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Gold Cup: USA vs. Haiti (Match Night Commentary)

USA Crest 

The U.S. men's national team is in Foxborough, Mass. tonight to take on Haiti at Gillette Stadium in the final Group B match for both teams. a win or draw clinches first place in the group for the USA, which has already secured a place in the quarterfinals.

The Americans will look to field a different looking squad as midfielders Freddy Adu and Benny Feilhaber have left the team. With the quarters already secured, look for Bob Bradley to give some new faces looks in the starting lineup.

The USA will take on a fast Haiti team that has shown some flashes of attacking skill in posting a 1-1 record in the tournament.

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

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FINAL– The United States will find out on Sunday which team it will face in the quarters. It's opponent will come down to what Panama does against Nicaragua. If Panama wins, as expected, then the two third-place teams in the quarterfinals will be Haiti and either Mexico, if Mexico loses to Guadeloupe, or Panama, if Mexico beats Guadeloupe. In the scenario where Mexico loses and Panama wins, then Mexico will face the USA on Saturday in Philadelphia. If Mexico wins and Panama wins, the United States will face Panama. If Panama ties, then Jamaica would advance and face the United States. Nicaragua is still technically alive but it would need to beat Panama handily to have any chance of qualifying.

That's all for me. Thank you for following along tonight.

Good night.

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FINAL– The tie means the United States wins the group and will face either the third-place team from Group A or Group C. That will be determined by which group's third-place teams advance to the quarterfinals. Yes, there is a scenario where the United States could play Mexico, but they could also play Panama or even Jamaica.

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FINAL– USA 2, Haiti 2. A great and entertaining match for the fans tonight. Sure, there was plenty of ugliness and poor soccer, but both teams tried to attack and we saw some absolutely beautiful goals. What more can you ask for?

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93rd minute– Goal of the tournament. Holdenjust blasted it from 28 yards out, giving the keeper no chance. And for those of you scoring at home, that's two starts and two goals for Holden with the national team.

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93rd minute- GOAL USA!!!!!!!!!! WOW. Stuart Holden with an absolute rocket from distance to tie the game. WOW.

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91st minute– Three minutes of stoppage time.

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88th minute– Clock is ticking.

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87th minute– The Haitian defense is holding up, if only barely.

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85th minute– DAVIES with a volleyed blocked by Haiti for a corner.

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82nd minute– If this score holds, the United States will need Honduras to beat Grenada (likely) in order to have a three-way tie in the group, which would result in the United States winning the group (depending on how many goals Honduras scores tonight.

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81st minute– Beckerman with a yellow card.

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78th minute– Anybody else noticing how strong Davies is on the ball. He's a tank and his combination of speed and strength should serve him well in France.

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76th minute– Cronin blasts one wide from distance. Better passing from the Americans, but they need to come up with a better shot.

Brian Ching is coming in for Colin Clark.

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74th minute– Haitian fans are in full voice here at Gillette Stadium. Surprisin to see this much support. Can the United States find an equalizer?

More Haitian histrionics. We are going to start seeing some phantom injuries now.

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73rd minute– Haiti with an injury. Will we start seeing some El Salvador-like gamesmanship from the Haitians here late?

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69th minute– Who knew R. Kelly played for Haiti?

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69th minute– Davies is oh so close on a breakaway but can't get his shot on frame.

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68th minute– Holden so close, but sends his header wide.

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66th minute– Arnaud has his shot blocked out for another corner.

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65th minute– Jay Heaps lucky not to get a card for a pretty clumsy studs-up challenge.

Davies draws a corner right away.

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63rd minute– There he is, Charlie Davies, coming into the match. Kyle Beckerman also comes in. He's better equipped to handle Haiti's quick midfielders. Look for Holden to move to the right wing to replace Santino Quaranta. Kenny Cooper also exits, and not a great showing by him tonight.

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61st minute– You heard it hear first. Charlie Davies will come in as a sub and he will score a goal. I know, not a big reach, but he's playing so well these days that it would only be fitting for him to score here.

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60th minute- The U.S. midfield moves the ball around well but the Cooper Arnaud forward tandem isn't doing well to take advantage of that.

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56th minute– It's time for the rare triple sub from Bob Bradley. Charlie Davies, Heath Pearce and Robbie Rogers need to come into this match.

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53rd minute– The Jay Heaps homecoming was a nice idea but Heaps is overmatched. He has made Saint Preaux look like a star (and yes, the Red Bulls had Saint Preaux in pre-season camp and passed on him).

