What’s the best way to describe the U.S. national team’s 1-0 loss to Spain on Wednesday? Let’s call it promising, if not quite yet good enough.
Yes, Spain dominated possession for long stretches and created the better chances, but the U.S. played well in the first half and the U.S. defense was also able to thwart most of Spain’s chances and hold up pretty well against a dangerous Spain attack. Save for Xavi’s jaw-dropping run for Spain’s lone goal, and a Xavi free kick and Marcos Senna shot off the woodwork, Spain was unable to break down the USA back-line.
We also saw Freddy Adu enjoy a very good showing in 45 minutes of action before leaving at halftime with an injury. I have a story coming today on ESPN.com about Adu’s performance against Spain which basically states that Adu showed he is ready to take on a bigger role with the national team. If he can play on Sunday like he did on Wednesday I think Bob Bradley will have a hard time keeping Adu out of the U.S. lineup for the qualifiers.
There were complaints from the match as well. Michael Bradley had a strong first half but tired in the second half and should have been replaced with 20-25 minutes left in the match. Clint Dempsey’s recent funk continued and Josh Wolff’s ineffectiveness (some would say uselessness) was on display again, but I think Dempsey looks tired and I think Wolff will soon make way for the MLS contingent of attacking prospects (we can only hope).
Then there was Eddie Johnson. Johnson worked hard and had a promising first half, but as has become the norm with Johnson, he just flat wastes good chances. As the target man in a 4-2-3-1, Johnson was supposed to get into position for chances, which he did, but he also wasted them with weak shots or poor passes (and an extremely weak header on a beautiful cross from Eddie Lewis).
As frustrating as Johnson can be, he still has the tools to potentially be useful come World Cup qualifying, at least the next two rounds anyway. He has the speed to blow buy lower level CONCACAF defending, but has shown repeatedly that he can’t be counted on against top competition. At least not yet (if ever).
I also think the "Over the Hill" gang, otherwise known as Eddie Lewis and Frankie Hejduk, still merit call-ups. Lewis is playing at a high level right now and should get playing time in qualifying while Hejduk is a good back-up for Steve Cherundolo at right back.
So in short, the defense was good but the attack, aside from Adu, just wasn’t good enough. Hopefully the infusion of players like Landon Donovan (if healthy), Jozy Altidore and Kenny Cooper will help things on Sunday, and in the upcoming rounds of World Cup qualifying, but as it stands right now the U.S. attack just isn’t good enough.
What did you think of the Spain match? Share your thoughts, complaints, highlights and lowlights below.
Anyone else calling for Bradley’s head? I know I am. He’s a horrible tactician, and doesn’t trust domestic (MLS) talent.
Everyone just assumes that Spain was coasting and we were giving everything we had. Do you think any of our players want to get hurt either in a meaningless friendly? With WCQ coming up that are as important to us as Euro 2008 is to Spain? The only thing I have learned is that we possibly have the personnel (many young who weren’t even there) to compete with top tier teams when it mattered.
Bob Bradley has reached the end of his usefulness. Time to get a “next level” kind of guy to lead this young talent we have.
Ives
I have a problem with your characterizing Wednesday’s performance as promising: you accurately point out our inadequacies n the attack and then talk about how we should be hopeful the likes of Kenny Cooper can deliver for us against high level opposition? Promising. The fact is the US has nothing coming up in terms of promising options up front. Altidore is a work in progress. The U-23 team’s attack is led by Barrett. Ochoa sucks. And Townsend is only beginning his freshman campaign at Maryland. Where is the promise? Furhtermore, we can’t defend against the top level without resorting to five in the midfield- makes it a lot tougher for Cooper to get that brace against the likes of Argentina.
Will someone please sell McBride on the idea of coming back through 2012? He can help mentor Altidore on how to be a consummate professional and is the only person I cna currently think of in teh entire US set-up capable of being a lone target.
If I was insulting you I’d call you childish names, you know like “a$$hat.”
Just making a point.
1) Adu is our best player for now.
2) No one can score except by accident.
3) There is not enough movement individually or collectively, particularly in the middle of the field.
4) Long and high balls are a waste of time.
5) Gooch and Boca are good for one goal a game against us.
6) Bradley is a hot head and needs to calm down fast.
7) Clint, Beasely, and Adu, or at least two of them, need to be in the middle of the field more often rather than hanging out on the wings.
