US Soccer: Much, Much better!

[Bigdog13]

The center of our defense is stout. The wings are as weak as any in the world. Almost all of the goals we give up start on the wings, the left especially has been weak recently. There is a gap between our young players and our experience, there is talent there, but it just needs caps. It will get a good run here coming up.

Lee has the same problem Adu has, he will make an amazing play or have a great game and then disappear for long stretches on the international level.

I don't know what levels of local soccer some of you are watching either but having coached HS and club in Louisiana and Dallas I know we teach individual technical ability and we stress beating the first two defenders on the ball before passing unless you are truly able to disect the defense with a laser.

I wouldn't have taken Clint Dempsey off the field, and I am sure he is exhausted especially after such a great season at Fulham. Harkes overreacts, but his point about CD not hustling back on defense is true even when he is rested, it has been that way since HS. It's just part of his game.

I am talking about REC from ages 4-6 and Academy from 7-9 and Select from 9-10 and up. I am talking about Solar, The Dallas Texans, ect....

If you are teaching these things and you are placing your emphasis on player development rather than winning games than you should be congratulated because you are the exception rather than the rule.

I had a former ODP coach chastise my son for performing a brilliant stepover that completely froze the defender like he was standing in concrete, and in almost the same motion shoot a laser into the upper right corner of the net. He was told and I quote, "this game is close, now is not the time for "tricks"" I have seen a coach from one of the top-3 clubs in North Texas yank a kid off the field for taking on two defenders when there was an open pass (this was a 7 year old!!!) My son is 8 and I see this stuff all the time.

I saw a show where Arsenne Wenger (Arsenal) was talking about how in France they could care less about teaching 7-10 year olds tactics. It is ONLY about technical skills to them. He said that if a player isn't almost technically perfect by the time they are 14 he has no use for them. He said that at young ages youth should never be playing in tournaments and should mostly be playing small sided games. Fit a regular game in every once in a while. I think this is where we as a nation are failing are youth teams. We are too busy chasing trophies at the youth level. (I obviously don't mean you DallasDog but our youth system as a whole)

I hope you read all 5 parts of that link I posted. I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on it.

[jlam]

I totally agree with everything you posted. Bocanegra plays left back for his club so he would be just fine there. Spector has been VERY impressive also starts at right for an EPL team. There is you back line.

Beasley and Kljesten continue to play because while they are terrible they are very predicable which is what Bradley likes. Heaven forbid we start someone with some creativity like Feilhaber,Jose Torres or Freddy Adu.

One reason Donovan is looking so good is he is VERY hard to stop when he is coming at you full speed. He is much better attacking from the MF than he is from the Striker/Forward position.

I wouldn't let Eddie Johnston, Pierce, Beasley or Kljestan anywhere near the pitch.

Absolutely, and this was extremely evident on the one run he had early in the 2nd half I believe where he cut his way through about 5 Egyptian defenders on the full run and got into the box with only the keeper to beat. The ball got out in front of him a little far on his last touch and El Hadary came off his line quickly before Donovan could chip it over him, but it was a very impressive run nonetheless.

I do understand the defensive concerns Bradley may have if we start Adu/Torres/Feilhaber in place of either Clark (Jones once he's eligible) or Bradley, but if either Dempsey of Donovan are playing up top, there's no reason to not have one of those guys on the left wing (Torres and Adu are both natural lefties IIRC). FWIW though, I have no problem with the lineup Bradley played against Egypt. I'd have preferred someone other than Casey come in for possession at the end when we were in our "prevent" defense, but oh well.

[Bigdog13]

Absolutely, and this was extremely evident on the one run he had early in the 2nd half I believe where he cut his way through about 5 Egyptian defenders on the full run and got into the box with only the keeper to beat. The ball got out in front of him a little far on his last touch and El Hadary came off his line quickly before Donovan could chip it over him, but it was a very impressive run nonetheless.

I do understand the defensive concerns Bradley may have if we start Adu/Torres/Feilhaber in place of either Clark (Jones once he's eligible) or Bradley, but if either Dempsey of Donovan are playing up top, there's no reason to not have one of those guys on the left wing (Torres and Adu are both natural lefties IIRC). FWIW though, I have no problem with the lineup Bradley played against Egypt. I'd have preferred someone other than Casey come in for possession at the end when we were in our "prevent" defense, but oh well.

I think Ching would have come in instead of Casey, and there is a good chance Ching would have started.

