USA has Looked Sloppy

[rjsuperfly66]

Team USA has looked remarkably poor in their two exhibitions so far, and its quite discouraging.

They beat Turkey, but they did not deserve to win at all.  Turkey missed several shots from unmarked strikers, and even had a bad offside call negate another goal. 

The line with Dempsey/Altidore played quite poor in the first half, only having one near hookup in the 42nd minute I believe.

However, I felt their was much more positive in the second half with Findlay/Altidore.  For some reason with Dempsey back at mid, Donovan was getting more runs at net, which was a positive. 

Michael Bradley also played solid. 

However, the defense as a whole was very sloppy, something they cannot do against England in two weeks which has me very worried.

But lucky for the US, England didnt do much against Japan, winning 2-1 w/ Japan putting two in their own net.  But thats the type of pressure England puts on you.  I'll be watching that match tomorrow.

In the end, US needs to get some quick chemistry to make a run in this tournament.

[Junkyard Dawg]

Didn't see the Turkey game but you can't put much stock in that game against Czech Republic, so few of our starters were in. 

It will be interesting to see who gets paired with Altidore up front, really too bad about Charlie Davies.

I also hope our defense improves, hopefully Onyewu will be more aggressive and the rest of that line gets it together.  I feel like if we go down early a la 2006 against the Czech Rep, we aren't the type of team to score in bunches .

I also have to say I'm happy to see DeMarcus Beasley back in the mix, I thought he was one of our better players in 2006, haven't seen him play much since then but hopefully he produces.

[MBz]

Doesn't mean anything.  Just like a preseason game in the NBA.  You'll have your pluses and your minuses.  Englands looked shaky too, yet people are still picking them to win it all.  June 12th is the date that matters for the US, not May 29th. 

[Evantime34]

Team USA has looked remarkably poor in their two exhibitions so far, and its quite discouraging.

They beat Turkey, but they did not deserve to win at all.  Turkey missed several shots from unmarked strikers, and even had a bad offside call negate another goal. 

The line with Dempsey/Altidore played quite poor in the first half, only having one near hookup in the 42nd minute I believe.

However, I felt their was much more positive in the second half with Findlay/Altidore.  For some reason with Dempsey back at mid, Donovan was getting more runs at net, which was a positive. 

Michael Bradley also played solid. 

However, the defense as a whole was very sloppy, something they cannot do against England in two weeks which has me very worried.

But lucky for the US, England didnt do much against Japan, winning 2-1 w/ Japan putting two in their own net.  But thats the type of pressure England puts on you.  I'll be watching that match tomorrow.

In the end, US needs to get some quick chemistry to make a run in this tournament.

Did you not watch the second half of the Turkey game? They controlled the ball most of the half and made exciting and creative runs. Don't know how you can say that they didn't play well.

[rjsuperfly66]

Team USA has looked remarkably poor in their two exhibitions so far, and its quite discouraging.

They beat Turkey, but they did not deserve to win at all.  Turkey missed several shots from unmarked strikers, and even had a bad offside call negate another goal. 

The line with Dempsey/Altidore played quite poor in the first half, only having one near hookup in the 42nd minute I believe.

However, I felt their was much more positive in the second half with Findlay/Altidore.  For some reason with Dempsey back at mid, Donovan was getting more runs at net, which was a positive. 

Michael Bradley also played solid. 

However, the defense as a whole was very sloppy, something they cannot do against England in two weeks which has me very worried.

But lucky for the US, England didnt do much against Japan, winning 2-1 w/ Japan putting two in their own net.  But thats the type of pressure England puts on you.  I'll be watching that match tomorrow.

In the end, US needs to get some quick chemistry to make a run in this tournament.

Did you not watch the second half of the Turkey game? They controlled the ball most of the half and made exciting and creative runs. Don't know how you can say that they didn't play well.

I'll give you the fact that ball control was much improved in the 2nd half, but to me, those are negated by severe defensive letdowns that should have been capitalized in at least two Turkey goals in the half.  One was an off-sides that wasnt, and surely would have been a goal.  The other was a point blank shot in the box that went wide right.  If you give those looks to good teams, the shots are going to at least be on net.  Thats what has me worried.

[Kuberski33]

If you watched the Confederations Cup, you saw what this team is capable of.  On their best day, they can compete with all but the top 2 or 3 countries in the world.  Brazil woke up in the 2nd half of the Conf Cup final and threw a collective Kobe like blitz at them that they couldn't compete with - but the mere fact that they forced Brazil to break a sweat like that shows how far the US has come since 1990 when we threw a bunch of college kids together and sent them to the WC to get hammered.

Defense IS a big problem for this team and that's likely going to show against England.  Our wing defenders are too slow or just plain not good enough, and our best Central Back, Onaywue is probably at 75%, if that.

2nd Half vs Turkey was the first time I've actually been encouraged by this group since WC qualifying ended.  But when the US plays a top club it's still the equivalent of putting a team of journeymen pros up against a team of superstars. 

If the stars bring their A game we ain't beating them.  But it's still going to be fun and the US is getting better.

[Amonkey]

The part of the game I saw, USA's defense was a bit off.  They sagged a bit too much, giving space for the opponent to make a play.  In the World Cup there are the powerhouse teams, which kind of play for the post-group stage, and the underdogs, who leave everything they have on the field since they are probably going home after 3 games.  USA needs to play like that latter.  They need to leave everything they have in every single game and not worry about the playoffs.  By the way, those are the teams that are fun to watch.

[rjsuperfly66]

I personally think US needs to focus less on England and more on Group C as a whole.

With all the buildup to 6/12, a big defeat could be detrimental to the squad.  It could be like 06 all over again.  Confidence would be destroyed.

You have to play everyone with all your heart, just cant decide to turn it on and off when you want too.

[Kuberski33]

It's actually set up pretty well for us.  Toughest opponent first.  Easiest 2nd, and the one you likely need to beat to get out of the Group 3rd.

I'm expecting us to lose 3-0 to England and win the next two.

[Q_FBE]

US has that habit of starting slow and trying to comeback. But those Joey Crawford refs keep taking US Goals away on lame ass calls.

It is on to the Sweet 16. I hope we get to play Germany and correct that 2002 hand ball in the qtr finals.