8) Eddie Johnson has no touch.
9) Jozy needs to be on this team because he is no worse than anyone else and likely better.
10) Argentina is going to murder us if they try.
I thought we did pretty well. It could have been ugly but first half was definitely great for the US. Yeah Freddy when he got the chance did better attacking than Eddie. Clint Dempsey needs to bounce back up again –he just seems so tired. Heath Pearce with another great game. Michael needs to make better choices and you are right I think he should leave because it must be the exhaustion that makes start playing like he wants to break legs.
– trekker is a whiny ass. the article really had nothing to say.
– re: cooper in ‘player pool’ — what people meant to say is that the listed player pool on the us soccer site is both inaccurate and meaningless. the real “player pool” is whoever BB has capped/called into camp/is rumored to be considering. Clearly KC is in the pool as Bob brought him to Jan 07 camp and capped him twice in early 07. Now he named to the group for these 3 friendlies too after getting off to good start in mls 08.
– clearly BB does see that Adu is ready to play at this level. No one could miss that. However, the Q is what does BB do with that information? If Adu is added to the XI, what spot does he take?
– it feels like BB has been using 2 d-mids forever, but looking back he has only clearly played 2-mids in the middle in 12 of the 23 matches he coached (that is counting the times that 2 of MB, Edu, Clark, and Mastro were paired as starters – number could be higher based on evaluation of role played by feilhaber, olsen, and beckerman…).
– But, even though the 2-d-mid pairing is only used 50% of the time, it feels like more because BB has trotted out 2 d-mids in 8 or our last 9 matches, including the last 7 straight.
-So, will BB include Freddy while keeping 2-mids, or will he drop a d-mid? If he drops a d-mid, we get the more attack-oriented line-up preferred by SBI readers, something like:
——Jozy LD/CD—–
–DMB—-Freddy—-LD/CD
——single dmid——
–back-back-back-back–
——–howard———
– But, if BB wants to keep his twin dmids AND add Freddy to our XI, that means dropping one of the other fan-favorite attackers: Jozy, Beez, or Dempsey (assuming Landycakes will never be dropped).
– So, which is it Bob? Obviously might depend on who we are playing etc., but in general, will we see a move away from 2 dmids???
And another thing. EJ’s dominant eye is his left one and we need to remember that when he blows his chances.
ok so i know i just posted but i went back and read all of the posts and have a little more to add. i say the US is playing poorly because i have high hopes for us, hopes that 2002 wasnt a fluke, hopes that we’ll beat mexico the next time around, and im upset by this performance. we are playing a spain team that just barely squeaked by peru, an england team that didnt qualify for euros. of course these guys have more talent and we shouldnt be upset with a win, but we should be trying to play some real soccer, not this garbage that we have right now. possession stats for that game must have been ridiculous. and as i said before, are teams like croatia, south korea, russia, nigeria, etc. really that much more talented than us? they all play attractive soccer and have had success against big teams, as far as i know we beat portugal and thats it. if we want to do what gulati and bradley say they are aiming for – get out of the group stages and even farther in the world cup. this isnt enough. its just more bruce arena, its not attractive attacking soccer, and as i said, if this was a good performance, than we must have played awesome in the last world cup. sorry, but its true. deal with it
Henry- ill agree with you…. altho i wouldnt mind seeing Rogers get the call over Alvarez…. but both would be nice
ok so i wasnt disappointed because that’s what i expected – no possession and at some point spain breaking us down. and sorry ives, but you are way off – read jeff carlisle on espn, he hits closer, though hes still gentile compared to the nytimes columnists. this is a team that has openly said they have a goal of going far in the world cup, which means beating a team like spain, which means not playing a hunker down defense and pray that no one gets by you. thats what we did yesterday, thats what the lineup was intended to do, and i bet thats what players like eddie lewis and DMB were instructed to do – thats what happens when you play 2 DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS WHO CAN NOT HOLD POSSESSION AT ALL. we didnt even counter attack effectively – one chance off of a great ball from adu. why cant we try to play some attractive possession soccer? atleast now when the games dont matter? are you telling me teams like south korea or russia have much more talent than we do to actually play real soccer and not have 10 people behind the ball at all times? come on, if this was a good performance than so was last world cup.
as far as my personal thoughts, i was pretty impressed with gooch’s composure on the ball, i thought pearce was solid again, thought that it’s still a little early to write off EJ – yes he messed up obvious chances, but i still think there might be hope for him if he doesnt have to play the hold up forward spot and can run off of someone like jozy or ching, but i am in no way commending his play, as for adu, definitely a great performance, but in the same way that im not ready to write of EJ im not ready to completely support adu starting with a full strength squad of jozy/donovan/dempsey/dmb/EJ/ching etc, but still, great play from adu.
anyways, good thing we got bob bradley when are buddies down south get a certified tactician in sven, i see a loss on US soil to mexico, if not several losses
Eddie Johnson is left footed.
