Altidore is such a streak down the sides sooner or later he will get his, he is sort of like Rooney, only much much faster, Dempsey(?) as well. IMHO the US and England had the same problem just slightly off target passing, maybe due to great defensive play, maybe due to the situation, but neither team was consistently setting their players up to succeed. I was sure that the English strategy of attacking outside and passing inside would pay off, but it constantly misfired, I also thought that Alti and Dempsey's speed on the edges would produce one on ones at the net and that never happened as the passes were just ever so slightly inaccurate. That is why imvho both teams have a bright future in the Rd of 16, tighten those issues down and both teams can make some noise.
I love Altidores games Pads, he is big fast and strong, however it hasnt translated on the pitch in natl match play(besides the Spain game)....he is Rooney-esque Some players know how to turn it up and love the big stage, and some dont.....
Well, I'd say neither team was particularly sharp, though the US's defense was outstanding, but on the attack neither team was hitting on all cylinders. When I say the US's defense was outstanding I mean they recovered really well, man on man the US defense is quite talented, schematically wise..not so much. And cut Alti some slack Bro, guy is 20.
he is only 20 and you can't just act like the spain game doesn't count when it was one of his biggest international game so far.
to make matters worse for some of the English fans watching from home, they were subjected to a commercial while Gerrard scored his goal... just wow... http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/wo...fans-an-ad-instead-of-Gerrard-?urn=sow,247852
Are the United States like the Dolphins circa 2008-2009? An underdog team that tends to play to it's competition, and none of the elite teams would want to face?[Except the Dolphins should move to elite status soon!]
they have the guys that are able and willing to deal with rooney's swinging arms, but yeah, they can get confused in space and dont communicate onyewu's size really came in handy. i think thats the biggest reason for his appearance.
hmmm. maybe. lighter on talent, but tough. bradley says all 23 have the fitness to play 90 minutes. maybe not, but it speaks to them but taking the first 10 minutes to settle down is a real problem. hopefully it wont happen anymore. i read a qoute from someone, maybe bocanegra that said something like, "we keep telling ourselves, dont concede early, yet we did it again." starting to sound like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. stop thinking about it
Gerrard carried Liverpool for seasons before Alonso arrived and singlehandedly got Liverpool into the qualification spot that put them into the 2005 Champions League which they subsequently won. He was your archetypal box to box midfield general, then, because he's such a good player moved to right midfield so as to accomodate Did Hamman and Xabi. Hell, when he carried Liverpool back to that CL Final win in Istanbul he played right back in extra time and was the best right back at the club. He's been pushed up front to play off Torres and had to play left midfield for England to accomodate Lampard who can only play one way. And Xabi only left in August of last year. Gerrard didn't have a great season by his standards, but he missed a lot of games through injury and Liverpool struggled all year as a whole.
LOL. Rooney didn't play very well, but one good game doesn't detract from being one of the two or three best players in world football. Green is getting killed in the Sunday papers.
Yeah, he's clinical in front of goal and he took it early, clipping it past Howard with the outside of his right foot. Classy finish. I doubt Green plays again in this tournament.
Dude, Jozy Altidore who was released by bottom dwellers Hull City because he was so poor and European Footballer of the Year Wayne Rooney are not similar. On any level. Rooney has consistently performed on every level. He had an average game last night.
Dont get me wrong I'm not saying Gerrard does not work or can play multiple positions, but the fact is neither he nor Lampard can link the play ala how a Pirlo or a Xabi can. You watch how many long balls England hit last night, you will not see Spain or Italy do that. The reason is England can not pass from midfield if they have both Lampard and Gerrard in midfield. For as good as both players are )and they are two of the best in Europe) that is not there strong point. Even though Garath Barry is not great at it either he is still better than Gerrard and Lampard at it and when he is fit he should really start. What then of Lampard and Gerrard? Only thing you can do is stick Gerrard behind Rooney or one the right. I think Gerrard playing behind Rooney would work quite well for England. Only other alternative is to drop one of them.
Awful game between Slovenia and Algeria, but Slovenia get the win after a massive mistake by the Algerian goalkepper. I dont think the US or England will be too worried from what they seen today. Both should beat those two teams and qualify. Slovenia were very poor. Slow passing, very little movement off the ball and zero quality in the final third. However they are pretty organised at the back and midfield and will be difficult to break down. But you guys should beat them.
ageed, how the US has to win this next game, if they draw and England wins the next game putting them at 4 points, Slovenia would have 4, and the US would have 2, putting them in a must win situation.... Thank God Slovenia plays England last
I love how some in the media expect a "apology" from the US for drawing in this game. Maybe Altidore should have put his in and then we could apologize for beating them.
I'm not so sure Slovenia is a cakewalk. They play very good defense. It will be tough to score on them and we're not exactly Brazil on offense. I'm hoping for a win but dont think its a given
Thing is, you had one chance all game and Altidore has his mis-hit shot pushed onto the post. England have 4 or 5 really good chances. In fairness, you were lucky to get a point. But you'll need someone to score goals for you because if you do qualify, you'll struggle to go any further because Altidore isn't very good.
