Jun 28, 2011
Javier Hernandez. Chicharito. The toast of Mexico and CONCACAF these days. At 22, he set the Premier League on fire with 20 goals in 45 total appearances. And according to plenty of soccer writers, he’s the reason the US had better get used to looking up at Mexico in the soccer-world hierarchy.
Mexico’s 4-2 win over the US in the Gold Cup final has left many dismayed and even bitter. The two big fish in a backyard pond, the US has actually had the better of the rivalry in recent years. So naturally anything that upsets that balance is disturbing and will prompt lots of ink to be devoted to it. Hernandez does that, so there has been plenty on him the last few weeks.
Despite the title, this isn’t going to be another exercise in that. I don’t really care how good he is. Because THAT is precisely the problem. The US concerns itself with Mexico and it’s players to the point that’s all anyone here actually knows how to measure the US against. And after going on twenty some-odd years of that, 4-2 is the result.
I can’t help but compare the two takes on Grantland as the right way and the wrong way to look at the game, Hernandez and the US in general.
Carles reaction is to compare Hernandez to Freddy Adu, to tell us that Adu will never be Hernandez. Not that I think he will be, but I could draw a huge list up of former prodigies that were considered “done” because they didn’t thrive right away. But besides that piece of flawed reasoning, it goes on to say that Hernandez will send the us into the Dark Ages of soccer and that it’s probably no US player will probably score 20 goals in the EPL any time soon. Again, why he throws Juan Agudelo, who is playing at a higher level than Hernandez was at the same age, is a mystery beyond me.
But that gets to the flaw of all of this. Trying to compare the US to Mexico is a lazy exercise that results in the US being either slightly better or slightly worse, as the case was Saturday, to Mexico.
The US didn’t lose the Gold Cup final because Hernandez was unstoppable. They lost it because their two holding midfielders played awful games, ranging from shaky to plain shitting the bed at times.
On defense, Jonathan Bornstein may have played his away off the US team forever. I say may because I’ve thought that before with Bornstein and yet he always finds his way back, even if he’s not playing at a club level. Clarence Goodson is a decent player, Carlos Bocanegra is solid but slow and Eric Lichaj is talented but inexperienced.
The US was dominated in the midfield, something that has been a strength of the team in recent years. If you want to see who murdered the US Saturday, look no further than Giovanni Dos Santos, who made incisive runs all night, threatened the US defense, did things to Bornstein that were unspeakable and to cap it all off, embarrassed Bradley junior, Tim Howard, Jermaine Jones, and others en route to the goal of the tournament and maybe the year.
It was a performance that would have beaten the CONCACAF minnows anyway. Had Steve Cherundolo not gotten hurt or Bob Bradley not went to his worn out, smelly old security blanket in Bornstein, it might have beaten Mexico. But it would NOT have beaten England, France or heaven help us, Brazil.
And yet had we beaten Mexico, it would have reaffirmed to pundits and most fans that even with Hernandez, the US’ scappy play is good enough. ‘They found a way’ would have been the common phrase. It usually is, until it suddenly Saturday, it wasn’t anymore. But if it hadn’t happened Saturday, it would have happened eventually, because you could easily make it ‘They found a way to beat Mexico at home’ and have it mean the same thing it has for the past 10 years.
This is why Bill Barnwell’s take on the loss is probably the best I’ve read. It gets at the mindset flaw with US Soccer. The process is wrong.
It sounds strange to say that the US shouldn’t be disheartened by a team passing it in quality. But the truth is if the goal is to win the World Cup, or to be at least seen as a true contender, the concern should be their own quality compared to England, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Spain.
This highlights the problem with the US mindset. For too long the US has measured itself with Mexico as it’s measuring stick. What you’re seeing now is the result of that.
