Quick Reaction: USA throws away the Gold Cup

I'm about to head out to run around the pitch with some friends, but I can't let the USA's devastating 4-2 defeat to Mexico go just yet. Here are some quick reflections:

• I've always liked Bob Bradley, mainly because of his steely gaze and his awesome son. But last night was a fireable defeat for me. The Gold Cup is a massive game, and a huge opportunity for the USA. They can't lose on their home turf, even if the stadium is predominantly pro-Mexico. And they especially can't lose when they go up 2 goals early. We should have bunkered in to weather the Mexican speed. He made a great call with Adu, but I think Kljestan should have come on sooner once Mexico had taken the lead - for Jones, not Adu. Bottom line: Bradley's contract seems to have locked him in for the 2014 run, but I feel like there is a better coach out there for the USA.

• Speaking of Freddy, he might have just resuscitated his career. There is reason to hope he can be a key piece for the USA in 2014. He had the most skill on the ball of any American. My buddy Maarten the Belgium thought he held it too much, but we need a guy or two like that. He can (and did once or twice) draw a lot of fouls in dangerous locations with that footwork. His free kick from the foul he won outside of the box was nicely spotted though it lacked the pace. And back in the Panama game, his pass to Donovan that set up the winner made my head literally explode. I freakin' love a glorious chip.

• In retrospect, the Cherundolo injury was devastating. But it also shows how desperately thin the U.S. is at the back. Bornstein is an experienced player, but he's clearly not of the caliber needed to get the U.S. to the top level. I used to feel like our sorest need was at striker, but it is clearly the defense. This crew is good enough to shut down middling international teams but the speedy, skillful Mexicans made mincemeat of them, as most of the elite teams will. Our passing and even our finishing has grown to be pretty solid, but we need more speed on defense.

• You can keep Chicharito - Dos Santos was the most exciting player on the pitch. He's also the only Mexican player I don't despise, and that I kinda root for when Mexico is playing other good teams.

• I always hate blaming the goalie, but by beloved, Evertonian, tourettes-ridden Tim Howard had a bad game. The ugliest goal for him - the fourth when Dos Santos squirmed away and chipped that unbelievable ball into the upper-90, wasn't even his biggest mistake. He was flat-footed on the second Mexican goal, getting beat on the near post without even diving for it. It's mostly the defenses fault, but a great game from Howard might have led to a different storyline.
  

World Cup Warm-Up: US v. Czech Republic Friendly

Bill Simmons has very few rules, but one of them is, whenever the U.S. plays the Czech Republic in a friendly a few weeks before the World Cup and Paul Arras doesn't recognize most of the starting players on the American lineup, then Arras has to write a running diary.

Joining me is friend, fellow soccer player, and fellow soccer fan Schwabby who, by his own admission, knows less about this U.S. team than I do. Let's get going.

0:00 Apparently Gooch hasn’t played in 7 months. That shouldn’t be a problem. We have plenty of gigantic world class central defenders! Geheyeheyeheyehey! (Grabbing collar)

0:00 While we’re waiting for the match to start, Schwab clued me in on Diego Maradona’s ridiculous demands for the Argentina team’s hotel. “And the ambulances…they have bidets? ...Or would there be a gap between the hotel and the hospital... bidet -wise?”

0:00 Now we’re looking at the World Cup field. Besides Uncle Sam, Schwabby’s rooting for Cameroon “because they’re awesome,” and Greece “because if they win, they might stop sucking economically.” After the U.S.-England game, I’ll be pulling for England, because 44 years is too long, and Australia, because Tim Cahill is clutch.

0:00 Speaking of England, they knocked off Mexico 3-1 in a friendly yesterday. Peter Crouch had one of the goals. I still say he sucks. Gooch can eat him alive.

0:00 Schwab and I agree that soccer scarves are awesome. Says Schwabby, “They’re like a way-cooler version of a pennant, because of the way you can hold them up.”

0:01 Here we go! Apparently the U.S. has someone named Edson Buddle who has 9 goals in 9 games in the MLS this year. I love Buddle!

