photo by Winslow Townson/USA Today Sports
By FRANCO PANIZO
FOXBORO, Mass. — It was easy to see that the U.S. Men’s National Team was overmatched in the first half. It was made abundantly clear in the second.
The U.S. was handed a humbling 4-1 defeat in its final match before next month’s CONCACAF Cup, as Brazil cruised to victory at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday night. Hulk scored early for the dominant Brazilians, and Neymar came off the bench at halftime to bag a brace that put an emphatic exclamation point on the result.
Danny Williams netted the lone goal for the Americans in the 91st minute with a rocket from distance.
The loss was the Americans’ worst since suffering a 4-1 drubbing to the Republic of Ireland in a friendly in 2014, and it leaves U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann with plenty to consider ahead of the Oct. 10 match with Mexico that will decide who reaches the 2017 Confederations Cup.
Brazil came out sharp from the get-go in a match played in front of 29,300 fans, and it took the South American powerhouse just nine minutes to score the opening goal.
After U.S. midfielder DeAndre Yedlin hit an ill-advised back pass, Willian raced down the right flank and hit a cross that smacked off the crossbar. Hulk pounced on the loose ball in the penalty area and cut back on his right foot before firing a laser into the back of the net.
The Americans, who were playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation, struggled to muster up much of a response in a subpar first half. The U.S. was so ineffective, in fact, that Klinsmann took off Alejandro Bedoya in the 36th minute and replaced him with Williams.
Brazil’s star-studded roster put the American defense on its heels for much of the opening stanza, but the makeshift U.S. back line limited the visitors to just one goal before halftime.
Things changed for the worse after the break.
Brazil made it 2-0 in the 51st minute off a Neymar penalty kick. The Brazilian attacker drew a foul from Geoff Cameron in the box after latching onto a diagonal ball from David Luiz, and he hit the ensuing attempt from 12 yards just past goalkeeper Brad Guzan’s fingertips. The finish proved to be the winner.
Rafinha compounded the Americans’ misery in the 65th minute. A lightning-quick counterattack ended with the Brazilian substitute pulling off some magic on the ball before slotting a shot home past Tim Ream and Guzan.
Neymar tallied his second of the night two minutes later, coolly finishing through traffic with a slotted effort.
Williams pulled back a consolation goal for the U.S. and spoiled the Brazilian shutout by hitting a rocket from distance. The 91st-minute strike did little to ease the Americans’ pain and frustration, though.
The U.S. will now return to their clubs before shifting focus to next month’s important meeting with Mexico at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
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What did you think of the USMNT’s 4-1 loss to Brazil? Surprised by the lopsided scoreline? Did any American impress you? Worried about the state of the team ahead of the Mexico showdown?
Share your thoughts below.
It’s probably a bit of an over-simplification, but it seems to me that there are two different kinds of coaches. Some are best at making the most of the players they have at any one time. Bradley, Arena and in fact most soccer coaches fall into this category. I have always believed that Bradley and Arena’s experiences in the college coaching ranks were critical in their developing an ability to put together a successful lineup
The other sort of coach is found usually in the upper echelons of professional soccer. These coaches come equipped with a strong sense of how they want their teams to play. Rather than working with the players they happen to have, their first instinct is to go out and acquire players they think will fit the bill. Our boy, Jurgen, to the extent that you can consider him a coach at all, falls, I believe, into this group.
The problem is that coaching a national team is more like coaching in college than it is like coaching at Bayern. Sure Jurgen has, indeed, found some new players, perhaps players another US coach might not have attracted. But in the end the talent pool is what it is and the coach has to find the best 11 and make it work. This he certainly has not done.
And here the “experimental” back four he started the game with tells it all. Rather than sucking it up and accepting that, for example, Besler and Gonzalez are probably his best center back pairing (you can name your own choices here) and letting them play, Jurgen keeps fiddling around, looking for defenders that fit his preconceived notions. No good will come of it. If the game against Mexico is really important, these two friendlies should have been dress rehearsals, not tryouts for new combinations.
I think your comment is pretty insightful.
Brooks was injured in training. He had already agreed to send Besler home. Chandler was injured. FJ was injured. There was no possible combination of defenders that would not have been “experimental” in this game. Can we please get clear on that point?
Gonzalez and Besler was an option potentially open to him, had he not chosen to send Besler home. The “necessity” of his experimentation was largely due to choices he made.
He couldn’t help Brooks getting injured in training. He possibly could’ve lobbied to have Besler for both games in order to pair him with Gonzalez. Whether or not you rate Gonzalez this season is a completely different conversation, but if Klinsmann doesn’t rate him, why bring him along anyway?
He had already agreed to send Besler home to Vermes. The only option at CB was Alvarado & Omar or Alvarado & Orozco. That was not the problem. The problem was the midfield’s inability to possess the ball, keep up with Brazilian speed, create something offensively and defend.
I understand why Besler was sent home, my comment speaks more to the fact that if Besler couldn’t be there for both games, maybe he didn’t need to be part of this particular plan, period.
It would’ve been *nice* to have the same players available for both games, not to have to swap someone in for Besler because he had a game for SKC. This is in the same vein that it would’ve been *nice* to have Brooks not get injured before the game, or *nice* for Altidore to not get injured during the WC. As a coach, however, you have to plan for these types of events.
To me, it doesn’t seem as if Klinsmann guards against these types of situations; in fact, I’m wondering if he exacerbates these incidents by overtraining his players prior to the game.
Actually, all of everyone’s complaining on here about lineup consistency… A HUGE PART OF THIS is that MLS doesn’t honor the FIFA international dates. Another huge part is that European clubs are pissed when their players fly to the America’s for games and dock US player playing time because of it (part of it is euro snobbery, but part of it is that none of the US players is Messi… people also wish Messi wouldn’t go home to play friendlies in Argentina… but he is messi, so not starting him is not an option… not the same with chandler, fabian, brooks, whomever). So basically, and JK has been really open about this, he has major scheduling problems. It really isn’t fair to talk about inconsistent lineups, then be all MLS fan-boy-y about it and say… bring more MLS players! Clubs were playing games last weekend, literally right in the middle of the FIFA window. That is a joke and to criticize JK’s experimentation, when his hands are often tied is moronic
It is INCREDIBLY annoying. MLS will not be a big boy league until they start respecting FIFA dates. It might have been Besler ad Orozco. However, the problem was the midfield and lack of hustle/energy. Us could kinda keep up with the passing, but they would not keep up with the running
I cannot believe the way JK supporters will always attempt to spin the narrative so that it is the players fault. Yes we were always going to lose to Brazil, but do we not have better players than Panama and Jamaica? Your blame the players narrative losses all credit when you look at the fact that we lose to and outplayed by lesser teams.
