Photo by ISI Photos
What a match.
That’s what comes to mind when thinking of last night’s USA-Mexico friendly. Yes, there were plenty of mistakes and turnovers and missed chances but the intensity and back and forth nature of the match made it a truly memorable encounter.
The story of the night had to be Jozy Altidore, who delivered in a big game yet again. The kid loves the spotlight and anybody who questions whether he’s ready for Europe needs to think twice. Yes, he struggled to find the ball and make things happen, but he was a handful for Mexico all night and I can’t see him coming out of the United States starting lineup for the next decade. Seriously, can you imagine what Altidore will do against CONCACAF competition?
I’m traveling back to New Jersey today so there won’t be much posting between now and this afternoon but I want you all to use this post to talk about the match and talk about the other news that circulated last night.
Share your thoughts on all things USA-Mexico and other soccer news in the comments section below.
joe cole should b*tch slap you just for comparing him to convey! hilarious.
4-5-1, since we don’t have much quality up top (one more cup McBride!!!!)
Altidore
Beasley Donovan Dempsey
Bradley Feilhaber
Los Gooch Demerit Cherundolo
like it or not, from the flow of play, definitely not set pieces, LD is a great distributor. playing two defensive mid’s really frees up dmb and dempsey to fly up the sides and run at defenders. adu the supersub at one of the wings. edu and clark interchangable with feilhaber and bradley. spector can cover either flank in the back also!
For all the Convey haters:
He still hasn’t fully recovered from all his past injuries. He hasn’t had enough match experience. This is the guy who was one of Reading’s top 3 players on their way to the Prem. Was in the Coca Cola Champ. Best XI that year, which is impressive even if its 2nd Div. I can’t remember the last time he even started for Reading. He’s been a sub quite often which is dissappointing because he’s one of our most creative players (poor man’s Joe Cole)
seriously, some crackheads out there. bornstein is no way an improvement over moor/corrales. doesn’t carlos play out wide sometimes? then bring demerit in to partner gooch.
I really think Bradley & Clark won’t work in the midfield. I would love, LOVE! to see Feilhaber & Bradley in MF. I think they would feed off each other nicely. Jozy was impressive! But I think that was a no-brainer. I don’t know why Convey is on the team, they should give Edu more run than him. Bocanegra was also impressive, played like a true captain. Future looks bright baby! First half was sweet! I didn’t like the Altidore/Donovan tandem much, but w/ time could become something special.
I think one reason Howard (man of the match) was so pissed was his defenders could not hear him with all the noise. At least that’s how it looked on tv.
And I think one reason our D looked so bad was the Mex forwards were working so much harder to press us constantly.
Our own forwards were casually trotting around when they had it deep in their own end, meanwhile we could barely get off a safe pass between our own defenders because they were pressuring us so hard. Even on the keeper passbacks.
Starting at the early youth leagues coaches will start to preach about the importance of forwards “playing D” to keep the ball in the other end and our guys last nite did not seem to get that message.
I had fun watching last night…here are my USA ratings:
Howard: 8 — he kept the US in this one
Altidore: 7 — very promising game
Dempsey:7 — I think his performance was underrated. Crisper passing was needed, but he was easily the best of the Americans on the ball
Landon: 6 — Good when he was running at the Mexicans, but disappeared for long periods
Adu: 6 — Rating could have been higher with more time…he looked good out there, and there’s no question he should be taking all dead balls when on the field. Much better than LD when it comes to that
Onyewu: 6 — Nicely-placed header. A little lacking on D
Bocanegra: 6 — Acceptably mediocre in the back.
Clark: 5 — Was ok.
Bradley: 4 — Didn’t look good out there. Made one nice run
Convey: 4 — Hasn’t looked himself lately
Corrales: 2 — Never again.
Moor: 2 — Lost his mark on both Mexican goals. Gave Vela WAY to much space. The only thing that saves him from a 1 was his nice service on the Altidore goal. Never again.
Edu: N/A — Didn’t see enough of him to rate
Lewis: N/A — Same story
Sorry if I forgot any other subs.
