USA vs England Review

UPDATE!!!! CLICK HERE FOR USA vs. ENGLAND WORLD CUP REVIEW

Where do I begin? Disappointed. 2-0 loss to England.

England played well. The Americans played bad. I hate to say this, but it seems that England is still in a class above the US. Which isn’t that great considering even though England played well, they themselves haven’t been that great lately, and this performance hardly merits a discussion as to being one of the best in the world. Good yes, but their string of quarterfinal exits in recent World Cups seems about right. They played well enough to suggest maybe they did deserve a spot in Euro 2008, but not good enough to contend, and maybe not even good enough to get out of the group phase. In the end, England didn’t qualify for Euro 2008, and we still got outclassed; what does that say about the US?

The US showed no passion, no heart, no will. I’ll totally negate the first 15 minutes in this analysis considering both teams came out expecting the other to show some real signs of danger and both played quite tentatively; then England realized they could run circles around the Americans, and the game could have been called right at that moment. I’m hard pressed to find something good to say about their performance. Wait, Goalkeepers Tim Howard and Brad Guzan had fairly strong games, both allowing one goal each; both goals of which were virtually unstoppable.

Well, since I started at the back, I might as well just keep going. The outside backs, Cherundolo and Pierce, tried. They each had some moments that show why they play for teams in German Bundesliga, but they also had moments where they weren’t just beat, they were sent to school, and it was a little embarrassing. The center back tandem of Oneywu and Bocanegra was not even close to as solid as we have seen it in the past. Against a team with players that have some individual skill and speed, they were beaten, time and again. I had such high hopes for the Rooney-Onyewu match, and for the first 15 minutes it looked like it could be a good one, with Onyewu getting some early shots in, and then seeing Rooney shoulder Onyewu to the ground on a hard run in which the ball just got away from him for a goal kick. But by the time England scored their first goal, Onyewu was in panic mode, making stupid tackles and poor decisions, instead of being a lock down center back. Speaking of the first goal, I’m going to put a lot of blame on center midfielder Ricardo Clark, but that can wait. Bocanegra’s complete lack of marking on John Terry left the England captain with a clear header from a perfect David Beckham cross and he fired a bullet just inside the near post. Bocanegra looked a bit lost and timid almost the whole game, and he and Oneywu both got caught on England’s second goal.

The outside midfielders. Dempsey and Beasley. Where was the creativity we know these players have? I think they got the ball at their feet and ran at defenders only twice each. Without Donovan in the line up, these two have to be our go to guys for creating a spark on offense. Unfortunately no spark was created. Dempsey went to ground too easily. Beasley looked like he never wanted to get stuck in to match, perhaps timid about his recent return from a devastating knee injury. The center mids – Bradley and Clark. Ricardo Clark, the only starter who plays in MLS, is a complete liability on the field against quality opponents. The majority of his tackles are needless and reckless. One of his dumbest tackles gave the free kick that Beckham placed on Terry’s head for the first goal. There was absolutely no need to foul in that position, no need to even challenge, Clark needs to learn how to stand up players defensively and force the mistake. As a youth soccer coach, I ALWAYS teach my players that defense isn’t about winning the ball outright, it’s about forcing the other player to make the mistake. Clark MUST learn this if he is to be the regular starter for national team. Bradley was supposed to have an English coming out party in this game, and while he was one of the best players on the field for the US, a coming out party he did not have. I say he was one of the best, and that’s because he was unnoticeable. He made little impact on the game at all. He broke up some plays and made some decent passes, but Bradley is in a position where he must be a creative force in the midfield, he must make passes that jump start the attack, find the strikers’ feet, be able to play to wide players in space, force defenders to move out of position; Bradley accomplished none of these things.

