Here are a few more random thoughts on the U.S. and Mexico……
*After the early goal one has to wonder if the U.S. defending deep allowed Mexico to re-organize their thoughts and regain balance after the stunning opening goal.
Could the U.S. have continue to pressure Mexico higher up the field for a time period. The U.S. landed a “body blow” and instead of allowing Mexico to re-gain their faculties it seemed we did not have the confidence to pressure them a bit more both mentally and physically…….
*Cuauhtemoc Blanco starting was a masterstroke from manager Javier Aguirre. No wonder the Mexican Federation pushed to get him earlier which led Cuauhtemoc Blanco apparently to say that the Fire playing him on Sunday was designed to help the U.S. Blanco is at home in Azteca where he has performed for both Mexico and Club America and did not seem a liability defensively especially after the U.S. dropped off. He got lots of the ball and proved dangerous , even setting up the amazing goal from Israel Castro after luring in both central midfielders Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark.
* Gio dos Santos looks to be the emerging attacking leader of this squad but how dangerous were Mexico with the variety of players that can show up in different areas including Dos Santos, Blanco, Vela, Guaradado. All four are capable of coming deep in midfield and turning and facing opponents. Efrain Juarez powering up the right side and Guardado on the left brough great width against Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey.
* Fans are criticizing Brian Ching but he was rendered ineffective due to the lack of ball possession. Ching was a starter based on his experience and to be able to alleviate pressure holding the ball up front yet the fact is the U.S. never had the ball and it was fruitless…….Don’t try to tell me any other striker is more effective holding the ball up front….
*The U.S. goal was a thing of beauty and Landon Donovan (who apparently now has come out saying he tested postive for some type of virus) eliminated Andres Guardado after coming in central and turned the entire unbalanced Mexican defense with a beautiful pass……for the games first goal.
*So who performed well for the U.S.? Charlie Davies was a relentless effort machine up front and scored a great goal. Through sheer effort he tested and kept Mexico honest.
Oguchi Onyewu had a solid afternoon and should continue to grow in Italy. He broke up numerous plays while the U.S. was under seige.
* The U.S. has questions at outside back . Carlos Bocanegra in this case really is more a center back playing out on the left . Against Spain he tucked in the middle more almost conceding crosses, he is experienced but one wonders if in the future he remains here or ultimately goes back in the middle………
*How telling was the shot of Landon Donovan going to take a corner and cups raining down on him…..
*The Dynamo trio of Brian Ching , Ricardo Clark and Stuart Holden all played…..Ching was ineffective, Clark battled but seemed overwhelmed by Mexico in midfield, Holden’s best moment was a searing cross that you wished Brian Ching not Charlie Davies was on the end of……….
ALVAREZ DEBUTS FOR EL SALVADOR
Former Mayde Creek High School player Arturo Alvarez debuted for El Salvador in a 1-0 lost to Trinidad and Tobago in a Concacaf World Cup qualifier.
Alvarez came on as a second half sub and once was expected to make the U.S. Olympic team under Peter Nowak. Alvarez who was born in Houston to Salvadorean parents chose El Salvador over the U.S………What do you think of Alvarez’s choice? Did the U.S. let him get away or was his future limited as a yank?
OVER AT MYDYNAMO.NET CEO CHRIS CANETTI revealed….
That the Dynamo will play a Mexican team in a friendly in October and one expects it to be either Chivas or Club America strictly from the perspective of drawing fans.
I could be wrong here but it is interesting to speculate on who the opponent might be. Are you excited about the prospects of this friendly match?
Canetti also revealed that Joseph Ngwenya was a long shot . The Dynamo have certainly from my understanding given him every opportunity to come back but there is only one thing worse than NO. It is a SLOW NO. The other concern here is that Ngwenya has played little competitive soccer in the last year and a half…..
*The response….lets see how the U.S. respond after this loss at Mexico which amazingly they were only 8 minutes and some stoppage time away from earning a draw.
*Soccer Matters with Glenn Davis Saturday morning at 9am on Fox Sports Houston
* Dynamo on Fox Soccer Channel at 8pm vs. Real Salt Lake Saturday night!
