By FRANCO PANIZO
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Men’s National Team found itself trailing after a subpar first-half performance, but the Americans’ captain came to the rescue to flip the script and give them a win.
Jozy Altidore bagged a brace in a nine-minute span in the second half, and the U.S. came from behind to defeat Peru, 2-1, in a friendly at RFK Stadium on Friday night.
The Americans initially found themselves trailing after a deflected Daniel Chavez shot looped over goalkeeper Brad Guzan and into the back of the net, but Altidore struck on a penalty-kick rebound near the hour-mark and pushed home a deflected shot to give the U.S. the victory.
Altidore was named captain for the match in the absence of leaders Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey, and he came through with his 28th and 29th international goals in front of a crowd of 28,896.
Jurgen Klinsmann’s side got off to a rough start in the game, as the Peruvians bossed possession and won the ball back quickly through a combination of pressure and unforced U.S. turnovers.
Peru eventually drew first blood in the 20th minute when Daniel Chavez struck a ball from distance that deflected off of Omar Gonzalez and soared over a reeling Guzan.
The U.S. struggled to find a response, but turned it on late in the first half. Returning midfielder Jermaine Jones had a great shot in the 39th minute, hitting a line drive from distance that Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese soared to stop with a one-handed block.
John Brooks wasted a golden chance seconds later. Still up in the penalty area because of the corner kick that followed Jones’ attempt, Brooks got on the end of a cross with space in front of him but ballooned the ball over the crossbar.
Gallese was called into action in the 41st minute, as Gyasi Zardes took Luis Advincula on the dribble and unleashed a shot that had to be pushed wide.
Altidore then had a chance from a near-impossible angle a minute later, but Gallese blocked it out for a corner.
That shot was a sign of things to come, however. The U.S. came out reinvigorated in the second half while Ricardo Gareca’s team looked a shell of itself.
The Americans pulled level in the 59th minute, though under controversial circumstances.
After earning a questionable spot kick after some slight contact in the penalty area with Peru centerback Carlos Zambrano, Altidore had his effort saved but pounced on the rebound and slotted it home.
Altidore then put the Americans ahead for good in the 68th minute. Gyasi Zardes fizzed a low cross from the left side of the penalty area, and it took a deflection into the path of Altidore at the doorstep for the easiest of tap-ins.
Peru had nearly taken the lead a minute earlier as Zambrano snapped a powerful header on frame that Guzan blocked with a low dive. Renato Tapia got on the end of the rebound, but Guzan’s legs prevented the ball from finding the back of the net.
Ascues had Peru’s best chance late, but his sizzling attempt from distance landed on the top of the net in the first minute of stoppage time.
Continuing to prepare for next month’s CONCACAF Cup against Mexico, the U.S. wraps up this camp with a meeting against Brazil at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, on Tuesday.
Have not seen the game yet but no one should be celebrating too much. Despite some posters on here trying to build them up, Peru is a poor team and, at home, we should beat them 7 or 8 times out of 10 at least. Job done, but it should be the least we expect.
I’m a little more excited about the fact that the team showed up with a ‘tude and won despite the fact that they were missing Dempsey, Bradley, Fabian Johnson, and Beasley…who, if you were asking “who are our five best field players at the moment”, would have certainly constituted four of them, with probably Jermaine Jones – who has been out for awhile with injuries – being the fifth.
Not a bad day’s work.
Peru obtained third in Copa America. They came with a strong side for they are preparing for qualifiers. They are not a poor team. You have no clue.
In tournaments, all that matters is the result. In friendlies, while wins are nice, more important is how well the team plays. The US played below average in the first half and dominated the second half. No reason to get excited, but no reason to complain, either. I try to put these things in perspective.
Gary Page,
JK is a lucky guy in many ways.
This trilogy of matches appears to be setting up well for a good conclusion.
It all depended on them getting a good start and they did that.
Peru were a good team to play after the Gold Cup letdown. Their style of play bears some similarity to Mexico’s. They took the lead, pushing the US and the US responded well. The center back situation, the keeper, Jozy, Ream, Zardes, Yedlin, the team in general cleaned off some of the stink from the Gold Cup. And now they feel confident heading into the Brazil game.