I thought it was fairly obvious that our center mids don’t know how to get forward, as well as the two full backs. The fullbacks, I expected to be bad, but when we got the ball out wide, or up to a forward, neither of the 2 center mids were anywhere close enough for a lay off or a square ball. Thus, our front 4 had to hold the ball longer, and many of our attacks sputtered out, rather than flowing. Even when Adu came in, this problem didn’t rectify itself. I don’t know if that’s a coaching philosophy, or player tendencies coming out, but we need players further up the field when we have possession, especially when we have the ball out wide. We are known as an athletic team, so there is really no excuse for our players to not cover that ground. Maybe they sat back last night because the 2 full backs were slow, I don’t know. But this seems like a pretty easy problem to fix to me.
Is dempsey doing the Peter Crouch robot behind Jozy in that picture?
Drew Less. That’s hilarious, Big JT.
Altidore and Howard played very well.
I was surprised to see hoe poorly Bradley played. I think Corrales showed that he shouldn’t be a NT regular. Rico Clark wasn’t very good either. As a matter of fact, I don’t really like the two holding midfielders that Bradley uses. I really think Adu needs to be in the middle making things happen and not as a sub up front.
all dempsey haters:
are you high?
that guy’s touch is a different class than anyone on the field for either team. his first touch, his second, his ability to work out of a tight space and deliver a quality pass with heavy pressure…
i don’t get it. isn’t it obvious? what he lacks is pace, but his linking skills are vital to US success.
and yes, moor and corrales suck but so what? we have 5 or 6 better options (spector/pearce/simek/gibbs) plus of course our starter, the superb cherundolo who is one of our best players period.
Don’t forget about Gibbs as a potential left back.
Is it just me, or is the play of Frankie Hejduk really underrated from past games?
A few simple fixes:
– Beasley will get healthy and play left flank
– Edu should play DM of the two CMs
– Bradley should play more of an AM of the two CMs like he’s playing on his club team. He’s our best AM… better than Donovan, Dempsey, or Adu if you think about it.
– Fielhaber coming off the bench to replace whover is playing bad in the CMs
– Bornstein at LB, Cherundolo at RB
– Adu comes in for whoever isn’t playing well in the 2nd half: Bradley/Donovan/Beasley/Dempsey
Also, I think the reason Donavon was wide and Dempsey central was to help w/ the defense. Dempsey isn’t much of a defender.
Drew Less
I see comments on Dempsey’s work rate, and that he looks tired after the past two Fulham games. I think the past Fulham season has worn him out. Except the first two or three games of the season, he has pretty much started and played every single Fulham match this season. Right? I could be wrong. Hopefully w/ all the new signings they got he can get some rest. The guy just looks tired!
Stephen — Harkes was great. Really? You mean his line of “Landon Donovan is great at free kicks and dead-ball kicks.”?
That was terrible. So were some of his other lines that I thought were questionable, which escape me at the moment.
On another note, as for Dempsey’s goal, he maybe offsides but that should have been called a minute before Dempsey even took a shot if he was offside. I just watched the play 4 times over and Dempsey was ahead of the defender but did he go ahead before or after the ball left Onyewu’s foot?
I thought it was an entertaining game though we were clearly under pressure most of the night and had trouble building an attack.
Altidore is definitely the man upfront although I wish he would run down the defenders more when they have the ball. Marquez got too many opportunities to pick out attackers making runs and it cost us on one goal.
I agree with those who think that maybe we should look at Donovan as the withdrawn forward and Dempsey on the right. I also agree that Convey has not regained his form from two years ago. We should look at some other players on the left until Beasely returns. Maybe it should be Davis given how bad we are at free kicks. Adu could fit in there though he would prefer to play in the middle. Eddie Lewis still has some gas in him too but it seems that Bob will have to experiment some more on the left. The middle with Clarke and Bradley was pretty good defensively (until they got tired) but Harkes is right in that we need one guy that can hold onto the ball and make the connections to the wings or forwards. Feilhaber did a good job with that before but I guess his lack of playing time for Derby is costing him his starting position with the MNT. Maybe Edu. In any case, they are all young quality players with a bright future. Bob just has to find the right combination.
