USA vs. El Salvador (2 – 1) Post-Game Thoughts

I have been a U.S. Soccer fan for my entire life and have had a bit of an odd tenor…meaning that I was raised in Sweden and went to college in the U.S.A. in Boston. And I am a staunch U.S. Soccer supporter, bust seriously, let’s put Coach Bradley in a suit and tie for the World Cup, and let’s take this stuff seriously. Come on! Every other country, including Sweden ,has their coaches in a suit and tie as if they were at there job and their livelihood / job depended on it. So come on USA, let’s try and actually win the World Cup and not just show up this year!!! It should start with the coach. This year we finally have a team that could not embarrass us and actually win some crucial games, so let’s make it happen. I believe in this team! Don’t make us in the U.S. become the Cubbies fans for the U.S. Soccer program. Make your team find the heart that they found in the Confederation Cup. That is your job Coach Bradley. Maybe if you dressed like a proper coach you would take this a little more seriously. Just a thought from an expat that now lives back where they were born and watched the U.S. barely squeak by tonight!

I actually thought our midfield was decent enough. I felt early on they were connecting long passes and releasing players … it was at least an improvement over the Mexico game. M. Bradley also remembered how to pass and make runs. I thought Fielhaber should have played more offensive, but perhaps he had to stay back to cover Bradleys runs.

I also liked the subs. Thank god for no Ching.

I have a lot to say about this game but I’ll just mention that I have been a huge fan of Dempsey and baby Bradley for the past year but their performances since the Confederations Cup have been very poor in my opinion. Dempsey gets his goals but does NOTHING else. Dempsey should have scored 3 goals tonight but could not find a finishing touch the entire game, except for his WIDE OPEN free header, which he thankfully buried. Since he’s not finishing his chances what else is he bringing?? He doesn’t defend AT ALL, he gets dispossessed multiple times in critical positions every game and all his trick touches end up hurting us more than helping. In all honesty I would rather see Stuart Holden than Dempsey at this point.

Also, in my opinion, baby Bradley just is not playing well recently. He over pursues, makes silly tackles and does not work well with the other CM in terms of who’s going forward and who’s holding. When he busted onto the scene he was playing much better than he is now. He needs to get his form back because he is doing very little for this team at this point.

And I agree with what was said about Bornstein…he was mediocre at best all game long and was responsible for the El Salvador goal with that TERRIBLE clearance.

I thought Feilhaber looked great, and I’d love to see him partnered up with a more defensive player, like Edu or Clark (not Beckermann). Benny actually provides some creativity from midfield, and (gasp) has decent ball control. When he was taken off, the U.S. lost all possession.

And Bob Bradley is still an idiot tactically.

Quick note to defend Baby Bradley*

He needs to stay on the pitch for his vision. He sees oppurtunities, and spaces that other players on our team don’t. He’s not playing to his normal standard recently, but I’d still take him over most of our CM options in any case.

the salvadoreños ya dieron las nalgas!!!, por cool-eros

Feilhaber had some good posession at points and I don’t think he’s the problem in the midfield…I think its Baby Bradley. As far as I can remember he did nothing useful all game.

Davies and Altidore (especially Davies) looked great. Also, Torres and Holden did well when they came on.

As for Bornstein…he did so poorly that for the next game Papa Bradley may as well play Berbatov’s lady friend Tina in his place.

I still don’t understand… why isn’t Donovan captain? He’s had multiple stellar (esp. compared to his teammates and/or forgiving him for swine flu) performances in a row. Tonight, he served the balls exactly where his teammates would be and we got two beautiful goals in return. Can’t ask for much more.

first of all the midfield played very exceptionally.
the combo of bradley and feilhaber seemed to give us a balanced center midfield, balanced in the sense that they were both dangerous on the attack and they were both adequate off ball and team defenders, i.e. containing the attacker and waiting for help. or wings did exactly what the game plan called for Dempsey was a more attack oriented winger which ment feilhaber or Bradley were told that one of them needed to stay as a defensive center mid on the attacks.

I would say that our flat four was the main problem tonight, although they did play pretty well once they got used to each other.
there is no doubt that the defense is better with onyewu and demerit in there but thats just how it had to be played tonight.

i personally think that all people opposed to bradley being coach are idiots, and i cant see how you can watch the game and see how it is his fault that we dont play spectacular every time out.

tonight is a great example of his game plan well executed, he wanted donovan to get more into the attack and own the midfield in the attack by getting the ball off your foot quickly.
if you watched the game there wasnt alot of 5 touch possesions in the midfield by a single player, it was usually trap, head up, touch and pass, and if you noticed there were not alot of dangerous counter attacks by the other team.

second of all responding to jessica… Donovan is not the captain because he is not the best leader on the field. period. end of story

Bradley should wear a suit, but he would still be a horrible coach. He is a moron. Show some passion you loser when a goal is taken away with no explanation. Pretend like you care and maybe the players will respond. Anyone who puts players like Ching, Bornstein, Conor Casey, and Beckerman on the field is an idiot. That is all there is to it.

