The U.S. men's national team is in El Salvador tonight for its second CONCACAF Hexagonal World Cup qualifier and first road qualifier.
With Costa Rica's loss to Mexico today, the United States can move into sole possession of first place in the Hexagonal.
If you will be watching tonight's match, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the match.
Can’t believe they are starting calif over Demerit
Looks like a nasty crowd out there.
Miami FC is huge in El Salvador.
what happened to Onyewu?
So far Calif’s “long ball” strategy hasn’t been too effective
Intrigued by the signage for the United Soccer Leagues and Miami FC…
Gooch suffered a mild knee strain, and is out as a precaution. Could have played tonight, they want him healthy for next week.
Onyewu picked up a minor injury in training and they are keeping him out to recover for Wednesday
Haven’t seen any sam’s army in the crowd yet, but I thought I heard a chant of U -S -A
Absolutely beckster. Demerit is way underrated.
KungFu, I thought I heard that to, most prominently shortly before the start of the match.
Dempsey got a buzz cut!
any streams of this in english?
That left side looks like it’s going to be trouble.
Trying to flip back and forth between the NCAA tourney and this game. So far I think our passing leaves a lot to be desired. Can’t wait for wednesday.
Our midfield is not controlling play
love the USL advertisements!
U.S. Dominating but Castillo is making a strong impression, where does he play?
Can someone post the starting lineup?
Can’t watch on TV….laptop only here.
Thanks.
Agreed on the Demerit comment. Not a Califf-first team fan at all, althought it is good to see an American play overseas and become a Captain.
beautifulgame – ESPN360.com
Always preferred the buzz for Dempsey. He seems a bit off page with some of the others at times…
no! they already scored!
Well that’s what you get when you have pearce, calif and guzan
Hey, we’re down 1-0! YAY!
Here’s that stream in english
link to justin.tv
The bunker just added a whole bunch of concrete and troops…
First goal they’ve scored against us since 1996. Fan-freaking-tastic.
Califf has looked terrible early on
Those same USL/Miami advertisements were in Trinidad & Tobago also.
1997, according to JP. My mistake.
I think that whole defensive line is going to be a problem tonight. Hejduk-Califf-Bocanegra-Pearce just doesn’t sound that solid or intimidating to me…but I guess we’ll see
ARE YOU KIDDING ME???????? That was a terrible breakdown right there.
Wow. great goal.
first goal since 97! it’s the law of probability
If Califf is our third best defender in the US, we’re hurting badly. The guy is slow and lost.
OOH! There goes my NCAA bracket. Anything happen so far?
The U.S. Starters:
18-Brad Guzan;
2-Frankie Hejduk, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 14-Danny Califf, 15-Heath Pearce;
8-Clint Dempsey, 12-Michael Bradley, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 7-DaMarcus Beasley;
10-Landon Donovan, 11-Brian Ching
Bench:
1-Marcus Hahnemann, 4-Pablo Mastroeni, 5-Jay DeMerit, 6- José Francisco Torres, 9-Jozy Altidore, 13-Maurice Edu, 17-Jonathan Spector
What? A goal? Argh!
Probably cheap advertising. Good deal. Need to brand everywhere.
At least this won’t be boring now. We should still win.
Wow… What a dive…
no way califf is better than demerit
I don’t know who is playing worse klestjan or Califf. Klestjan looks like he’s scared or something because he is not himself so far.
They are flat and look awful. No one knows what they are doing before the ball comes to them and DMB is done. His speed alone is not going to cut it anymore.
sub in torres!!!!!!
wow..donovan touched the ball..had forgotten he was in the lineup
oooh….this is gonna be a long, tense match. and i’m out of beer. great.
Jags98..yes have been disapointed by Beasley’s touches
I think I would have rather seen DeMerit and Spector instead of Califf and either Pearce or Hejduk….Does Spector play on the right side at West Ham?
Kljestan doesn’t belong anywhere near the field. Every touch is bad tonight.
Too many giveaways in the midfield and our back four looks slooooow.
Come on guys! This is a team of USL- level players that is beating us! Take a deep breath and start making some decent passes… We can dominate in posession vs a SVE-coached mexico but get destroyed by some amateurs- I better see a better team than this on wednesdaym
Sacha Kljestan scores three in a meaningless friendly and he’s annoited the next great thing by Bob Bradley. We need Torres against this bunker.
Someone put a sock in Harkes, bring back Waldy.
Spector plays right and sometimes left and has a history in center…would have been a much better option than pearce
Not a bad shot by Deuce, but we can’t all be Davy Arnaud…
He was pretty quiet after that goal.
kljestan doesn’t ever belong anywhere near the field. His first touch is poor and he can’t play at the speed required in the international game.
Okay, so RBNY gives up a draw to the Revs when they should have won, Pitt lost, I guess this doesn’t look like a good night for my teams. C’mon Stars and Stripes. That crowd looks like it should be behind a fence. Oh wait, it is.
Even though his touches aren’t the greatest, is hejduk really that much better then wynne?
Salvador=this: Bunker down with 11 men behind the ball, counter, get a goal and begin to play cheap n dirty.
Sacha is fine, but ES knows the US don’t really have an attacking midfielder that can break them down, so they are packed in. As for DMB…..I sound like a broken record BUT…..he continues to be just awful. He is the new “Captain Backpass”, and when he does decide to go forward, its only a matter of time until he gives it away. He is simply god-awful.
El Salvador doesn’t like when the U.S. team slows the tempo down and plays a possession game. I don’t like it either. U.S. needs some fuel injection.
El Sal 1 USA 0
Might not watch second half. Bradley, made poor team selections, and is using poor long ball tactics.
Califf, Klejstan, Beasley and Dempsey are rubbish right now.
Bradley must go.
Ives, PLEASE!!!
Add the option to have the comments listed by recent or oldest.
Attacking side ain’t looking too good folks. this is a time where spacing is way too emphasized.
passes are way too long because there is actually TOO much spacing.
No chance for quick 1-2 touches. No chance for diagonal runs.
If you see El Salvador on the counterattack, they always have a close triangle forming, and cutting and running to get open.
So far I like Hejduk the best. He is controlling the right side nicely.
Kljestan isn’t doing fine. I agree every touch is bad. So are Beasley’s. Dempsey’s passes are off, too.
I don’t see how the US will score in the run of play in this game unless there’s a lucky bounce or a mental error by ES.
peter thats true. klejstan lookds like a deer in the headlights
One of our problems is that Deuce is spending a lot of time in the middle, and leaving Hejduk alone all the way up and down. He’s playing fine defense, but we’re getting no service in from that side, cause he simply can’t.
And we picked Guzan over Hanhemann why?
So many fouls, you’d think we’re playing a game of chicken.
I agree with a lot of other people, I would have liked to see spector at rb, demerit for califf, and torres for kljestan…we are playing like garbage right now…and they need to stop it with that annoying siren
Please get Califf out now!
That company Traffic owns Miami FC and is a company that puts together a lot of the World Cup Qualifying matches and sells advertising- vamos el salvador
why is hejduk having to provide all our service from the right side?
This D is simply awful and the attack is pathetic, especially the midfielders.
And surely that damn siren violates some kind of FIFA rule….
US need torres. the first touches with the exception of donovan have been AYSO-like
This is where Landon’s spanish comes in handy. And his dead ball prowess, too.
Jozy is the only attacking player on the bench so we can certainly sub out defenders!
would really like to see Torres in for Sacha
Of all the subs, I’m actually alright with Guzan. He’s a pretty good keeper, though he’s not getting a lot of playing time. I really see Hahneman-Guzan as a push as to which one is better
at least i have beer….i guess
Make the hurting stop…
We stink on the road.
Califf is garbage…. I hope he is done…
Hahnemann has played at the highest level for several years…Guzan has a long way to go before he can claim that
silly give aways, they need to get some better passes in the attacking third, maybe take it to the corners a bit more, have some crosses. we are way bigger than them.
I despise it how we CANNOT play against a team that bunkers back. we play U-12 boom ball, its sicknin
We can’t even string together passes, this is getting way ugly…
the u.s. really needs to call up kevin goldthwaite at cb…he had a stellar game tonight for the red bulls, imo he is a world class defender who should be getting call ups
THANKS KRISTA for posting the lineup!
man I was looking forward to this game all day… now i’m looking forward to the sounders match more
Darn flag. Wait…no, darn players had to be offside. Come on, kids, what are you, 12?
Torres for Klejstan. Altidore for Pearce. Have Beasley play more of a roving LB/LM.
That goal should have counted.
I know its all about winning and qualifying for the world cup, but El salvadors Fans and their team sure know how to RUIN the beautiful game
Man, Sacha looks horrible
I agree with you orange, we just need to see some new faces in the defense.
offside trap. morons
no problem matt.
hope bradley gives the guys an ass chewin at halftime.
Beasley can BARELY handle making it up and down half the field, we can’t ask him to handle the whole side. And they’re spending more time on the ground that I have at home today. Rediculous.
offsides on the free kick. Shounldn’t happen…
It kind of looked like Donovan might have started the ass chewing out on the field…I hope he was trying to tell Califf NOT to play those long balls with those hand motions
We need Ives in here leading a drinking game!
i think the one defender was actually playing them on, but Pearce and Kleijstan need to get out of there
an ass chewing should be the least of their worries… They are playing so poorly… I hope Bradley does Califf a favor and get him out… Defense has no confidence in him…
it is a testament to how badly we are playing that the thing I am most excited about is pacheco coming to the red bulls…leave it to the us to get me excited about a salvadoran left back
BB is a chip off the ole block. Just sittin there lookin like BA. Nothing has changed!
Nice save by Guzan. Probably the best thing this team has done all night.
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
Drinking game ideas anybody?!?
beasley looks dead out there. he, and others on the US squad, need to play on teams that will give them minutes….it is pointless for 6 or 7 of our starters spending all year being bench warmers and then expect them to come out for qualifiers sharp
Look we all know ES is going to play 10 men behind the ball. They got the early goal, fair play. The US needs to find a way. Tire them out and capitalize.
You wanna get smashed, a shot for every bad touch.
There are so many opportunities for a drinking game: Califf long balls; Sacha bad first touch; multiple candidates for the back pass…where to start!
we dont need 4 defenders in right now … if bradley doesnt adjust it’ll be sad
every time an el salvador player gets stretchered off take a shot.
why does Sacha get the starting nod over torres. I know sacha does score once in a while, but she cannot control the ball and he cant pass and hes a Defensive liability. and Danny boy is garbage. And why hell cant we put together more that two passes together. This game is starting to look like garbage. If this is going to be out ’10 world cup starting 11 we will not win any game..
good call jags, i was gonna say drink every time kljestan has a poor first touch (ie every time he touches the ball)
Ives, if you are out there, what’s your assessment of first half? Who would you sub?