Brazil should test them even more. So long as they play well the result should not hurt their confidence. And if they beat them so much the better.
Peru is a pretty good team, so the US did well to get the win. Jozy did very well and was a handful. Ream showed why he should be there; nice and calm on the ball. Besler and Cameron should get the start against Brazil and in the playoff in October.
TNT 3
Mexico 2
3-3. The good news is we will be able to score on Mexico. The bad news is… they might score more.
Who knows what Mexico will show up. Same as it ever was with them. Better players than the US. Worse team.
They don’t have better players – time to drop the inferiority complex.
I agree. Their guys 1-11 are unquestionably more technical, but they’ve got some athletic limitations. No question the USMNT has lot more size, speed, and range…they have nobody who remotely approaches the work rate and box-to-box capability of, say, Michael Bradley or Jermaine Jones.
Mexico has always had to string together a lot more passes than the USA does to score. They also seem to get mauled at least once a game on set pieces.
Those things do matter when you’re accounting for “talent”.
Then we should annex Mexico, combine their technically skilled players with our “horses” and put a team together, then sit back and watch some SBI posters’ heads explode
I’m reminded of a friendly I saw them play against England a couple of years ago. Mexico passed the ball really well and controlled possession, but weren’t able to do much in the final third. The commentators remarked on how good Mexico looked. Then England got a corner, made a nice corner kick, headed it in and won, 1-0. There are limits to their style of play. One of them is that they are vulnerable to physical, athletic teams.
I’d like to think our defense is better than that of T&T. Our record against Mexico the last few years has been pretty good in head to head meetings.
Nice performance. Wish Wooten would have got mins
Our defense played really well all night and you’re on here complaining about pre game quotes. You must be a fun person to hang out with
Some people can and want to find a dark cloud with every silver lining.
Hey, if you think a single friendly win is proof that all is good in the USMNT, I suggest you take a look at the series of friendly wins we had before the Gold Cup.
If you want to argue that Klinsmann handled the Gold Cup well, then we are on very different pages.
Also, why do you want to make this personal? You don’t know me, I don’t know you – I thought this message board was for discussing soccer.
I thought you made a reasonable point.
I see so much negativity on this site it’s ridiculous. I didn’t call you our or anyone by name, just made a general observation. The result was meaningless, but the team played relatively well against a pretty good team. Whatever the situation, a person can find something good or bad. A lot of people here seem to try real hard to find the negative. Not having read many of your posts before, I don’t know if you are one of those; you can decide that for yourself. Since I wasn’t directing my comment at you, maybe you are a bit too sensitive.
I really hope Jozy comes back to us and starts playing some good soccer!
Also, I thought Yedlin had a more-than-decent game.
Also, the real talking point for me is how JK continued to mess with the backline THROUGHOUT the game!! Did he not just say, a day before the game, that the time for experimenting is over? This really speaks to how little he respects the fanbase (duh, his comments from earlier) and how he is willing to say anything.
The disconnect between his words and his actions is too much: he says he’s done experimenting on the back line but plays 4 (or was it 5) different centerbacks in the same 90 minutes and has two other CBs playing at fullback. How many other times has he told us one thing and done another?
I’m worried about his relationship with reality.
Oh yeah, says he wants competition at every position, including keeper, then tells us Guzan is starting for the next two months…
Reality?
The team won the game and looked good doing it.. That’s reality.
Agreed. But only a tiny slice of a big pie. Of reality, that is. Big, big reality pie.
Soccer is a very small part of that pie. It’s a very simple game score one more goal than the other team and you win. score the same number and you tie. score less and you lose.
Many here fail to grasp that part of it but you clearly have. That is impressive.
Why don’t you focus on the much larger percentage of reality elsewhere that is probably more worthy of your talents?
Funny.
I seem to recall that there were a lot of people writing that Brooks and Alvarado were awful, so he should play Besler and Omar. so, he did. I remember a lot of people saying he should play Ream more, so he did. Then he brought in Cameron, Brooks, and Alvarado. And, some people say he should have call into the team Lichaj and Spector, so he brought in Spector. He was limited in how many substitutes he could make, but we got to see how most of the defenders did and if one combination did better than another. Shouldn’t that have been one of the purposes of this game?