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52nd minute– Robles came out way too early on that second goal, but as well as it was hit I don't think it would have mattered if he had been in the middle of the net.

How will the Americans respond?

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49th minute– Mones Chery just hit a blast from distance into the far corner of goal. WHAT A SHOT. And it started with a terrible Heaps clearance. Haiti 2, USA 1.

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49th minute- GOAL HAITI!!! AGAIN

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46th minute– Leonel Saint Preaux schooled Jay HEaps on the flank and sent a cross in to Raymond Ednerson, who headed it home. Quick work by the Haitians.

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46th minute- GOAL HAITI. It took them 46 seconds to equalize. WOW.

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HALFTIME– USA 1, Haiti 0. Americans in control, but Haitians providing a very good test to the U.S. defense. Goalkeeper Luis Robles has had his shaky moments, but stepped up right at the end of the half with a clutch save. Davy Arnaud provided the lone finish on goal and the Americans look well on their way to winning the group (though Haiti does look poised to snatch a point here).

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47th minute– Robles with a clutch save just before halftime as Haiti nearly found an equalizer after Brad Evans was stripped in the defensive third.

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42nd minute– Conrad with a header off a corner that goes high. Americans should be doing better on set pieces.

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41st  minute– I don't want to say Kenny Cooper got schooled by Haiti on that play but he's still looking for his ankles.

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34th minute– Some nervy moments from Robles so far this game, but can you blame him? He's been a pro starter all of one half season and here he is earning his first national team start.

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33rd minute– The free kick barely misses high. Haiti is playing with a lot of confidence now.

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31st minute– Fabrice Noel with a beautiful turn and run at goal, before he's brought down by Parkhurst for a yellow card and dangerous free kick. Haiti is buzzing.

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30th minute– A pair of disputed goal-line plays in a row. FIFA might want to get on that goal-line technology.

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29th minute– Holden hits the crossbar with a shot and it bounces down. There's no sideline camera angle so we can't tell if that went in.

WHOA, Haiti with a shot, but Robles taps it out before it can go in. Haiti is protesting.

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27th minute– Arnaud with the yellow for tugging of the jersey. Here comes Haiti

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24th minute– Javier Aguirre was suspended three games for his clash with Ricardo Phillips in Gold Cup play. The Mexican federation was also fined $25,000.

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20th minute– For those who haven't noticed, Sam Cronin has become the first member of the MLS draft class of 2009 to earn a cap. Can't say it's that surprising that he's the first to get one out of that loaded group.

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18th minute– The Haitians have recaptured off the ball movement and are looking much sharper. The U.S. team must stay organized.

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16th minute– Much better passing from Haiti. We might have a game after all.

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13th minute– Haiti isn't getting any time or space as the U.S. team is applying considerable pressure. The Haitians must be feeling a shock after playing Grenada on Wednesday.

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10th minute– Clark does well to get forward before a rough tackle brings him down. Confident moments from the Rapids winger.

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7th minute– Nice play by Cronin to start that sequence with a perfect pass.

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6th minute- GOAL USA!! And it's Davy Arnaud, off a nice feed from Holden.

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6th minute– Cronin with some good early touches today. He looks very confident.

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4th minute– Clark with a nice shot from outside the box. It's high but it was a good effort.

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3rd minute– Conrad gives up a corner, Haiti takes it short, and we have another corner.

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2nd minute– Conrad has his hands full early on.

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1st minute– We're underway 

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PRE-GAME– The Americans need a win or tie to clinch the group.

The Americans have a team made up of all current or former MLS products, except for Luis Robles.

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PRE-GAME– Okay, I'm back and locked in. We've heard the anthems and are about to get underway. We've got a lively and surprisingly decent crowd tonight. Weather is perfectly cool.

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PRE-GAME– Jimmy Conrad wears the armband tonight. Well-deserved for the veteran.

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PRE-GAME– Tonight's match will mark the national team debuts for youngsters Colin Clark, Luis Robles and Sam Cronin.

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PRE-GAME– You can bet that local Boston College product Charlie Davies will seeing some playing time in the second half.