That’s why need a better coach. Horrible passing, horrible defense, horrible everything. Donovan is the only one who wants to attack.
i know no one will agree with me but i’m gonna say this anyway. i think SK needs to stay out there. he needs this experience to get better and to get more confidence.
damn mexico won.
jose mourinho coming to America…???
oooooh the special one to the usa?????? shut up sven!
Sacha has had two horrible games against CONCACRAP teams. He should not be starting in 2010
Bob Bradley must go. Just like his selections and tactics show no imagination, his players don’t either. This team looks afraid, (Beasley, Klejstan). They look like they don’t want to be on the pitch, (Beasley, Klejstan, Dempsey, Pearce). They look like they shouldn’t be on the pitch, (Califf and Klejstan). This is an entire break down of selection, tactics, and desire. That’s why Coach Bradley should resign.
it’s sad when Lalas actually makes a point, although painfully obvious: we are thin at foward.
To Krista,
Why does he need more experience that torres or adu? what makes him so much better, to me he’s slower and has a bad touch on the ball.
new drinking game: if you don’t have any confidence in bradley to make effective in-game adjustments then drink a bottle of vodka
Sacha is Bradley’s pet.
We could use a better forward, but worse than that we need better mids.
Shut up, Alexi!!
Madmax, if only these idiots who support him actually understood football and watch performances rather than just looking at the score
Kjlestan isn’t playing on an International level at all tonight and if he gave it away that much at a Chivas game they’d be down 1-0 there too. Ching looks like he’s running through a maze whenever the US goes into the offensive third. And Hejduk has so much space on the right that isn’t being utilized it’s not even funny…
This could be my personal saddest day as a US soccer fan under only the Ghana game and the disgusting and horrific Germany freindly a month before WC 2006…
They’re right, try to explain the draft or discovery process to Jose, he’d be lost. Oh, and allocation money. And developmental slots. And a salary cap.
But for the National Team? I’m down. (And I don’t mean Fire Bob, for all you folks)
and worse than that we need better backs
What about the Czech game? That was sad too.
did i say he needed more experience over those two? did i say he was so much better than those two?
i just see potential there in him… doesn’t mean i don’t see potential in the others.
i guess i’m not willing to give up on a player after “two horrible games”
Sacha will never have the speed or touch to play internationally. If he strugges with it in Concacaf then there is no hope if we play a European team in the World Cup. The only way he has a chance of improving is going to Europe and playing but I think he is too slow for Europe and Celtic didn’t exactly jump to take him this winter. Torres, Edu much better options right now…they could use the playing time.
JMAC I totally agree bease at lb donovan lm and altidore up top with ching put torres in for kljstean and now we’re talking.
a shame we have only three substitutions, poor selections by bradley tonight…how disappointing will the halftime changes (or lack of changes) be
Can we all write to Sunil Gulati and get bob out of there…
US could have used Subotic today
I understand these guys want to play against the best in Europe, but their aren’t doing themselves any favors by sitting on the bench, or not even suiting up in some cases.
First half ratings, 1-10: 6 being average/halfway decent
Guzan 6
Pearce 3
Bocanegra 4
Califf 3
Hejduk 5
Bradley 5
Kljestan 3
Dempsey 4
Beasley 3
Donovan 6
Ching 6
Bring in guys who can play a quick, short-passing game (aka. Torres). The long-ball strategy needs to end.
BTW, why the f.uck are we not “risking” our best defender in a tough away math when we are going to win at home anyways? Fire this idiot
Sacha is played so much more effectively and differently at Chivas USA. Bradley’s system stifles the kid. That said, change needs to happen and fast. It will be interesting to see what Bradley has up his sleeve.
CHING CHING CHING! He is the problem. him and sascha. SUB in JOZY and TORRES NOW!
Krista,
“i guess i’m not willing to give up on a player after “two horrible games”
My question is whats the reason for starting him over torres or adu?
I hate it when harkes talks.
ok guys see you after the game, after we score 2 goals and the idiots will come out and say we did “great”
So is Bradley bring his top team to the Confederaton cup and his B or C team to the Gold Cup?
I don’t care what people say and there is a lot of negativity in US soccer.. but I am not looking forward to the Confed’s Cup as much as I thought I was..
altidore and torres warming up!!!
ha ha that was a weak shot at the goal.
Yes, when we are down by 1 goal, we need a Dmid in (Torres)
Man freddy looks like he is twelve sitting next to Howard and Gooch
sacha with a laser beam of a shot, he needs to take himself out of the game after that
Ching looks like his knees are going to give out on him at any second when he runs
guys ching is givin us nothin. nada
My 9 year old would have played a better ball than Sacha just did. Horrible player choices tonight by Bradley. The Same ol Crap just doesn’t work all the time and you have to adjust.
The US can’t get forward because Bradley puts 4 in the back and 2 holding mids….stupid strategy!
Won’t watch the second half. This is garbage.
Ching looks like he’s playing on an island………no pun intended.
Ching is TERRIBLE! im so sick of this
Clint looks like he just want to play for Fulham..
Really, let’s think about it,
— 1-0 in Barbados, (with an F-grade team we should do better than that)—
— 1-0 in Cuba… barely any light and the feild rivals Houston’s a week ago..still, excuses..
— 1-2 in T&T… B side but still,
Okay CONCACAF is hard–
Europe and South Africa and Giants Stadium and 2018/2022 in whatver US cities are gunna be HARD!!!
what a nightmare
This is why we canned Arena. Time for a repeat.
Sadly, we’re looking like Mexico did against us, skipping the midfield from the back, to get to the front, if you all no what i mean
I’m so angry now
well bob would have to answer that. my guess would be that he has more nat experience, is familar with m. bradley. and if SK is bradley’s “pet” he needs to be groomed for these types of matches.
torres has more experience in this atmosphere granted but he hasn’t earned a starting spot yet, and adu hasn’t been seeing any playing time and he fell from grace a little with bob a while back soo that could be a reason as well.
HAHA Califf is absolute garbage. His performance is laughable. This is sickening.
to me the confederation cup is an opportunity for the US to play vs the best and get experience. It is something that we need.
I hate that the commentators are scared of criticizing any player or coach. If they’re crap, they’re crap. Just admit it. The bad thing is, some ppl will come out after this and say “oh it was away, so it’s ok” or worse, “it was too loud.” Right, so the WC will be quiet? This is horrible coaching and tactics.
drinking game: every time an El Salvadoran player dives…drink!
F.UCK THAT STUPID SIREN!
Sweet Klestjan wiff on that Ching pass
krista, how the f.uck can you prove yourself if you dont get on the pitch?
and there is braley’s obligatory yellow
What the hell was that?!
Donovan, Bradley, Boca & Dempsey are the only ones who look like they want to be out there. And of course as I say that Bradley gets one step closer to going off with the card haha
who can we email and bitch too?
We need to play vs top competition to improve. The confeds cup is opportunity for it. Concacaf doesn’t give us the type of competition that we need to be competitive in a world cup, copa america, etc.
Dammmmmmmnnnnn!!!!!!!
All that dribbling and then a sweet dive.
glad to see bradley worked his wonders at halftime
Get sacha off the field.
Fire Bradley!!!!!!!!
Number 17 deserves to be punched…by Gooch
“not one of his stronger games”? Now that is the ultimate understatement!
he finally criticed Sacha…
thank god
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, so BS!!
Thank you to whoever took that ball away from Klestjan and passed it to Dempsey…at least Dempsey’s looking like he’s starting to fight in order to make up for some of his team mates
finally, jozy
JOZYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
Hey, a new way for a goalie to waste time.
JOZY!!!!
Not that it matters, we can’t get the ball up there to being with.
JOZZZZZYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*sigh*……….Let the time waisting begin.
“not one of his stronger games”?
I just wish he would just say it like it is…Sacha has looked like dogs%^& tonight.
Shame Jozy hasn’t played for awhile. It will be a little rusty.
yes, bob “use the wings” philisiophy is so great
Such a dishonest tactic to waste time.
are they kidding with this goalie? this is like 3-4 minutes
Whoever called that Altidore-Pearce sub earlier…good call
AMEN! You can’t get 923093 minutes to fix a “cramp”…
get up idiot
jesus this is going on 6 minutes
Get him off the field!
CONCACAF should be scrapped and merged with South America. Then the 16 top countries should fight for 8 WC places. As it is, Mexico and the US have practically AUTOMATIC qual for the WC, while teams like France, NL, Italy and England must face real risks of not qualifying every time. Four world regions: Africa, America, Asia and Europe.
which cartel is paying off this Ref…4 minute stoppage for a Cramped Goalie…WTF
torres and adu got on the pitch against T&T and i dont recall them scoring or doing that well and that game was in the usa.
they will get more chances. they will probably start, well maybe torres after this display.
Now do something with this momentum!!!
Man, I may not be able to run that fast anymore, but at least I wouldn’t slide into challenges that I know the guy’s just going to jump over or blow past….I’m looking at you Frankie
South America is too far to travel. Especially for the teams with out resources. The US could ask to play in Comnebol, like Australia asked to play in Asia. Nah, it will never happen.
Not one American player wants this game (other than Landon)
Need less long ball, more posession.
At least little Bradley is trying to do something out there
What a joke of waisting time like that from the goalie. The U.S has to push as hard as they can now. First the tie then the win.
dempsey is starting to take the game into his hands.
WORST USMNT PERFORMANCE OF ALL TIME. no surprise its under bob. nothing more than an MLS coach
keep shooting
I am going to shove that siren up someone’s backside.
nothingh from donovan either. he hasnt had two touches since halftime
I say push beas to LB, he looks just as decent as pearce
and whats bob’s excuse for waiting till the 60th minute to making a formation switch?
i like this lineup much more…BTW..way more offensive in general…
No reason for ching to be out there
Better possession now, come on boys we can do this
Close one from Ching there, had an open net really..
Yes….thank God.
Finally, finally..
KLESJAN OFFFF!!!!! FINALLY.
THANK GODDDDDDD!!! Sascha out!
Game Over!
For crying out loud.
oh boy
That’s it, it’s time to go to bed.
Bob Bradley is getting what he deserves for this lineup
Nice! Over!
I may not be the biggest Ching fan in the world but I have to hand it to him, he’ll throw his body into the mixer to try and produce something (anything at this time would help)…as I say that El Salvador scores again.
