The moment has arrived. The first chance for the U.S. men's national team to clinch a berth in its sixth straight World Cup.
Standing in the way is a Honduran team that can also book its place in South Africa with a victory tonight.
I will be doing a live commentary for ESPN.com tonight, so I won't be doing the commentary here. This is still the place to discuss everything going on tonight. Be sure to have your computer opened to SBI and ESPN.com tonight.
If you will be watching the match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play (or game web streams) in the comments section below.
Enjoy the match.
“Well, we are in the cup but we sure don’t look too good. If we could just throw on our most talented players in SA 10 I’d be happy, especially if we could get J. Jones. Some talent and athleticism out there, but mostly a complete indictment of US Soccer coached tactics. Profoundly stupid play. When wit matches athleticism we’ll be alright. Positives: We aren’t pussies. Negatives: We are dumber than a ton a ton of bricks. – bg”
What makes you think the most talented players win games? Let me give you a hint. Look at the big boys Brazil, Spain and the other big boys. The often do not play all their most talented players. Study team sports sometime and you will find that teams are made up of the individuals that fit together the best, not the most talented. There is an old cliche that says it’s a game of 11 on 11 not 1 on 1.
“NK- I agree that Dempsey is a top 3-5 player on this team…I’ve just been extremely disappointed with his work-rate and effort in recent qualifiers. I still think he can be a real asset to this team; I am just worried that his lackluster play and effort could be a serious impediment to our success in South Africa -Sammy Gupta”
Sammy,
Look at the record. Dempsey has 4 goals in qualifying. In the last two qualifiers after the Mexico loss, he had a goal in one game and an assist in the other. The US won both. Dempsey looks “lazy” but he produces in the clutch for the US. You probably don’t get to SA without him.
“I just want a coach playing the best possible players and CREATING the system to fit the players. Then again I don’t know soccer as well as others, i just know what makes sense to me and that is having Benny starting in front of Clark, Torres as first sub or starting and pushing Donavon up, having Dempsey up because we desperately need someone who backtracks and provides service.”
Howard is by far the best player on this team, you can say Donavon is but Howard is the one whos showing crazy intense leadership and should be given the Captains armband.- Ghost of Clint Dempsey
Ghost
Why do you care about how original Bradley’s system is? It obviously works. The US are in the World Cup.
Donovan, Clark and Bradley all track back and “provide service”, as does Ching. Someone has to be on the other end to do something with that service.
Howard is our best goalkeeper. Keepers stop you from losing but they don’t win games for you. You have to score goals to win games. I’m comfortable with Guzan back there but I don’t think much of the US without Donovan. Donovan, who can win games for you,is the single most indispensable US player.