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USA 1, Argentina 1: The Highlights

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  1. I guess that is why the EPL “fastbreakleague” is the most popular league around. There are many people who think Barca wouldn’t do as well as it does if it had to play in the EPL.

    My particular beef with Argentina’s performance was it lacked the tactical flexibility that a truly great team shows.

    It was pretty clear that Argentina weren’t going to get a lot off of the US’ massed defense yet they kept trying to stick it right up the middle, even afer the US equalized.

    I’m surpisred they didn’t try to spread out the US and go down the wings more. With slow defenders who were not as quick or nimble as the Argies, I would have thought that a sensible alternative.

    But then maybe Bradley isn’t the only tacitically challenged manager out there.

    I’m not that familar with the rest of the Argentina team so maybe they didn’t feel comforable going down the wing but certainly Messi could have. Now whether that was because Argentina are stubborn and arrogant or because the US somehow pushed them into that I don’t think we’ll ever know.

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  2. Grew up in the Netherlands watching the brilliant Orange. My favorite team is currently Barcelona, who have adopted their style. I’ll disagree with the keep-away comment.

    That said, I agree that those expecting us to perform near Argentina-Brazil-Spain-Netherlands levels are being very unrealistic. We just don’t have the cultural mentality to develop players like that yet- this’ll take decades longer. What we do have in this culture is a never-say-die, fight-to-the-end mentality when it comes to sports, and the US Nats bring this to the table everytime they play top tier teams. I, for one, tremendously enjoy watching their gutsy performances, even if they’re thoroughly technically outplayed.

    If your expectations are that we should be succeeding at the very highest level, be prepared for a lot more disappointment.

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  3. id agree with you but we cant even score a goal in the run of play let alone a counter attack Hell we cant even get passed midfield

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  4. Yeah but that first half we looked absolutely horrible and had it not been for Argentina letting their foot of the gas (which they historically have been known to do) and a goal that the Argie keeper could have prevented. Wed have been embarrassed again just like the Brazil game.

    Im tired of having to chase games bradely needs to drop his kid and play two different mids the constant expirimentation is always his son plus someone else. Same results everytime. he never pulls his son.

    i Hate anti football

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  5. Can someone explain/justify Onyewu? Why are we not building around a defender with ball distribution/decision making ability?

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  6. I will never say that a team shouldn’t be willing to go on a fast counter-attack…

    But seriously, protecting possession and waiting for the right time to make the incisive pass instead of forcing it are not negative qualities for a team to have. It’s unfortunate that it bores you to see teams patiently work the ball around, but could you really not see how superior Argentina looked to us in their attacking movements. If they were constantly trying to use a minimal number of passes to set off an attack on goal none of those brilliant runs into the box never happen.

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  7. My plan to get on national TV at the USA v Canada game is to have this on my poster: Canada can keep Wayne, because we have the Great Juan.

    So thats my nickname for him at the moment.

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  8. Great game overall from the U.S. This whole 46 defense style works in futbol 50% of the time when the team is discipline and in robot mode, which the U.S is probably the best in the world in doing so. But, I sometimes get frustrating watching the U.S kick the crap out of the ball because they are too scared to dribble the ball for 5-seconds letting the pressure build even more… must improve in the technical ability.

    This whole 4-5-1 formation seems real pretty on paper, but who are we kidding?.. we are not an elite side yet to play this type of game, it takes individually to understand and play in this formation. Why not call our best technical player in our pool and have someone play in front of him and call him the 5th midfielder if that’s what makes folks feel better.lol Adu can keep some of pressure out of the midfield and help the defense re-group. Before Sasha,Benny,Torres,Buddle, I would call in Adu and have the kid dance salsa on the field with the opposition!… we need someone like his skill. I’m tired of seeing 10 defenders on the field.

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  9. Yeah that’s what we were doing, playing fastbreak. Sure.

    It just looked like kickball/English longball circa 1964, but what do we fans know when we see fullbacks -kicking the ball to noone.

    Quick transitions is fine, and when we could do it was good – like in second half, when BB got out of his ‘let’s play 3 d-mid’s at once’ failed experiment yet again.

    Fact is, US was lucky to be down only 1-0 at the half, against an excellent Argentine side.

    And as to who is ignorant of the game, seems like that would be – you – if you think it is boring to watch teams string more than 2 passes together.

    You can always find some old movies of English teams of the 60s if that’s the style you enjoy.

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  10. This nickname is already annoying. Keep your Jozy hate off SBI. He looked much better in the 2nd half with a second striker to take some pressure off of him.

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  11. The haters don’t understand the game.

    The US plays a counterattacking style. For a number of reasons, we cannot adopt a possession-style offense played by FCB, Spain, and now, Argentina. The pundits gush when they see it, often making hackneyed references to “total football” and Johan Cruyff (my guess is that they are contractually obligated to mention them).

    I personally don’t see why it is so wondrous for teams to make a million five-yard passes. I suppose the people who like this kind of ball movement are also big fans of Princeton basketball circa 1997. To me, it is absolute boredom. Note that we do not have professional Keepaway leagues.

    Give me fast-break, quick transition football. Real Madrid plays it as do a number of other teams worth watching.

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  12. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind losing if the team played well and show progressive improvement because that would tell me we are heading in the right direction. What I see us is making a game out of it with hustle and making the best of our limited chances for a goal. Agudelo, Chandler and few other players give me hope for the near future. What I don’t like to see is the same players for whatever reason get called to the team or never get subed that don’t show any kind of improvement, always showing their limited game.

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  13. Ives, I’ve been extremely disappointed in the so called USMNT fans. All I keep hearing is how awful we are and our players are terrible. We just absorbed pressure from Argentina and fought back to draw them and people are down on us. WE ARE NOT A TOP 10 TEAM, but we are Top 20, which is incredible when you think how far we’ve come. We had to play a very defensive game, and when (to his credit) BB changed to a 4-4-2, we threatened, scored, and dealt with their attack much better. We have areas of improvement, but I can’t be more proud of this team. And Jozy looked the best he has in a while in the second half.
    Thoughts on the negativity Ives? Justified or Unwarranted?

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