By IVES GALARCEP
The Gold Cup is reaching the make-or-break stages, and after disposing of Cuba on Saturday, U.S. Men’s National Team is about to embark on the first real test of the competition with a showdown against Costa Rica on Tuesday.
In the latest episode of The SBI Show, we break down the U.S. team’s 4-1 win vs. Cuba, and look ahead to Tuesday’s match against Costa Rica, which will decide the winner of Group C, and set up the U.S. team’s path through the knockout rounds.
Co-host Garrett Cleverly and I take a look at which players impressed vs. Cuba, and project which players are most likely to get the call when Jurgen Klinsmann selects his lineup for Tuesday night’s match.
We also take a look at MLS Week 20, and discuss the top matches of the past weekend, including Portland’s thrilling victory against the Los Angeles Galaxy, and San Jose’s ugly win vs. Seattle (complete with a rant on Steven Lenhart’s antics).
Give Episode 51 of The SBI Show a listen after the jump:
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What did you think of the show? Agree with our take on the U.S. team’s performance vs. Cuba? Like the projected lineup vs. Costa Rica? Agree or disagree with the rant on Steven Lenhart?
Share your thoughts below.
I have 200 minutes each week to fill (commute time). Keep the long shows coming!
Since everyone else has done it. Here’s my Beckerman take. He’s a wet blanket. He clogs the middle for both teams. Including sometimes getting in the way, not facilitating his CM partner. Its no coincidence that some USMNT midfielders have their worse day when paired with him.
I disagree with Ives. I think Beckerman is best played wiht the USMNT when we are looking for a 0-0 tie or a 1-0 win.
tricked me. i thought this was a new episode since it’s back at the top of the blog. not cool! lol
I really don’t get the comments about points per game. Standings are backwards looking, not forward looking. They show how the season has gone thus far. They aren’t designed to be predictions of the end of the season. The idea that a stat like PPG assumes anything is just weird. People might assume things, but tats don’t.
I remember some ridiculous tweets directed at Grant Wahl when he used to tweet PPG updates. And they would always say, “you’re assuming such and such team will win all their games in hands”. No matter how many times he would explain that PPG was backwards-looking, that it simply shows more accurately how teams have played thus far, and that it was not assuming or predicting ANYTHING, the endless replies of “you’re assuming this, you’re assuming that” would continue. It’s just weird.
pffft Wondo is better then Herc.
Dont worry about it being a long show, I enjoyed it as it was pretty much nonstop discussion.
I would agree, you two always seen to apologize for running long, don’t worry about it, we listen because we like it the more the better. Keep up the good work
Great show. Regardless of what anyone else thinks, I love the long shows. It would be different if there was a lull in the discussion, but it’s engaging all the through…
Just posting to say I also want Canada to do well. No idea why they suck so badly, but I hope they get it together for the 2018 cycle.
Lenhart gets lots of justifiable hate for his antics. Any time he dives or commits violent conduct, he should rightly be sanctioned. However, Ive’s assessment of the Gspurning injury is all wrong. There is a difference between pushing the envelope with dirty play and pushing the envelope with just plain aggressive play. I fully agree that Gspurning had the ball by the time Lenhart arrived, but I think claiming that Lenhart had plenty of time to pull out of the challenge is ridiculous. Since he was second to the ball, the ref correctly gave the foul, but you cannot derive from that incident any intent to foul or injure the keeper. Had that been any player other than Lenhart, few outside of Seattle would even suspect a pernicious intent. Lenhart still needs to do more to control his antics, but in the last few games, every notable incident of contact he’s involved in is clearly a matter of recklessness, not deliberate dirtiness. That doesn’t mean that the refs or DC shouldn’t do something to reduce reckless play as well, but you have to get the diagnosis right if your going to analyze the player. When you actually watch Lenhart closely, you can tell that, for the most part, the dirty antics and the honest recklessness are two different sides of his play and they are not the same. For Lenhart, his reputation has caused observers to assume that every foul he commits has some sort of deliberate intent; Ives even claiming – not for the first time- that Lenhart knows exactly what he is doing every time. There is simply no way that this is true. Bad as he is, he is not an evil genius.
When Lenhart does play a clean game (as rare as it is), SJ still get hated on, if only because SJ have a couple of forwards who are both A) strong enough to out-muscle the CBs in the MLS, B) not afraid to put their bodies on the line and get stuck in on 50/50 balls, and C) are tenacious enough to try to win every ball. When their willingness to get stuck-in crosses the line into dangerous play, then the refs need to call fouls and draw cards, but lets not call it dirty when it is really honest recklessness.