2-0
SHOULD HAVE HIRED A WORLD CLASS MGR !
11 open positions for wednesday…
Turning it off…very sad.
Well, I may or may not have two tickets in the front row Wednesday available. Make the price worth it, they’re yours. Maybe.
BRING IN SPECTOR
Maybe Adu can make the bench next game!
Horrible
horrible defending
Damn!
f-ing goalie get him out
whoa. this really sucks.
we got burned again. frankie gets outjumped by someone half his size.
No need to keep playing, let’s just have a nice long sit with the Salvadoran GK…
Aurora, travel is not expensive and an economic issue for a few matches. Besides, the tiny Caribb and Central Am countries would have to qualify among themselves before being among the 16 battling for the 8 places. CONCACAF is a joke and certainly keeps a lid on the development of both Mexico and the US. The only logical solution is to merge. As for travel, in Asia they travel as far, and btw South and North America you do not even have to deal much w time zones.
I have no words
Wowwww, sucks to whoever bet money, hope it wasnt alot, this isnt good, And now the dam keeper is cramping again, we need donovan to score 2 again
credit to the fans of el salvador
hejduk and guzan suspect. Looks like 2nd string goalie up for grabs as well
Only good thing about that goal is that it looks like we almost saw boobs
I can’t believe it! 2-0! What the hell!?
what the hell happened here… Just got home!?!?! 2-0 down?
Bradley, what are you to do….
congrats bob on bringing the most defensive bench possible
Guzan sucks.
i blame Lalas….
“PLENTY OF TIME LEFT”!!!??!?!?!?!?!
THIS. IS. OBSCENE. I was just gonna say that i don’t wanna ever see beasley in the US team again unless it’s at left-back. Well, I take that back!
on a lighter note neven is cap-tied to serbia now…what a great day for US soccer…
Jozy!
JOZY!!!!!!!!!
JOZY!!!!!!
JOZY!
Wow, we scored! Who knew?
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jozzzzyyyyhy. start his assssss!
Hey Dude, Beasley and Guzan – all horrible. Jozy gets one back!!!
I truely hope Bob rethinks his line-ups..I feels …Wynne has the pace to play at this level… Were gonna have to look at other GK options… he actually got out of the way of that one…JOZY baBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JOOOOOOOOOOZZZZZZYYYYYY
I also take back my earlier support of Guzan…though, again, if he lets in another goal we may see boobs……THANK YOU JOZY!!!!!
GAME ON…..LETS F.UCKING GO!!!!!
JOZY>>>>>>>>>>>> GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL
JOZYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thats what i am TALKIN BOUT!!!!!!!! Donovan scores 2 now
I get the feeling were gonna have about 15 minutes of stoppage time
keep fakin hammy injuries salvdor
LETS GO BOYYYYSS
Ching is a bum, This kid needs to start. Im so sick of ching and his slow, useless play.
Should have been attacking like this the whole game!
Beautiful pass by Hey Dude to Jozy, BTW. Makes up a little for the horror on the other end.
i like beasely where he is… he and Hejduk…pressing from the back…
There needs to be at least eight minutes of stoppage. This is ridiculous.
Get these salvodoran Pu**** off the fireld or add 10 mins of stoppage
these guys are seriously pissin me off. QUIT FAKING INJURIES you cunts
It’s been a while since I’ve seen the US side this….disorganized…
There needs to be another game of stoppage time.
They need to run it through Torres some more, I think….he’s looking pretty solid with the ball at his feet out there
Torres looks so much more comfortable then Klestjen….
Take your time Beas. We’re only down a goal against EL SALVADOR
Peter B – the players from El Salvador almost went on strike because they hadn’t received their bonuses for reaching the Hex. Travel is expensive – think T & T, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, etc etc – only Mexico and the US can afford it. C’mon.
What’s with the fricken siren?
seriously there needs to be like 8 minutes and many yellow cards
How can this be part of the game…this is crazy…enough with the laying on the ground!!!!!!
The team deserves an oscar for their “injuries”. Sheesh!!
Danny Califf – another useless long ball – DRINK
Does Califf think he is playin kick-ball tonight?
Their idiot fans have ZERO appreciation for the game, booing the entire time that the away team has the ball?? a European fan would think they a joke
You got to be kidding me. the diving from el salvador is ridiculous there is no place for that in the game of soccer.
This is completely unsportsmanlike. The Salvadorans ought to be ashamed of themselves.
COME ON!!! This is rediculous….just roll off the field like the ref is telling you to do
seriously this is minimum 12 minutes of stoppage time
This ref has lost control. Tack on 10 or I’m going to lose it.
torres looks so much better than kljestan
hejduk suicks at defending
Great hustle by Torres. He’s making a real case for the starting gig.
Can Jozy play in a game without scoring a goal? What doesn’t Xerez understand about that?
Torres is class. Califf – so questionable.
what a shock that beasley doesnt play for rangers
BB figured it out way too late, Torres can control the mid. Finally have something in the middle.
YES!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLL!!
HELL YEAH!!!!!!
oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
HEWEEEEYDDDDUDDDEE!
who cares…HE SCORED!
DRINK MFERS!!!!!
YYYYYYEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
yes hey dude has made up for his goof!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2-2!!
Frankie haters can step off, as always. In on both goals.
HEEEEY-DUUUUDE
Thank GOd
The unfrozen caveman midfielder comes through.
HELL Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aurora, a country is NEVER so poor it cannot send its national team on a few matches. Look at Africa and some poor Asian countries. They do it all the time. There would be 10 South Am countries and only the 6 highest ranked teams from the former Concacaf.
Dear Frankie,
How can you get out-jumped by a tiny guy to give up a goal then out-jump defenders to score a goal?
Love,
Aquaman
FRANKIE!!!! now we need one more so we dont look like a international laughing stock
do we still want the stoppage time?
HEY DUDE!!!!!!
FRANKIIIIIIE!!
Guzan != Howard
Howard would be there screaming his lungs out regardless of whether or not his teammates can hear him. Guzan is conducting an orchestra, it seems.
2-2!!!
The fricking passing and ball recovery from Torres is amazing.
Anyone notice how the Salvadoran players stopped cramping up?
Torres is very cool and collected.
Torres has really impressed in his 20 minutes on the pitch tonight.
Peter B – you been drinking some koolaid man. The US is wealthy, have you traveled elsewhere in our hemisphere???
Torres and Bradley ftw!!
That said I don’t dislike your idea, I just do think it is feasible.
I think you are drunk, Aurora. Read what I said. MANY countries are poor. They still travel.
Pleeeeeease give me more Torres.
I agree-Torres has made a nice impact.
don’t*
Ching…not ftw….
Ching shoots it right into the keeper’s chest. ARGH!
i feel like we only had like half a game what with all that “cramping”
such an ugly game. guess i’m glad we tied.
Ching needs to learn how to ride the bicycle
We’ll take the point, but once we picked up our energy we were clearly WAY better. This is the name of the game in WCQ: draw on the road, win at home.
horrible horrible lineup and first half
Well I hope bradley learned some important lessons tonight and we see roster changes wednesday
The Nightmare is over for now…
Ugly game. But the Americans can take something positive from it. It was a gutsy comeback on the road, against a team that used some really dirty delaying tactics. And you saw some great play from Torres and Altidore, who should have great futures on the national team.
Still top of the table – looking forward to Wednesday.
Exciting game. Torres needs to start. Jozy and Ching need to play together from minute 1. We gotta attack. None of this overly defensive, slow paced crap.
WE have our answer…..
TORRES pairs with Bradley.
No more questions.
Jozy and Torres both earned a start Wednesday against Trinidad, lets see if Bradley rewards them for their outstanding play.
worst game under bob ive ever seen.
Xeres mgr is not impressed with jozy’s goal
And it goes without saying, but Hejduk – man of the match.
TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES
Why doesn’t Torres start?
Torres was a revelation, I think. I knew it would happen but I don’t think I’ve seen him impress like this previously.
I thought i’d be alrite with a draw after the first half, and especially after we went down 2-0, but after watching ching’s bike get miraculously cleared i can’t help but feel dissappointed. still they did well to fight back and keep going. the salvadorians should be ashamed of themselves though.
one thing is clear, torres should definitely be starting over sacha now
Xerez is full of it. They are not giving the kid a chance.
If Bradley doesn’t start Torres in place on Kljestan in the T&T match then he is an idiot.
Guzan-6, Pearce-4, Califf-5, Bocanegra-5, Hejduk-7, Beasley-4, Bradley-6, Kljestan-4, Dempsey-5, Donovan-6, Ching-6 (subs: Altidore-6, Torres-7)
Torres looked solid. I don’t see how Beasley can stay in the lineup for much longer.
I’m a Torres convert. that guy was so cool and calm and smart on the ball. He should be given every opportunity to make that spot his from this point forward.
The guy was pure…
If Bradley doesn’t start Torres in place on Kljestan in the T&T match then he is an idiot.
Posted by: KC | March 28, 2009 at 11:15 PM
-
or doesn’t like mexican americans
I’m sure Ives will have a full write-up on why Kljestan and Ching belong on the field.
guzan – shaky
hejduk – what else; crap skill, amazing heart; true champion
boca – decent
califf – frustrating distribution
pearce – what division in germany does he not get time in?
dempsey – decent
sacha – solid potential; terrible game
beasley – his desire for the team should be questioned; looked like he’s taking wearing the jersey for granted; reason why he hasnt played for a club in years; should be benched on principal for several games
donovan – how do we need to change things up to make him more effective; can we?
ching – heart gold; skill lacking
bradley – detriment to the team; his non-playing of torres was criminal; with him and rongen at our helm u.s. potential seems capped
torres – should have seen more of him
altidore – should have seen more of him
edu — glad to see him out there
kljestan has looked terrible outside of the game he got the hat trick. torres has earned another look for sure.
Torres was nervous during his first game. Plus he has never played for the US. He’s got his game on now and it shows that no problem for the fantasista to play in a hostile environment. I was very impressed.
I am just so ridiculously happy they got away with a draw tonight its not even funny.
either way, bob supporters had their bubble bursted.
let’s not go too crazy about torres being the future. he only played a few minutes, but he definitely should get more playing time to see how he handles it.
I’m fine with Beasley staying with Torres in. I think Beas didn’t realize we were aiming for a 3-4-3 until Deuce had to YELL at him one time to run for to the corner.
pierce plays in the 2nd division in germany, i believe. all in all, I’ll take the point.