I hear your point – but I don’t think a single game is the right time to try out so many different options. Especially when we have two friendlies to prepare for the ludicrously named CONCACAF Cup.
I think Omar and Besler played great in the World Cup and I wish they’d stayed the started pair since then. But if he had to tinker, go ahead, use the year after the World Cup to tinker. I just wish we had a starting CB pair already identified to be getting repititions before the game on Oct 2.
Also, my original point was less about WHICH players should be playing and more about the lack on consistency of what Klinsmann says and what he does.
Hope I’m not coming off as defensive.
Eric,
Not to jump down your throat, but Besler played very well during the World, but Omar did not. OG is very inconsistent. He is a much better clb player than national team player and that has been his Achilles heel.
Eric W.
“Also, my original point was less about WHICH players should be playing and more about the lack on consistency of what Klinsmann says and what he does.”.
Why do you care?
Managers of pro sports teams are paid to do a number of
things but above all else they are paid to win.
Next to that being consistent for your comfort is probably quite low on the list.. .
He very probably can’t be consistent in what he says and does because managing the USMNT is a proposition full of inconsistencies..
Unlike , for example Pete Carroll or Bill Belichik whose teams have their players under contract,, the USMNT does not own the players so JK’s control over their presence is limited and dependent on the kindness of others. He has to BORROW his players. So taking them from their clubs is a constant ongoing negotiation over a myriad number of things and I imagine most of the communications are kept private by design..
Then there is the small matter of the US using players from many different leagues , from literally all over the world. This makes regular get togethers quite challenging.
And finally there is the matter of the talent pool being somewhat limited and compromises having to be made because of that.
What it all adds up to is that the availability of JK’s best players, #1 through to #22 ( two players for each position) is rarely consistent .
I read or listen to what JK says, factor in what I know to be his version of coach speak, and go from there. I may have an advantage over you because I have followed JK as a player and as a manager for most of his career. While he has done some surprising things with the USMNT, if I sit down and think about them for a bit they always make sense to me in the end..
So far I have found JK to be very predictable and consistent.so I don’t really understand what your problem is. He is certainly easier and more entertaining to follow and predict than for example, Coach Belichik..
I am not as arrogant as you are expecting him to tell me the straight unvarnished truth about every player and the circumstance around them because frankly if I were in their shoes, I would consider a lot of that to be a private matter. I am not one of those who figure I have to right to every detail of everything about the players and the team.
I just follow them and find them hugely entertaining.
Eric,
I’ve held back on my thoughts regarding the CBs because I may get called a fanboy, even though most don’t address questions I throw out there-
But here’s my brief take:
-Omar to me, has looked like he’s lost some confidence, and he looks stiff to me. He doesn’t turn his hips well, and his passing has never been great-though he still dominates the air. And I mean for LAG and NT.
-To me, Besler looked poor at the beginning of MLS season. I think he’s much improved now
-Brooks had his share of shortcomings in GC, but consider this: He was paired w Alvarado which didn’t work out, but nobody wants to admit that our midfield was horrible at the GC. And Beck was slower than ever. The performance of the back line was not just because of the back line.
Pre-knockout round, everyone here was saying he’d arrived and he’s ready to take over. After, he was the devil.
Alvarado-not ready yet
Cam- Off to a good start at CB, but injuries may have forced JK to put him on the right tonite.
Ream-Looked ok, now in the mix but TBD.
I’m saying all this because none of them has consistently stepped up and claimed a 100% spot-yet JK is getting blasted no matter what pairing he uses. And I bet if you polled everyone here, you’d get 100 combinations.
