Photo by Rick Yeatts/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
With both the U.S. men's national team and U.S. women's national team claimed shutout wins, U.S. Soccer just needed a victory from Caleb Porter's Under-23 side to enjoy a dream leap year day.
Porter's team got that win and it did so in convincing fashion against a formidable foe.
The U.S. U-23 side cruised to a 2-0 win over rival Mexico's U-23 team at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas on Wednesday night, capping off a marquee day for U.S. Soccer and its fans.
The goals came a minute apart in the first half. Juan Agudelo knocked in a corner kick from Mix Diskerud in the 35th minute, and Diskerud followed that up with a goal of his own when he deflected a Freddy Adu shot from range that made its way into the back of the net.
The game wrapped up the U.S. team's February camp, the last one before Olympic qualifying takes place in March. The United States went 3-0 during its friendlies during this camp, ousting FC Dallas, 2-1, before topping NASL club San Antonio Scorpions, 3-0.
That string of positve outings was completed with a thorough triumph over Mexico's U-23 team. Playing in a 4-3-3 formation, the Americans outpossessed their southern foes from the opening whistle. Quick combination passes from the likes of Agudelo, Diskerud, Joe Gyau and Freddy Adu helped paved the way for the result.
The U.S. team was also pretty sound defensively, with Mexico really only threatening on shots from range. Led by captain Ike Opara, the Americans' defense outmuscled and outplayed an El Tri attack that included Mexican-American left back Miguel Angel Ponce and the highly-touted Marco Fabian.
Mexico picked things up late in the game, as Porter opted to make a flurry of substitutions. The Americans still managed to record the cleansheet, with Bill Hamid serving as the goalkeeper in the first half and Sean Johnson in the second.
With the Mexicans chasing for much of the game, the United States frustrated its opponent by keeping possession for large stretches, so much so that American fans at the stadium could be heard chanting "ole" on certain passing sequences.
The ability to keep possession eventually helped the Americans find their breakthrough. Ten minutes before halftime Diskerud served a corner kick from the left that Agudelo powered home past goalkeeper Liborio Sanchez, silencing the pro-Mexico crowd in attendance.
Diskerud then got a goal of his own when he slightly redirected Adu's shot from 25 yards out, resulting in fans chanting "dos a cero".
Porter now has tough decisions to make as he has to pick a 20-man squad for the start of Olympic qualifying on March 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.The U.S. team will play in Group A against Cuba, Canada and El Salvador.
lol
The down-side of this is if your arms are out to the side, even a couple inches, all the attacker has to do his hit one with the ball and you will have given up a freekick. The interpretation is: your arms were out there in order to stop the ball from going by so even though you had no time to react, it was an intentional handball because you set it up to happen (the only kind that is an infraction).
Hence, in the PA, especially, smart defenders get their arms behind their back and out of the way. Not doing so risks a PK.
Bradley, like Klinsmann, maybe even more so, was constantly searching for players who could keep possession. The addition of Johnson, the maturing of Altidore, Shea and Edu and the hot streak Dempsey is on helped emmensely with possession. Klinsmann is responsible for none of that except perhaps Johnson’s inclusion. If you think Bradley was not a possession oriented coach, you never listened to what he said, you just inferred from games in which the US was over-matdched technically. BTW, one of BB’s last games against a powerhouse (Argentina) say the US with more possession than it had a year earlier against Argentina demonstrating that the USA’s possession game was already improving.
Basically Klinsmann does a better job of describing to fans what he is trying to do. Bradley confined describing his vision to the players and coaches under his supervision and, I think, pretty much felt that discussing too much detail with the press would not be productive.
The soccer is not so much different.
I’ve definitely seen soccer players at every level do this all my life.
Agreed. Hard to say for sure from the angles I saw, but given what I could see about the deflection Mix put on it, it sure looked like keeper was spot on positioned to stop it if the deflection doesn’t happen.
Ugh, sorry for the typos!