Eddie Johnson is left footed.
Eddie Johnson is left footed.
Just thought anyone analysing EJ’s play should note that, considering most of his moments with the ball came on the right of the half of the field. I’m not saying EJ played well, I’m just reminding everyone (because how often are we used to seeing left footed strikers) that he was shooting and passing with his weak foot a lot of the time. As for me, I’m just going to wait and continue to watch what happens to EJ, as he could go up or down.
Also, Adu is nasty. Could be one of the best players in the history of the game by time his career is over. Vision, balance, passing, touch, shot, ball control. It’s all already at such a high level. Hopefully he beefs up as he becomes a man over the next couple of years.
Rashid- benny and adu shouldnt even be an option right now… what having close to 0 PT all season at Derby and then injurying himself?? talk about being out of form….
this is the lineup i want to see play one day
======Altidore===Cooper=====
===========Adu==============
Alvarez====Bradley========Lando
PEARCE===BOCA====Onyewu===DOLO
=========HOWARD==============
just a thought… I love the idea of a Benny-Freddy central mid but we really should take into account that not only will Feilhaber be comming back from an injury but he hasn’t seen much field time during his time at Derby. I from LA and am a HUGE fan of Benny but I don’t know if he would be ready for this level of competition he’s super talanted but can be a bit Jaded… I hope that when he gets back he continues to develop and really become the midfielder he was at UCLA.
I neglected to mention that unfortunately the Dempsey of ’08 is not the piss and vinegar Dempsey of a few years ago.
Thought Trecker was way too negative also. However, he does have a good point on the confidence and how reactive we are. We need to have players with this attitude and Freddy has it. It was missing from ’06 b/c Dempsey didn’t play as much as he should have. In ’02 DMB and Landon were terrors, and IIRC DMB was a surprise starter against Portugal. We need to have some players to keep other teams honest and to keep them on their heels.
Will- quite the negative writer wouldnt you say?? simply put he points out some obvious points… the US cannot consistantly hang with teams of Spain’s calibeur… are we shocked?? who in the blog is surprised??
he focuses on Adu as the only positive… but left off both Howard AND Guzan…. his opinion of the game is clearly biased by the 2nd half performance…. he surely doesnt realize this was not a full US squad…. the US simply doesnt have the depth of Big Name Nations…
If LD and Adu go down, our creativity is shot…. we have some contenders, but nothing more then possible prospects… the only position i feel comfortable in our depth is GK… either way, he made the game out to be such a travisty… as though there were no positives of yesterday’s performance… which is obviously quite wrong
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/8210848/More-of-the-same-from-an-uninspired-U.S.-squad
Great article on the US’s performance yesterday by Trecker on Fox’s website. Really wish more journalists would be more critical and realistic when writing about the US.
I can’t believe Bradley went with Wolff and Johnson again. Johnson does not run for any ball in his general vicinity unless it’s played to his feet.
Bradley should’ve chosen Chris Rolfe who was off the past two weeks. He never stops running and can score from long- and short-range.
I didn’t think enough was said about the drop-off from Cherundolo to Heydude. Frankie wasn’t good enough out there, and could’ve been called for a penalty on Xavi before the goal. Makes Spector going down that much more painful, and I think the Olympic team really has to burn an over-age spot on ‘Dolo.
I thought Grant Wahl had a good take on Bradley, the short of it being that MB’s growth now is to learn to play 90 mins at this level, so it was good to leave him on, even if he fell apart in the last 20.
BTW, disagree that MB is in the “doesn’t run” crowd, the captain of which is Dempsey, who hasn’t been seen going faster than a jog in 6 months. Loved some of Bradley’s first half tackling and hustle, I think the best change is to let the kid run all the way into the box and attack, trust the other D-Mid to cover any counters.
