US/Spain game thread

[bullets13]

In the 26th minute, it's 0-0.  The US has had pretty decent possession, and has also been somewhat effective up front, with a few good chances and an Eddie Johnson goal called back because he was about a step offsides.  Spain has had two or three clearcut chances, and Howard has had to make a couple of nice saves.  All that said, this US squad, as of right now, is playing pretty well.

[bullets13]

0-0 at the half.  US is looking pretty good. Dempsey has been invisible on the field, and Freddy has been playing well.

[bullets13]

Freddy took a knock in the 1st half and didn't come back for the second.  Guzan came in for Howard, which makes me nervous.

[bullets13]

US starting off decent again, and Johnson should've just put us ahead on a header that he pushed about a foot wide.

[bullets13]

65th minute, still 0-0.  Spain is starting to control the attack.  The US is looking stagnant in the midfield now that Adu is on the bench.  Beasley is in, and looking rusty (which the announcers have only mentioned about 10 times).

[bullets13]

Spain finally broke through in the 79th minute, but it had been a long time coming.  Xavi dribbled four or five players and then put one past the keeper.

[bullets13]

US loses 1-0.  They didn't really deserve to win.  I thought that 0-0 at halftime was fair, but Spain could've easily won this one 3-0 the way that they dominated in the 2nd half.  US had about 3 good scoring chances the whole game, and looked bad once Freddy went out.  All that said, a 1-0 loss to Spain is a more than respectable result.

[Bon_Mot]

I wanted to marinate a little before I responded to the game...

Five good things from the game:

1.  Freddy Adu is clearly one of the only creative players we have in our player pool.  He's got vision, touch, draws fouls... a perfect Attacking Mid.

2.  With the roster that Bunker Bob had to work with, I thought the 4-5-1 was a good choice.

3.  The US has an embarrassing stockpile of topnotch keepers.

4.  ehhh... They tried to knock the ball around a few times.  I think they even strung together 4 or 5 passes until Lil Bradley lost it once.

5.  uhhhh... well... They looked stylish in their A&F looking uni's?  (Does that count as a point on the "good" side?)

Five bad things from the game.

1.  I guess this is why he's called Bunker Bob, but good gosh, what did we learn from this game?  How not to get embarrassed.  (Congrats on that, though. The Mexicans getting beat 4-1 by Argentina is embarrassing.  HE HE!)  Other than Adu, this team shows absolutely no inclination to take anyone on 1v1 or have any idea what a "killer pass" is.  I wish someone kept a stat of "Number of passes forward vs. Number of passes sideways or backwards".  I guess it doesn't help when EJ is your guy up front.  He and Frankie will never be lumped together in the "work rate" category.  Why don't we just line up in a 10-0-0 next game, and then we can work really hard for that set piece goal or counter attack?

2.  Clint Dempsey!  Take a break.  If you are that uninspired or fatigued, you don't need to wear the colors.

3.  Are Gooch and Boca our only Center Backs?  Does Bob have a plan if one of these guys gets hurt... or when all of CONCALAF figures out that speedy forwards who dribble straight at them give these guys hell.

4.  Lil Bradley.  Dude.  Stay on your feet.  Almost every time you slide-tackle, I cringe and convince myself that "Maybe it wasn't that bad.  Let's look at it from another angle."  And then the replay from a different angle makes it look worse!  If you're tired, ask your daddy to take yourself off of the field.  There are options to getting a break other than a red card.  It's called a substitution.

5.  Bob, you brought Josh Wolff on the field again.  I'm not sure where you're getting your information from, but just in case you're reading this...Josh Wolff is not good.  He couldn't score for the Second Division Bundesliga team that just cut him, either.  You had an opportunity to bring someone / anyone into camp when Landy Cakes got hurt.  You chose Mastroeni, Bob.  He plays D-mid, just like your son, Edu, and Rico Clark who were already invited to camp.  I'm not real good at math, but that gives you 4 guys for one position - let's go ahead and say 2 since we all know you're gonna go with 2 D-mids.  Anyway, your forward options were Josh Kitten (unemployed), Nate Jaqua (unemployed), and EJ (Got ONE shot on goal this season for Fulham!  ONE!) and you brought in another D-mid who flew across the Atlantic to play 5 minutes.

Good luck against Argentina!!!

[RonBurgundy68]

EJ had a pretty decent game I thought... Should have put the header away to make it 1-0 off a great cross... But in my humble and honest opinion, the second Freddy stepped off the field, the game was over for the U.S...

But they looked alot better compared to the England game, great game by Howard and can't fault Guzan for the goal...

Idk I just have a bad feeling for the Argentina game, I forsee Messi with 2 goals... But nonetheless go USA!

[Bon_Mot]

EJ had a pretty decent game I thought... Should have put the header away to make it 1-0 off a great cross...

The fact that EJ played the entire game and his most memorable moment was a missed header from the 6 forces me to knock him.  I think everyone has figured out that this guy can't create his own shot unless you give him a lot of space.  What's his strongest attribute?  It's time to explore other options, in my opinion. 

[RonBurgundy68]

Yeah I know what you mean, just from what I seen atleast he played decently... Still not good enough though