268 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

Really sucks about Yedlin. Not just tonight.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Now a yellow for Bradley.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Missed opportunity. Needed a shot attempt at-least. Nice play from Paraguay though.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Wood fouled a couple of times not called... fouled again, he pushes... yellow to him, and Paraguay.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Going to be a lot of stoppage time after the delay for the ref.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Zusi for Bedoya. 74th minute.

[BSLChrisStoner]

That was close...

[BSLChrisStoner]

Beckerman for Wood...

[BSLChrisStoner]

Jones a yellow....   whole team seemingly has yellows.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

I have calmed down a bit....almost.

 

MOTM - Brooks   just a monster game especially the second half

 

Bottom line - Incredible organization defensively. The only good chance Paraguay got was on a shot Brooks blocked and a funny bounce gave them the ball but Guzan did his job....twice!

 

Now some specifics:

1. US needs to shoot the stupid ball. They had numerous times a one touch shot was there with lots of net. Pull the trigger. No doubt that will be a focus this week in training.

2. Any question on how fit the team is? They are in unreal shape. To play the third game, that hard, in 90 degree weather. Well done guys. It shows you worked your butts off in training.

3. The referee was just terrible. The first 20 minutes of the second half he called every physical play against the US. And unfortunately what happens then is the players get frustrated and too aggressive and they get carded. The first yellow on Yedlin was just awful. It was hardly a foul but nothing in the universe of a cardable offense. The second yellow was correct but its on the ref for putting the player into a frustration position in the first place. How the hell do you not call the fouls on Wood with all the other crap you did call??  Boy would I love to have been assessor for this match. Because dude would have gotten a very poor report....and I am sure he did.

4. Holding a team to a clean sheet when you have to play an entire half 10 on 12 is amazing. I honestly believe we have finally found a back line that is going to be world class. Look to see how they continue to develop especially in the next stage of WC qualifying.

5. Shoot the damn ball.

6. Shoot the damn ball.

 and lastly did I mention

7. Shoot the damn ball.

 

Had Zardes scored his breakaway it would have broken Paraguays back and we wouldn't have had to expend near as much energy the rest of the half. But all is good......ADVANCED BABY!!!!!!

 

We will miss Yelin the next match. Orozco is just as good or perhaps even better defensively but not near the threat down the wing as Dre. But we have almost an entire week to work this now.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Not that its going to make a big difference but if CR somehow upsets Columbia then the US wins the group.  CR scored early but Columbia back quickly to tie it. Come on Ticos!!!!

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Ticos ahead 3-1 with 25 minutes to go. CR hasn't beaten Columbia since the 1980's!  This so cool.......

[Pedro Cerrano]

If they win do we avoid Brazil?

[BSLSteveBirrer]

If they win do we avoid Brazil?

Wont know until Group B's games tomorrow. But its likely that Brazil wins that group so yes. But first things first. CR still ahead 3-2 but Columbia really pushing. 10 minutes to go.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

YYYEEESSSSS!!!!! Ticos hold....huge upset and we win the group!!!!!!!!

[BSLChrisStoner]

YYYEEESSSSS!!!!! Ticos hold....huge upset and we win the group!!!!!!!!

Now to see who finishes 2nd in Group B.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Most likely we will play Ecuador in Seattle. This is huge for the US. Seattle is a monster soccer town and fantastic supporters of the US National teams. One of the venues where, no matter who we are playing, it is a huge home field advantage.

 

So until a few hours ago I was a huge Peru fan. Not anymore! Go Brazil!!!!!!

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Well an interesting lesson in coaching soccer at a high level tournament yesterday. Remains to be seen what those coaching decisions will lead to but there is no doubt they have already had some impact. Good for the US and not so good for Columbia.

 

So let me give you my perspective and what occurred yesterday and how coaching decisions impacted things. First and foremost the approach in any tournament is to advance to the knockout stages. The group stage matches are not about a particular game but a set of three games and earning enough points to advance. So every coach goes in with a plan and then has to vary the plan according to how the games turn out.  So how did this play out in Group A?

 

The ideal situation is to do well enough in the first two games that you can rest players in the third game. That is typically what you strive for as a coach. In the case of the US they were in a hole after the first game. However, unlike many fans it wasn't panic time. This was the group game they were not going to be favored in from day one. The way to advance was likely to come from the last two matches. This is just how it turned out. Now going into the match yesterday the US only needed a draw to advance (short of some goofball game where CR would beat Columbia by 5 or more goals.....not ever going to happen). So the US had two different plans they could have taken for last night.

1. Bench any older players (Jones, Bradley, and/or Dempsey) and anybody with a slight injury (Bedoya). Play a tactical game to stack the defense and hope to counter to get a goal but try and get a draw. If down a goal in the second half then bring in those guys you didn't start and hope to tie it up.

2. Stay with the lineup that has been working and hope to be able to sub some of those guys out later in the game. Also recognize that in this case the US has 6 days to recover before their first knockout match.