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PRE-GAME– Here are tonight's subs for the USA: Troy Perkins, Heath Pearce, Clarence Goodson, Kyle Beckerman, Robbie Rogers, Charlie Davies, Brian Ching

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PRE-GAME–  Here is the USA lineup:

———Arnaud———-Cooper————

Clark———————————Quaranta

————-Cronin—–Holden—————-

Heaps—–Parkhurst—-Conrad—–Evans

——————-Robles———————-

As expected, all the players who hadn't played are in the lineup.

Share your thoughts on the lineup. I will be back in a few. I need to take care of some gameday matters.

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Comments

  1. Why doesn’t Bradley learn to be proactive rather than reactive. At the end of the first half the US looked in trouble. He should have subbed at the half, NOT after the other team scores against you. This was the same mistake he made against Brazil. The US players always seem to save Bradley’s A**, which is not fair to the team. It puts them under undo pressure having to come from behind.

    Players that looked good: Holden, Arnaud, Davies. The rest of the players don’t really belong in the national team, particularly, Parkhurst (both goals were his fault), and heaps (who got smoked).

    Posted by: Goalscorer24 | July 12, 2009 at 02:34 AM

    ____________

    Dear 24,

    Hindsight is so clear. Parkhurst and Heaps were roasted but their teammates did not pick them up like they should have. I hate to be cliché but it’s a team game.

    Have you ever coached a game? Remember making a substitution in soccer is permanent. This isn’t basketball where you can sit a guy for just a while. Sometimes, making adjustments is about talking to your team at half-time asking them to make certain changes or whatever. Those two goals were scored pretty much instantaneously after the half so whatever was said pretty much went right out the window then and there. The entire team, especially the defenders and the goalkeeper, had pretty much never played together before. So you want to see how well these guys make adjustments in dire circumstances. They were leading going into the half and even after the goal flurry were only down by one. This is Haiti, right? So the USMNT, even with a B or C squad should be able to score one goal in about 40 minutes right?

    What they needed to do was re-group, dominate possession and score, which they did. Lesson learned. The US won the group and went undefeated, and maybe picked up a little more depth.

    This was a meaningless game and a golden opportunity to learn more about other players. So you say why bring in Davies and Ching who we know all about? Well guess what, Holden and the others need to learn what playing with those two is like in a game, particularly a hard one.

    Bradley’s job is to prep this team as best as possible for SA 2010, not to please bloggers. I don’t agree with everything he does but, like you, I don’t know why he does certain things. Everyone blasted him for not playing Adu against Brazil. Now we can see that Freddy probably would not have done well in that game, So you see he actually does have a reason, every once in a while.

    Reply
  2. jimmygreaves:

    Ching definitely fills a role, and gets more grief than is reasonable from some. but you can not be seriously comparing him to BM in any way.

    personally, i want my country’s strikers to score goals the way they mean to score them. McBride has done that, not so much by Ching. it’s not about style, it’s about technique, composure, skill, and probably a number of other factors.

    granted, the US has to use what we have available, which is why i’m not amongst the Ching bashers, but i don’t think we should be realistic about relative skill sets.

    Reply
  3. JimmyGreaves,

    Too bad he has actually only scored 7 goals.

    3 of his goals were deflections, I.e. one of his goals against Barbados…Pblo stepped up and hit a nasty strike and would have went straight in if it Ching didn’t use his back to deflect it in.(Ching got credit).

    Also his goal against Honduras, it should have been an own goal, not a goal cedited to Ching(because it would not have went in if the Honduras player didnt touch it).

    Also, lets look at Chings competition vs McHeaders…..

    Ching has scored against T&T(2), Barbados(2), Jamaica, El Salv, Honduras, Cuba, Venezuela, and the Guats.

    Brian McBleeder has scored the Game winners in World Cup games such as Portugal and Mexico. He was also so loved at Fulham that he now has a bar in their stadium named after him.

    Lets not compare an average forward to one of the best US Nats players to ever play.

    Posted by: RapidsMan | July 12, 2009 at 05:41 AM

    __________________

    Rman,

    This is football not Olympic ice skating where you get points for style.

    If someone stands in front of the goal and balls hit in his general direction tend bounce in off of various body parts on a somewhat regular basis, do you really care what body part they hit or whether the goal was intentional? I don’t. If good things tend to happen when a player is around I don’t care how he looks. Feel free to look a gift horse in the mouth but this happens often enough with Ching that I don’t question it. Garbage goals count too.

    Reply
  4. JimmyGreaves,

    Too bad he has actually only scored 7 goals.

