Tag Archives: Charlie Davies

WC Qualifying: US 2-2 Costa Rica

Posted on by

Color me completely stunned right now.  I can’t believe how this game finished up.  I can’t decide if we played well or played bad.  Maybe we played worse than we should have against a team like Costa Rica, but part of me thinks we played better than the scoreline.  One thing is for sure, there is no doubt we missed Charlie Davies tonight.

I hate to say it, but that was some of the worst finishing I’ve seen from the US team in a while.  It used to be that we couldn’t create any chances.  Tonight, we created plenty of chances and couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.  Given what we saw from him this year, I have to believe that Charlie would have put away at least two of the numerous ridiculously open chances we had throughout the game.

We absolutely must dispose of the horrific defensive brain farts we keep having.  Generally speaking, we play solidly and then completely go to sleep long enough for the opposition to score a goal.  I thought Tim Howard was going to rip someone’s head off after their second one tonight.  I don’t know what the answer is, but Bradley has about eight months to figure out how to lock up the defense.

Feilhaber and Holden didn’t have their best games tonight.  Feilhaber had a very, very quiet game.  He didn’t get involved enough and didn’t do enough with the touches that he did have.  Holden was a little better than Feilhaber, but his services weren’t of the typical quality he usually gives us.

I was glad to see Paco Torres get a run out.  I thought he had a very good showing.  He was very involved in directing the attack and he came up with some quality defensive work at the end of the game.  Hopefully, he will continue to get more time on the field between now and next summer so he has a chance to solidify his place on the roster.

I was unsure of the introduction of Robbie Rogers, but he proved to make a huge impact on the game.  He made the initial service on Bradley’s goal and had a couple of good chances shortly after.

Its sort of a relief that qualifying is over and we’re through to next summer.  Now we have a chance to try to get things sorted out in terms of roster spots and team chemistry.  I’m very concerned about Onyewu’s status.  He looked like he was in a fair amount of pain when he was taken off.  I just hope that its not too serious and he’ll be able to get back on the field soon and start getting some time for AC Milan as soon as possible.

Next up for the MNT is a friendly later this year against Denmark, who qualified top of their group in European qualifying.

Share

WC Qualifying: US 2-1 El Salvador

Posted on by

It was essential for the US to get a win tonight in Salt Lake City, and we came through with a pretty solid performance. Generally speaking, I would say we played well. Our attack was able to create several very good chances, even beyond the goals we scored, and we were able to possess the ball much better than we have in past matches.

Usually, our most dependable aspect of our game, our defense, wasn’t up to the quality of our more recent performances. Part of that is obviously due to the absence of Oguchi Onyewu, who will be back Wednesday after serving a one match suspension for yellow card accumulation during qualifying. Chad Marshall was a serviceable stand in for Onyewu and the injured Demerit, but his lack of experience at the international level showed from time to time.

The most problematic aspect of our defensive game tonight was our ability to clear the ball out of the box. Jonathon Bornstein’s failure to solidly clear the ball led directly to El Salvador’s goal, and the clearance problems continued for others through the rest of the match.

On the subject of Bornstein, I think he’ll be one of the first sent to the bench once other defenders are well enough to play again. One of the most worrying problems with Bornstein is his defensive positioning. Too often there is a significant amount of space for long balls played over the top that outside attackers are able to run on to and cross the ball into the box. Additionally, his offensive abilities are also clearly lacking. Though his lack of crossing ability is concerning, the bigger issue is his penchant for giving the ball away in our own half. He doesn’t appear to have the poise or confidence on the ball to calmly bring it down and find the feet of one of our central midfielders when we’re trying to transition from defense to offense.

In a bit of a departure from the norm, our attack tonight was solid and lively. The combination of Michael Bradley and Benny Feilhaber was a little more attack minded than Bob Bradley usually ops for, but it fit this match and worked well. Dempsey played well and Donovan has clearly found his best position at outside midfield instead of striker.

Donovan has been able to settle into a position at midfield because we have finally found a pair of strikers that are able to both help create and finish goals. Altidore got on to the end of an excellent cross that he put away and simply put, Charlie Davies is the real deal. Its hard for me to single out what I like about Davies right now, because it’s pretty much everything. His physically abilities are obvious, but his intangibles are the source of his success right now. He has exceptional anticipation of where the ball is going to go and he creates chances from that. He also uses every bit of his strength to play bigger than his size and he never gives up on a play. If he continues to improve like he has over the last year, he will fully establish himself as our top offensive threat.

Qualifying continues for the US Wednesday in Trinidad and Tobago. T&T sits in last place in qualifying, but this cycle has already shown that there are no easy road games in CONCACAF, and with the top four teams all within a point of each other every game is a must win.

Share

Gold Cup: Group Stage Review

Posted on by

The USMNT just finished the group stages of the Gold Cup last night with a draw against Haiti.  Just coming off a busy schedule with the Confederations Cup, we brought in a batch of players that hadn’t been playing with the full senior team lately.  Given the number of players with little to no experience at the senior level, I decided I wasn’t going to do a review after each game.  I wanted to see how things panned out a little before I formed any real opinions.

Now that the first three games are over, I feel like I’ve seen enough play to form some opinions on how we looked and performances from individual players.  This is what I saw from the first three games.