I went to this game yesterday and although there was a lot of chanting going on I’m very sad to admit it was not by the US fans. In fast I would say the Mexican fans outnumbered US fans by about 4:1. That chanting was all coming from the Mexican fans.
It was very sad, especially since I live in Dallas, but Texas does not seem to be a home venue for the USMNT.
With that said, our boys did look very good last night. Besides some somewhat dangerous looking counterattacking by the Mexican the US had dominant control of this game. I personally was very impressed by Gyau and Diskerud.
I thought the keeper would have stopped Adu’s shot, but the deflection left him unable to recover in time.
And the thing is when I look at Gyau’s speed (or Boyd’s size, or Agudelo’s ball skills and quickness), that’s something that is upwardly scalable. He will still be fast as a senior player.
Agudelo’s hair is ugly. D:
Agudelo’s hair is ugly. D:
Ironically, the best point “college soccer sucks” above could have made is that the defensive line of college draft picks scares me. Against this level of opposition Hamid is able to play out of his mind and fill the gap. But as good as Hamid is I am interested how we will fare defensively in an Olympics.
I was impressed as well by Gyau, Corona, and Agudelo. When one bears in mind that Shea and Boyd could have been with this bunch, it’s a potentially impressive array of offensive weapons.
All due respect but Freddy is a multi-year pro and while effective at this level I think this is roughly the level (Gold Cup/U23) where the Peter principle comes into effect. I think he is a USMNT pool type guy but I don’t see physical tools or development that scream, this is a World Cup 23-man roster player.
PDL not PDA
Actually the NCAA places restrictions on student/players during the academic year. The restrictions involve number of practice sessions a college team can have (I think it is unlimited if the number of players present is 3 or fewer, else not so much time except mid Aug. to end of season in early Nov.) Summer-time, student/players can play on other teams Acadamy, PDA, but cannot be coached by their college coach. There are some other exemptions for these restrictions, I think the Olympic team activities, and maybe ODP are permitted for historical reasons. I think it is the restriction of training time that is the biggest issue, not that college players are bad or that college coaches are not good teachers of the game.
you sound like an idiot
I haven’t seen a lot of Porter’s teams so it was fascinating to see this style. It’s like 100% pressure, full throttle go forward all the time. There was crisp passing and linkup play, but amidst a backdrop of relentless pressure that gave the game a bit of a ragged quality. I wouldn’t say we kept neat possession as much as made it impossible for Mexico to sustain any possession themselves. Similarities to how Klinsman had the senior team play in earlier friendlies, and the Bundesliga is sometimes like this.
My question: can this type of game be played successfully at the highest level against skilled opponents? Will the best teams be able to exploit the high pressure to get behind and have favorable numbers against the defense? It will be fun to watch this unfold.
Well said.
“When the MLS teams have all the good players in their academies and the room and money to put them in their pro rosters when they turn 18, I’ll buy it.”
I don’t know if that ever happens though considering the size of the country.
you sound like an idiot
Yes I ask the same question too, was that the Mexico’s first team U23 but then again here the other side of that question was that the USA’s first team for the U23. Just Imagine with Josh, williams, Chandler, Torres, Shea and more.
I hope Klinsmann hires Porter as his assistant after the Olympics. I definitely see him as the next Joachim Löw.
True. And @ the WC did so by overcoming 2 honest goals disallowed; Mexico had one dishonest goal allowed against them vs. Argentina and promprly cracked in half
some just have to revise history so it fits into their ideas
It’s complicated. As a former NCAAer one cannot understate the combined demands of education and soccer at a quality school if there is no “jock track.” If you are not expecting a professional future, the rules get you into your season and then done, with time to be ready for finals at the end.
That being said, football and basketball seasons have steadily expanded, to where the bowls now go well into January, for instance. But soccer is played outdoors across the country and one issue being overlooked is that one of the parallel drivers of the MLS “calendar year” schedule is evading the North American winter. As it is the NCAA final four is often played somewhere frostbitten. And if you move the schedule back into the summer a minimum of students are on campus to see anything.