Feilhaber had a pretty good game. Davies was awesome. Dempsey, aside from the goal, was pretty bad. I don’t understand why he can’t always play with the same fire he had against Egypt and Spain.

Bradley always remembered that Torres existed. Remember, he intentionally decided to give him a break from playing for a while because he’d been playing non-stop for most of the year and was feeling fatigued. Bradley definitely regards Torres highly and expects him to be a key player off the bench going forward.

As far as Castillo, he’s a weaker defender than Bocanegra, but mostly better than Bornstein. He’s not any stronger than Bornstein, but from what I’ve seen he makes fewer stupid mistakes. He offers more going forward than either of them. Basically I think he’ll be a nice option and will see playing time depending on the matchup.

Jessica, captaincy is about leadership, not play on the field…

Ron: Yeah, not responding was definitely the team’s problem tonight. They sure didn’t respond after going down a goal. Oh, and since you don’t ever want Ching on the field I guess you’d prefer that the US never play any forwards besides Jozy and Davies, even if one is hurt or tired. And who’s your solution at left back if Boca can’t play? Not that Bornstein is any good… but our situation there is so bad that he’s sadly the next best option, with the possible exception of Heath Pearce but he’s out of form.

I just love all the Bradley bashing even when the team wins.

I said out loud, “Geez, Bradley remembered he brought Torres” so it’s nice to see that I wasn’t the only one who thought that. He also had a rocket of a header towards the end from a Holden cross which was pretty fantastic (even if it was kind of directly at the keeper). I’m a big a Dempsey fan as anyone, but even I’m beginning to be a little annoyed with his play. I only watched the last 20 minutes last night as I was at a friend of mine’s wedding reception (the only reason that would keep me from missing the game…and I let my friend know it), but Dempsey’s standing around was infuriating. I don’t know if he ran like hell for the 1st 70 minutes, but it sounds like he didn’t. I’m beginning to wonder if he played so well in the Confed Cup because he was trying to broker a new deal with Fulham or increase his value so a bigger club (links to Everton) would try to get him, and now that he got his new deal he’s just sort of screwing around for the MNT. I really hope that’s not the case.

Posted from  United States

My God, why is Dempsey still starting and playing 90 minutes? Yes, he occasionally finishes, but he botches so many excellent chances and takes the momentum out of so many attacks. He also turns the ball over more than anyone else. We must be able to do better than him!

Posted from  United States

While the midfield did not look great, it was definately a better performance than what we saw in the past few games. At least they could string together a few passes before losing possession, instead of immediately booting the ball to the other team or otherwise losing possession without even making one effective pass. Benny was an upgrade and played well, even though it looked like he was somewhat limited by playing with Jr. I don’t understand why Jr. is allowed to play forward so often when his strength seems to be as a more defensive mid; it just leads to too many players not playing their best positions. And while Jr. has played well in the past, his play against ES did not elicit much confidence, except that I am confident he will be playing for Bob’s team no matter what, often with better mids sitting on the bench. He was not really solid at anything, has a clunky first touch, and gave away possession way too frequently.

Posted from  United States

Well what I didn’t say explicitly is that I’m not seeing much leadership from Bocanegra on the field. Maybe in the locker room? But on field, he’s not standing out in any way to me.

I almost crapped my pants when Torres came onto the field. Bradley actually, FINALLY, put Torres on the field. I think there is no further need for discussion.

RE: Bradley

For those who comment about Bradley bashing, it isn’t about 1 game, it is about a trend. If you can’t see the trend then you have no business coaching any of the US youth b.c you will only corrupt them.

The tactics by the US were not terrible. They were better than the trend would’ve predicted and I will say that Bradley’s tactics for this particular game were good. Bornstein is terrible. Spector can play any back position which means you should put Cherundolo on the right and Spector on the left when #1 choices are A) carded or B) injured. You could even put Heijduk (put him on the squad) at right back to free Spector to the left. Also, I am absolutely positive there are MLS players who could fill the role better than Bornstein. Bornstein is a liability and should be dropped from the team. Give someone else a chance.

And now I will begin some criticism of Bradley. Take a chance. Bradley knew what he had to work with given Gooch’s and Demerit’s status. Bring 3 or 4 left backs from the MLS to training camp long before the El Salv game. I would bet a ton that there would be at LEAST 1 better than Bornstein.