*Dynamo All Access with Glenn Davis Monday night at 7pm on 790 The Sports Animal
*FIESTA “Smart Soccer Tips with Glenn Davis” available at SOCCER 4 ALL and SOCCER TIME!!! Ask for them…….
TWITTER: Soccermattersgd
Thanks to FIESTA, STERLING BANK, ZUKOWSKI, BRESENHAN and SINEX, MARK WEST PINOT NOIR for supporting soccer in the media………..
The bunkering by the US was disappointing, but was a completely understandable tactic given that we had a lead and had to conserve our energy for 90 minutes (or 80 more minutes at the time of our goal) in thin air. Besides, it had worked versus a better opponent: Spain.
Ah, if only Ching had been the flying forward on the end of Holden’s cross! I thought Holden looked great in his time on the field. Some nice footwork and composure in his first appearance with the so-called A-team, and in the high-pressure Azteca to boot! He was more impactful than many veterans, including Dempsey. Amazing.
Gooch did have a great game, but it looked like he was flat-footed and ball-watching on the game winning goal and was part of the reason that Sabah was open. That doesn’t take away from his overall game though.
On the homefront: Only 8 more games left in the MLS season for the Dynamo? Where did the season go? That means we have 24 more points on the table, and we’re going to need most of those if we want the Supporters’ Shield. We’ve never won it, let’s make this the season where we do.
Comment by mattoomba — August 14, 2009 @ 8:29 am
Ok Glenn, I am going to post my thoughts on the match and will probably be crucified by some Bartha lover in California, but here goes:
I think Bob Bradley did the best he could with what he had available to him. With this not being an official FIFA match playing date, he had limited access to his players before the game. Some players were coming in Monday morning for a Wednesday match. This left Bob with little time to get his guys acclimated to the altitude and the pollution that Mexico City has. I assume that Bob took the Maradona page and flew the boys in and tried to get the match in before the altitude hit them. Get an early goal, put Mexico on edge, get the fans against them and then watch them get into panic mode as they did in World Cup 2002. Giving up the response goal so early was what crushed us.
As for team selection, I think that starting 11 was about as good as we have, but it was obvious that they did not play as well as they could have. I agree with you that Ching was ineffective because the midfielders could not string 3 passes together, let alone attack the flanks and whip in the crosses. You could have put McBride, Kenny Cooper, Altidore, Roy Wegerle, or Edwin up top and they would have been just as ineffective because of the lack of possession and service. Both Ching and Davies did the tough job of getting back and defending, which again, hurt the chances of breaking out on the counter attack.
I think the midfield was ineffective because we sat too tight in the middle of the park. Donovan and Dempsey had to bet he guys to get wide and attack the flanks, but that just did not happen. I don’t have a problem with a diamond midfield like that, but you have to have attack minded outside backs to get into those flanks, and Bocanegra and Stevie C. were not those players. A guy like Hejduk would have been better off on the right flank.
The fault I have is with the defense. Glenn, the name of the game is pressure, and on both goals, we did not apply pressure. The rule of defense for the first defender is to deny penetration, and we did not do that on either goal. Fault Bocanegra for not closing down the shot on goal one and then fault Donovan and Bocanegra for parting like the Red Sea and allowing the winger to penetrate the space, unbalance the back four, play the ball across and assist the goal. That is basic defending that we teach 10 year olds, and it is obvious that our guys need to go back to the training pitch on defending principles.
Now, who could we have had out there to make a difference. Honestly, no one really comes to mind and please ask Edwin how he got to be Kenny Cooper’s agent? The guy is a good striker, but he is not a world class striker. I rank our strike force this way: Altidore, Davies, Ching, Casey, McBride (please let’s bring him back) and Cooper. Our wing midfielders are two of the best in the world when they are on, but Wednesday, they were off. Holding mids were solid, but I think at some point, Michael Bradley will have to be the odd man out and I hope Papa Bradley realizes that. I think once Edu comes back, our tandem needs to be Clark and Edu with Bradley and Feilhaber coming behind. Torres has not done anything that maks me want to see him be in that spot.
Defense is our weak point and we have to find a couple of flank backs to get into the attack. Hejduk still does it for Columbus and I just hope we can find someone to partner him on the left side. Center backs are solid and Jay DeMerit is the best defender the USA has right now. Case closed on that.
