Holy shit.
If you've visited this blog in the past two, three days, you've read the thoughts of a man miles down on the U.S. Men's chances. And maybe it's the Pabst, maybe it's a fever borne of low expectation, but, damn, am I optimistic about the future. What comes below should get at why:
The Good
Conrad/Bocanegra: While I don't think this pairing is the future of the American defense, they played well enough together to tell me we've got some depth. Conrad's was the more high-profile performance - a winning goal will do that - but he was also rock-solid at the back. So was Bocanegra. It's undeniable there were a pair of gaffes in there - the two of them contesting the same ball, a move that momentarily hobbled Bocanegra and that big, soft whiff Conrad put on an early cross - but, overall, they held up well against decent competition.
Jonathan Bornstein: I was just blown away by the kid's performance. He looked ragged here and there, but there wasn't enough of it to concern me. He looked good going forward, he looked good defending...I'm not sure what else there is.
Ricardo Clark: Possibly the most encouraging performance of the bunch. It wasn't so much that he was perfect - he wasn't - but, on the few occasions he got beat, he busted ass to get the ball back and, often as not, he did. He looked composed, he looked confident - more to the point, he looked like he belonged out there.
Ball Movement: Until we got to the offensive third, we did pretty well. Yes, there tons of balls out of the back that landed at Mexican feet, especially during the rough patch that followed Conrad's goal. But when we calmed down and played possession, we did all right.
Bob Bradley: The highest compliment we can pay to Bob is that, 10-15 painful minutes aside - those decisive minutes after Conrad's goal - we never looked flustered. That's enough for me for now. He's also got some young players believing they can play at this level; one of them is named Bornstein.
Landon Donovan: He goes here not because he scored a goal, but because he tried the same move that opened up the space for the goal at least one other time. Good to see the former Golden Boy of American Soccer fight to regain the crown.
The Bad
The Offensive Third: The weirdest thing: when Eddie Johnson came on, Clint Dempsey suddenly seemed to pick up his game; while it's true that only wayward passes followed, those were some of our best, general moments on offense. Apart from those flashes, we looked damn near clueless. A total lack of size, of physical muscle may have been the problem; who knows what Taylor Twellman could have brought to the game? But we got seriously dizzy as we approached the Mexican defensive third.
Those Ten, Fifteen Minutes: It seems the Mexicans simply can't score against us - and that's the key thing that salvaged this game. Those several minutes - plus a few plays against the run of play besides - opened up some clear chances for the Mexicans; that they failed to capitalize doesn't excuse the fact that those chances were there and, on occasion, glaring.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Overall, I'm just giddy. We exceeded my expectations by country miles. The main thing was the basic organization, how hard we were to break down. Yeah, the Mexicans got their chances, but they were rarely wide-open. Good night, good game...good rum.
(#########)
No comments:
Post a Comment