I like Josh Wolff, I really do. He hasn’t scored for the red, white, and blue in a long time, but every time he has been on the field I have seen a tireless work rate, a willingness to try and take on defenders, good movement off the ball, a touch of pace, and a player who can win some free kicks in dangerous areas. Against England, Wolff showed none of that, period. Eddie Johnson was Eddie Johnson, the same thing we have been seeing for over 2 years now. He gets on the field and doesn’t do much, he doesn’t show the speed or strength that some people keep saying he has. And then! All of a sudden! He makes a play…he gets open in space and takes a defender on one v. one, or he cracks a great one touch strike that just goes wide or over the crossbar (hmm, I wonder which of those he did in this game – anyone remember his one touch left footed strike to start the 2nd half?). If he faded out of games completely and then had one moment of flash that regularly found the back of the net, I would love Eddie Johnson, but it just doesn’t happen. More and more I wonder why he keeps getting chances, but then I remember that we don’t have many other options at forward currently.

The subs. Frankie Hejduk showed his experience and some moxie in attack when he came on for Cherundolo in the back. Eddie Lewis came on and showed why he definitely shouldn’t be written off the national team because he is aging. Maurice Edu showed his inexperience, but performed adequately. Nate Jaqua wasn’t on the field long enough to do much of anything. And Freddy Adu, well I think he keeps making a case to get a start. I think he is far from a complete player, but he does bring an X-factor to the game, even at his young age; and to a team that severely lacks attacking creativity and kind of X-factor is good.

And so I am harsh on this young team USA, but I feel that I have to be. The US sports media won’t report on this, it won’t be in the faces of the players when they arrive back in the states. Tomorrow, or maybe the next day the American players will shrug this off, and go on to World Cup qualifying and easily push on through. Complacency will set in, and we will have a repeat of 2006. You might here the same, tired excuses: “we are a young team” “it’s a great learning experience for us” – I say, half our starters are veterans that should have already learned from World Cup 2006. Yes, our young players will continue to get better, and so too should our veterans. Yes, I think it is great that we finally are playing top quality opponents away from home, we must continue to do this to grow, to keep from becoming complacent.

The US will have two chances for redemption, away to Spain on June 4th and home to Argentina on June 8th. I don’t need the US to win, but if we are to lose, let’s lose with some class, some fight in our hearts, and some true soccer passion.

I definitely want to hear what everyone thought about this game! So Comment!

COACHES CORNER

I want to touch on two things of note from a coaching standpoint.

First off, Bob Bradley can not keep relying on Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, and Maurice Edu. Each are good, quality, young players who can contribute. But essentially by using 2 of the 3 in any combination Bob Bradley is sticking two defensive/holding mids on the field. These are players that are there to win the ball, to be that player that aids in the transition from the back line to forward line. In the England game, that player was Owen Hargreaves and he was subbed for Gareth Barry. Meanwhile the attacking force in the center of the park was left to Frank Lampard in the first half and Steven Gerrard in the second, and I think we all saw how dangerous Gerrard was in the 2nd half. Either one of these players must transition to be that attacking force in the center of the field. Bradley is the youngest and his skills are most suited for this transition; but until Bradley takes it upon himself to be that creative attacker in the center, the US team will be wasting a spot in midfield by playing essentially two of the exact same type of players. Other options would be to have Dempsey in that role, or Donovan, or maybe even Freddy Adu.

Second, if I watched England left back Ashley Cole show more creativity, flair, and skill on the ball while making our forwards and midfield players look like amateurs I was going to scream. If I remember correctly he faked out at least 2 of our players badly enough they slipped to the ground.  Ashley Cole may very well be the best outside back in the world, yet it seemed that the only time our players were willing to take a defender on the dribble that defender was Ashley Cole, and he stuffed it out every time. While going over game tape, coaches must make players aware of individual player strengths, and the players must remember this and play accordingly. My advice for taking Ashley Cole one on one is to only try if you have and advantage, such as the high ground, or if Cole has dislocated his knee, or if you have players around you make quality off the ball runs that force Cole to give the space needed to attempt a one on one. I’m done.