2:20 The verdict on Gooch’s beard: me -yay, Schwabby- nay.

8:30 Looking a little ragged right now, but I’m sure Bob Bradley knew what he was doing when he threw this hodge-podge lineup out there tonight. A shot of Bradley furrowing his brow elicits a chuckle from me and Schwab. “He should be the new star of The Mentalist,” says Schwabby. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds funny.

12:25 I am now wearing my USA jersey that my brother Dan got for me. It’s basically a cheap knock-off of their 2006 jersey. Tonight will be a good test run for its luck-factor.

14:00 Hey Coach? This midfield sucks. No Clint Dempsey, no Michael Bradley. We’re not controlling the run of play right now against a team that didn’t qualify for the World Cup.

16:30 Schwab thinks the U.S. is starting to put things together. I don’t see it, but then…

17:00 Maurice Edu!! Cleans up a mess in front of the Czech goal. 1-0 America. The U.S. celebrates by standing in a half-circle and wiggling their right legs in an odd manner. “The stanky leg! They’re doing the stanky leg!” cries Schwabby. This is apparently a dance move.

22:30 Here we go: Do the Stanky Legg. By the way, goalie Petr Cech should have grabbed the cross on that U.S. goal.

25:30 Some guy named Fenin just missed a good chance wide. Horrendous defense by the Americans, as he flew into the box unmarked.

29:30 Carlos Bocanegra is doin’ work on some chicken wings as he watches from a luxury box. Landon Donovan comes up and is apparently rejected by Bocanegra in his request for a wing.

35:00 U.S. really starting to sparkle now at midfield. A series of nice passing hasn’t led to any good shots, but they’re building nicely. On the other hand, they’ve looked very vulnerable on Czech counter-attacks.

43:20 Sivok equalizes over Gooch off a free kick to the left of the U.S. goal. No way that should happen against a healthy Onyewu. Some credit to the Czech guy for a great crossing ball.

44:00 Gooch is probably thinking, “Crap. Did I just lose my spot on the team?”

Half 1-1. I’m trying to think of an individual performance that has stood out and coming up with nothing. The U.S. has controlled the game, but Czech has looked much better when they’ve gotten the ball close to the goal. I give the American midfield a B, and the forwards and defenders a C. And I’m a generous grader.

Half Great new “This is SportsCenter” commercial.

48:00 Robbie Rogers, left midfield, has been on the field for three minutes and I already love him. Nice cross, and then a good hustle play to recover possession a minute later.

55:00 Czech goal waved off for offsides. Defense was outclassed there, but overall I love everyone who came on at the half for the U.S., especially Rogers, Brian Ching, and Slappy Gomez, as I will now be calling Hercules Gomez, because it’s fun.

57:49 2-1 Czech. HORRIBLE defense. That looked like a varsity team weaving in on a JV squad. Heath Pierce, thanks for coming. Maybe Gooch will have you over to watch the games. You can bring the chips.

60:00 Robbie RRRROGERS! Save by Cech. First shot since Edu’s goal. “The result doesn’t matter,” says commentator John Harkes. It matters a little, when England just wiped the floor with Mexico and we’re struggling against a team that’s worse than Slovenia.

63:30 Petr Cech swallows up a shot from Slappy Gomez, after some snappy build-up by the U.S.. Schwabby is making me change his first name back to Hercules. He’s right. Hercules Gomez is fun too.

65:00 HERCULES! Equalizer off a corner to the back post, headed back to the near post by Clarence Goodson. Well done. Other than the defense, this lineup has outplayed the first half lineup by a mile.

70:00 Hercules! Hercules!

75:00 I’m now nervous every time the ball goes into the box against this U.S. defense. Luckily, it’s not happening often.

76:58 Annnnd…3-2 Czech Republic. Martin Fenin puts it in after U.S. can’t clear in the 6-yard box. I called it as soon as the Czech midfielder got loose into the left corner. Guess who lost him? Heath Pierce. On second thought, Gooch WON’T be inviting him over anytime soon.