And Orozco cant do a better job than Pearce? Bring it on.
I love Beas but…he’s had had one too many sub par games. I don’t know who to put out there but we need to figure it our. Sacha is not the answer at CM maybe try him or Adu on the right and Dempsey on the left. I can’t believe I’m saying that but I put both goals on him tonight and his touches were mediocre at best. (he was player so great prior to that knee blow out. It’s sad…)
sacha is the future too. I blame Bradley’s tactics. Preki gets way more out of the kid.
I was embarrassed 85% of the time tonight. Thankful that the subs worked to get us the goals, but we looked scared AND lazy for most of the game.
Exactly, finally we start seeing DMB for what he is.
I need a drink. In the end, this was a GREAT game. Not because of the result but because we learned more about our team in 20 minutes than we have in 2 years.
The lessons are obvious:
Sacha- not ready, or at least way too inconsistent for now.
Torres- sublime, great match with Junior.
Altidore- regular starts are overdue. Xeres- are tools. Power tools. Industrial strength tools.
Ching- coulda been a contender, if only he could shoot.
Califf- definitely not ready.
Hey Dude- can make up for a big error.
Formation- hey, we really can try some offensive formations after all.
Big Bradley- can make up for a lot of big errors with some fantastic tactical adjustments.
I think the last point is the most important. Yeah, he put out a terrible line up, partially by force. But, to his credit, this was supposed to be an easier game and he needed to learn about his team. And he did. And he made some great moves.
ok you Sacha coolaide drinkers u happy?
Game took dramatic turn as soon as Torres came in. No coinicidence game picked up when he came in.
Told everyone this game was hand maid for Torres.
two high pressure games for Sacha, two duds. Time to pencil Torres in.
Bradley needs to stop playing favorites like Arena. Beasley clearly out of form like the last world cup but he still gets the start.
sacha doesn’t have the decision making to play at the top level yet. he’ll get there, but he should not be starting now.
Ching once again proved his worth. The guy is a warrior.
What happened on that last play? Why wasn’t it a corner? Foul?
On another note, if I ever start a band, it’s gonna be called “Califf’s Crappy Longballs.”
i agree, where the f.uck is orozco. he scored in CL, and pearce cant play for a second division club.
Let’s bring on Orozco. I was so pissed, I wanted Jimmy Conrad to return for a minute…
Kljestan turns the ball over way too much, he did it with the U23′s and he does it with the Nat’s. Until he fixes that he shouldn’t be anymore than a substitute and should be behind Torres & Adu on the depth chart.
Dont give too much credit to BB, those moves he made were coming regardless of the score.
MIke Ruze – all coaches play favorites…duh…
Outside of England, the USMNT is the most overrated football team on the planet. They are shocking in the midfield – Kljestan and Beasley are a joke with all the tapping at the ball into the other team’s feet, no creativity, and no awareness on the pitch. Bradley picks this pack of pretenders and he must go immediately. If they can’t beat down an El Salvador squad, they are surely a 4-0 defeat waiting to happen at the hands of the Italians and Brazilians. A freaking joke in the midfield.
Frick SEattle scored on RSL already. OH and Colorado leading KC 2-1
does pearce ‘play’ in the 2nd division; is he even dressing for half his games these days?
beasley no heart out there, very sad
i dont think torres is the answer against al teams; but any team that bunkers against us is perfect for him
bob bradley and tom rongen are bad for u.s. soccer
Kljestan is awful in the middle. He has to be on the flank, or on the bench… TORRES IS NASTY,,, BOBBY, START HIM.
Next game
Spector in for Hejduk or pearce
Beasley switched with Dempsey
Torres in for Kljestan
Oneywu in for Califf
Adu and Johnson dressed and getting minutes
Ching once again proved his worth. The guy is a warrior.
Posted by: Travis in Miami | March 28, 2009 at 11:22 PM
—
I guess if you ignore the first 75 minutes of the game when he was completely ineffective. I will say this though, he played better than he did against Mexico, at least he forced a GK to make a svae this time.
Pearce needs to be dropped, Kljstean I like the guy but he’s too comfprtable making the squad he shouldn’t have made the 18 for this one, Torres has earned his starting spot amazing he was calmn and made smart passes, dempsey dosen’t play for the US like he does for fulham just my opinion. Califf never again I’d rather have chad marshall the guy is garbage. I think 2 years ago we would have lost this game, that to me shows the complete growth and depth in this squad. I didn’t like the starting line up but at the same time the guys who get called must perform. I like the changes BB made and to me they saved the game, thats what makes him a good coach. I don’t think we need a foreign coach we need these guys to want to wear the shirt and fight like they did those last twenty minutes.
I love Altidore, but the guy scored on a wide open header. I don’t think he’s a regular starter until he starts playing for his club. Keep bringing him off the bench.
seattle are best team in MLS
El Salvador just has 2 points after 2 games at home. They are as good as done now. They deserve it for their ridiculous time wasting tactics. The U.S. should have won this game hands down. Bradley has to really rethink the personal he puts out on the field.
lol everybody cool your jets,because torres comes on with one good came and sacha plays bad once you think we should totally mess with the line up,its kind of naive to think people should be replaced after a guy had a great game and one didnt stand out.
Should we also replace Altidore with donovan for wednesday because donovan didnt do much today?thats what I thought.
Hejduk= The captain of this team,and should be given the armband without a doubt in my mind
Houston leading San JOse 3-2
i bet we see EJ before Jozy against t and t because bob is an idiot
worldfootballbook-
Not only did you make a pretty wild insult toward the U.S. based on one bad game but you included England in your unfounded rebuke on a day they pulled a pretty great result. Perhaps you woke up from a coma you entered into in 2006 and discovered “Blogs” and thought you’d give commenting a go. Keep trying bud. You’ll find your sea legs.
For everyone that bitc**ed that Mastroeni would give up too many fouls, look at how Michael Bradley played…..do you think Pablo would have been worse than that? And you guys preferred Sacha over him. Ha.
Sacha played like crap. His best game was against a B-team from a mediocre Euro team. If he starts again any time soon then Bradley needs to get mule punched. I wasn’t one for starting Torres over him or Pablo, but after another lackluster Klesjtan performance, I will take either of them.
How badly did we miss Gooch? Nuff said.
Guzan finally started taking control of the D, but it was far too late into the game. Thank god we will have Timmy back on Wednesday. And now you can see the “depth” we have at defense…none what so ever. I personally would’ve put in Demerit over Califf.
At least we got a point, but this shows that we aren’t progressing AT ALL under Bradley. We are far more talented than that scrub team. We should have put 5 or 6 in on them. Another game like that and I am all on the sack Bob Bradley train.
Ching once again proved his worth. The guy is a warrior.
Posted by: Travis in Miami | March 28, 2009 at 11:22 PM
What kind of football do they play on your planet? This guy is a fraud striker. It should be Altidore and Adu in the hole – with Landon on one flank and Dempsey on the other. Bradley and Torres in the middle. Beasley is pitiful shell of what he used to be – another joke.
all the Ching haters should shut it. Did you see Altidore’s goal? did you see how that happened. Ching holding the ball, shielding off two defenders, and feeding the ball to Hejduk on the run. he took a beating all game fighting for the ball- you think adu could do that??
I admit the mid field needs work it needs leadership thats where were lacking. The amount of hate towards the coach is ridiculous, you pick a lineup the guys need to play if not they should loose their spots. Califf, Sasha, Pearce need to go spend more time with their clubs, the international game is way above their heads. I think BB and his staff realize that. I don’t care what team you are your supposed to win your home games, so to get a point after being down 2-0 come on now 2 years ago we would have lost 3-0.
Check this out:
link to soccernet.espn.go.com
who ever is doing the stats for ESPN needs to be fired. They mixed up Adu with Edu AND had Torres’ middle name as Anthony. Uh..earth to ESPN, it’s Jose Francisco Torres; Jose Anthony Torres is a Panama player.
I expect no one to read this – I just need to vent.
Torres was really the difference maker for me. I like him in the middle with Bradley. Sasha looked horrible.
Ching looked better than people give him credit for. He was holding the ball well, but he can’t finish well. Jozy finishes well, but he can’t hold the ball up at all. I like the pairing – hopefully Jozy will develop Ching’s skills in the next year so that Ching can play on the bench, but for now, I like the Ching-Jozy pairing. Frankie doesn’t link up with Jozy without Ching holding up the ball.
Landon looked like he was sharp, but he also wasn’t impacting the game that much. His touches were solid and he moved the ball into dangerous positions, but more often than not, nothing ever materialized out of any of it.
The defense in general looked really shaky. Guzan had one really good save, but I am really glad that Howard is going to be available next Wed. Pierce was really frustrating to watch, Boca seemed off, Califf is a replacement player, and Beasley needs to play more b/c he made some major mistakes.
Deuce really didn’t look that great either. He gave the ball away way too much with bad passes, but obviously not as much as Sacha.
I was glad that we were able to come back, but even with the tie, it feels like a loss with the way we played all night.
link to justin.tv
Sounders/RSL feed
One more thing, when you are down and desperate to get back into the game, don’t play for possesion and pass back. PUSH THE BALL UP AND PRESSURE. Why in the h.ell were the US not pushing the ball out to the wings more?! The defense was cramming the middle. Push it out to the wings and put in a cross to our bigger players to get a head on. Look at Altidore’s goal. Dee dee dee. Common sense guys.
Like most have said here, Beasley didn’t look like he cared to be there. For that matter most of the team seemed the same way. For all that time El Salvador was wasting someone should’ve called the group in and used their man voice to get tehm motivated. Usually that person is Timmy, but d.amn when is Donovan gonna step up and be a leader to this team like he should be. Get you guys focused and into the game!
Now we know. It’s time to start Jose and Jozy. Sacha is NOWHERE near ready. He’s way too inconsistent.
Basically BB has to realize when players arent performing and bench them. I think ADU should make the bench and Sacha shouldnt even suit up for the next game. This BS about players not deserving call ups because they dont play with their clubs is bogus. Jozy plays thirty min and scores. Ching on the other hand is served two goals and misses both.
worldfootballbook-
Not only did you make a pretty wild insult toward the U.S. based on one bad game but you included England in your unfounded rebuke on a day they pulled a pretty great result. Perhaps you woke up from a coma you entered into in 2006 and discovered “Blogs” and thought you’d give commenting a go. Keep trying bud. You’ll find your sea legs.