I honestly did not expect a win Wednesday, but was hoping for a draw. We were close, but like they say, close only counts in horse shoes and hand gernades, which coincidentally, land right outside of Kenny Daglish’s house!
Coach H
Comment by Coach H — August 14, 2009 @ 8:33 am
Did you have to drop off that dramatically that quickly to allow Mexico to collect itself…Fully aware you would spend the day doing alot of defending but without moments of decent possession to spell the pressure the inevitable is going to happen unless you are extremely lucky which is also a part of it.
You can’t get your outside backs into an attack if you can’t hold the ball.
Comment by glenndavis — August 14, 2009 @ 8:40 am
That virus would be the swine flu aka H1N1…according to rumors floating around FIFA or Concacaf may actually punish him and Bradley for allowing him to play like that. Considering Mexico and a lot of Mexican players weren’t even allowed to play Copa Libertadores just because they were Mexican and people thought that they were spreading it…so truth is I dont blame them…he’s going to probably miss the Galaxy game…
Comment by Leo — August 14, 2009 @ 8:48 am
for those interested here’s the Landon link http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=goal_landon_donovan_afflicted&prov=goal&type=lgns
Comment by Leo — August 14, 2009 @ 8:49 am
I really agree with much of what Coach H has to say. I thought Gooch was our man of the match, he was good on the ball and solid in the back heading out cross after cross along with Demerit. I also agree that there was very little service for Ching up-front,which was no fault of his own but do to lack of service. Unfortunately the only real defensive midfielder in the game was Clark, but Clark is not the best passer of the ball, he is not bad but he does not always look to be the distributor between the defense and the midfield. Bradley is Ok at defense but as his record in Holland will attest he is better playing much higher up on the field. If this is the case then you have two other players in Donovan and Dempsey who also are more of a high playing midfielder types. I think Landon is best positioned right behind the strikers, I think Clark is best sitting in front of the back 2 moving side-to-side to get the ball but with Bradley would still need to come back for the ball. I think this is a problem for the US when playing teams like Mexico, who basically play a 5 man midfield. I would prefer the US play a 3-man back(Spector, Gooch, Demerit and Bocanegra to fill in for any of the 3) a 5 man mid-field with Clark and Edu sitting in front of the back three and Dempsey, Donovan and Holden behind the strikers. If you do not play a 3-5-2 then I think Coach Bradley must not play 2 strikers and should really just rely on a Davies, Altidore or Ching (most likely Altidore or Davies for their speed) and put Donovan behind the striker. Either way you have to accept to a certain degree that Mexico and teams like mexico are going to try and control the game with their passing, playing balls to feet.
As far as our wing backs (fullbacks) go, I think for the most part both Bocanegra and Cherundelo had sub-par games. I have seen Cherundelo move forward up the flank before but he did not seem that willing in this game. Bocanegra (who I like for his ability to score on set plays) never came forward which is really what stranded Dempsey. I can not tell you how many times if he would have just made a run forward after passing to Dempsey Mexico would have been vulnerable. As wing back you must work to help out the inside midfielder, center back and the Wing back to form that diamond, as you move forward the Striker becomes the top of the diamond. The US has not, at least as far as I can remember ever had a wing-back that was fantastic. We have had some quite capable guys (I like Bornstein’s ability to get forward, as well as Pierce’s, I think Spector is more of a hybrid Center/Full-back who does give decent service with long balls and is a good/fast/tall defender)
Comment by joshquasimoto — August 14, 2009 @ 11:10 am
The washington post says Julius James is headed to DC.
Comment by eric — August 14, 2009 @ 11:49 am
I reiterate the blame lies squarely on Bob Bradley’s shoulders. After the goal by U.S., the strategy was to hunker down and play defense. Right there and then the idea was to salvage a tie at most. It was wrong. The U.S. has great forwards and midfielders but without the ball, how effective can Ching, Dempsey or Donovan be? The answer is obvious. Mexico had the U.S. on it’s heels the rest of the game. When the U.S. had the ball, it was either kicked out of play or given back to the Mexicans. All of us at Lucky’s Pub were greatly dissappointed by the play of the Americans after there goal. This was not the same team that beat Spain, Egypt and almost beat Brazil. Mexico cannot compare to either one of those teams but on this day, they were the best. They played magnificantly and deserved to win. The U.S. on the other hand needs to regroup, play attacking football like they are capable of and show the world they are better than the effort they put forth in Mexico.
