CONCACAF is ours

What a strange way end CONCACAF qualifying. Barely tie a game we should win, and get bailed out by a T&T team playing for only pride against mexico. Don’t know how much good winning the group will do, but congrats to the team for not only qualifying but finishing on top of the region.

Did not see the Honduras game, but am more surprised than ever that Casey scored 2 goals there. He is slow, can’t jump, failed to finish some great chances against Costa Rica, and isn’t particularly good on the ball. Then again, 2 of the other players who looked the worst at times in this game scored. A junk goal for Jr., after a game of clumsy passes and not much defensively. And a nice last second header for Bornstein after a below average game. Even less likely now that we will see Castillo any time soon.

Neither center back looked great; playing next to Bornstein probably doesn’t help. Hopefully Demerit gets healthy soon. Torn knee tendon for Gooch, out 3-4 months. Crap. Maybe he’ll use this time to learn Italian to help himself get on the field at Milan. I will not feel too good about Marshall or Goodson starting in SA.

Torres played well, helping to create chances and sending in some quality crosses. Unfortunately, Casey or Jr. would often be on the other end of the pass, ready to lose possession and squander opportunities. Holden went back and forth between good play and looking like he was in over his head. It is nice that he can play out wide and stretch the field at times, but I am not totally sold on him. Stewie looks like a slight upgrade over Robbie Rogers, but with more potential, and in need of consistency. FrankenCooper looked ok in limited time; at least he has the skill to take on a defender occassionally. Would rate him above Casey, and definately above Ching.

That Costa Rica manager was a joke.

Two notes from me. Going down early to poor CONCACAF teams and coming back to win or tie is one thing…but that will NEVER happen in the world cup. Bradley needs to sure up our defense or we have no chance…and to be honest I’m not sure it’s going to be possible to do that so…..

I’m not sure if it has been reported yet but Onyewu most definitely dislocated his knee-cap. I want to say this is a 4-6 week injury but it depends on the damage done. Either way in all likelihood he won’t be seeing the field with AC Milan anytime soon so the question is…what happens at CB without a fit Onyewu?

One last thing. With Davies out I do like the idea of Dempsey up top with Altidore. He can score goals, his deft touches won’t get us into as much trouble up top and either will he poor defending. It only makes sense.

First, RFK was insane after Bornstein’s goal. Second, I can no longer be a supporter of Michael Bradley. I used to stick up for him, but last night was the last straw (even with his garbage goal). Finally, Casey needs to enjoy his 15 minutes of fame and never see the pitch for the US again.

Agree on the Centerbacks. Bornstein isn’t the answer, but he showed that he’s good for an inspired effort now and again. Even outside of the goal, he was linking up with Landon Dovovan well and throwing in some dangerous crosses.

With Davies out, I think our best lineup would include Dempsey up top and Stu Holden on the right.

Torres was solid. It’ll be interesting to see if Bradley platoons with Torres or Feilhaber when Jones comes on….that’s probably the correct move.

thanks to Bornstein, Honduras got a direct ticket to the world cup. Thanks americans!!

X-ino, you’re welcome. Glad to have you at the party.

I don’t agree with all this Casey bashing. I saw Casey making himself available the whole game and making some smart passes. Sure he had some bad touches and missed a wide open shot early, but he was not alone – Donavan and Altidore did the same. The only player who finished well was Bornstein of all people. Casey has proven the MLSs top scorer, so he deserves consideration along with Adu, Torres and Rogers.

I like the way the US played, up until the finishing part. The US clearly dominated play the entire game and created lots of opportunities. I’d rather the US be on the side that creates lots of opportuniites but only scores 2 of the potential six good opportunities they had. Costa Rica finished well in the few opportunities they had but were clearly outmatched. The US had problems with their back line even with the few dangerous situations Costa Rica had. They better fix this by World Cup time.

Now let’s talk about a possible top seed for the US in the World Cup. (probably a topic for another thread). The way I see it these teams are locks for a top seed.
Brazil
Spain
England
Germany
Italy
South Africa (host)
Netherlands

…and that leaves room for one other top seed. Either Argentina, France, or the USA. I’m assuming that Portugal, Russia and Mexico are out based on their poor performance of late and the fact they didn’t even win their qualifying groups. If France wins their playoff, I see them as in based on their previous final appearance. Argentina is questionable. I see the US as actually having a relatively good shot at being a #1 seed, especially if FIFA is seeking balance in their seeding formula based on region.