Posted by: Rocco | March 28, 2009 at 11:31 PM
LMAO! You call what they did to a rubbish UEFA squad “pretty great result”? Perhaps you should take the English c*ck outta your *$$ and what some real football – the kind they play in places like Italy, Spain, Argentina and Brazil.
By the way, the US team was beyond shocking tonight … and if you think this is just “one bad game” for the USMNT they have been coasting in a terrible federation. Come back here in July after the US gets destroyed in the Confederations Cup and tell us all how it was one bad game, you pathetic sycophant … get a clue!
IT’s now a no-brainer that Torres should be starting. He was by far the difference maker.
Coach, Califf, Klejstan, and Pearce should not be starting, ever. Write that down on your sleeve. If someone can’t run more than 15 meters (Beasley) without gasping don’t play him. When the opposition bunkers in don’t leave 30 meter gaps between your backs and mids and mids and fwrds. Throw away your sons under 12 tape where every ball is booted far down the field.
Look for another job.
Poor poor performance from the US tonite
Ching MOTM
Hejduk the goat and savior, but ill choose goat because how can you let an El Salvadorian worm climb your back like that and score over you, no way should that happen. And his positioning on the first goal was poor as well.
Guzan wasnt at fault, but i think Howard would’ve saved at least one of those goals.
God we need Gooch, Califf was lost without a map out there.
Jose Torres changed the game tonite, Kljestan was poor.
I guess if you ignore the first 75 minutes of the game when he was completely ineffective.
Posted by: KC | March 28, 2009 at 11:25 PM
Please name a player who was effective in the first 75 minutes!
I don’t understand why Califf is started ahead of Spector. I think Spector is our 3rd CB, then Orozco. Heck, either of them could’ve done better at LB.
Kljesten worked his way off the 1st team.
When he played in Panama last year for Chivas USA, he was not that impressive either. If he is that good, he should be dominating games in our region.
Torres earned his spot. If Bradley does not start Torres, We have to question the motivations of US Soccer. Do you play your best players, or your favourite players?
Torres has some meaningful International experience with his club having played at the Club World Championships and Copa Libertadores.
Jozy should also start. He is the future and the kid just knows how to score.
Hahnamen should have started in goal. He has more match experience than Guzan’s 10 minutes in an EPL match. You could see in his eyes he was a little freaked out by the experience.
Hahnamen – he is used to “playing” in front of big crowds like little El Salvador.
Oh well, we got our point, but the lesson is some players did not show to help us get our 3 points.
This is who I want to see against Italy June 15th.
Altidore Ching
Dempsey Bradley Torres Donovan
Hedjuk Bocanegra Onyewu Cherundolo
Howard
Guzan, Spector, Demerit, Edu, Beasley, Adu Cooper
I understand that Obvious,
But Arena and Bradley do it to an extreme.
Guzan pretty weak.
Ching did ok. But He SHOULD have one every header and held every ball when he was at least 2 inches taller and 30 lbs lighter than evry El Salvadoran. He doesnt knock the ball anywhere it needs to go. had nice pass to heydude then pulled another one of his Chad Barrett finishes when 1 on 1 with the goalie
worldfootballbook-
I’m not sure how defending a 4-0 result, against anybody, is sycophantic. If you’re going to be a big boy and use big boy word, try to understand them first.
P.S. Your site sucks.
Yo KC, are you an idiot or something? Not one thing you said on this page makes sense. Complaining that the Salvadoreans are not showing class because they boo the opposing team is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life. And I have had discussion with DC United fans on how the league is out to get them. lol. But I don’t see you showing any class yourself towards the Salvadorean players by calling them “dirty.” It is part of the game and its the way it should be. The US didn’t do much to deserve praise especially from a fan base that doesn’t get much time to appreciate their national team. Many hear are just so spoiled that it sickens me. I have been following the US team since 94 and now that I’m 24 I see so many people who are big fans of the team and don’t know sh!t about how it used to be. How many of you remember getting trashed on a regular bases? The US played like crap and El Salvador has the talent to do something major with the right philosophy and work ethic. The comments here have been horrendous. Not to many people here can actually back why they believe Bob should be fired. You guys want to see certain players in the lineup but you probably don’t see them on a regular bases unless they are in the Premier. How many of you calling for Torres actually watch him when he plays with Pachuca? How many of you actually knew what team he was on for starters? Everyone here needs to be brought back to reality. If the average American player still doesn’t hold his own in Europe what makes many here think that you can actually run a National team? The US is a good team and it will qualify. But until they are able to think on the ball the way El Salvador does on the ball it won’ be feared. Everytime El Salvador had the ball I was entertained. They passed and ran the ball on the sides or down the middle. Its a shame they aren’t fit or they could have continued the whole match. The US needs to start developing there technical skills and stop thinking less about being “athletic.” El Salvador was good on the ball and disciplined on it. Something the US used to be known for. I remember back around pre ’98, that was our style of play. And you guys are complaining about it. The US needs to learn how to get out of those messes. And the rest of us need to stop whining like a couple of Mexican fans. Appreciate the team for what it is. I don’t think any of you would actually do better than Bob at the moment to be sharing your retarded 2 cents.
Foget June 15th against Italy, I wanna see this Wednesday against T&T…
Altidore………..Donovan
Torres…Bradley…Pablo…Dempsey
Spector…Boca…Gooch…Heydude
…………Timmy……………
Ching can hold the ball, but we need a striker that can do what he is intended to do, SCORE. Trash talk all you want about Altidore’s goal being a “gift” but at least he put it in. Can’t say the same for almost all other US strikers. I wll take Heydude’s work rate and heart any day of the week over Wynne. Maybe even slide Stevie C to LB after he recovers from injury so Frankie can stay at RB.
worldfootballbook, what a negative human being. speaking of c*ocks in a$$ses, how about the euro one in yours when you call it football
oh yeah, and italy plays some really non-cynical games. model team, as you’re suggesting. ha
lammeto
what are saying? it seems like you want us to be satisfied with this result. just because we used to be one of the worst teams ever doesnt mean we have to accept tying with a team. especially one as weak as el salvador.
and yes there are many that would do better than BB.
Did anybody have an extra Midol for the Salvadorians?they had major cramps apparently.
Is anyone else mortified by our performance? And I think we could point our fingers a lot of different players, but I think the blame falls squarely at the feet of coach Bradley. Should we have waited that long to make our subs? I love Sasha, but he had no place on this field. Torres, for Sasha at half time. I understand Ching’s role on the men’s team, but this game clearly called for a Striker, not a holder. This game better influence the line-up for Trinidad. Perhaps it’s time to look at Ricardo as a pairing for Bradley and Donovan. This was embarrassing.
So, who’s Danny Califf and why is he playing in a World Cup Qualifier?
And Beasley, as much as I love the guy, can’t be played in the next game; he was awful tonight. So was Kljestan.
At least Frankie Hejduk showed up.
Count me as a minority when i say this.
1) To all Ching haters: He did his job. Not great but he did his job which was to hold up the ball until help arrives. On Altidore’s goal, Ching was able to hold the ball against two oncoming defenders then linked it to Hedjuk who then chipped it to Altidore. There were also numerous times where he sacrificed his body in an attempt to hold onto the ball. I like the Altidore-Ching pairing.
2) Cut Bob Bradley some slack. I said SOME cuz he should get some fault since he is coach BUT…..who else on this forum thought the line up Bradley started would fare THAT poorly in the first half…..THATS RIGHT, NO ONE DID and so did Bob Bradley. Plus he kinda made up for it with some smart tactics adapting using a 3-4-3 with Beasley moving to the back (which i found especially impressive)and Torres in the central attacking midfield role.
haha told you im part of the minority
It’s hard to take Beas out, particularly with the weakness behind him at LB. He was bad tonight no doubt but what do you do about it?
I agree with Supsam,I use to bash ching alot but the last couple of games I thought he has done well
worldfootballbook, what a negative human being. speaking of c*ocks in a$$ses, how about the euro one in yours when you call it football
oh yeah, and italy plays some really non-cynical games. model team, as you’re suggesting. ha
Posted by: ManMan | March 29, 2009 at 12:02 AM
4 world cups in italy last time I checked – I’ll take cynical every day of the week
ha ha ha Rocco .. please stay away from the site, please. I’ll keep cashing those monthly checks while you wax on like a moron without a clue.
I just finished watching the match on my TiVo (was at the DCU-Fire match).
A nice comeback. But mostly a disgraceful performance. What I took away from the game:
-This game proved why Tim Howard is our most valuable player, while Guzan had a couple of bright moments, he conceded an incredibly soft goal. Please don’t get suspended again Tim.
-Why is Danny Califf our 3rd choice CB? He hasn’t even been playing for FC Midtjylland and he some how warrants a start in a WCQ in a hostile environment?!?!? DeMerit, Orozco, Spector, Parkhurst all warrant a start over this longball dependent hack.
-Right now, Kljestan is not good enough to start in our central midfield. I thought this was clear against Mexico. Hopefully, the point was driven home to BB tonight and doesn’t make another mistake against T&T
-Great stuff from Jozy and Torres
Horrible game for the US, but at least they cam back and got something from it. The US did not start playing until the last 20 minutes of the game. They palyed with no energy. Torres changed the game, he came in with hustle. That has to hurt if you are an El Salvador fan, so close. Klejstan and Beasely were horrible. Torres should start the next game absolutely!. Coach Bradley will use Masteroni in place for Bradley Jr. because of the yellow accumulation. I just hope he has the smarts to start Torres over Klejstan. Then maybe play Adu for Beasely. Lalas is an idiot! You never think “we should win this game automatically”. You always have to show up to play!
if you’re disregarding the drawbacks of negative soccer, worldfootballprick, then try not to lecture the rest of us on what constitutes “real” soccer
That was a freaking roller coaster ride of a game! Bob seemed to make all of the right decisions we just did not appear to come out of the gates with any sort of energy.
Frankie was clearly MOTM. Sacha and Beasley looked terrible tonight. Hopefully Bradley starts bringing Rogers in so the team has other options when DM takes the night off.
Rogers is like kljestan- not ready for the big show. hell, rogers wasn’t even ready for the olympics. did you see how much he sucked in beijing?
if you’re disregarding the drawbacks of negative soccer, worldfootballprick, then try not to lecture the rest of us on what constitutes “real” soccer
Posted by: ManMan | March 29, 2009 at 12:34 AM
okay, pollyanna … you keep preaching with an empty trophy cabinet, because at the end of the day nobody cares about style points … all that matters is who gets the trophy from Blatter.
Torres>Klestjan
Adu needs some time. No way Klestjan should see the pitch ahead of these two come Wednesday. And if not these two, then Edu. Our pace was sorely lacking, and Klestjan was overwhelmed both offensively and defensively.
