CONCACAF is ours

That was bizarre. But it ended up being bizarre with a good ending, so whatevs.
With a shocking last second goal from Jonathan Bornstein off a corner, the US came back to draw 2-2 with a time wastey Costa Rica and finish atop the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying group. Atrocious defensive play marred the first half for the US and put them in that 2-0 hole, but their tenacity down the stretch was admirable and perhaps a credit to their desire to put a smile on Charlie Davies’ face.
Here’s Marlon’s take on the game:
Well, I think it’s important to not get too swept up in the excitement of the last second goal. The spirit and will of the team that we want to see was there, but some of the discipline and skill were missing for much of the game. Centerback is a big worry for this team. It was once a lock who would be starting, but with Onyewu out of form and now injured and Bocanegra uninspiring I can’t say I’m pleased with the center halves.
And while Robbie Rogers put in some good crosses at the end of the day I won’t want him going to the World Cup ahead of Freddy Adu. I don’t know what the kid has to do to prove he should be on the bench in South Africa, but hopefully he gets it done. I don’t think he’s a starter for us right now, but I see him as a much more valuable sub then Rogers at the end of the day given his left footed free kick hitting ability and his trickery on the ball.
Stuart Holden put in another good shift, and hopefully this will see Dempsey move up top with Altidore. If anyone needed proof that Conor Casey’s two goal performance on the weekend was a bit flukey then this was it. His mishit at the beginning of this match was absolutely woeful. He had all the time in the world, and I can understand wanting to surprise the keeper and hitting the ball first time, but his attempted curler wasn’t even close.
So, once again the US team showed it can claw back from the holes it puts itself in. We have problems with our holding mid roles and the center of our defense, and hopefully this will all be sorted out at some point. Though with Bob Bradley as manager I’m not sure what to expect.
Speaking of which, does anything think Ives and Martin Rogers were having second thoughts during the first half about publishing their eerily similar “hooray for Bob Bradley” pieces last week?
Anyway, there you have it. Qualifying is finally (finally!) done. Now we just have to hope for good health, more playing time for The Adu, and perhaps for a worm hole to suck Bob Bradley up and deposit him somewhere on Neptune between now and next June.
[Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images]
Related Posts
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
|
Comments | Add your comment
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 33 comments.
Read the rest of the comments

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.
Posted from
United States




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
Posted from
United States




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.
Posted from
United States




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?
Posted from
United States




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!
Posted from
Australia




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’.
Posted from
Australia




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
Posted from
Australia




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.
Posted from
Australia




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.”
Posted from
Portugal




‘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?…….
Posted from
Australia




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?
Posted from
Portugal




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.
Posted from
United States




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’.
Posted from
Australia




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.
Posted from
United States




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


Leave a Reply
Send Your Tips!
Email tips[at]worldcupblog[dot]org
USA Club Football News
- MLS Cup: RSL and LA Battle for Our Love. Who Wins Out?
- Oh, What A Surprise!
- St. Louis, Part 2
- Olsen to retire
- One More Video to Cheer
YouMe Up
More North America Blogs
USA World Cup Team Blog
834 Articles | 8,187 Comments
Costa Rica World Cup Team Blog
120 Articles | 122 Comments
Mexico World Cup Team Blog
399 Articles | 2,664 Comments
Trinidad and Tobago World Cup Team Blog
226 Articles | 549 Comments
Canada World Cup Team Blog
47 Articles | 161 Comments
Panama World Cup Team Blog
4 Articles | 6 Comments
Honduras World Cup Team Blog
38 Articles | 105 Comments
Monthly Archives
World 








