I threw up in my mouth a little…

Last night against Cuba, the US faced a team, that if was still playing, would not have scored.  And the problem is, neither would have the US.  The US were beneficiaries of a misplayed header and a bit of ping pong in the box finding Clint Dempsey all of 12 yards away from the goal.  To be fair, it was a nicely placed shot, but how we got Dempsey into that position was nothing but sheer luck, and while you need luck to win away qualifiers, generally you create your own luck, not wait for a header to go off another players back.

The US offense is abysmal at this moment in time.  Beasley is using a WCQ to get himself back into game shape and sharpness… and that’s pretty sad that we have no one better than a recovering Beasley to take his place.  Depth would be a nice problem we do not have.  Maruice Edu had a pretty bad game, but this was different from other bad games played by D-mid’s in the US system, his bad game was played due to overconfidence.  On a field that is wet and uneven, it is better to make the smart pass and concentrate on making it.  With Edu yesterday, he was trying to make some difficult passes with creativity, but the passes didn’t connect.  I can’t fault someone for trying to do to much, but on the instances he wasn’t trying to do too much, he was only so-so.  Landon Donovan was for the most part invisible, spending a good 45 seconds of the game covering for Heath Pearce at left back.  Brian Ching played the best of all the offensive players yesterday, and was still nothing to write home about.  Dempsey had one quality run and a well taken goal, but other than that, did not do much of note.

On the defensive side of the ball, against another inept team, the US defense was for the most part, solid.  Onyewu had another fantastic game as far as positioning is concerned, being able to snuff out attacks, and use his body properly not to draw fouls.  Yes, he did have the “Reyna” giveaway in the first half, but it came to nothing.  Against a better team, we may not be saying the same.  Pearce and Hejduk did a fine job of defending and getting forward, but once again, this was against an inept team.  Bocanegra as well played a solid, but quiet game, only really calling attention to himself on a misplayed ball that nearly ended up in the US net.

Tim Howard made one solid save, on each team, and did very well with balls played back to him last night.  On a field that wet, and uneven, having no problems with backpasses is very impressive.  His distribution however, is still lacking.  Too many long balls were sent forward to no one.  The reasoning for getting a Spector, or (fingers crossed) Subotic back in the defensive line is that they are solid on the ball as far as passing is concerned.  This is a team that needs to learn to build from the back, and we’re just not doing it right now.

I know someone will say that a win on the road is a great effort.  Italy only beat Cyprus 2-1, England won 2-0 over Andorra… blah blah blah… first off, England sucks as a team for some reason, get over it.  Secondly, the Andorran coach was talking smack after the game about how he would have done better had he been coaching.  The problem is, we look nearly as incompetent as the teams we are facing.  The link up between the D-mid’s and the rest of the attacking line is not happening right now.  The redundancy of dual d-mid’s against a team like Cuba is not only unnecesarry, but once more, not working.  And the forwards we are using are just horrible.  The fact we scored from something other than a set piece yesterday was a true shock.

I’m just going to come out and say it, this team, this US team, is not very good right now.  If the World Cup were to take place next week, three and out would be the only expectation.

And I’m placing the blame squarely on Bob Bradley.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this team is winning in spite of its coach, not because of it.  The game plans being concocted are not only ineffective, but are placing clamps down on its players.  Michael Bradley looks absolutely nothing of the same player he is with his club team, the same goes for Donovan.  Brian Ching should not see the field with guys of the nature of Kenny Cooper, Charlie Davies and Jozy Altidore looming in the weeds.  Freddy Adu, who was the only person to look like he belonged on the same field against Spain (arguably the best team in the world right now) is once more omitted.

To put it plainly, Bob Bradley is fighting World War I with Civil War tactics.  The tactics have changed.  In the Civil War, you walked up, shot, and the charged with bayonet on the end of your rifle because it took to damn long to reload.  Come World War 1, if those tactics had been used, you’d be dead because those pesky enemies started being able to fire more than one shot a minute.

Bob is using Bruce Arena’s tactics with a squad that no longer needs it.  To give an example of a front 5 of say… Davies, Altidore, Adu, Donovan and Beasley, you would have more speed on the field than the US has ever seen, and the skill would be there too… skill the US has never known.  And instead of welcoming the change, we are still using an archaic system to, once more, do just enough to get by.

Ratings— (Very generous, due to win and field conditions)

Howard- 6.5, did well when called upon, still uneven with distribution

Defense-6, unspectacular but effective job

D-mid’s- 5, did the job against an inferior side.  Both looked off in their passing.