Mexico has always been a second rate power in soccer. Solid base that can get out of the first round of the World Cup with regularity. But no one looks at Mexico and sees potential champion. Hernandez and Dos Santos aren’t changing that; plenty of second rate powers produce Premier League quality strikers. Hell the US has one right now; Clint Dempsey cracked 13 without the service that Hernandez got. (Not that scoring double digit goals in the EPL is hint enough that Dempsey could handle being the striker in Jozy Altidore’s absence.)
World Cup Qualifying was a success in 2009-2010. Why? Because we won the group, beating Mexico. (Mind you we split with Mexico in the group, and Mexico was flat out awful to start thanks to Sven Goran-Eriksson’s worst stop in his coaching career, but that’s just negativity, right?)
The US still holds on to the 2002 second round victory over Mexico. It was a great moment, but as unlucky as the US was not to get that penalty against Germany, were they lucky to draw a team on their level in Mexico in the second round, and a team that they were extremely familiar with.
And now today, we are crying because our best can’t beat Mexico. But should that be a surprise? Instead of looking towards Brazil and England, all we’ve done is look directly over the Rio Grande. If all we’ve done is measure ourselves against Mexico, then what have we done but worked to be just a little better than Mexico? We could never pull away from them because we refused to measure ourselves in any other way for all but one month in the four year cycle.
We didn’t want to compare ourselves to England or Brazil because we wouldn’t feel good about ourselves. We didn’t match up. But we didn’t match up with Mexico in 1988 either. We got better though and maybe even surpassed El Tri for a brief moment.
But instead of looking ahead, we looked behind. In the process we stumbled and fell.
Bob Bradley and US Soccer looked at the Gold Cup as something that had to be won at all costs. A team that was looking ahead would see 2014 as ominous, where the US’ current stars are on the wrong side of their careers. Their replacements? Well Adu made a surprise claim to the role of facilitator and Bradley deserves credit for that. But where are the others? Why wasn’t an effort made to find out who might be the future, besides Juan Agudelo? Where was Maurice Edu?
One would have hoped in all of their looking behind, they’ve have seen the corpse of their shredded back line, lying along with the remnants of Oguchi Onyewu’s career as a reminder of how lacking replacements for your studs can come back to bite you in the ass. (best of luck to Onyewu at Sporting Lisbon btw. May Portugal treat him better than it has Adu.)
Or perhaps 2006, when the 2002 heroes reminded us all four years is a long time. Surely had US Soccer been looking towards France and Italy, the same message would have been clear after their embarrassing flops in South Africa.
Bob Bradley gets a lot of the blame, but some of it is undeserved. The talent, while greater than it has been, isn’t world class. The US has a pay-to-play system, that weeds out people based on money first and talent second. Talking to a co-worker, her nephew ran up bills of a solid grand to play youth soccer. Many families can’t afford that.
To put it in perspective, had Clint Dempsey’s sister not tragically passed away, he wouldn’t even have been in position to be arguably the greatest US player ever. The money that his family would have used for her tennis, instead went to Clint.
It took a tragedy to give the US one if it’s greatest players. That is a tragedy in itself. But it’s a system that is considered good enough by US Soccer. Why? Because it’s good enough to be a perennial World Cup team out of a terrible region and mess around with making the round of 16 and if luck goes your way the quarterfinals.
You know, like Mexico.
And that is why the Gold Cup was actually a loss. Because instead of looking forward, once again the US measured itself against Mexico. And in 2014, unless something drastic changes, the US will be older and slower and less skilled than a second rate soccer power.
But hey, in 2009, Javier Hernandez didn’t even break double digits with Chivas. Now he’s the toast of CONCACAF. A lot can change in two years, let alone four. Agudelo could be a star striker in 2014 and the US might win CONCACAF again. Maybe they’d even crack the WC quarterfinals like in 2002.
Which means that we’d be slightly better than Mexico again.
Actually, scratch that. Nothing’s changing at all.