Now if we wanted to say something intelligent, it would be something like that we could loosen the reins on the spring seasons. When I played it was a several week period but they only allowed like 5 competitions. That could be expanded.
Except, let’s be real, PDL and the U-19 nationals also step into the spring somewhat. It’s not like there’s nothing else in place. My comment would be that PDL needs to be more thorough and better scouted, my impression is for the more unknown players it’s random what collegians get into that and which do not. PDL could be less about college connections, who knows who.
Yeah baby!!!
excellent post, right on target. thanks
Preach Brother!
Um no, the back line had some really bad turnovers that almost lead to goals, Johnson and hamid bailed the, out a few times. Eh played ok but I would be worried.
Of course the USA didn’t have their full u-23 team eaitner! I,agine this team with Shea, chandler, Williams, Boyd, Johnson, altidore, aboumousson, and Gil. I can’t even imagine what altidore would have done to mexico’s back line considering how superior agudelo looked strength wise.
Clint Dempsey of Furman (briefly) had the goal against Italy last night. Also contributing were Dolo (Portland), Goodson (Maryland), Boca (UCLA), Edu (Maryland), Buddle (1 year JuCo), and Kljestan (Seton Hall).
Last year’s MLS Best XI included Keller (Portland), Dunivant (Stanford), Gonzo (Maryland), Davis (SLU), and Wondo (Chico State).
Don’t get me wrong, the percentage of these guys who were 4-year college players has eroded massively, and there is a sea-change of sorts moving towards either a short stint in college or straight to the pros — and the “German” phenomenon also impacts the value of American collegians internationally — but particularly with our mediocre scouting and Bradenton being an imperfect vehicle, and the pros having less than full development apparati, I think there is plenty of room for college soccer as a parallel track. When the MLS teams have all the good players in their academies and the room and money to put them in their pro rosters when they turn 18, I’ll buy it. Until then it’s parallel tracks.
Come on Luke, face it. Klinsmann found out why Bradley played a double D-mid offense and it worked. Nothing to be ashamed of.
He’s been looking for the U.S. Style and found out that Bradley had already defined it.
PS We did NOT play bunker ball against Brazil…had we…we probably woulda won.
Umm… if bob bradley had beaten italy in italy nobody would complain about his tactics. You do what you need to on the road to a european power.
Now if we employ the same tactics against jamaica, then you can start making that comparison.
I’ve been watching the USA teams for 18 years. I’ve been complaining like a broken record that we need more skilled players versus athletic players. When I saw the line-up, I posted on these boards that this may be the first time we would have possession equal to Mexico. We can continue to play at all levels like we did last night, its just a matter of the right selection.
meh
That and gyau is a bit slow in passing the ball. The kid has a lot of talent and some freaky athleticism but he needs to work on undstanding the game. When he get’s to higher levels he won’t be able to blow by everyone and will need to learn to pass the ball quickly.
Nice summary pancho…:)
One more note on Corona, he was voted the ‘rookie of the year’ in the Mexican Apertura for last year. I don’t think that has ever happened to an American player.
I wrote it elsewhere, but will add here. Porter is going to need help at outside back. Chandler perhaps at the left full back in place of Valentin will solve a lot of problems, though I wasn’t convinced by Sarkodie at the RB either.
Kitchen was solid all night and the front 7 were really, really good.
Hamid wasn’t tested as often but I thought he looked stronger (didn’t give up the loose rebounds Johnson did). They both have bright futures.
Great showing, inspired soccer and a great mix of team play, and skill in possession. Love Gyau ! His skill earns space on the ball – great to have players that can break down a defense 1 v 1. Lots of smart, confident play.
Not the full first team. I dont know a lot about the Mexican youth team but both of the dos santos brothers were with the Mexican NT. Besides that i dont know anything else.
Although Altidore might be in the same boat as Gatt if they finish 2nd in the Eredivisie.
Could it loook something like this during the Olympics this is assuming Gatt doesn’t get released because of the CL qualifying matches….
Gyau….Altidore….Shea
…….Adu…..