A-mid’s- 5, get an extra half point for the goal coming from Dempsey.  Beasley still isn’t back to form, Donovan was invisible, and this was Dempsey’s best game in a while, which doesn’t speak well for how he’s been playing.

Ching- 5.5, he did the job he’s supposed to do, which is a job that is no longer needed.  Should have done better on a couple chances.

Bob Bradley- 5.  Won another game against a far inferior team.  Congratulations, lived to fight another day.

This wasn’t the easiest game to rate due to the field conditions, hence why only two players were rated individually.  Any road win during WCQ is a great win, I don’t want to take anything away from that.  However, this team does not look good right now.  And while we’re ranked 28th in the world at the moment, I would have to say that we are greatly overrated by what we’re seeing on the field.  Time for new blood, and that begins at the coaching position… you listening Sunil?

…I’m a Toys R’ Us kid…

Who knew that the English Premier League would become the table that all the cool kids sit at during lunch in high school?

The EPL is becoming a melting pot of vanity for the super rich.  And by super rich, I don’t mean being able to buy an EPL team and fund it, I mean being able to buy all the teams in the EPL if so choosing.

The EPL this week just got a lot richer with the purchase of Manchester City to the Abu Dhabi Sand to Soccer Group… or whatever they are called.  Having secured the rights to Robinho for $58 million and offered a blank check to Real Madrid for the Ruud, which was not accepted, and spurned by Dimitar Berbatov for another $55 million, they are proving to become major players on the Champion’s League stage.

Winter transfer targets are already being listed as Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, and basically anyone who’s name ends with an “O”, and possibly Kaka, just to keep ’em guessing.

Budget for the winter transfer market for Manchester City: unlimited.

Every transfer season is lamented as “Not rising to the expectations” of the fans watching for it, well, this winter, we definitely won’t see the same.  Everyone in the top 7 or 8 places in the EPL are going to have to spend, spend, spend, in order to keep their places, or move forward.  Inter, AC, Madrid, Barcelona are going to see themselves maybe losing a little luster unless they can find a way to step up their transfer kitties as well.

And I say… GREAT!!!  As far as the EPL is concerned, this is starting to set up week in, and week out at least one, and possibly multiple David vs. Goliath games.  The possibility of seeing a group of guys at Stoke City go up against a team of superstars and come out with a result is not only fun for the neutral fan, but would make the fans of Stoke City go mental.  Of course, that’s not to say Stoke City won’t lose 6-0 the following week, but for that one week, it’ll be a dream.  And also the allure of Manchester City v. Manchester United not just being a derby, but a matchup of some the biggest names in the world is something to salivate over…

Now if only the city of Manchester wasn’t such a shit hole, maybe I’d actually contemplate a visit… seriously, have you ever been to Manchester?  It’s horrible… ok, moving on…

But with dreams also come nightmares.  Everton looks like it could be a casualty.  They simply don’t have the depth to compete in Europe as well as domestically, nor do they have a large transfer budget or the mystique to draw in any of the big names now.  So after this season, we may not be seeing them in Europe again for a long time, if ever.  Arsenal could also become a causalty in a few years time.  Honestly, how much longer can Arsene Wenger keep spinning silk to gold?  If he ever leaves Arsenal and continues coaching, every team in the world should be clammoring for his services, he’s just that good.  As we’ve seen,  Arsenal are not keen to splash the cash, and are constantly two key injuries away from slipping from 3rd to 8th in the table… but you can never count out Arsene.

So like Cold War spending, we could see a team spiral so high that one crash will see them become the next Leeds United, which is now toiling in the pub leagues of England I believe, but they do have a good chance of promotion this year as after a fish and chips tainting law suit at two of the bigger pubs in the league has left them unable to travel to away games.

This is capitalism the way it is supposed to be played out… with Russian and Arab money, on the pitch… and I’m all for it!

Like my father never said…

Just do enough to get by.

Yes,  that’s right, it’s World Cup qualification time once again ladies and gentleman.  Or at least, Concacaf’s laughable version of what is WCQ.  But that is a story for another day.

This weekend Bob Bradley and his roster choices take on Cuba.  Cuba could pose a decent threat at home had not a baker’s dozen or so of quality players from their team defected to the US over the last few years.  If Cuba is already out of qualification by the time the US v. Cuba match in the US takes place, all bets should be on whether or not the game is actually played, not on who wins.

All that aside, I was able to see quite a bit of groaning over this roster selection on the internet since it was announced, and yes, I was one of them.  Then I sat back and got to thinking…  There is absolutely no reason we should lose this game, with whoever we bring.  So to be fair, this is the most useless roster selection that could have been made.