OMG… people are morons. Its like the scoreline matters here in a friendly. Look, the US could have bunkered like they did in the past and get a dour 0-0 or 1-0 result. But that is not where we aim to be as a country… at least, if that is where we aim to be as a soccer nation, I will stop watching.
Jamaica and Panama… when they play a Brazil… they basically play 10 back and hope to spring a counter… so yeah, the scorelines are less pretty. But the US played with Brazil. If Jamaica tried to play with Brazil it would have been 7-0. That is the difference all you people calling for JK’s head don’t get. The US is transitioning to an attacking, posession game… and that will leave us exposed at times. Especially when we aren’t at full strength.
In the first 10 mintues, the US had 2 great opportunities to score (both on nice controlled passing by Altidore) and on-running players… then Yedlin played a horrible pass just as the team was breaking… everyone was out of position, and a flukey cross turned into a flukey goal. That is the type of thing that happens when you give guys license to run forward, and just play. So look, if we are playing open soccer with Brazil and losing 4-1, that is still a huge step forward for us. In a real tournament game, this would have been a 1-0/2-0 loss.
Now, lets see what happens with the Mexico game. This will be the biggest, most pressure packed game the US has played since the world cup, and I think guys will play themselves into, or out of, Jurgen’s qualifying plans in this game. We will learn a lot about the starting 11… and just in time for qualifying. Then there is Copa America. After that, we will know what we are.
BTW, right now, what we are is a mediocre team with potential (regardless of Klinsmann, formation, etc.)
I can’t defend Klinsmann anymore. Bedoya played out-of-position, never played there before and he is pulled at 36′. Why not just kick the kid in the nuts? It would have been easier.
Beat Mexico, or find a new job. Or maybe beat Mexico and find a new job. I’m having a difficult time taking JK seriously anymore, especially since he seems to not take it serously.
Not sure why some people on this site feel the need to give updates on another game. Have these people considered that some people may have DVRed the game and will be watching it tomorrow?
Give Brazil credit.. JK coaching is not why they won
I’ve said it before: without possession by the midfield, we cannot beat elite teams except if they field a B team (i.e. Germany & Holland). The Confederations Cup is crucial for us and bolstered by the presence of Dempsey and Fabian we should do better vs Mexico, but how much is anyone’s guess. On paper I can’t figure out a midfield even with those two that would have more possession against Mexico.
Dempsey’s never scored against Mexico, perhaps he’s due?
I’m really not sure how expectations can be high against a team like Brazil. They have manhandled us every time we have played them since I can remember. The problem with them is, there isn’t an area where we have an advantage. Against practically everybody else we can beat them in at least one area, but that’s not the case with these guys. They are bigger, faster, more technical and tonight they worked harder. How often did they have eight guys behind the ball only to end up with like a 5 v 5 or 6 v 6 lightning counter going the other direction? Those guys were going both directions tonight. Germany beats them because the are more skilled and have the highest soccer IQs on the planet. Argentina same thing. We don’t have an advantage against them.
Also, I don’t get the love around here for Yedlin. I was really pleased with his willingness to take on defenders in the second half, but he did nothing with it. His giveaway was largely responsible for the first goal and he rashly slid past Hulk when all he needed to do was get in front of him. Then he wildly overran Neymar on the last goal. I guess the positive is he got back at all, but it looked to me like his teammates were expecting him to defend normally and were caught off guard that he was so bad. He looked really out of place the whole first half other than his cross to Altidore.
I’m reminded of the 1994 game against Brazil in the round of 16. One of their players was given a red for throwing an elbow, seriously injuring Tab Ramos. Although Brazil played much of the game a man down, they were so much quicker that it seemed like it was the US playing a man down. That’s the way it was tonight in that Brazil was so much quicker it was as if the US were a man down. They transitioned from offense to defense and vice versa much faster than the US did. Much too often the US got caught out, turned the ball over and couldn’t get enough players back in time. They are not only better and faster, they seemed to be playing harder and with more spirit. That is what I found most discouraging.
They looked that way largely because Leonardo took out our only influential attacking player on the field. Tab was on, that day. He was keeping Leonardo from flying down the wing, as the defender liked to do which was their main threat other than Romario/Bebeto. Leonardo was frustrated and knew exactly what he was doing with his elbow (but probably didn’t mean to do so much damage). Losing Tab completely took the air out of our team.
Ahh, when it was simpler to be a fan. We were just happy if the team tried hard, and showed a little skill, to say we belonged. There were no unrealistic expectations. We were watching just to learn the game. I think that is still why we should be watching. The only reason. Rather, now we sound collectively like bitter blowhard patriots, a little uninformed, at that. But last night, Brazil was an absolute pleasure to watch, with their swarms of skill and understanding, movement and confidence. It was too pretty to be demoralizing.
@ shaggie96 Woow there guy! Highest soccer IQ.? Last time i checked Brazil has 5 cups to Germany’s 4 and yes they beat them in 2014 but i remember a different story in 2002 when they lost to Brazil in the final.
Dude, I’m talking about right now, the players that take the field today, not thirteen or fifty years ago.
What the heck are Alvarado and Orozco doing starting? Then Bedoya is playing out of position. The lineup that should have started is the one Ives put up. Hopefully these experiments are done and hopefully Dempsey and F Johnson are healthy for the Mexico game. Put the back four that has had the most experience against Mexico. Bradley was lousy … way too many giveaways. JJ is still recovering.. he should start against Mexico, and so should Williams.
Brooks was injured in training. Not sure what the problem was with Omar, but no matter who was trotted out there it was going to be an “experimental” pairing. I personally would’ve like to see Cameron and Ream at CB, but there would’ve been nobody to play left back. Garza would’ve been lit up worse than Ream.
Regarding Omar, Twellman said he must be in JKs doghouse. He must have forgotten that he inserted Omar over Boca… then he took an injured Omar to Brazil taking a risk that he may not be ready in time-when he could have taken Goodson or Parkie…
So it’s not like JK doesn’t value Omar, but watching him this year for LAG and NT, he’s looked like he’s got little confidence, and he looks stiff as a board-like he can’t turn his hips. So maybe they see something on film and training they don’t like. He’s the best we have in the air, and I’d play him over Alvarado, but he’s not at the top of his game.
