By FRANCO PANIZO
Different opponent, different location, same result.
Four days after losing 1-0 to Costa Rica in California, the U.S. men's national team fell to Belgium by the same score in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon. The hosts won the game through a second-half goal from defender Nicolas Lombaerts.
Just as it did against Costa Rica, the United States began the game in a 4-3-3 formation that helped it control a large chunk of the possession in the early going. But once again that translated into few scoring opportunities, allowing the Belgians to eventually settle into the match.
Once it did that, Belgium was able to dictate much of the tempo as the game wore on and it created a number of chances late in the first half. Tim Howard prevented Belgium from going into halftime with a lead, however, by coming up with several solid saves.
Howard was not able to save a shot in the 55th minute when a long throw-in was headed out of the penalty area and fell to Lombaerts. The Belgian defender struck the ball as it reached him, and it took a slight bounce on the wet field before rolling underneath Howard.
The United States thought it had found a late equalizer when a free kick from Steve Cherundolo was nodded down by Clarence Goodson, allowing for Maurice Edu to head the ball into the back of the net in the 86th minute. But just before the Americans could celebrate, the match official controversially negated the goal with an offside call.
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What did you think of the United States' 1-0 loss to Belgium? Who impressed/disappointed? Starting to get worried, or are results like this part of the process?
Share your thoughts below.
I never disagreed with Bradleys use of young players for the Copa America. We won the tournament we needed to which was the Gold Cup. This year we did NOT win the tournament we needed to which was the Gold Cup.
Another thing with Bradley you never knew what he was doing, because he never said anything. Klinsmann at least tells us that he is in hte process of evaluating players.
ChuckBallz, in the game against Mexico Rogers was decent. He had that breakway that he got pulled down on too. But he has since shown his true colors. (Post Belgium game) I don’t think you will see him play again.
Jones is 4 and 5 years older than Edu and MB.
maybe if he had someone to pass to.
Before Gooch was injured he had started looking like an actual soccer player.
Since then…not so much.
Goodson is healthy, and has won the position through hard work and being healthy. he’s nothing special, but he is serviceable.
Shea has the moves, speed and size to play at this level. I also was impressed by how easily he blew past world class defenders. However, his decision making afterwards was a bit suspect. His decision making needs to be quicker. Towards the end of the game he was sent into space on the left past the last defender and instead of one touching a left footed shot he took a touch and then shot which was blocked by the defender who’d recoved. Several times after beating the defender to the goal line he waited too long to cross. Giving defenders enough time to block or deflect the ball. Also, he favored cutting into the box and ignored the overlapping runs by Chandler on several occassions. I think all of these things are correctable with more time playing at the national level.
Rogers has performed? an open net goal is performing?
you have no idea what you’re talking about. Bradley was a one and done, actually he was a 1/2 and done.
I believe Klinsman should have played Castillo again, in fact. Sure he had more downs than ups agianst Mex and CR, but he’s young(emotionally) and could have used the experience regardless of how many give aways and goals he allowed.
What Klinsman should have done is put Chandler in Rogers’ Right side spot, and made Rogers play gdmn LB. it’s the only foot that works for him and it would give him less of the field to worry about. He seems to be fast-ish, although not upstairs.
and if he can’t play LB then he’s worthless.
Wrong. Kliestjan is improved. not a complete player, but improved, and given Rogers’ STENCH, anything would have been better.
I understand that. No contract with USA Soccer?
Actually, yes. It was a rescheduled race with a rain delay. So it was, in fact, scheduled the day before. And then it ran long. Happens.
It means he’s like Swayze.
I can buy it being interesting to see Klinsmann change things up – and maybe a change is even a good idea every cycle. But wonderful it hasn’t been. So far Kinsmann has mostly reminded me how much better coach Bradley was than his critics would have you believe. Hope that guy lands a good job in Europe.
again…this was not a choice ESPN made to screw soccer fans… this was a contractual issue with NASCAR…. ESPN still showed the match LIVE and in HD…. this is a long long way away from how things were before in the early 2000’s and before…
I definitely appreciate the analysis from Taylors’ perspective (ex player/national team player) however, you can tell that his passion and emotion take away from his ability to look at things from other people’s perspectives.
Which, by the way, is what you want from a real fan and is true for 90% of us forum participants here….
BLIND ALLEGIENCE!
exactly. and i love that last point, haha!
Yeah…I think Twellman has a “sky is falling” mentality working against him. He is completely missing what Klinsmann/USSF is trying to accomplish. 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 4-2-3-1…you can play whatever style you want however, you cannot creat chances or finish them if you cannot hold the ball. These are the basics. At this point, one can suspect that Klinsman is filtering the players that will and wont work in his system. Chances will come. The staff just needs to identify the right personel. And by not having full strength squads, this gives us the oportunity to identify reserve players which is just as important as identifying your starting 11. Results at this point mean absolutely nothing…if people want to look at results then they can take solice in knowing that we have never lost to Mexico under Klinsman.
that was great!
