Team USA have a lot of garbage laying around. Old veterans who can’t cut it anymore, tired tactics and one player development expert disguising himself as a coach. Here’s my laundry list for the US National team.
Bruce Arena: “Arrivederci”
Notice how all the players giving negative feedback about Arena all play under better coaches in European leagues. Arena has taken the US as far as he can. It’s time to get a tried and tested international coach at the helm. Klinsmann is the perfect fit: He has won the World Cup, he may be coaching a World Cup winning team right now, he lives in the US and my friend Vicky who lives in Stuttgart says his Mom’s bakery makes really good muffins.
4-5-1: Should be Forbidden
Ewww… This creates ugly football and even worse: it didn’t work.
Out: Eddie Pope, Brian McBride, Eddie Pope, Kasey Keller, Eddie Pope, Claudio Reyna and Eddie Pope
These guys are going to be in wheelchairs by 2010. Their age and lack of speed showed through all three games. One person in particular was a yard off the ball every game. I'm not going to pick him out but his name rhymes with 'dope' and 'nope' and 'no hope'. The old guard needs to go. The only player I can see hanging around is Pablo Mastroeni.
In: DeMarcus Beasley, Bobby Convey, Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu
The European based players showed their worth. They were the one consistent part of the US squad and are the core for future development. Beasley wasn’t great but he was being played on the wrong side of the pitch. You don't play Alex Rodriguez and make him hit from the other side of the plate.
Landon Donovan: ?
This guy doesn’t need to go play in Europe like everybody’s suggesting… he needs to disappear into the mountains for three years, fight off a bear or something and return a man.
Freddy Adu, Zak Whitbread, Jonathan Spector: The Future
The youngins need to become big players over the next few years. These guys are the future for US Soccer and have to become stars. No pressure guys but the future depends on you.
John O’Brien: One More Chance
He’s going to be almost 33 by the next World Cup. He has one more chance to get healthy and be fit by 2010 or we maybe only be able to ask, "what could have been?"
Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, Josh Wolff: More MLS Players Needed
The MLS crew certainly showed its worth in this World Cup and you have to wonder why more attacking MLS players weren’t in the squad. Maybe Twellman should have made the squad. Maybe Eskandarian should have been considered.
The US showing in this World Cup wasn't horrible. We tied the group winners, Italy, in the toughest group of the tournament, down a man. Next time a better group seeding could see the US on a run like 2002. Let's just hope CONCACAF isn't reduced to 2 teams from 3. --- Now for your viewing pleasure based off of current form, age, gradual improvement and me, guessing out of my ####, here are my prediction for the US squad in 2010.
Most people regarding US Soccer are extremely optimistic (claming the US could possibly win the World Cup this year) or are overly pessimistic, trashing every US move as amateur. I, admittedly, am a huge fan of US Soccer but try to keep myself grounded in reality. I assessed their chances of progressing after the defeat to the Czechs as around 14%. Now that figure stands somewhere around 23%. The dreaded draw in soccer deflates all percentages.
Being a fan, I believe they can win. I'm having a tough time sleeping tonight (case-in-point this blog entry at 3:45 AM EST) and when I do finally fall asleep it will be in my Eddie Johnson #9 USA jersey and my Liverpool beanie… Don’t ask, but somehow this ridiculous ritual makes sense to me. Maybe some of the Cardiff/Istanbul magic wears off on us.
But back to reality...
Steven Gerrard is from Merseyside, I am from Seattle, and right now most of you are confused.
Mayhem has broken out in Group E. Each now team has the ability to decide it’s own fate going into the final set of games. The toughest challenge is for the US who are four goals from
guaranteeing themselves a place in the knockout round.
Well it’s proven that anybody can play with anybody in this group. Group E is now officially the 'Group of Death'. S&M decided that by turning over for Argentina yesterday but today’s Ghana win and US tie now put the entire group within 3 points. Italy should take a weakened Czech squad to the cleaners (even though they only have to play for a tie) on Saturday, paving the way for Ghana and USA to decide who goes through. The beauty here is that both games are being played at the same time so don’t expect any team in the group to let up.
Here are the scenarios to Guarantee Group play:
- Ghana (magic number: 2)
Need to win by 2 goals to guarantee group play. A tie could see them through with an Italy win.
- Italy (magic number: 0)
Need to tie to guarantee group play. A loss could eliminate them if the US win and make up the goal difference, or Ghana tie and make up goal difference.
- Czech Republic (magic number: 1)
Need to win to guarantee group play. A tie could see them through if Ghana doesn’t win and the US fail to make up the goal difference.
- United States (magic number: 4)
Need to win by 4 goals to guarantee group play. A Czech republic tie could send them home on goal difference.
Again, a US win may be enough to get them into the next round as an Italian win is a likely result facing a deflated and demoralized Czech squad. Confidence is there for Italy who defeated Ghana by two. Ghana, today, blasted the Czechs by two goals making it a 4 goal relatable comparison in favor of the Azzurri.