And BTW, Besler was poor at the beginning of the season, but has regained his game lately.
If I were to throw in one of the 167,435,876 permutations, I’d ask this question-If teams can play with two right footed CBs, why can’t they play with two left footed CBs?
Would a Besler Brooks pairing be a solution? You got a speed guy, you got a tall guy, both good with their feet
Brooks is tall but not all that great in the air.
FIRE KLINSMANN!!!!
These are games we should expect to win. The program has just gone so far downhill since 2011.
We need to get rid of Herr Klinsmann, put Arena or Bradley in charge and then that way Landon can come out of retirement. Or better yet, as a player-coach.
These are games we’re expected to win?
If everyone was healthy, we don’t have 1 player that could crack the 23 on Brazil’s squad.
You guys, along with Twellman and Lalas, think we are a team full of first division all stars, and JK is ruining a team of great players like the France revolt .
Everyone can bitch and moan all they want, but I bet not two people here could even come close to naming a starting lineup that was similar. And even if two of you came close, I’d bet it would be different formations with players in different spots.
Everyone is an expert at pointing out problems, but when it comes to solutions, you guys are more fickle than Klinsmann..
After Peru, a bunch of people had Ream and Cam penciled in to start vs Mexico.
Tonight Twellman obsessed on Jermaine-that he’s not an International caliber mid anymore-Did he mention he’s just coming back from surgery?
Over on usmnt Twitter, they’re all bitching that Besler didn’t start tonight
Over on Carlisle Twitter, people are saying we’ve got a bunch of all stars, and JK can’t get them to play together.
Your expectations are high, yet there’s a difference between what we want them to be vs what they are.
Fact is, we’re a team with some average players, some of whom are pretty good, and we have zero room for error to compete. We need everyone healthy, no scheduling issues, and everyone in form to give us a shot.. otherwise we just have average players. And just because we have more in the pool to choose from doesn’t mean we have better ones to choose from.
Expect to win these games?
Come on man…..
Those posters who have any sort of perspective at all is so rare around here that it’s like a breath of air to a drowning man. Thanks Bac.
Those of us who try to put things in realistic perspective are then vilified and called mindless fanboys.
I could’ve made the same comment on a lot of your posts Gary. Unfortunately it’s getting harder and harder to find the reason in this sea of madness.
Well said.
the fact that Sunil has already said that Klinnsmans job is safe even if he loses to Mexico is so incredibly infuriating. I mean what exactly WOULD get him fired??? like others have stated, I’m not upset we lost to Brazil, I mean they’re Brazil and 9/10 are gonna beat us. however I’ve never seen a USMNT play with such a lack of heart, courage, resilience, etc. There simply is no passion on the field. That to me indicates a problem with the coach and his philosophy.
It’s not Klinsmans fault that the U.S. Hasn’t developed much talent. Jones and Dempsey and Howard are long in the tooth. We have the worst technical coaches in the world. The fruits of Klinsis labour won’t show for another 10 years. The current lack of talent is a result of the Arena coaching tree. Kick and run soccer
It’s just like what Coach Bob would always say, “As soon as you get the ball, boot it forward!”
“Defend with 12 men and maybe we’ll get a set piece or something”
You must not watch the Galaxy at all if you think that is Arena’;s style. What he likes to do is similar to what Klinsmann says he wants the USMNT team to do. But, Ar3ena now has more to work with. Arena likes to play quick one touch passing with quick attacks before the opponent’s defense can get set. That’s when they have an attack. However, they also like to play possession soccer, especially when they have the lead. In MLS they usually have about 60% of possession and beat their opponents usually with quick attacks off of tgurnovers and counter attacks.They are extremely good at going from defense to offense in a heart beat. Arena and Bradley played long ball because the US had athletic players, but not a lot of skilled players. Klinsmann is trying to change that whole approach and he said at the beginning it wouldn’t be fast or easy, but people forget that and expect instant improvement.
Damn you people make me want to hit something. I’m a JK supporter in general, but this is just nonsense. Go back and watch the 2006 WC if you think Arena was about kick and run soccer. I was shocked when I did that a couple of years back. The lack of player development has about 1% to do with the head coach (any head coach). Arena and Bradley weren’t omnipotent soccer gods who had the resources to do anything the wanted to do. JK has been given far more resources than either.
There were 11 problems on the field tonight; all of which I could have solved.
Man I miss Stewart Holden. That dude played with more heart than a lot of these players combined. Oh, and he was also good.
Really good, but he was built out of tissue paper, marzipan, and balsa wood.
Mr. Glass never really had a chance
Sad, but true
This game is another highlight about why yedlin should be played as a RB and not a RM. Yedlin is good at getting forward and bearing players from the Wong and sending in dangerous balls. Here is the thing, he can do this from the RB position. As a midfielder he can’t effectively cut inside because his skill is not high enough. He also isn’t skillful enough to hold possession and commits to many turnovers (including the one that led to Brazil’s first goal). At RB he can still get forward wen open and he won’t commit as many turnovers/the tirnovers he does commit will be less costly as the U.S. will alread be back.
Klinsmann biggest issue is he constantly plays his sets out of position, williams was played as a wide midfielder and had to tell klinsmann not to do that any more (which got him cut from the team for over a year). Bedoya at DM? Morales as a wing player? Bradley as an attacking midfielder? Jones as a CB? It goes on and on. You can’t do that at this level and expect consistant results.
Except when he bombs forward from the RB and turns it over there is no one behind him and its at least 4 on 3 or even 4 on 2 the other way. Not to mention can you imagine the nightmare of Neymar wrong footing him over and over, well I guess we were going to see that no matter who was back there.
Yedlin is a defensive liability. The US team against Brazil was like trying to stop 11 leaks in the dike with 10 fingers. The person who can do what you think Yedlin can do is Fabian Johnson. Cameron has played RB in the EPL for two seasons and is usually reliable and he was pretty bad against Brazil, getting out of position and left huge gaps in the defense. If you put Bedoya on the wing, his usual position, you don’t have enough speed to trouble Brazil. Zardes is one of our fastest players and he was totally neutralized and largely invisible on the left wing.. Bradley is best at defensive mid, but we don’t have anyone better at CAM. Ream is technically good, but lacks speed.
Argentina has over 70% possession and is losing, incredible. If this game has any meaning at … LOL!!!
