By IVES GALARCEP
The U.S. Men’s National Team kicks off an important 2014 today with its first match of the year, a friendly against South Korea at StubHub Center (5pm, ESPN2/UniMas).
The Americans will be featuring a lineup with plenty of experience and quality against the South Koreans, with Landon Donovan spearheading the attack, and Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez anchoring the central defense.
SBI will be providing live commentary on today’s match, so please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today’s commentary is after the jump):
S Korea isnt great but isnt bad, they all have speed and close down on defense well all over the pitch, creates a frantic feel for opposition, thats why our mid fielders think they have a second to look for a pass and there’s a defender in their face in no time. we need to just move the ball around and have patience instead of dribbliing while looking for something, let the game come to us
They just give the ball to Korea out of fear to actually play with it.
So Altidore didn’t hop on a flight in Newcastle this morning after his game and fly straight to LA in time for kickoff? WHAT A SLACKER! 😉
He’s too busy trying to get the blood of Newcastle defenders off his cleats
Alright I’ve seen enough of Evans today
So maybe something good comes out of today’s game….
Like Cameron……
NO WHY EAT DOG THIS IS AMERICA
hahaha!
Lalas’ commentary… WTF???
I’m not a fan of Gonzo at all. I’m scared anytime the ball comes around him.
I feel the same about matt….
If the ball is in the air I trust Gonzo. Other places… not so much.
Brad Evans sucked on that one.
This US back line is really shaky.
just the outside backs, really, besler and gonzo are cleaning up for the widebacks terrible defense and awful speed. NEWSFLASH jurgen: this is a friendly…… put Yedlin in the game, we all know how regular brad evans is at outside back……
I agree. The outside backs are terrible. Brad Evans is really looking poor. Parkhurst is not paying great but he isn’t letting them just walk up to the net.
we should have loans/transfers with the Japanese and Korean leagues. instead of trying to achieve the impossible with parity with the top 5 European leagues, why not get more of a partnership with leagues in Asia or South America. I’m sure players in Korea/Japan probably make around 200-400 K. we can afford that
The Brazilian league is pretty good.
It’s very competitive, filled with young talent. Plus, Brazilians are mean, nasty and can be very dirty. Great way to get our players stronger, both mentality and physically.
Your point is well taken. I like your thinking.
I hear ya hmm.
I lived in Japan for five years and had season tickets for two different teams (JEF United and FC Tokyo) and the J.League is definitely good. More technical/less physical than MLS (surprise!!). Doing some loans/transfer seems like it would be win/win for both sides.
Any more give way set pieces for Korea and they will score.
A 6’5 South Korean?
well there’s 1 positive the Korean war brought
LOL not sure if racist. But since this is SBI not racist.
It’s a wee bit racist but…
Koreans tend to be bigger than most Asians.(I mean actually people in Asia. Because a lot of it is diet.) I feel so tall in Hong Kong and at 5’`10″ that doesn’t happen very often.
At 5’8.5″, South Korean men average 3.5 inches taller than North Koreans and only 1″ less than men in the USA. Genetically speaking the 2 Korean countries are the same. The Koreans north of the DMZ suffer malnutrition growing up, while S. Korea is a wealthy country with a per person GDP that is about 60% the USA’s, and 16 times that of N. Korea.
So tall Koreans are not as rare as some might think.
The difference in average heights between Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China are interesting. It basically displays the difference income can make in height. Hong Kong is weathy but it has a lot of immigrant from the mainland which likely bring down the average.
This game is screaming for Gil.
JURGEN NEEDS PLAYERS TO PASS THE BALL FORWARD.
I’m with Frank too!!! 🙂
You are correct sir.
So, are we throughly unimpressed yet?
So far only Mix stands out. He is great.
The rest…very meh.
Is the game on espn yet?
Mix is our best passer, maybe better than bradley.
I would take an in-form gonzo over besler
Wondo is useless outside of getting rebounds
Has the back line made a successful forward pass yet?
To Korea? Yes.
Our right and left backs are terrible. Brad Evens is getting owned by random Koreans.
