World Cup: USA vs Ghana, 2:30pm 6/26.

• Laley23

  

  This one, is unfortunately, on Bradley. His starting lineup was piss poor and everyone knew it. He even knew it himself subbing Clark out after 30 minutes. Just terrible.
  
  We just dont have the depth at defense. Bocanegra and DeMerit as well as Cherundolo played solid tournaments, but it would be nice to give them rest. Cherundolo is also one of the worst crossers of the ball I have ever seen.
• hoops23

  

  I agree changes need to be made with the team itself.
  
  With that said, you can't be too disappointed. All that matters is you advance, not how you do it. A lot of teams had poor showings during group play and there were quite a few upsets in there as well.
  
  One thing that definitely needs addressed is defense. Early goals kill us (and would kill anybody for that matter)
• DeyDurkie5

  

  very disappointed, would've liked to at least won one of the knockout stages
• hoops23

  

  Laley23;402349 wrote:This one, is unfortunately, on Bradley. His starting lineup was piss poor and everyone knew it. He even knew it himself subbing Clark out after 30 minutes. Just terrible.
  
  We just dont have the depth at defense. Bocanegra and DeMerit as well as Cherundolo played solid tournaments, but it would be nice to give them rest. Cherundolo is also one of the worst crossers of the ball I have ever seen.

  
  I agree with this 100%
  
  Laley, what do you think of Bob Bradley? Who out there would be a better option right now? (not saying Bradley will be axed as coach, but just wondering)
  
  His selections and starting squads make me scratch my head at times. I also like how he's even second guessing himself during the post game interview.
• hoops23

  

  DeyDurkie5;402352 wrote:very disappointed, would've liked to at least won one of the knockout stages

  
  Yeah, I'm "disappointed" we didn't win a KO match, especially against Ghana, but with the overall picture I'm not "TOO" disappointed. I'm not happy either, though.
• Glory Days

  

  hoops23;402338 wrote:Yeah no shit, which is why I said our defends really needs to be looked at lol. Obviously Gooch wasn't 100% either.

  
  i would look at the offense too. we got shut out today. and half the other goals a 6 year old could have scored.
• mucalum49

  

  hoops23;402353 wrote:I agree with this 100%
  
  Laley, what do you think of Bob Bradley? Who out there would be a better option right now? (not saying Bradley will be axed as coach, but just wondering)
  
  His selections and starting squads make me scratch my head at times. I also like how he's even second guessing himself during the post game interview.

  
  Caleb Porter for 2014 U.S. head coach haha
• Mulva

  

  Glory Days;402355 wrote:i would look at the offense too. we got shut out today. and half the other goals a 6 year old could have scored.

  
  Agree again. Outside of Jozy, our strikers are abysmal.
  
  We have a great keeper and solid mids in my opinion. After that, there isn't much there. The defending is pitiful, and we might as well not even bring a 2nd forward with the team.
  
  I really hope Freddy Adu gets his shit back on track, because we could use a playmaker in the attack.
• NilesPacMan

  Laley23;402349 wrote:This one, is unfortunately, on Bradley. His starting lineup was piss poor and everyone knew it. He even knew it himself subbing Clark out after 30 minutes. Just terrible.
  
  We just dont have the depth at defense. Bocanegra and DeMerit as well as Cherundolo played solid tournaments, but it would be nice to give them rest. Cherundolo is also one of the worst crossers of the ball I have ever seen.

  Definitely agree. If anything, on that second goal, Bocanegra just seemed tired. He tried to play the man, trying to bump him, that's all. I think that Bradley made some bad mistakes with the lineup (Starting Findley and Clark and sitting Feilhaber), and that by the time we made the right changes, it was too late.
  
  In addition, we never make defensive substitutions, and maybe it was the fact we always needed a goal this tournament, but every single sub is for an offensive or defensive player. We can't just sub a defensive one that's hurting because we don't have anyone beyond our starters. It would have been nice to garner the win against Slovenia and possibly sit our defenders so that they could prepare for the next game, but that's just not gonna happen.
  
