In the end, the US dropped to England 2-0. I'm not even sure we were playing with any forwards in our lineup until the late second half. Eddie Johnson and Josh Wolff would have looked useless if I could even find them on the field. All in all, a pretty poor effort turned in by our side. Best quote I could find from a review of the game this morning:
Soccer by Ives: "Anytime Peter Crouch sets up for a bicycle kick you have to just watch in amazement. It's like a National Geographic episode."
6 comments:
that's awesome! I will laugh about that all day...
I think he tries more bicycle kicks than any other professional player. It's like watching a train wreck, you just can't look away.
Oh, and boo-freaking-hoo for John Terry.
Terry, what a freakin' sissy. I will say that when I saw the lineups flash on the screen, I was hoping we wouldn't lose 5-0.
Overall, probably one of the worst performances I have seen all year from this US side. Landon would have made zero difference if he played. We don't have any forwards that are creative enough to do anything.
Did Johnson trap one ball to him cleanly? My 15 month old son can trap a ball better than his lazy @ss.
Josh Wolff continues to amaze me by the fact that he does nothing, anywhere, ever, and still finds his way onto the national team starting 11. This is a guy who has not scored a meaningful goal for the US since they played Mexico in Columbus, Ohio in 2001.
Gooch is a complete goon. The rest of our defense is shaky at best. Can't handle Rooney, that I can accept, he is a very gifted player. Can't handle DeFoe? The guy doesn't even start for Spurs for pete's sake. He made us look slow and silly.
M. Bradley can't play w/ the big boys just yet, he looked lost out there.
Beasley is coming off of injury, so could not expect too much from him, but it is obvious that physical play will shorten his career.
This game exposed what the US is, a good team that can't play w/ the big boys on a consistent basis, and probably deserve to be ranked in the 30's in the world rankings. But damn, they got some nice Uni's!!!!!
Our problem has always been a true #9 or #10. Reyna (in his prime) was the closest to a #10. Adu may be the next, but without constant playing time in Portugal he's 2 or 3 years away, maybe more.
As for a #9, McBride was our best. His air prowess allowed him to hold up the ball as well as score off of set pieces. But even he couldn't put it in too often with his feet.
Then there's old Landy-cakes. He's got the speed and touch to run at defenders, but his heart doesn't seem to always be there. Plus he doesn't have a physical presence. Take away all his PKs and I doubt he's not even 10th on the scoring list.
The reason people like Wolff and Johnson keep getting playing time is because there simply isn't anyone else. They score in the MLS (Johnson used to) and that's more than most. Trust me, I don't want to see them either.
Until we get these two roles filled, our midfielders and defenders have no outlets and are under constant pressure. And you can't win against good teams like that.
Well said. I read that Cooper may be the answer. Size / Speed / Skill, but I have not seen him play enough to know if that will be the case...And maybe Altidore will blossom, but I hope he does not get Eddie Johnson'ed w/ all the hype...
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