    3 of his goals were deflections, I.e. one of his goals against Barbados…Pblo stepped up and hit a nasty strike and would have went straight in if it Ching didn’t use his back to deflect it in.(Ching got credit).

    Also his goal against Honduras, it should have been an own goal, not a goal cedited to Ching(because it would not have went in if the Honduras player didnt touch it).

    Also, lets look at Chings competition vs McHeaders…..

    Ching has scored against T&T(2), Barbados(2), Jamaica, El Salv, Honduras, Cuba, Venezuela, and the Guats.

    Brian McBleeder has scored the Game winners in World Cup games such as Portugal and Mexico. He was also so loved at Fulham that he now has a bar in their stadium named after him.

    Lets not compare an average forward to one of the best US Nats players to ever play.

    Reply
  5. Who is going to run the midfield in the next round? Is Bradley going to bring someone else in that is not currently on the bench? Because the next round is going to be much tougher, and I don’t know that we have enough of the right players to get the job done.

    Reply
  6. First off, this tournament is about adding depth to the USMNT, so we shouldn’t get upset….we just need to look at the players and determine whether or not they can make some kind of impact…that said, I think it’s apparent…holden, rogers and perhaps quaranta and beckerman…these guys showed promise…but we must also identify who do not…so to Carl S…jay heaps does not…no one is being harsh on him…the truth of the matter is this guy will not be on the WC squad, but he also showed that he is not an international player….true robles was out of position on the 2 goals, but where do you think that he should have had confidence in heaps to make a clearance on the play that led to the second goal…robles had just seen heaps get his ankles destroyed 1 minute earlier…whatever confidence he should have had was GONE!….the two mistakes by both players (robles and heaps) led to the second goal, but please do not try to defend heaps’ actions. his play was poor…he is not at the necessary skill level to compete…but that is why we got to learn this in this type of game/tournament and not anything more meaningful….

    Reply
  7. Why doesn’t Bradley learn to be proactive rather than reactive. At the end of the first half the US looked in trouble. He should have subbed at the half, NOT after the other team scores against you. This was the same mistake he made against Brazil. The US players always seem to save Bradley’s A**, which is not fair to the team. It puts them under undo pressure having to come from behind.

    Players that looked good: Holden, Arnaud, Davies. The rest of the players don’t really belong in the national team, particularly, Parkhurst (both goals were his fault), and heaps (who got smoked).

    Reply
  8. This should probably be the starting lineup for the rest of the tournament.

    —————–Ching—-Davies——————-

    Rogers——-Beckerman—-Holden———–Quaranta

    Pearce——-Parkhurst—-Marshall——-Cherundolo

    ———————Perkins———————–

    If Benny is, as Poppsie likes to say it, in the house, then we should play this:

    —————–Ching—-Davies——————-

    Rogers——-Beckerman—-Feilhaber———-Holden

    Pearce——-Parkhurst—-Marshall——-Cherundolo

    ———————Perkins———————–

    Reply
  9. (just finished DVR) AWESOME GAME BY THE U.S.
    USAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    The “C” team had a great game. The spots we needed depth in we have got, the ones we don’t we don’t. pure and simple.
    The good:
    quaranta
    Beckerman
    HOLDEN
    davies
    ching
    the two wing backs
    arnaud

    The bad:
    Cooper
    Parkhurst

    The ugly:
    Conrad
    Robles

    HOWEVER, Perkins was great before, and I think he takes Robles spot in 3rd. No biggie.
    Greatness from the USA

    Reply
  10. Jimmygreaves,

    All great points. Thats the first time I’ve ever heard someone back up Ching’s place in the starting lineup with real statistics. Very well played.

    Reply
  11. i was at foxboro and wow, tuff game. great support from the haitians and the Americans, and hundurans too that mostly routed for the us, but I was angry on how poorly the haitians acted.. BIGGEST GROUP of FOPPERS EVER! even the haitian fans were displeased by that.

    Reply
  12. Also, for all you Ching fans.

    I am sure there are more skillful, prettier players. But how effective are they for the USMNT? I’m betting Ching will be on the World Cup squad because:

    1.) He is our only accomplished target man. Jozy still has a lot of work to do in that area, and the jury is still out on Casey and Cooper.