Reminded me a lot of Columbus v Dallas game on Sunday. Columbus had all the possession and a ton of shots and then all of a sudden a Dallas counter and the center backs were asleep, like wait what when did we give up the ball.
Argentina has over 70% possession and Argentina is down,loll!!
Bedoyas performance at D-mid was the worst I’ve seen since Joe-Max Moore’s turn there two decades ago.
I’m not one of the noobs on here obsessed with posting their FIFA lineups but why not try out Torres there instead of Bedoya or Mix? We’d be able to hold onto the ball much better.
Brazil were really good. The difference between Brazil and a lot of countries is when Brazil decides to rebuild, it can, quickly.
All this pain is what comes of taking friendlies seriously. A few months ago we were odds on favorites to win the World Cup because we beat Germany and the Netherlands. Now we can’t compete in the English Conference.
You have to accept that the USA is, at best, the soccer equivalent of a mid-major basketball team. When you play the equivalent of Duke, even in a friendly, you can’t expect much.
Now that is not a defense of our wunderkind coach. If he really understood soccer and the US, he would do what nearly all national team coaches do — start building at the back with the aim of preventing goals and then work forward. I don’t really understand what he is trying to do, but it’s not that. By now, he should have a back four that he can trust and that functions well together.
And so on.
Can’t wait for the Mexico game.
with this game fresh in your mind, do you still think that the usa-spain match in 2009 wasn’t rigged (match fixing)? or that fifa ranks the usa higher on purpose?
rossi didn’t fit the plan, perhaps?
http://www.sbisoccer.com/2015/09/morales-regrets-choosing.html#comment-1586585
i seriously hope rossi wasn’t “jobbed”. but then again, who knows?
but i am pretty sure that fifa ranks the usa much higher than we actually are.
we don’t often see this clearly, because we usually just play in concacaf games.
when we play the rare european friendly, they probably aren’t fielding their “A” squad against us.
this is usa’s A squad playing against brazil’s A squad. remember this moment.
this is your usmnt.
i’m not trying to be mean. just sayin’.
we are not the best team in the world.
we’re not the 10th best team in the world.
maybe we are not even in the top 100?
i think maybe we are really between about 100 and 150 in the world.
do you think so?
i’m suggesting:
usa ranking is closer to the 100-150 range
usa-spain match in 2009 may have been match-fixing
fifa ranks usa too high, on purpose
if concacaf didn’t have easy path to qualification, usa probably would even qualify for wc (i mean, come on, we can even beat panama (no offense)).
========================================
about the game:
yeah, i thought the team looked “flat”. lacking energy. no hustle for the ball. too many give-aways in midfield. where are the wingers and overlapping runners? i don’t recall one cross into the box or one corner kick.
i mean, come on, we can’t even beat panama (no offense)
It’s probably the work of the Illuminati bro
if concacaf didn’t have easy path to qualification, usa probably WOULDN’T even qualify for wc…
I sincerely believe that USA is among the 30 best teams in the world. The problem is that ya wanna play football with a ruler and a compass. It’s not like that. There has to be sense of children playing. The racial melting pot of Brazil and the USA are very similar you can play like us. Stop looking to Europe to look to the south. Why not dispute the Libertadores? First you have to suffer, then comes the glory. One day you will be with great sure.
Thanks man I hope you are right…. This was a night of hard truth.
so then are panama and jamaica also in the world top 30? b/c usa struggles mightily against these teams. i’m not trying to sound like a smart a$$. just sayin’.
probably just outside… there is not a big difference between 30 and 60/70. really there is not a big difference between 20 and 70. top 20 in some order:
Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Italy, Belgium, France, Spain, Holland, Uruguay, England, Serbia, Switzerland, Ghana (maybe not anymore), … really everyone else is pretty compact in terms of skill and ability. I like the US’ chances against every country not in that group in every game. We are trying to get into that group. Its not easy. Mexico has been trying since forever and has not managed it.
This must mean that the World Cups in 2002, 2010 and 2014 must have been fixed, too. How else can you explain the US getting out of its group and even winning its group once?
imo the simplest way to “rig” (fix; determine the outcome of) a soccer game is by “paying off” the referee to give a PK to your team (or non-call of PK to the other). do you agree?
another way is not nice to think about: someone paying someone money to injure one or more key players on the other team (their best striker, for example) prior to the match so they cannot play. yes?
or both: pay someone to injure their star striker in the game before yours; and also pay off the referee to issue your team a PK if necessary. yes?
because soccer games are usually won 1-0 or 2-1, you know, i think it’s actually very easy to influence the outcome using either or both of the above methods.
those would be the simplest ways that immediately come to my mind. does anybody think anything like that happened in the 2002, 2010 or 2014 wc’s?
not just directly in the usa’s games, but also in the other group games. i think gw recently reminded us that usa narrowly advnaced out of its groups, at wc’s, at times, by the lucky results of other group games.
or were they really “luck” (or were any of those games rigged)?
and also don’t forget in concacaf qualifying. we all groaned in the recent questionable refereeing in concacaf (what was it? referee mark geiger and the gold cup? questionable pk calls?)
well, concacaf qualifying is the path to the wc, so i think you have to include qualifying, also.
Bedoya can sit down, please. He can get another look during WC qualifying. Same with Altidore.
Tim Ream is a good backup, but a backup.
The US players played poorly as a group. Brazil played both very high energy and in control.
Coaching is not the problem.
I’ve been reading the comments sections on this site and on ASN since around the WC and it’s truly become ridiculous. The evaluation of our own talent by people is absurdly overblown; the idea that Lehigh (English Championship–solid, a bit of speed/not a technical player by any stretch), Feilhaber (MLS–finally playing well after years of being a petulant underachiever) Finlay (MLS–first good year, speed, runs in a straight line), or Let-Jet (not going to try to spell it correctly, MLS–West Ham wash out, good technical player) were going to help the US in this game is insane. Brazil’s last three subs play for Barcelona, PSG, and Barcelona. The US is a mediocre team at best that lacks the one thing Bradley’s teams had–pace (Donovan, Davies, Beasley)–that could even worry a team like Brazil. This current pool is severely deficient in that area, especially right now due to injuries to Johnson and Chandler who give the US at least the threat of attack on the overlap. Without them you have to start Yedlin on the wing to at least keep Brazil honest; putting Bedoya out on the wing would have just gummed things up even more.
–Also, everyone is jumping on Bradley–guy just played 90 minutes against the Sounders 3 days ago and he’s coming off an injury. Guy gets to have a bad game against one of the best teams in the world.This isn’t a video game.