Except Gerrad is ome of the best passers of the ball in the world. The reason Benitez pushed him in behind Torres was for exactly that reason. Lampard similarly. The issue is that both are legitimate 20 goal a season midfielders in the worlds best league and first instinct is to push on. As for why we play it longer than tippy tappy Spain is because when you have a big target man like Heskey or Crouch and you have talented and speedy options like Lennon, Rooney, Wright Phillips, etc., playing off and Lampard and Gerrard coming from deep, it's a style that suits. There are three certainties on the team sheet for England; Ashley Cole is one. Rooney and Gerrard are the other two. No way will either be benched.
This. Glad we got the draw, and we showed a few good attacks, but outside of Alditore's shot, and a few good attacks in the last 10 minutes we didn't show a lot. I REALLY wish we had manufactured a goal yesterday....I'd feel alot better. I watch us a lot though, and I know we can play better than we did against England, so I remain optimistic. Our teamwork just wasn't there :P Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Word is GK Howard may have broken ribs.... http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/wo...as-broken-ribs--fbintl_ap-wcup-us-howard.html P.S. some of the papers referring to UK GK GREEN as "Hands of CLOD"...ouch
They had more than just "one" chance all game. I don't understand how you can make a statement like "Altidore isn't very good." He is 20. Those of us that watched this team in qualifying for the WC, and watched this team in tournaments such as the Con Cup KNOW that Altidore is a capable and good player, only going to get better. Boom...you have players named Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Ashley Cole, Terry, Lennon, Crouch (my fav) etc... A draw was your team's failure and our success in the odds makers view, you make your own luck. The US has NOTHING to apologize for. Maybe, England is just not as good as we all think they are? Maybe the US didn't look so good because England is really good? Which would confirm yet again, the US's ceiling...a Quarter finals appearance and smiles all around. This is not bravado. I feel as if the US was not overmatched, but just outplayed while not playing particularly well.
BTW, scoring goals is not a problem for the US. The back end, and breakdowns from our back four is OUR problem. It has been that way for a while now. Our midfield was surprisingly good against England, although Donovan was near invisible (not entirely his fault). Of course, Howard does what he does, we have come to expect that from him. Very happy with Cherundolo and Bradley. I was kinda surprised they played so well. (which means, they held their own)
We only managed a draw against France, but hopefully we pull off a win against South Africa on Wednesday.
i only caught the second half. i just didnt understand the yellow card in the box. looked to me like the serbian had more right to the space and the ghanan cut him off EDIT: apparently it was for a handball. guess i missed that.
Germany have been very impressive so far, ripping apart the Aussies. Ozil in midfield for Germany has been awesome.
Dude, America doesn't have to apologise for anything. They did OK against a much better team operating at about 70%. 1st games are always cagey affairs. I don't remember any US chances other than the one that Green pushed onto the post from Altidore. There was a header that Altidore missed in the first half but I don't remember another chance. And the Altidore chance that hit the post...-if Carra wasn't on a yellow card already, then he cuts your boy in two about 35 yards out. As for Altidore, I saw him over here for Hull and get sent back where he came from. Hull are Cleveland. Only worse. I know he's 20 but for strikers that's a good age.
There was a couple of really good chances on corners, and there was one ball that found itself in the box with Dempsey and Findley. The four shots on goal were decent attempts. They had opportunities, your back line was great in the game. On Altidore, we have watched him get progressively better, and I felt as did many that this match was NOT his finest moment. I thought he was pedestrian. Even then, his pedestrian effort almost rewarded him with the winner vs. England. (pretty nice head to hang on your wall) You are right though...the US needs to produce a Gerrard type. If you moved Gerrard from England to the US, the US would be a good bet to move past the round of 16. I am still fairly convinced that I will see the US in at least a WC semi-final in the next 20 years, and see them win a WC in my lifetime. (I am 36) But yes, the difference in talent is obvious. We started this tourney with hopes of seeing them make the quarters. You started this tourney with the Hopes of Winning the WC. BTW, is there something wrong with Lampard? he doesn't look right.
Serbia is really behind the 8 ball now...so..if we can manage to win the group.. we get Ghana and that is no picnic. They look better than advertised. But Germany? They have that combination of physicality and skill that usually overwhelms the US.
Yeah, alot of people weren't sure how good these young guys were,but two guys in midfield Khedira and Ozil look very good. Have to take into account that Australia are very poor at the back and not near as good as they were in 2006, but this German team is far better than I though they would be. You always know that in every World Cup Germany will make the Quarter/Semi-Finals, but this team are dangerous.
Jurgen Klinsmann on ABC has a massive **** eating grin.....LOL and Yes...the Aussies are not as good as they were in 06'. That is clear.
Ozil was great, how about Podolski, talk about a kid who knows how to play when the big lights are on....forget friendlys and club play, its all about the big stage international games to me.....here he was non-exsistent for Cologne, then step in these finals right where he left off 4 years ago.... those 3 are going to be tough to stop, Podolski, Ozil, and Klose... For the record too I CANT stand the vuvuzelas either......takes away from the overall crowd to me....I love hearing the singing, and chanting during a match, rather than it sounding like a bee hive.....