I am very excited to see what Jones brings to the table. From the little I have seen and from what I have read I think he is a much better version of Ricardo Clark and I imagine he will take Clarks place in the starting lineup and Bradley will attack a little bit more. This would be a Bradley sort of move. (starting two more holding/defensive types of MF's together in the center of the pitch) I would rather see Feilhaber take one of the two CMF spots as he is a good passer and has good vision.

To me the situation at Goalie and Defense is pretty easy to pick.

Howard
Spector Demerit Gooch Bocanegra (LB is where Boca plays for Rennes)

I like Altidore up top. If you listen to our opponents talk about him they say he is EXTREMELY strong. He is still a teenager. He is going to be a beast and he only needs experience. Midfield and where everyone plays in the MF is much tougher to pick. Especially if Jones is as good as advertised. Maybe Donovan-Jones-Bradley--Dempsey
Then you bring in Torres and Adu when you need an offensive type sub on the outside ,Feilhaber when you need it in the middle and Clark if you need defense. Dempsey could also play up top with Altidore and you could put one of the kids in his spot. Bradley seems to REALLY like Ching though. So I think he will eventually be starting again.

[latech]

oh man, Casey - I don't understand why BRadley put Casey in the game. I didn't watch the second half of the US Brazil game, and one of my friend kept telling me how bad was that Casey guy in that game. He has no pace or ball skill.
So what happened to Ching?

[DallasDog]

I read the 5 part series when it came out and it has lots of valid points for about 85% of the clubs, rec, academy, in the U.S. I have set down with coaches from England and our Residency program before and talked about these things in depth.

The change has been on in the U.S. for about 5 years actually, but most coaches aren't physically skilled enough to handle the training on the pitch. There isn't so much a lack of talent or creative skill with the players in the U.S. but it is a lack of quality managers. Who was the coach of the Texas team (u can pm me if u want). Texans actually has a limited number of quality coaches and most are assigned to the red teams, after that it's the same ability that TFC, FC Dallas and the rest have.

Andromeda, Solar, and the quality Texans coaches are teaching and encouraging the the technical ability. It is evident in their play and the way they have dominated their respective age groups at nationals the last 3 years. (like I said it started about 5 years ago, and we are starting to see the results.)

A child should never be punished for a brilliant move, unless it leads to a give away. IF ANYTHING positive results in the move it should be encouraged and developed at game speed in training, with both feet!!!!!

The U.S. still has a long way to go. Bradley is caught in a bit of a void experience and skill wise with the national team right now. Arena caught a perfect storm in the U.S. with the group that he had and their development.

[jlam]

oh man, Casey - I don't understand why BRadley put Casey in the game. I didn't watch the second half of the US Brazil game, and one of my friend kept telling me how bad was that Casey guy in that game. He has no pace or ball skill.
So what happened to Ching?

Ching's injured. And him being so was fortunate, imo.

Not that I have anything specifically against Ching, he's pretty good at what he does (taking the ball down and drawing defenders with his back to goal), it's just that I don't think he's the future and that guys like Altidore and Davies are. The young guys need caps now to prepare for the future and if Ching was healthy I doubt Altidore would have seen much time at all this whole tournament.

Looking forward to the game today. Not that I think we're likely to pull a result, but I just want to see the mindset and style of play after the "bounceback" game. Do we fall right back into the slump from before?

[glm47]

Does anybody ever score in soccer?

[jlam]

No every game ends in a scoreless draw. There are no winners or trophies, just participation ribbons all adorned with the number 2 so that no one thinks they were in first.

I really don't understand the "no scoring" argument though. Would it make a football fan feel better if every goal counted for seven points and the final score was 21-7 instead of 3-1? Is it the number that bothers you?

[latech]

USA USA...Altidore just scored....hell yeah.

[dhussdawg]

USA USA...Altidore just scored....hell yeah.

Dempsey scores, 2 nada, USA.

[latech]

I'm shocked, my friends are all shocked, the whole world are shocked by the US tonight.

[dawg80]

HUGE win! Congrats to the US side!

The defense came up big, time and time again. Wow! 2-0. Un-frickin'-believable!


Gotta go back to the blog where the little faggot Spanish fans were predicting Spain to win 6-0. Hah! We got your 6-0, right here!

U S A !




P.S. Why is Conor Casey on this team? I could be more effective than him.

[dawg80]

http://sports.yahoo.com/

Altidore celebrates.... makes it 1-0 USA! in the 27th min

[dawg80]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/photo;_y...in_v_usa_f%3A1

Dempsey makes it 2-0 in the 74th min.

[Guisslapp]

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50032