StrikerGA, why is South Africa a lock? Does the host get a #1 seed now? They are #73 in the latest FIFA rankings and will be one of the lowest ranked teams at the party!

by StrikerGA

“I’m assuming that Portugal, Russia and Mexico are out based on their poor performance of late and the fact they didn’t even win their qualifying groups.”

lol, i dont know what youre on, but it seems like our friends down south have been doing alot better than we have the last few games.

Jake – Host Nation automatically gets a #1 seed. Been that way forever, but with FIFA’s recent history of changing rules midstream, who knows

Skyler – You’re not seriously suggesting that Mexico is a better bet for a seed than the US? Argentina I can understand, but Mexico has played very poorly, is ranked well below the US in the FIFA rankings, placed second in the CONCACAF finals, and has a losing record to the US everywhere but in Azteca in any recent history. The only thing Mexico has going for it is that they advanced out of the group stages in the world cup 06, where the US fell flat. The US outperformed them in 02. Its a sure bet that if a team from CONCACAF is seeded it will be the US – unless FIFA chooses to use the same formula they did in the past where performance in the past 3 world cups counts for half the seeding logic. They hinted they were going to change that

i never said anything about seeding. I just believe you should give credit where credit is due, my friend.

We all know the Fifa rankings are a joke, i dont even know why youre basing your argument around that. Not only that, but USA barely managed to stay on top on the CONCACAF. Congrats by the way, but you still struggled to get there. the sole factor was that 1 goal at the very last few minutes of yesterday’s game, nothing more. as for recent history? sure, USA has more wins over mex in the last 10 games. but how is that relevant to the world cup? USA has made it out of the group stages how many times in “recent history?” Mexico always makes it out. not to mention that win in ‘02 is far from recent. we have very different teams now.

Questions….I see an RSS feed icon on the site, but when I attempt to subscribe in my Google reader is says that the feed is not found. Anyone else have issues on the reader front?

no concacaf team will be a #1 seed.

the american national team is rubbish, they only recieve they’re world ranking because they are part of the weakest football confederation in the world, ‘CONCACAF’. i just can’t wait until australia draws them in their pool for the world cup, we will give u a lesson on how to football you losers! haha i just remembered how well the US did in germany 06… NOT!

Wow Lewis….you come here reppin’ Australia??? Your team has qualified for the World Cup 3 times, one of those being this year….that’s it!! There is nothing your team has done to ever make you feel like you can hate on any other soccer nation. It’s almost laughable that you would take the time out to post on this blog. I think everybody, including your fellow Aussies, would quickly determine that you, my friend, are the loser.

Yea ok GS we can just wait and see nxt year in south arica, when u lose everyone of your matches, then u and all your us soccer buddies can piss off home to your shithouse CONCACAF and beat up on some minute islands in the middle of nowhere, just so ur fifa ranking dosent drop to far. BY the way u mentioned i hated other soccer natons, thats crap, all i said was US football or ’soccer’ like u ppl call it is rubbish… RUBBISH….

Ahh Lewis…the exact response I would expect from a child. Ignore all the facts I present and go back to name calling and chest pumping. It’s lucky that Australia/New Zealand is a beautiful place to visit because otherwise I think the rest of the world would have already forgotten about you.

GS after living in the US for nearly a year and experiencing numerous mls games and US internationals i have, aswell as my aussie counterpart lewis, come to the conclusion that the US national side is overranked. For instance Russia (currently ranked 12th) plays a level of football far superior to any US team i have ever seen, yet they are below you in the FIFA rankings due to the conderderation they play in (UEFA). It is people like you that give America as a whole the label ‘Arrogant Pigs’.

Stu: another solid post from a clueless child. Not once in any of my posts did I say anything about the US being great or anything at all that would get me or anybody here labeled as an “arrogant pig”. I simply said that it’s ridiculous to hate on the US while reppin’ Australia. I would understand if you were reppin’ Brazil, Spain, England, Argentina, France, Italy etc…but Australia…come on…

GS you seem to be mis-understanding me, i never said anything about ‘hating’ the US team, just that they are over-rated incredibly. please read correctly. How bout we wait and see, the US have two friendlies coming up against denmark and the Netherlands. Australia played the netherlands a week ago in sydney and managed a draw, i just hope ur beloved US team does’nt get anialated

GS i think me and my friend stu here have come to the conclusion ‘ you are a stupid arrogant american pig’, y does’nt your government ship you off to Iraq or Afhganistan, one less aussie we have to send over their to back your incompetent arses up.

Whoa Whoa Whoa, take that political junk out of here Lewis. The bottom line is to call CONCACAF garbage and while being a member of the AFC is laughable. while being a former member of the OFC?? even more laughable. You don’t actually sincerely think that Qatar and Bahrain are better competition than Honduras and Costa Rica (and that’s who you beat to qualify). You make no sense, stop trolling.

lewiss!!! Thanks, I needed an excellent laugh on this dreary, New England day…lol I am literally writing this post laughing out loud.