If the team lacks an attacking,creative midfielder than Sasha Klietzan of Chivas USA needs to be called up. He is a young player with loads of talent that can create magic for the fowards.
Javier,
The reason I make that comment is because posts like that add NOTHING to the discussion, and frequently are put out there flatly, with no useful insight into the reasoning behind it. It’s really easy to just sit back and say “We suck.” If you think that, then fine, and you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but how about taking things a step further and offering some reasonable contribution as to how things might be improved upon. It’s called “raising the bar of debate.”
Tom- personally i dont see how Dominghosa insulted you… he simply stated if you’d pay a lil’ more attention to the camp callups you’d have notice he is in fact in the pool…
does USsoccer’s 08 pool reflect who’s been called up this year?? b/c lets not forget that Cooper was called up for the denmark game in 07…
A much fairer assessment of EJ, Ives. Thank you!
i agree that the analysis was pretty accurate, especially about Adu. i’m looking forward to the ESPN piece.
Dominghosa–
Thanks for the info.
FYI, if you knew how to answer a simple question without needing to insult someone, everyone wouldn’t think you’re such an a$$hat. Sorry, but it’s true.
@kpugs – Dude, I hear you. If anything else, I respect the USSF for scheduling these games to give our USMNT and the fans a real litmus test of where we are globally. We’ve been riding that 2002 World Cup run for too long. That said, we are not putting our best footballing foot forward (even at Toulon or Copa America) to the global audience. And sometimes I feel we aren’t giving enough exposure to some of our promising youth.
But I keep telling myself that it really doesn’t matter until we start World Cup Qualifying. If we tank in friendlies against top 10 teams, maybe our FIFA ranking drops to 25 or 30. If we don’t qualify for the World Cup…that would be devastating for the USSF, the MLS, SBI, etc.
For now I am trusting the correct decisions are being made so that everything will be in place to qualify for the World Cup.
Two comments:
1) I hope Freddy A. make the move to La Liga. If he goes to a middle to lower level club there he could get playing time and would really take him to the next level.
2) I would have loved to see how Kenny Cooper would have done against Spain if he had played in place of EJ. The guy has size, pace, some decent moves, and can finish. I’d like to see him given the chance.
(and a third: I think Edu actually played pretty well the first half.)
Brett- (i mis typed my own darn name.. sorry its Andrew):
I agree that LD’s behaivor has been a little strange..and I cannot make sense of it. Was he actually at the Spain game? I didnt think he flew back actually but I am not sure. I think LD has grown up dramatically since getting married, and I think he has the maturity to lead this team!! Hope he shows up to play for argentina
Tim regarding your comment about getting a backbone to posts who say “we really suck” or “we can’t hang with the best”, quit drinking the Kool-aid! Just because people don’t make those remarks doesn’t mean they don’t the support the men’s national team. Why should people be forced to sing the praises of players that are playing poorly or a team that has proven time and again it lacks the talent, depth and creativity to play with the best the teams in the worlds? People have a right to speak the truth and to speak their minds even if you don’t like it, or goes against your sense or morality.
The U.S. blew a chance to get to the next level when they failed to hire Jurgen Klinsmann (or someone else with similar capabilities) Bob Bradley is a solid coach, but there seems to be something lacking in the play of this team.
The U.S. should have followed the example of Mexico, which broke out of it’s business-as-usual mode and (despite some local opposition) hired Sven Goran-Ericsson, a brilliant tactician.
Watch out for Mexico in the next World Cup.
I would like to see the following on Sunday.
====Altidore===Dempsey====
==========Adu============
Beasley====Mastro======Lando
Hejduk===Boca===Onyewu===Dolo
==========Howard=========
This is a quicker line-up with Frankie sliding to the left side for Pearce. Good test to see if he can be a capable backup (and possible starter) on either side.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Lewis on the left side either but I like Beasley so that he can get match fit for the Bermuda game. Perhaps a half each.
Altidore over Johnson is a no brainer at this point. I think Jozy is just as good or better tha Eddie. Eddie is might be servicable as a 75 min. sub as Harkes suggested during the broadcast last night.
Mastro over Bradley and Edu because he has the experience to handle the def. mid. duties all by himself and I suspect that he will have a little fire in the belly going against Argentina.
cheers…
Ives, you are right on. Adu is ready for prime time. We need differentiators on the field and Adu has no creative peer in the US system. Pairing him with Donovan and a motivated Jozy is the attacking mindset I would like to see.