If you have been visiting most World Cup websites (like this one) you probably have noticed the Nike & US Soccer “Don’t Tread On Me” campaign. The web banner features a snake curled around a ball that menacingly warns others to “Beware” and has a countdown clock numbering the days/hours/minutes until “US Soccer Attacks”. Problem is the clock is sitting at 00:00:00 and the US still hasn’t attacked.
The consensus is that the clock needs to be reset, the question is should they put 60 minutes up on the clock counting down the remaining time until US v. Italy, or add four more years until South Africa 2010?
Nike clearly wishes they were more influential with Bruce Arena's line-up, seeing their poster boy Eddie Johnson relegated to the bench the first half of the Czech game. Even worse, budding rap-star Dempsey hasn’t seen any minutes yet and golden child Freddy Adu is stuck back home playing for the MLS in the mausoleum known as RFK. In this case a Nike-centric starting line-up couldn’t be worse than what we saw on Monday.
How much does a brand affect play on the field? Obviously not that much. But I did some addition and like the manufactures points in Formula-1, here are the team by team, brand by brand results.
Marathon
G:2 W:2 L:0 D:0 P:6 Average:3.00
Nike
G:11 W:8 L:2 D:1 P:25 Average:2.73
Umbro
G:4 W:3: L:0 D:1 P:10 Average:2.50
Adidas
G:9 W:5 L:2 D:2 P:17 Average:1.89
Puma
G:17 W:2 L:11 D:4 P:10 Average:0.59
Joma
G:2 W:0 L:2 D:0 P:0 Average:0.00
Lotto
G:3 W:0 L:3 D:0 P:0 Average:0.00
updated through today's Portugal v. Iran game
Clearly these stats are warped due to the fact that Ecuador, the only team sporting the Marathon brand, hasn’t faced any real opposition and Puma will make jerseys for any third-world country. Not much to take into account, just some interesting stats I thought I would blog for your enjoyment.
The US will pretty much have no chance ahead of their game with Italy if Ghana fails to beat the Czechs three hours earlier. A win for the Czechs would practically put them through to the knockout stages and give them no motivation to defeat Italy in their third game. Giving the Azzurri an un-motivated Czech side to face would spell doom and would likely send the US home early. Even with two US victories, they would most likely lose on goal difference to Italy and the Czech Republic (who would also have two victories). That being said, here’s why the Czechs could still lose to Ghana:
- No Koller or Baros: With a minimal strike force the Czechs attack will be hindered.
- Yellow Cards: The Czechs racked up four yellow cards against the US. Grygera, Rosicky, Lokvenc and Rozehnal are all going to be avoiding aggressive play or face having to watch their match against Italy from the sidelines.
- Eissen: The US midfield parted like the Red Sea for the Czechs and coughed up 2 goals. With “the Bison” in the center of the park, I doubt the Czechs will get much time or space to create long shots versus Ghana.
- Kuffour is not Eddie Pope: The Czechs were given a commanding lead four minutes into the game thanks to Eddie Pope (Who played defense more like the late Pope John Paul II). Samuel Kuffour and the Ghana defense were able to hold Italy off for 40 minutes. Case-in-point is that the Czech Republic will be forced to actually play.
Now all that’s left if Ghana wins is for the US to defeat three time World Cup champions, Italy. An unlikely best-case scenario? Yes, but the situation is not as bad as we’ve been given the impression of from the press. The drastic loss is a good motivator for the US and will also shake things up in the locker-room (for the better). Arena, now, can play his in-form players rather than the most seasoned ones. Dempsey, Johnson, O’Brian and Bocanegra hopefully will get some action. Arena will most likely end the sad zonal coverage that failed versus Czech Republic and go for man on man. Added up, here is where the US stands:
14% chance of the US advancing to the knockout round
No, not the Miami Heat, the German summer heat. European players have been slogging all over the pitch in the hot summer weather, especially those from the Premiership. The England team on Saturday is probably the clearest example, although Australia’s Premier League players today were walking it up the pitch late in the game as well. I think this might play into the advantage of the US and specifically MLS players conditioned to play through hot summers.
Today will be a good test of this with the exclusively European based Czechs taking on the State’s mix of MLS and European players. If Nedved and Baros are still sporting their shaggy haircuts it may even take even more of a toll on them.
I could see this leading to an uncharacteristically late US victory or equalizer.
Update: I didn't realize that the US vs. Czech game was in Gelsenkirchen in the cooled, and basicially domed stadium. America's loss (literally).
I like soccer. I watch a lot of soccer. Sometimes I play soccer and it's a sad site.
I pretty much exclusively support Liverpool after being deserted by the MLS (see: San Jose Clash… I mean Earthquakes… I mean Houston 1836? errr… Dynamo, whatever). I’ve been following the game since 1995, and in-depth since about 2002. I’m currently a senior in college at Arizona and catch Sounders games over the summer in Seattle. So yup, that’s about it.
