The USA needs an attacking creative midfielder badly today. Missing Donavan is a HUGE blow to our chances, he creates for himself and others....we don't have anyone like him on the pitch. Too much panic and popping the ball up. DD
Adu should have been in earlier, he is so creative with the ball...we need more like him....what about that young striker that played for the Under 21s....Altidore...where was he? DD
First time I've seen your team in a while, but you look really poor. England are usually totally dire in friendlies and we weren't particularly good tonight, but we were made to look half decent by your lot. The style of football USA plays just seems so negative. Maybe that's because today they were away from home and up against it against a superior team but still, even once behind they didn't really commit anyone forward and were totally devoid of creativity. I watched the USA Under 23s in the Toulon tournament the other day too and their tactics were similarly negative. Is it a nationwide strategy of yours to play boring football? Very disappointed with USA tonight
Team USA needs some time to introduce new talent, plus it should be noted this was a friendly, there was no Ching, and really Donovan was a no-show. Still, there is room for improvement.
Today can easily be blamed on a few factors. Missing the main playmaker (Donovan). Playing 2 forwards that have no business being on the national team, let alone the field (Wolff & Johnson). Playing with a fairly young team in what is probably an intimidating environment. Like DaDa said, Adu should have been in much earlier. I'm not sure what they have against bringing Altidore up. The 2 of them combine on such beautiful soccer that there is no excuse to not have both of them on the field. They are better than this with a full squad. I didn't get to see the U-23's , but it was my understanding that they experimented a lot with the lineups and that caused some problems. I'm not sure they had Adu either, who controls that team. As a country, we're still devoid of true attacking and creative midfielders. Much of the last decade plus was watching the horridly boring play of Claudio Reyna and Tab Ramos. Mids were taught to create through defense and passing. That's starting to change with Donovan, Dempsey, and Adu showing that center mids should actually lead the attack. England was clearly the better squad today. Where is that play when it matters?
Man, I wish someone would find the answer to that last question. It's one that baffles the entire country lol. To be perfectly honest though, and don't take this the wrong way, but I think we face tougher teams in our qualifying campaigns than the USA team we faced tonight. By your own admission, your team was below strength which explains a lot. Also, there is a lot of question marks surrounding the motivation of our players when it comes to the national team now. Most of our players consider their clubs more important imo. One of the commentators described it perfectly today when he said the US team had basically come to act as "spoilers" which is what we're used to a home to be fair. I've not watched the US that much, most of what I have has been forgettable. The only match that really sticks in the mind is when they clung on to a draw against Italy at the World Cup when down to 10 men if I remember correctly. That was cool
They were down to 9 actually. It was 10 v 9 in the end in what was possibly the worst refereed game in professional sports history. The US is typically labled as spoilers outside of our region. There is so little respect for us (not that today helped garner any more). The talent pool is growing. It's just time to get rid of some of the dead weight (Johnson, Wolff, Hejduk, Eddie Lewis) and to move on beyond some of the projects (Bradley). I'd love to finally see a squad that included Donovan, Dempsey, Adu, Benny Feilhaber, and Jozy Altidore.
I would have advised you not to watch the US team in the Toulon. That was basically players the coach was trying to have a look at to see if they merited inclusion in his Olympics team. The Coach himself is not exactly the most positive(in terms of play). The style of football i've seen from the USA in the years since I moved to America has been positive for the most part.
Who out there would you recommend to take the place of EJ and Josh Wolff? Jozy? Who else? As I mentioned earlier, with the Intn'l retirement of McBride, the USA has a weak pool of strikers right now. Altidore has played a ton of matches in the past year, both with his club and country. He's a young un and I bet Bradley is saving him for the Argentina match in Giants stadium. Altidore, I can assure you is the easiest selection for Bradley after Landon Donovan.
Exactly,there are serious concerns about fatigue with Altidore. He hasn't had a break between club and the youth national teams in close to 2 years, so they didn't want him to travel all the way to England for a single friendly. You have to remember he's still only 18, and burn out is extremely common among soccer prodigies his age. That's the last thing we want for the most talented forward the US has ever developed. He'll play against Argentina, you can bet on it. Not to mention he'll have a big part in World Cup qualifying.
Man this game showed exactly where the US is in soccer. They were a complete flash in the pan when they had their quarter final appearance in the world cup. Technically they look terrible. Iberian/ Higher quality SA teams and even some asian teams expose them. I think their style is actually a lot like England's. The strategy is long passes over the back line and counter attacks.
what else would you have them do? The USA lacks the creativity that comes along with tradition and a passion for the sport. Dont take this as a nock but creativity won’t suddenly appear and solve their problems. They are forced to play this style in order to achieve their optimal results, which are mediocre at best. If the US national team strays from their defensive minded tactics, crosses, and counter attacks they will get their lunch handed to them. I believe much of this lack of playmaking and creativity comes from the way your young players are trained from an early stage. Kids are put in camps and schools very early on and are OVER coached to the point where their play becomes very mechanical. As a result the USA usually does outstanding in international play sub 20 sub 17 and so forth, because of the technique and hard work that is instilled in them very early on. Teams with great skill and creativity like Brasil (where Im from) usually don’t have the textbook teamwork, technique and hard work that early on. They are allowed more freedom to express their abilities through their play. The Technique is instilled later on.