On another topic, when is Bob Bradley going to stop experimenting with the Michael Bradley/Rico Clark/Maurice Edu combos? All three bring similar attributes to the game. While Bradley might be tearing up the Eriedivisie, I actually prefer Edu in the middle for the US, largely due to his composure under pressure and his quick, simple decisions. Could their be some nepotism at work with the younger Bradley? Our midfield MUST have a dictator (either Donovan, Adu, or an in-form Feilhaber) paired with one of the aforementioned (preferably Edu). Why is Bob Bradley still experimenting with the Bradley/Clark/Edu combo approach? It failed at the Copa America and it failed against England.
kpugs- AGAINST SPAIN…. and england…
sorry but we arent going the Bruce Arena route and playing the small countries of Concacaf all the time now… we are trying ourselves and its showing us one thing… we arent as good as we made ourselve to be… it shouldnt be a shock… despite our 02 move to quarters we got lucky to get out of group… people blew our Rank 5th out of proportion….
quite frankly we dont have the depth as the footballing capitals of the world…. this shouldnt come as a shock….
Andrwe- the funny thing about money is you can always use more…
lets look at the facts…
-LD was injured for england
-flies to toronto and is available (altho didnt play
-flies to spain and is injured again (depsite not having played since before england)
whats the point of having him on the roster if he’s injured for the US but available for LA… he’s either in it for the $$ (and free trip to europe) or so stuck on LA doing better that he’ll ignore the Nats, at which point would piss me off more…
how would you explain the situation??
Unfortunately I’ve come to the conclusion that this uninspired play is now the standard for us, and not the exception. It has been months since we’ve played a decent match.
I am one of the biggest U.S. apologists I know, but I’ve run out of positives. The simple fact that I have reached this conclusion with my constant defending of the national team, its coaches, player choices, etc. should worry all of us.
At this point we’re just proving that our laughingstock reputation in the biggest footballing countries in the world is well deserved. We are literally showing up to lose.
brett-
LD makes $1,000,000. I erally dont beleive he needs the money just to make the roster, but who knows? I think we suffer without him on the field though!
With MB still looking for a midfield partner, why not play Dempsey there, as a “D-Mid”? He covers ground and makes tough tackles, and we know he’d offer something going forward as the 3rd overlapping run.
——–Altidore——-
Beasley—-Adu—–Donovan
—-Bradley–Dempsey—–
Pearce–Gooch-Boca–Cherundalo
———Howard———
So Guzan continues to get playing time so he can claim National Team experience and move overseas. That is the only explanation I can come up with. He is in horrible form.
I definitely think Freddy showed quite a nice glimpse of what is to come. He really should be a staple in the Nats now. I think Dempsey’s problem was lack of service some, though you can blame him for not getting opened. He also was getting ZERO calls. I thought Eddie Lewis was good, but Frankie Hejduk notsomuch. He flails at everything. It’s like Jay Heaps to the extreme, without the success rate. I think Jay Heaps would do better is what I’m saying I suppose . . . Aside from that, the overall picture, there’s something about watching this team that is just so booooooring. Does anyone EVER RUN? Seeing Eddie Johnson jog for the whole match is sooooooooo tiring. Especially when he clearly is going to get a ball in the corner first but decides to let it roll out of bounds for a goal kick instead (yeesh). Clint jogged, Bradley jogged, EJ jogged . . . RUN. PLEASE. I thought Edu was pretty fantastic too . . . definitely his best USMNT performance in my mind.
brett-
LD makes $1,000,000. I erally dont beleive he needs the money just to make the roster, but who knows? I think we suffer without him on the field though!
Some have posted that we don’t seem to put together our best teams for games like this. I agree completely! I understand availablity problems, and I know LD was hurt, but it is frustrating that we always seem to bring in a “B-B+ team” for games like this. It makes us look weaker than we really are. Copa America was HUGELY frustrating for this same reason. The Copa officials were also a little miffed that we brought such a weak team down there, which may hurt our chances of getting invited back.
For once I’d like to see us put together a squad that has the best available talent at every position.
I would have really liked to have had Ching or Twellman on this team instead of EJ and Wolffe, especially with LD being injured. I also would have liked to have had Spector on defense.