The best part for me was the team defense. The US shape was almost always good and the defenders almost always kept the attackers in front of them. When Farfan I think it was, made a good darting diagonal run and got a pass, Alvarado was with him every step of the way. The US gave up some space on the left wing, Peru’s right and they made some good, long crossfield passes that caused a little trouble, but generally, Peru didn’t really do much from the run of play. Their goal was really lucky.The best Peru chance was that beautiful free kick that Guzan made a couple of great saves on. Considering we were without Dempsey, Bradley, and F Johnson, we did better than I expected.I imagine that posters like UCLA Bruin Great and bottlecaps will find a way to proclaim that the US was lousy and Klinsman doesn’t know what he’s doing.
But this was just a friendly and Peru didn’t bring their “A” Team. Was likely their C- Team against the US’s “A” Squad. The only way that JK should be allowed to keep his job is if he can clone Wondo and field him in all 10 field positions.
Does Wondo have his AYSO card? If not he’s another fake American.
It was their A-team – 10 of the 11 players were starters at the Copa America.
Yeah, I was gunna say I recognized a lot of those names from the COPA american. I believe their starting striker is out injured though.
I’m sure, too, that we would have done a lot better if Klinsmann had brought in Feilhaber, Nguyen, Finlay, and Lletget.
By the way Gary, you cowarded away from our last conversation. Answer the question I asked you.
“You say Benny is too old. Then why don’t you seem to have a problem with:
J Jones- 33
Dempsey- 32
Beasley- 33
Beckerman- 33
Wondo – 32
B Evans- 30
G Cameron- 30
etc.
Benny is only 30 but he is too old? Yea ok. Arjen Robben is 31, I guess Holland should drop him, he’s too old.
Also, the other reason that your point doesn’t make sense is because it is not all about the World Cup. There are games to win before the World Cup, including the Gold Cup (4th place), now the Concacaf playoff game, the Copa America and possibly the Confederations Cup, and World Cup qualifiers. So for you to say, “he will be too old by 2018, so lets not use him right now” is silly. By the way, you don’t seem to have that same complaint about other players.”
You really seem to have a personal vendetta against me. I find it rather strange that you get so upset over these disagreement and have descended into insults. Do you have a problem? Anger management issues? I “cowarded away? You ignored a challenge I made to you just a day or two ago. I just assumed you didn’t see it. I explained myself in a response yesterday. So, I will repeat it again since it wasn’t specifically to your post. There is one crucial game this year for Klinsmann–the playoff with Mexico. After that he is concentrating on getting the right team for the 20-18 World Cup. As i explained the other day, he is looking at a different pool for different situations/competitions. For the Mexico game he is undoubtedly looking at mostly the team that played together in the World Cup. This is also similar to the team that got us through qualifying with our best record ever. That/those team(s) have the advantage of playing together and familiarity with one another. Feilhaber played on none of those teams. I am sure he doesn’t feel that Feilhaber adds enough to bring him in for these two friendlies and the Mexico game. That is a very reasonable conclusion for me, with which I agree. You apparently do not agree.I don’t expect you to remember everything I write, since I hardly remember it myself, but before the World Cup I explained what I think is his strategy. He relies on veterans for the Gold Cup and, now the playoff game. After that he will begin transitioning to younger players for the qualifiers and the next World Cup. I don’t think the 2016 Copa America will be all that important to the US. The Confed Cup will be about preparing for Russia, so I seriously doubt we will see any of the players on your list above in those games. I may be wrong, but my guess is that after the Mexico game we will see less and less of Jones and other guys who will be in their mid-30’s by the next WC. Feilhaber will be 33 and a half when the next WC is played. That is the too old I am talking about.
Gary, do you not realize the irony of you saying “that i seem to have it in for you” when in the post above you basically shouted me out unprovoked (along with bottlcaps)? I am positive that by doing that you were seeking a response from me. Nice try.
UCBG, the difference between Benny and those you list is the players listed didn’t show lack of effort; they instead showd great focus and always gave it their all. Benny decided to mature at 30 and it seems to be too late…
“Benny showed lack of effort” ; the other players “showed great focus and gave it their all”.
You are talking like these are well known facts. You do realize that everything you just said have been assumptions and narratives created by the fans on this site to try and explain Klinsmann’s actions. Maybe you are right, maybe you are wrong, but all i know is that Klinsmann has never verified any of those theories. For all we know Klinsmann is just a bad talent evaluator.
