Wow, I haven’t been that excited watching a game for a long time…simply put…a much improved performance from a US side that was obviously both fatigued and fired up at the same time. As I sat watching the game (thank God for ESPN360) I was furiously scribbling notes so that I would remember everything I wanted to say. I’m not going to actually recap the game. I think most of us know by now it ended in a 0-0 draw. (If you’re interested in a quality recap, go here) However, I do have things to say about this match from my page of barely legible notes:

The Good: I think it only fair to start with the tenacity shown by our defenders. Danny Califf played a tough game. He wasn’t great, and probably shouldn’t be the top of the pecking order for center backs, but he presents himself as a solid back-up to the top choices. Cherundolo and Pierce both showed themselves to be solid and gritty in our own defensive third. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the monster game put in by Howard. Great positioning, great job organizing and communicating, and fantastic work keeping up the momentum of frustration after he had gotten under the Argentinian forwards collective skin. Julio Cruz worked hard the whole game and created some fantastic opportunities with both his skill and his runs, and Howard denied him every time. Donovan was stabilizing and brought an attacking mentality that has been missing without him. Dempsey was cheeky, if a little tired, and Beasley continues to be one of the hardest working men in the US player pool. Michael Bradley showed that he has composure on the ball, although he loses it way, way too much for my liking. And, even though this is a US break down I feel I have to say, every time an Argentinian player took their touches to control an incoming pass or to bring a ball down it was magic. I was absolutely captivated watching the skill, class, and composure that every player in blue stripes played with.

The Bad: Now, to be fair, most of my handwritten notes are negative points because I was enjoying the game and only scribbling when I was disappointed. I also am a coach, and having the vantage point that TV offers when you watch a game makes it easy to pick this stuff out, but it is what it is:

1) The field players of the US team were far to quick throughout the game to shield the ball with their first touch rather than open up to the field and try to play the Argentinians straight up through the midfield. It caused some slow build ups that allowed Argentina to get their men all behind the ball. The US has developed into a counter-attack team, which I’m not a fan of, and although the slower pace lead to a more possession-heavy game it made us a bit predictable. It wasn’t until Freddy Adu came on that he and Donovan really started striking at the heart of the defense and taking players on straight up. The middies needed to give the Argentinians a little less respect and time to close them down by opening up to the field and speeding the attack up a bit. Argentina kept the ball in front of them and moving at all times and their game was obviously much more fluid because of it. Argentina also took advantage of the quick restart in both their and the middle thirds, where the Americans set up almost every free kick no matter where on the field it was.

2) Our outside backs offered us little going forward. Steve Cherundolo and Heath Pearce both looked a little lost and hesitant on the ball when they took it on themselves to attack. I will give them both credit for taking to the attack and hustling like crazy to get back when they were caught high, Cherudolo especially, but they looked like they were of two minds of what to do every time they had the ball at their feet in an advanced position. Even Heath Pearce’s volley looked to me to be more of a panicked one-time touch than a planned volley on goal.

3) The United States was defending through the back the entire game. Argentina’s ability to strip us in the midfield combined with our inability to have a forward hold the ball for very long in the attacking third meant that every time we pushed up our guys were then caught racing back when Argentina countered, which they did with speed and skill. We gave up far to many dangerous fouls, especially late in the game, because our players were just running through the back’s of the Argentines. They teach you in HIGH SCHOOL that if you can’t defend the player from the side then you run past them and zone up on the defender who steps up to defend. Our defensive angles were atrocious from our midfielders. And after Mastroeni got thrown off (I’m not even going to go there) we were settling for lunges and long-balls until Adu and Kljestan came on and worked with Donovan to settle the attack down. In fact, there was one moment that stood out to me, after DeMerit came on, where I was getting frustrated that our defenders were just booting the ball for a clearance, which they did all night but got worse at towards the end, where Demerit stripped a player of the ball just outside the box and then made a 20 or so yard pass to a checking back Donovan, to feet, and I stood up and shouted “Thank You!” because Jay DeMerit was the only one who seemed to be able to distribute out of the back without winding up.

4) (Last one, I promise) I didn’t see the US playing the wings directly all that much. Where were the men checking to the touchline to give out attack width? Where was the play through the middle that goes wide to stretch the defense? Most everything went down the center, or straight up the touch line to then cut in. We weren’t stretching Argentina on what was a very large field on a very hot night, but they sure weren’t shy about trying to stretch us, and that’s what created several of those opportunities where Howard had to bail us out.

The Ugly: I don’t want to harp on Eddie Johnson anymore, but I feel I have to. The only thing I can figure out is that Bob Bradley is trying to play Johnson out of his slump. Maybe Bradley likes Johnson’s speed with our counter-attack style. Who knows? But after last night’s game, Johnson’s time has to be up. He gave us ZERO pressure on the ball in the attacking third after it was lost, he spent way too much of the game checking all the way back past midfield to receive a ball, only to lay the ball off to a defensive middy, and he showed no real tenacity toward goal. His poor first touch on his attack around the 65th minute put him in a rough spot, but then to lay that ball all the way back to the top of the arch?! Into the heart of the Argentine defense?! Rather than have a go at goal?! He could have gotten a corner, or a rebound, or a lucky ball snuck under the keeper, anything would have been better than that! Eddie Johnson does not offer our attack anything that another player doesn’t offer, and those other players offer more on top of it. Until Johnson shows improvement with Fulham, he shouldn’t be on the roster. And when/if he comes back, he should be a late sub until he shows more SMARTS in the game.

With all this out, I want to reiterate that I’m actually proud of the US’s effort in light of the recent friendlies, but I still maintain that we have a lot of work to do and a long way to improve in order to challenge on the world stage.

Cheers

(Images from ESPN Soccernet)