The middle defenders did a good job though Howard seemed to be continually frustrated with how his back line was organized and marking. That might have been because Moor is just not playing well on defense (he did okay on offense) and Corrales was pretty mediocre as well. We should be okay with Cherundholo and Spector on the right however and hopefully Bornstein will continue to evolve.
Howard was great though his rage and frustration were coming through loud and clear and that added to the impression that we were clearly being beseiged by the Mexican forwards.
For Mexico, Vela was good, but I shudder to think how things would have turned out with Castillo and Guardado on the field. Mexico will be tough in the coming years!
U.S. fans can be calmed by the fact that, when healthy, Beasley is there at left mid and Dolo is there at right back.
So the complaints about Convey (boy, the kid just needs to get match fit and fully recovered) and Moor filling those positions in future matches are moot.
The U.S. still were able to draw, albeit an equally injury-depleted Mexico, 2-2.
But with all the talk about young offensive stars and the future, I like our chances when comparing Mexico’s future attack of Vela, Castillo, Gio and Guardado with the U.S.’s future attack of Altidore, Adu, Bradley and Dempsey.
As for Moor, he should not be called into national team camp as a defender but the kid may have a future as a backup right midfielder. With Bob at the helm, you never know what is possible.
At center midfield, the best possible tandem is still likely Bradley and Feilhaber. That pairing during the Gold Cup tournament worked very, very well most of the time. A backup pairing of Clark-Edu off the bench isn’t too shabby. Though I still think Edu will push for a starting spot.
In regards to Dempsey and Donovan’s positions, Dempsey as a withdrawn forward and Donovan at right midfield may still prove to be the best option right now. The two just needs help from the central midfield. They need to be able to connect so the two guys most dangerous with the ball will actually see it.
Though I wouldn’t mind to see the two switch spots. Donovan has proven he can make things happen when playing withdrawn and Dempsey is more comfortable (and probably better) at right midfield than Donovan is.
Bocanegra and Onyewu played very well together for the first time that I can remember. Would still like to see DeMerit or Parkhurst getting their chance with the starting XI. And at left back? Who knows. Someone needs to step up out of this group — Simek, Spector, Pearce, Bornstein, A. Wallace, C. Meyers, M. Wynne, S. Williams, M. Bates, or N. Subotic. (I realize some of these guys are natural left backs.)
As for Jozy, not much can be written more than what already has. At 18, scoring in the most important rivalry this side of the Bloods and Crips, is phenomenal. His skill on the ball was great, though his passing still needs work. His move on the right sideline in the second half was world class. The following pass, not so much. But it’s just exciting to watch this kid play and think of what he has the potential to become in the near future.
I don’t think Bradley was the problem in the middle of the pitch– it was the Bradley/Clark pairing, not to be repeated, I hope. Also, I think Adu, like Jozy, brings something to the table the rest of the Yanks don’t: the sort of touch and skill that makes him a threat to pay attention to at all times. He has a great touch, which is pretty much the opposite of, say, Ricardo Clark.
considering feilhaber’s lack of playing time recently, I think he did exceptionally well. I wish he had been paired with Bradley from the start. There was a lack of organization from the middle that hurt us.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but none of the central midfielders out there are the ‘organizer’ of their club teams. If we want them to do this for the nat’l team, then they need that drilled into their head. It’s difficult to go from the fantastic rookie/v. young player to Reyna ca. 2002 just by putting on a new jersey… not that they can’t play this role for us, just that that’s a big mental switch.
Corrales…I could see coming off the bench in the future. Moor…sorry, but not at the international level. Convey…how many passes or crosses did he have that weren’t intercepted and/or blocked? Bradley…far too many give aways.
What ever happened to Jay DeMerit? He played in the gold cup and copa america well at defense. I think he should be tried at the right/left back position with Boca and Gooch. I think they would mesh well. Spector would be my option for the other back wing spot. Also start Rico Clark and Benny in the mid.
