Well, about an hour ago the US went down to Brazil in the Confederations Cup final 3-2. Only the most blinkered myopic fan wouldn’t admit that the best team won. The US battled as hard as they possibly could and did fantastically well to get themselves up 2-0 but couldn’t hold off the more talented Brazilians. (Anyone else think this game was practically a carbon copy of the Aston Villa vs. Manchester United match back in April?)
What this game and, to a lesser extent the Spain game, has shown is that the US’ first team actually can hold their own with the big boys. The problem is that the starting eleven cannot go a full 90 and the subs mean a serious drop in quality. Feilhaber did a good job filling in for Michael Bradley but when Ricardo Clark started to wobble (as he did against Spain) there wasn’t another good option off the bench to steady things. Bornstein and Kljestan were not good replacements—how many times did Kljestan pass the ball to Brazilians? They’re wearing bright yellow for God’s sake.
Alexi Lalas said ad nauseum (god is he annoying) that this was the one that got away, but was it really? When Brazil kicked the game up a notch the US simply couldn’t respond. I started talking to Bob Bradley through the television at about the 65th minute telling him he needed to start using his subs. I think he did make the changes too late, but in hindsight I can see why he hesitated. If your subs aren’t going to give you a boost or settle things down, it’s hard to rush them on. I mean, Brazil throws on Dani Alvez and the US responds with… Jonathan Bornstein? My only question is what’s up with Jose Torres? It’s a shame he never got a look in, but maybe he’s been sucking it up in training. Hard to say unless you’re the manager.
Even though the Confederations Cup ended up being a huge success for the US and nearly marked the pinnacle for the USMNT, you can’t ignore a few key points:
* I’m still not convinced by Bob Bradley. He finally found the right starting lineup but it was very nearly too little too late. Anyone who thinks suddenly Bradley is a genius, I have two words: DaMarcus Beasley.
* In my opinion, bad press got the US team fired up more than Bradley. After Brazil wiped the floor with them, they were serious underdogs for the remainder of the tournament. As I said in a previous post, the US plays best when they’re heavy underdogs. The big question is whether this will carry over into qualifying and, more importantly, into the World Cup group stage. The key here is that this team needs to be pissed off and ready to rumble rather than being overconfident. Overconfidence leads to the lackadaisical play that’s haunted them through qualifying and at the last World Cup.
* A lot of folks are now flapping their lips about the clubs that will now be in for many US players. I’m less than convinced. For me, the only one who seriously upped his stock was Landon Donovan. Dempsey and Howard are already known quantities, and Josie Altidore has been inconsistent. Onyewu has been outstanding in the last two matches, but he was equally awful in the opening two. The key here is consistency. If Onyewu can eliminate the mistakes from his game, I could very easily see him being a great player in the Premier League or Bundesliga. However I think clubs who might be shopping would take a look at those first two games and consider Onyewu to be a risky purchase. His play for Newcastle was not good, and that won’t help.
I am mighty relieved to see that this team is a lot better than I gave them credit for. Remember, gentle readers, that they have been dreadful for much of the qualifying campaign against inferior competition and the spark they showed against Italy was completely doused by the pathetic display against Brazil in game two. It was only against Egypt that they started passing the ball around with pace and accuracy. Which leads me to this…
I want this team to go to Azteca in August and win. We’ve never beaten Mexico in Mexico City. This is the perfect time for the US to lay a marker down and Mexico is ripe for the taking. If they play anything remotely close to what they’ve shown in the last 180 minutes, it can happen. It can. I believe.
Current Mood: Proud of the Boys | 
2 Comments
Nicely reviewed. I must admit last night’s game was the only U.S. showing I watched (it was announced to me the day after the U.S. upset Spain, when I thought they were already eliminated). But watching the U.S. hurl themselves against Brazil for 35 minutes AND finish two chances seemed too good to last. Already weary the closing ten minutes of the first half, they conceded the classic U.S. early-second-half goal (I was hoping for five minutes, not 45 seconds) to open the psychological floodgates for both teams. I’m no strategist but the U.S. just seemed exhausted. Whenever Dempsey received the ball, he passed it immediately and then trotted INTO Brazilian coverage to ensure no return pass. It lessened the sting at game’s close to recall the scoreline as actually 4-2, unless you count a ball being punched out of the goal and deflecting off the inside of the crossbar as a ball that didn’t fully cross the line. Reminds me of Korea Japan 2002, lucking through the first round followed by a classy win and then well-played underdog loss. Flashes of greatness but too difficult to maintain. O elusive consistency.
Yeah, the guys on World Soccer Daily were saying they wished the game would have ended 2-1 to the US simply for the fact that it would have deprived a world power a major trophy due to the lack of television replay or other goal line technology. This showing gives me hope for WC 2010 though, and that’s something else.