This blows. I was able to watch the Mexico game from the beginning…… In two different channels
This knocking the ball around in our own third OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, is just terrible.
Yes, but it looks great in the stats
Does anybody else hate the way we’re playing?
We’re warming up bruh.
Welcome to possession soccer. This is our system. No route 1 here
Evans can’t even cross the ball when wide open. Gonna be a long season for Seattle.
Magee with food poisoning? Dude took a page out of the Stu Holden book.
For real. That really sucks for the guy. I really wanted to see him out there.
I AM WATCHING ONLINE STREAM WHY IS THE BRITISH TALKING OVER AMERICAN COMMENTATERS
haha i’m watching that as well, its just the british one now tho
This sucks. Seriously, I can’t the game at all.
Being a USMNT fan is so difficult at times.
Anyone getting the game?
sick of wondo getting lucky goals, we need skilled players in brazil
Wondo was my high school soccer coach. I promise you he’s much more talented than you think he is. He knows exactly where to be to put the ball in the net. That’s more important than anything else. Period.
WONDOWLOSKI IS GOOD GOAL SCORER GOOD CHOICE JEURGEN
I WANT TO HEAR A PLAY-BY-PLAY BY FRANK
Odd, but all I can think of when Frank starts capping off is the kid from Jerry McGuire that keep spouting non sequiturs like, “THE HUMAN HEAD WEIGHS 8 POUNDS!”
I love ACC b ball as much as the next guy, but this is redonkulous.
at least they show the usa goal by wondo
I literally change the channel for five seconds to see if it is on ESPN in English yet and that happens.
they’ve already scored and we missed it for this scheduling BS
whatever espn
GOAL!!?? WWWTTTTFFF ESPN!!
Wondo!
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
+1
Wondo with the goal!
WONDO!
WONDO!!!
espn stinks, just when you thought soccer had come so far
anyone else NOT seeing the USMNT game on ESPN3?
The listing was there until I logged in, and now nowhere.
I had to change browsers and lost my stream bookmark:(
Anyone got a link?
Another reason soccer is better than basketball? The running clock.
Seriously though, the drama of the last 2 mins of a NCAA basketball game are awesome. Wow. He’s at the free throw line. Wow. just wow
This is extremely painful to watch
so drawwnnn outtt
HA HA
Too funny man. 🙂
I guess I am not the only person waiting on this basketball game… 🙁 🙁
Hey, they started the national anthems on Unimas…
Meh. How many chances is Davis gonna get? Ditto with Wondo.
I do like Gonzo, Besler, and Evans playing together though, they look like locks for Brazil so you might as well get them used to playing with each other. I’m wondering if/when Yedlin comes in and where they play him. I could see him going on the wing and then falling back when Evans going forward, and vice-versa.
thinking Wondo gets at least one more after today.
I haven”t watched him much with San Jose, but this was by far his most complete game with the national team. He played good balls, finished his opportunities and made solid runs. I didn’t want to see him because I didn’t see much skill out of him, and he looked a step behind against everyone but Guatemala and Antigua, but if he plays like this I’d say I at least understand why he’s being considered. Although I still don’t see him beating out EJ, AJ, or Jozy.
I AGREE FOR JUERGEN TO LEAVE JOZY OFFWORLD CUP SQUAD HE NEEDS TO SCORE
Classic!
Frank,…obviously you are a law abiding citizen of the state of Colorado.
F espn
+1
this is going to take a while with fouls/timeouts…
I like how they say it can be seen on watchESPN.com but it’s not available…
That pissed me off so much…
This game is not close to over…
With 18 seconds left, what do you figure? 5 minutes? Maybe less….
WHY IS THERE A TIGER
IN KOREA
I MEAN LOGO NOT COUNTRY
It’s actually just a tabby cat but you cant tell in the blue and white.
KOREAN TIGERS LOVE SOCCER!
never change, FRANK
Hope these basketball games don’t drag out….
is this crappy college basketball game gonna be over in time?
No.
We can only hope…