    2.) He has played 38 games for the USMNT and scored 10 goals. By comparison, Brian McBride had 96 appearances and scored 30 goals. Ching’s goals per game ratio then is only a little behind our gold standard. In the games where Ching scored goals, 9 were wins and one was a draw. Only two of those games were friendlies, so you know he produces mostly when it counts. It would be nice if he scored more but a target man is there primarily to create an atmosphere where his team is more likely to score.(see, Emile Heskey, Bobby Zamora,)

    Reply
  13. “We have fought and earned our standing in world soccer let’s not give it up so easily for no reason. – JimP ”

    __________

    JimP

    Here is what is amusing about this blog: It started out with everyone saying how this game didn’t matter so why doesn’t that idiot Bradley start (fill in favorite player). Bradley puts in a bunch of first time caps and as the game progresses everyone suddenly turns on the team and bitches about how terrible all these new guys are. They seem to think we should be pounding Haiti into the turf. Well, these Haiti guys are not too shabby, they are fast, strong and good on the ball. And, they really, really wanted this game. They don’t have the same level of team work or tactical awareness the US does but that is to be expected;still I’m pretty sure the US team that recently beat Spain would have beat Haiti by more than a few.

    Did you ever play a big game (and it would be big to all the first timers) with a new midfield, defense, offense and goal keeper? It’s pretty hard to be real definitive in your movements when you aren’t really sure where everyone else is supposed to be. So the team starts out well, has a bad middle and then recovers pretty nicely. This is about what a reasonable person might expect and is not bad for what amounts to a pickup international team. Remember, we did not lose. In the tournament format that is all that matters.

    Most of the people on this blog still look at the USMNT in terms of individual players. You all keep acting like we have to match them man for man. But that is not how it works. For one thing, players develop primarily at the club level. National teams have no time for that sort of thing; all they can do is set up a system that makes the most of the players that are available to them. It is also worth remembering some players play well for their clubs and terribly for their national teams and vice versa. It’s not an exact science. That is probably why Bradley has “favorites”, as do all national team coaches. They have to have some idea of what these guys are going to do under pressure.

    One on one, man for man, the US still does not rate with the likes of Brazil,Spain or the other big powers. If all these big national teams played in a league the US might not do so well. But only one tournament matters to us. And in tournament play, teams with depth, who are in top shape and play well together and for each other, can get hot. Winning in the Gold Cup only matters because it gives Bradley more slightly meaningful games in which to blood players. The Confederation Cup run has shown that, with a lot of heart and hard work, the USMNT need fear no one on a given day. I’m pretty sure no one wants the US in their group in 2010.

    Reply
  14. @ Luke in NC…. Cooper also played with subpar midfielders to provide service…take that into account…

    Posted by: Moonraker | July 11, 2009 at 11:38 PM

    I’m assuming you missed the first goal…..

    Reply
  15. Jim P – great points. Make that great, great points.

    Ives- I think that is a post you should put on the front page. You ought to reward excellent blog commenter’s.

    I used to wonder why Parkhurst and Heaps never got a call up – now I why. Like technical football? Parkhurst plays very technical but that dog don’t hunt won defense. Defenders need to be attack dogs.

    Why the announcers were all over Robles I don’t know. He lost faith in his back line and tried to do it all himself which caused him to be out of position on the 2nd goal- which he could not have stopped anyway because it was absolute laser. Not saying he’s great- don’t see much 2nd division German soccer- but the way they hung him out to dry was a bit severe.

    Reply
  16. Bob Bradley and the US Nats learned a valuable lesson tonight and that is that the US Jersey means a lot and not everyone should have the privilege to wear it. Could you imagine on the heals of a second place finish in the mini-World Cup the world just laughing at us as we had lost to Haiti. They would just get the score and not know that we played the D team. If we are going to be a nation that is legitimately top 12 every game must uphold our reputation. If we had lost the world would see the Confed. Cup as a fluke and be happy that the US was back to a mediocre national side. Never again reward players with the jersey unless they can play better than that. You should bring a player into the Nats camp 8-10 times and train before they every see the field and never play more than one new cap in a game. We have fought and earned our standing in world soccer let’s not give it up so easily for no reason.

    Reply
  17. I am certain that we will play Panama next Saturday. I can’t see them losing to Nicaragua, and I imagine Mexico will at least salvage a draw against a talented but shallow Guadeloupe team coming off 2 tough matches. Get ready for some physical play.

    Reply
  18. Sorry Scott didn’t see you wrote “start”, yes you are right 6 first time starters.

    However, 2 of those have had time before.