Sasha isn’t any slower than Jeff L. or Beckerman. Hell, he isn’t any slower than Bradley or Jones. Only Edu is noticeably faster…
wow. boca and dolo were very solid last night. they absolutely need to be called up so others can learn from them. don’t be crazy.
Dempsey isn’t going anywhere and you’re crazy if you think he should. He was played out of position yesterday. And by the second half, when he was moved, the team just wasn’t working well together.
seriously. and for once, Lalas made more sense! Twellman gets way too worked up. He admitted he would rather win yesterday then win in qualifying. haha i know, in the end, he didn’t mean it like that, but he gets so fired up and doesn’t think things through.
After reading all these comments one thing is for sure: Rogers is getting no love. Deservedly. Chandler was an improvement over Bornstein and Castillo. But I’d rather see Lichaj there again once he is playing regularly for club. Whether that be AV or Leeds come winter. Lichaj and Chandler competing for the same spot does make things interesting though.
Too bad for all you who missed the game! Torture I know. If you were a loser like me you were not working.
Lots of peeps on here getting all bent out of shape about what is surely an experimental stage for the new staff.
Torres: I think Twellman said it best post game. If you imagine Torres being able to link up while surrounded by Donovan, Holden and Dempsey then his game last night improves markedly.
Twellman: Is it just me? I love this guy as an announcer. He is clearly passionate and knowledgeable. I always learn something listening to him. Like soccer’s version of Madden when he was just beginning to announce NFL games.
good ol’ hockey assists!
won’t work. torres and holden are too similar. pick one of them and then one from the Jones/Bradley/Edu “pool”.
And Gomez needs to be in the forward conversation
I thought the team started well and I think there are positives to take away from this game. Some of the overall positives for the games are:
– Chandler at LB isn’t so crazy, he kept Hazard in check all night
– Goodson, Boca and Dolo should be in the starting XI for our defense
– Torres looks very good under JK and should continue to receive call ups
– Shea is extremely promising and should be called into all future A team camps from here on out
– Overall style of play was better from the USMNT
Some of the negatives:
– Rogers is not USMNT material at this time, his game is not at the right level
– Castillo didn’t impress at LB as much as we needed him to
– T-L-L
Overall, I think the games have had more positives then negatives. I still do not understand why JK started Rogers. I also don’t know why he thought Dempsey could play in the midfield in a 4-3-3. He should have started Dempsey over Rogers up top and started Sasha in the middle. I think Sasha should have been given more chances in these games. He plays as one of two holding mids for his club team in a 4-5-1. He should have been used more for the USMNT. Jeff L was a waste of a call up and sub. Sasha should have been in instead of him.
It’ll be interesting to see the roster for the Honduras/TBD games. I would like to see some combo of the following:
GK: Howard, Guzan (or Hamid)
D: Boca, Dolo, Goodson, Chandler, Johnson, Spector, John, Gooch, Castillo, Lichaj, Whitbread
M: Bradley, Jones, Torres, Edu, Mix, Sasha, Holden, Gatt, Shea, Bedoya, Adu
F: Jozy, Dempsey, Donovan, Agudelo
Well, I’m from Tennessee and live in Texas, so I think I pretty much have free rein to trash talk NASCAR fans.
because he starts for Anderlecht…not exactly easy to do. i did NOT like Sasha for the longest time and I couldn’t believe he was actually wanted in Europe, but he has found a home there and is playing well in the same formation the USMNT plays. He absolutely should have started OVER Rogers. Then Dempsey could have played where Rogers was and Sasha would have been where Dempsey was. In my mind, that was a complete tactical mistake by JK.
Nice way to put it – Rogers is a limited player at this point in his career. Horribly inconsistent, with only momentary and minimal moments of effectiveness.
How I really feel while watching the match – ROGERS SUCKS! WTF IS KLINSMAN THINKING? HE KILLS EVERY ATTACK! HE IS THE MIDFIELD EQUIVALENT OF BORNSTEIN! I HOPE I NEVER SEE HIS STUPID F_ING FACE ON THE PITCH WITH THE USMNT EVER AGAIN!.
his play has cost the team at least 4 shots on goal from Altidore in the last 2 matches.
Chill out bro. Pick your battles. This aint one of them youre gonna win. The game was a snooze fest anyway
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NO MORE ROBBIE.
NO MORE ROBBIE.
Dummkopf!
NO MORE ROBBIE ROGERS, please.