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USA +0.5 at Mexico (WC Qual, Wed 4 pm ET, Telemundo2)

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reagdog;1514989; said:
Sad that we can't beat the Mexicans. I mean, they make bomb ass burritos, but they shouldn't have better athletes/team than the USA.
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They don't. Obviously a high majority of the top athletes in America elect to play other sports, and the few which would have actually opted to play soccer get injured (like myself). We're cursed. And Blanco doesn't have an ounce of athleticism, and he was one of the most effective players for the Mexicans, so that doesn't tell the whole story. The top competitors, strategists, and creative minds are playing other sports also.

It's disappointing that we lost after holding onto a tie that long, but the reality is we deserved to lose. For about 60 minutes we didn't have possession for more than about 5-10 seconds at a time. They dominated the possession. Onyewu and DeMerit (a Wisconsinite unfortunately) don't have the ball skills to distribute from the back. And you could tell everybody else was nervous and/or intimidated by the atmosphere, so once they received the ball on a takeaway, they were stuck between going quickly and out of control which usually ended up in a turnover back, or were hesitant and got the ball taken away as a result. There was no middle tempo to get the ball upfield quickly enough, while also taking time to locate an open man. Then on the other end when team USA was on the attack and turned the ball over, nobody, outside of maybe Davies, put any semblance of ball pressure on the Mexicans, probably because of the lack of acclimation to the altitude. (Dempsey's ball pressure was the worst and he typically has a problem with conditioning, so today that was just magnified) As a result El Tri could just walk the ball up the field without having their momentum halted in any way. The ball pressure discrepancy, and how the two teams handled it was the biggest reason for the Americans losing.

People can lament Davies' whiffed header, but he was the man of the match for his tremendous runs off the ball, tidy finish, and aforementioned work rate.

Holden made an impact almost immediately after entering the game. He had the most poise and field sense on the team arguably. Not only was the cross into Davies great, but so was the one touch volley ahead which led a teammate into a scoring chance. We needed more players like that who thought one step ahead. He's a keeper.

Howard did as well as he could have....the two finishes by Mexico were virtually perfect.

I was very disappointed in Donovan after he was arguably MOTM outside of Howard against Everton in the MLS all-star game, and not looking out of place at all against Barcelona. Just when you think he's turning the corner into being a pseudo World Class player he has a stinker like this. His turnover led to the first Mexican goal, and then he got burnt on the second one. His anticipation was atrocious on the day.

Ching and Clark need to stay in MLS. They aren't high enough caliber for international competition. Ching has been too slow for a long time. He needs the ball served directly to his feet while he's stationary. I get the angle of using him to replace Brian McBride in a similar role because of his size, but what good is it when Howard can't control his long balls and Ching his headers. Clark is a spaz with no ball skills. Bradley deserves a lot of flack for relying on these players. I think his job should be in serious jeopardy.
 
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Thanks for the breakdown Bernini. I didn't get to watch the game so that was helpful.

I just don't see how the USA can't assemble 11 guys who can beat Mexico? I understand that the best athletes play basketball, football, etc.. but there's gotta be 11 guys out of the 350 million Americans who can beat Mexico!! Mexico shouldn't be able to beat the USA in anything except cheap labor and Swine Flu fatalities.

Frustrating!
 
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reagdog;1515053; said:
I just don't see how the USA can't assemble 11 guys who can beat Mexico? I understand that the best athletes play basketball, football, etc.. but there's gotta be 11 guys out of the 350 million Americans who can beat Mexico...
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I think we have 11 guys on our roster who can beat Mexico. The key is for all of those 11 guys to be on the pitch. It is clear that Ching adds very little to the attack and should be relegated to the bench. Ricardo Clark also isn't getting it done.

At this point Holden and Feilhaber seem to be two of the most creative players on the roster, and should be on the field in place of the aforementioned Clark and Ching. Feilhaber does a great job with the ball under pressure, and Holden, as mentioned, thinks a step ahead when he ahs the ball and provides great service into the box.
 
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[censored] Mexico
[censored] El Tri
[censored] Azteca
[censored] the ref
[censored] the guy at the pub who cheered for the first Mexican goal because "it wouldn't be a *real* World Cup without Mexico"
[censored] mun2
[censored] NBC
[censored] Taco Bell
and like always... [censored] M*CH*G*N.

Now that I got that off my chest, this match was rather infuriating for pretty much the entirety after Davies' goal for reasons not related to any of that stuff. It was like watching an 80 minute long power play in hockey. I think the only way the US mustered most of their time of possession was waiting to put the ball in play on slow restarts.

With so much going against you already, it's not acceptable to do things that further hurt your chances if you expect to win. The pitiful failure to distribute out of the back is one example of that. Another example is players like Clark and Ching being on the pitch. I think Ching is especially worthless out there - I've been riding that train for some time now. Holden looked decent out there - just like most of the time during the Gold Cup. I've always liked Feilhaber as well. Both of them bring a different level of confidence and skill with the ball at their feet than most of the other Americans have displayed - not that it would've mattered all that much anyway with all of the turnovers, half-assed clearances and boneheaded passes out of the back.

At least two things went well - Charlie Davies looked good out there and I had lots of beer.
 
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First 10 Minutes- :groove:

Final 80+ Minutes- :so::sleep2::ohwell::(

Man that was some UGLY soccer by the US. I get the reasons and it was kind of expected, but still, to watch that? Yeesh.

That ref sucked. It would be interesting to see what would have happened if some US players went down a little easier on some of those grabs. Not typically how the US plays, but it's how the rest of the world plays. Still undecided on how I feel about that.

US just has to win their remaining home qualifiers and they're good. They've got the toughest road qualies out of the way- @Saprissa (Costa Rica) & @ Azteca.

Damnit I wanted to see a win there.
 
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