Association Football

The U.S. looked bad against Brazil. We were outmatched and just didn’t have it. A really positive start to the second half – was once again torpedoed by another atrocious decision by the referee. A few points:

1. I think the loss of Ricardo Clark (and Edu) was a big blow. We simply didn’t have a solid ball winner in the midfield – Bradley is a good central midfielder but he isn’t a ball winning defensive midfielder – especially against Brazil. We need Jermaine Jones to come and Edu to comeback as soon as possible. But that being said I think the Clark-Bradley-Felihaber pairing was excellent in the first half against Italy and if given a chance could have given Brazil much more trouble.

2. After defending Bradley a lot he can definitely be criticized today. His decisions to include Beasley at LM and Klejstan while understandable, failed miserably. 10 minutes into the game it was clear that the lineup wasn’t going to work. Both Beasley and Klejstan are out of form and that has to be taken into account. klejstian looked shell shocked and just offered very little offensively or defensively and was not calm on the ball. Feilhaber and Torres would have been better options.
Also the U.S. seemed to lack energy – how can you lack energy against Brazil? And after the red card – why is no one getting angry and in the refs face. It looked like we had already accepted defeat. Unacceptable mentality.

3. Beasley is just a disaster right now. His touch – which has been poor since 2006 world cup – is horrendous. What’s worse is that he has seemed to lose all confidence and all soccer instincts. He may still have pace, but he doesn’t play fast. He doesn’t seem to have the skill or the belief that he can get by players. Without that he offers absolutely nothing. He can’t really make a tackle and his positioning kept on exposing the back line. He should be dropped until he gets with another team and proves he can play. But his loss is big for the U.S. Part of our problem is that we don’t have pace on the wings and without that it is really hard with our skill level – even though it is improving – to break the top teams down through the middle of the park.

4. We couldn’t possess. We played slow and were caught in possession way way too much. Klejstian and Beasley were the main culprits, but Donovan seemed to playing according to MLS time.

5. Dempsey has shown little and looks like he needs a break. But too often he gets the ball with little help around him, he is more solid defensively than is given credit, and despite some growing cries needs to be on the field.

6. Bornstein is out of his depth. He is young – but he is just not solid. He does fine defensively at times, but his decision-making when he gets the ball and his technical ability is all very poor. We would be better off playing spector on the left and wynne on the right. For the U.S. to control possession all players need to contribute and when paired with Beasley on the left it is a disaster.

7. Gooch has showed really really well and should land in a good place. Lippi the Italian coach said really good things about him and has seemed to eliminate much of his more awkward moments.

8. Altidore looks dangerous – he didn’t get many chances but he definitely looks like the real deal.

Filed under: USMNT |