our defense has to get better if we're going to go anywhere in this tourney. Its horrible. Our midfield game is ok and we're getting some chances on offense but our defense is pathetic
our d is all we have really. Right now though england is pissed. This will test how good we actually are.
Enjoyable second half, frustrating for England, dogged and workmanlike by the US. England did have a couple of chances but lacked the cutting edge up front. No creativity in midfield for England, no-one to spread the ball around to link the back and frontlines, which is the key difference between England and the likes of Argentina, Spain and Brazil. Good result guys, well done. But dont take Slovenia for granted, they will be tricky.
US hung on a little but will go through. Not sure you deserved a point because even though England were 6 out of 10, they were the better side. Credit coach Bradley for setting the USA up well. Steven Gerrard showed all game long how he's one of the best 5 or 6 players in world football. And with Lampard and Rooney not playing well at all. England always start slow; drew 0-0 when we won it in '66. Both teams will qualify and well done to my Yankee friends. Your boys did pretty well.
my thoughts - england is good. - rooney scares me. - chance favors the prepared mine. The us pressed and pressed and it paid off. Good game for the US defensively. Would like to see altidore do better. - howard is a beast as always. edit: green is a good goalie, I hope england isn't too hard on him.
Thought it was a good game by england except for the atrotious keeper. For the first game out of the gates they moved the ball well just lacked a finish for the second goal deciding to shoot it straight at Howard on numerous occasions. I dont know what to do with the gk tho. Probably go with James. Can we bring Peter Shilton out of retirement? For usa obv a good result after being down so early. Both teams should adv but dont take the others lightly. Likely means that both eng and usa will need points from both remaining games to advance. Depending on what happens tomorrow a loss and they could be out.
can't choke now...and hope to get the goal difference in the next two games against england to avoid germany.
the US' confidence increased by the minute. onyewu got better and better after falling asleep for the england goal. i thought bradley played pretty well too. altidore came so close. gotta feel good. draw and no injuries. subbing in holden...man he cant keep the ball in bounds lol
yeah you guys outplayed us. when you pressed us in the second half we didnt handle it to well. i still dont get why england always goes into these world cups with questionable goaltending. thats going to be your achilles heel this tourney. your offense will find its groove but that goalie and susceptibility to the counter will have to be watched
Howard and Gerrard were the 2 best players on the field today. Outstanding performance by the 2. We live and die by Tim Howard, though.
Lu - Green will get crucified in the press. That's just the nature of England. Adam, the kid Joe Hart might be one of the best 2 or 3 keepers in the Premiership but he's a kid with no international experience.
i agree. they are the better team, but for a stretch there they were out of sorts. they were fouling us like crazy for a little while our guys just dont put a scare in they way they do
thats fair, but i dont think it will matter. he is going to be harder on himself than anyone else would be. he is either going to bounce back or not, regardless of the press. his teammate's support is more important.
i did like the progress i see cup to cup. we put together some very nice plays and we did well midfield until england pressed us in the 2nd half. overall there has been nice improvement in terms of offense but our defense was out of sync it seemed to me
yeah. im a bit surprised how timid and nervous out guys still were to open the game. i thought they would be a bit beyond that. probably a reflection on the work that still needs to be done
You need a Gerrard type. You won't graduate from a last 16 type team till you get a real midfield general. When you do that you build a tournament challenging team round him.
I think Green is going to take all the blame, however, people are failing to give credit to Tim Howard. After getting a foot rammed into his stomach, he got back up and completely shut down all of England's shots. It's not fair to blame it all on Green, because he only gave up one mistake of a goal and you expect England to score more than 1 goal in a match. But I highly doubt the papers there will give Howard credit for stopping England and the defense holding Wayne Rooney, probably the most talented goal scorer in the whole world cup, in check most of the match.
totally agree. bradley is the closest thing. he will get better and is only 22 or 23. obviously not at the level you are talking about, but is one of the few guys that doesnt get too flustered
To me, neither team was really sharp today, but I also was surprised at how evenly matched they were it was a good matchup of English ball skills vs US speed on the outside.