Watching this game, do not expect anything fancy, hell, don’t even expect it to be an attractive soccer game.  Even with a greatly outmatched opponent, expect good ol’ Bob to deploy the empty bucket once more, with absolutely no surprises on the roster, don’t expect any surprises in the starting lineup.  We should be looking at.

——-Howard————

Hejduk–Onyewu–Bocanegra–Pearce

——-Edu—-Bradley———–

Donovan————–Beasley—-

—-Dempsey——-Ching——-

Yawn! I know.  The only change I see happening is if Beasley is not fit enough to go the full 90, then, the past his sell date Eddie Lewis, will come into the mix.

Cuba should be a cakewalk for this team, and this is where things get interesting.  On paper, the US is the far superior squad, and therefore, if on the night we do not play like the far superior squad, we must examine the players who were on the field and figure out what went wrong.  (or what is going wrong)

And we can forget about the home game versus Trinidad and Tobago, that should be an easy US victory.  If the US stumbled at home against any of these teams, I would be shocked, no matter who was playing.

But i’m 99% certain that Bob will once more do just enough to get by.  And for now, I suppose that is fine.  We were drawn into an extremely weak group and will continue onwards to the Hex without problem.  And with virtual qualification assured after round 3, if we do not see some lineup experimentation in rounds 4,5, and 6, then we should really start to worry.

So, to the fire Bob Bradley crowd, don’t expect much ammunition to be garnered from these two games.  We’ll win, and probably win ugly.  We’ll be fielding a team of guys who are hamstrung by a boring and conservative game plan, a couple guys playing out of position, a couple guys well past their prime, and a couple of idiots on the bench.

Yes, I would much rather see the likes of Cooper, Altidore, Adu, Holden and Davies called into this game (and Subotic, but I’ve already written on that) but honestly, it wouldn’t do much good, because the task at hand is simple enough to master.  So let’s take off the next week and just enjoy the fact that our qualification process was so easy this round and in the next 3 games after these 2, hope and pray that the double B’s brings in some excitement to the team.

Subotically neurotic…

I, like much of the niche, crazy, US Men’s national team fan base have begun replaying this quote in my head again and again… “[Neven has] not accelerated over there to the point where we feel he belongs on the [U.S.] team.”

This quote is pretty much akin to your wife or girlfriend asking you “Do I look fat in this?” and you responding “Honestly, I’d rather bang your sister.”

The source of the quote has been substantiated many times over in the press, so there’s no going back and saying Rongen was misquoted.  There is also really no amount of apologizing which can atone for it being said.  It was unprofessional, and for someone who is a teenager, downright hurtful.

It’s amazing how one poor decision (leaving Subotic of the U20 roster) and one horrible decision (making the quote) could cause the US to miss out on a world class defender.

Much has been made of the move of Rossi to Italy, but to be fair, with his father being of Italian descent and still strongly tethered to the homeland (as many Italian immigrants are) we really never had more than a 1% chance of landing Rossi.

What was that 1% you ask?  Probably if an Italian coach came out and said, “Rossi has not accelerated to the point where we feel he belongs on the Italian team.”  Unfortunately for the US, no Italian coaches is dumb enough to say that in the press.

In soccer, defenders generally take a bit more time to mature.  Which makes the potential loss of Subotic an even tougher pill to swallow.  Here is a kid (19, by the way) who is not only on the roster, but starting, and an important cog to the wheel for a top level Bundesliga team.  He has a resume now that, in all fairness, no other US defender in its history can say they have.  And provided injury does not find him, will only continue to improve his game.   This is a guy who appears to have 3 or 4 national teams chasing after him, and one of those is Germany.  That’s how good Subotic is.  A Bosnian born US citizen plying his trade in Germany has caused the German association to wonder if they can somehow get around the rules of FIFA and make him their own.

Whatever national team Subotic decides to play for, he has the potential to be the anchor to a back line for the better part of 12 years.  That, my friends, is an eternity in international soccer.  Within the next couple years, if he so chooses, he will probably be able to secure a glamour move to a high profile team and make more money than he ever could have dreamed of.

I just hope he can look past a Rongen quote and realize how vital he could be to the US team, and choose the USA crest to wear on his shirt.

But if he doesn’t, perhaps we need to realize that the USSF and its coaches have not accelerated to the point where a player of Subotics abilities belongs on a U.S. team.

Or more simply stated, perhaps in a very short time, Subotic has accelerated past the USA with help from the autobahn.