Photo by ISIphotos.com
When Carlos Costly's fifth-minute strike gave Honduras an early lead on Saturday, U.S. men's national team fans had the scary feeling that they were in for a repeat performance of Wednesday's awful loss to Costa Rica.
The U.S. team didn't let that happen.
Instead of folding to an early goal as they did on Wednesday, the United States stepped up and delivered a gutsy comeback that rejuvenated its World Cup qualifying hopes and gave several young players the chance to impress.
Landon Donovan's penalty kick tied things up before halftime, then Carlos Bocanegra headed home a Clint Dempsey header for the game-winning goal.
The victory moves the United States into second place in the CONCACAF Hexagonal qualifying group, two points behind first-place Costa Rica (which won at Trinidad & Tobago, 3-2, on Saturday) and five points ahead of El Salvador, which defeated Mexico, 2-1, on Saturday night in San Salvador. Mexico now sits fifth overall, a point behind fourth-place Honduras and a point ahead of last-place Trinidad & Tobago.
What did you think of the U.S. team's victory? Which players impressed you the most? Are you looking forward to Confederations Cup again? Are you still not happy with the U.S. national team?
Share your thoughts below.
I have no problem with Adu being left out of the full roster, but not with Torres. The one guy who played with a cool head in CR (after an admittedly bad start) is left out? As a Fire fan I will always appreciate what Bob did, but I’m really starting to question his thinking. Maybe Nowak was his voice of reason.
For awhile the team has been slow getting out of the gate, but more evident in Bob’s reign has been after half time.
I’m surprised he tried the 4-3-3 against CR. What, has he been reading postings here and on BigSoccer?
I’m wondering if Adu has a better shot of making the Nats if he returned to MLS, or maybe Holland or a a second-tier Spanish club?
Oh yeah. Watching the EGY-ALG game. Y’know. For scouting purposes. Because I believe that what I write here influences Bob’s decisions.
Anyway, EGY looks a LOT like US. Mistakes in midfield lead to unnecessary chances and allow a (seemingly) less talented Algerian team to go up 2-0 AT Egypt.
All is not lost at Confed Cup, and other teams have similar issues.
Andrew, saying the difference between the United States and Russian teams is only the coach is ignorant. Yuri Zhirkov, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Andrei Arshavin, Konstantin Zyryanov, and Igor Akinfeev would all (except for maybe Akinfeev) be able to walk into our starting lineup easily. I agree that Bob Bradley is not the answer and we need a European coach…but saying that we are equal to as powerful as a team like Russia is stupid.
For the first time in my memory, Donovan tried to impose his will and creativiy on a match. He repeatedly created troubles for Los Catrachos along the left flank, and his work rate was also impressive.
Dempsey must be credited for the header that led to the game-winner, and for his marvelous back-heel that sprung Spector (?) into the area, but his costly (no pun intended) error was another instance of his favorite play – dribble into pressure and fall down. He remains the biggest mystery of the team for me. He seems to overthink things insead of letting his instincts take over.
I credit Bradley for abandoning the silly 4-3-3 experiment and for whatever he did he did to transform Wednesday’s lethargic and passive squad into an aggressive, attacking team. Even Onyewu was spotted on the attack at times.
With a rotation that includes Hejduk, Cherundolo, Spector, Bornstein, and Demerit, I like the way the backs are shaping up.
Chicago metro pop: 9.3 Million
Honduras NATIONAL pop: 7.1 Million
Those of us in California would LOVE to be there in person to ride with Sam’s Army. But if we can’t get enough people out to watch our team in an American city like Chicago which is larger than the entire nation of HON, then we have a right to complain.
Which is NOT to say that USMNT should come to Fresno (my HmTwn). Bulldog stadium would be a great venue…but we’d be drowned out again. Every futbol watching spanish speaker I know has their national origin team first, USMNT second. Nice sentiment, but…
After seeing people say Adu should be starting on Big Soccer and here, I am starting to believe in a conspiracy of an “Adu posse” of friends trying to influence Bob Bradley’s decision making.
Adu didn’t even touch the starting lineup and is not battle ready to be a starter for the USMNT. He has a lot to prove.
I’m sick of hearing everyone complain that Hondurans outnumbered American fans. If it is that big of a deal to you, why weren’t you there? Plenty of those Honduran fans took days off work and came from as far or farther away than you. It’s going to continue to happen for years in the US because we have a multitude of sporting and recreational options that are a higher priority than WCQ- like logging onto SBI and complaining that other people didn’t buy the tickets you passed on as well.