Tags: Chicharito, Mexico, US National Team
Nov 18, 2009
Denmark v. US
US Starting Lineup
--------Altidore----Cunningham---------
-Feilhaber--Bradley----Clark----Holden--
Bornstein?!--Bocanegra--Spector--Hedjuk
-------------Guzan--------------------
Stakes: For the teams? Zip, zilch, this is a friendly after all. For the US players, there's a lot of the line for some. Some players will be fighting to make arguments why they should be in contention for a spot on the team headed to SA. This is especially big for MLS players who won't have the next few months to state their case in their league. I'm looking at you Jeff Cunningham.
Questions I Have: The pregame lineups have Jeff Cunningham in the lineup up top with Altidore. This is his shot. With few games remaining in International competition, a Conor Casey v. Honduras performance would go a long way to getting him on the 23, especially with the uninspiring competition he's got up top. Benny Feilhaber is on the wing today, not the center. Clark takes his spot there. Stuart Holden replaces Dempsey. Robbie Rogers heads back to the bench.
Now for the WTF moment. Jonathan Bornstein and Frankie Hedjuk? Really? REALLY? At this point what on earth is Bornstein going to show us that we don't already know? He's MLS quick, talented offensively and is a terrible, terrible international defender. And Hedjuk? He's old and he tries hard. He should be nowhere near South Africa. Why isn't Bradley getting a look at Edgar Castillo OR Heath Pearce in the LB spot with Jimmy Conrad or someone else in the center with Boca? (Spector out at RB) It makes no sense. You don't care about winning friendlies as much as you care about seeing who is worth your time. Hedjuk isn't. Bornstein is a known quantity.
Seriously, I'm just sitting here shaking my head.
Will I Be Watching: Will try to keep tabs if nothing else.
Expectations: Bornstein to crap himself again count? Hedjuk to run really hard but not get anywhere quickly? (But people still liking it because he does run hard) Whatever. I just hope we get a look at some of the other guys in place of the left and right backs.
Nov 17, 2009
So the Slovakia game was an ugly affair for the US team. Let's face it; the Slovaks are a team the US should be able to handle. Unfortunately, the US attack stagnated without Landon Donovan and became a complete non-entity once Clint Dempsey checked out of this one. With the two nowhere to be found for this game, that doesn't bode well for the team's chances against a much stronger Danish side. In theory it could provide plenty of opportunity for someone to step up, especially in the midfield, and show something that cements their place in the South Africa squad. In practice, that probably won't happen, though it's probably wise to keep an eye on Danish based Benny Feilhaber.
What lineup can we expect from Bob Bradley? Here's my educated guess:
---Altidore-----------Cunningham----
---Holden-------------------Rogers---
-------Feilhaber----Bradley-----------
Castillo----Bocanegra----Conrad----Spector
---------------Guzan----------------------
Tags: Manager Mode, US National Team
Nov 14, 2009
Tags: Live Blog, US National Team
Nov 11, 2009
ESPN's just posted Nate Silver's SPI rankings, which is his system of ranking the world of International soccer. Never too early to get started on the WC promotion right? Slow Wednesday in November just before the final part of qualification is just as good a time as any to launch a system.
Since it's Nate Silver, I'm looking at this with intrigue. The guy's had a lot of success with this type of thing; from Baseball Prospectus to FiveThirtyEight.com. He discloses his methodology which nice. Some of it goes off leaps of faith, which he admits, but overall I don't see too many problems with it thus far. Or at least I think it makes more sense than a personal ranking or heaven forbid, FIFA's. Having read through the length explanation, I can't say I understand all of it, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now. The real test comes in SA next year. Until then every ranking has to be taken with a grain of salt anyway.
Tags: Nate Silver, Predictions, US National Team, World Cup
Nov 9, 2009
Er... 22. Can't say I was too surprised by any of the choices. That isn't to say I agree with all of them. However we'll get to that in a second. First the list as per Soccernet:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton), Troy Perkins (Valerenga).