UclaBruinSuck, clever, looks like I have a new fan.
I haven’t seen the game yet. Was out all day but I have it recorded. Will watch it. From what I heard seems to be a typical tale of two halves game.
I did get to see the guys in the pre-game show talk about Klinsmann’s condescending comments and excuse making. Where he basically blamed the officials for the U.S. not winning the gold cup, said the U.S. played great against Jamaica, and said that most U.S. fans just don’t understand soccer and have a lot to learn. Basically saying, “how dare you question/criticise me”. Of course they all ripped him.
UCLABG,
“Where he basically blamed the officials for the U.S. not winning the gold cup, said the U.S. played great against Jamaica, and said that most U.S. fans just don’t understand soccer and have a lot to learn. Basically saying, “how dare you question/criticise me”. Of course they all ripped him.”
Like those guys haven’t made their share of interesting statements.
I was trying to remember why JK’s comments sounded so familiar.
Then it hit me. 2009 just after beating Egypt 4-0 and advancing in the Confederations Cup when everyone had left them for dead. Brad Guzan
was the keeper by the way.
Mikey said:
“The younger Bradley’s voice brimmed with emotion as he talked about the significance not of the victory, but of the effort. It was a direct kick at the critics who’d said the team lacked fire. “We played with 11 guys for 90 minutes,” Michael Bradley said. “All the f—— experts in America, everybody who thinks they know about soccer, they can all look at the score tonight and let’s see what they have to say now. Nobody has any respect for what we do, for what goes on on the inside, so let them all talk now.”
http://www.espnfc.com/story/656457/us-team-fires-back-at-its-critics-with-win-over-egypt
I see your point. But you have to admitt those two scenarious come off completely different. Bradley is more mad because basically their heart was being questioned, and then says “what you gotta say now?” after victory. Klinsmann is more “ahh stup1d Americans you know nothing about soccer. Let me pat you on the head and send you on your way. Let the grown ups talk”. If i was overly dramatic, i would be questioning your patriotism right now for not being offended! But i am not.
You’re plagiarizing Lalas’ comments-you’re in the penalty box.
This was one time I didn’t like what he said, usually he’s asked a question (and usually it’s one he’s been asked 100 times) and then whatever’s said starts a new round of click bait like it was a brand new comment. This time I didn’t like it, but as I’ve said before- He’s not Spurrier who leads every answer with “we gotta coach em up better”… but he never has been like that. He put his foot in his mouth this time, but big deal. BTW, this was the First time I’ve heard Stu Holden disagree with him like that, he’s usually more civil so I think it was a poor choice…
Next….
UCLABG
That would make you sound just like Alexi Lalas.
Mikey and JK both accuse their f+++ing critics of knowing nothing about soccer or about their team in particular . That is crystal clear.
The two sets of comments have far more similarities than they do differences.
I am not offended by what JK said. He does know a lot more about soccer than I do. He also knows a lot more about the situation with the USMNT, his team after all, than I do.
Why would I be offended if he said so? Besides I wasn’t critical of either guy so what they said about their situations had nothing to do with me. Nothing to see here, just move on.
He and Mikey were just expressing their opinion which is what everyone on SBI does every day. Why should they be different? This is America and we are all entitled to free f+++ing speech here ain’t we?
Or do you suppose JK comments here as The Commandant and Mikey comments as bizzy?
Fine you don’t think its a big deal. That’s fine. But what about the blaming the refs comments and saying the U.S. was great against Jamaica? That’s some lame excuse making and a lack of taking responsibility. You can also throw in some bs in there by him saying that they played their best soccer against Jamaica.
There were no bad calls that s crewed the U.S. Maybe he was talking about the rarely called Guzan handball on the throw? That was the correct call.
UCLABG,
I don’t know why JK’s comments offend you so easily.
I am a USMNT fan not, a JK, a BB, an Arena or even a Steve Sampson fan. They were/are all in impossible, no win situations when it comes to talking to the media.
I take all National team manager comments, input them into my Coach Speak filter and go from there.
