By SBI SOCCER
The U.S. Men’s National Team returns to action for the first time since the 2015 Gold Cup when they face Peru tonight at RFK Stadium (7:30pm, Fox Sports 1/UniMas).
The Americans have a crucial Confederations Cup playoff match against Mexico in October, and tonight’s friendly is one of two matches the U.S. has to prepare itself for that all-important match. Jurgen Klinsmann has called in a veteran group of players, and will be looking for combinations that can help his team against Mexico.
Jermaine Jones is back in the field after a long time away, while Jozy Altidore is back in the lineup after a disappointing Gold Cup. He will wear the captain’s armband today.
SBI will be providing live commentary on tonight’s match so please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Tonight’s commentary is after the jump, and YES, IT’S WORKING NOW):
Its a good thing nothing’s at stake in your Sunday league considering your unsophisticated take on professional contact
Well said!
Sure, boys. El Flopidor..our hero.
The guy is a pansy. I’ve never seen such a big dude play like such a wuss.
I am an American soccer player. Even in my Sunday league, I leave it all on the field. I hip check and throw a shoulder with the best of ‘en, and I stay on my feet. The thought of diving and embellishing never even occurs to me. That just isn’t my style. I detest Altidore and all the other trash thst play like him. My daughter plays with more heart and integrity than he does. No, really.
Sure, cowboy. Btw, if am opposing player pulls your arm back prevent your run at goal, it is a penalty.
You leave it all on the field? Jozy is a pansy? Hahaha.
Have you ever met Jozy Altidore? I have. It’s like standing next to a Thoroughbred. On every single play Altidore is involved in, there is most definitely a foul. Half of them are committed by him. This one was not. Or at least, the last in a series of fouls was not committed by him.
Lighten up, Francis.
On the other hand, I am encouraged by your obliviousness.
I have always said that it’s not the athletes that are needed for soccer to take hold in this nation. We have the athletes to compete. (So far, we don’t have THE athlete, at least a male one. But he will come. Perhaps you’re impatient that Jozy is not the One?)
What we still need is the culture. We need to have great referees at every level of the sport, and we most certainly do not. We need to have knowledgeable sports commentators throughout the nation. Alas, we do not. (You can listen to any of the homer announcers in just about any market outside New York or Los Angeles or Seattle, and they’re hilariously awful. DC United fans, how do you live with that “It’s in the net! It’s in the net!” guy?)
But what we do have? And this is a new and encouraging development.
Unrealistic, outraged fans who are so stung by their own stunted athletic lives that they demand their proxies on the field be GODs. We have this covered in football, baseball, basketball, hockey — and we’re just getting there in soccer. (Thanks, Grunt!)
It’s not enough to score two goals. Not enough to muscle past your defender and force him to foul you and earn a PK. Altidore must be knocked down and still manage to score from an impossible angle. He must be Bobby Orr winning the 1970 Stanley Cup. On every play.
tl;dr: Shut up, Grunt.
It’s time fans understand that jozy is, and has been, just as pivotal to the overall success of the team as any of the other pillars. MB, JJ, Tim Howard,Fabian etc. – jozy is in that class. We may be able to win without him, but we simply can’t play our style of football which is most conducive to our success without him. We need the release valve up top, we need him to relieve the pressure for the ten players behind him. He makes the game easier for everybody, and when he is clicking, it allows the other players to truly show their personalities in many more opportunities throughout the pitch. He opens the game up and often has a touch of class about his passing as we saw tonight multiple times – the hard-to-believe-how-beautifully-it-was-weighted ball to yedlin, the flick to johannsson. what I found most impressive was how every movement he made in the 10 -40th minute range in the first half seemed so labored , but he valiantly grew into the game and in the end had a real captains performance.
I must say though, I know I wasn’t the only one begging him to hit a decent PK for once… He really seems to struggle taking them more often than not. Incredibly fortunate the rebound fell right to him
Also, I’ll save it mostly for another day, but zardes has the potential to be the next guy to join the llist of next-level USA players. The group of catalysts. I know he will probably have a game here or a game there where he goes missing, but if he can run at defenders against Mexico like he did tonight, our chances of winning literally double no matter the other circumstances.
That wasn’t a bad PK.
It was lower right corner and hard. Lately I’ve seen many far worse penalty attempts by far better players.
What it was, was the keeper made a great save.Give him the credit he deserves.
Jozy should be credited for staying alert and burying the rebound.
IF you score, it is a “good penalty” no matter what.
You Altidore fanboys crack me up. First he dives for a PK (and needs the rebound to finish it), then he knocks in a deflection. And suddenly he’s the second coming of Brian McBride. Yep, McBride played just like Altidore….fer sure.
Pointing out where he currently sits in the all times list isn’t comparing the players to each other.
+1
not to mention, grunt, if a defender trips an attacker in the box it’s a PK, he hit it solidly, the GK guessed right and parried, Jozy then finished, how is that a fault of his? GK goes the other way and it’s a ‘good PK’, either way he scored a game winning goal and you’re unhappy? and the second goal; had won do scored that people would go on about his knack for ‘being in the right place…’ yet Jozy scores one where he made a clear run to that spot anticipating a rebound and all of a sudden it’s nothing?
no dempsey, bradley or FJ; US comes back from a goal down to win 2-1 and some people want to hate on the 25 year old captain that won by scoring a brace? remove jozy from the situation and really ask yourself do you have a reason to be mad? and if so then do you have a reason to be mad at jozy?…. it’s so funny, game after game, rational fans are happy when good things happen for their team no matter from whom; haters find a way to make a good thing bad…
never change guys, never change…
Has someone checked on bizzy?
I wouldn’t want him to hurt himself in his grief.
haha + a million
I know guys like you! Let me guess. You played soccer “at a very high level”? Jozy looked awful in the first half, but it’s a demagogue who can’t give credit when the player turns it around. You must be really fun at parties.
I’m joking.
You must get laid, like, never.
I’m pretty sure he gets laid all the time. Ask him, he’ll tell you. It’s all the “cracking up” at Altidore fanboys he does.
All right, let’s not pile on. We’re all USMNT fans here! No hard feelings, Grunt. The Jozy fanboys are just hoping he returns to the form of a couple of years ago. Say, Aug. 14, 2013?
There really aren’t many Altidore “fanboys”. There are reasonable people who understand what Jozy has done and continues to do for the USMNT, and there are ignorant people like yourself. I used to like this site a lot more back in 06, primarily because of the class of the commentaries. It seems like every WC we gain people who contribute nothing more than snark and hyperbole. Please go away. You discourage thoughtful people from joining the discussion, the community.
+1
+1 Well said. I don’t even post much anymore.