–“God, I’m so sick of Klinnsman’s experiments.” “Yeah, why doesn’t he call in Feilhaber, Finlay, Lehigh and Lletjet–guys who have never played on the same team before.” “Wait…”
I hate to break it to everyone, but the Gold Cup is meaningless, the Confederations Cup is meaningless, and these friendlies are meaningless. The only thing that matters is the Hex and the World Cup.
Get a grip.
i think you win excuse bingo! congratulations!
http://www.sbisoccer.com/2015/09/humbling-friendly-concacaf.html#comment-1587786
We don’t take too kindly to logic here.
One thing for sure, people are quick to say that player selection is bad, but never come up with alternatives that are realistically better. The idea that someone who is having a good season in ML:S is going to make a difference against Brazil is just delusional As I have pointed out before, if you were to switch coaches so that Dunga had the US and Klinsmann Brazil, would any sane person expect much of a different result? Maybe it would have been 3-1 instead of 4-1, but there is no doubt that Brazil is so much better. The US certainly could have played better in the second half, but Brazil had a lot to do with that.
If Klinsman had Brazil they would have won by 7.
This was humiliating. The defining characteristics of the USMNT has always been courage, hustle, heart, and determination. I did not see any of those during the game. The UniMas broadcast team was clearly disappointed in our team’s lack of effort in this game and they even mentioned that the Mexico game is the least of our problems since the World Cup Qualifiers are coming up. Does US Soccer invest in scouting? Are these really the best players in the entire country? Jordan Morris was found almost by accident and he is one of the best players we have on the national team. As far as JK, I can understand that a coach can lose the locker room, but this is the national team and all these players choose to represent us. If putting on the US jersey is an obligation and not a desire, then they must move on.
This was the perfect outcome. When I looked at the starting lineup list on Twitter I thought they’d forgot to list a few guys. Really. This squad was usmnt lite. JK pulled a motivator run out on his first stringers…
It was the midfield that was the cause of all the problems offensively and especially defensively. They couldn’t hold on to the the ball and kept giving it away cheaply which let in the goals. And, there was no engine driving the ball up to even get a chance to ask questions of Brazil, much less score.
Random observations;
Altidore repeatedly shows his mediocrity. Why does he repeatedly get called in?
Yedlin and Zardes often demonstrate terrible decision making or simply indecision. They demonstrate little anticipation or forethought when the ball arrives. Their only idea is to run.
The ripping on Guzan is ridiculous with the way guys in front of him were schooled. Put any GK in the world at the mercy of point-blank shots from the likes of Neymar and crew, and the outcome will not likely be any different.
Klinsmann is responsible for player selection. At some point, it would be great if he were held accountable.
Hispanic commentator – “….you know what we used to say back in the ‘hood when we I was a kid and we played pick up games?”
“Not even Superman would have stopped those shots.”
Klinsmann made huge mistakes with the lineup.
Guzan probably should have done more with the first goal when the ball was crossed and hit the top post. He looked like he assumed the ball was going out and didn’t bother to even try to tip it over.
Cameron was pretty awful and committed some glaring defensive mistakes and so many sloppy passes.
Orozco & Alvarado actually did better than I expected especially Alvarado. They were just getting bombarded by every direction.
Ream. Poor guy got torched every which way.
Bedoya just couldn’t hack it at dmid which I’m not blaming on him. That’s all on JK.
Jones was ok which is a huge compliment compared to the rest of the US.
Zardes was invisible but that may have been more of a result that he just wasn’t getting the ball often. Doesn’t excuse that he didnt much to help Ream.
Yedlin was pretty terrible throughout especially in the start. His early sloppy passing led to the first goal.
Bradley…. He was sloppy and slow the. whole. damn. game….. wtf. He looked liked he switched off in the first 20mins.
Jozy…. Nice 5-10min start and then…. quit?
Willliams helped.
Overall USMNT looked extremely sloppy. The worst I’ve seen. But even worse and less forgivable was the lack of effort and the sense that they just quit.
I remember many a time when the US has played worse. The difference is that Brazil is so much better and they punish any mistakes. It makes the bad play stand out a lot more than when you are playing a mediocre CONCACAF team, for example.
Time to play excuse bingo!
Injuries, MLS, fitness, players need to step up, players need to compete, limited talent pool, fans don’t know what they are talking about since they have it won a World Cup, this game didn’t matter just like the Gold Cup, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
When is Jozy going to put in a day at the office in the manner of “el Apache” Carlitos Tevez, or play with the heart and soul of a Wayne Rooney? WHEN?
You are wearing your country’s color man!!!
Show some fight, some spirit, some pride.
Wake up. Please, please, wake up!
What can you expect from a selfish pos that does not sing or salutes his national anthem?
He’s a JW you moron. Why is it Latinos are allowed to be so abrasive and judgemental but play the pious role when the tables are turned? Why do you troll us. You probably aren’t even a Latino. You are just playing a caricature of a Mexitroll. I bet you are that Terry Tibbs weirdo from the ESPN forums.
You don’t have to salute the national anthem.
Why would he? He’s not getting benched, he’s idolized by many and he makes way more money than Tevez. Hard work s for suckers.
At some point, after JK is finally fired, imagine the comments from players. It will be interesting.
It sure will, also Landon will finally give his true thoughts on the man I would imagine. If we lose the Mexico game I am hoping Klinsy will realize that he cannot placate the public by insinuating that we are just ignorant to how “football” works.
Sorry I doubt you get your wish, Landon gains nothing from dishing on the past. It would only make him look petty.
Steve Sampson was awful and was fired but I don’t remember anyone saying anything afterwards. We now know that Harkes was having an affair with Wynalda’s wife and that was causing serious rifts in the locker room, but it didn’t come out until many years later. After Bob Bradley was fired there were some remarks of support for him, but no real dirt came out. I think soccer players who talk too much about their coach have trouble finding future employment. So, don’t hold your breath.
Actually, Lalas said some pretty bad stuff, and he said it on live TV. I remember a split screen dual interview (they weren’t in studio together) and Lalas didn’t hold back, pretty much it was focused on Sampson not giving the experienced players enough of a look. But now he’s friendly with the guy
I understand that this was a game meant to show us how to deal with an overrun midfield. This was the biggest problem the US faced throughout the game. We were “prepared” to deal with it, having both Bedoya and Jones back to accept pressure from a 5-man Brazilian midfield. Sure, Bedoya was the wrong man to be there, but the bigger problem was the non-existent off-the-ball movement from everyone else.