  Bradley, unfortunately, has done everything he can for the team, so I think it's time to say goodbye to the man. He did well, and at times, he had some great tactical moves, but in the end, he made some huge screw-ups that cost us. Now, who to replace him? I have no freaking clue, but I hope it's someone that teaches us better ball handling skills. One major problem I see with the US is that we play the ball long a lot instead of working it up and holding possession. It frustrates me to no end, and if we wanna move on as a soccer nation, we need to move past that fault.
  
  Lastly, it ticks me off that the referee had no control over the Ghanian flops at the end, and I know that's a lame excuse, I really do, and it's not like it would have helped us to win, but to see no yellow cards given out for delaying game sickens me. If there's anything about soccer I don't like, it's the fact that is discretionary to the referee about how much time is added on based on stoppage in the game.
• Laley23

  

  hoops23;402353 wrote:
  Laley, what do you think of Bob Bradley? Who out there would be a better option right now? (not saying Bradley will be axed as coach, but just wondering)
  

  
  Bradley should be gone. 8 years is too long to have a person coach a national team that is inconsistent like we are. The guys will get way to complacent and comfortable imo. It would be keeping Bruce Arena around for 2 WCs all over again. I would personally love to see us go hard after Jurgen Klinsman, if he is still wanting the job. Otherwise, I dont have any obvious choices, but Bradley needs to go not because he did a poor job with this team, because he did a ton of good but because unless you are dominating 8 years is WAY to long to keep a coach on board.
• hoops23

  

  Mulva;402358 wrote:Agree again. Outside of Jozy, our strikers are abysmal.
  
  We have a great keeper and solid mids in my opinion. After that, there isn't much there. The defending is pitiful, and we might as well not even bring a 2nd forward with the team.
  
  I really hope Freddy Adu gets his shit back on track, because we could use a playmaker in the attack.

  
  Yeah, Freddy really needs to get his shit together. I mean seriously, what happened to that dude?
• NilesPacMan

  Mulva;402358 wrote:Agree again. Outside of Jozy, our strikers are abysmal.
  
  We have a great keeper and solid mids in my opinion. After that, there isn't much there. The defending is pitiful, and we might as well not even bring a 2nd forward with the team.
  
  I really hope Freddy Adu gets his shit back on track, because we could use a playmaker in the attack.

  
  Well, this helps to show that we really did miss Charlie Davies. He wasn't the best striker, but one thing that he did was complement Altidore well. In the Confederations Cup, those two impressed me. Now, I didn't see much of the second half because I was coaching my own soccer game, but I had my mobile TV on me. It seemed like too many times, we'd hit the ball too far in front of us; whereas, we could have kept it closer and beat the keeper. Also, we hit at the keep way too often.
• Mulva

  

  Freddy just got put in an unfortunate situation. Hard to progress as a young player when you never get to play.
  
  I have high hopes for Jack McInerney too. Scored 11 goals in 15 appearances with the U-17 national team, and is already getting playing time in MLS with Philadelphia at age 17. Hopefully he stays on the fast track.
• Laley23

  

  So looking ahead, guys who will feature from this team:
  
  Howard
  Donovan (but at 32 wont have the pace he does)
  Dempsey
  Spector (but he got NO experience...ugh)
  Edu
  Altidore
  Feilhaber
  Bradley
  Gooch (at 32, this will be interesting)
  Bornstein
  
  Now, this is based purely on ages. I HOPE TO GOD some of them are overtaken by better talent, but I have doubts. What is terrifyingly absent is a forward outside of Altidore. Findley is only 28 next time, but he has a ton of work to do. If anything, youd think America would have more talented forwards. Adu really needs to progress, he will only be 25 next WC, and could really help shore up some creativity in our attack.
• Laley23

  

  Also, we really missed Davies, but I left him off cause hes got a lot to prove after that accident. Beasley never recovered from his injuries, so I hope Davies does.
  