Altidore>Ching
Not to downplay his efforts, but we need some inspiration upfront, not just win/hold/play it back.
Gritty point from overmatched opponent=poor result.
Klejstan and Beasley were horrible-Klejstan and Beasley were horrible-Klejstan and Beasley were horrible-Klejstan and Beasley were horrible-
Klejstan and Beasley were horrible-
Boca was ever so slightly less terrible. Heydude scored, assisted and gifted a goal but at least the guy has heart.
Very strange game –especially when you only play with a purpose after falling behind 2 nil.
M.B. hacked a guy for no reason and picked up a stupid yellow card- surprise!!!
Why can’t we hire commentators who will actually constructively critique U.S. soccer instead of sweeping all faults under the rug as if they did not exist?
We missed Pablo- he may play like crap for the Rapids more times than not but he always plays at his best for the national side- he is not done by any means and is still better at disrupting the flow of the opposition then anyone we currently have .
Did I mention?…….
Klejstan and Beasley were horrible!!!
Orozco needs to be called, he plays in a decent leauge/club. Get him minutes and groom him toward the future.
Torres played well, much better then Sacha.
Personally, I think Maurice Edu could play centeral defender if needed, but never ahead of Dimert, Orozco, Marshall. All three need there chance.
Beasley was missing on offense, he did work hard on defense though.
Pearce has played Middle left wing for his club, why not try for the national team. And Spector, in the back.
There are options to “fix or make the national team better”, but bradley needs to step and try them. Boca at left-back? Marshall-Gooch central defender?
Just some thoughts.
worldfootball, and how expansive exactly is your trophy cabinet? you must be one of those people who refers to your favorite club team as “we”. how many minutes have you actually played for italy? oh yeah, you really helped them out and you’re part of it. in what way is my trophy cabinet more empty that your imaginary one?
It woulda been hilarious to see the US players go down with “cramps” and injuries after they tied the games.
Ching is only partially effective against midget South Americans..he still cant put the ball on the net. He hardly ever knocks the ball down anywhere usefull when he does win it.
Does anyone think hell be effective against teams as big as him like England, Germany, Norway etc?
Torres and Bradley against latin countries or smaller Asian ones.
Edu and Bradley against the Bigger Germany’s, Denmark, or or England.
Klejestan and Clark against second tier teams or B friendlies.
Just keep reminding yourself: if Frankie Heyschmuck is your best player, you’ve got major problems at any level of football, even against a minnow like El Salavador.
if Frankie Heyschmuk is your best player at any level of football, your team has got major problems. Cheers to you Tom P for saying it like it is … too many cheerleaders at ESPN tonight and nowhere enough real evaluation.
This team has major holes in it and it starts with the coach who picks this team.
This was Bob Bradley’s worst game. He failed at every level, selection, preparation, and tactics, all miserable failures.
Tom P
i complety agree. especially about our commentators. one guy seemed to be having a love affair with ching. they also gave salvador too much credit. i dont think el salvador did anything special we just didnt come out and play.
i say bench ching,beasley, klejstan, and bring out torres, altidore, and adu.
I am wondering if I was looking at the same game as all of you…I thought Ching was very good out there. He is very consistent at what he brings to the game. He does quite a bit of work off the ball. A good game for him.
I think we need to move on from Beasley. He never came back from that injury. He is way too inconsistent, and he definitely has lost a step.
The Gooch clearly cannot be replaced at this point. The same goes for Churondolo. Pearce and Calif can’t cut it.
Based on Guzan’s performance tonight, I would be comfortable with Hanneman as the #2 keeper.
And finally, I would like to see more Torres. He looked quite poised.
It’s so frustrating to see us having all these problems in defense with DeMerit sitting on the bench, and Jimmy Conrad apparently never getting called to another USMNT camp.
I don’t hate on Ching for the work that he puts in, because the guy runs his wheels of ever game I’ve seen him in. My problem is that he’s a striker and he doesn’t score goals. I look at it like this, had Donovan or Altidore had that chance in the closing minutes of the game, I think they would have put it somewhere other than straight into the backup keeper’s chest.
Is it just me, or did it seem like there was an abundance of overhead kicks in this game?
Is anyone going to point out that Gooch was missing. Huge difference. One of my top 3 most important players. Howard would also be in that 3.
Also, its a tie at an away game in a very hostile environment. Generally speaking, that’s a victory. We are top of the Hex. Are we now expecting to defeat every country like we did barbados?
That said, Torres and Altidore should be no brainers now.
Okay all of you Torres maniacs, I agree 100% with you! I have been turned from a preacher of the Church of Mastroeni to a worshipper in the Church of Torres. I just finished my DVR recording of the game, I had to miss it live, and holy shite what an effing game!!!
We started so poor, flat footed, and awful. The only thing that worked was the long ball in the beginning. Our midfield lost the ball so much I thought they had Alzheimer’s. WE were getting beaten to the ball the whole first half. We are better, stronger, and quicker, there is no reason to get beaten to the ball. It was apparent that they were not giving 100%. I have previously been a believer in Pearce and Sacha, I now understand where many of you have been coming from. They both had terrible games. I was wrong there too. I hope we find a stronger left back.
Now, all you Heyduk haters, as Jose would say, SHUT UP! What a game by Heyduk. The RIGHT BACK notorious for losing possession and for hustle makes the assist and a goal. Not a forward or even a midfielder, but a defender!!! Heyduk!!! Wow. That shows it right there that HEART is what we needed. He was the only one on the field in the first half not getting beat to the ball, out hustling the el salvadorians, and outplaying them. In the second half, when getting players who were hustlers and calling for the ball ( Altidore and Torres), Heyduk had success!!!
Torres was just plain amazing. I won’t actually say I was wrong in asking for Pablo to be started because I said I need to see Torres play more, but now that I have seen more, I agree that our duo for success should be Torres-Bradley in the midfield for 2010. I sure hope that is our starting midfield against T&T.
The way Torres defended was as equally impressive as Bradley’s hustle to defend. His ability to make creative passes that reach their target was refreshing to see in our middle. I am a fan.
Califf did not have the best of games. He is NO Onyewu. I hope Demerrit or Spector subs for central midfield from now on.
Pearce was not as sound as I once thought. I hope we find another left back, maybe Spector. For all those who think Beasley is the answer, he is not a left back (Citation El Salvador’s 2nd goal where he gets beaten badly and the goal is scored because the person with the assist is completely unchallenged.
When we were 1 nil down I was pretty pumped how Coach Bradley responded. He packed out our offense, bringing in Altidore for a defender and Torres for a tired Klejestan. I thought these tactics were brilliant. Then when they scored, even though in my heart our tactics were right, I feared Coach Bradley would be blamed for the goal for poor tactics in moving Beasley to left back. Thankfully the subs made their impact soon after and took charge of the game.
I thought El Salvador was just plain sorry in how they kept dropping on the field like flies. One would think they have never played soccer before and thought that the full game was only 50 minutes. It was so sorry. However, I was very glad we fought back through there crappy tactics. I was also happy to see our subs, and our future, Altidore and Torres’ good sportsmanship. Altidore, when confronted with a diver, helped the perpetrator up. Torres went above and beyond being cordial to the perps. I am very pleased with that type of action.
I thought Ching was going to win it late in the 90th minute with that bicycle kick on the open goal. Amazing play to set it up, and props to El Salvador for defending it. We came back great. I am pleased with the heart our team showed with the subs. I think maybe we saw what our future tactics should be from the U.S., which is very agressive compared to what we normally do.
T.V., I was wrong and you were right. I was preaching defensive, he offense. Well, when we just play it back to our defenders and are not able to penetrate, we are just wasting time. When we have players like Torres, Dempsey, and Altidore who force the issue we all win.
I sure hope I see that 4-3-3 again. It was nice. What was it at the end of the game???
Let me venture a guess.
Altidore—Ching—Donovan
Torres—Bradley—Dempsey
^ ^
l l
Beasley-Bocanegra-Califf-Heyduk
I was pleased with this agressive play. I hope we start this team on Wednesday. Please please please. Lets try it out. I commend the coaching staff’s ability to transform losing tactics, players, and formation into a winning tactic, players, and formation. They made it just right. I hope they start this way next game. No need to piddle around with the 4-4-2 I think now once we have found what works!!!
I love this game, and I love U.S.A.
I know this damn thing is sooo long that no one will read it, and I don’t care. I live in rural mississippi where I can’t talk soccer with anyone. I thank Ives for the site and for the opportunity to at the least get my voice out there in a soccer site so I can share my excitement with the SBI Mafia community. I am so excited I had to type all of my thoughts.
worldfootball, who exactly was claiming that the US is a world power? What’s wrong with being an up-and-comer. I guess you think that every single team in the world can be Brazil or Germany all of the time. What is this resentment you have towards the US team? And nice job moving on from your bragging about all the trophies “you” won with Italy. Loser
holy shite jmac, at 9:54 you completely read B. B.’s mind. Are you the one they call Bob, or are you just an amazing B.B. mind reader??? holy snikeys.
Jozy scores for the USMNT, and Xerez CD loses to Zaragoza … awesome …
“Torres for Klejstan. Altidore for Pearce. Have Beasley play more of a roving LB/LM.
That goal should have counted.
Posted by: jmac | March 28, 2009 at 09:54 PM”
“Bob Bradley must go. Just like his selections and tactics show no imagination, his players don’t either. This team looks afraid, (Beasley, Klejstan). They look like they don’t want to be on the pitch, (Beasley, Klejstan, Dempsey, Pearce). They look like they shouldn’t be on the pitch, (Califf and Klejstan). This is an entire break down of selection, tactics, and desire. That’s why Coach Bradley should resign.
Posted by: madmax | March 28, 2009 at 10:07 PM”
“Madmax, if only these idiots who support him actually understood football and watch performances rather than just looking at the score
Posted by: USFooty | March 28, 2009 at 10:09 PM”
Ummm, I watched the performance of Bob Bradley starting an understandable first eleven, and then completely reworking his tactics, formation, and subs to bring us back into the game. I thought this was some of the best in game coaching I’ve ever seen. The drastic changes he made to allow us to tie this ball game in the last 25 minutes was an amazing show of coaching skill.
Oh, Wow, I missed this one before that last comment. “new drinking game: if you don’t have any confidence in bradley to make effective in-game adjustments then drink a bottle of vodka
Posted by: JBeasy | March 28, 2009 at 10:08 PM”
I must ask you to eat your words.
