Hell yeah! A great game for any fans of US soccer. This was an ugly win, but it was a win. Against the #1 team in the world, I'll gladly take it any way I can get it. Here are a few points I would like to make about the game.
- We dominated the first 15 minutes. The opening to this game was the best I have seen the US team play since 2002. We came out harder and more focused than Spain, and we were rewarded for it. Altidore made a strong play on a good bounce and got the goal.
- Landon Donovan. He has really matured into a smart player. He's always had great skill, but now he's using it to his full advantage. He's using that skill to make good decisions, and it's paying off. (Although I want to see him shoot more. Inside 20 yards, SHOOT!) He made several great plays during this game that won't get talked about on SportsCenter, but really allowed us to win this game.
- Defense. Spain came out roaring in the 2nd half, and put our defense under a lot of pressure. For the most part, we defended pretty well, although we did have a few botched assignments that nearly cost us. We did an excellent job on Torres, who was nearly invisible the entire game. However, the biggest problem with our defenders is not their defense, but rather, what they do when they have the ball themselves. I would like to see more possession and passing out of the defense. Obviously there are times when it's necessary just to clear the ball, but it seemed that in this game, especially in the 2nd half, we gave up possession too easily. Some of it is a function of Spain being awesome, and some of it is a function of our offense letting us down (Altidore had a terrible 2nd half. He should have been subbed sooner...) but I think for the most part we just panicked a little bit when we won the ball in our own third, and gave up the ball when we didn't need to. But overall, a great job by our defenders. And Tim Howard played well, that always helps...
- Golden Opportunities. I have heard a lot of talk about how we were lucky to score the goals that we did. And on a certain level, it's true. But we made the most of our luck, and that's why we won. Spain had just as many good bounces, maybe more, but couldn't finish them. We capitalized on out opportunities, Spain did not.
- The red card. Thank the lord it happened late, (not early a la Italy) but it's another questionable call. In my (of course totally unbiased opinion) that was a yellow card. But I think the refereeing has been suspect all tournament. I hope it will be better in the World Cup.
- Heart. In the end, we just wanted to win this game more than Spain did. All eleven players left everything they had on the pitch. I'm not saying everyone played perfectly, but they gave maximum effort for 90 minutes, and the soccer gods love to see that.
USA plays Brazil on Sunday. I WANT THAT CUP!
2 comments:
Here were my observations:
~Altidore is a beast. He doesn't look like a typical soccer player...he's built like a tank. I don't know (and of course I have limited knowledge of players) of anyone with that kind of strength who could have scored that goal. I'm sure there's someone, but he just out-muscled that Spain fucker.
~I could not believe that was a red card! I thought it was a terrible call, and when I saw the replays I thought it was the worst call in the history of soccer (overexaggeration). At the same time, why is he even putting himself in that situation. Dumb on his part, especially with the game winding down and a two goal lead. Still...what the fuck.
~Donovan should get no credit whatsoever for having any part in the last goal. He passed up a wide open shot for a pass through three defenders- that didn't even make it! Spain blew it on that one...and Donovan made the wrong decision.
~I actually think losing to Brazil will be best for us come Sunday. We have already proved to the world and ourselves we can hang and beat the best. I am worried we won't come out with the same hunger/heart/determination come World Cup if we have a year to bask in the glory of victories over Brazil and Spain. You know that opening round matchup against some team we should beat we'll end up losing because we're too over confident...
Altidore is good, but he's got a lot of work to do. I'm still not sure I wouldn't rather have Brian Ching (a more experienced version of Altidore) for the World Cup squad. But maybe that's just because I'm a fan of Ching and don't really know a lot about Altidore.
Agreed Donovan made the wrong decision on that one. I want to see him shoot more. But I was praising him in this post for what he does in the midfield. He always had the physical talent to see passes and possess the ball, but he sometimes seemed unsure when to pass and when to hold. Now he's making the right decisions (for the most part) on when to do which. He is a lot more confident with the ball at his feet. Plus he's making great runs off the ball.
I want to beat Brazil. Even if we win the Conferderation Cup, we will still be underdogs to Spain and Brazil (and 10 other countries) when we see them in the World Cup. I'm not worried about overconfidence yet, I'm still worried about building confidence that we can play with the best.
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