I get some of what you say but I am sorry Lenhart is trash. It was fairly clear that he did not have a chance at the ball and Gspurning had both hands on it before Lenhart even went to ground. I get that they are bang bang calls but it was not really 50/50 like alot of people seem to think, he stuck out his foot far more than it needed to be to catch Gspurning.
In hindsight, it clearly wasn’t 50/50, but when a lose ball drops near you in the box, you only have a split second to react. Lenhart went for the ball, and was beaten to it by a good keeper. The Seattle coach came to the same conclusion when he was asked about the incident later. He said that after watching the tape a few times he doesn’t think Lenhart did much wrong (although he was definitely very displeased with other moments in the game).
If Lenny can’t keep his dark side from taking over, he needs to stop using it. If he can’t do either… any discussion of his other skills is pointless. We won’t win trophies or fans by relying on that sort of play.
He shouldn’t use it period. He is just as effective when he plays a clean game as when he plays a dirty one. All he is earning with it is hate, and the club is being hit with plenty of it.
Ives, I have a question. What is the National team’s overall record since it’s inception?
according to the wiki page we’re 243–228–130 since 1916.
Thanks so much to you, Ives, for that commentary on Wondolowski. Nice to hear some level-headed reasoning, finally.
Well and not to single Wondolowski out, either, as you did start with him but then went on to apply the same general reasoning to others. Just FTR.
I think Ives take here is spot on. I’ve spent so much time (as someone who rates Wondo fairly highly) arguing against those who would never even give him a chance if it were up to them that any one who read some of the stuff I wrote would think that I was one of the folks saying that his scoring run makes him a lock for Brazil or something silly like that. But I take the middle path. Wondo has looked good, and 2 of his goals were pretty spectacular, but anyone who thinks that suddenly he’s guaranteed first choice, need to chill; just like how all the people who thought he was “Twellman 2.0” after failing to score in his first handful of appearances needed to chill then.
I’ve never rated Wondo fairly highly, I always thought it was luck. He seems like a ball magnet, the ball always manages to find his feet in the box for an easy put away. I have turned around after his scoring in MLS last year and what we have seen him do these last three games. He is great at what he does and deserves a shot at making the main squad. I think he can be a super-sub, put him in late when the defense is tired and unable to anticipate his movement.
Keep in mind when pointing out the competition, Gomez is playing the same teams but only scored 1 goal. Wondo is the hot striker right now, Gomez or Buddle could get hot later on but Wondo is the guy finding the net right now.
I agree, Ives’ assesment of Wondo is right on, we can’t really measure his streak until now vs CRC, if he can do the same then perhaps my opinion will change. Let’s hope he can score against them.
I will stand by my many accurate predictions on these boards. As I stated when the roster came out: although our A team is slightly better this B team will play more attractive soccer. It’s been a pleasure to watch.
agree its been nice to watch, but you dont think that has anything to do with the quality of opponent? I am pretty sure that if the A team were playing against Cuba they too would make it look like video game soccer.
Thats a fair point. However, our A team has played weak opponents in previous tournaments/Gold Cups and I’ve never seen such consecutive domination. I’ve always been of the opinion that technical players for the USMNT have been underutilized. I don’t think that’s the case in this Gold Cup.
We’ll see if stays “attractive” against opponents who are ranked in the top 80 range of Fifa – and it’s not like they played a pretty first half against Cuba. In fact, this squad really just tends to score goals in bunches, rather than gracefully dominating a match for 90 minutes.
The A team is also vastly, not slightly, above this Gold Cup team. Outside of Donovan (and even then…), who on the B-squad would you even consider promoting to the starting XI?
Who on the “B squad” would I consider starting on the A squad?
Here is a list of possibilities and comments
Landon Donovan (only person on B-team who WOULD improve A-team)
Castillo, Goodson (already on A team but probably wouldn’t start)
Hercules Gomez, Beasley (already on A-team and could start)
Stuart Holden (not replacing Jermaine Jones or Michael Bradley)
Mix Diskerud (not replacing Jermaine Jones or Michael Bradley)
Wondolowski (could replace Hercules Gomez but doubt he can reproduce his form against Mexico/Honduras/World Cup 2014 Field)
Torres (the mid-field is loaded–he is not replacing Jermaine Jones or Michael Bradley–let’s see what Torres can do as USMNT faces the better teams)