82:57 Schwabby: “I was wondering earlier…put this in your blog…how do international refs talk to each other?” His theory: “I think they put common phrases on index cards and put them on the flag… Common phrases include, ‘No way!’ ‘That’s a winner!’ and ‘He did it!’” Me: “Why would the refs say those things?” Schwabby: “What else would they say to each other?”

90:00 If someone was playing a drinking game and taking a shot every time these announcers used the word “equalizer” in this match, they would be dead.

91:45 Necid finishes off the U.S. as Maurice Edu misplays an aerial ball. 4-2 Czech. I don’t think they’ll be saying “equalizer” anymore.

FINAL To add insult to injury my dog, Sydney, just farted. Ugh. What a crappy game. I’m still undecided about the jersey’s luck. It looked like it brought good fortune to Carlos Bocanegra, who seemed to be enjoying those chicken wings.

I want to repeat that: USA 2-1 Brazil

You beat Brazil in soccer, at any level, that's a huge statement. I'm thrilled that ESPN is covering the U-20s and showing a fair amount of highlights on SportsCenter. That's where I caught Adu's goals. My dad, a casual USA soccer fan, was talking about his spin-move goal for a couple days. And we managed to catch the stoppage team of the Brazil game. INTENSE. Go USA. My brother and I are lightly tossing around the idea of driving up to Toronto on Wednesday for the game, if there is any chance of getting tickets.

Anyway, the reason I signed on to post was to mention how tough cyclists are. I was just watching Stage 1 of Le Tour (Robbie McEwen is unbelievable) and caught a three man crash at the back of the peloton. Most of us have fallen off our bike. But the next time you're in a car going 25 to 35 MPH, think about what it'd feel like to jump out of the car onto pavement. Then think if you jumped out tangled up in a bicycle. Then imagine a couple other bikes and humans falling on top of you. Maybe you land on a curb or a metal crowd barrier. Sucks right? Well guess what. You still have to get right up onto your bike, catch up to the peloton and ride another 100 miles. Not to mention the fact that sitting on a bicycle for several hours is rather uncomfortable, though I think these pros get used to it.

Gold Cup Champions

I wish I had a laptop, so I could have kept minute-by-minute notes during the Gold Cup final.

Let's pretend I did. It would have gone like this:

Minute 1 - Kickoff.
...
Minute 90 - Sorry. Game way too intense to take notes, or type game diary. Spent most of match biting fingernails, hugging head, pulling hair. Typing? Not likely. No time for that.

If you haven't seen the score by now, the USA beat Mexico, 2-1. It was our fourth Gold Cup Championship. (The Gold Cup, as I had to explain repeatedly to my roommates, is to soccer what the Big East Championship is to college basketball. Only teams from North/Central American compete).

I have so much to say about our team, though. This Thursday, of course, we start Copa America (We got an invitation to the South American conference tournament. We're bringing our 'B Team'), but let's digest the Gold Cup first. There have been a few revelations this tournament, most of them good, some of them troubling, but -- in the end -- my optimism shines bright.

First and foremost: Landon Donovan (25 years old) is a stud. He is cleary our best player. When he is dribbling at people anything can happen. Bob Bradley's invention this tournament, and it was something Bruce Arena never did, was move Donovan outside. Ronaldo dominates for ManU from the wing. Robben dominates for Chelsea from the wing. England is best when Cole is running. Ditto, now, America. We need Donovan running at people. Period.

Pushing Clint Dempsey (24 years old) inside is a good move for the MNT (men's national team). Dempsey is classier than Donovan, and operates better in tight crowds. He might be our second best player. Unfortunately, Dempsey doesn't like playing inside. It's clear from his body language -- whenever he got pulled from the game, or whenever the play wasn't flowing like he thought it should -- that he's unhappy with some MNT developments. This worries me. We need Dempsey.