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham).
MIDFIELDERS (6): Michael Bradley (Borussia M'gladbach), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).
FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (Hull City), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas), Eddie Johnson (Fulham)
Nov 6, 2009
With an international break a week away and the US with two Friendlies upcoming, one would expect Bob Bradley will announce the group heading over to Europe this weekend. Speculation is that it will occur after this round of the MLS playoffs concludes this weekend, which sounds about right. That gives me time to throw up a list of players I'd take if I were running the US team.
Tags: Manager Mode, US National Team
Nov 2, 2009
Jonathan Bornstein's last action for the US National team was the game tying finisher against Costa Rica that secured the first place in CONCACAF qualifying. Could it also have been his last start for the US squad in International tournament competition? Bob Bradley has called in Edgar Castillo for the US' European friendlies in November. Castillo is the New Mexico born left back who plays for Tigres UANL in Mexico's first division. He also played for Mexico's national team until losing his spot under Sven Goran Eriksson. Under the new FIFA regulations, he was allowed to switch to the US national team. Yeah, we get Mexico's sloppy seconds. But I'm perfectly okay with that; I mean honestly, would you care if Sean Avery made fun of you for dating Elisha Cuthbert? No, because you're hooking up with Elisha Cuthbert. Not that Castillo could be compared to the Girl Next Door. However US national team isn't in any position to refuse talent here.
Oct 22, 2009
Yesterday we examined some of the options for the US national squad if they stuck with the 4-4-2 formation even in light of Charlie Davies injury. After all, the US was playing 4-4-2 before Davies' emergence this summer. That formation is flexible and can be used in both offensive and defensive methods. However, this US team seems to have plenty of intriguing options in the midfield while lacking that dynamic striker to go with Jozy Altidore. Right now they are facing choices that are uninspiring, unproven or could hurt the team in other spots. So if you don't have two forwards, why not play with one?
Tags: 4-5-1, Formations, Freddy Adu, US National Team
Oct 20, 2009
A month ago, the US looked to have solved what had long been it's longest running hole, lack of dynamic strikers. Sure in the past the US has had some decent guys and even a pretty solid target man in Brian McBride. But creativity and forward have never really been words that go together when describing US forwards. That changed with Jozy Altidore and Charlie Davies. The US finally had a pair of guys who could survive a bit without solid midfield play and create on their own. We saw that at times in qualifying.
However Davies' injury means, barring a miracle, he's out for the World Cup. That means Altidore will have to be paired with someone else up top. Who that someone is will be heavily scrutinized over the next eight months. Unfortunately, the options are not pretty.
Oct 16, 2009
Now that qualification is in the books, it seems like as good a time as any to look at the state of the US soccer team. And of course whenever you look at the state of a squad, it always starts with the head. In this case it is the much debated Bob Bradley, a man whom many didn't want to get the job, many still want fired but who also has picked up plenty of supporters along the way.
Your view on Bradley probably comes down to where you perception of the US Soccer team in the world spectrum. You can see it in the arguments on both sides. Critics decry his conservative style and boring defensive tactics. (Two defensive mids, hooray for bunker ball!) Supporters will tell you the US simply doesn't have the talent to get by consistently any other way. Meanwhile supporters will tell you Bradley's had more success than any other US coach, with the highest win percentage and qualifying for the World Cup at the top of CONCACAF. Critics will retort qualifying for the Cup is the bare minimum these days; anyone should do be able to do that with this group of players. The true test comes in South Africa, where Bradley's tactics will inevitably lead to a knock out in the group stage.
Oct 15, 2009
Yesterday, I couldn't help but get the feeling that things had come full circle.