Jozy looked fantastic, as did Gooch. Dempsey needs to step up the intensity, although I could possibly see him being worn out from play in Europe as he is one of the few Yanks that get significant playing time overseas. All in all, great game.
PS: If it’s gonna be a home game against Mexico then we should play in Hawaii (Aloha stadium anyone?).
I love how Altidore’s emergence suddenly makes Ching, Twellman, etc all, expendable. I think its clear Dempsey is NOT to be penciled in as a world-class forward on this team jsut yet.
-Harkes was great; JP- not so much
-I thought Mexico was clearly the better team on the night, they had to have had possession at least 75% of the time.
-I still would like to see Parkhurst get a few more run-outs. I don’t fault our two centerbacks last night for the pourous defense in the final third, but Parkhurts is so good tactically.
-Can’t wait to get back our other outside backs not in this team
-We are still not there in the center midfield, at the very least, player-combination-wise. But I think we have seen all the best possible players that can play in the next World Cup, just have to hope players get much better, and we find the right combo.
What a game indeed. Except…. where was our midfield? Our attacking midfield was spotty at best last night. Michael Bradley was nullified by the Mexican defensive midfield and Landon Donovan seldom saw the ball (although we did see some flashes of brilliance). Bobby Convey did not look sharp enough to have started and I would have put Beasly in if he had been available. I don’t feel Lewis was the answer either. I think Edu should have started further back from the midfield in the center ahead of the back four. Ricardo Clark had a good game but this sector of the field requires some work. It could be that some of our Europe-based players had too little time to rest after seeing action over the weekend; such was the case for Dempsey. He was absent from play except for the goal that did not count. I still don’t feel he should be a forward but at this point we have no real company for Altidore. The defense had some gaping holes around the middle when it came time for set pieces. More experience is needed in that part of the field and Conrad could have filled that role. Speed was the key point that Bradley suggested to be lacking in the US team. I feel the same, although more dominant flanks in our defense should be addressed as well. Up top Altidore was anything short of perfect… Opportunistic, with presence, and most of all with passion. Getting a yellow card was exactly what he needed. It showed his strength and poise when confronted with an important game like this. We can only expect more fantasy play from him in the future and it is my hope that he can move on to top-flight European club team during the summer transfer window (Real, are you listening?).
Company up front for him is sorely needed and although I’m not sure about EJ playing alongside, I think it may be worth a try.
“And Twellman will never be called up again.”
Don’t count on it. The US has a knack for scheduling friendlies that don’t correspond to the international schedule. Plenty of chances to dig deep into the pool.
I don’t understand the confusion about Dempsey’s goal. He was offside when the ball was played to him. ESPN’s replay that clearly showed that was shown quite a while after the play, but still, he was clearly offside.
Too bad, really, was a great goal.
Convey, Corrales, and Morr… these guys just don’t belong at this level.
And Twellman will never be called up again.
DOUG
I wholeheartedly agree. Landon’s service is nowhere near as good as Adu’s. When Freddy is on the pitch, he MUST take all the corner and free kicks.
We desperately, DESPERATELY need a central midfielder who is capable of controlling the ball.
I thought Bradley might be that kind of player based on the reports from Holland, but he sure wasn’t last night. Maybe Feilhaber could be. Come back Claudio Reyna (circa 2000)!
Also, when Dos Santos gets a little more experience, he’s going to be a beast. Yikes.
tedhill,
Bobby C still gets caps because he is in the system. Youth on up. When a part of th esyetm form day one you will get dozens of chances to prove yourself. If outside the system you get a few, and it’s much harder to be noticed.
This has been a terrible practice for th elast decade becuase we really only have B’tom, and once you are in…well, you get it. It’s a very small pool of players and that pool get’s all of th eadvantages, even thought they clearly may not deserve them anymore as time progressess. USSF at it’s worst.
This may start to change now with the youth programs, Friedeal’s Acadamy and a lot more young players going overseas earlier. A change that is needed.