DeMarcus Beasley (25 years old) is a classic American soccer player, and I mean that in the worst way. Although he is brilliantly quick, and he does some things well (including, surprisingly, crossing the ball), his first touch is garbage and his finishing is worse. There are entire men's national teams that do nothing well outside of first-touch and finishing, and they win World Cups. See: Italy, 2006. Soccer IS -- it IS - first touch and finishing. That is what the game turns on. I love Beasley. Other teams fear his speed. But come 2010, he won't be starting. He's just not classy enough. At least twice this tournament, he missed open net. You just cannot have that. Dozens of times, he turned the ball over in ridiculous fashion. I think the general consensus coming out of the tournament is that Beasley played well, and he did, but people who think he's the final answer aren't correct. Or, heaven help us, they shouldn't be. You can beat Panama with Beasley. Even Mexico, if Mexico's biggest threat is clearly suffering from a concussion or other brain injury, but Germany? England? The Dutch? I suspect not.

Benny Feilhaber (22 years old, Hamburg SV), Michael Bradley (19 years old, Dutch first division) and Ricardo Clark (24 years old, Houston Dynamo) are all excellent. They each have their own problems (Feilhaber's tackling is sub-par, Bradley's ball control is inconsistent, and Clark doesn't have much offensive imagination) and none of them is terribly fast -- although Clark is best here -- but they have time. Feilhaber looks Brazilian, or Spanish, with the clever little touches he uses to deke hard-charging defenders. Both Feilhaber and Bradley play balls that only John O'Brien, the infamously fragile #5, has ever done for us. All tournament, they were dropping balls behind defenders, and Beasley/Donovan/Dempsey were running onto them brilliantly. Neither Feilhaber nor Bradley is as complete as Reyna, but either of them could end end up being better than he was. By 2010, Clark will step in where Pablo has served us well. He also seems less of a card concern, but who knows. He didn't get enough time for me to be sure.

Our defense concerns me a little. When we played Canada in the semi-final, Canada's best offense was trying to pick-pocket our central defenders, who were too clever by half. Neither Oguchi Onyewu (25 years old) nor Carlos Bocanegra (28 years old) has very good ball skills, and Keller is becoming a train-wreck with the ball at his feet. The problems continued against Mexico, and I damn near had a coniption fit by minute 20 today, until we finally started just booting it up the field. Much safer. Phew. I think Gooch and Carlos have time to develop some touch, but it isn't there yet. Not by a damn sight.

Jonathon Spector (21 years old) looks promising as a right back, but it isn't clear to me how good he actually is. For instance, he makes mistakes that you wouldn't expect players from the English Premiership to make. If good soccer is about first touch and finishing, bad soccer is about making bad turnovers in bad places. Spector has both good soccer and bad soccer in him. Scary, then. Jonathan Bornstein (22 years old, Chivas USA) is another outside defender with promise, although his defending is shakey. As an offensive presence, Bornstein is incredible and I love him. Both Mexico and Canada exploited him mercilessly, though, and -- well, I mean, defenders need to defend. Right? We can only suffer so much exploitation. Bornstein is so young I think he'll be OK. But, geez. Between him and Spector, we've got a lot of 2010 promise, but a ton of 2007 concern.

We need a forward. Eddie Johnson (23 years old), who many fans seems to place great hope in, is awful. He has no first touch at all, but that's not his biggest problem. No. His biggest problem is that he has absolutely no desire to score. I've never seen a MNT forward make fewer "positive" moves. (Positive, of course, meaning: towards goal). EJ might work as an attacking central midfielder, or even as a outside midfielder, but it's basically impossible for me to imagine him working anywhere else. Playing him at forward is worse than playing with 10 men. Taylor Twellman (27 years old) and Brian Ching (29 years old) are OK and likeable. But they are not inspired. They are not even good. Simply put: They are not 2010 heroes. We've got to find a young buck. That's all there is to that. (Josi Altidore (17 years old), anybody?)

So, anyway, those are my thoughts on that. We're good. We're quite good. We're even dangerous. But we've got holes.

Let's work on 'em.

