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A look back at the USA’s 2010 World Cup

DonovanBradley (GettyImages) 

The 2010 World Cup keeps rolling on, but for U.S. national team fans, the reality is still sinking in that the United States' exciting World Cup run is over.

Success or failure? Tournament to remember or tournament to forget? While the disappointment of Saturday's loss to Ghana is sure to leave the lingering tinge of failure, we have to ask ourselves if the tournament the team did play was memorable and whether it exceeded or surpassed our expectations.

Truth be told, I don't see how anyone could call the tournament a failure. Winning the group, playing some exciting attacking soccer and capturing the interest and passion of America's mainstream, even if only briefly, was more than most could have imagined happening before the tournament began. The hard part is that there was certainly an opportunity lost because the USA missed a chance to potentially reach a World Cup semifinal, and play two more games to keep increasing the interest in the sport back home. That's why, for many, the aftertaste following the USA's World Cup is a bitter one rather than a sweet one.

If you haven't had a chance to read my post-match and post-tournament coverage of the United States over at FoxSoccer.com, here are some stories to check out:

My column on the Ghana loss

My piece on the USA players's World Cup grades

My look ahead to which players may be around for the 2014 World Cup

I will give a more detailed take on the potential USA 2014 team on SBI on Thursday (if not sooner). For now, here are some final World Cup observations:

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I think Bob Bradley did a great job during the World Cup cycle, but I also think two World Cup cycles can be too much for any coach. While I wouldn't consider it a major mistake if he returned, I do think it is a good time for a change, both for the national team and for Bradley.

Bradley was the perfect coach to groom a young team and help it through the transition after the retirements of Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride and Eddie Pope. He integrated new players, strengthened the team's schedule to a level that would have seemed unimaginable four years ago, and did a thorough job of looking at all the talent in the pool.

Now I see a change being made and Sunil Gulati will need to find a coach who brings a strong resume and experience in the international game. Juergen Klinsmann makes plenty of sense and it would be intriguing to see what Klinsmann could do over the course of a four-year cycle.

Change for the sake of change wouldn't make much sense to me, so I wouldn't really see the point in replacing Bradley with a coach from MLS. I do think there are some very good coaches in MLS, but I wouldn't really see the benefit of letting Bradley go and turning to someone in MLS. Now, if Bradley moves on and makes a run at a club job in Europe, then I could see someone like Dom Kinnear or Stevie Nicol being given a call.

That said, I still see Gulati looking for a big name. Be it Klinsmann, Carlos Queiroz or Ruud Gullit (okay, that last one was just to see if you were paying attention).

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Landon Donovan got all the headlines, but Michael Bradley was the most impressive player on the U.S. team over the course of four matches in my book. I really can't see him staying with Borussia Moenchengladbach after the World Cup he just had. Where do I see him going? The English Premier League makes the most sense.

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I know nobody likes playing the "What if" game but I can't help but think that, with a healthy Charlie Davies, Oguchi Onyewu and Jermaine Jones, the United States would have been a semifinalist with a chance of pulling off a big upset.

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Whoever is the next coach will need to start grooming some centerbacks ASAP. Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra will be too old for 2014. There are some great prospects in MLS, but they need some serious seasoning. Tim Ream, Ike Opara and Omar Gonzalez are all quality, and I'm still convinced Geoff Cameron could be a standout centerback in Europe if he were allowed to develop at the position.

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That's all for now. I will share my 23-man roster for 2014 on Thursday. For now, please feel free to share your thoughts on the U.S. team's World Cup. any of my Fox stories, and any of the above thoughts, in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. …and having run ragged against algeria after running ragged against what should have been an easy win against slovenia.

    in hindsight it was easy to see how easy it could be for ghana to pick us off, exhausted after 2 draining games and two days rest. it took 120 minutes and one of the best goals of the tourney to do it. yes Clark pooched it, but it’s far more complex than one blown play.