Truly lousy game for the U.S. (except for Tim Howard), who was lucky to get away with a tie. There was no build up or flow until Benny got in (he needs to be playing somewhere so he can start). Mexico ran everyone ragged, and the U.S. defense, always a red card threat, will get eaten alive by Gio Dos Santos once he starts. I agree that Altidore will be a presence up front for a decade, but he needs to impose himself on the game more. Adu was disappointing as a sub, though I’d like him to start to give the attack more speed. Bradley has obvious class, but makes too many bad mistakes to be a holding mid. If he can score, he needs to push forward a little more and leave the primary holding responsibilites to Clark or Feilheiber. Donovan was spurty, as usual, and is not improving.
All in all, a disappointing performance.
–Dempsey – ease up on him, give him a break,he played last week, flew back home to play match, then heading back to Europe. He did well considering…he got robbed of a goal!
–Jozy – #9 USMNT Jersey I would want to buy if not for the Tommy Hillfiger look = plus the V-Neck jersey is horrible. Jozy was playing with intensity showing he knows that the match was about.
–Overall, I think it was a “good” match to survey the team’s grit. Also, consider that most of the US players are playing out of season. We saw where the young players need help as well as our backs suffer without are primary starters.
Can somebody please explain to Bob Bradley that Landon Donovan’s dead ball and corner kick service are AYSO level. I mean he either floats them in, floats them over everybody, or cant get it past the first man. You see when Freddy came in he took the corner straight away, but on the last play of the game Landon called Freddy off, and proceeded to overshoot all of the offensive options in the box, basically handing the ball to Ochoa.
Bobby Convey, too frail, too small, cant cross without getting it blocked, no defense. Go back to Reading and never play for us again. We want Justin Mapp!!!
Every game I watch that Convey is playing in, whether for USA or Reading, he is the worst player on the pitch. Okay, he might not have been the worst tonight, but I don’t understand why he keeps getting caps.
1. Get Corrales and Moor out of there, get Spector, Bornstein and Cherundolo in.
2. I agree that Bradley and Clark did not pair well together, but they also played below expectations individually. Feilhaber (rusty) was better with Edu than Clark/Bradley. The central midfield pairing competition is still open in my book.
Anyone read or hear any of the mexican media reaction. I haven’t seen many quotes from the Mexican players.
Matty C- Jozy told him that Barcelona is his favorite team and that he watches them every week. Rafa said Thanks and to keep watching.
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=AqaiuF2HdEJGnGb.fvo2NUwmw7YF?slug=ro-altidore020608&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
I’m getting tired of the extreme experimenting. Give an opportunity to everybody that deserves a chance, but don’t carry the experimenting so far as to try players who are not even playing well in MLS.
Also, I just felt I had to throw this in there. Is there any doubt after watching last night’s game, that JP Dellacamera is the BEST choice for play by play for USMNT matches and MLS? Harkes did ok for a first time. Couldve done with all that Jozy-slurping after he scored (former coach, something special, gentleman, Mr. Altidore). Got the impression that he was more like a proud father watching his son, but a good first outing. Why do they insist on slamming Julie Foudy down our throats
nothing about people getting shot outside the stadium, huh? probably just some clowns at the AP who hate soccer who put that story out there. that thing happens all the time after football games and it never gets reported.
i agree with Ted… i had my misgivings on the new jerseys see the picture only… but seeing them on the team and in action, they looked pretty classy
Feilhaber to anywhere he can start getting some play time. Our midfield was completely outmatched. I think the possession at one point was like 68/32…our defenders were just lobbing hopeless long balls forward. Nothing was going through the midfield. Although Bradley was starting to have some good moments in the second half, I think Bradley and Clark are too similar. Things improved dramatically when Feilhaber was on the field.
