Much better result, marginally better performance.
Getting a win in this game gets us a fair amount closer to qualifying for the Cup. The problem comes in that I, along with a few others that watch the soccer world, am starting to have doubts about how well we’re going to do if we do qualify.
We still don’t create many chances from the run of play and we don’t finish them when we do. There are still too many instances of marking errors that end up in goals for the opposition. And I’m starting to have doubts about Bob Bradley’s ability to take this team beyond where its been.
His personnel decisions from the last two games were a bit befuddling in some instances, which I’ve already talked about. Also, we continue to struggle for results against teams that we are simply more talented than.
Against both Honduras and Costa Rica we came out very slow and paid the price for it by giving up very early goals. Its part of a coach’s job to get his team ready to play, no matter how intimidating the environment, or make sure he selects players that will have themselves ready.
All in all, I’m just not feeling real positive about how thinks are going at the moment.
Okay enough negativity, a few things I liked from the other night.
I’m not typically a knee jerk reactor, but I liked what I saw from Jonathan Spector on the night. He wasn’t perfect, but he looked much more comfortable defensively than the other outside backs that played against Costa Rica. He’s on the roster for the confederations cup, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the table. Perhaps if he does well, we can move him to left back when Hejduk or Cherundalo is healthy again and really shore things up.
I’ll go ahead and admit some bias on this, but I was glad to see Feilhaber on the field again. I just like the presence that he brings to the game and some of the skill that he’s shown. He’s definitely not ready to be a starter because of the lack of time he’s had on the field due to injury and rumored attitude issues, but if he can get those things straightened out and raise his game to the international level I’d love to see what he’s capable of. I think having him and Michael Bradley in the center of midfield would be a pretty interesting pairing.
We move on to the Confederations Cup in South Africa now, where we’ll truly understand how far we have or haven’t come. We get the pleasure of playing Italy, Egypt, and Brazil in group play, which should, you know, make for some easy games. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that we can have at least a respectable showing.
