By IVES GALARCEP
The U.S. Men’s National Team closed out 2013 with a year-ending loss to Austria and the latest episode of The SBI Show takes a look back at the action.
Episode 92 of The SBI Show takes a closer look at the 1-0 loss to Austria, including a look at the players who boosted their stock, and those who struggled.
Co-host Garrett Cleverly and I also look at Orlando City’s announcement as the 21st MLS team. Orlando was introduced as the latest MLS expansion team on Tuesday, creating plenty of buzz about the impending arrival of the league’s 21st franchise.
We also discuss the NCAA Tournament, and have the latest SBI Show Q&A.
Give Episode 92 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 USA-Austria match? Excited  for Orlando City joining MLS?
Share your thoughts below.
Ives & Garrett, check out People Under the Stairs for intro/outro beats. They’ve got 4 albums that meet your criteria (WC though) and have some epic tracks. Should be pretty easy to find the instrumentals too. Also, quality longer show; it kept me entertained as I caught up on the past two weeks.
here is mix-and-spin-a-lots starts and latest effort side by side with sacha kljestan – whom JK has deemed worthy of 3 starts for USMNT, zero with bradley in a CM role
3 starts
bosnia – pushed around for a half before getting yanked – US losing 0-2. US equalizes by the 59th. sacha enters game in 70th min with score tied 2-2. US up 4-2 by the 86th
jamaica – diskerud / jones CM is atrocious. 0-0 when sacha enter game and takes over at CM in 72nd. game completely changes. US up 2-0 by 81st.
panama – mix generally struggles and is replaced in the 62nd min with US losing 0-1. US equalizes in the 64th and goes on to win. sacha goes 90
V austria – mix v sacha
mix – in 34 minutes mix completes 5 of 8 forward passes, beats nobody on the dribble and loses the ball 2 times at his feet
sacha – in 14 minutes completes 6 of 8 forward passes, beats 2 off the dribble and loses the ball 0 times at his feet
mix / bradley 14!
No, it’s going to be Bradley/Jones in the WC.
mix diskerud? why? spin moves and nice traps?
the kid is 23 and playing in a league well below MLS level. finished season with 2 goals and an assist
did not start gold cup semifinal or final
here are some takes from his 3 starts since gold cup:
Bosnia
MIX DISKERUD (4.5) (SBI) (only cameron given lower grade) Had a tough time with the physicality of the Bosnian midfielders and defenders and never left his stamp on the game before coming off at halftime.
Jamaica (dont see SBI)
M Mix Diskerud, 5 (ESPN) (only Donovan given lower grade) – He blew hot and cold in the attack and was guilty of a poor giveaway that sparked a chance for Jamaica.
Diskerud 5.5 (YA)- (only donovan and johannsson worse) It took him a while to get into the play of the game, but in the end got the USA into great goal scoring positions. His spin move got the US into position to score on their first of the night.
Mikkel Diskerud (6) (MLS) (only johannsson and altidore worse) – Though Mix continues to show improved physicality at the international level, he’s still miscast as one of only two central midfielders. His passing was hit and miss, including a particularly bad turnover in his end just past halftime. However, Diskerud’s game clicked into place with the formation change and his spin-o-rama attempt disoriented the defense to help the US finally hit paydirt.
Panama
Mix Diskerud (5.5) (SBI) (only castillo with lower grade) … floated in and out of the match…
its official – everybody loves his spin moves! always fascinating to see who USMNT fans become interested in, despite whatever evidence exists. clearly has not done much to earn the accolades he is receiving. obviously a good player, just seems others are (much) more deserving
kljestan, jones, clark and cameron superior 2-way CMs
zusi and kelyn rowe (8 goals / 9 assists this season – younger than mix) superior AMs
sorry, but bradley / diskerud CM pairing in brazil is an absolute joke
I haven’t seen Mixx play with his club team, so really hard to judge him outside of his performances with the US. Stats are not something soccer fans should focus on, like baseball fans do. I don’t think Mixx is what John O’Brien was in 2002, but he does have some talent and class on the ball. To put R. Clark on this sheet, the man who cost us our last world cup game by being completely inept, really invalidates your entire argument. Ricardo Clark should never be listed on a US board except in the thread called “worst moments in US soccer history”.
right, 1 poor ball 4 years ago defines r. clark
intelligent!
clark is WC vet who can play a 6 or an 8 and is in the prime of his career (never mind the fact that he also contributes offensively because scoring is not very important in soccer)
and you come back with “he does have some talent and class on the ball”
really, besides the spin moves this is the argument?
ok, forget what i said. im totally convinced!