 

So Klinsman opted to go with the second option. I totally agree with this plan. It gave the US the best chance to advance and although the starters would have played 3 high level matches in one week you just hope that their fitness is high enough that they can recover by next Thursday. Good move and of course I have hindsight now on my side.

 

Ok what about Columbia. Well they had a totally different set of scenarios at play. They were already assured of advancing with two wins in their first two matches. So their options for yesterday were simple.

1. Play a strong lineup and keep the momentum going. Win the group.

2. Sub some players and give your key guys some rest. You have already advanced and you are playing a CR team that has nothing to play for.

 

So you look at CR and think one of two things. They are going to be really dead and just going through the motions. If that is the case I can probably beat them with my third team. Or they will come out on fire to try and go home with something to show for the tournament. But if they do that I can probably still beat them with a less strong lineup and a draw still wins the group.

 

In this scenario, as a coach I would have likely rested several key players. But here is where I believe the Columbian coach made a huge error. He chose to rest almost his entire team. They only started one player from the starting XI in their second match. What happened is that there was too much change over. Every player and indeed combination of players have their nuances. To play this game at a high level it is imperative to know exactly what your teammates are going to do at all times. You have to KNOW where your passing options will be. You have to KNOW who covers for you if you make a run...etc etc etc. When you make wholesale changes like last night then things become much more difficult.

 

So what happened? CR came out with their hair on fire. They were intent from the opening kickoff to show that they belonged in the tournament and were not going to go home totally hanging their heads. But still you think this is Columbia the #3 ranked team in the world. The should still handle business. But they found out that CR was tougher than they thought. They found out that CR was stubborn and was not going to roll over even after the main attacking players for Columbia entered the game. They found out that they were in a dogfight. So much so that they ended up losing.

 

Well they were already advanced and now they will have a more rested set of starters for their first knockout match. So no big deal. Right? Oops not so fast. There is one more factor that was in play. They already knew come game time that the US had won their match. Now they needed some result in order to win the group. How important is winning the group? Well we won't know for sure until tonight. But winning the group is probably huge compared to taken second.

 

The most likely scenario now has the US playing Ecuador and Columbia playing Brazil. I would much rather face Ecuador with a less rested set of players than Brazil even fully rested. Brazil is not playing their greatest but they are Brazil. Bottom line is that once the Columbian coach saw the US outcome he should have rethought his strategy. Perhaps he did and still opted to change his entire lineup. And perhaps Columbia will go on and beat Brazil.

 

But from where I sit I am a very happy US fan. I sure as hell would rather go face Ecuador than Brazil!!! And its not close. And if you have been paying attention, we beat Ecuador in a friendly two weeks before the tournament started. I like our chances.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Wow what a day for football!  As expected, the US will play Ecuador in Seattle on Thursday. But what was not expected....wait for it.....Brazil lost to Peru 1-0.  I said earlier in the week to watch out for them. They were playing well and Brazil not so much. Now to be totally fair. The Peru goal should not have counted. The cross did go off the Peruvian players thigh. But on the way to goal it also deflected off his hand. Very tough to see even on the replay.....but it was a hand ball. 

 

BRAZIL was eliminated

[BSLSteveBirrer]

As expected, after the debacle last night there is a renewed call to instill video replay in soccer. And I don't disagree.  Its is funny though that the Brazilian fans and supporters are now the ones clamoring for replay. Their claim is that had that goal been disallowed (and yes in replay it would have been) that they would have advanced.

 

NOT SO FAST! Had replay been in use in this tournament Brazil would have lost to Ecuador! Ecuador scored a goal in that game but the AR ruled that the ball had gone across the end line on the cross so no goal. Replay showed that to be incorrect and that goal should have counted.

 

Having been involved in soccer my entire life I get the arguments against replay. Slows the flow down etc. But look at last night. That officials took several minutes to discuss the play all the while being accosted by players of both teams. A replay would have actually taken less time. And if I had been the center for that match I would have started issuing cards for dissent. Ridiculous that he kept asking the players to step away and they kept getting in the officials faces. Yellows would have been flying!

 

Now you can also take replays too far. But I think there are several things you could have reviewed in a replay booth very quickly without disrupting play.

1. All goals should be reviewed. Easy to do while the team celebrates. Officials already have electronic communication so its no time delay at all.

2. All PKs should be reviewed. Same thing just about as goals. Too much riding on the match.

3. Cards should be reviewed by the replay booth to ensure that the correct player was carded. NOT that the card was correct.

 

There is one additional review that I would hold and FIFA has done this before. But it needs to be standard practice.Games should be reviewed after the fact to determine the validity of cards and they should rescind mistakes. The problem here is that cards accumulate at certain stages and can lead to players missing matches that they shouldn't. BUT I take this one step further. FIFA needs to start reviewing "fouls" after the fact and looking at dives. I do not have the complete answer on this but the approach needs to be something like this. Get caught in a dive...warning. After X warnings a yellow card is issued prior to your next match. So you are now on a card just like had you been carded in a previous match. Then if you get caught diving again then you get suspension time. The problem here is that the game is so fast and the players have gotten too good at diving. This needs to stop ....and yesterday.

 

Rant over.....