The Guzan handball call was one of those calls that could be called more than it is but usually isn’t. I’m sure it gets called but I cannot tell you the last time I’ve seen that call made at any level.
If you were Coach Salcedo and one of Maryland’s goals in their recent 2-1 victory came off a call like that I’m sure you’d be furious.
The other thing is Giles Barnes, Jamaica’s MLS English international, did a fantastic job with that free kick. Why everyone seems unable to give him credit for a wonderful piece of individual skill is beyond me. I’ve seen so many games where free kicks from that exact same spot get blown over the bar or go wide, 3, 4, 5 times a game. So you have a piece of bad luck for the US followed by a piece of wonderful skill by Jamaica adding up to a goal for Jamaica. I find it pretty hard to “blame” that goal on anyone on the US side.
And for that matter Mattocks header was either a fantastic piece of skill or he was incredibly lucky.
That’s two great goals off of set pieces and then Jamaica basically hanging on.
In “soccer terms “ that’s all they did really.
It was the US’ best game. Their previous Gold Cup games were basically nothing to write home about but they got through to the next round so no one noticed. In addition to Mikey’s goal they had 4 very nice shots on goal ( Fabian, Clint, Mikey and Brooks) well saved by the Jamaican keeper.
Jamaica took their chances very well and with great skill and then they basically outfought the US for the rest of the game. Good win for them. The US played well but Jamaica did their thing just a bit better.
Sometimes the other guy just wants it more than you do and I’m not sure how you manage for that.
That US Gold Cup squad was full of Gold Cup newbies and the only way to prep them for the idiosyncratic officiating and brutality of your opponents that is the hallmark of the Gold Cup ( and oh by the way will also be there in WC qualifying ) is to play them.
Whether you like him or not a guy like Brooks for example is going to play in World Cup qualifying and I’d rather have him screw up in the Gold Cup than in WC qualifying.
The US’ newer, younger players have officially been CONCACAF’ed.
Not to be rude GW but you went all Quozzel on me. Tl;dr.
I am sure you made some great points though.
To which I would add, JK is hardly the first coach, nor will he be the last, to make those kind of comments. It is one of the dumber things he has said, but so what? I wrote after the GC that you could tell that he was really steamed with the outcome because of his silence for a long time. So, obviously he was upset and that often causes people to say dumb things. Geez, people need to put things in perspective. I would like to remind people that a lot of so-called experts, such as Twellman and Lalas, predicted that the US couldn’t possibly get out of its WC group. They also say how Mikey should play defensive mid, never saying who should replace him as a distributor. I read some articles the other day that were referenced by UCLABG which were very critical of JK. One at a site with MLS in its name was so juvenile as to be a shock to me. I would call it soccer for dummies. At the other article 80% of the posters disagreed with the article. I imagine when JK sees some of the nonsense like that he gets a bit upset and what he says could easily be applied to some of these so-called analyses.When I read some of that nonsense I think he may have a good point, at least about those in particular.
It is “nonsense” to you because you like Klinsmann. I dont get it. I can only assume you are seeing the former world cup winning striker and not the current usmnt coach.
Gary just watched the first half. I am assuming it gets much better in the second half? By your gloating i assumed we got some good midfield play, but Bedoya in CM was invisible. Luckily Jones held it down. Peru dominated possession. I dont see how Bedoya’s performance is supposed to make people shut up about Feilhaber. Let me watch the second half now.
Boy, you have narrow vision. This Peru games means next to nothing. Regarding Feilhaber the issue is whether he should have been brought in to prepare for the game vs. Mexico and then be used in the qualifiers.
You assume it got better in the second half “by my gloating” referring to me. All I wrote is that I liked the US team defense, with which Bedoya has little or nothing to do. How is that gloating? You really have a fixation on my comments. Get a life.
Hah! You named me in your comment!! Your age is getting to you. You forget things easily. Its even worst because all you had to do was scroll up to read your comment. You are a joke.
Can Nike make the warm-ups our official home jerseys. I love the red socks with blue shorts and white tops. The away jerseys can be red socks with blue shorts and red top. These jerseys look terrible.