Still there were a lot of positives – Altidore and Dempsey were good with the few touches they had, Donovan was dangerous on the flanks. I think Dempsey would be the best playmaker – he can hold the ball under pressure and has good touch and vision, but he needs the ball to his feet, not a long ball when he is surrounded by 3 defenders. Howard was awesome, just awesome, and the center backs looked pretty good too. We definitely need to look at some of our younger flank players – Alvarez, Holden, Rogers…
Watching the game I was impressed not only Jozy, but Carlos Vela as well. He showed some flashes last night of what he could become. I think its good for the rivalry that the young players got a chance last night. As impressed as I was with these 3, if I see Drew Moor in a USMNT shirt again, it will be too soon. Two free kicks, two goals for his marker both his fault. He clearly was outhustled on both Magallon goals. Yes he provided the great service for Jozy, but I cant help but think if Spector, Simek or even DeMerit was in there it wouldnt have happened
Even the morning after I’m still not thinking “what a match.”
I just thought it was ugly…very, very ugly.
I agree with the Benny thoughts. He came in and calmed the game down a bit, looked real good. Why can’t he even make the bench for Derby?
Good observations:
-Altidore saying hello to the international scene with the kind of goal EJ and Twellman often send over the cross bar or wide.
-Onyewu has been steadily improving since the Switzerland match, and it was nice to see him come out and give a solid performance against the best attack we will see in qualifying (Castillo was absent, but still).
-Adu did a good job dropping back and helping with possession. Makes the argument for a 4-3-3 with Adu in the midfield a little stronger.
-Feilhaber showed he is class for the US. The Derby situation is unfortunate, but maybe English football isn’t his thing. He would be much better off in Holland, Spain, or even Italy.
-My roommate who doesn’t watch or understand soccer was doing homework while I was watching the game, and at one point asked me if Howard was one of the best in the world. Class performance, even if the scoreline didn’t show it.
Bad things:
-Drew Moor. I can’t say much more about that.
-Donovan didn’t turn in a good performance. He missed having Cherundulo overlapping on the right.
-Corrales played badly too. I liked him in the Sweden game. Not as a starter, but as a backup left back in some qualifying games. Pearce, Bornstein, and Spector can all be class here, and since we know why Bornstein and Spector weren’t here, why didn’t Pearce even make the bench?
-Clark was horrible on both sides of the ball. Clearly rusty. Edu was an upgrade in the second half.
-Bradley played well defensively well, but gave away possession too much. I was looking forward to him playing with Feilhaber and Adu, but the yellow card prevented him.
-I am a huge fan of Convey, but he stunk it up. He has speed, he has crossing ability, and he has skill on the ball. He has shown us all that in the past, but he looks like a shadow of his former self. He screams of a John O’Brien-like career. Maybe he never fully recovered from all those injuries.
-Dempsey was clearly tired from carrying the load at Fulham. Had a few good moves, but not his best game.
Team Jerseys:
-Mexico’s was okay, but there goalkeeper shirt was stunning. Loved it.
-The US shirt looked good in action.
POSITIVES:
Altidore (great goal, I wish he had seen more of the ball);
Dempsey (especially in the 1st half; the disallowed goal was great)
Donovan (again, mostly in the 1st half)
Positional play of Bocanegra and Guch.
Howard – his usual solid self.
NEGATIVES
Corrales, Moor (though he did get a very nice cross in).
The entire play in the 2nd half. I think that is where Mexico’s overall better ability to hold and control the ball really showed. We have only 5-6 players, who can consistently hold and pass the ball on the ground under pressure. We compensate by playing more disciplined. But as fatigue set in, the lack of ability became more apparent.
Also, for my taste, we did not make enough intelligent runs to open spaces to try and beat the defense of Mexico.
I definately agree that Corrales and Convey…SUCKED!! Moor really didn’t do that bad though, maybe I saw a different game. Both goals went across the 6 yard box, which I think Howard could punch out? Also the second one was off of a flick, who was marking the guy that flicked the ball on…No one. Also the reason our backs were bunched in the middle is that the US was not playing with designated outside midfield. If you noticed the mids were switching all over the place making runs in space, but they were leaving the outsides open. So Corrales and Moor have responsibility to the forwards and once the defense has shifted over they then go at the outside mids. US needs to develop center mids and FAST. Bradley is decent as a defensive mid, but definately not attacking. Disappointed in the result and possesion by the US but oh well