…………Mix…..
……..Williams………
Chandler….CB…..CB…..Morales…backline is the only one I am not for certain on, although Chandler will be somewhere in it.
Everyone and I do mean everyone played very well. For me the stand outs from back to front were. Sean Johnson only b/c he was tested more. Ike Opara was the man of the match fantastic game from him. Tough between Mix and Corona but Mix had a nice deflection and an assist. Very surprised by the defensive effort both put in. They are very good in possession as well. The starting front 3 were simply better than anyone on Mexico. Gyau is incredibly technical and unreal fast, you would be hard pressed to find anyone his age with the tools he has. Adu was 2 steps ahead of everyone tactically. Agudelo was a monster up front. He held off defenders and was always dangerous. You could see a significant drop in talent when those 3 were subbed. Wasn’t really impressed with Teal, Dilly, and Taylor.
This was not a referendum on college soccer by either side. What I’d like to see is an approach more like the MLB approach – replace the MLS Superdraft with an 18-and-up draft, but give kids the option to go to college even if they are drafted. But let the superstars who can contribute to MLS from an early age do so. There is no reason that a strong club development system can’t coexist with college. It does in baseball very well.
I like the comparison of NCAA to FIFA.
Ok Bob Bradley poster boy! Seriously! Did you watch the same game everyone else did? For the first 70 minutes ball possession was about 50-50. You name me one game that wasn’t against a Concacaf minnow where we were on par or surpassed the opponent in ball possession, especially a strong European side in Europe! The goal we scored we strung at least 10 passes, going right, back to central D and swinging left before a cross to Altidore and his layoff to Dempsey for the goal. Under bunker Bob, we would have sat back on D and looked for counters, like the Brazil game in the Confederations Cup final. Possession would have been 70-30 Italy. JK’s system of possession and passing is finally beginning to take effect.
They need all the goal scoring help they can get. Hope he makes the 18 and gets a cameo, and continues to impress to become a starter.
I thought it was awesome that 75 percent of the back line was playing for Akron and winning a national title just a year ago under Porter, and all of the back line played college soccer so maybe people will stop saying that college soccer is useless. Opara and Kitchen dominated in central defense. This team looked really impressive even without players such as Chandler, Boyd, Gatt and Shea. I would say that Shea only provides more depth behind Gyau, becuase Duka didnt play well on the wing in my opinion. I am curious to see what is done with Boyd and Juan. This team is going to be deep, and you throw in Gatt and Chandler now you have more problems of who to start because Adu played well on the wing last night. If Gatt starts do you move Adu central. Who do you sit Mix? Corona? They both played very good last night. Good luck choosing a starting 11 Porter, but i guess depth is a luxery you want to have. Unlike the NT, with all the injuries they were not deep at all against Italy.
In other good news for the U23’s, Wooten has been called into the first team for FC Kaiserslautern could be into the 18 for the match against Wolfsburg this weekend.
http://www.rheinpfalz.de/cgi-bin/cms2/cms.pl?cmd=showMsg&tpl=rhpMsg_thickbox.html&path=/rhp/sport/fck&id=8716295
New Jersey soccer rules by satellite, baby!
Yeeee-ahhhhh!
Mixx Diskerud, ex of Staabek, now playing in the Belgian Juliper League. Norwegian-American born in Oslo. Very gifted, talented midfielder, box-to-box – strong defender, good dribbler, good field vision, excellent playmaker.
Joe Corona – Mexican-American who plays for Tijuana, a team recently ascended to the Mexican Primera Division in part due to his excellent play and goal scoring. Also a solid central or wing mid-field player. Both have great promise. Diskerud has already earned a cap or two with the full men’s nat team.
To be fair i think that these young players are better suited for JK and Porter’s style of play. They are more confident on the ball and have beter possession than a lot of full NT players. Like Danny Williams for example, played terrible on the wing yesterday becuase that is not his position. I would be suprised if after the Olympics some of these players arent with the NT.
What a fantastic day for US soccer all around!