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  2. so if we went with 5 MF you’d see him lining up something like this?

    ———Edu——–
    —Bradley—Torres—
    Donovan——-Dempsey

    this to me would be very interesting Feilhaber could interchange with Torres, or Depmsey, Holden for Bradley or Donovan, and we haven’t even started talking about pups waiting in the wings….

    Now if only we had a cold blooded finisher up top. and a bunch of really fast, smart, tough, 6’6″ ft defenders… Yep, then we’d be pretty much set. Aw heck 6 outta 11 ain’t bad….

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  3. who do you forsee being big enough, mobile enough and tactically aware enough to form the 3 of your back 3? I agree with the idea of 5 midfeilders, esoecially if holden and feilhaber contune to develop, but I think we should go with a 4-5-1 with Altidore as a holding traget forward and Davies coming off the bench for a spark in a 4-4-2. but our defensive corps is not nearly sharp enough to mind the store with 3.

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  4. I agree with this as well; perfect position for Klinsy…and he ain’t leavin’ California for Europe, he’s stayin’ right here in the U.S.

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  5. I definitely think Michael Bradley’s presence should make them want to get rid of Bob, not keep him. MB was very good in this World Cup, but the USMNT needs a new set of relatively unbiased eyes looking at all the players. Sometime, BB could have even tried a starting lineup without MB. Imagine that! Say, an Edu with a Holden. Worth a try in a home game against Haiti, no?

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  6. Dudes, every team has injured players at World Cup time. Every team has controversial call-ups and starting lineups. Just saying we’re not at all alone in these factors, and we can count on them again in 2014.

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  7. You make a really good point against your own argument. “Torres was given 2 chances to shine”.

    If Torres had as many games under his belt as Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark he might not have had the nerves. Torres should have seen way more playing time during the qualifiers. He rarely saw playing time with the regular starters.

    It’s fine for you take make an argument against Torres, but the absolute declaration at the end is ridiculous.

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  8. While it is true that Löw was the brains behind Germany´s 2006 WC team, it was Klinsmann who picked Löw as his assistant.

    That is exactly the reason why Klinsmann wanted full control as US coach. He´s not someone for the details, he´s a big picture guy with a vision, and he makes a lot of right decisions. He was also the scapegoat at Bayern for mistakes of the front office.

    I think he is exactly what the US needs, a pro-active guy in charge with a vision and a plan.

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  9. I’m sorry but Michael Bradley was terrible against Ghana. Granted Ricardo Clark actually turned the ball over….but Bradley put him in serious bind in the first place with the slow pass to Clark in the first place. Bradley then leisurely tracked back after the turnover. Clark owned up to the mistake…but Bradley had a big foot in it.

    Even more disasterous was Bradley’s shot when he was one on one with the keeper. A player with an A- rating would have buried that shot. He never even got his head up before taking the shot.

    In the group stages he was one of our best players for sure…but he was bad against Ghana.

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  10. Demps gets my vote too. My only beef with Junior is that he has the gens of a Defensive midfielder, but is being utilized as the playmaker. That should go to someone like an in form Benny or a more seasoned Torres. With Edu you’re going with two defensive mids which is fine, but ten they should both clearly play that role. Either way the kid is gonna be a monster if he keeps it up. i wish him all the best.

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  11. I still don’t believe the hype. Sure our strikers could use ANY of his input, and he’s a close to a marquee name as we could get as a coach, but Joachim Lowe was his assitant with Die Mannschaft and look how good they are. I can’t help but think the magic they had at the last world cup was his doing, not Jurgi’s.

    I wish there was a way we could have him as a consultant/advisor, but I’m not sure his track record merits being give the keys to the kingdom.

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  12. Playing along with the what if game, injuries are bound to happen but our big injuries this cycle were Onewyu and Davies, and the defectors we lost on this cycle were Subotic and Rossi. That leaves this what if game two layers deep.

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  13. Oh come on.

