Well, now that I am spared the pain of watching have finished viewing USA-Holland, here are some of my notes from the match.
- I think that Altidore is progressing marvelously. We saw him open the game getting marked out of the game by Heitinga and usually another help defender. By the end, he had some tricks in his bag for how to create space and cause trouble for Heitinga. Alexei Lalas asked “where was that the whole game?” A little harsh on Jozy, as he is still learning to play the game at the top level and is not Wayne Rooney.
- Who goes up top with Jozy? The leading contenders right now have to be (a.) Miraculous-healing Charlie Davies (b.) Miraculous-healing Clint Dempsey (c.) Landon Donovan or (d.) no one. There are no other forward options at a World Cup level of competition. I would rather have any of our midfield players on the field than any of the following: Brian Ching, Robbie Findley, Eddie Johnson, Kenny Cooper, etc.
- Landon Donovan didn’t get a lot of chances to do much in this match, but here’s something you should notice about how his game has improved. Watch when he lays a ball off towards the touch line and watch when Demarcus Beasley does it… Landon’s passes have a consistently excellent weight to them right now. Beasley and Altidore had energy and thought the game well, but neither of them have the consistent precision to hit the ball for teammates the way Donovan is doing now. Not a knock on the other two, just a nice technique example of why Donovan is currently a cut above.
- You want to know why Eddie Johnson is done? Watch how many runs he doesn’t supply when he has the ball. Then watch a Jonathan Spector cross. Then watch an Eddie Johnson cross. Notice that even though Eddie can place the ball where the US has an attacker, Eddie cannot place the ball with enough speed that the attacker has no chance to win the ball. Also notice that even in an obvious crossing situation Eddie waits to cross, as if thinking, “there must be some way I can do this without sharing the ball.” He’s done.
- I liked this Bedoya kid. He had good movement, seemed to understand where he should be on the field, and really played like he wanted to ask Holland some questions. In typical USA soccer fashion, when a player exhibits these traits, we tend to respond by stopping on the ball, turning the opposite direction and playing the ball backwards. If you want to try something different in the future, how about a midfield of Bedoya, Edu, Torres, and Holden? When we go to the bench, I’d love to see four guys interested in going towards the other team’s goal out there.
- I also like Clarence Goodson. Probably because I’m a Terrapin (PS – Beat Duke tonight!). He’s another player who seems interested in asking questions of his opponents and forcing them to make decisions under pressure.
- Is Jermain Jones alive? Have you seen his personal web page? It’s kind of spooky.
- JP Dellacamara (after the second Dutch goal): “Boy, Jonathan Bornstein is having an unlucky night.” Me from my couch: “He’s bad.”
If I had to pick the 23 Man Roster:
Goalkeepers (3) : Howard, Hahneman, Guzan
Defenders (8): Bocanegra, Onyewu, Spector, Demerit, Cherundolo, Goodson, Frank Simek, Jonathan Bornstein
Midfielders (8): Holden (if healthy), Torres, Bradley, Edu, Jones (if healthy, and if he changes that web site), Feilhaber (if healthy… noticing a theme?), Adu, Rogers
Forwards (4): Altidore, Davies (if healthy), Dempsey (if healthy), Donovan
I hope that added up to 23, if not, just remove Freddy Adu…
If you want some good analysis on who is probably going, check out Ives Galarcep. You can decide for yourself who picked a better squad.
Written By Steven
Maloney
(80 Posts) |
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