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Bocanegra scores winner in Rennes victory

Carlos Bocanegra 4 (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Carlos Bocanegra followed up his midweek goal for the U.S national team by scoring the winner in Stade Rennes' match against Monaco on Saturday.

Similar to his goal against the Netherlands, Bocanegra got on the end of a free kick, but this time he finished with his right foot from close range in Rennes' 1-0 victory. The goal was Bocanegra's first of the French League season, and helped end a three-game skid for Rennes.

Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes at left back.

Here's the goal:

What do you think of Bocanegra's second goal this week? Surprised it was his first of the season? Think he should be the left back for the U.S. this summer?

Share your thoughts below.
 

Comments

  1. So Spector has blazing zpeed with which to make up ground???? You do realize that Bornstein is one of the fastest men on the USMNT for all the good that does?

    Reply
  2. Tigres are not a great team and it’s a stretch to say they are better than the top MLS teams.

    Would you agree with me that in general the Mexican League is very technical and offensive oriented,so much so that defense and physcial play tends to take a back seat? And that maybe this is why Mexican League guys, with some obvious exceptions, tend to not do so well in Europe over the years?

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  3. Good point that Tigres would be facing relegation if it weren’t for Indios being a catastrophe. Even if Mexico may be a bit better on average than MLS that doesn’t mean there aren’t some pretty bad teams. And Nagamura had absolutely no trouble becoming a starter for Tigres.

    And just so folks know, I follow Pumas, so I do watch Mexican league games regularly.

    Reply
  4. Pearce is fast, but he’s not quick. When he played in Denmark, he supposedly ran the fastest 100m of any player in the league. But he gets burned by quicker wingers because his acceleration and change of direction aren’t great.

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  5. You could add that Tigres , his team is near the bottom of the league and they don’t play defense well. I’ve seen Castilo and he isn’t much of an upgrade over JB. Actually, they are the same guy,except Castillo is better going forward. Roberto Carlos he ain’t. He is probably a more natural LM than a LB.

    Don’t forget if Castillo had gotten off his butt and chosen the US sooner maybe he gets a lot more time than he has to date and maybe he impresses everybody. But he didn’t and as far as I’m concerned it’s his own dammed fault.

    Reply
  6. “But I also want to point out that we were also crushed by Brazil and Italy earlier in the tourney with the same back line. ”

    This is a game played by 11 men on 11 men. For the opening Italy and Brazil games both games were 11 on 10 thanks to red cards. Also the US played both with Jozy alone up front. By the time of the Spain game the US had introduced Davies with Jozy in a 4-4-2 and the team was playing much better.

    Maybe you don’t think it matters but my experience is having all 11 players available to you for the whole game is a good start.

    You can’t make any comparison then between those games and the Spain game.

    Reply
  7. So you think Pearce is fast?

    The main differnce I see between Pearce and Bornstein is that Bornstein makes errors of commission( misses tackles, bad fouls, bad clearances, clearly out of position) while Pearce makes errors of omission ( nowhere around when he is needed).

    Neither one is trustworthy, Pearce is flavor of the month right now because he hasn’t played enouh lately to make as many mistakes as JB. And don’t tell me Pearce was likely to repeat his performance against a JV El Salvador team against Holland.

    One year ago most of you wanted Pearce’s head on a plate. The old cliches about familiarity breeding contempt and absence making the heart grow fonder are applied in rotating fashion by USMNT fans. Drop JB for Pearce today and eventually you will all be clamoring for his return.

    Reply

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