The soccer team has been on a tear as of late. We dropped the first game of the spring season and now we’ve rattled off six straight wins. Happily, I’ve banged in goals the last three games and, unlike the pair I scored in the fall, this trio have been pretty good: a hard low shot with my left (!) deflected into goal for a much-needed second in a tight match; a calmly slotted shot one-on-one with the keeper; and today’s opener, another one-on-one with the keeper that nestled in the side netting.
We’ve won 3-0, 8-0, and 5-1 so none of these were absolutely crucial, but two have come at crucial times in the match so I feel pretty good about it. That makes five goals in fifteen matches from a defensive midfield position, or a goal every three matches. I’ll take it.
I’ve started downloading the podcast for World Soccer Daily and I’m loving it. Steven Cohen and Kenny Hassan do a really nice job and the show has an edgier feel than Fox Football Fone-In. The best US-based coverage (although they’re both British) around. I highly recommend it.
US vs. Honduras tonight in Chicago, on ESPN at 7:00 CT. I predict a routine, perhaps dull win for the US. What say ye, 2-0? I laugh when I hear people saying they’ll have to watch out for Wilson Palacios and Amado Guevara. Look, if the US squad can’t shut down this team with its smattering of quality players at home, perhaps they don’t deserve to go to the World Cup. Although they did manage to blow it at RFK to Honduras back in 2001…
After some further reflection and considering the intelligent (but only the intelligent) callers to World Soccer Daily, I’m wondering if Bradley is the overwhelming problem with this team. You look at a team like England under Fabio Capello, where he took a team of good but underproducing players and forged them into a unit that’s now undefeated in UEFA World Cup Qualifying. Looking around this US squad, they shouldn’t be this bad or utterly bereft of ideas. Ultimately, it’s the manager’s job to figure out how to make things work, and so far Bradley’s only solution has been to plunk the long ball forward and rely on set pieces. That’s bush league.
As I posted on Facebook, if your team relies on Brian Ching and Frankie Hejduk, then your team sucks. It seems like there should be enough talent, if deployed correctly, to make this a halfway decent team. I have very little—strike that, no faith in Bradley’s ability to find the right combo. I’m also reasonably convinced US Soccer won’t make a change before the 2010 World Cup. Shame, really.
Current Mood: Is That A Baby I Hear Crying? | 
2 Comments
Bradley took off Torres in Costa Rica to “shake up” the team, even though Torres was the only quality on the pitch. I just don’t get that. If you really want to shake up the team, take out Donovan or Onyewu, fixtures on the team but neither making contributions that were missed. Don’t take undo the only thing you did right in the whole match by pulling Torres.
I’ve been downloading World Soccer Daily on iTunes for a while but haven’t had a chance to listen yet. Now that this @#$%^ test is over, I’m looking forward to it.
Bradley is clueless. On first glance I thought a 4-3-3 looked like a gamble but one that I liked considering how Bradley’s default is the ultra defensive. After listening to the podcast though I realize that it’s a pretty stupid tactic going into a place where you’ve only scored one goal in a decade, and they knew they’d be playing on a godawful pitch.
You should definitely check out the WSD podcast. Steven can drive me crazy sometimes and he has some simply mad opinions, but he knows his stuff and Kenny is a great partner, much better than Nick from FFF in my opinion. I’ve only listened to the shows the day after the Champions League final and after the US loss. Both were well worth the price (free) and 90 minutes well spent.