Video Evidence: Highlights From Last Night (Defections Not Included)

October 12th, 2008 | by: Brooks Peck |

In case you missed (or were too drunk to remember) the US MNT’s 6-1 thrashing of a depleted Cuba side, here are the highlights:

A few random thoughts about the match:

-After looking like someone on his last legs with the US MNT recently, DaMarcus Beasley played like the Run DMB of old, scoring the team’s first two goals despite getting absolutely abused by Cuba.

-Landon Donovan played a beautiful game, scoring his 37th goal for the MNT, extending his all-time record to three over Eric Wynalda. Landon has been kind of quite lately in these World Cup Qualifiers, but between that goal and the tremendous, unselfish passing he displayed last night, he really looks to be in top form.

-Sacha Kljestan was virtually flawless in the midfield, continuing to show huge improvement with each match. He deserved to be credited with that fourth goal last night.

-Brian Ching was atrocious. He contributed nothing and again managed fall ass-backwards into being credited with yet another goal.

-Michael Bradley earned his token short-temper induced yellow card and will be unavailable against Trinidad & Tobago as a result.

-Jose Francisco Torres came on and provided a nice effort. At one point he ripped a long shot that sailed over the goal, but proved he can be a threat from distance. It’s going to be fun watching him develop.

-Jozy Altidore earned (and I mean earned, as you can see in the video above) his second goal for the MNT in as many appearances. He displayed impressive ball control and power and showed Bob Bradley and Villareal what they’ve been missing out on.

-Freddy Adu was the last sub on but provided some fantastic service, and like Jozy, made a case for more playing time.

-Brian Ching sucks.

Photo credit: isiphotos.com

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GS

It really is amazing how often I agree with everything you say brooks. I agree with all of your bullet points. However, I would like to add a couple.

-Oguchi Onyewu, albeit not under much pressure throughout the night, looked very solid in the back both distributing the ball and defending well the few times he had to. Also, he showed again how deadly he is near the 6 yard box. I don’t know if Carlos will be the best option come South Africa but if he is we may have two of the toughest defenders in the tourny and definitely two of the better set piece finishing defenders.

-Heath and Steve were pushed forward the entire game. A bunch of times I was confused because they were basically playing wing positions…this aggressive tactic made sense due to Cuba being down a man but I would love to see this more often against weaker opponents. Heath and Steve can provide solid service from the wing and there seems to be a solid chemistry between the wings and the backs because we almost always seem covered on counters when they do push forward. Also, Heath and Steve keep amazing shape even when they push up, which is something I have only noticed out of the USMNT recently.

I also wanted to comment on some of your bullet points. DMB was shockingly solid last night making great runs and looking confident on the ball. Donovan did disappear once and a while but when he was involved in the run of play he was making some great plays. I couldn’t agree more on Sacha. He also shocked me with how confident he looked and how well he was moving. I’ve harped on this ever since I started posting on this blog but jebus Ching is the luckiest striker in the history of the game. It seems almost every time he scores it’s a gift wrapped finish that anybody who knows to put the ball in the back of the net could do. When will Bob admit that scoring goals isn’t the whole story and notice how poor Ching plays every game and how many opportunities he squanders?? I could give two craps about Jozy’s age, he is by far our best striker and he showed it again last night tallying one goal and almost getting another in just 22 minutes of play. Anybody with half a brain can see that Jozy gives us the best chance to win…I’d love to hear what Bob’s reasoning is for Ching playing so much. It is painfully obvious every time I watch Freddy Adu that he has to start if he’s going to be playing in the mid-field. It takes him too long to get into the game offensively when he comes on as a late sub. Freddy is our best attacking mid-fielder in terms of creativity and really should start with landon, sacha and dempsey (IMO of course).