    The Ghanians beat up on Dempsey. Every time I saw him, he was on the floor! As far as sweat and blood, he contributed the most, and seems to have been unjustly denied some fouls. The PK had a make up element to it.

    Altidore is growing. In four years, he will just be approaching the opening of a soccer player’s peak seasons. All he needs is a better first touch to be a force. If he works hard, and barring injuries, he will only get better.

    I would also hesitate to criticize Landon for his form. Without him, we might have lost to Slovenia, and surely would have had a 0-0 Algeria game. He has outscored Rooney, Ronaldo, Messi, Torres, Drogba, and Ribery COMBINED. What more could he have done?

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  14. Unfortunately, as an RSL fan who saw Yura many times in person, I can emphatically say that he is NOT a good finisher. I’ve seen him blow more open nets than anyone I can think of. Findley is 10x the player Yura is and RSL is actually better without Movs. If Yura Movsisyan is the great hope for US Soccer, we are in a world of hurt!

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  15. Nice explanation (not nice facts), thanks Mat.

    I suspect there are also some mental preparedness issues, for example

    (1) “naive” in not recognizing that there is a problem that we regularly concede early goals, and therefore not addressing it
    (2) naive in thinking that the Algeria game was “our final” and not being ready for Ghana
    (3) naive in thinking that our fitness will again win the day, when in reality Ghana were as fit, if not more

    I hope to hear more from the team about what happened, so we learn from it.

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  16. By naive I think he meant tactically weren’t as aware as we should have been at times, and that offensively we were naive in the sense we kind of took some good chances to softly and/or made poor decisions (shooting when passing is better for instance).
    On both goals that naive side showed: though Clark lost the ball, there were still 3 players behind and no one was ready to anticipate a Clark error, so we were caught sleeping. In this case DeMerit was a bit slow to react for instance. Everyone took for granted Clark wouldn’t lose the ball, but as a defender you have to be more aware and ready. On the second goal it gets even worse. There’s no way Gyan should have gotten a shot off like he did if our defenders were more aware of the situation. Once again, we were naive in the sense that neither Boca nor Demerit anticipated the fact Gyan was a danger there: they had ample time to place themselves on that long and high kick from Ghana’s defense, but they just reacted to the play instead of anticipating it.
    On the other end, when you think of Bradley’s chance at the end when he shot a weak left footed strike, it was very naive in the sense he should have been aware of his placement relative to the opponents, know he had time to get on his good foot and put more pace on the strike instead of a half-arse grandma strike he shot. Same for Altidore, Findley, who really need to put more focus and drive in the chances they got.
    That’s what I think Donnovan meant by naive, that often we were more reacting to plays rather than anticipating.

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  17. Can someone explain Landon’s post-game “we were naive” comment. What did he mean or what do you think he meant?

    Did the team think Ghana would just crown them the kings of the knockout round? Did the team not prepare enough? Did the team spend too much time on YouTube watching us watch them?

    The comment suggests a mental / psychological preparedness issue, right?

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  18. Just a thought here: Does anyone worry about Liverpool supporters reaction to signing an American player, like Dempsey?

    Bc of the awful ownership situation, if I were an American player, I’d stay away from Liverpool. I could see them being very harsh on him.

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  19. People do not sleep on Yura Movsisyan. the kid is good, once his citizenship comes through we should hope he gets called into the national team. his plans right now seem to be going correctly. he said a while back that he wanted to do good in MLS, make the move to Randers do well, and catch the eye of the USMNT. So far so good, he has 6-7 goal already in 11 matches for Randers. the guy is a really good finisher, if he had his citizen ship sooner I think he would have been gaining more of a look to the NT than findley when he was with RSL.

    You guys should really check him out and he’s only 22!

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  20. Yes there are some on athletes in baseball but there are plenty of elite athletes in baseball as well. The likes of Carl Crawford, the Upton brothers, Jose Reyes, Elvis Andrus, Austin Jackson, Jacoby Ellsbury, etc guys who are athletic enough for any sport.