Freddy Adu has a fair distance to go before I’m convinced he belongs on the field.  He’s obviously rusty from not playing, but this was supposed to be his chance to show that he deserved to be considered for regular time with the full team anyway.  Its understandable that his touch is going to be rusty and hit fitness wouldn’t be great, but he just lost possession of the ball way too easily way too many times.  I’m starting to get the feeling that he was overhyped, or he’s just not reaching his full potential.  Bottom line, right now we have too many other options that are much better than him in the midfield.

Continue reading →

Share

Confederations Cup: USA 3-0 Egypt

Posted on by

So color me shocked.  I’m not really sure what to say about this game.

Obviously, its a great result for the team, but you have to wonder where the kind of energy they showed today was for the first two games of the tournament.  I would also throw out that Egypt isn’t the same kind of team that Brazil or Italy are, but Egypt did beat Italy so we know they’re at least capable of being as good.

Moving on my from confusion, there’s a fair amount of fat to chew on after this one.  Some interesting adjustments to the line-up that I liked.  Charlie Davies got a start up top, Brad Guzan got a rare start with the full men’s team giving Tim Howard a break, and Ricardo Clark was back alongside  Michael Bradley following his one game suspension from the red card against Italy.

I liked the energy that Davies brought to the game, both offensively and defensively.  He seemed to have a good nose for getting in behind the defense with some good diagonal, and his defensive work rate looked to disrupt the Egyptian buildup before it had a chance to get started.  And let’s not forget his contribution with a scrappy goal.  Guzan did well throughout the match showing good control over his box and making the stops he needed to make, though he wasn’t tested a great deal with strong shots on target.  I don’t feel like Clark had as strong an impact on this game as he did against Italy, but he paired well with Bradley in the center of midfield, disrupting the Egyptian midfield.

I was also really impressed with Jay Demerit in this game.  He and Onyewu, who also had another strong showing, seemed to have come to a good understanding on how to work with each other and I felt very confident in our back line.  Demerit’s play in this tournament may give Bradley the confidence to try Bocanegra on the outside left, where he plays for his club side, to try to shore up one of the more unstable position for the team.

The performance I’m most torn on is Dempsey’s.  Just before Altidore came off, I was expecting and hoping the first sub would be Dempsey.  He seemed very lackadaisical and was becoming a defensive liability from lack of tracking back.  I also wasn’t impressed with what he was bringing to the table offensively.  Despite that, he came up with a really incredible goal to help push the Americans into the semi-finals.  I want to see more moments of brilliance like that before I’m going to be convinced that he’s giving the US what he should be.

So we’re on to the semi-finals and we get the cakewalk game of Spain.  I hate to be Debbie Downer, but I think our chances of making it past the Euro 2008 champions are slim to none.  Our best chance is if they underestimate who they’re playing.  They have an unbeaten streak reaching back some 40 games and they’re form earlier in this tournament has been extremely impressive.  They are one of the most talented and deepest teams I’ve seen play in a really long time.  All I ask is that we bring the same fire to that game Wednesday that we showed today against Egypt.

Share

WC Qualifying: Call-ups for Cuba Match

Posted on by

Bob Bradley announced the group of players being called into pre-match camp for the upcoing qualifier against Cuba in Washington, D.C. (a game I’m happy to say I’m going to)  I’m doubly interested in seeing this game due some some of the guys that have been called into camp.

The US has already accumulated enough points to where it will be difficult for us to not move on to the next stage of qualifying.  Cuba has yet to win a point in qualifying and this game shouldn’t serve as the biggest test for us.  It appears as though Bradley has taken the comfortable position we’re in to try out some of the younger guys in the national team pool; some guys I’ve wanted to see a little more with the full team.  This is who has been called in to camp:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, Tim Howard (Everton FC), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF).

DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock).

MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca).

FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal C.F.), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy).

I’ve highlighted some of the guys that haven’t played a big part in qualifying to this point.  One thing I’ll clarify is that there are 23 guys that have been called into camp, but, if I understand correctly, only 18 will be named to the game day roster.  Its quite possible that some of these guys were called in to get a little bit of experience with the national team and see how well they do against other first team competition, not necessarily to play in the game.

I’m doubtful that Troy Perkins is going to get any playing time.  Howard is almost certain to start, and if they want to give another keeper some more experience, Guzan is the most likely one b/c he’s been the backup longer and he doesn’t have a great deal of game time with the national team himself.  Another in that situation may be Orozco, given all of the experience in the other defenders that were brought in.

The midfield call-ups are a little more interesting.  Adu has played before, but most fans and a good bit of the press have wanted to see more of him to see if he can add more potency to our attack.  I have to admit that I don’t know anything about Torres, as this is the first time that I’ve heard of him.  I initially thought he would be a camp only guy, but we haven’t found anyone reliable to play at left midfield, where Torres plays, when Beasley is hurt or unavailable so he very well could get a run out if he does well in camp.

The two that I hope to see the most would be Charlie Davies and Altidore.  As I’ve noted over and over, our defense has been really worrisome and I’m really interested to see what some new blood can do.  Altidore hasn’t gotten much playing time for Villareal yet, but I still want to see more of what he’s capable of.  From what I’ve heard, Charlie Davies has had a very successful year in Sweden.  That being said, I’m doubtful that Davies will get to play in the game just b/c he’s still a little too low on the totum pole to make it to match day.

As I noted before, I’ll be going to this match and I’ll be putting up a post game report next weekend.

Share