Beckerman is nervous in the service. Watch him play with a trained eye and you will see he is very “spastic”. Everything is “jerky” without calmness. Rule one in the mid-field growing up = be quick with your feet but calm mentally. Look and know where your teammates are before receiving the ball and relax.

Lil Bradley should be more defensive IF his touch continues to be what it is. I agree with the previous poster.

Re: strikers

Ching SHOULDN’T ever play for the USMNT again, ever, never, ever!!! To reply to the poster who says what do we do if we don’t have Davies or Altidore…UHHHHHH…that is easy…Dempsey, Adu, Josh Wolff, Taylor Twellman…All of those guys are better than anyone else Bradley could put up top besides the aforementioned Altidore and Davies. And don’t give me the crap about Ching being able to hold the ball…all that happens is he gets it and passes it back. He has very average speed. BELOW average technical 1 v 1 ability. Again, Dempsey, Adu, Josh Wolff, Taylor Twellman…put them on the team if Altidore or Davies can’t make the game.

Bradley’s tactics weren’t terrible but some of the players he puts out there warrant criticism. If all of the games Bradley had played this year were with these tactics and this effort I would still be on Bradley’s side. But that isn’t the case.

GLTTMNT

does anybody think we should take to a 3-3-4 and move dempsey up front permanently?

start davies, jozy, clint up front. lando, feilhaber/holden, bradley in the middy and come with a back line of gooch, boca, spector and demerit/whoever the fuck is the man of the moment.

Posted from  United States

@Jeff
Any 4-3-3 Bradley puts out there imo will resemble a 4-4-2 after kick off (4-3-1-2). I think Freddy would be execellent as the setup guy in the 4 3 3, but unfortunately IMO you have to have midfields who are calm and can control 50% of the midfield to place more strikers up top. Now that is my opinion.

Putting more guys up top will force the defensive middies of the other team to watch them and possibly create more space/possession for the US. The only issue is I don’t think Bradley will fully commit to a 4-3-3. He is so bent on a conservative result and his tactics that it dictates a certain playing style.

The fans would reward Bradley for pushing forward IMO. But then if Bradley loses group stage and doesn’t make the world cup for playing the game properly imo, he would lose his job.

The problem is Bradley, b.c of his upbrining with soccer and his ideas of how to win games are very, very conservative. Couple that with his job and he puts himself in a position where he gets to nervous to try a more moderate to risky attacking style. IMO the players can play that style now with Jozy and Davies up top and I think you would see the USA play dangerously going forward, but we might give up goals.

Anyway, you don’t know until you try. The last time we tried was against Egypt and Egypt is no slouch. Why did we try? Because we had to. It was a very open game and was very enjoyable to watch both sides go back and forth with opportunity. That is the way the game should be played. That isn’t Bradley’s style.

GLTTMNT

Posted from  United States

@Jeff and Unbelievable
IMO, with Donovan and Dempsey playing in the midfield Bradley is almost playing a 4 3 3 formation. You will notice the 2 CMs having to come out wide to defend when Donovan and Dempsey attack b/c neither are quick to get back. Donovan showed more hussle to get back in this game, but that also came after Boristen screwed up.

I am all for a more open and attacking style to the US play, but that doesn’t mean they have to play a 4 3 3 formation. With only 2 forwards this allows for more attacking runs and less playing with thier backs to the goal. IMO, this is what the US needs to do more of. And with 2 ball control and good passers playing CM it will release the wingers and forwards to make more attacking runs.

IMO the US does not play a 4-3-3. Watch a one of the older world class teams, or even solid teams from the past play a 4-3-3, you will see the difference.

Of course you can play an attacking style in most traditional formations. If you hold true to an attacking style, which the USA does NOT do, then you can attack with anything. A 4-3-3 (if they played it properly which they wouldn’t under Bradley) would provide the US with more attacking power upfront. I also believe any game they would play with a Spain, Argie, Brazil, etc., would be more of a back and forth affair. Unfortunately, we might lose these games 3 to 1, 4 to 2, etc. But for me personally I wouldn’t mind it as long as we attacked.

The question is: When the entire nation is preaching conservative football, how and when do you transition to an attacking level at the youth and middle leagues?

IMO it starts with kids wanting to be creative with the ball, and that unfortunately starts with the coaches who are serial coaches for all sports and they apply the same crap from basketball to soccer…

I was at the field the other day watching a couple father’s coach 7, 8 and 9 year olds…terrible!!!…

GLTTMNT

Posted from  United States

I liked Torres getting a nod and having a great header on goal. I want to see a lot more of Torres, hopefully in the Trinidad and Tobago game.

I couldn’t believe that the Referee was a FIFA, after the quick yellow for the challenge on Donovan I thought he was going to shape up, but he really didn’t.

Posted from  United States