The U.S. men's national team takes on five-time World Cup champion Brazil tonight at FedEx Field (8pm, ESPN2). The match will serve as the U.S. team's toughest test ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Antigua and Barbuda and Guatemala.
The Americans are riding a four-match unbeaten streak, and just posted a resounding a 5-1 thrashing of Scotland on Saturday. Brazil will present a significantly more difficult challenge, with Neymar and Hulk leading a dynamic attack.
Clint Dempsey is not in the starting lineup tonight, but is in uniform for the match, while Jozy Altidore will sit tonight's match out as he regains fitness after joining the team on Monday following a three-week break after the Dutch League season.
SBI will be providing live commentary on tonight's match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Tonight's commentary is after the jump):
For discussion only:
Howard
Chandler/Lichaj – Edu – Boca – The Beast
Bradley – JJ
Torres
Donovan – Jozy – Dempsey
Essentially a 4-3-3
Perhaps my statements about Klinsmann were too complicated for a moron like you to understand. Lichaj is one example of his poor judgment in who to call in. The US obviously had major problems defending against Brazil. It is simple logic. If the US has players (Lichaj, Whitbread, Ream) in one of ,if not the best league in the world regularly playing well against many of the best players in the world why not call them in his camp. Bocanegra and Edu played in a terrible league. Bocanegra is not good enough to play in the Prem any more and Edu if he ever had the talent, his skill has deteriorated when he plays against such world powers as Hearts and Motherwell. Maybe Klinsman is under pressure to call in players to make the team more diverse. Obviously Gomez makes the team better but I hope I’m wrong but the bullsh-t about Castillo letting a player just wrong by him and then blame the convenient scapegoat Gooch is correct. Players on the back line when they move up to play the off side trap must check that the other 3 are in sinc. It’s stupidity to just move up without making sure the other 3 defenders are also in a straight line. If Gooch was keeping the Brazilian who scored the 4th goal onside all Castillo had to do was quickly glance to his right for a second and he would have seen Gooch was keeping the man he was responsible for onside. Instead he was out of position and didn’t even look to his left until the player was past him and wide open to score. Castillo has never played well against any good teams and he was at fault on the 4th goal. I still am not sold on Torres clearly being better than Feilhaber. Benny Feilhaber would have been just the right type of player to use against Brazil and to be on the team. He played well in the last world which is more than could be said of Torres.
idiot!!!!!!!!The ref sucked. What the f##k were you watching?
So is your mother
Unfortunately, even an old Dolo is still faster than Parkhurst. Parkhurst is slow for a cb and pretty glacial for a rb.
I know Castillo played against more stiffer competition. Lichaj started 9 straight games and only started against Chelsea ,Man Utd, Tottenham, Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool among his 9 straight starts.
You’re right. Hulk isn’t exactly a nobody on the other side, though.
Your statement is how I know you are a moron. Is it politically incorrect to criticize Castillo? I don’t think he is good enough to play on the national team. I think to say someone who plays in the Mexican league against much inferior competition is better than Lichaj who plays in the best league in the world and started 9 straight games after returning from injury shows ,is ridiculous. I’ll give my opinion whenever I please.
I don’t remember him giving it away much. Maybe the stats will prove me wrong, but I thought he was mostly isolated in the first half and actually did well a few times to move into the middle to provide Bradley with an option.
Marcelo and Neymar have all those Euro signs behind their names for a reason.
You know who the US missed tonight?
Chandler.
nice assessment!
It already has been posted, be warned!! (*rolls eyes*)
Torres constantly lost possession or made poor turns/touches into traffic. Replacement by Dempsey was necessary.
Oh yeah?
Gooch, Boca and Goodson can all get on a field for more than a few games in a row.
Whitbread can’t. All his skill is useless to the team if it is sitting on the trainer’s table.
yeah, I think this is right on. There were several other lineups/formations that would have made more sense – I was baffled when I saw how advanced Edu was. I also liked the lineup Ives had suggested with Torres, Bradley and Jones in the midfield, Gomez and Donovan outside and Boyd in the center.
thats exactly what I was thinking. Leave Torres in and get Edu off the pitch. Bench Gooch and incorporate Lichaj for the next set of qualifiers.
Sure. Eric Lichaj in and we beat Brazil.
I love it.
The US was great when we torched Scotland but now that a Brazil side that could probably beat most teams in the world, Olympics or not, is being dominant, Klinsmann has “poor judgement”.
Talk about fairweather bandwagon jumpers.
I’ve never seen a US team come close to begin to come back on a Brazil team before.
With a little luck these guys tie Brazil.
Unless I’m very wrong this Brazil team will play Mexico soon and Mexico needs to be concerned.
Uneven performance overall but hardly worth the sort of hyperbolic weeping and gnashing of teeth that will soon be posted.
Lichaj started 9 straight games playing against some of the best players in the world. Who didn’t Castillo play against? Lichaj played against much better competition and is much faster than Castillo. Klinsmann is showing poor judgment not calling in Lichaj and with the terrible CBs he has not giving Whitbread a chance to play. Lichaj should take over Cherundolo’s position. Few if any of the Brazil players have the speed to just run past him.
Lol You really need to learn about soccer. Gooch was terrible but Torres was not bad, he was just average because the guy playing next to him cant control or pass the ball (Edu).
Brasil hardly attacked from the left side of our defense thanks to Fabian and Torres.
My disagreement was with your statement that Castillo was responsible for that goal, which he wasn’t. I agree with Ricky B Free below. And personally, I haven’t seen enough of Castillo or Lichaj lately to make any judgements, so I won’t.
