Toulon Tournament: USA vs. Turkey (Running Commentary)
Good morning folks. Today marks the U.S. Under-23 national team's debut in the Toulon International Tournament. The Americans will take on Turkey.
I will be following the match and providing a running commentary. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the match.
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FINAL- The Americans will face Ivory Coast on Friday. For those of you interested, Ivory Coast plays Italy in the other group game today at Noon on Fox Soccer Channel.
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FINAL- The Americans paid for being a rusty group that hadn't played together before. It would have been interesting to see A) how this group would have looked with a game or two under its belt and B) how the full-strength U-23 team would have looked against this young Turkey squad.
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FINAL- Turkey 3, USA 2. The Americans were awful in the first half and good in the second half. If Peter Nowak wanted to see some player stand out, he did in Kamani Hill and Brek Shea.
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92nd minute- Good save from Cervi, who has looked better in the second half.
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88th minute- Time running out for the Americans. Brek Shea has looked very good on the left wing since coming in. This kid has a great future.
Man of the match for the Americans today? Kamani Hill.
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84th minute- Turkey is holding on as the Americans look energized.
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82nd minute- A great play by Brek Shea and probably should have drawn a penalty kick bu the ref ignored a foul.
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80th minute- Jon Leathers has looked very good at left back in the second half. He was getting abused at right back in the first half.
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78th minute- Tell you what, this Turkey team is good. Ozer Hurmaci and Nuri Sahin are stars in the making.
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77th minute- Nice stuff from Kamani Hill in central midfield now and the Americans have actually had more of the ball the past 10 minutes.
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72nd minute- Goal USA. Sammy Ochoa with a blast from 19 yards out. WOW. Turkey 3, USA 2.
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67th minute- Brek Shea comes in for Feilhaber.
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65th minute- Feilhaber leaves the match with a knee injury. He walked off but was clearly hobbled.
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58th minute- GOAL TURKEY- Brunner goes from hero to goat as he gets beat on a long-ball in as Turkey's forward gets a head on the long pass to make 3-1 Turkey. What a response less than a minute after Brunner's goal.
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57th minute- GOAL USA. Eric Brunner volleys home a corner kick from about 10 yards out. Nice play for Brunner. Turkey 2, USA 1.
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56th minute- Turkey's attack has slowed down and the Americans have played better in the second half, but they still can't make that final pass to threaten the Turkish goalkeeper. I don't think he has a save today.
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47th minute- Tony Beltran is in for Blake Wagner and Kamani Hill is in for Lee Nguyen.
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HALFTIME- Turkey 2, USA 0. Wow, this is going to be an ugly tournament for the Americans if this first half was any indication.
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46th minute- Apologies for no recent comments, but there's just nothing good to say. Turkey is dominating. It's amazing that Umit Davala is the head coach for Turkey. He's so young.
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37th minute- Bright spots for the U.S. team- Feilhaber and Corey Ashe. Players struggling- Everybody else.
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35th minute- GOAL TURKEY. Nuri Sahin with a clinical finish of a great sequence for Turkey. Turkey 2, USA 0.
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31st minute- Feilhaber is the best player on the field for the Americans but the defense looks overmatched.
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28th minute- The possession disparity must be about 75-25 in Turkey's favor. Turkey is fun to watch.
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26th minute- Feilhaber with a great little dribble but his cross is cleared out of danger.
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25th minute- USA corner kick, Feilhaber to take it.
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23rd minute- Ferrari with a nice turn and cross but nobody is there.
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20th minute- Cervi with a nice save as Turkey keeps on attacking. Someone should file a missing person's report for the U.S. central midfield.
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19th minute- A free kick goes in, a Turkish player gets a quick shot off and it is re-directed in by a Turkish forward. Eric Brunner got caught ball-watching a bit as his man scored the goal.
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18th minute- GOAL TURKEY
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16th minute- And for those wondering, the American formation is a 4-4-2, not a 4-3-3.
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14th minute- Sammy Ochoa runs onto a loose ball in the Turkey area but sends his wide-open shot from 12 yards wide of goal. What a wasted gift.
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12th minute- Americans doing a lot of defending on their heels against a fast and skillful Turkey attack. The scary part? This is a Turkey Under-21 team against a U.S. under-23 team, though obviously not THE U.S. Under-23 team.
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7th minute- Cervi with an ugly spill of what should have been a routine catch. He was VERY lucky that didn't turn into a goal.
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5th minute- Teams are still feeling each other out, though Turkey is definitely going to attack in bunches today.
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PRE-GAME- Here's the American lineup:
---------Ferrari-------------Ochoa------------
-------------------Feilhaber-------------------
Ashe---------------------------------- Nguyen
--------------------Dalby----------------------
Wagner-----Valentin----Brunner--- Leathers
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PRE-GAME- Red Bulls fans must be gritting their teeth at the thought of Brunner starting today.
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PRE-GAME- Someone at FSC thought it would be a good idea to have a boom mike catch Turkey singing its anthem. Not a good idea.