Good News: We will qualify for 2010
Bad News: We will do f–k all when we get there.
@ Robert,
There are almost NO Hondurans in Chicago. All of the fans there were from elsewhere, I saw plates from Georgia, Mississippi, New York, etc. on cars with Honduran fans.
Columbus or New York would bring them only closer to the main East Coast Honduran population (51k in New York alone), and Seattle or Salt Lake would bring them closer to the California population (62k). The northern Midwest is actually the furthest away we would go except for Alaska and Hawaii.
Posted by: Will | June 07, 2009 at 03:57 AM
I don’t know where you get this crap from but Chicago’s Honduran community is fairly large and active. There are actual Honduran restaurants in the city, so I think that kills your idea of almost NO Hondurancs in Chicago. Hell, there’s even a Honduran Soccer League in the city.
Brooklyn: you should see Rossi’s first Italian goal, then, scored this weekend…
7 – Howard – Couldnt have done anything on the goal,came up big a couple of other times
8 – Gooch – the man.
8 – Boca – He is the captain of this team,just look at the goal he scored.
7 – Lando – crossing was terrible.scored though and had a couple of good runs
5 – Jozy – Gave it 100 percent but didn’t do much out there
4 – Casey- Connor who? should NOT of started, Sean Monaghan 1 bob bradley 0
7- Clark – great passing,cleared one off the line,one of the best players on the field
3 – Mastro- what does he do again to keep on getting called up?
7 – Spector – classy performance from the hammer,should be starting in the Confeds.
8 – Fielhaber – made a huge impact,the change bob bradley got right…dempsey should have burried that great pass
6 – Bornstein -Not bad from Johnny B
4 – Demps – Does too much pointless stuff,gave away a goal, didnt do much the entire match. somewhat made up for it by heading Bocas goal back into the middle.
7 – DeMerit – solid performance when Boca came out,looks like the 3rd best back for sure,has the heart.
4 – DMB – you frustrate me.
6 – Coach Bob Bradley- What got me mad : no torres and adu, and also Casey starting. What i liked….Benny coming on,the heart this team showed
while you folks are still fussing over the WQ game I am looking at Italy and N.Ireland. Who is gonna stop Foggia on our left side? And Rossi? those problems should keep BB awake for the next 10 days.
it wasn’t an obvious goal scoring opportunity. had that ball been going in the back of the net, and not to Donovan’s feet, then it is an obvious goal scoring opportunity. hence the caution, not the sending off.
benny impressed like i figured he would, but i couldn’t believe the absence of torres. and damn, Dempsey is a lazy SOB. too many showboat type moves, he needs to get back to what got him into the fulham lineup. i feel bad saying that since he is my fave nat player.
It looked like the ref booked a Honduran for arguing, as Honduras don’t have names on their kits. But, whatever, how about just 1 replay of the offside? ussoccer.com has a highlight package and they don’t even show it. There were stoppages in the 2nd half like Borenstein’s cramp where ESPN could have showed a replay, but they didn’t
Stanley,
I’m pretty sure that a yellow card was issued for the hand ball in the box. I remember because I was screaming for red, which it should have been. Donovan would most likely have had a point blank open look.
BTW Stanley Villa, no need for a DVR – just go to ESPN360 – you can see the full match on replay for a day or two.
“the Honduran defender was neither sent-off nor booked.”
Uhh, Stanley Villa, Mario Beata got a card for the handball. Look at the match report – the card came in the 41st minute, the goal in the 43rd. Visual proof – check out the ESPN360 video at 45 mins.
If and when we are healthy and card free, we have a decent team. we are still years away from being world class and competing for a world cup.
F-Jozy, Ching, Davies
MD-Demps,LD, BF, Adu, Bradley, Edu, Clark,
D-Gooch, Boca, Bornstein, Dolo, Spector, Hijack, Demerit,
G-Howard, Guzan
Beas(turnover prone) and Mastro(to slow) are done.
I think Bradley is an OK coach but we need a real tactician in order to improve. i see what capello has done with england, a squad that had talent but no cohesiveness and he has made them a team to beat. Bradley’s abilities or lack of them can be seen in the last 2 games where we have given up early goals. the team isn’t ready early in games and that can be the downfall for us in the confed cup and WC.
