Comments on: USA vs. Brazil: Reaction

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:59:11 +0000

This is a late reply, but I agree with whoever said we need a first attacking option. We need Eddie Johnson to become a world class striker or Altidore to get more experience (for he will inevitably become a world class striker). I don’t think we really played very entertaining soccer. For the most part, we lacked a great deal of cohesion and couldn’t string many passes together. Of course later in the game this improved with the Dempsey goal being a good example. But, overall, our attack is missing a real striker. (EJ is so fast and clinical but his first touch and decision making is still poor.)

Also, Gooch is only good for when we are playing a brash, physical team. He was awesome against Toni when we played Italy. But, against a team like Brazil, he should never play. He just doesn’t have the grace and quickness needed. Conrad would have been a better option because he is tactically very sharp.

Another also, why did Beasley lose all of his confidence on the ball? He’s one of our best technical players, but he never runs at defenders like he used to! This is discouraging to see.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:43:34 +0000

Why are we not playing Altidore? What gives? We have no better option in attack. In fact, we have no other options.

By: JoNo

JoNo — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 01:16:58 +0000

The team is looking good!

By: KS

KS — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:51:01 +0000

What’s Beasly doing on the pitch? His head just didn’t seem like it was in the game, and I don’t recall being impressed with his play the last few times I’ve watched him….

By: bram

bram — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:23:07 +0000

I agree with your thoughts on Dempsey and especially Bradley. Bradley’s determination was amazing. He spent the day going head to head with Kaka, Robinho, and Ronaldino, and he acquitted himself well. Bradley also tackles far better than Paul Scholes. I can’t even remember the last time Scholes tackled and actually got a piece of the ball. While Bradley is young and may still make some dumb decisions, Scholes is a yellow card waiting to happen every time he goes in for a tackle. And for what it’s worth, if you look at any of the great defensive midfielders in the world, they all make lots of mistakes. The difference is that Gattuso or Keane had enough clout with the referees to get away with them. Bradley is still too young, and an American, so he is warned more often still. In time, I expect Bradley to start getting some of the calls that go against him, although he fully deserved the warnings he got in the Brazil and Canada games.

I was also impressed by Wolff’s performance. While he still doesn’t deserve a place in any starting XI, he looked far better than the player I remember in Arena’s World Cup warmup matches.

If Adu or Altidore can develop into a legitimate attacking threat, the US will start to be a real soccer power in the world. Right now, we are still too reliant on Beasley, Donovan, and Dempsey. All those guys are great second or third attacking options. We need one great first attacking option.

By: elle

elle — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:57:40 +0000

dempsey is shaping up quite nicely, i love michael bradley but he tackles like paul scholes, and gooch just makes me want to cry. Seriously, how many goals has he basically handed to the opposition in the last few years. I don’t even want to talk about donovan until he decides it’s time to go to europe again, but the rest of the boys played well, especially against a team like brazil.

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:43:59 +0000

Definitely.