Mining for Gold

America cruised into the second round of the Gold Cup (basically the North American championship) last night with a 4-0 victory over El Salvador. There's a number of encouraging signs to note from the first three games of Bob Bradley's tenure that count.

• The U.S. has won their games 1-0, 2-0, and 4-0. If you extrapolate that out, we should win the championship with a score of 32-0. Fun times!
• Beasley got two goals last night. A dangerous Beasley is ingredient 1b to a healthy U.S. attack. He was terrible in the last World Cup, and brilliant in '98. He also had 4 goals when the U.S. won the Gold Cup in '95. (Ingredient 1a is Donovan getting lots of touches in the middle of the field facing the goal.)
• 6 different Americans have scored for the U.S. In the end, it would be nice to have a guy who is The Goal Scorer. But at least now there are more possible players to emerge in that role. And lots of goal scorers is a much better problem than no goals.
• The competition hasn't been too tough, but zero points in three games is excellent. Maybe the rest of the world isn't familiar with the phrase "defense wins championships" and America can make that our secret strategy.

The biggest negative to the American efforts is that Eddie Johnson, a guy who was briefly The Goal Scorer back in World Cup qualifying a couple years ago, has a strained knee. That's brutal, especially since he had been playing the best soccer of his life in MLS.

Click here for the current situation and brackets in the Cup.

Bradley as US soccer coach

Looks like US soccer is going with Bob Bradley for the long haul. I think he's the right man for the job. Don't get me wrong, it would be really nice to get a big international name as our coach, like Gerard Houllier. It'd feel really good and make it look like US soccer is reaching the big time. But what are we trying to accomplish here? This isn't the MLS: international recognition isn't worth anything. We just need to win. In his four games at the helm, Bradley has done that. He's made a poor team into a winner at Chivas USA, and won a title with the Chicago Fire.

The MLS remains the key to our success. Most of our current international stars got their start in the MLS. And our future stars are almost all playing in the MLS now. Logically, a former MLS coach is the right man to tap that pipeline.

I still think Juergen Klinsmann would have been an outstanding selection as well. He's a winner, he lives in the US, and he believes in US soccer. But he's unique in that combination. After him, I think we were right to go with an American.

Is Bradley just another Arena? I hope so. US soccer got better under Arena. The reason it was time for him to go wasn't because he was the wrong man for the job. He was the right man for a long time, but his leadership had grown stale. I hope Bradley is like Arena, I just hope he doesn't use the same gameplans as Bruce (like Steve McClaren seems to be doing in England, following Sven Goran Erikson's tactics).

Most of all, I like Bradley's menacing bald look. He just looks like an son of a bitch, and all the best soccer coaches are sons of bitches: Sir Alex Fergusen, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, even Bruce Arena.

USA 2010: The Roster

Last week, Yanks-Abroad.com posted this prediction for our 2010 World Cup roster. They list more than 11 players, thankfully, and opt for the levels approach — guys who are definitely going to make it, etc.

The top few levels were encouraging:

Pack your bags, boys
1. Oguchi Onyewu. (Obviously).
2. Clint Dempsey. (My favorite USA player).
3. Tim Howard. (OK).
4. Bobby Convey. (Surprised to see him listed this high).
5. Steve Cherundolo. (He's like a good pain of jeans: comfortable).

Nearly a lock
6. Landon Donovan. (Wow. Not a lock!)
7. Jonathon Spector. (Now playing defensive mid for West Ham).
8. Benny Feilharber. (Impressive in Holland last year for U-21s. Very classy first touch).
9. Carlos Bocanegra. (Gots to love the nasty streak).
10. Freddy Adu. (America's Adu-mania has been officially dampened).
11. Heath Pearce. (Been reading about him. Never seen him play).
12. Michael Bradley. (Prototypical MLS workhorse. Son of current USA coach, Ben).

Anyway. There are many more layers. It's a very interesting link.

I was disappointed not to see Marvell Wynn, an Ashley Cole wannabe, make any of the lists, however. — So disappointed that I actually complained to the Soccer By Ives Q&A blog. ...Anxiously awaiting that result.