I know the game was several days ago now, but I still wanted to throw ac couple of thoughts out there since it was Klinsmann’s first game and a rare appearance for a handful of the guys that played Wednesday night.
USMNT Friendly: US 1 – 1 Mexico
Tag Archives: Clint Dempsey
Confederations Cup: USA 3-0 Egypt
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.
Confederations Cup: Brazil 3-0 USA
Pure and simple, this game was an embarrasment.
Brazil is traditionally one of the better teams in the world and few people expected us to win, but the way in which we lost was just sad. We showed no heart and barely any fight throughout the whole thing. And again, I really have to question Bradley’s line-up and substitutions decision making, again. I’m starting to feel more and more that Bradley is not the right coach to take us where we want to go.
My early prediction is three games and out in 2010. My quick thoughts on this debacle:
- Beasley can’t play anymore until he gets his game and confidence back together. He’s consistently very average, and when he shows flashes of anything but average, its bad more often than good. He doesn’t bring near enough to the attack to play outside midfield and he just isn’t cut out to play outside back at the international level.
- Our offense sucks. We don’t have a clue how to build up an attack to save our lives. We regressed in this game to just trying to knock long balls down the field to a striker that wasn’t able to hold the ball because he had two defenders on him all the time. Set pieces and PKs are only going to take us so far and its not going to win us games against tough opponents.
- Clint Dempsey is having serious problems translating his form from Fulham to the USMNT. I saw him play numerous games in the EPL this past season and his impact on the game was almost always much greater there than I’ve seen in the last several national team games. Some are questioning if he’s burnt out or he’s having trouble feeling comfortable in or knowing what his role for the national team is. Whatever the problem, we need him to get that sorted out before next year.
- On the positive side, Jay Demerit and Jonathan Spector have proved themselves as quality defenders for us. They won’t necessarily be considered world class, but they did a very solid job for us and give me a little comfort in the event of injury. The left side is still a little questionable, though.
Our last match of the Confederations Cup is this weekend and its going to be very interesting to see what Bradley does with his line-up. Egypt barely lost to Brazil and beat Italy in their first two matches so I honestly don’t expect us to have much of a chance against them. It would be the perfect chance to give some of the less experienced players a chance, but I honestly don’t hold out much hope of that happening.