As the US got a stunning point in a meaningless game, so much of the talk and criticism of the summer seemed to reverse itself last night. After blowing leads to multiple teams, but most famously Brazil in the Confederations Cup final, the US pulled one on Costa Rica last night. They went on attack, dominated possession and even overcame the blow of losing Oguchi Onewyu with about ten minutes left (and likely for much longer). Their dominance of possession was unheard of for a US team. It was an inspiring effort and to score the equalizer with seconds to go, with just ten men, made it even sweeter.
Oct 14, 2009
Pre Game:
The US starting lineup is slightly different from the Honduras game, but is still the "A" lineup.
GK: Howard
RB: Cherundolo
CB: Onewyu
CB: Bocanegra
LB: Bornstein
RM: Holden
CM: Bradley
CM: Feilhaber
LM: Donovan
ST: Altidore
ST: Casey
USA v. Costa Rica 8 PM Eastern
USA: 19 pts, 1st in the table, +6 GD
Costa Rica: 15 pts, 3rd in the table, 0 GD
Stakes: The US has nothing on the line in this one except pride. That factor might be upped more than normal tonight as the team tries to overcome the loss of Charlie Davies for likely through the World Cup after the striker was involved in a horrific car crash. For Costa Rica, the World Cup is on the line. A victory sends them to South Africa. Anything else means a Honduras win in El Salvador would send them home. Not even a draw would help; the teams would finish tied and Costa Rica's awful goal differential would leave them empty handed.
Oct 13, 2009
Four days ago, this was supposed to be do or die time for the US men's national team. They were supposed to be fighting for their World Cup lives in the nation's capital against Costa Rica. The winner went to South Africa. The loser likely had two dates with Argentina complete with a probable complementary trip home. It represented the doomsday possibility for the US. As unlikely as a loss on the home turf would be, the lead up and game was going to be a nerve wracking experience.
And then the US won in Honduras and made the game completely inconsequential.
Oct 12, 2009
The story of Saturday night's road victory over Honduras, outside of the US locking up it's sixth straight World Cup appearance, was the surprise star of the match Conor Casey. How big of a surprise was Casey's heroics? For starters, if you polled media people or US fans, he probably would have been deemed least likely player to start the game outside of Brad Guzan and maybe Robbie Rogers. Then when you combine that with the situation, supposed difficulty of the game, the stakes and his perceived skill level and you have one of the most unlikely performances in US soccer history.
Did anyone else feel more relieved than overjoyed at the US qualifying for the World Cup? Is it a sign my expectations are getting too far out of whack? Naahh, I live in 2009, not 1989.
-Ives Garlarcep has one of my favorite soccer blogs out there, but his logic about the US qualification somehow vindicates Bob Bradley is a fallacy. The logic only holds if the World Cup was an open competition in qualifying where the 32 best teams make it. But we know that's not the case.
Oct 11, 2009
So, as I mentioned in prior posts, a near perfect situation opened up. A bar by my place was showing the US Honduras match. I also mentioned that I would shun internet feeds and pay to watch the game at the bar. I was looking forward to the experience of getting to watch a soccer game with passionate US fans, something that I haven't done in the past.
Yet, on the night when the US team exceeded the general expectations and beat Honduras on the road, coming from behind to do it, I missed out on most of the fan base euphoria. Why?
Because I watched the game on my computer.
Oct 10, 2009
CONCACAF Qualifying
Honduras: 3rd in Group, 13 Pts, +6 GD
United States: 1st in Group, 16 Pts, +5 GD
Stakes: The are but two games remaining in World Cup qualification and while both of these teams are locks to make the top four, neither wishes to end up in that 4th spot. Why? That spot will result in a playoff with a team from South America, most likely Argentina. In other words, you can forget the World Cup.
Oct 9, 2009
I've got my place to watch the game and I'm excited for what could be the US team's ticket punching to South Africa in 2010. Of course, I'm not necessarily optimistic; the team has struggled on the road thus far and Honduras has been dominant at home, unbeaten in Hexagonal play. However, it will be a nice test to see how far this squad has come.
Tags: Empty Bucket, Manager Mode, US National Team