So I watched my DVR’d edition of US vs. Germany, where the huns won 4-1. For those of you not in the loop on international footie, Germany lost to Italy by the same score last month and the nation was up in arms. They’re hosting the World Cup in 2 months and 6 days and if you host a tournament, you’re supposed to win it.
US coach Bruce Arena admits he shouldn’t have played this game without his ‘A’ team and he’s right, although the “mauling” wasn’t as bad as I feared, and the Germans would do well not to get too excited about the result. There’s no way to put a positive spin on a trouncing but the team, as whole, didn’t look awful. Don’t get me wrong, they didn’t look good but they were far from full strength. Far. The real problem was the Conrad/Berhalter pairing in central defense.
There are certain players that I just don’t get and Gregg Berhalter is one of them. He’s spent most of his professional career in Europe but on poor teams—his recent history has been in the second division in both England and Germany. He’s clearly a second division player. He’s useful against smaller CONCACAF teams and even against Mexico, whose strikers are manageable. Against teams like Germany or, more to the point, the Czech Republic, Italy, and probably Ghana he’s a liability. He’s not strong enough to manhandle big strikers and he’s not quick enough to stay with fast and skilled ones. He’s great for the opposition’s highlight reel, though. He’s just good enough to make beating him fun.
Berhalter is not a rock in the back. He’s not someone you can pair with an inexperienced player and expect good results (i.e. the US’ loss to Mexico in qualifying being a prime example.) He’s not so bad when paired with Eddie Pope, but that’s because he plays in Pope’s shadow. Berhalter and Conrad looked naive against Germany, ships lost at sea.
The other worrying issue I have is the US’ tendency to have problems with set pieces against bigger teams. CONCACAF it isn’t as much of a worry because teams like Costa Rica don’t have the same kind of beefy players up front. The other night Germany scored their first on a set piece. That’s how they beat the US in the WC quaterfinals in 2002, too. Oh, they scored the opener against the US in WC ’98 on a corner. And Yugoslavia also won on a set piece in ’98, the only goal of that game. How did Portugal score their opener in 2002? On a corner kick. How did Poland score their first in 2002? On a corner. Recurring problem? You tell me. The Czechs are huge. Ghana’s players are huge. Italy don’t quite fit that same strapping mold, but still—defending set pieces is a weak point in the US’ game.
My other worry is the media hype and expectation, as though you can measure the US’ improvement based solely on how they do in the World Cup. They’ve got a tough, tough group, the hardest one in my book. I haven’t seen anyone mention this yet, but the teams who advance from their group (Group E) will play teams from Group F, aka Brazil’s group. If the US advances, it will likely be as the runner-up which means they’d most likely face the Brazilians. In short, if you know your head from your ass, you’d know that it would be absolutely phenomenal for the US to even match their quarterfinal performance from ’02, much less better it. Or to put it another way, the road to the quarterfinals last time meant playing Portugal, Poland, South Korea, and Mexico. The road to the quarterfinals this time will be the Czechs, Italy, Ghana, and most likely Brazil. Um. Yeah. Don’t get your hopes up.
I’m not writing them off—far from it. I think if they’re “on” they can play with Italy and probably beat Ghana if they’re disciplined. The Czechs I think will be too much for them—too big, strong, and good. The US could easily go 1-1-1. The question is whether that’s good enough to advance as it would depend on other results. If I had to put money down, I’d probably bet they’ll go 0-1-2 or maybe 0-2-1. Factoid: the US is 3-2-10 in the last four World Cups. They’ve scored 13 goals in those 16 games and let in 24. The World Cup is a tough, tough tournament and, even at their best, the US is a second-tier team. The future’s bright but this isn’t the time to bet your mortgage on the team going the distance. Ain’t gonna happen.
Current Mood – Friday! | 
Currently Listening To – Bob Dylan – “Blood on the Tracks”