Lastly, I’ll say that I get tired of reading posts from malcontents who always post something like “See, we really suck” or “We can’t hang with the best.” I say “Get a backbone, and step up and support your national team, even when you don’t get the result you had hoped for.” I’ll also add that I think sometimes our expectations can be a little unrealistic. Did anybody here think were had much better than a 20-30% chance of going into Santander a few days before Euro 2008 starts and beating a full strength Spain squad on their home soil…or a full strength England team AT Wembley???
Time to put Dempsey on the bench. And I love this guy. He looks tired not interested. I’ve been saying this for a few months now.
He needs rest and the first full year in the EPL is taking its toll. I mean his skills are still solid but the burst is not there.
Compare him with Adu or Johnson for that matter when they can run in open space.
I say we try these 6 together at some point.
Altidore
Adu
Beasely Feilheiber Bradley Donovan
I’d say for the Olympics we might see some sort of version of the middle 4 with Edu moving to the back line.
Against Argie I’d like:
Altidore Cooper
Beasely Adu Bradley/Edu Donovan
Pearce Boca Onyewu Dolo
Howard
You can’t really say that is an all offensive lineup. Bease & Donovan are good at getting back on the wings b/c of their speed. Cooper & Altidore are good at tracking back. The only one is Adu, but I think his quickness to get to loose balls is not realized. I saw Edu/Bradley were a step slow to a lot of 50/50’s the other day. I think he can track down some of them.
Bench: Guzan, Rogers, Pablo, Johnson, Hedjuk, Demerit, Kljestan, Edu
Tom,
If you were paying a little more attention (sorry but it’s true) Bradley named Cooper to the 33-man player pool for these friendlies.
http://ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_6422532.html
There are several cases when ussoccer.com doesn’t even update their own links.
Why does it seem that Mo Edu wins more balls without leaving his feet than Bradley does sliding all over the place. Bradely is talented, but unpredicatably reckless. I would like for an Edu/Mastro pairing or combination over Bradley. But hence, neither of them is named Bradley.
I think Donovan on the right is the best line up for success. Would rather see Landon on Right and Clint up top, then the other way around.
I would like to see Clint be used as a sub in upcoming qualifiers, so he can get his legs back under him. He is clearly gassed right now and will be more critical in the next round this summer.
More should be said of Pearce’s performance. He was pure quality last night with timely challenges to win the ball and constant effort. He is clearly our best LB at the moment.
Gooch has definitely improved on his positioning, as well as reading the game. It showed against England and again with Spain.
Edu was ok, but Bradley really had a bad day. His first touch was off, he was slow to read the game and thus caught out of position, then used poor challenges which gave up free kicks in bad spots. I’ve seen MB play much better, hopefully we can chalk this up to a learning experience.
Adu needed more support — primarily guys making runs for him. He attracks a lot of attention and can hold the ball well, but his options were always limited. It’ll be good to see him play with Donovan and Beasley.
Lewis looked a bit lost in the freedom he had with the 4-2-3-1. He didn’t combine well with Pearce’s offensive runs. Both players tried to get to the outside and moved into the same space — making them easy to defend for the most part.
Overall, not bad but we were gased by 60 minutes into the match. Spain didn’t exert much effort for a large portion of the match and then were easily able to take control when we got tired.
I agree with the almost all.
BRADLEY HAS TO LEARN TO STAY ON HIS FEET!!!! Especially when its clear your delaing witha homer ref gotta be smarter.
Run DMB isn’t fit enough to contribute yet – We all got teased by his last game with Rangers but that was against a 2nd division Scottish team.
Heath Pearce can’t pass for crap. This guy is not the answer at left back.
I could care less about Argentina make sure these guys are good for the follwing Sunday at the HDC. Dempsey shouldn’t play. Donavan shouldn’t play. Gooch and Boca shouldn’t play more than a half.
The formation is our best with the current talent, with either Donovan or Adu playing behind one of the forwards. I’d like to see that be Altidore or Cooper. Johnson is straight scared—of mis-hitting a hard shot, of getting tackled, of going tough at a 50-50 ball. Maybe we’re all spoiled from McBride, but he gave effort that I haven’t seen from Johnson.
Is anyone else even thinking about a replacement for Onyewu? I haven’t seen Demerit or any of the others play. But Onyewu seems to be getting burned on every big goal.