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  21. That was a pretty solid post. I would only add that I have really enjoyed Klinsmann’s commentary on ESPN. But that is neither here nor there…

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  22. That liverpool lineup sounds good, in theory, but so does communism.

    Torres, Stevie G and Mascherano will leave this summer. You heard it here (maybe not first), but here.

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  23. You can’t teach that. His cockiness and hence laziness is ingrain into this highly overrated player. That will change however, when no club team hires him. I bet he goes to Greece to join the other overrated players, Johnson and Adu.

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  24. Jozy actually needs to re-prove that he actually belongs on the team. Actually, has have never proven himself ever. That one freak goal against Spain in the confederations cup was lucky. His spot on the roster should not be guaranteed by any means.

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  25. One question…is a move to Anderlecht going to help Kljestan? Or is it about even development wise. I think Kljestan has promise if he could play in a more competitive league and learn to nuance his game a little. He’s got raw talent.

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  26. Wow, where to begin? I agree with your player grades. I hope we either get a foreign coach with a fresh perspective, or retain Bradley. I do not think picking up an MLS coach would benefit the US. Bradley is the best American coach we have.

    As for 2014. There will be players we haven’t heard of or are under the radar that will start in 2014. We have very promising talent out there. Samir Badr, Agbousomonde, Renken, Gill, McInerney, Hamid, Ream, Gonzalez, Pontius. The list goes on forever. However, the person with the most pressure has to be Claudio Reyna. Our youth system is in shambles and he is the man to fix it.

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  27. I wouldn’t count on it.

    I thought I was over this Ghana loss, but reading the headline made my stomach sink again. It should be expected that fans will experience ups and downs, but boy do these downs really hurt.

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  28. yep… and he still plays like he has clubs on his feet. Unless he picks up some skill Bornstein will always be a liability in the making. He did exceed my expectations though.

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  29. Development is youth, not “when you became famous.”

    I agree about Cesc. However, before coming to Arsenal, he spent 6 years in Barcelona’s Academy.

    The others?

    Ronaldo came to ManU at about 18.

    Mascherano was developed by River Plate, coming to the old world at about 22.

    Anelka played at PSG until 18.

    Their “development” was largely accomplished in their home leagues, as I said.

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  30. Actually it’s funny you mention Germany when talking about the USA, since I was thinking that the team the USA makes me think the most of is Germany. The style we play, and the only one which is really successful, is one close the one of modern German football: fast, attacking, relentless. It’s in fact the style we should mimic, since it’s the one best suited to our American mentality, so perhaps Klinsman is a good fit, since he’s the one who forced that style upon Germany.

    Also, good point on our defenders. We do have some athletes coming through the ranks, which is essential. However, as you point out, we are lacking Europe experience there, contrary to our midfield or even striker pool of 2014. I’m especially high on the guy playing in Portugal (can’t spell his name though… Gale is his first I think), he impressed me with the youth teams. Another one is the Gonzalez from LA, I’d like him to move to Europe in a year or two. I think Spector shouldn’t be overlooked, as well, and maybe Parkhurst may contribute to some extent for the experience aspect.

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  31. I agree with you about Bob, but not Jr.

    Sorry, Ives, but I watched the same games and still am not that impressed with Jr. Yes he works hard, but that does not make him a great player. To me he lacks skill and vision. His passing was ok at best, but rather simplistic. He does well defensively, but is not really a holding midfielder. To improve and really become a great player he needs to hone his foot skills, improve his passing, and start watching film of Xavi (or Jose Torres, for that matter).

    Bob did well with what he had and his skill level, but USA needs someone with more international experience to take US to the next level. He should have never tried to out hustle Ghana, as only skill would have beat them.

    BTW. My vote for best player this WC for USA was Dempsey.

