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?