Brazil played a 3-man back line the entire game. It’s not like they magically got an extra player to put in the midfield and still had 2 center-backs. We failed to take advantage of that, even though we should have been able to set up Jozy to take on one of their defenders 1-on-1. No one in our midfield could figure out where to position themselves, and when we do possess the ball, all of the potential recipients just stand there in awe, thinking “ooh wow, if I just stand right next to my Brazilian friend here, maybe I’ll get it passed to me!”. Meanwhile, Jermaine Jones is open, waving frenetically, trying to goad the team into a successful build-up sequence.
Danny Williams was one of the few in this game with the right idea: Shoot from outside the box! Why do we have to be so afraid to pull the trigger on a shot from distance, if we can’t get the damn ball into the 18′ to begin with?
Aaaargh!
I agree. The midfield was overrun. This has been a chronic problem for the USMNT every time they play a gifted possession team. It’s amplified when Michael Bradley is in the line up because he covers absolutely nobody in the midfield. He just chases the ball. Then he’s exhausted and impatient when he finally gets to touch the ball and he gives it away cheaply and bam– counter attack. The fact that he kind of drifts around in circles when the other team has the ball means there is a numerical advantage for the opponent in the midfield. If you want your center backs to look bad, the best way to do that is have the midfield overrun. They will get beat like a drum and everyone will talk about how bad they look, how they are out of their league, can’t play at this level…
The good news is he’s making tons of money in MLS while barely breaking a sweat!
In pregame, wunda Coach spoke of mounting pressure, well…..he is really under the scope now. Best thing to happen to this team, IMO.
Brazil was ….Brazil. We did not have a clue (line up), and did it rear it’s ugly head again.
JJ piss off wave to JK when subbed…..PRICELESS
Absolutely no positives came out of this match. I wanted to turn off the television and erase this from my memory bank. It is not entirely Klinsmann’s fault either, this player pool is very limited technically and tactically. We were lucky to beat Peru and we will need luck to beat Mexico. I am hoping Miazga and Carter-Vickers can somehow save our backline in 2018 if we even qualify. I have lost all hope on this generation of centerbacks. This was a reality check for the state of U.S. Soccer.
im not shocked At the score line, I’m shocked at how we didn’t offer any competitiveness. Too many times we got run off the ball or had it poked away or got bumped and went to ground looking at the red for help. I’m not a dirty player but for gods sake throw an elbow, hack a shin or two, jaw at somebody a little. The fact that they didn’t respect a single thing about is tonite is telling. When the opposing team is smiling all night, you are doing something wrong. The U.S. has lost the guts and determination they once had. Mcbride would have shattered his skull to win a 50/50 ball in the 90th minute even down 4 goals. Where is the pride??
You are right. That was the most disheartening thing. Team came out well, I thought, but became their own worst enemy as the game wore on. We weren’t getting leadership from the guys who were supposed to provide it.
And if they aren’t delivering that…. why are they out there?
Yep, total gutless, nobody was even on the same team, what I also thought was telling, was the giant smile on Kilnsmanns face as soon as the game ended.
How you can feel any joy in that moment is beyond me. Our players mirror that on the field, Jurgen does not have a passion for this country and its soccer, if he did, he would know what the summer has meant/felt to us.
JK is on his knees asking for a miracle against Mexico.
It’s not joy friend. That’s the way JK looks when he’s ready to explode. He has a very fake smile that he uses to mask his true emotions. Please stop with the JK has no passion bull$h_t. He’s practically the only one on the team that sings the national anthem. Whatever problems he might have right now, that ain’t one of them.
that is what bothered me the most. Brazil went around US players like they were traffic cones. Nobody was even willing to take a card for the team when they had one of their many breakaways. I don’t think the first half was that bad, and it certainly wasn’t as bad as the announcers made it out to be. I don’t know if it was the subs or the quick goals in the early part of the second half because that’s when the team effort seemed to really dissipate.
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Mexico looks good so far tonight, we will be big underdogs in October.
The only thing Klinsmann needed to do over these matches was getting the CBs right and it’s just as much a mess as ever.
Getting the CBs right is arguably an impossible task. All of them are prone to brain farts. ALL OF THEM. Name any CB, and a US fan can point to a recent game where he clumsily turned over the ball, leading directly to a goal (or two).
Argentina has 74% possession but mexico is up.
Yedlin and Cameron combined well, at least in the first half. Zardes couldn’t get involved, unfortunately. Bedoya was played out of position – Williams should’ve started. Ream is solid, but slow for an international defender. He’s good enough, but has to play smart at all times, or he’ll be exposed. A college kid was our best striker by a mile on the night. Criticism of Guzan in this game is misguided; he didn’t do much wrong.
+1
How was Morris good? He earned a corner and got shoved off the ball 10 times and crossed the ball five feet behind the runners. If you want people to believe your comments you can’t just make up stuff to fit your narrative.
He is a believer, and his faith is unshakable.
+1
“fit my narrative”? “faith is unshakable”? What in the world are you guys talking about? No wonder I stopped commenting on SBI, this site has gone to the dogs.
Cameron made one clever pass to Yedlin early on, but he made many passes that went straight to Brazil to give the ball away cheaply and led directly to quick counter-attacks when the US was positioned to go forward (or sometimes simply let Brazil begin a string of possession), he got caught way too far forward and then committed the foul that gave the PK. I thought he was clearly the worst of the starting back 4.
Mexico 1 Argentina 0
Brazil did a good job of marking our danger sub Jontahn Spector out of the game, but mix should have finished that chance he gave him!!!
Firminho should’ve finish the chance he got also. That happens in soccer. But, the performance in general was pathetic and reflected the players confidence, or lack there off, in their coach.
oh, please- this was so clearly the player’s lack of confidence in themselves.
Heartless. Soulless. Gutless.
What a bunch of club footed mercenaries with no allegiance to the crest on their shirt.
The Hispanic commentators on Univision were laughing at us.
No movement off of the ball, no creativity, routinely giving the ball away with ill timed passes and late, slow clumsy passes.
No willingness to hustle and support the ball. Cheaply and clumsily surrendering possesion, time and time again.
Jozy – sleepwalking.
Alvarado – like he had two left feet. He didn’t, he did? He fell over on his but inside the box while trying to clear a ball he whiffed on.