    Reply
  19. GunnerR: Absolutely right. What I should have said was: head-to-head results were not relevant to determining that the US had made it through to the next round before the match against Haiti.

    Reply
  20. Scott,

    Try only 4 players making their debuts. Also, Heaps is not a “young” player.

    Quit yer crying! Our team was bad today and that is okay!

    It was our semi-pro team.

    Reply
  21. Yeah …… Canada v USA will be epic.

    I think Canada sees the US like we used to see Mexico!

    Which means…. shitty grudge match….YEAH!

    Reply
  22. Really looking forward to the Mexico / Guadeloupe match tomorrow!

    Prediction: US plays Jamaica in the Quarterfinals next Sat. in Philly, then Canada in Chicago. And the Canucks will be out for revenge after the last Gold Cup….

    Reply
  23. @JustinG: I really like your proposed WC2010 team. Would like to start Benny, but I can’t figure out who to take off the field. Tough to leave Marshall off the team, but Demerit is more deserving right now. Hopefully everyone can stay healthy and remain in good form for their clubs

    ————–Altidore———–Davies————–
    Donovan——Bradley—–Jones—-Dempsey
    Boca——-Demerit——-Gooch——-Spector
    ———————-Howard———————–

    Bench: Guzan, Feilhaber, Holden, Dolo, Torres, Rogers, Pearce

    Reply
  24. I hope most of you that are talking trash about our team realize that 6 guys made their first National Team start. BB has said all along that he wanted to see some of the young guys. You can’t compare these guys with our first choice team! We know they aren’t as good and we know that they have little chance of making the world cup squad next year. So what? They are getting some valuable experience for our furture. Which is what a lot of people want. You can’t just look at next year but 5 years down the road. Some of these guys will be a part of our team then.

    Reply
  25. Doughboy,

    More proof: Look at the final Group A standings.

    If pool play were the decider, El Salvador would be ahead of Jamaica (even on GD, but ahead on goals scored).

    But since the first tiebreaker IS head-to-head, Jamaica beats El Salvador due to SLV 0-1 JAM last night.

    Reply
  26. Not that it matters now, but head-to-head was NOT a tie-breaker; the reason the US were through before the match was because with 6 points before this game, they were assured of being one of the top two third place teams if they wound up in third.

    From concacaf: http://www.concacafmain.premiumtv.co.uk/staticFiles/51/39/0,,12813~145745,00.pdf

    3. The top two teams from each of the three groups and two wildcards, the two third-place teams with the most points, shall qualify for the
    Quarterfinals.
    4. At the end of group play, if two or more teams are equal on points
    (including ties among third place teams), the manner in which teams will
    advance to the next round will be resolved as follows and in the order
    indicated:
    a. Greater number of points in matches between the tied teams.
    b. Greater Goal Difference in matches between the tied teams (if
    more than two teams finish equal on points).
    c. Greater number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams
    (if more than two teams finish equal on points).
    d. Greater Goal Difference in all group matches.
    e. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches.
    f. Drawing of lots.

    Posted by: Doughboy | July 11, 2009 at 09:20 PM
    ______________

    Doughboy,
    Unless I’m missing something, rules 4 a.-c. ARE head-to-head. So you are wrong in your first phrase (though the rest of the sentence is correct).

    Reply
  27. It makes feel so good to say to everyone that wanted C. Clark to get some time….

    I TOLD YOU SO!!!

    Haha I knew he would be terrible, I wish there was a way to see all my old posts about Clark.

    Everything I said about him came to fruition today.

    Thankfully, hopefully, we will never see him in a Nats kit ever again.

    Reply
  28. Not much at all to draw from this game.

    C team plus a few D level players as well.

    Heaps was atrocious and Evans isn’t breaking through as a RB any time soon. Parkhurst and Conrad are our, what, 6th and 7th options as CBs respectively (both behind Onyewu, Bocanegra, Demerit, Califf, and Marshall)… I could care less what those two produce in front of Luis Robles, our 4th or 5th (at the very best) option at GK.

    Clark was horrid. Cronin was almost invisible. Not enough bad things to say about this game.

    On the plus side, Davies and Holden looked pretty good. Holden still gives the ball away in foolish areas sometimes though.

    Reply
  29. Alex, I definitely think Quaranta is a good ‘b’ squad player, despite his performance today. But he just doesn’t have the quality or consistency to be a candidate for the WC squad. Of the players on the field today, only Holden and Davies look to be on that level (sorry Ching).