Lets hope we have a good showing at Azteca and get at least a point.
In defense of BB, he put Beasley in as a left mid and slid Dempsey up top. When Bornstein went down with cramps he put Dempsey back at the mid and Bornstein up top with Beasley in the back. Who wants to take a chance with a back playing with cramped legs?
———ching—————–
—————landon———-
——torres——benny——–
——bradley——edu———
spector—boca—gooch—–dolo
————-howard————
bench: guzan, demerit, hedjuk, clark, dempsey, adu, altidore
I hope all of you are joking when you say to bench donovan. Donovan is and has been the best offensive player US has ever produced. Therefore, he has the right to tell bradley where he can help the team the most which is behind the strikers.
Brett,
“””Honduras didn’t argue”””
The Honduras dude went ballistic, what the heck are you talking about. That play should have been replayed like ESPN replays one of those NFL challenges, reverse angle, slow mo, up, down, give me a break, and I don’t care what Harkes said, I wasn’t watching ESPN.
“””it (the handball) denied a clear scoring chance for Donovan”””
Really? You’re the one that need brushing up on the laws and I’ll tell you why. I know for a fact right now that you’ve never reffed a game in your life with a comment like that. If the handball denied a goal, then it’s an automatic red card against Honduras and a penalty to USA.
A yellow card and the penalty would have been warranted had it been a deliberate handball that gave an advantage to Honduras (lesser offense than denying a goal), but, alas, the defender wasn’t even booked.
Thus, we can only conclude that the ref made a huge mistake and the proof is that the Honduran defender was neither sent-off nor booked.
And, yes, I’m taking the giant leap that Mexico will beat T & T and us in their next 2 home games.
I know this will harken back to 1998, but let’s play to the strengths we do have.
I’m suggesting a 4-5-1.
———-Altidore—————
LD———————-Demps
—–BF/JFT——–MB——-
————–Edu—————
Spec–Boca—Gooch–Dolo
———–Timmy—————
Plenty of service there for Jozy. Keep LD and Demps playing the whole field on the wing, switching sides From time to time.
MB and BF/JFT are plenty creative, let them play.
That back 6 looks VERY solid to me. That group alone could keep a side from EPL relegation.
One more note. If you can’t spell the names to begin with, it doesn’t make it funny when you play with words, only sad. (No @Athority, not a dig at you.)
Peace out. Be Champions.
I don’t understand all these people that want Adu to start. He’s on loan because he wasn’t playing for Benfica. He’s not playing for the team he’s loaned out to, Monaco. But his supporters on this site want him to start for the national team and some of you fools want to start him up top with Altidore who is also not starting for his club. I like both players, both show potential. But how is it possible that players who are not playing with their clubs should be starting with the national team? You folks need to quit drinking the kool-aid. Adu has potential, he’s shown that. But he sucked with D.C., and with Real, and he’s not playing for Benfica or Monaco yet you want him to start for the national team. Be happy he even gets a call into camp to train. BB was right not to have him on the bench. When he’s playing regularly with his club and show’s he’s deserved a call up then bring him in to camp. Until then he’s another EJ over rated. DMB also fits into the EJ category. He’s not playing with his club, he’s over rated, and should not be on the team. In my opinion one of the best players in this country not called into camp is Steve Ralston. He deserves to be on this team and should be starting over Dempsey.
No one seems to be talking about this…Conor Casey’s unmarked, terrible volley at around 10 yards that he blasted over the net. I know it was a tough volley, but if you put it on the frame from that range, it’s more than likely in the net. Weak sauce.
Well, at least the boys showed heart.
I hope we can score a goal during the run of play in South Africa. That would be nice.
Soccer Guru-
Doesn’t sound like you are actually a guru… actually it sounds like you don’t know very much at all. Yes Honduras was missing two players, but the US was missing at least 3 potential starters as well, so your point there is just worthless. Not to mention that you said Honduras was probably not going to qualify for the world cup, well the last time I checked they are in great shape to do so, especially after Mexico lost to El Salvador. So with that being said, please don’t make another stupid comment.
People also need to stop with the fire Bob Bradley comments. I mean look, if we knew that Guus Hiddink would become the coach immediately after we fired Bradley, it would probably take less than a second to do so. However, that not being the case and no actual great candidates for replacement being readily available, Bob Bradley is pretty much the best and maybe only option outside of another similar coach.