I’m telling you if Arena was coaching this team that sh*t would not float. Not today, not any day. I hope somebody lets the US team know that there is an important game comig up vs. Mexico with a Confed Cup berth on the line.
Danny Williams – nice shot. El gol de honor. …..clap, clap. Too little, way too late.
Overall – shameful. Shameful. Disgusting. Downright abysmal.
WAKE UP!
Well said
Your comment is a good one.
Good post. The team as a whole looked really tired to me. I could be reading into it, but it they were probably over trained. Around the 25-30 min mark all the players but a few were completely gassed.
My wife had to leave the room I was so upset by the lazy effort in second half as I could not stop cussing. Jk really needs to find a core group or settle on one soon with upcoming qualifying and the Mex match. Looked as if players gave up midway through second half. Jones showed what an azz he is when he was subbed off or maybe tells you what he thinks of jk.
I really don’t dislike jk but have no faith in him right now. If the Nats lay two turds in October than he needs to go or pressure needs to come from media and fans to let sunil know it’s time to end the experiment. Sadly who do you hire with only a month til qualifying? Maybe Ramos on interim basis and blood some U20-23 players.
Underchallenged and overcompensated in MLS.
Fight for spots in Europe and Mexico
Yes it’s always Americas fault. Always.
I’m not a fan of Klinsmann, but will reserve comment until after the match versus Mexico.
Brazil came out to warm up and scored four goals.
This is what it looks like when you lose the locker room. Klinsmann has to go.
Yep, even if you think Klinsman is the right guy for the job, (I personally do not), this is exactly what it looks like when you lose the locker room. It’s not something that can be won back.
He has to be fired, it’s time to move on.
The problem is that Sunil courted this guy for a long time, selling his hiring as a savior of U.S. soccer, that will somehow give us the final push into perennial soccer powerhouse.
So by firing him and admitting the hiring failed, he would be admitting a huge failure of his own. He will not want to taint his legacy with that big ol’ black mark.
So had he lost the locker room before the last 4-1 beating to Brazil? Or before the Peru game? Sometimes you’re just not good enough and tonight was one of those nights.
Haven’t you noticed? There are people here who can read minds.They know who likes who, if a player is patriotic or not, and so on without actually talking to any of those they claim to know about.
JK is a lot like Jozy. He doesn’t always make the best decisions. Fans are arguably divided. But right now, both are the best option.
I agree with you both, JK has now been exposed and the players are losing respect for him. So, plain and simple, he must go.
It;’s also what it looks like when you are better at every position, except maybe GK. Since their GK had nothing to do, it’s hard to tell if he’s any good or not.
A terrible performance really. By all involved. And yes, JK tops the list. Some thoughts before I get too sick to type.
-As for JK: There was no thesis as to what was supposed to happen out there tonight. What value could there possibly have been in pairing Orozco and Alvarado “besides “uh, they both play in Mexico or something”… And he needs to let go of whatever is left of this idea about the “spine” of the team being Jozy, Clint, MB, Jones, and Howard (whom I suspect we will see on Oct 10). They are all excellent options when they are at 100% form/fitness. But I’m not sure any of them meet that standard right now. For the record, I still believe in JK – but I’m also sympathetic to the idea that this Mexico game is “must win”.
– Jozy: Jozy is a great player who sucks. I wish he would cut it out already, because he is too good to have this become his epitaph. Darke/Twellman had a good comment about Yedlin’s movement (which was excellent, and one of the few good points). It got me thinking about why we aren’t ever hearing those comments about our primary attacker. Just 15 months ago, the Turkish coach was praising Jozy for being the sort of CF who “gives defenders nightmares”. Furthermore, he also needs to stop growing sideways.
-Alvarado: Enough is enough. Yes, he may well develop into a valuable player. Let him do it on some Liga MX club’s time, for now. I’m not all that jazzed about “great recoveries” as I am about “intelligent defendning”
— MB: Worst game I’ve seen him play in a long, long time. And he hasn’t been great lately, either. So many giveaways (most of them cheap and needless) that I couldn’t count. It was the same at Gold Cup. Kid needs to shape up soon if we are going to accomplish anything.
-Cameron: Still good. Still oafish sometimes.
-Jordan Morris: We love you, pal. Sorry about all this.
-Zardes: Somebody will bid for this guy in the offseason. He should go.
-Guzan: Not as terrible as the scoreline might look. But I’d say it’s fair to question whether he really offers what Howard does in terms of controlling the back 4.
-Willian – Not American, unfortunately.
Ey!
jozy. alone at the top. never works. lone forward jozy must go. jozy with company? quite good actually.
This, a thousand times this.
You say that Jozy is a great player who sucks. My assessment is that he is a pretty good player who sometimes plays well, other times disappears for long stretches. His play is often governed by his level of confidence and he needs good players around him and good service to be effective. A problem is that outside of Dempsey we don’t have anyone who is consistentlh better right now. AJ has yet to show he can do that and no one else at the moment has shown themselves to be up to the job at all.
Jozy was a motionless pud out there tonight. Actualy made Mario Baolotelli look like a hard worker off the ball.
I think he’s probably our most polished and talented striker too, but it’s getting hard to ignore how little he is delivering in support of the team. He is obviously still overweight and slow compared to where he should be. If he looks like that in a month, I’d wonder if we shouldn’t just roll the dice on Jordan Morris from the start.
I think I saw somewhere recently that Morris will be playing with the U-23’s for Olympic qualifying. The problem with Morris is that he practices with a college team and is a part time player as opposed to being a professional. The key for Mexico is Dempsey. We had better hope he is healthy.
I was not pleased with this game at all, obviously. My first issue of course, is with JK. The CB pairing was odd and clearly led to some serious issues. Secondly, the midfield setup and leaving Jozy solo was a bad idea. Why two cdm’s and a winger/CAM as a third CDM is beyond me. Bradley was bad, our CB pairing was bad, Jozy was so-so, Yedlin had moments mixed with terrible passing, and Cameron was bad with distribution and so-so in defense.
Bradley looked lost as he was attempting to play a CAM and in the hole behind the striker and a CDM. That led to no help for triangles on the wing. Part of the reason why we kept losing the ball. That, and random errant passes to no one.
Not sure why we used a lone striker. Jozy is terrible as a lone striker in the general sense and he wasn’t holding the ball up very well either, constantly falling over.