Why is Mexico fielding a B team? Wouldnt they want to build some cohesiveness? Also dony get why dos santos bros and Ochoa were not called in.
TNT 1
Mexico 0
is the field covered in trash yet?
Too early.
However it is now 2-1 in favor of TNT
Is your mom covered in c- men yet?
I see you’re doing your best to litter the pitch with garbage here.
WELL done.
I do what I can
Oh, Hi again, MexiTroll.
How is life?
You think that a homosexual like yourself calling me a troll bothers me? That cute princess
Hey guys, would you mind keeping your racism and your homophobia to yourselves? Some of us are trying to talk about soccer here.
My bad
+1
Hey, no worries. I know things get heated easily.
Classic luck from OG MultiScore. *fart sound*
All part of the plan. You must be an unbeliever.
Fantastic showing by Jozy. Worked hard and made nothing out of something drawing a PK. A real captain’s performance today filling in for Michael Bradley. Can’t wait to hear the detractors after this one.
Made something out of nothing*
It was a terribly taken pk. Then he hit the rebound back at the keeper instead of the other entire open side. It did go it and was a goal! I think he worked well but I do not want to see him in the center circle getting the ball. He did have a good flick on, but also hit two terrible passes behind Zardes. Jozy played better than most games but still could sharpen his technical concepts and abilities. Way better than the Gold Cup for him.
The penalty was good, the keeper just made a great save.
When you score any penalty is a good one.
He didn’t kick it quite high enough, but high enough for a rebound. Kick it high enough, doesn’t matter which way the keeper goes. Dempsey has learned this. Altidore scored, that’s the most important thing.
It was a horribly taken penalty! It was in the easiest spot to block – mid level height a few feet to the side of the keeper.
Guess you don’t watch much soccer. I have seen many much worse than that. As I said before, he scored and that’s what counts.
Well tomorrow people will only see that Jozy scored 2 goals. They won’t see that one was a PK that he muffed but got a lucky rebound that saved his butt. That the PK was awarded on an accidental trip on another muffed move that had no chance of scoring. The second being a lucky rebound that fell at his unmarked feet. I could have scored that one.
Sorry fanboys but other than that he was turning in a stinker. He was slow, out of position most times, many giveaways….Wood was more impressive with his energy and runs but again… the headlines read Jozy scores a brace. We’ll see how back he is when we face Brazil and Mexico
they were rampant on the SBI live commentary lol. until Jozy’s brace… then it was silent with moderate rational convos here and there… lol
…….from a penalty that was saved and followed up on, and a deflection at point blank range from a shot from Zardes,……hardly enough to silent anyone. Good job on Jozy but nothing special
bizzy,
I was not aware that goals had to be “special” to count.
I’ll bet if you watched every single goal Dempsey scored in his career, like the one against Portugal in the 2014 WC, a large percentage of them would look very similar to Jozy’s goal.
As for the penalty Jozy hit is just fine but the keeper made a great save. What is noteworthy is that Jozy remained alert enough to put in the rebound something you don’t always see. Good for him.
Two goals are two goals and what they mean is that , barring an injury, which I know you are praying for, Jozy is probably going to play in the playoff game.. . .
“until Jozy’s brace… then it was silent with moderate rational convos here and there”…..why would those goals silent anyone about his ability to score????? Thats why I said good on him but nothing special
Chris Wondolowski, Allen Schearer, Chicharito, to name a few. A lot of strikers have made a name for themselves and a lot of money by being in the right place at the right time and scoring those kind of goals. As i have written before, there are no style points in soccer.
In baseball you will sometimes see a batter just barely hit the ball and it will roll just right so he can beat the throw for a single. Then, I have seen batters hit a ball so hard that it will hit the wall and bounce back so far that the outfielder will hold the batter to a single. Guess what? Both count the same. Over the course of a year and certainly a career, those things tend to even out. Jozy has had a number of excellent goals–see the Bosnia game where he had a beautiful free kick, or the game vs. Nigeria right before the World Cup where he hit an absolute screamer. from about 25 yards out.
bizzy, if you’ve EVER in your lifetime commended a striker like Wondo or Chicharito for scoring a poachers goal then you are a hypocritical troll…
Wonder what would have happened at the gold cup with Besler, Ream, and Cameron were able to play. Oh well
Ream had a good game. I dunno that he will be able to get into the attack much but he was great on D.