Howard= good job
Spector= very impressed
Gooch= dominated
Boca= played extremly well
Bornstein= played very well, will improve
Mastroeni= had problems, time for new guys
Clark= showed he deserves to be in the mix
Donovan= showed more passion this time
Dempsey= improved a little
Altidore= Gettin better game by game, after inactivity.
Casey= Job well done, very mobile
Demerit= good job replacing Boca
Feihalber= Excellent, hopefully keeps it up
Beasely= ok at Mid but no more LB
One thing you didn’t see on TV was the west stands, which were almost all US fans – the north and east sides of the stadium were packed with Honduras fans, to be sure, but because the primary cameras were on the west side of the stadium the US fans didn’t show up as much except when the cameras were trained on the south side and Sam’s Army.
“Honduras were called offside around the 60th minute, dude was clear in with the ball under control and Howard in no man’s land….no replay during the game nor have I seen one in the post-game. It didn’t look offside to me during the run of play and the flag was very late.”
[b]I thought it looked tight and we played the trap. Harkes was convinced it was offside and Honduras didn’t argue. That was why a replay was not shown.[/b]
“As to the penalty that killed Honduras, the ref didn’t give it, the linesman did. As a ref myself, I wouldn’t have given it as the defender never saw it, clearly ball to hand.”
[b]Clearly not, actually, and either way, it denied a clear scoring chance for Donovan who was all over the ball and was onside when it was played. The ball had beaten the man and the only reason it did not continue on it’s path to Landon was because of a hand to the ball. Kindly check the rules of the game and you’ll see this is not allowed.[/b]
“The only reason we looked semi-coherent in the 2nd half last nite was because of the absence of Lil Mikey, but he will be back and startin’ the rest of the way, you know it.”
[b]Now you’re just trolling. The team certainly looked cohesive against Mexico, when Mikey played the full 90. That’s a weak argument.[/b]
“BTW, the current table doesn’t list that everybody has a game in hand on us and CR. Mexico has 3 of their tough away games out of the way and will be on 9 pts after round 6, that’s 1 behind us.”
[b]You’re giving Mexico the benefit of the doubt to the tune of 2 wins in 2 games and assuming they’ll get the full 3 against us. If Jamaica can beat them, we certainly can. This is not the Mexico team of old we are talking about. They have a lot of issues, the least of which is a huge psychological disadvantage.[/b]
First!
Spector should never be removed from RB again. While not fast is intelligent and positions himself well. Adds much to the attack and unlucky to get a goal.
Feilhaber added much to the attack and was a game changer
Altidore tons of hustle. LAndy stepped it up.
Bornstein energetic but still questionable defensively.
Ricardo Clark takes to long with his touches rather see Torres EDU or Feilhaber.
Maestroni sucks and should never be called up again.
Casey while more energetic than Ching didnt add much and got pushed off the ball.
HAHHAHAHAH to Mexico!! who woulda thought bringing in over the hill players wouldnt help your team?
K1p
“””Stanley, I never saw an camera angle that would convince me one way or the other.”””
Me neither, but why haven’t we? No replay of a crucial call??? That is unsporting at the least and possibly the invisible hand of Jack Warner and the FED at the worst. That call turned the game on a dime, Honduras never were the same until extra time.
Anybody have the game on DVR?
If I were picking the MNT, talent and nous/brains first, youth second would be the measures… that means 2nd tier Europe players (yes, you gotta play for fitness sake) >= MLS … It is a profession over there…real competition, real brains at all times … No other sport matters there…that alone “eat/sleep football” is invaluable.
Travelling Party – 25: remember in WCs you can now dress all the squad (why is it that change comes slowly to in Jack W’s dirty corner of football I dunno? we only just got road goals this yr)
Alpha order, not starters…and by area of pitch…formation TBD
GK – 3: Guzan, Howard, and or mid 20 MLS sleeper (Busch, Pickens) sorry Marcus H., time moves but you go only if Timmy or Brad G (if only F) can’t
CB – 5 or 4: Boca, Demerit, Gooch, Parkhurst (see Fabio Cannavaro for small man approach to the dark art), AND Gibbs (talent but the injuries) MLS sleeper TBN or Jimmy Conrad (only decent back in 07 Copa)
Outside Backs 4 or 5 – Dolo, Spector, plus two “Anybody but Bornstein” (current candidates inc. Hedjuk, Pearce, Simek,
BUT, the total of 9 … perhaps with a flex guy like Spector (CB in a pinch b/c he’s smart…)
Middle – 5: Bradley, Clark, Edu , Feilhaber, Towers (aka Torres)
Wide Men – 4: Dempsey, Donovan, 2 MLS Options (Alvarez, Arnaud, Davis, Holden, sleepers who emerge in ConFed Cup)…we need service!!!!