I just dont believe the hype with Rooney, I said it before in this post....Rooney does nothing for me....that being said...redcoats were the better team, and the USA played undisclipned sloppy football, a trend if it continues, will surely get them booted out of the finals....I'm sure Wayne will play better in this finals, but he wasnt anywhere today....I watch Messi, that dude was all over the pitch...creating, shooting, pushing, where was Rooney?? Boom.....Green getting killed right now in England?? he has to be mate.....
i haven't read this thread but... my thoughts. really really surprised how good dolo played. He gave it to milner (whither he was sick or not) and took the ball off cole more than a few times too not to mention personally saving one goal. We are super super lucky lennon still isn't back on form, he worked bocanegra. If we have to face another pacey winger on the right side there could be serious problems. I would like to see either torres or edu start for clark next game. Expect Donovan to have a much bigger impact now that he isn't facing cole down the flank. ps i just read a little. Freddy Adu spent the last half of this season playing for Aris in Greece along with Eddie Johnson. He did ok but still, the competition sucked. Also how do you not believe the Wayne Rooney "hype". Look at the guys numbers. Easily he was the best striker in the world this season before picking up a knock and slowing down a little towards the end. easily easily easily top 5 in the world.
Great goal by Gerrard. I had to watch the replay three times to see what he was doing- great deception, but I was even more impressed by the power and accuracy that he got with that right footed jab while moving to the left. As you Brits would say- brilliant. I've seen him do a few long distance goals in the past that were just jaw dropping. Normally I'd be happy with the tie, but not this way. What comes to mind is that I hope that the error doesn't do too much damage to your goal keeper. Unfortunate, to say the least. Hopeully he weathers the coming storm. Cheers.
Heres my take on the game....as watched at an official US vs England Pig Roast.... 1st half - I thought England carried the pace most of the 45 Mins....and had a few very nice scoring chances. Gerrard's goal was a thing of beauty...not in its flair...but THAT is the way you play football...what a great and timely run by a great baller. Clark was left in sleepy nigh nigh land. After watching the US vd Aussie game...I was really worried about our D. I knew we had speed on the outside....but our D gave the Socceroo's way to many uncontested chances to net one.... Talk about holding your breath...when Howard went down I thought he was done. At first, I thought it was his fore arm....guys a beast though..and definatley kept us in the game. You can say the Dempsey was a soft goal all you want....and I agree it shoudl have been saved. But as someone who has played a bit of keeper...a low hard shot that skips off the ground isnt always elementary. All it takes is to take your eye off for a split second...and just like a hard grounder in baseball. Granted...Green has no reason to even look up...he didnt even get his chest behind the ball, had he done that the worst would have been a deflection...but Dempsey made two nice moves to create some space to get a shot ... a shot on goal none the less. Ill take that kind of goal everyday and twice on Sunday's... Second half...was fairly even I thought until the last 10 Mins...when we really has to weather that Storm. Rooney was just a tad off or he would have deposited a header into the corner of our net.... But I love me some Altidore....man...gotta love our future with him. Fast and solid upper body means he can beat you outside..and its not easy to knock him off the ball. Very unlucky the post was rooting for England.... This game was a huge confidence builder for the US. Now we have to show we are a better team than both Slovenia and Algeria, which we are. Anything can happen in single elimination.....
I would have loved to have had Charlie Davies.... The Us is gonna have some exciting forwards for the next World Cup.... Like Boomer said....if we can ever get a Gerrard or Ballack type or caliber of player.....man...we could be dangerous. Bradley is solid enough...but he doesnt really create much....
I dont think we really played that sloppy at all.....our defense had some lapses...but we played a great second half...and really could have won it with Altidore's off the post shot.... We're gonna be a tough team to recon with in this Cup...
Wouldn't call Gerrard a midfield "general". He is certainly one of the best attacking midfieders in the game, but he needs a supplier in midfield. Look at how many long balls England hit tonight, neither Gerrard nor Lampard can link the play between the back and front lines, which is why England resorted to long balls. Those two should not and cannot play in midfield together. Gerrards best play at Liverpool came when Xabi Alonso was in the team. Since then his play has not been on the same level.
If it wasnt for Green's laspe of basic fundamentals we lose, plain and simple...yes the US had some opportinities, but the Reds had many greater ones......Howard made some brillant saves..... Without being strong in the middle as they aren't, we need to push the play to the sidelines....and they dont do enough of that....and damn it I am tired of this club coming out of the game nervous on the big stage....... Altidore is casper the ghost...... All told I believe they can and will play better, and what way to start the finals off with playing such a high caliber team like them, but I wanted to see more.......in told we have more to hang ur hats on than they do....they goosed it tonight...Rooney wow.....