Comment by manny rivademar — August 14, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
It will be interesting and beneficial to the squad when Jermaine Jones and Edgar Castillo get called up for the US National team.
It would be nice to have a friendly or two in midst of all these qualifiers (which now are even more crucial) to test Jones and Castillo.
Glenn, do you know much about Jones? I followed him a bit at Shalke. Is he more along the lines of a midfielder like Clark or Bradley? Reading in forums, fans seem to want Jones to pair with Bradley in the midfield, but i would like to know your opinion on this.
Thanks!
John K
Comment by John K — August 14, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
Eric got it first. julias James to DC….they are saying for a Draft pick? However, this move along with Canettis tweet this morning to “Stay tuned” seems to indicate the Dynamo are making space for something/someone. Ngwenya? Canetti threw cold water on that the other day? Is the Guille Franco rumor true? I can’t wait to find out.
Comment by Kirk — August 14, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
If Guille comes to Houston…then the friendly exhibition match against a Mexican team is Monterrey…I really do hope he comes but have been disappointed with a Landin…Bravo…Carracio stay…Bofo…so I’m not celebrating too early!
Comment by Leo — August 14, 2009 @ 1:29 pm
Looks like its not offensive help but another center back. Brian Zygo is geporting on his blog that Ryan Cochrane is headed back to Houston. He was good while he was here,should pair up well with Boswell.
Maybe there is still something in the works on the offensive side?
Comment by Kirk — August 14, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
its good to have a crowded team with talent. lets hope it shows for the champions league.
Comment by eric — August 14, 2009 @ 3:10 pm
Coach H, where do you coach again? Lamar?
I’m just wondering to see if you actually do a good job coaching, because you sure as hell don’t do a good job of sending subtle messages disguised as honestly trying not to get crucified after repedeatly poorly making fun of me, I’m not Cooper’s agent, if I were, I would have made him leave way before this season even started when Frankfurt wanted him.
With that said, don’t worry I have much bigger worries then to crucify you, I’m sure you might do that on your own when your beloved Blues struggle to not even touch the Champions League trophy, hopefully you can stop Man U from winning 4 in a row, like I said I have more important worries, the Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, La Liga and the Champions League, nothing would be better than repeating at the Bernabeu.
Glenn the problem I have with Ching is that from all the touches he got, which were very little, granted that the team did a HORRIBLE job of getting him the ball, he lost the ball all but maybe 3 times, and on 1 of those he just flicked it to the right wing really far for Donovan to chase it down the other I believe he passed it back to Howard.
So he had bad service, does that really excuse him from losing posession on every other ball? He couldn’t trap a ball, stop it and pass it to an area near a player instead of chucking it into any space.
More important is that he didn’t play defense at all, if the plan is to defend let the speedy, talented forward stay up to to press and you help close the gigantic gaps in the middle of our half so Castro, Torrad and Blanco don’t have 15 yard radious worth of space to pass the ball around making us look silly and maybe just maybe the center mids Clark and Bradley can muster up a little effort to regain posession, you know that thing CDM’s are supposed to do?
But he didn’t do that, hell he didn’t even bother to press up top, Salcido, Magallon & Osorio passed to ball around until Gio or Juarez came to get it or worst Casto so they could start the assault again.
All he did was slighty ran around in a very slow and innocent pace to tire himself slowly, no aggression and no sign of intensity, isn’t that what he is known for? Ching is a hard worker? He could have worked harder in about 4 ways on defense and a simple way on ofense.
I blame Bradley big time, I don’t mind Cherundolo, he could have done better but seriously is hard to do better when you’re set to fail & Your midfield is beyond sad at regaining posession and keeping it.
The reason why I am mostly mad is because Ching should have been gone at half time if Bob’s wonderful tactics were to defend, correct me if I’m wrong but Ching is coming off what 135 minutes of Dynamo soccer 5 days prior? Why not sub him out at halftime for Feilhaber or Torres, you dont like Torres, fine Feilhaber or Holden or Jozy? Take your pic? How is Jozy out of form when he had played what 8 games with the USMNT in the course of 1 month, starting June 3rd until the end of the Confeds Cup.