Ricardo Clark… Are you seriously talking about him? The World Cup moment was just “a moment”, and if he had ever played well for the national team in the past we would have looked past it. When the lineup came out that day, every US fan I knew collecting said “what??? Ricardo Clark?”. Then he had to be pulled in the 27th minute. Ricardo Clark has no offensive skill whatsoever. He can’t pass, he can’t shoot, his dribbling is below average and at this point in his career he isn’t even fast. His only skill is his work rate, but that work rate puts him in poor positions defensively. Leaving him in a place where he gets burned by classy opponents over and over. If you want an unbiased rating of Ricardo Clark, take a look at his FIFA 14 stats, he is awful at everything except he is aggressive. He is a 63 overall. Something like the 100th rated US player. I really can’t believe you are trying to sell us on Ricardo Clark. He doesn’t start for the USA E, F, or G team. Time to go back to the drawling board.
not 2010 anymore champion and this is not video game soccer
jones has been awful, diskerud has NEVER been good, beckerman is past his prime
Jones > Diskerud > Beckerman > Clark
btw one mistake in life does define people, fair or not. Ask Bucky Dent or Monica Lewinski about that.
Good thing NONE of you in this thread have any say whatsoever regarding the USMNT rosters. Ridiculous.
Jones worst match was in Costa Rica where he had 17 turnovers before half and didn’t track runners that lead to a couple goals. The number of poor preformances are starting to talley up sadly.
What did we really learn last night, especially when we were ‘robbed’ of a tie? The last two games were opportunities wasted. Friendlies allow for experimentation but also testing of player’s desire to make the team. Klinzy again seems to try to put rounds pegs into small holes. He needs to open his eyes to our best players, and build the system around them. He may even have to consider a back 3 (2-3-2-3) in light we have no Danny Alves in the pipeline. Klinzy show have a sit down with our GK crop and ask THEM who should play in defense and in what positions.
We also learned that we need 2 on top because Altidore cannot be on an island. Brek Shea has lost his way and he may hurt us more than help. Bradley may not at be at his best as a defensive midfielder but a central attacking midfielder, and Cameron may be better as a defensive midfielder. There is no superstar in our young crop of players and we need maturity on the WC stage (attn JJ!). AND we lack quality left footed players.
Thus the team to Brazil is (barring injury): Forwards – Altidore, Dempsey, EJ and Iceman. Midfielders – MB, Donovan, Zusi, JJ, Donovan, Bedoya, Mix, Beckerman. Defenders – Besler, Gonzo, Brooks, Multiposition Players – FJ, Beasley, Cameron, Evans, Orozco. GK – Howard, Guzan, Rimando. USA!!!!!!!
*Klinsmann knows what he’s doing.
I don’t know why the Austria game was disappointing. I saw promising play fairly regularly especially at RB which is a position of weakness for us. Isn’t that all you can really ask of a friendly performance where you’re testing out bubble players? Things could have gone better of course and there were several poorer performances but describing it as disappointing seems like an overly negative description of the entire 90 unless you’re just concentrating on the scoreline.
It wasn’t a well-played game by any stretch. You can call it disappointing because the team didn’t play well. There’s a difference between saying disappointing and disastrous. Even if you concede that there players missing, it still isn’t a stretch to call a bad showing a bad showing. Maybe the Scotland game set the bar so low that the Austria game looked good to you by comparison. It wasn’t a good game by any means.
Both games put me to sleep. Some good attacking moves in both but our close control and trapping/first touches are letting us down. Good movement from just about everyone though, but Shea was a little stagnant on the left. Whether that was a deliberate directive from JK to keep space open or if he just struggled to find his place, is a matter of debate. Should be interesting in the new year with regular starters coming back from injury/playoffs.
good show, gang!
I agree that Shea is not really a 2-way player yet and that his greatest impact is coming off the bench. The question is, will we have the luxury of not taking a player who isn’t a 2 way player?
This is what I think we’d see as “the 23” for a March lineup if JK wants to see what his Brazil team could look like:
————-A-Ron—Jozy———-
—–Landon—–Mixx—-Deuce—–
—————General B————–
Fabian—-Omar–Belser—Cameron
————–Howard——————
subs: EJ, Boyd, Bedoya, Kljestan, Jones, Beckerman, Beasely, Evans, Cherundolo, Goodson, Guzan, Rimando
I really like this lineup and I might start this exact lineup if I were the coach. I feel pretty comfortable with Johannson up top with Jozy now. Two question marks for me.
1)Mixx, we are all projecting how good he can be working with the players around him. He is the really green and plays in low level league. This would be a big challenge for him to fit in with this squad.
2) Cameron at right back. Geoff is kind of a jack of all trades master of none. If available, I’m not sure that Cherundolo and Chandler aren’t better.
I’m on board with the Altidore, AJ, and Mix trio. I feel like AJ and Mix’s off the ball movement is great.
What does that attacking front line look like?
Altidore AJ
Dempsey Mixx Donovan
Bradley
If not that formation, the only way to get those 3 on the field is play Mixx with more defensive responsibility or take Donovan or Dempsey out of the lineup.
I haven’t listened to this yet, but I already know what it is, Ives telling people to calm the eff down. Am I right? Of course I am.
Settle down Daniel. LOL