Well, that sucked.

The US tragically lost to Italy by a score of 3-1. Once again, any neutral would have to agree that the US got royally, royally screwed by the referee. There is no way, in any shape or form, Ricardo Clark should have received a red card for his tackle. A yellow? Of course. A stern talking to? Absolutely. But a red? No way. Never. Had a German, or an Italian, or a Brit, or a Frenchie made that tackle, no way in the world would the ref dish a red. But since the US has a (well-cultivated) “battling” mentality, refs at this level seem to interpret violent intent in even innocuous challenges.

Should the US have won carrying a 1-0 lead into halftime? Maybe. But even as critical as I am of the USMNT, you can’t really complain too much. Surviving 65 minutes a man down against one of the best teams in the world is a tall order. With that out of the way, I will say I that Bradley should have yanked Feilhaber about ten minutes before Italy’s first goal. He was giving away lazy balls in the midfield too often and he was a liability. Would Torres had provided better value? Possibly.

Other observations:

* This team played far better than expected. Is it that they can only raise themselves against top-notch competition? If so, this damns Bradley’s ability to get these guys up for qualifiers.

* I like Bornstein and Spector as the outside backs. I like them quite a bit. But for all Onyewu’s physical presence in the back, he’s a liability. He’d be better if he had two extra heads and no feet. How many clearances did he slice? How many clumsy tackles did he give away? Sadly, Demerit isn’t the answer either as he’s just another in a long line of awkward, lumbering central defenders.

* Altidore is going through Eddie Johnson syndrome: score out your butt in your first few international starts and then fade. Altidore played fairly well today but he’s got to improve on the ball. He lacks confidence taking guys on, and he went looking for a penalty rather than just burning his man and stuffing it in the bottom corner.

* I have warmed to Ricardo Clark and he should be the first pick for holding midfielder, certainly before Mastroeni or Edu. The rest of the midfield remains a mystery. When exactly has Dempsey done something remarkable for the team? Besides dribbling into a crowd of fourteen opponents, that is. Donovan and Bradley are quite potent in spurts but both are lacking consistency, as is Kljestan, as is Feilhaber.

* It has reached crisis levels: we must find where DaMarcus Beasley is keeping the pictures of Bob Bradley naked with a billy goat and destroy them so he can stop finding his way into the team.

* F— Giuseppe Rossi. Seriously. He is the only American-born player producing for club and country and the little weasel chooses to play for Italy over the US. I don’t care where his parents are from; he is a traitor, and there is a precedent for what you do with traitors.

So what have we learned? It’s hard to say really, but at the very least this team showed they can man-up under tough circumstances. They didn’t play prettily, but they didn’t just whack it down the field either. Both Bradley and Altidore had good chances to score from the run of play via smart passing for once, yet flubbed them. The offense is still missing that vital spark too. I’d push for dropping Dempsey to the bench and giving young Freddy a shot from the start. Sure, he may only give you an hour, but at least that might mix up the midfield a bit.

It’s hard to get too excited with that defense though, and for all the hard work the guys put in, it was the same kind of huff-and-puff performances in defensive-minded formations against top-class competition we saw against England, Spain, and Argentina last year. Oh, and if you forgot, those games ended in two losses and a zero-zero draw. Less than inspiring stuff from Bob Bradley.

Current Mood: I Still Blame the Ref for Ruining the Game |