Australia? I love Aussies. They are great to party with. Rugby is a great sport. I enjoy it more than the NFL. But for footbal, or soccer as some call it, surely you must be joking (and don’t call me surely…Airplane…great movie!)

I think the US is in trouble in the world cup if nepotism plays a role. We still have the Mexican and the German players who could be added so there is still hope for our mid-field. The Adu might get the call.

Bob Bradley must go! Awful coach and he has an allegiance to his mediocre son. You must be kidding me!

Dempsey needs to move forward. Davies being gone hurts bad. I would prefer Dempsey and Davies up top. We need a striker to keep defenses honest. Maybe there is another Davies somewhere undiscovered in the US.

Anyway, Australia can’t say anything about soccer. Socceroos?!?! And I thought the US national team had an image problem with, “Don’t Tread On Me!” bro!!! Sort of like, “Don’t tase me, bro!”

Socceroos…LOL!!!

GLTTMNT

how bout we let ur results at this coming world cup do the talking, also please answer the question, ‘ do you think USA deserves their spot at number 11 on the world rankings?’, you can’t honestly say they do?

Lewis: in ‘06 the USA got a point off of the eventual winners, Italy. How did Australia do against them? Oh, and in case you haven’t noticed you guys also prefer the term “soccer” to “football.” (by the way, the term “soccer” comes directly from England where the term is still used once in a blue moon as well) Stu: obviously you didn’t see the US beat a full Spain side 2-0 last summer or make Brasil extremely uncomfortable in the locker room at halftime the game after that. I don’t think we’ll be seeded this Cup but if we at least advance out of the group stage this time and win CONCACAF four years from now then it will be hard for FIFA to not give us a seed then. But I must admit that the fragile success we had slowly built up is under tremendous pressure now that Davies’ career is probably over and our featured center back is languishing away (healthy or not) at AC Milan. Oh, and the “arrogant pigs” thing… I’ve come to expect that from ockers. I would love to see USA/Australia this summer, “mate.”

‘ocker’,mate your yank scum. by the way against italy we had that game taken from us in the 92nd minute because of a very questionable decision. oh yer let me remind you that game was part of the round of 16, the US did’nt make it that far, did they?…….

ocker: yeah, I can sympathize about having bad calls affect the outcome of your game. Back in ‘02 when we made it to the QUARTER-FINALS we had a no call on a German hand ball right on the goal line. Man, it sucks when your team is eliminated because of a very questionable decision in the QUARTER-FINALS, doesn’t it? Know what I mean, galah?

well im just prayin we draw you in the world cup, coz then we can let the result do the talking, fair enough if we don’t get the win but im not counting on that happening. have you bought ur tickets for the world cup yet man, they aint hanging around long, you betta get in early. Galah? someone’s been 2 the zoo recently?

the first goal was totally Onyewu’s fault. THat was horrible defense by definition.

Lewis – depite you being quite the wanker (and that is an understatement), I’ll be rooting for the Socceroos in South Africa. I hope they make a good showing. My sister-in-law lives in Manly and I know she and her husband will be cheering them on late into the evening. I’ve been there a many times and I’m glad to say I never to deal with many wankers there. I expect you stand out in a crowd in that respect – or more likely alone in your flat on most nights.

Is’nt it funny the way americans like yourself ‘StrikerGA’ don’t have the faintess clue on how to insult someone, especialy someone who is’nt one of your ‘type’. All you can manage is resorting to abusing someone with names and stereotypical crap. As we say in downunder ‘the 100% american is 99%idiot’.

Lewis, what the hell are you doing here, you goddamn troll? GTFO. Go back to your little island, which, BTW, knows a lot about weak regions. For the record, no, I don’t think the US is the 11th best team in the world, and that doesn’t bother me.

As for the actual post… why would anyone have second thoughts about Bob Bradley? Bradley has continually vindicated his supporters. He certainly won’t be starting Casey in the World Cup, but he did judge that Casey merited a start in a game that mattered, and all he did was bag two goals and send the US to the World Cup. Call them flukes if you want (the second goal, by the way, was anything but – our strikers have always flubbed chances like that), but that’s pretty weak. Bradley made a move no one agreed with and he got it right. He deserves credit for that. Starting Casey in an obviously contingent scenario against CR shouldn’t factor into any judgment.

And… the US has no shot at a seed. None. Unless FIFA makes some drastic changes in the seeding criteria.

I’m not for our site being trolled, but Australia is a pretty big island.