It had been a little over a month but he did go train with his team in preseason, so how out of shape could he had been? Davies had the same predicament, actually played less.
Torres cannot get a shot, I don’t mind Holden but for him to just get shot over Torres is unfair according to not just their play but how Bob and Landon said things are done in the nats, you have to earn your spot, Torres was the only guy keeping possesion in Costa Rica ask anyone, that was retarded move, Bob was still in Love with his Chivas USA mancrush #2 Sacha. In El Salvador as soon as Torres came in, the US started to mount the come back, he distributed the ball and you saw him ATTACKING in the last 3rd, and he totally changed the game, what did Kljestan do in the Confeds? How many subpar games can his son have too?
Bradley has had up and downs since his 2 goals in Ohio, but again just like when didn’t earn his start after start, he never gets replaced, Dempsey I am willing to wait on because he did have a good tournament, but Bradley just dissappears from time to time, and nothing is done to him, I think Jones and Edu have to be given a shot, or Feilhaber or even Torres
I hope we see Feilhaber and Torres vs El Salvdor I think they can do some damage, Clark is good but come on give the guys some minutes at least a half?
Is this too much to ask?
Comment by Edwin — August 14, 2009 @ 3:34 pm
Leo, I heard the South American clubs wanted San Luis and Chivas to go thorough medical examinations of the entire club, not just players.
But you have a point, I think the only reason why he played is because it wasn’t a very strong string of Swine Flu, he felt somewhat bad in Miami but it had been about 6 days since he got it so it was very little chance he would be contagious.
I think Onyewu is going to be our best defender ever at this pace! I think Carlos needs to start showing more grit, he is our captain I see no emotion, he doesn’t talk to anyone I don’t see him calming guys down, more important there’s no intensity, I don’t see anyone pumping fists other than Poor Tim when he gets massacred with shots on goal.
I think Spector should seriously see more starts vs Steve Cherundolo, I pray to god we find someone, I don’t like Bornstein because A he is playing at a club that is pretty much dead right now and B as soon as you think he’s going to do better, he starts to do bad again, I’m willing to start him vs El Salvador since Onyewu is out but we need to address the fact that we don’t know who will be the CB’s back ups? We have Califf, Parkhurst, Marshall and possibly Edu or Spector since they can play there, but we need to take 1 more back up, Parkhurst was the leader, I haven’t heard much of Califf Marshall looked okay in Gold Cup I expect all those to be at camp in June, and I’ll let you know how Bornstein does in the next 5 games I have tix to all those so we’ll see.
Holden does have a future.
Does anyone have any insight on Edgar Castillo? I have barely seen any Tigres games, but was good 2 seasons ago before doing the mistake of going to America.
Comment by Edwin — August 14, 2009 @ 3:44 pm
Well with the Ryan Cochrane thing out of the bag…I guess I did the right thing in not wishing too much for a Guille transfer…I will buy season tickets for next season…so see ya at every home game…i grew tired of having to buy individual tickets and not having a set seat…this way i’ll also force myself to make most if not all of the games…so which section do ya recommend? I mean its weird because I know that I’m going to be a season ticket holder but once Pachuca comes into town…I’m wearing the old white and blue!
Frankly Cochrane is a good buy…Guille is a tad out of our price range
Comment by Leo — August 14, 2009 @ 4:06 pm
OK, LEO, Sec 204 home team side! That is the ULTRA section! Not the High up area and not the Low down ($$)area. The middle area The one that got busted for “gasp” the Orange Balloons!
Welcome to the S.T.H. group!
Comment by R. Lee — August 14, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
Yes sir! Starting next season you will start seeing me there regularly and starting next home game…so see ya there!
Comment by Leo — August 14, 2009 @ 4:47 pm
Lot’s of good USMNT conversation in today’s postings. I think the guys we have seen are the guys Gulati and Bradley are going to World Cup 2010 with. Bottom line is, will Bradley’s team ever learn to consistently put the opposing team away or protect a lead? Remaining qualifiers should tell the tale.
Comment by Michael — August 14, 2009 @ 6:42 pm