So I don't know if there could have been a bigger let down for me than when I sat down in front of the tv yesterday for what promised to be the first in a series of games to pump me up for the WC and we came out and played like the Aggie football team.

Now not only am I not too excited about Venezuela but also a lot more nervous and I don't like being nervous. I think I can only take so much of our offense looking anemic around the attacking third and failing to use anyone's speed (Beasley, Johnson) to stretch the defense. We have really found it hard the last 4 games to really put together anything solid much less magical in the attack but I guess that's what these games are for.

Jon O'Brien eased my mind a bit as I can see that the spark we need on offense may lie in his left boot, but still I feel the growing twinge that eventually will turn into an ulcer around midnight June 11.

The Reyna injury will hurt us also, I fully expect him to play in all of our WC games but really think that he needs to be out there these last two games and making these guys realise that now is the time to play. Its really hard to find a substitute for someone who's been on 4 WC squads and is your captain, I just think its gonna take something really special now for us to exit the group stage with a hotel ticket instead of a plane ticket.

As Arena has said before, he had them overtrained coming into this game. If you have played the sport before, you would know that it's pretty hard to play well on dead legs. We did create some good chances and just couldn't finish. I also noticed that we were not running through 50/50 balls and shying away from a lot of tackles. Probably on instruction from Bruce Arena to play safe.

Yes I have played the game before, and quite often. Our combination play was not good and there is no need for us to be taking 4-8 touches on the ball before passing. Nobody was looking up field and our offense suffered from a lack of movement with and without the ball. I hope us training for a whole two weeks doesn't affect us this much cause 3 games in 5 days is going to be a lot more grueling than any training session we've been through in Cary. If we play this bad cause we have tired legs then we don't have much to look forward to after playing Czeska. Croatia has trained the same amount as we have and had 21 players finish their season just two weeks ago but if you watched their game you will see that there is a difference in playing tired and playing with no purpose.
Of course we're not going after 50/50 balls and not getting a foot in on a lot of balls, hence the name friendly. Going after those balls isn't going to improve the fluidity or creativity on offense, its not like our possession was lacking, just our purpose in front of goal. Slice it any way you want, with a B team we should compete with Mo Rocca but with all of our internationals together we should not have a game come down to the wire.
There's only so many games where we can say that we had good chances and didn't finish them, that's what separates us from being a truly competitive team.

[This message has been edited by riley290 (edited 5/24/2006 12:09p).]

Starting Wolff up front isn't a very good way to get goals.

I wasn't saying you didn't play but you must realise that the first thing to suffer under fatigue is your touch. I agree that we had too many touches between passes but many of the passes were just poor. Instead of the balls being in stride, the receiver was either put in an awkward position over the ball or an extended position reaching for the ball.

Fatigue shouldn't be an excuse for the uninspired performance but it really looked like they didn't have much in the tank against a young Morroccan team trying to impress a coach for future competition...ie something to play for vs nothing to play for

I think the team will get better and better as camp goes on. We have to trust Arena. He has not given us any reason not to.

Touch doesn't account for lack of passing ability or willingness to move with your partner. I agree that they had short legs but if the NFL season was three games long and then you moved into the playoffs I'm pretty sure you'd be a little more concerned with the lack of passion and uninspired moves our offense displayed. It also doesn't account for our inability to score goals through the last 3 months. You can call it being tired or you can call it a trend. I think if you give everyone 4 days rest and then send that team out there again we still struggle to score goals. It has been evident in our last 4 matches, but I guess we should be proud of our 1-0 victory over Poland and our 1-1 tie with Jamaica. I apologize for having an opinion, figured I'd try to get some discussion going on the game I love, guess I'm an idiot.

Damn, dude. Nobody called you an idiot. You said you wanted to generate discussion and you got some. Don't take it so personally when someone doesn't agree with you. I don't think Sooner was attacking you personally.

I didn't think I was upset, sorry, dark sense of humor.

And if you don't think we have anything to play for and Mo Rocca does, just remember that they don't play in another tourney until 2008 while we have some little shindig comming up on the 12th of June. Some of these guys better come out to play or they're going to have a lot of pictures of all their friends out on the field.

[This message has been edited by riley290 (edited 5/24/2006 2:29p).]

Riley, like tool, I don't see anything wrong with Sooner's comments. Maybe you took them the wrong way.

I have not finished watching the game..I taped it..but I am really dissappointed in a loss to Morocco. Will give my two cents after I finish watching the game.

you posted your response before I finished mine..

[This message has been edited by randy828 (edited 5/24/2006 2:32p).]

nm

[This message has been edited by riley290 (edited 5/24/2006 2:37p).]

A few observations...

I have a man-crush on John O'Brien...there I said it. His vision and creativity from the midfield isn't matched by any other player on the roster. Please stay healthy.