Wow…sorry about that…that became a very long post…but I have been waiting to talk to people about this game for 18 hours and none of my real life friends care about the real football.
GS

Oh wow…if you can believe it I actually forgot something I wanted to say. Before Jose’s international career is over he is going to do some great things. You can just tell he’s got “it”. His touch, his confidence, his creativity…i’ll go out on a limb and say I expect him to make the South Africa roster and contribute.
Alex

Theres plenty to say about the game so I’ll start real fast with this…

Altidore > Cooper (at this point) = Ching (at this point)

As a FC Dallas fan, Cooper is good but not great in my opinion. I would play him above Ching becuase the only diffence really is age and expierience. Altidore showed why he is the best.

Beasley = Beastly

He is back on target. Nuff said.

Kljestan = Stock Rising (Quickly)

No one in my opinion looks to be improving and deserving of a spot more than Kljestan. Brilliant header. Should have had his first goal. No worries though. Should be many more to come.

Adu = Is going slightly unnoticed, though playing well

Brilliant service. One that would make some of the greats proudd. He also played fairly consistent on the ball.

Torres = Great for the circumstances

To me he looked very nervous, but did not play like it. His shot from distance is also something most players won’t dare to take on the national team. The new guys seem to be trying a little more though. (I’m refering mostly to Bradley, Adu, and Altidore… Not as much guys like Kljestan)

Speaking of Bradley
Bradley = Meh

Nothing special. Another silly card. Gets those too often. He could develop still, but for now, he’s a question mark for me when he starts. He’s just a bit inconsitent.

FINALLY, the last thing I want to say is not about the Americans, but raher the Cubans. They are by far the most respectful national or club team I have ever seen (including ours) They always helped us up, got the ball, etc… They deserve a mention, because that quality is rarely possessed in the players of today.
GS

Bradley set the roster for the T&T game and it sure is interesting. It’s basically a glimpse into the future for the USMNT.

Carlos Bocanegra, Michael Bradley, Steve Cherundolo, Brian Ching, Jay DeMerit, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Oguchi Onyewu have all been released back to their clubs.

So the roster for the T&T game looks like this:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF: 0/0)

DEFENDERS (6): Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA: 0/0), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland: 2/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 13/1), Michael Orozco (San Luis: 0/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 6/0), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC: 0/0)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco: 3/0), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 20/6), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers: 3/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 4/0), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids: 11/0), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio: 1/0) José Francisco Torres (Pachuca: 1/0)

FORWARDS (3): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal C.F.: 1/1), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF: 0/0), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew: 0/0)

For those of us who are excited about the young guys this an exciting roster…even though Coop was once again left out…all I can say about that is wow…

Anyways I see the starting 11 looking like this:

Guzan
Califf – Hejduk – Bornstein – Pearce
Beasley – Edu – Mastroeni – Kljestan
Adu – Altidore

The defense looks to be a mixture of players that don’t really fit together which could make things interesting…the midfield is STACKED and even though I think mastroeni will start I would love to see Torres start…and really if Altidore doesn’t start up top something is really wrong.

What do others think?
http://usa.worldcupblog.org Brooks

You’re jumping ahead of me, GS! I was gonna post this tomorrow. Well, I still am.
Lemmon

Thats a pretty interesting roster!!! Just like everybody else I’d like to see Cooper in that roster…

With the T&T roster I’d like to see this starting XI…

Guzan
Bornstein-Edu/Califf-Orozco-Pearce
Beasley-Torres-Kljeston-Adu
Davies-Altidore
BMatthews

Wait. Cooper didn’t make that roster? Who is Robbie Rogers?! Bahhhhhhhhhhh
Agent Hiro

Ching didn’t look good last night, but earlier in qualifying, he did a serviceable job of being a target man to latch onto the long balls and hold the attack up while he got numbers forward. Jozy wasn’t getting called into camp earlier so he could get adjusted to life in Spain, although he probably should’ve started this game. I’d much rather see Ching playing up top than awful ass Eddie Johnson.
CW

Neither Bornstein or Hejduk are center backs. Frankie likes to run about 14 miles per match up and down the right side, occasionally punctuating his runs with an impressive array of horrible crosses. Bornstein would play left back I would think.