“Anyone notice how the Salvadoran players stopped cramping up?
Posted by: casadelqueso | March 28, 2009 at 11:01 PM”
HAHAHAHAHAHA
EXACTLY
I wonder if there is anything the referees can do in these situations. I mean, they cannot really make sure they are really hurt and fine them can they? It really ruins the game, but makes our comeback even more sweeter against shitty tactics like that.
Incredibly disappointing performance. Lets say we were lucky to come away with a draw. Yeah, it was the ‘hostile’ away and not Ohio. But when can we get a bunch of natural footballers with an innate feel for the game on the pitch? Hejduk and gang it aint…
And it goes without saying, but Hejduk – man of the match.
Posted by: casadelqueso | March 28, 2009 at 11:12 PM
TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES
Posted by: TORRES | March 28, 2009 at 11:13 PM
Agree with both of these comments.
Heyduk definitely = man of the match.
What I hope to see for T&T’s starting line up:
Altidore——Ching——Donovan
Beasley–Torres–Bradley–Dempsey
Bocanegra—-Onyewu—–Heyduk
————Howard———-
Or you could move torres in place of Beas and put mastro in the center.
and sorry this guy for taking over the thread. I wish people were still awake to comment though.
Possible Line-ups For next game against T&T
Altidore-Ching-Donovan
Torres-Mastroeni-Bradley-Dempsey
Bocanegra-Onyewu-Heyduk
OR
Altidore-Ching-Donvan
Torres-Bradley-Dempsey
Beasley-Bocanegra-Onyewu-Heyduk
I think I favor the bottom line-up.
Goodnight everyone.
—-Altidore—–Ching——Donovan
—-Torres——Bradley—–Dempsey
–∆——————————-∆
Beasley—-Bocanegra—-Onyewu—-Heyduk
—————–Howard—————
Bornstein left mid sub, SPECTOR center D or all around D sub.
To all,
Don’t listen to worldfootball he doesn’t own that website like he wants you to believe. It’s owned by the same guy that runs Maxx torrents out of Sweden. The worldfootball guy in here isn’t even Italian or European, he’s american with Mexican decent. A little research can go a long way.
Worldfootball,
Dream on my friend and are Quarter Pounders still $1.29? I might need to hit you up at work for some.
I’ve been tellin everyone for the last 2+ years that Bob Bradley is unfit to be coach of the USMNT> Klestjan keeps making bad passes, DMB hasn’t been playing at Rangers, Pearce is a liability at LB and rarely plays for a Bundesliga second level team, Guzan doesn’t play much at Aston Villa….and Bradley calls this experience???? Meanwhile, Torres show us vision and accurate passing, Spector is startin at the EPL (Bunker Bob…he’s our left back,duh….), all Altidore does is score goals (hey…how about him starting…duh…) and our most talented player Adu rides the pine.
Meanwhile our U-17 got their tails kicked about in Uruguay…some development (hope Renken is okay..)
It all points to one person – Sunil Gulati – he and Bradley should never have been their positions in the 1st place. Our talents would have maximized more until Klinsmann….but that’s 2+ years too late….FIRE GULATI AND BUNKER BOB!
Also to add…Califf should stay at the tattoo parlor – too slow, too prone to fouling, and plays for a Mickey Mouse Danish league….how about inserting a hungry centerback like DeMerit who has earned his way up? BUNKER BOB, don’t you knpw by now that Eddie Johnson is and always be a hack…meanwhile Jeremiah Johnson, Charlie Davies, and Kenny Cooper are miles ahead of Mr Bling Bling Bling.
We are 3 and out if we make it to RSA 2010…
Jeremiah Johnson?
are you serious?
J. Johnson?
This guy plays for MK Dons.
Eddie Johnson would be the best player the Dons have ever had if he were there.
Jeremiah Johnson? you aren’t serious
worldfootball, who exactly was claiming that the US is a world power? What’s wrong with being an up-and-comer. I guess you think that every single team in the world can be Brazil or Germany all of the time. What is this resentment you have towards the US team? And nice job moving on from your bragging about all the trophies “you” won with Italy. Loser
Posted by: ManMan | March 29, 2009 at 03:04 AM
Never said “we” … you rambling moron. I just love people who can imagine lines of argument only to argue with themselves. I think that’s first sign of Borderline Personality Disorder, check it out with a shrink because you clearly need one. As far as the Italians are concerned, keep watching tonight’s game from your TiVo and I think you’ve come to grips with why Rossi turned his back on the USMNT. He actually wants to win something on the world stage. Isn’t that the point of competition: to win?
It all points to one person – Sunil Gulati – he and Bradley should never have been their positions in the 1st place. Our talents would have maximized more until Klinsmann….but that’s 2+ years too late….FIRE GULATI AND BUNKER BOB!
Posted by: Ron | March 29, 2009 at 06:54 AM
*** Bingo! Serious football requires serious football people in the right positions. It does indeed start with Gulati who bottled it from the outset.
worldfootball,
It’s funny. You live in the US. You support the New England Revolution. You have and make no money. You are Mexican.
You pretty much cried when Beckham decided to go to Milan because at that time you supported the LA Galaxy.
But, you act like you are Italian?
You should TIVO the Italy/Montenegro match and watch it. My father in law who lives in Italy and is actually Italian said it was the worst he has seen Italy play.
You probably don’t get cable out in the desert though do you?
Dai worldfootball sei frocio.
Solo a wannabe Italian would act like you.
Sei merda.
Torres was great. He provided great skill on the ball and intricate passing on the attack, while providing defensive tenacity and even won a few physical battles
Jozy added a badly needed spark to the attack. Nice finish on the goal and wasn’t bad dropping into the midfield and recieving passes. Nearly sprung Donovan late in the match too.
————–Altidore—Ching————-
——————-Donovan—————–
Beasley—————————–Dempsey
——————-Bradley—————–
Pearce——-Bocanegra—Onyewu——Hejduk
——————-Howard——————
Subs
Torres for Ching
Spector for Pearce
Kljestan for Beasley
Vamos Miami FC
Garber don’t count Miami for expansion 2012.
I’m don’t mean this sarcastically, but I’m glad that people have forgiven Orozco for his red card debacle and are ready to see that he is quite good.
I’ve been very hard on Ching myself, but I think it’s mostly because Bradley’s tactics and Ching’s playing style don’t mix well. Ching will fight his ass off for the ball, but because there’s no second forward and two holding midfielders, he’s got no one to pass it off to. I think a Ching-Altidore pairing is the best option. Not only will Altidore benefit from Ching on the field but the big kid could probably learn a few things about toughness. Then he’d have the finesse and the power of a very good striker.
I need to vent, I had a restless night thinking of the game last night and need to get it off my chest.
I missed the first 60 minutes of the match. But from what I saw, US looked like a cocky varsity squad playing against a pumped, energetic jv squad with fire in their eyes.
We obviously have the skill, we have more players in our MNT pool playing outside of the country than ever. We have a top 5 goalkeeper in the world. We just lacked the heart tonight. Stark contrast to the same players I saw in Columbus against El Tri.
Everyone who has played a sport knows that you learn more from a loss than you would from a win. Although they pulled a tie out of their ass, and should have won, it sure did feel as if they were shut out 2-0 (how ironic would that have been?). But we will see our team for what it really is Wednesday night…
IF Bob Bradley really is a good coach, which I believe he is, then we will see a much better team trying to prove to him they belong on his squad.
IF the players in question really want to represent the US badge, they will show up to kick ass instead of just showing up.
On every team I’ve been on, when the best players don’t perform, or don’t look like themselves, they are off the field. No player has a reserved spot on the field, every position is earned.
If we show up on Wednesday night and look flat, confused, slow, lazy, then I will officially call for Bob Bradley’s head. But I think he made some fantastic tactical changes late in a TOUGH game that helped salvage something out of a horrible performance.
We all have a tendency to look at the negatives in life. We Americans are a little spoiled when it comes to our National teams. And me personally, I only care about my soccer, besides the Redskins, all other sports don’t exist. But we do need to look at the last 15 minutes and appreciate that our boys didn’t quit on us and kept their heads up.
I’m calling for Hedjuk to wear the armband. As talented and headstrong as Boca is, no one has showed more passion than Hedjuk. Cherundalo is going to have a tough time getting his starting role back.
Should not have played Ching at striker…Altidore needs to be playing full 90 minute games. Also the lineup should look like this for WC 2010: Howard-Spector, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Hedjuk-JF Torres/Adu, Bradley, Edu/Kljestan, Dempsey-Donovan, Altidore
Feck, its time to drop Ching for Altidore.
worldfootball, you can’t make psychological diagnoses if you’ve only taken a few classes at a junior college. stop trying to claim the achievements of athletes in other countries as your own achievements. there’s a reason nobody wants to listen to your idiocy here, it’s because you have nothing to contribute
P.S. Remind me again how many more trophies you have in your trophy cabinet than I have?
or doesn’t like mexican americans
Posted by: Joey | March 28, 2009 at 11:16 PM
___
Joey,
Bradley coached Chivas USA which, at last look, were mostly Mexicans.
If Frankie could only make a good pass more than once or twice a game, he would be un-fricking-believable. As it is, he (and most of the USMNT) give the ball away far too easily. Still you got to love Frankie. He has the heart of a champion; there is no one like him.
Torres gave us what Reyna used to; someone who is calm on the ball in midfield, usually makes a good pass and can run through with the ball. Most of the other midfielders, such as Bradley, always a potential bad red card, need someone to calm them down.
Beasley looked tentative and out of shape especially near the end. He needs to play a lot more to get back to anywhere near where he was. Maybe that is why he and Califf kept launching bombs near the end. Too out of shape to make runs down the wing?
Overall, a good wakeup call. Hope they pay attention. El Salvador, not a great team, could easily have won.
You should TIVO the Italy/Montenegro match and watch it. My father in law who lives in Italy and is actually Italian said it was the worst he has seen Italy play.
You probably don’t get cable out in the desert though do you?
Posted by: This Guy | March 29, 2009 at 07:54 AM
Ask your father-in-law if he knows who Claudio Gentile is, what stadium he played in on July 11, 1982, what position he played and what number he wore in the final. I was there, because he’s my cousin. Have you actually seen one of those medals?