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  32. EA,

    First, Klinsman was a world class striker at the club and international lever. He was a World Champion with Germany in 1990. I would imagine that his CV as a player provides him with instant credibility with the team. Furthermore,…given that our forwards failed to score goals in two straight world cups,…we might benefit from his knowledge of playing that position at a high level.

    Second, he coached Germany in the World Cup in Germany. Germany finished 3rd having lost to the World Champions in OT. There is absolutely no shame in that. That is hardly a failure. In my opinion, Italy were the best team in the world in 2006, so I am having difficulty understanding how Germany’s performance was a failure.

    Third, he has embraced and is a proponent of American methods for training athletes and is also a seld-proclaimed student of some of the USA best coaches, such as Mike Krzyzewski. Clearly he harbors no prejudice against this country. In short,…he is a man with an open mind who is willing to apply/take the best of everything to achieve his goals.

    Fourth, his wife and children are American and he lives in California. He not a mercenary. It seems to me that he has a true affection and respect for this country and would take his success a coach to heart. I am not so sure we could say the same about some other ‘great’ foreign coaches out there. SGE comes to mind.

    Frankly, I think Klinsi is the perfect and most logical choice to succeed Bradley. Mind you,…I think Bradley should move on, NOT because I think he failed but rather because I do not believe in having national team coaches for more than one WC cycle.

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  33. I agree 2 out of 3. I don’t think Gooch has enough footwork to excel, he is excellent in the air but with him any possession ball that he has at his feet will usually be given back to the opponent. There is a reason why he was seldom used in Milan even before his injury.

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  34. I am very optimistic about the US backline for 2014. Lot of good young prospects who just need some seasoning. Ike Opara looks like he’s going to be a stud. Tim Ream has lots of promise. Geoff Cameron might be best suited to play centerback. Omar Gonzalez might be Gooch’s replacement. I think Sean Franklin can’t be overlooked. He’s a good attacker who delivers some nice crosses from the right side.

    The talent pool is getting better. The size and athleticism is there. Experience, or lack thereof, is the biggest problem. Still, look at what a young, well-coached German team has done.

    Sure, the US isnt Germany, but lessons can be learned about developing players for the WC.

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  35. What about Gourcuff, aren’t arsenal trying to acquire him? And would Wenger dish out the money that MLS wants for LD?

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  36. I was hoping to see something like your lineup, our strength for this cycle was our midfield, too bad it wasn’t fully utilized.

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  37. So I do need to admit up front that I’m a full fledged Bornstein hater, so take this for what it’s worth. I thought he did a decent job in both games and justified Bradley’s confidence in starting him as opposed to our other options. That said, I think we’re a bit too quick to confuse “Hey, Bornstein didn’t have a major screw up!” with “Man, Johnny B played really well”. If you step back and look at it, he did a good job defending on the left side, was never caught completely out of position and was never really skinned 1v1. Basically, he did the minimum most teams would expect out of their left back. So, in that sense he did well and I’d give him a B-/C+. But his forays into the attacking third left something to be desired, in my opinion. To be honest, I forgot he was there most of the time, which is definitely a step in the right direction but not enough to give him a B. Maybe nitpicking, but hey, that’s what the interweb is for isn’t it?

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  38. I agree with you completely. My understanding, though, is that he really looks up to MB and MB’s style of play. He’ll look to be more of a box to box player, and may settle for playing a deeper role than MB does. If he steps up his defensive game he could do well next to MB.

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  39. I also felt that Holden was missing in the lineup. he would have helped win and retain more balls. I guess BB had no idea where to use him without getting either dempsey or donovan pissed at him.

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  40. I think there are right games to start Torres and wrong games. If you look at the slovenia game, our defense was circumventing him and playing long ball to either the forwards or a midfielder playing too high up.

    also, playing against an eastern european team which by nature are more physical wasn’t his cup of tea, after all, he is only 5’5 and 140 pounds. I thought he did just ok, didn’t hurt the team but he didn’t make his presence felt.

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