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USA vs. Austria: SBI Live Match Commentary

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The U.S. Men’s National Team will play the final match of 2013 today in Vienna against Austria (2:30pm, NBC Sports).

The Americans are coming off a boring 0-0 draw that saw the team struggle badly in the first half before improving thanks to some substitutions in the second half.

SBI will be providing live commentary on today’s match so please feel free to follow the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Today’s live commentary is after the jump):

Comments

    • No I would agree. Its not that Jones is bad but just can’t provide the defensive presence needing to complement Bradley. Leaves too much space in between the CM and CBs. And when he tries to actually fulfill this role (which is rare, but did at the start of the second half today) he looks uncomfortable: holding possession too long, committing lots of fouls, and getting plenty of yellows. Problem is there aren’t a lot of options that people would find popular outside of Cameron, who is probably our best RB too; Kljestan and Diskerud don’t have to defensive edge and Beckerman is slag off by most US fans.

      Reply
    • you are not alone. Jones is the second best guy on the team at playing the Bradley role, but isn’t as good at the role he asked to play. He plays loose and his great pass every three games isn’t worth the possession and flow he takes away
      BUT
      JK does like him and he is the meanest guy we got (we are actually quite friendly chaps on the pitch outside he and Dempsey- makes the US easy to play against) so I see some value, but can see him costing us goals going forward and coming back.

      Reply
  1. Well we wanted better than two ties, but all in all not a bad European trip to end the year.
    I am done with Bedoya, too little attacking, I think Zusi and Lando (and probably Dempsey) are all ahead of him.
    I don’t like Jones, but acknowledge he is favored.

    Cameron played well. Brooks had one freadful moment, but you can see he has a ton of talent. Omar is settling in quite well.

    Reply
      • If you saw the game you know we got two ties…and had the better of the play today to boot.

        Thoughts on more players:
        Shea was OK as was EJ in totally different ways on that wing.
        Jozy should have had three goals, ended up with none.
        All in all I thought they could have shown more heart going after goals in the attacking box. As a team. Jozy, AJ, Boyd, EJ, Bedoya, Mix, Bradley, Sasha- the lot of em.

  2. Greece has qualified. And Croatia too. Iceland really could have used Bacon. That groin injury that prevented him from being cap tied, cost them a spot in the WC.

    Reply
  3. why does Klinsmann keep using EJ in a wing role!!!??? He is so useless there, and cannot cross for s**t!! AJ deserves to stay on the pitch for 90m. HATE this substitution (Shea I am ok with. Now, we can confirm this guy can only have a role off the bench, if at all).

    Reply
  4. A lot to be fine with if they make a few tweaks. Jurgen has to decide what his team is going to be. If he wants to play a high pressing high line team then he either needs to pair Bradley with a more defensive minded cm or play more athletic cbs. Brooks/Gonzalez are backing up because they don’t want to get beat for pace while Bradley/jones push up to press leaving tons of space. Shea is an impact sub not a starter. Cameron is probably our best rb, but might also be the best guy to pair with Bradley.

    Reply
    • Two deflections. Off beasley, then off the austria player directly in front of him. Not sure anyone reacts to that ball.

      Also beasley had trouble holding the line on the goal. Then had the same issue to gift austria a great chance to start the second half.

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    • Watch the replay and please tell me who Gonzalez had. Although Brooks did not do well on the play, it was more of a defensive mistake as a whole then any particular player. Brooks just looked the worst.

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  5. Bedoya needs to be subbed. He hasn’t done anything other than backpass. Shea has been ineffective. Jones is too. Switch to a 4-4-2 by pulling Jones, Bedoya, and Shea, moving Bacon to RM, insert Mix for Jones, and replacing Shea w/ Boyd. Either put Lichaij in at LM or Beasley. This is why you need either Castillo or Torres on your roster.

    Reply
    • Bedoya’s been invisible because he’s being forced to play outside because of the crowded midfield and a lack of overlapping runs by Cameron. He can’t do anything

      Reply
  6. Three things:

    Jones unchallenged starting spot needs to end after this. Kljestan may not be as rugged or tough as Jones, but he’s a lot of a lot more disciplined and his positional sense is very good

    Cameron is a better RB then Evans. You can tell by how comfortable he his he’s familiar with the position and he isn’t afraid to get into the attack. His overlapping isn’t great at all but thats a sacrifice I’m ok with for someone who can play the position competently

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  7. honestlt these people are the only ones who played HALF decent

    – bradley
    – cameron
    – AJ
    – Shea

    Altidore wouldve done better if he put his shots on goal

    Reply
      • the hell with wondowlowski. Klinsmann doesn’t rate him and only brings him into camp so fans don’t b*tch and it’s good for MLS

      • Wondolowski played great the few minutes he was on. That can’t be said for most of the other forwards. It has nothing to do with bitching. Klinsmann likes Wondolowski, and that is that. If the forwards (E.Johnson, Altidore, Johannsson) had passed the ball around in the penalty area, there most likely would have been a goal. Instead they all wanted to take potshots that did not have anything to do with design. Wondo looks for the player who is most likely to score and passes the ball to that person. For the short few minutes he was in there, he played a very good game.

  8. Looking like another long, unproductive afternoon for our boys. On the bright side, Bob Bradley is available tomorrow to start righting the ship.

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    • That’s not really a fair criticism for this team unless you’re certain JK wants his right back consistently overlapping.

      For the past year, the overlapping duties have fallen to beasley on the left while our right back has played far more conservatively.

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    • Neither does Evans tho and Cameron is a better defender and passer than Evans so I’d prefer Cameron to Evans but Dolo, Chandler and Lichaj to Cameron.

      Reply
  9. I’m sick to my stomach of seeing Jermaine Jones so high up the pitch!! Stay back dude! You’re ruining any semblance of attack!

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    • At least one of the commentators on the Univision feed is adanant that the US was robbed, and it should at least be 1-1 right now.

      Reply
  10. Off-topic but anyone else being shown “bonus coverage” of Croatia-Iceland on ESPN2 even though all other info (including what the ESPN people themselves said before cutting away) indicates it should actually be Sweden-Portugal?

    Reply

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