Not sure why you take Zardes off to put Wood on the wing. Should have dropped Jones, who also wasn’t very good, and brought on Wood or Morris to help Jozy. I get that we were being overrun in the midfield, but it mainly was due to losing the ball in bad spots and then being outnumbered and outpaced. If you control the ball better, that becomes less of a worry and the shape/positioning is better and players are in their more comfortable positions.
Yes, Brazil is a better team. Yes, this is a friendly. But, that was just atrocious. How do we get better when players are out of position and there is no consistency in the lineup? Club teams build these players, so it seems logical to play them where the are best suited in a formation they are accustomed to playing.
Anyways, Jordan Morris looked like the only player that had something going forward aside from Yedlin, but those were generally squandered. Spector played decently in limited minutes and setup the best play of the game that Mix scuffed. Does that make him an option going forward, not likely, but he has always been a player I considered bringing in (and Lichaj).
This doesn’t look good heading into Mexico, but considering the players we had missing, it isn’t the end of the world either. Let’s hope this was just a “get it out of your system” type of game and we beat Mexico, who looked good against Argentina btw.
There was one point where Bradley in open space, honestly passed it to a Brazil player 5 yards in front of him.
Bradley has played better for USMNT than Klinsmann has coached it.
I think he’s been moved around so much he doesn’t know where he’s suppose to be anymore.
+1000. him and many others (Cameron, Bedoya, lol even Jones is all over the map over last 6 months)
How has Bradley been moved around so much? He plays center mid every game for the last 1 1/2 if not 2.
JK has been wrong about many things but judging by Bradley’s play this Summer he’s right Toronto has hurt his ability.
Some people just can’t stop loving JK.
Bradley looks like he has lost his confidence on the ball. About 5 passes on the attack were completely telegraphed ahead of time. He needs to believe again.
MB can join the rest of the team in their shrinking from Brazil. there was NO authority on the field for us last night- boys v. men.
Sorry to say, but there about five of those points during this game.
Aaargh. Excuse me while I go slit my throat. Maybe someday Klinnnsmannn will select a core team and give them a chance to develop some chemistry. Or maybe not.
He’s is, problem is he’s building that core around Alvarado.
Jordan Morris fans at the moment, He wasn’t ready! He’s saving it for mexico. Queue dos a cero chants.
He won 2 corner kicks. Based on the rest of the team’s performance, that would almost win man of the match.
Agreed. I don’t have much love for the college game, but Jordan Morris showed more out there with his strength, tenacity and versatility than 95% of the lineup.
You can’t judge JK on this game because it was not an important friendly.
You can only judge JK when the players listen to him and win.
Good luck against Mexico, cause they are gonna need it. The bad thing is, Klinsmann has been running out of luck and is being exposed.
Why do you only post after a US loss?
Because I work.
You only work when the US wins?
If I only worked when the USMNT wins, I’d get fired and my family go hungry.
I feel sorry for any family that depends on you for survival. If it’s that bad, you may want to figure out how to devote your life to making theirs better, rather than wasting it responding to comments here.
SBI can you look into people on here using other people’s names?
…..at least be courageous to write your idiocy under your name. Thats pathetic
Wtf? Three imposters!
At least he posts under his real username!
Hey,
I saw the Mex-Arg game. Don’t let the score flatter you. Argentina had over 70% possession (look at the game stats). The difference is that Mexico have better forwards.
The score doesn’t flatter me. But your comment about Mexico having better forwards than Argentina does.
Name one Mexican fwd that’s better than aguero…….
I’ll wait….
Lets start it now….Timmy Howard clap clap clap
Naah, let’s sack the head coach.
Looking past this horrible 2nd half and at the bigger picture, for me the 3 players who raised their stock in these 2 games were Zardes, Yedlin and Ream. I thought Cameron was consistent good, but not stellar. I thought Jones was horrible in the first half against Peru, slightly better in that second half. As much as I loved his performance in WC 2014, it’s just time to move on.
spot on. only decent bright spots on the night. hope Ream has a role on Oct 10
meanwhile Mex up 1-0 on ARG early on
Agree on Zardes and Ream. Yedlin has great qualities but he had so many unforced giveaways that you have to start to wonder if his downside is starting to outweigh is upside. I hope he gets a run of games at Sunderland so we can see if his soccer IQ is really as low as it appears at times—if so, that’s troubling. I also think Bedoya and Mix should both not make the Nats roster for Mexico and beyond until they get their form back. I’m not sure if Be asler was on the bench but he and Gonzalez would have done better.
Bedoya is still recovering from a hamstring injury. If his form is low, it’s probably because he’s still getting back in shape. Brazil is not a team you want to be “getting back in shape” for.
That doesn’t really excuse his performance, it’s more to say that he probably shouldn’t have been in the game in the first place and it was a terrible time for Klinsmann to persist with this idea that you can put Jozy up top by himself and provide service via a five man midfield. He needs to stop with the 4-2-3-1. Forever.
Ream is too slow. Willian abused him all night long. NO TO REAM. Smart but physically incapable against speedy wingers.
EVERYONE on the team was abused by Brazil’s speed. Ream was a bright spot b/c he won more challenges than he lost. If FJ is the answer at at LB, than I would consider moving Ream up to CDM and replacing the rotation of JJ/Becks/Mix. He can provide ample defense, and his passing ability should remind us of why Bradley fit so nicely in that role.
Agree Ream was the one defender who was both good and consistent.
Alvarado had some good spells, but also seemed to lose it in the 2nd half when he looked very tired.
Cameron had a night he would rather forget, he tried to make clever forward passes that almost always ended up being a counter-attack opportunity for Brazil when his passes failed. He should have been looking for safer options, when the ball is given away so easily in midfield, it will be bad for your team. (Ream OTOH, may not have made a bad pass all night and it was his pass that found Williams alone in the middle for the goal.
None of the midfielders looked that impressive, Yedlin did demonstrate why his speed is such a potent weapon, but he could not put his passes onto teammates feet and thus wasted opportunities. Zardes did not really do that much. Jones, Bradley, Bedoya and Williams non of them served to protect the overburdened back line and except for Williams goal they all had a night to forget.
Guzan must feel hard done by his teammates, he made all the saves you would expect and came out to snuff a couple opportunities. Maybe he could have reached Willian’s cross that hit the post and led to the first goal, but he was positioned at the near post where he should have been, and the cross/shot was near perfect in that it was out of Guzan’s reach came down below the crossbar and stayed in play.
Yedlin is a turnover machine.
i love me some zardes, but failed to see anything of note from this game.