Central Attack 4 – Adu, Altidore, Ching, plus TBN out of Cooper, Davies…
@ AlexS
Like the thought process
Stanley, I never saw an camera angle that would convince me one way or the other. Calls go both ways, as in the case of the no call push down in the box prior to the “ball to hand” call we got lucky with.
I would love to see a few good run in to scores by the Nat’s. Scoring on set plays is good, but come on guys. Demps should have connected on that one but his all around hustle mostly made up for the give away and miss.
I dont understand why people are waiting for Edu to come back. He is a MB. We dont need two of them in the middle of the park. I want him back, but as a sub for MB. MB, ME, & RC are good at getting up and down park with MB being the best of the three.
We need to have a BF, JT, or FA step up to pair with MB or one of the others. Without that, you have no creavity or someone to hold, distribute, and pick teams apart with the ball.
As we saw with CR and the field. Those guys running the mid-field just gas everyone out.
JT & BF are almost there. They do a nice job at running around to fill gaps, keep the triangles tight, and are able to get out in a jam to switch the field of play. We still had too many people watching the game with the fans. Or moving just to be moving, not wanting the ball.
BB, did a better job. Lets see how good he is? He keeps with LD on the free kicks after two games, I have some serious questions. Not that its the only problem, but an easy one to pick out. Adjustments have to be made. LD is not your captain or leader, never will be. He is a good player that we need, that is all.
By the Way how good would a Rossi Altidore front line be
Honduras were called offside around the 60th minute, dude was clear in with the ball under control and Howard in no man’s land….no replay during the game nor have I seen one in the post-game. It didn’t look offside to me during the run of play and the flag was very late.
As to the penalty that killed Honduras, the ref didn’t give it, the linesman did. As a ref myself, I wouldn’t have given it as the defender never saw it, clearly ball to hand.
Still 3 away games to play, away to Honduras (L), Mexico (L) and T & T (?), with only 2 comfy, home games left against the Ticos and a bunkering, battling El Salvador. So, go ahead and pop the champagne corks, but this campaign still has a long way to go. The only reason we looked semi-coherent in the 2nd half last nite was because of the absence of Lil Mikey, but he will be back and startin’ the rest of the way, you know it.
BTW, the current table doesn’t list that everybody has a game in hand on us and CR. Mexico has 3 of their tough away games out of the way and will be on 9 pts after round 6, that’s 1 behind us.
I can’t believe there are actually some people who think Conor Casey had even a “decent” game. He was AWFUL.
What has happened to Clint Dempsey since the end of the EPL season? He was all over the place in both games and wasn’t dangerous at all. Other than having the crucial play-back that led to the winning goal, he was pretty bad.
Our “stacked” midfield is now looking like more chances for coaching indecision. I still think Torres/Feilhaber (same role) and Edu/Bradley (same role) is the best combination but Clark made his argument to be added in to the Edu/Bradley spot. And we all know Kljestan is going to get every chance to fill in at the Torres/Feilhaber spot. But a guy like Pablo has no business on this team. If McBride can’t get a call-up over a guy like Conor Casey, what business does Mastroeni have being there?
The reality of it all is that Bob likes to play conservative and we simply need to stop waiting for the day were he will put a creative team on the field. And for all of those who are criticizing the empty bucket formation you must realize that with the right fulbacks it is incredibly effective. If i were ADU i would have played for ghana. Bob’s Ideal line-up for SA 2010 is as follows
—–Altidore————-
————-Ching——-
————————
LANDY————-Demps
————————
——-MB—————
————–Edu——-
Specs—————-Dolo
——Boca—Gooch——
———————–
——–Timmy———-
Which to be honest is not that bad we could use some more creativity by switching Davies for Ching. But it probably won’t happen. If Landy moves to Europe and Bob starts Davies our whole starting line-up would be playing in Europe come the World Cup, and thats alot more than most people can say.
