UKR vs. USA 13:00 CST ESPN, Unimás Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca, Cyprus. MEX vs. NIG 20:00 CST ESPN, Unimás, Univision Deportes Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Already the 2nd half, USA 0-1 UKR Looking good, USA; some mental mistakes have cost a goal and some near-misses.
Yeah the back four looked lost in the first half, but as a whole are showing positive signs in the second half. Looking more aggressive at least.
Korea bounces back from the North American losses and beat Greece 2-0 in Greece. Pretty impressive considering Greece (#12 FIFA ranking) allowed only 4 goals in 10 games in the final stage of qualifiers including 8 shut outs.
really good games today. I saw Ecuador come back from a 0-3 against Australia to win 4-3. My Chilean national team lost against Germany 1-0, although we outplayed them and should have at the very least tied. Oh well, moral victory I suppose for outplaying them in Germany. Just need a good finisher. Colombia also suffered without Falcao today, couldn't even beat Tunisia. Worrying situation without El Tigre.
Isn't that what Alexis Sanchez is for? Meh, these aren't the friendlies that matter in terms of possible team success at the WC. As long as Colombia and the others get their ish together in May/June friendlies.
I was as disgusted on that goal as I've been at a pair of US players in a while. I still rate Gooch highly and think he is still in consideration for a backup role while Brooks wont be called up until after the World Cup BUT both were just disgustingly lazy on that second goal. Both helped in giving up the ball, both jogged back while the Ukrainians advanced on goal. Tim usually gives his defenders a rollicking after such instances but I think he felt so defeated after that. I was shocked he didn't even berate them because he would have been well within his rights to do so after that lackadaisical display on the second goal by his center-halves. Rubbish!
Sanchez is a notoriously bad finisher. He's scored 16 goals in La Liga, with most of them being tap-ins off plays from Iniesta, Neymar or Messi. Sure, he's had some really good goals as of late (vs Madrid, 2 against Engalnd), but I could probably make a 10 minute highlight video of his misses in that same time span.
Chile was much better than Germany. I was quite impressed. Some of our players (e.g. Özil) totally half-assed it.
I wasn't talking about for club but rather for country. Hasn't he been a good finisher on the international level? You've watched more of Chile than I have the past few years so you'd know better. Has he been worse or the same for country as he has been for club? Nothing more than tap-ins?
how is no one concerned ? clint and jozy look god awful in both club and intl form. usa are in alot of trouble this summer.
You do know this is primarily a Basketball(Rockets) forum right? You say how is no one concerned but have you been on twitter to check how US Soccer fans feel? Or Bigsoccer? Don't use CF as your barometer for US Soccer concern or lack thereof. Anyway, Clint still has another couple of months to get in form with his club team. Jozy not so much, he is slipping down the pecking order for club it seems. Regardless, neither are the two most important players for the US in my book. Jurgen and his bull$hit will say the spine of the team doesn't include Donovan. Bull$hit. The spine of the US team is- Howard, Gonzalez, Bradley and Donovan imo. Every line of the team is covered in that. By not mentioning Donovan he is continuing his trend of snubbing Donovan in various ways ever since LD's sabbatical. As long as Howard, Gonzalez, Bradley and Donovan are in good form then the USA will have a chance. Obviously they'll need better performances from 1st choice players at fullback and other midfield positions. The USA will be fine and don't put too much stock into this friendly except as to who to rule out from the Euro club players going forward as the May Friendlies arrive. The MLS/homebased players will get their chance next month I believe and then it comes together in May. May/June then be worried if the performances don't look decent.
clint is going to get in form with the sounders? Clint is a vital aspect of the team and needs to be in good form for this team to go anywhere.
I'm glad Ukraine won, they probably won't have a country much longer so they'll need reasons to be happy.
We played like trash, unbelievable how bad our defense has been looking for 2 years now. There's a huge gap between midfield and defense, one long pass can turn into a really ugly situation. Also, Lahm has to play as right defender, otherwise we'll get eaten on the wings. And I'll never understand why Schmelzer and Jansen have been continously starting or getting big minutes at left back, they're creating huge holes on defense. Also, why the f..k was Götze starting at left wing? He needs to play in the centre. Also, Özil needs to f...in play defense, terrible. Löw needs to stop favouring players for unknown reasons, guys like Klose, Schmelzer, Jansen should never start. You have a huge Bayern block, use it! Me and most of my friends agree, we'll never win anything with Löw as coach.
I agree with all of that. Sadly, I don't really know whom we could play on the left wing. Schmelzer and Jansen are both 2nd division material. If only Alaba had a German passport...he will never win anything with Austria and is a mix of everything anyway. We should probably try someone new, from the youth teams. It should be obvious that Schmelzer and Jansen are just not good enough and never will be. Özil is totally detrimental to a team. He just takes 80 % of the game off, then has one or two flashes offensively. He disappears in big games. Doesn't even try to defend. I know that he is much less highly regarded in the team than he is in some of the media. P.S.: For DD: We will still destroy the US team, easily . DD