    Reply
  30. Oh yeah, as an addendum to my previous post I propose that we dub Stu Holden “The Highlander”, if he is not known as such already.

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  31. Some more math. (Juan from L.A. — please confirm!)

    If Honduras beats/draws Granada
    AND
    If Mexico loses to Guadeloupe (say 1-0)
    AND
    If Panama beats Nicaragua by 2+ goals
    THEN
    U.S. vs. Mexico next Saturday @ 8 pm in Philly
    Posted by: GunneRR | July 11, 2009 at 09:10 PM

    YES YES AND YES…CAUSE THE OTHER THIRD PLACE OF JAMAICA JUST ONLY GETS THREE POINTS AND ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLAY HAITI AGAIN…YOU ARE CORRECT SIR!!!

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  32. Kenny Cooper looked pretty poor tonight…..its hard to see why you’d want him over Brian Ching. Chingy seemed to do more in is 20 minutes or whatever it was than Cooper did all game.

    Parkhurst was also quite weak many times….got schooled a lot. And i’m not so sure why Jay Heaps was slotted in at left back….that was rough to watch as well.

    That Stuart Holden goal was lots of fun though! We dont get to see that too often!

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  33. With all the players released – who do we have left to start in the quarters? Seems like we have to keep Davies to play up with Chingy.

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  34. And, for the record, I stand corrected from my earlier comment based on goal differential v. Grenada mattering in a 3-way tiebreaker. I checked the Gold Cup site and didn’t see a tiebreaker sched and assumed I knew what I was talking about, when I didn’t. Thanks to Doughboy for digging up the link and posting it.

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  35. Ballsy strike by Holden. Refreshing to see someone let it fly from distance with confidence, direction, and sure form. I’ve often wondered why the easily trainable skill set of the ripping instep ( easy insofar as it emerges from athleticism and confidence and not some quasi-mystical origin in the “culture of football” ) so rarely manifests itself at the national level. I suppose, as the Scotsmen say, ” There can be only one! ”

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  36. And if the game were being played in Seattle today, Holden’s shot in the first half would have counted as a goal too!

    Posted by: mattoomba | July 11, 2009 at 09:09 PM

    LOL-That Seattle AR was a joke today.

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  37. Feel a bit bad for Heaps– he went from almost scoring in front of the Fort in the first half to melting down in front of it in the 2nd. Well, he’s got his callup, now please release him, Bob, because the Revs will need him for Superliga.

    Robles was way shakier than I thought he’d be, given that he’s played in the Bundesliga before. Even Perkins would’ve gobbled up both of those attempts.

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  38. Mikeype,

    Agree somewhat with the MB comp for Holden, though MB is actually a couple years younger. I think MB is better defensively and has a slightly better workrate (though Holden is no slouch in that dept.) while Stu has a bit of an edge in his ball skills.

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  39. Good point GunneRR – its worth remembering that a lot of good players have had rough NT debuts. Someone like Clark or Robles might just need a bit of time to settle into it (although I thought they were both pretty bad).

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  40. The entire back line was a scared bunch of kittens for the whole match. No confidence. No point in talking about the midfield because there wasn’t any. Holden had the best play and Arnaud did well during the first part of the game.
    The way the match played out severely exposes the midfield crisis the US has. Without Bradley and Feilhaber the flaw is blatantly apparent. No depth whatsoever.
    It also shows that Bob can’t put together a squad to address this problem for the life of him.

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  41. Not that it matters now, but head-to-head was NOT a tie-breaker; the reason the US were through before the match was because with 6 points before this game, they were assured of being one of the top two third place teams if they wound up in third.

    From concacaf: http://www.concacafmain.premiumtv.co.uk/staticFiles/51/39/0,,12813~145745,00.pdf

    3. The top two teams from each of the three groups and two wildcards, the two third-place teams with the most points, shall qualify for the
    Quarterfinals.
    4. At the end of group play, if two or more teams are equal on points
    (including ties among third place teams), the manner in which teams will
    advance to the next round will be resolved as follows and in the order
    indicated:
    a. Greater number of points in matches between the tied teams.
    b. Greater Goal Difference in matches between the tied teams (if
    more than two teams finish equal on points).
    c. Greater number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams
    (if more than two teams finish equal on points).
    d. Greater Goal Difference in all group matches.
    e. Greater number of goals scored in all group matches.
    f. Drawing of lots.

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