On the positive surprise side, I have to list Rico Clarke. I have liked a lot of things about Clarke over the years, but his judgment and cool have not been one of them. He’s had a tendency for silly fouls and pointless long range blasts. None of that was on display last night. If last night was reflective of his level of play, he should get a lot of time with the Nats.
I saw an earlier post on here that made the comment that people do not seem to grasp. Cooper has size but doesn’t know what to do with it. He doesn’t play to his size. Don’t get me wrong. I think he could be a cracking player, but people want to put him into that holding striker role, which he is not capable of doing. He is more of a face to net type guy. He is the guy that will take players on and shoot from distance. Unfortunately, he doesn’t quite fit the system as that player (maybe 1st/2nd off the bench for Altidore). A pairing with Altidore could be beneficial, but I doubt it’ll happen. I would rather there be a holding striker that can allow the midfielders to join the attack and/or distribute to the other striker. I never thought I would miss Ching so much. A good showing from Cooper in the Gold Cup could change my opinion.
I loved the starting line-up, except for Casey he did not do much all night. Also, as the biggest Jozy fan in the world, I honestly was dissapointed with his play I thought he should be involved more and quicker on the ball. I would have liked to see Torres and Adu in.
The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the difference that Rico’s play made. Wednesday night, CR dominated the midfield. Saturday night, Rico was all over the place, reeking havoc with any Honduras possession. I’m not convinced that Bradley is the best option to pair him with, but I have no doubts about whether Clark should start!
Costa Rica is definitely the best team in the Hex. Honduras is not as good as Costa Rica but USA barely did enough to win.
not a good sign
Not sure what game any of you have watched in the past 4 years but Beasley is HORRIBLE! Useful off the bench??? I would much rether play with 10 men then have that turd passing to the other team every time he gets the ball. Spector should just became the starting RB after last nights game. Casey has got the size but is so slow. Cooper has got the size and speed, dont understand why he did nto get the call. Bradley and Clak should be hte new midfield.
OK…the middle of the park. Pablo M…good, in the day, but now not even a squad back-up anymore. Thanks. Big question is how do you put Bradly JR plus a Attacking Mid and a more limited Def Mid all at once…yes, a 5 man middle (or see Wed, 4-3-3 with 2 way guys as wingers..) I like to see MBrad with more freedom, pair him with MoEdu or RicoClark, and then Benny F (fine game on his return to the scene of his shot) or Joseph Francis Towers (perhaps a name change will get him more love…shoulda been him and Rico from teh start on Sat criminal to sub him, stupid not to have seen the tape at Saprissa and not see he was your only guy with touch) or Freddy…then the wide men in a 5 or backing down from 3 are Deuce and X (Landon has disappeared from site IMHO needs to be challenged…Davies??? Stu Holden, Brad Davis…any body… no Europe, no challenger makes LD lazy)….teams devise strategcies to get their best players on the pitch, over the system….I belive that MBrad might be freed to be more expressive if partnered with a true Def stopper…but he’s not a creator, yes, efficient & all-action box to box but he’s not a locksmith and a time keeper (see Pirlo and Gattuso, Zizo and Deschamps or Viera)
The AThority: Your comment “Landon is so far superior to any other USA player. No one else has creativity. It was really suprising to see it in person.”
Maybe that’s why I shake my had how so many people can post here that LD should be benched or was disappointing, etc. after EVERY game. I have seen him play for the Quakes, Galaxy and Nats 40 or 50 times. Maybe more. In person, his superiority is obvious. But since television pretty much follows the ball, 90% of what most players do is invisible.
It’s like Josy the last two games – he worked hard, he found the game, he drew fouls, he found ways to contribute even without geting service. Yet on Bigsoccer he’s getting 3s and 4s. The more times you can see these guys in person, the better sense you can get of what is going on “off camera”.
Altidore hasn’t learned to take a ball down under pressure – every ball seemed to either spin out of bounds or rebound to the other team. I hope this is due to his not having played all season and his youth – we really need him for the future.
Ricardo Clark had an immense game. I didn’t see him do a thing wrong! However, his Achilles heel is his temper. Remember him decking Carlos Ruiz and kicking him on the ground? We can’t afford something like that in the world cup.
Youngee8 – bring Brian McBride back!!! YES!!!