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PRE-GAME- Among the starters for the United States are Dom Cervi, Benny Feilhaber, Eric Brunner, Corey Ashe, Lee Nguyen and Julian Valentin.
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PRE-GAME- The stands are overflowing at this match. Overflowing with emptiness. Wow. Yes, it is a youth tournament.
Ives Galarcep is an American soccer columnist for ESPNsoccernet.com and creator of SoccerByIves.net.
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I'm anxious to see how Ferrari, Ochoa, and Dalby perform.
I haven't seen Ferrari since the U-20 Championships, while it has been difficult to follow Ochoa and Dalby's progress.
Posted by: Elliott | May 21, 2008 at 09:56 AM
Beat these turkey's!
Posted by: Pat the Red Bulls Fan | May 21, 2008 at 09:58 AM
The YNT blog has the lineup as a 4-3-3:
Ochoa ------- Ferrari ---------- Ashe
-----Nguyen - Feilhaber - Dalby
Wagner - Brunner - Valentin - Leathers
---------------Cervi
Posted by: bwidell | May 21, 2008 at 09:59 AM
If Brunner gets a deal overseas, good for him.
If another MLS team wants to sign him, we'll get something out of it.
The pay for developmental players is disgusting, and I'm glad Brunner stood up for himself, even if it's not good for my team. It's kind of hard to complain about the RBNY defense right now, even if they did let a promising player go.
EVERY team in MLS screws their developmental players. It's not a problem specific to NY.
Posted by: Haig | May 21, 2008 at 09:59 AM
Cervi with an ugly spill of a routine save? Man, he did it against Honduras but I would have never guessed he'd do it against a good European team.
Posted by: Aquaman | May 21, 2008 at 10:04 AM
Thanks for the coverage Ives!
Posted by: David Berger | May 21, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Wow, no kidding on the US center mids, I've been watching for almost 10 mins and didn't realize Feilhaber was playing.
Posted by: eric | May 21, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Who is wearing #10 for the US? I like his creativity.
Posted by: hoyanick | May 21, 2008 at 10:18 AM
#10 would be Benny Feilhaber.
Posted by: Matt | May 21, 2008 at 10:19 AM
10 is Feilhaber, to answer my own question.
Posted by: hoyanick | May 21, 2008 at 10:20 AM
The lack of team chemistry is evident....understandable, but frustrating to watch.
Posted by: Craig | May 21, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Ochoa has looked pretty bad this first half in my opinion...way to many loose passes and lost possession. Of course, that could be said for just about everyone on the field.
Posted by: Matt | May 21, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Feilhaber has not yet broken a sweat!
Ives am I watching the same game? He looks incredibly sluggish.
Posted by: Mario in SJ | May 21, 2008 at 10:25 AM
No one covering the middle...this game is going to get real ugly in the score line.
Posted by: Mario in SJ | May 21, 2008 at 10:27 AM
I agree with Ives. Feilhaber has been one of the only bright spots (if you can even call it that) this half for the US. The defense, especially the CBs are completely outmatched, as is Dalby at this point. Ferrari has had some good touches but he's getting little no help from Ochoa.
Posted by: Matt | May 21, 2008 at 10:30 AM
This is embarassing to say the least.
Posted by: Rob | May 21, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Well... This is fun.
Posted by: Elliott | May 21, 2008 at 10:33 AM
More good stuff from Feilhaber. I don't know what Derby was thinking, I swear he looked like an actual player when he did make the pitch.
Posted by: eric | May 21, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Who gave Sahin that look on goal? I think Feilhaber closed in to help the RB defend, leaving Sahin wide open for that look on goal.
Posted by: blog | May 21, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Yeah Ives but the UEFA U-21 rules allow for players to by like 23 at the time of tournaments...I mean Scott Carson was in goal for England last summer at the U-21 tournament and he's 23 or 24. The teams are roughly the same ages but appearently miles apart in their ability to play the game.
Posted by: Thomas | May 21, 2008 at 10:39 AM
I guess Freddy is gonna get alot of playing time in these friendies, cuz he hasn't played in forever, you woulda thought he'd be in Toulon.
Posted by: Rob | May 21, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Bottom line at this point. Turkey is hella good and the USA is not.
Posted by: Matt | May 21, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Great example in the 45th minute. Ferrari has the ball on the sidelines and he is losing it to two defenders. You look up at the box and there is Ochoa with 4 defenders and no white shirts...here come Feilhaber at a trot, way too late if Ferrari had broken through. No help from mids at ALL!!!!
Clearly this team shows the lack of any cohesiveness five days of practice can provide.
Posted by: Mario in SJ | May 21, 2008 at 10:41 AM
The U.S. looks like a team that hasn't played together at all. Ferrari looks like the only player with a shot to make the Olympic roster. Feilhaber had a couple of nice moves but has given the ball away with some poor decisions. I think Bob Bradley would have a difficult time justifying bringing him in with the full USMNT.