Was very surprised at how defensive the starting 11 was. Gibbs at LB instead of Lewis (although I understand Lewis just played Sunday), and Beaseley and Wolff played on the wings but I often say them tracking waaaay back on defense to the point that it resembled a 4-5-1 as opposed to a 4-3-3.

Don't think you'll see much of the 3-5-2 anymore unless it's late game and we need a goal. Without a true LB and our defensive strength being in the middle, it would leave us very vulnerable in my opinion.

I want to see Ching and McBride start together up top next game. I know it's unorthodox to use 2 target forwards but they would be tough for any defense to handle if they play to their ability. Both are great in the air, can hold possession, and make smart passes to players coming out of midfield. McBride and Helguson played together a lot for Fulham and it worked pretty damn well.

--------------------------------------------------
"The rest of the world will be rooting for the U.S. to fall flat on its face. Tell your soccer-hating friends that if they couldn't care less about how the U.S. does in these games, they are right in line with the French."

Page 2 writer Michael Davies

Im guessing riley is hinting at something that i have noticed alot when i watch the USMNT...even against inferior teams during qualifying we fail to string together quality balls. How many times have you watched us play a team like guatamala and we just look pathetic attacking the goal but win nonetheless. I think the problem is an over inflation in the worth of our team by finishing first in concacaf. Im not saying we suck but i havent really ever seen a great sense of fluidity in our game. We usually beat good teams (like mexico and portugal in the WC four years ago) with pure hard work and effort. That seriously worries me with this semi-group of death that we are in. I think we can grind out wins against the likes of ghana but it will be tough to grind out a game against italy and the czech. These maybe the two best teams the USMNT will have ever faced in heavy competition.

I hope in these next two games we can find an identity and a style that we can force on the game instead of just reacting to what we get.

well i watched the game and thought we did pretty well for the situation. yes the loss sucks and the giveaway by churny was inexcusable. but remeber it is a friendly, not a WC match. Bruce was trying out the players and seeing how everyone works, looking at the mechanics. i wouldnt be surprised to see 2 more entirely different lineups in the next 2 games. just to look. before the match bruce said he didnt care much about the outcome.
i thought that overall we were the better team on the field. one slip up and we lost. onvisouly that cant happen in the WC if we want to get out of group, but the were in their side of the field more often then not and made some decent chances against a 9-1 formation.
the passes should be alot crisper and cleaner and the services were a tad off, but i think it will all come out well

Good points by all and I definitely wasn't attacking you Riley

I think it's a vaild point that we had a couple of guys in there who probably won't start...and Gibbs who really isn't a left back looked uncomfortable the whole game.

I think we should also realize that Morrocco did play most of the game with 9 behind the ball and I don't care who you are, it's damn near impossible to score with a team packing the back like that.

What really concerns me is the counter attacks we gave up late in the game. The other stuff is moderately excusable, the counter attacks are absolutely not.

Our counter attacks are weak and another part of our game that will make our defense sweat because teams will not be afraid to come out swinging with multiple players around the 35 yard area, which means if we can get it together and get on the move we can exploit that, I just hope that we can make their defense and central midfielders respect that or we may see the likes of gooch and pope go down with cards.

Another area we need to emphasize heavily that was less than lackluster this game was our crossing. With some big targets we really need someone to use some speed to open the defense and create space by pushing down the wing making a defender come out. Obviously our most proven goalscorer in top flight competition is McBride so we need to get him the ball, he probably won't score that much, but I don't think anyone here would be opposed to seeing donovan connecting on some laid off balls.

The crossing was definitely lacking. That's where putting someone like Convey or Dempsey out on the right or having Eddie Lewis attack from the back is so deadly. Especially Lewis, he is a fantastic crosser of the ball.

Ok, the thread title is bugging me. Mo Rocca the comedian? What's his connection to soccer? I love soccer and think Mo is hilarious, but have no idea what you're talking about.

I am guess it's just a play on words. What is Reyn(a)

I do have to say that the chip O'Brien did to Donovan was a thing of beauty and maybe it was the dead legs that Donovan did not get to the ball better and finish? I can't wait to see a healthy, rested full squad take on Czech.

The funny thing is Reyna kind of looks like Mo Rocca.

quote:

---

I do have to say that the chip O'Brien did to Donovan was a thing of beauty and maybe it was the dead legs that Donovan did not get to the ball better and finish? I can't wait to see a healthy, rested full squad take on Czech.

---

It was a thing of beauty. Donovan looked like he pulled up to avoid a collision with the keeper that probably should have been there but wasn't. Understandable in a friendly but if he does that in the WC that's a different story.

He didn't get the break on the ball he wanted anyway, no reason to go feet first into the keeper in our first warm-up match, good decision by Landon.

