even moderately aggressive defenses. Evidence of this is that I can't remotely remember the last time Lando has even suffered a minor injury.
2.) DMB: Unlike Donovan, Beazo DID have a lot of touches and was fairly involved. However, his touches were amateurish at best. He had several noticeably poor receiving touches which resulted in subsequently poor passes, turnovers, or wasted time recovering. I was hoping Arena would pull him at halftime but instead, Arena moved him to the right flank...Bease plays the left side, period. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
3.) McBride: His stock is quickly falling. He, like Donovan, fails to affect the game at all. He's tall so he's a target forward, but that seems to be it. He's not a playmaker. His skill is that he's amazing in the air and precise with headers. He again waited around for things to come to him. This being obvious, Arena pulled him in the second half for an Eddie Johnson who actually looked like he gave 2 $%^&'s about winning and provided quite a spark, delivering a couple of shots on goal. Expect EJ in Saturday's starting eleven and McBride to ride the pine.
4.) Convey: I hope he brought a pair of clean drawers. It was his first World Cup experience and he was quickly closed down. He had shown pure magic in the send-off matches which won him a starting position Monday, but he simply soiled himself. Arena should have pulled him for a Dempsey.
5.) Arena: He had no surprise factor. His lineup was grossly predictable. He made it to the quarterfinals in 2002 based on then unknowns like Donovan, Beasely, and Wolff. The one surprise factor he has left is "da Deuce" aka Clint Dempsey. Dempsey has the balls to the wall mentality, massive creativity, and a sometimes unbridled aggressiveness that the US so desperately needed Monday. The other qualm with Arena is that he took too long to switch things up. The problems we had at halftime were the same that were blinding me 10 minutes into the match. I was hoping Bruce would have changed things up a little quicker.
Now for with the positives:
1.) EJ: Eddie Johnson demonstrated his creativity and hopefully will be seen in starting eleven against Italy. He was fast and showed the most spark of anyone on the team.
2.) Gooch: Gooch did his part in the back against a strong Czech front. Gave his man a little too much space at times but always seemed to make up for it.
3.) Lewis: He was the only other shining offensive factor in the game, and he's a left back. His crosses weren't always on but he at least looked comfortable.
4.) Wolff: Josh came on in the second half and also created some chances. Our bench proved themselves very well.
What it came down to for me was that the USMNT simply beat themselves. The Czech's didn't do anything magical, their opponent was just tenative and slow. I'm hoping we've gotten all of out butterflies out because nothing short of a win in Italy gets us to where we need to be.
posted by Paul B at Tuesday, June 20, 2006
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