Those guys were able to play – JK the genius just decided not to take them (and that includes Cameron)
Not saying it needs to be the long term approach but perhaps playing defense first fullbacks like Ream and Cameron is the best way to go into the Mexico match. Then you just hope Zardes or Yedlin can run by someone.
U bench Fabian? DMB?
Move Cam inside?
Pair him with Brooks? Besler? Omar?
If 2 right footed CBs can play together, why not 2 left footed, play Brooks and Bes?
Move Fabian up?
If so you bench Yedlin?
Or bench Jozy & move Zardes up w/ Deuce?
There’s so many square pegs to try and fit in a round hole no matter who gets chosen and where they play, there will be 92.44% disagreement here.
Which will be a step up from the usmnt Twitter group that is still complaining why Jordan Morris wasn’t at the Gold Cup
#Injured
Most of em missed the hashtag
92.4637% imo
My math is fuzzzzy
Ream has become much better defensively since his move to England.
What makes him special for the US is he very comfortable and secure on the ball , rarely gives it away cheaply and is comfortable in possession going forward.
These are all the qualities we heard about when he first came up and are finally seeing from him at this level.
I haven’t seen that kind of calmness and assuredness since Fabian and Dolo. Even if nothing else had happened tonight Ream alone made it worth it.
He’s vulnerable to pace. Yes, he’s technical, assured, calm in his distribution and spot-on in his defense…but if the guy can just run by him…tonight Peru couldn’t.
Panama tormented him all game.
Yup, he didn’t push too far up tonight though. So I don’t think he had as much issue with speed. Then again… this winger tonight didn’t seem all that fast.
He’s vulnerable to “speed”, not “pace”. He may or may not have a digestive system sensitive to cheaply made picante sauce sold in glass bottles at grocery stores, we don’t know.
Actually, I’d say he’s only vulnerable to straight line speed. He knows positioning very well and plays disciplined. When you play like that you minimize your vulnerabilities.
Ream is also not a physical player, but he can use finesse very well to keep his body between a player and the ball.
He is our best defender for winning and collecting the ball.
quozzel,
Most fullbacks are vulnerable to pace, even if they are speedy themselves. That’s because the attackers know where they
want to go and you have to guess.
Yedlin is fast but he’s not yet defensively intelligent, the way Ream is. So DeAndre can be out smarted by slightly slower attacker. And DMB is fast but not as fast as he was. So he makes up for that by being very intelligent defensively. Sort of
like what Ream does.
In the Panama game the entire team was lousy and that actually affects how an individual plays defense.
I’d be careful about drawing too many conclusions on Ream based on the Panama game where I thought he did well overall and was the only one in the defense to do so.
The Peru game is also only one game and Ream was helped by the fact that everyone was playing well in comparison to the Panama game
But if Ream can combine this with another good performance in Boston, where the defense will likely face better and perhaps speedier attackers than what Peru has, then that should be regarded as a good thing no matter how vulnerable you think he is to pace.
I think that people have the USMNT all wrong.
We hear people claim time and time again that the USMNT is not a “technical” team (which means all sorts of different things to different people, most of them wrong), and that’s what the next step is for them to improve. I disagree. The USMNT is more than skilled (which is the word that I think that people mean to use) enough to play with anyone in the world.
Here is where the difference is…
The worlds best teams win the ball back, collect it, and keep it when they lose it. They know how to corner teams, force them to give the ball up, collect it, then keep it. The USMNT is HORRIBLE at this. They do not get the ball back. Instead, they slack off when they turn it over, try to regain their shape, and react to the ball after it is played. That’s the difference between reactive and proactive soccer. Proactive teams form shapes around the ball and stifle outlets before the opposition can find space to swing the ball around. Reactive teams settle in and let the other team do what they want until an opening appears to take the ball back.
The USMNT will be able to play with the better teams in the world when they begin taking the ball back from other teams.