What I hope we see start on Wednesday, in 3 days
—-Altidore—–Ching——Donovan
—-Torres——Bradley—–Dempsey
–∆——————————-∆
Spector—-Bocanegra—-Onyewu—-Heyduk
—————–Howard—————
This time I think it is actually plausable to suggest unnatural formations and players for the USMNT. Bob Bradley’s experimentation won us the game last night, and I hope he continues to experiment and work on it, or at least start the same winning team that ended the game last night. Which is
—-Altidore—–Ching——Donovan
—-Torres——Bradley—–Dempsey
–∆——————————-∆
Beasley—-Bocanegra—-Onyewu—-Heyduk
—————–Howard—————
Counting down the hours to Nashville… only 81 hours remaining.
My hoarse voice will be ready.
Cised…
The U.S. needs a new offense
Lets look at…
Jemal Johnson
Preston Zimmerman
Jeremiah White
Benny Feilhaber (remember him?)
wtf who cares if he is not playing quite yet at AGF Aarhus he was brilliant for the USMNT and Beasley and Ching downright suck big ones
lammeto
what are saying? it seems like you want us to be satisfied with this result. just because we used to be one of the worst teams ever doesnt mean we have to accept tying with a team. especially one as weak as el salvador.
and yes there are many that would do better than BB.
Posted by: sucram89 | March 29, 2009 at 12:03 AM
Hardly. If anything I am extremely disappointed but as a Salvadoran-American I could not have asked for a better result. El Salvador played really good for a team whose players aren’t used to playing such physical games. Everytime the Salvies lost the ball, there would be 2 or 3 players around. Something the US was good at back in the day. The first goal was a nice give and go straight out of the book of football. Look at the game again. The US got outdown by tactics that they have used for many years. They should have know what was going on throughout the game. As for the player time wasting, that was far from it. These players aren’t used to playing that extreme. If they didn’t play at home they would be a lttle better conditioned. But at the end of the day, the US played really bad and El Salvador overachieved.
I see Bradley being pleased with a draw in El Salvador and thus, more of the same.
worldfootball,
You’re a 23 year-old kid from Carson City named Tony. who makes about a hundred dollars a week with a couple link feeder sites. I know alot more too. So, you should probably stop with the garbage you are spewing on SBI.
Pace.
I do give credit to Ching for being a Holding Forward. But that is it, he has nothing else.
If he is labeled as a Warrior bc of that, we have a long way to go. You can see, just like DMB, time is catching up. They are pretty much done. Their USMNT time has passed them by. Time to start grooming others before the WC gets here. How does anyone get experience under BB, its the some old crap as before with BA. Play your favs, what is this church ball.
Reflecting back on last nights game, I am still surprised at the team selection, seeming lack of an coherant game plan and then the Managers incomprehensible lack of action to adjust the formations.
We knew what to expect. Don’t we learn?
The Manager sat in the dugout staring into space while “Rome burnt”. He seemed unconscious till the last 15 minutes!!
We are still carrying players who are not at the required – what were Kljestan and Beasley doing and why were they not pulled off at half time. What does Ching add?
Torres and Altidore were a breath of fresh air. A colleague who is a Paduca fan was aghast he chose to play for the USA – suggest play him in mid field and move Clint to Ching spot?
Guzman had no chance with the 2 well taken goals but it wud be better for my nerves if he cud collecdt the ball when he goes for these walkabouts in the penalty area, and stop punching the the ball.
Still believe we have some great players and a opportunity but we need someone to put this all together and frankly wonder if we shud look to a manager with solid international experience, just go to Europe and compare resumes. This is a global game – we are too parochial.
Look forward to Wednesday – maybe the Manager will read this blog.
Beasley is a starter. The USMNT can’t compete against anybody without Beasley.
I love how quick everybody is to write somebody off.
If we banned every player that people here have said need to go in the last 2 years than who would be left?
EJ gone.
Dempsey gone.
Ching gone.
Kjlestan gone.
Guzan gone.
Pearce gone.
Moor gone.
Beasley gone.
Hejduk gone.
Baby Bradley gone.
Califf gone.
Orozco gone.
We can’t have kneejerk reactions after every game.
Here is the squad I would field and I’ve felt this way for at least 6 months.
———–Altidore———-
—Beasley———Donovan—
Torres——Bradley—Dempsey
Orozco–BlackMouth-Gooch-Dolo/Wynne
———–Timmy—————–
Take your USMNT made up of Marcus Tracy, Jeremiah Johnson, and whoever else you’ve never seen play at a top level but think they are the answer and play this squad and you will lose. everytime.
Where is the Galarcep analysis I have been wiating for!
Torres looks like a young Claudio Reyna…
worldfootball- why I don’t agree with your tone your basic sentiment is correct- we are not the 17th ranked team in the world by far. And we are in many ways like England in relation to being way overrated.
The main reason is we play to the level of the competition and on any given day one of the phases of the game inevitably fails the other 2. Last night it was just atrocious midfield play and 2 crucial gaffes by Boca and Heydude on defense- although Beasley should have never got beaten and allowed the cross to get off in the first place.
We were extremely fortunate to get out with a draw and the worst part is it will be treated like a victory by the USSF lackey’s because we came from 2 – nil down.
I see it more like this: we didn’t even actually start to compete with any heart or passion until we were 2 nil down.
Last note: If we don’t start hiring announcers from outside the little clique that is U.S. soccer I am going start an internet campaign to raise money to hire Andy Gray to do simulcast no matter what the costs. Any objective announcer last night, who was not either a friend or afraid of the stiffs at USSF, would have ripped the team and the coach a new a**hole last not full stop. Sometimes it feels like the reincarnation of the German announcer in the movie Victory is now calling games for the U.S.
Where is the Galarcep post game analysis I have been waiting for?
Boo! Is this thread overfilled? NO more comments?
I’ve got a few gripes after that game, but my venom has cooled a lot since last night. The late comeback had a lot to do with that im sure.
But a few things still linger with me.
The first: How Califf is the #3 CB is beyond me at this point. Demerit is on form and captains a Championship side that stays in the promotion hunt more often than not. Edu can be an imposing CB and has played that spot before with the Nats. Parkhurst has hit the ground running in Europe. All of them are better options than Califf who has hit his ceiling as far as I can tell.
The second: Heath Pearce and the entire LB situation. Pearce offers nothing going forward and his defending is stopgap at best. Beasley is a better option as an attacking LB, but his defense is terrible. Why not try out Spector there, or let Bocanegra swing out and plug in the #3 CB? Obviously Pearce isn’t the answer and Bradley only seems open to Beas at LB when we are down.
The third: The CM quagmire. How can we have so many talented prospects at this position and still end up with Sacha Kljestan losing the ball everytime he turns around? We can all pencil Mike Bradley in whether we think the deserves it or not, but Feilhaber, Torres, Edu, Adu…can none of these guys play the possession game better than Sacha? Why do we stick with Sacha who couldn’t provoke a cheap transfer to Celtic on the back of a hat-trick against Sweden when Edu is turning into a star for Rangers?
This game overall was bordering on torture. No one seemed to be able to link up. Sacha was playing balls late to runs made by Demps and Beas, turning it over left and right. Bradley was getting guys involved but not being creative. Dempsey was playing with the ball but had no one overlapping. Hejduk was in all kinds of space on the flanks and we played inside. Everytime we began to build from the back the chance to switch the attack point would be there but instead our CBs would play long balls that were easily collected. It was just ugly, ugly play for 70 minutes. Once we spread the back out and pushed the flanks the game opened up and we got our goals, but the rest of the game was still a joke.
On the bright side, Landon played very well even though he had nothing to show for it. Bradley was terrific apart from the yellow. And Torres showed that he sees the game better than Sacha, and is a better passer. I hope JFT has convinced Bradley that he belongs, because we are going to need him to get points out of the rest of these road qualifiers.
Klejstan played like the Armenian Mob was holding his parents hostage and the fix was in.
What a sad and embarrassing display of soccer. I don’t care if anyone who doesn’t support U.S. Soccer talks sh*t about the USMNT’s performance on Saturday. It was well-deserved.
The team resorted to boom ball to get back in the match. Yes, it worked. But it was awful to watch. Even when the goals were scored, it didn’t make me any happier.
I would say the team played like a U-12 team but then I’d insult U-12 players.
No matter what happens against T&T, it could be a 12-0 win, this bad taste in my mouth won’t go away until the USMNT plays well (and hopefully wins) in Mexico in August.
The Miami FC billboards were the highlight of the night. It was all downhill from there.
I thought Donovan was good in the first half, but without guys making the runs or an ability to hold possession via our central midfielders his effectiveness was limited.
Defensively, Pearce was hurt by Beasley’s poor play on the left side and Califf’s inexperience in the middle.
Adu despite a lack of playing time still needs to be integrated in the midfield.
Sorry MLS fans, I’ve noticed in general that because MLS players hardly ever play in truly hostile atmospheres (Seattle now changes that) that for years MLS guys have frozen up on the road in qualifiers. Kljestan is just the latest example of that.
It’s no coincidence the two players we had last night with no experience outside of MLS or USL, Ching and Sacha were both horrible.
At least Ching serves a purpose. Kljestan could be easily replaced by a half dozen or more midfielders in our player pool.
Comment #500, aren’t I lucky!
@ worldfootball and The Guy
please take your personal argument elsewhere. Im sorry but people are trying to read up on the game and not want to read your heated debate
I see everyone giving Donovan a free pass. He was invisible last night. He had zero impact on the game. Did he touch the ball twice in the second half. THat breakway he got should have been on frame. Had it been EJ who played that ball the way he did folks on this thread would have been all over him. We keep hearing that Donovan and Ching work well together. If neither contribute to the offense then why do we need either on the field.
I was happy about the comeback but I am still mortified about the original team selection and the first half performance. Also Bradley keeps one , count them ONE – offensive option on the bench. That’s not good coaching.
1 point on the road
3 at home
I will take the 2-2 tie
I don’t like it. But, I will take it
hey andrew, that one offensive option was all he needed to turn it around. I call that efficient.
yo, yall think we should play Torres wednesday, im just sayin
For T&T, the US should e able to play a 3-4-3.
Donavon – Altidore – Dempsey
Bornstein – Torres – Bradley – Adu
Bocenegra – Onweyu – Hedjuk
Howard
This probably the most skillful lineup available this week.
There is some risk with such a young line-up. Inserting Mastroeni in for one of the midfielders (Adu or Bornstein) and sliding Torres to the outside would work.
Another danger with this is that T&T might be able to get deep and cross, but Bradley getting back to win defensive headers could make that less effective than it might be.
If it is 4 in back then, Specter, Bocanegra, Onweyu, Hedjuk, possibly Bornstein instead of Spector (I have not been impressed with Spector’s tactical decisions and concentration in his recent games with West Ham).