268 replies to this topic

[Don Quixote]

Dumb fucks. Fucking terrible. No. TURRIBLE. (Where's Barkley?)

[NewMarketSean]

And the us goalie watched the pretty ball go over his head and into the net.

[Don Quixote]

And the us goalie watched the pretty ball go over his head and into the net.

 

For the rest of the match, he will be "Bambi." How fucking deer-in-the-headlights can you get?

[Don Quixote]

Too bad Mori didn't get hurt more. I'm not gonna be classy. It's elimination. Fuck these guys.

[Don Quixote]

I will be away...bullshit bookcase assembly. Be profane and/or drunk.

 

Bambi with the save.

[Icterus galbula]

These Argentinians whine a lot

[NewMarketSean]

So do they use one side of the field in the first half and then switch to the other side in the second half? They've only played on the left side of field so far.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Messi makes it 2-0...  FK goal in the 32nd minute.

[Hooded Viper]

US is just completely outclassed by Argentina! It's like a pro team against a JV High School team. Hell they can't get more than 1 pass at a time. Both of their goals were sick!

[DJ MC]

Messi makes it 2-0...  FK goal in the 32nd minute.

 

As a great man once said, I'm not even mad. That was just incredible to watch. I didn't see the first goal, so I don't know how awful it really was (I assume Michael Bradley was involved somehow), but I can't get upset at anyone for Messi's shot (even Wondo for setting it up, because the foul and taking the card may have been the right move anyway).

[Dupin]

Did anyone think Messi wasn't going to destroy us?

[NewMarketSean]

Bunch of god damn girls out there. Everyone's crying. And they're winning!

[DJ MC]

If Guzan doesn't make it as an international-level keeper, he has a nice future as a boxer.

[DJ MC]

They're bringing in the kid for the second half.

[BSLChrisStoner]

They're bringing in the kid for the second half.

 

Yep, Pulisic for Wondo.

 

Agree with Landon...  give yourself some opportunities here.... if that leads to the deficit getting ballooned out, who cares.

[BSLChrisStoner]

A 3rd goal....  Guzan wasn't helped there.  

 

Blerg.  End the bleeding, focus on being respectable here the rest of the way.... and then prepare for the 3rd place game.

[Icterus galbula]

Ouch!!

[DJ MC]

He broke his arm, I guess.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Only two points to make after watching that mess(i) of a game....lol

 

1. Argentina is ranked #1 in the world for a reason and Messi is out to earn his country their first major trophy under his playing days.

And as I alluded to in my pregame thoughts,

 

2. Klinsmann went with the ultraconservative linuep which gave us no chance to win.

a. Go back to six weeks ago and his roster choices for the final 23 players. With Altidore not available he chose to go in with Wood (which I actually prefer over Jozy) but he chose to take Wondo over Jordan Morris. Potential mistake #1.

b. He went with the totally defensive structure and starting 11. The problem is that I don't think that Beckerman, Zusi, and Wondo add enough defensive positives to outweigh the offensive weaknesses. We started a solid defense but a group of players that had no ability to counter. We have no speed up top or wide and no strong holding players in the middle. So we had no way to get the ball forward and to hold the Argentina defense honest. Therefore they pushed up well into midfield which allowed the Argentine strikers and midfield to press our final third very high. So we could never mount any kind of threat. If noticed the ONLY times we created anything that looked like it could develop in a chance is when we got Zardes out wide or Yedlin was able to overlap wide. This structure also totally eliminated anything from Dempsey. He is a withdrawn forward and to do his thing he needs to have a target forward and/or somebody with speed. Wondo is neither of those things. Never has been and never will be.

c. Bradley should no longer be the main linking player between the back and the attack. He still has tremendous value but his error rate has just gotten too high.

d. Very disappointed in Guzan. The first goal was a gift. As a keeper I was always trained with one premise. When you make a decision you must commit to that decision 100%. If it turns out wrong then learn from it. Brad came part way out. He neither got close enough to the player to force him to make a tough header (over the keeper but under the bar) nor did he guard his line. We still were going to lose but to give up a bad goal 3 minutes in was just awful.

 

So on to the September WC qualifiers. We have another opportunity with a couple of what should be easy games to play the kids who give us a chance for Russia in 2018. Yes we need to qualify. But its time to move past the same old guard. Pulisic, Ngabe, Kitchen, Wood, Morris, and some others need to become the mainstays supported by Dempsey, Jones, Bradley, etc. The one overall positive for the tournament has been that I think we have a solid back line now. And they should be fine for 2018 too.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Ok so we now know we face Columbia in the third place match on Saturday night. There are typically two schools of thought on this type of game. One side says its still a competitive match and play the lineup that gives you the best chance for a result. The other school says nobody cares about a third place game so this is a good place to give some of the younger guys some good minutes and reward their work in training with some game minutes (the only field players to not see action so far are Kitchen and Castillo).

 

Well I fall firmly (for this particular tournament) in the first school. We have a chance to take third place in freaking Copa America Centario. It would be the highest finish ever for us in a COPA. And we get a revenge game against Coumbia whom I think we played better against than the 2-0 loss indicated.

 

This is the lineup I would start:

 

-----------------------Howard
---Yedlin------Cameron--------Brooks------Besler
-----------------------------------Bradley
------------Bedoya
-------------------------Dempsey
------Zardes-----------------------------Johnson
-------------------------Wood

 

Basically back to the starting XI that was playing so well with two changes. I am putting Besler at LB and moving Johnson to the midfield and I am starting Howard over Cuzan. Howard deserves a game and frankly Cuzan has not been anything special in this tournament. Mostly fine but he was not sharp in the Argentina game. Lot of guys would like to see Horvath in the nets and I understand that. Good chance he may be the keeper in 2018 but there is still plenty of time to get him good matches in the WCQ hexagonals.

 

This lineup is the best balance of a strong defense with ability to counter quickly. This is what we are the best at. We are not good when we try and totally bunker with no ability to move out of pressure (go rewatch Aregentina and see how we had no ability to get out of trouble). With this lineup I think we can do well against Columbia and get a good result. Build some positive momentum going into the September matches. If the game goes well (or horrible) then you can sub in Kitchen, Ngabe, and/or Pulisic to give them some more minutes. But please, I pray, that they do not play Castillo. I know he does real well in the Mexican league but everytime he dons a MNT jersey and gets on the pitch he is a disaster.

 

So there are my thoughts. Who knows what Klinsmann will do (although I think he has a strong desire to win this game) or the mindset of the players after the bad showing on Tuesday. But like all things in life reality usually lies somewhere in the middle of those who tout one extreme or the other. Clearly we did NOT play well against Argentina. But we also were faced with a tough opponent and missing some key cogs. Lets go out with our heads up!