06-26-2010, 11:26 PM
<!--quoteo(post=103148:date=Jun 26 2010, 07:17 PM:name=Andy)-->QUOTE (Andy @ Jun 26 2010, 07:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->There were a number of things taken from this game:
1. Starting Clark after Edu has been great, makes no sense at all.
2. Starting Findley, whose only real skill is his speed, makes no sense at all.
3. Cherundolo had a bad game.
4. Altidore had an awful World Cup. I swear he was a black hole. The ball went into him and never came out. He attacked 2, 3 defenders all the time and failed miserably.
5. Howard, as good as he was all tournament, was completely out of place on the first Ghana goal. You should never give up a near side goal like that.
Anyway, it was an exciting WC for the USA. They actually played better than I thought they would have. I think they earned their place among the top 15 teams in the world. A little disappointing, when I thought they were in good shape given their pairing. Demerit is a local boy (Green Bay), so it was cool to see him get to play as regularly as he did. Hopefully he'll end up on an EPL team after finishing his contract with Watford this past season.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah I was shocked at the starting lineup, Findley back in there after playing awful in the first two games, no Fielhaber or Edu after they played so well and no Onyewu to match up with their big athletic strikers, dumb all around.
Like Gad and I were talking about, Finldey's yellow card suspension against Algeria helped more than it hurt.
Cherundolo isn't very good, I was actually shocked he started game 1 but he played well early surprisingly but the speed of Ghana was way too much for him. Despite how good he was at times in the air, Demerit also got beaten BADLY a few times. Central defense was a huge hole all tournament.
I like Altidore, he has a ton of talent, but yeah he needs to learn the game better, he is very raw. He showed signs of almost creating some amazing goals but yeah he took on way too many guys most of the time. He had the same problem in the EPL all season.
The US misses Brian McBride who was a true reliable goal scorer, they don't have anyone like that now. Its a shame Charlie Davies missed this tournament because he could have possibly been that guy. Without him I think Dempsey should have played up front the whole time. We used to be so weak in midfield that we put all our best players there but with Bradley, Donovan and Edu there now we are fine with playing Dempsey at striker. I would have liked to see Buddle get some more time as well after how well he played in the warm-ups.
Anyway, I think we played well overall. We dominated that 2nd half and probably should have won, but I guess thats just Soccer. I think Dempsey, Bradley, Edu, Davies and Altidore will all still be around next Cup and a few guys will undoubtedly break out. We will be fine.
1. Starting Clark after Edu has been great, makes no sense at all.
2. Starting Findley, whose only real skill is his speed, makes no sense at all.
3. Cherundolo had a bad game.
4. Altidore had an awful World Cup. I swear he was a black hole. The ball went into him and never came out. He attacked 2, 3 defenders all the time and failed miserably.
5. Howard, as good as he was all tournament, was completely out of place on the first Ghana goal. You should never give up a near side goal like that.
Anyway, it was an exciting WC for the USA. They actually played better than I thought they would have. I think they earned their place among the top 15 teams in the world. A little disappointing, when I thought they were in good shape given their pairing. Demerit is a local boy (Green Bay), so it was cool to see him get to play as regularly as he did. Hopefully he'll end up on an EPL team after finishing his contract with Watford this past season.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah I was shocked at the starting lineup, Findley back in there after playing awful in the first two games, no Fielhaber or Edu after they played so well and no Onyewu to match up with their big athletic strikers, dumb all around.
Like Gad and I were talking about, Finldey's yellow card suspension against Algeria helped more than it hurt.
Cherundolo isn't very good, I was actually shocked he started game 1 but he played well early surprisingly but the speed of Ghana was way too much for him. Despite how good he was at times in the air, Demerit also got beaten BADLY a few times. Central defense was a huge hole all tournament.
I like Altidore, he has a ton of talent, but yeah he needs to learn the game better, he is very raw. He showed signs of almost creating some amazing goals but yeah he took on way too many guys most of the time. He had the same problem in the EPL all season.
The US misses Brian McBride who was a true reliable goal scorer, they don't have anyone like that now. Its a shame Charlie Davies missed this tournament because he could have possibly been that guy. Without him I think Dempsey should have played up front the whole time. We used to be so weak in midfield that we put all our best players there but with Bradley, Donovan and Edu there now we are fine with playing Dempsey at striker. I would have liked to see Buddle get some more time as well after how well he played in the warm-ups.
Anyway, I think we played well overall. We dominated that 2nd half and probably should have won, but I guess thats just Soccer. I think Dempsey, Bradley, Edu, Davies and Altidore will all still be around next Cup and a few guys will undoubtedly break out. We will be fine.