  Adu got lost. He was expected to carry the USA and he is only 21 right now. We all just gave Jozy a pass for being 20, so lets not be contradicting and not give Freddy the same chances and excuses. He had a pretty damn solid year overseas.
• NilesPacMan

  Honestly, I think we need to find a coach very quickly because I think we should move to our next goal quickly, which should be to take the next Gold Cup for one sole reason: it gets us a birth in the next Confederations Cup. If anything, that experience last year helped slightly to get used to South Africa and have good games against some good competition. Now, I will admit that we didn't take all that we could have from it, and based on the result last year, we should have made it to QFs this year, but it's a very good experience.
• hoops23

  

  Laley23;402370 wrote:So looking ahead, guys who will feature from this team:
  
  Howard
  Donovan (but at 32 wont have the pace he does)
  Dempsey
  Spector (but he got NO experience...ugh)
  Edu
  Altidore
  Feilhaber
  Bradley
  Gooch (at 32, this will be interesting)
  Bornstein
  
  Now, this is based purely on ages. I HOPE TO GOD some of them are overtaken by better talent, but I have doubts. What is terrifyingly absent is a forward outside of Altidore. Findley is only 28 next time, but he has a ton of work to do. If anything, youd think America would have more talented forwards. Adu really needs to progress, he will only be 25 next WC, and could really help shore up some creativity in our attack.

  
  Dempsey will be 31 as well.
  
  I have faith in our youth development though and I think some of these guys will be overtaken by their younger counterparts.
• Al Capone

  Fucking embarrassing to lose to a third world country. This is why no respectable American gives a shit about this stupid sport.
• Glory Days

  

  Laley23;402370 wrote:So looking ahead, guys who will feature from this team:
  
  Howard
  Donovan (but at 32 wont have the pace he does)
  Dempsey
  Spector (but he got NO experience...ugh)
  Edu
  Altidore
  Feilhaber
  Bradley
  Gooch (at 32, this will be interesting)
  Bornstein
  
  Now, this is based purely on ages. I HOPE TO GOD some of them are overtaken by better talent, but I have doubts. What is terrifyingly absent is a forward outside of Altidore. Findley is only 28 next time, but he has a ton of work to do. If anything, youd think America would have more talented forwards. Adu really needs to progress, he will only be 25 next WC, and could really help shore up some creativity in our attack.

  
  damn, you are making me feel old now. i will be 31 next WC.
• hoops23

  

  Laley23;402371 wrote:Also, we really missed Davies, but I left him off cause hes got a lot to prove after that accident. Beasley never recovered from his injuries, so I hope Davies does.
  
  Adu got lost. He was expected to carry the USA and he is only 21 right now. We all just gave Jozy a pass for being 20, so lets not be contradicting and not give Freddy the same chances and excuses. He had a pretty damn solid year overseas.

  
  Very true, and I wasn't getting on Adu, but I'm obviously hoping he gets it together and can make the USMNT.
• newarkcatholicfan

  

  Soccer is almost bad as the fake wrestling that USA AND TNN show.
  
  Fake a injury to keep the clock running.
• Laley23

  

  hoops23;402375 wrote:Dempsey will be 31 as well.
  
  I have faith in our youth development though and I think some of these guys will be overtaken by their younger counterparts.

  
  But unlike Donovan, he doesnt have the tread on his tires. He should be good to go at 31 and might very well be our best player. At least, me projecting 4 years ahead would guess this to be the case at this point. I would like to see Dempsey and Donovan get a lot of time off during qualifying next time around (if possible) to keep them relatively fresh. I also hope they both are in England so that they cant get loaned out and have to play year round in 2 leagues ASAP (or in Dempseys case, continues) lol.
• rock_knutne

  USA needs to negotiate with Jurgen Klinsman again to be the next coach. Give him what he wants, including total control.......IMO he can build a really competitive side and give them a tactical edge.
• Laley23

  

  rock_knutne;402389 wrote:USA needs to negotiate with Jurgen Klinsman again to be the next coach. Give him what he wants, including total control.......IMO he can build a really competitive side and give them a tactical edge.

  
  Yep, that is exactly what I said. I dont understand the reluctance to give him total control. The guy isnt an idiot, its not like he ran Germany into the ground. He has shown he can coach, he wants to coach the USA, give it to him!!!!
  
  Although, he was pretty bad with Bayern in 08/09 haha. But shit, we need a guy who has been there and knows what the fuck soccer is about outside the USA.
• hoops23

  

  Yeah, Bob Bradley's time should be up.
  
  I agree that the US needs to give Jurgen Klinsman whatever he wants, why not? Quite frankly, I'm tired of the Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley's of the world manning this team. Don't get me wrong, Bob Bradley deserves a lot of credit, but ultimately his selections and starting line ups left me smh.