Posted by: Derek (Brooklyn) | May 21, 2008 at 10:44 AM
You can watch the game on http://channelsurfing.net/.
Posted by: David Berger | May 21, 2008 at 10:44 AM
It should be noted that this is a full strength Turkey team. That's not meant to be an excuse or take away from their dominance, but it's true. Of course, many of the names out there for USA have been glorified by many as the future of the USMNT so it's not exactly like US is fielded scrubs either.
Posted by: Matt | May 21, 2008 at 10:46 AM
Brutal. Good for Feilhaber and Ashe.
Posted by: Tim F. | May 21, 2008 at 10:50 AM
2nd goal was bad defending and even worse goalkeeping....it was near-post
Posted by: Vladimir | May 21, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Cervi has looked decent after spilling an early ball. Interesting to note that Feilhaber and Cervi are both on the 22-man roster for the England game. Despite the appreciation for Feilhaber from Ives and a few other posters, I think Benny has been pretty average today. Some exceptional moves but a few terrible giveaways that put the team in poor positions.
Posted by: Derek (Brooklyn) | May 21, 2008 at 10:52 AM
I rate Peter Nowak very low as a coach. He was an awesome player, but man he sucks as a coach. Olympic qualifying case in point-and his arrogance after such a torrid display by the US was really infuriating.
No reason w/ the players we have on the pitch to be sucking like this. Three players w/ first team caps.
Posted by: Dave | May 21, 2008 at 10:52 AM
He did well at DC United. Certainly much better than Soehn
Posted by: KingSnake | May 21, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Dave,
Without watching the game I agree. I don't like Nowak either. Great players do not always make good coaches. Guy is too set in his ways and doesn't adapt to his team or opponent.
Posted by: Rocco | May 21, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Whoops! I left to stick my head in the oven. Any subs? Sure hope so, especially on the backline.
Posted by: eric | May 21, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Anything happening?
Posted by: Rocco | May 21, 2008 at 11:03 AM
58' Ochoa rolled in a bad cross when he should've shot
Posted by: Vladimir | May 21, 2008 at 11:03 AM
GOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: eric | May 21, 2008 at 11:05 AM
60' goal corner kick, header by by Brunner
Posted by: Vladimir | May 21, 2008 at 11:05 AM
who
Posted by: Rocco | May 21, 2008 at 11:06 AM
OUCH. Brunner scores for US then gets burned on the restart, it's now 3-1
Posted by: eric | May 21, 2008 at 11:06 AM
61' Turkey get one right back due to poor poor defending and once again, bad judgement by the keeper
Posted by: Vladimir | May 21, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Cervi is terrible...no wonder he doesn't have a club. That was pathetic,.
Posted by: Aljarov | May 21, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Boy, that was unecessarily quick coming back at us...
Posted by: brant | May 21, 2008 at 11:06 AM
AAAGH!! I was so happy to see Brunner score, and then clusterf*** at the other end to give the lead back to Turkey.
Posted by: Homey Boehme | May 21, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Brunner??? I hope Red Bull is watching. Cheap .$$ suckers..
Posted by: Rocco | May 21, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Brunner is a nice guy; glad he got the goal. thought the keeper should have stopped his shot.
Posted by: Tim F. | May 21, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Yeah he did well at DC. Gotta give him credit for that. Perhaps not as well as he should have however w/ the squad that he had.
Same argument could be made for this team as we qualified for the Olympics.
With the quality we have at this level, simply achieving that objective is not enough, this is the level where we need to be developing the creativity and adventure needed to make the US as real force on the world stage, not an occasional cinderella story.
His tactics in the qualifiers were AWFUL and more than that, as in this game, the players literally looked like it is their first time playing together-NO fluidity or cohesion at all. really pisses me off.
The U-17s play w/ more class than Nowak's squad.
Posted by: Dave Bonzagni | May 21, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Please sub Cervi out...ugh.
Posted by: Homey Boehme | May 21, 2008 at 11:08 AM
I've got a provocative statement here:
The US youth sports focus on "everyone gets to play" and "everyone learns to share" and "everyone is a good sport" severely hampers our ability to create a striker worth a crap. We coddle the kids too much instead of identifying the ones that can shoot, and encouraging them to do so, rather than framing them as 'ball hogs'.
If kids weren't stigmatized for shooting, and thereby scoring, maybe we could develop some strikers that hit more than the deck.
Posted by: brant | May 21, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Yeah, I fel NOWAK was horrible on the tactics, squad selection and starting XI during the qualifiers. I think qualifying almost over-achieved fro the uS. N ot because the players aren;t good enough - they totally are - but because Nowak was so out of whack.
Posted by: Aljarov | May 21, 2008 at 11:10 AM
trying to follow on Slingbox at a conference where the entire freakin' room is on their laptops on the wireless network. How DARE they try to work while I want to watch soccer! Selfish ba****ds
Posted by: brant | May 21, 2008 at 11:11 AM