Clearly the referee-blaming is wrong, but Brazil wasn’t 4-1 better. US deserved another goal, possibly two.
switch Edu and Bradley back to the lineup vs Scotland. If you don’t think Edu can play that role than play Beckerman. If you think you need Bradley at defensive mid, then play Torres or Corona in the advanced mid role not Edu.
and there it is folks!!!!! The blame the referee post.
There was nothing wrong with the referee, Brazil was that much better.
I normally wouldn’t say this but I think we would have been better off with cameron for gooch and parkhurst starting instead of dolo. Those old legs sure did show tonight
All 4 goals were legit.
Also, Edu doesn’t have the passing (or trapping) skills for this more advanced role and lost the ball too much. If you’re going to have him in there for this game, put him in front of the defense where he works best and have Bradley go forward more.
Top: Gomez & Bradley & Jones
Flop: Onyewu & Torres
thoughts on tonight. Our centerback tandem is weak in the possession game. gooch and boca are prone to giving the ball away in dangerous spots.
Bradley’s game has improved exponentially. He’s the real deal.
Edu- not so much. He just doesn’t look comfortable on the ball.
That Johnson deke before he crossed was worth the price of admission.
Decent game from Donovan but tonight we see the difference between him and Dempsey. Donovan plays in awe of top competition. Dempsey believes he is as good as anyone on the field and plays that way. Marcelo got the better of Landon on every key play tonight.
Gomez adds something special in a 4-4-2 formation.
Not a a pretty scoreline but a spirited performance. We still have work to do.
Cherundolo- his crossing his not one of his strong points.
^
I think what we may see is Torres slotting in for Edu in the center of the midfield, with Bradley playing the deep-lying position as he did tonight.
As for CBs, I think Ream and Cameron are legitimate prospects; one or both needs to really integrate, though. And yes, it’s time to call Lichaj.
No? Castillo is better than Lichaj? You obviously know nothing about soccer if you can say someone who plays in a 2nd rate league is better than Lichaj who starts in the best league in the world and is probably faster than anyone currently on the US roster.
I’m not sure why Klinsmann had Edu so far up the field and Bradley so deep. It changed how those three central players worked together, and essentially had Bradley stuck defending the whole time. I’m sure there was some tactical reason for this, but whatever they gained by doing this also removed many of the positives.
Brazil dominated possession as expected but their four goals are as follows: harsh (but not unreasonable) pk, offside play leading to corner, goal from guy who tried to kick our guy in face on previous play, and offside play.
We have it hard enough against Brazil without that poor refereeing standard.
We need another CB, RB and to get Edu off the pitch. Oguchi has nothing left for the international game. Dolo was constantly beaten on his side and provided nothing going forward.
Edu disrupts the flow of the game for the US.
Creating chances was a bit of a ray of sunshine in the second half. On a different night that match may be 3-3 before Pato nails a winner. Some nice keeper play on both sides tonight.
Or maybe Marco is right just above, and the weakness of the right is mostly on Donovan.
I see where you’re coming from, but have to disagree. While Lichaj does start in the EPL, he only started a few games at the end of the season for a team fighting relegation. Klinsman told us that. Castillo had a good season for a strong team in Mexico. Also, theyre both playing for backup positions at this point seeing as Johnson is a beast at left back. I’d like to have seen Bradley and Edu switch rolls tonight. In regards to Boca in the back, who would you have put in his place?
And Gooch is clumsy.
I have never wished we had Nevin Subotic more than right now.
Ho! Exactly.
Positives: Bradley, after getting caught on the ball a couple times, was absolutely superb. Calm distribution, precise passes in space, a threat to open up the defense. Gomez. Fabian Johnson: solid defensively, extremely skillful in attack. And I thought Torres did some of the better work in an otherwise rough first half.
Negatives: Onyewu and Donovan obviously had rough games. And I’m a bit concerned about Cherundolo. Yes, he was marking Neymar. But Brazil’s attacks tended to develop on his side of the field.
I’m happy – the USMNT played high pressure defense & played one touch attack – and kept it up the whole game. No more bunkering! But let’s face it, brasil has both a superior offense & defense, & limited what the US could do. We did have our chances though!
Gooch and Donovan involved in all 4 Brazil goals. Gooch is not fit (too tired to step out on last goal), and Donovan let Marcelo run by him constantly. Dolo has Neymar so Landon has to stay with Marcelo.
Good news Johnson was terrific again, and Herc was a handful. Bradley was steady. Edu cannot play CAM, or anywhere near the attack.
Klinsmann must act now to fix these problems. And don’t put another unfit player Jozy, on the pitch against Canada.
I agree Gooch has become a liability.
Zack Whitbread played well for Norwich as a CB .In the games he played Norwich allowed significantly less goals per game.Anyone would be an improvement over the center backs on the current US roster. Tim Ream improved greatly and was one of Bolton’s best players and at least has good skill on the ball. That’s more than could be said about Gooch ,Boca and Goodson.
And thats how we know you just hate a player for the sake of hating him lol. Castillo played it perfectly, it was our clumsy CB Gooch that gave another goal away.
he can barely move. I’m shocked at how poor he was
what would you have changed?
*did he play
We need to move on and leave Gooch behind. Boca passing wasnt great but at least he can defend.
Wrong. Castillo played Pato offside, as did the rest of the line, except Gooch. Castillo is not at fault when he moves with the line. Gooch is at fault because he didn’t.