Also, great to hear that Reyna has no serious injuries, hopefully he can work out that tightness before too long. I think it really showed how much we need him to set up the offense after he left the morocco.

Sorry about the mo rocca thing, play on words, when I was in spain that's what we called them and all of the marruecos hated it.

My friend just reminded me that just before the last WC, the US lost to Holland at home 2-0 just before leaving for Korea. This should help put a bit of perspective on things.

Yes, but we actually didn't play horribly against Holland. Besides...Morocco is no Holland.

That said, I'm not overly concerned...yet.

But point being friendlies aren't the World Cup. I am just worried about the 2nd forward to compliment McBride. EJ looks horrible, Wolff isn't it, Ching would be alright but not a fantastic partner to McBride. I am hoping Arena gives Dempsey a shot up top...either in camp or in one of these games. He might be a nice speed compliment to McBrides size and possesions qualities.

Or we could send Landon up top. If he's not coming back and demanding the ball or running at the defenders with the ball at his feet it may help to put him closer to the goal and hope he creates something up there. I agree that the second striker position concernse me most of all

I think Dempsey is better served in right midfield. The big question is will Arena let him start there or will he come on as a sub. Wouldn't surprise me if he started there as Arena isn't exactly opposed to giving first timers a start in their opening WC game.

As far as forwards go, EJ looked better to me against Morocco. He played like he actually cared for the first time in a long time although if anyone saw the SportsCenter Total Access piece, Arena wasn't too pleased. He called out EJ in front of the entire team (asked him something to the effect of "Did you pressure the ball or get a foul even once?" ). For Ching, this next game will say wonders about his chances of being a contributor in Germany. He was tearing up MLS early this year but that doesn't always translate into national team success...he's proven that before. That said, several articles I read commented on both he and EJ's form during training camp and the reports were very promising. We shall see I suppose. If Reyna is healthy and none of the aforementioned impress in the next two games, you can bank on seeing Landon next to McBride come June 12th.

[This message has been edited by Dre_00 (edited 5/25/2006 2:46p).]

quote:

---

I have a man-crush on John O'Brien...there I said it. His vision and creativity from the midfield isn't matched by any other player on the roster. Please stay healthy.

---

I second this - O'Brien may end up being the single most important player on our team in this WC.

I third it but I think it's his hair for me. Nothing screams soccer player like long flowing locks tied down by a shoelace or some prewrap.

quote:

---

O'Brien may end up being the single most important player on our team in this WC.

---

Im going to have to save this honor for the big balding dude in the net. He was easily the best american soccer play on the planet for the last 2.5 years

You beat me to it Rice. I second the Keller nomination. With him in goal, we have chance to beat anybody in world.

O'Brian and Convey are our life-line in mid-field. O'Brian at Mid (or on a pitch) is SUBLIME. His touch is without rival. He crosses the ball over defenses as easy as I cross the street. Convey will be the Landon of '06, maybe not in goals or assists, but is what he does for the team.


PS- I said in earlier threads that 'dolo scares me. WELL, HE'S WHY WE GAVE UP A GOAL! An' now that Gibbs is out, we're short on the back line. WTF!!?!!

Dolo made a terrible mistake, but he's still head and shoulders above anyone else we have available to play right back. I am still confident that he will be a standout in the tournament.

I say just go with the three big defensive players in gooch, pope, and hopefully bocanegra and just play two defensive midfield type players ahead of them like lewis and pablo...I dont know if dolo is head and shoulders above anyone...he is the type of guy who looks great in 89 mins of every game but is almost guarenteed to make one huge error per game that will likely lead to a goal...seems like he has a distaste for the professional foul to stop the breakaway

quote:

---

I say just go with the three big defensive players in gooch, pope, and hopefully bocanegra and just play two defensive midfield type players ahead of them like lewis and pablo...I dont know if dolo is head and shoulders above anyone...he is the type of guy who looks great in 89 mins of every game but is almost guarenteed to make one huge error per game that will likely lead to a goal...seems like he has a distaste for the professional foul to stop the breakaway

---

Gotta say I disagree with pretty much that entire post. A back-line of Gooch, Pope, and Bocanegra would be slow as hell and would contribute nothing to the attack. I see that backline getting picked apart on the flanks. In addition, I wouldn't call Lewis defensive minded or put him at d-mid. He's an excellent crosser and a great attacking player.

In regards to Cherundolo, I agree that he seems to have the occasional brain freeze. That said, who would you rather have at RB? Albright? You don't start in the Bundesliga by being incompetent.

--------------------------------------------------
"The rest of the world will be rooting for the U.S. to fall flat on its face. Tell your soccer-hating friends that if they couldn't care less about how the U.S. does in these games, they are right in line with the French."

Page 2 writer Michael Davies