On to Paraguay. We should do better.

My thoughts:

-Keller. The first goal was sloppy on your part, especially as it was right after we took the lead. The one you got nutmegged on was embarassing. You did have one great save tonight. You've had a great career, but tonight should be it for you. You weren't the Keller of the qualifiers. It showed in the Gold Cup and it showed tonight.

-Strikers. We don't have any in this country, period. Not on the A-team or the B-team or the J-team. The following statement was true six years ago and still is now. Why is that?

USA Soccer: Excellent goalkeeping, solid defense, an okay midfield, the forwards suck.

-Twellman. No help to Johnson at all. Neither was Gomez for his short sub time, although Johnson wasn't doing anything then either.

-Wynne. I'm all for this tournament being used to blood new talent. It's not like this tournament is receiving a lot of attention here when my only way to watch the game is a univision.com stream. But the jump up for guys like Wynne was way way too high. He needs more game time. I noticed this when he started playing for RBNY last year. He has fantastic speed, but his positioning sucks. He's still raw and is not ready to play for the USMNT unless it's an early WCQ against someone like Grenada.

-Defense. Completely exhausted in the last 20 minutes.

-Bradley. As our guys were dead at the end of the game, I guess that's one reason we weren't creative going forward. However, that is no excuse for us to look like Guatemala in a 4-5-1. This is our toughest game, so we should do much much better against Paraguay and Colombia.

6/28/2007 11:11:52 PM

i agree with most of that, although you must have forgotten eric wynalda as he was a pretty decent forward. also brian mcbride is good, where is he?

johnson has the speed but he doesnt finish well, but damn he can outrun some people.

6/29/2007 9:01:38 PM

wynalda was ok, though most of his goals were to terrible teams in the concacaf, and he only had like 30 something, there are many midfielders nowadays who score more than that internationally.

brian mcbride has to be approaching or already 35, he was past his prime probably 4 or 5 years ago, he was lethal in the air, but not much better than wynalda.

the US has always lacked a striker with the knack of knowing when and where to be and finishing consistently...as say Crespo in the Argentina game. everytime i watch him play internationally he seems to be in the right place to finish goals

[Edited on June 30, 2007 at 12:09 AM. Reason : h]

6/30/2007 12:08:58 AM

This peru vs. venezuala match is getting mighty heated here at the end... war should be breaking out soon.

6/30/2007 8:19:58 PM

After today's matches, Group A looks like this:

1) Venezuela..4pts (1W, 1T), +2 GD
2) Peru.........3pts (1W, 1L), +1 GD
3) Uruguay....3pts (1W, 1L), -2 GD
4) Bolivia.......1pt (1T, 1L), -1 GD

Next Group A matches:
Venezuela vs Uruguay
Bolivia vs Peru

6/30/2007 10:06:17 PM

time to see if Brazil feels like playing today

7/1/2007 4:14:03 PM

hmmm could be another weak call for a PK, looked like the ball took a deflection and in trying to adjust both lost some footing and the Chile player appeared to push him down... 1-0 brazil

bahahha gotta love getting carded while sitting on the bench, wonder what he said to the ref.

[Edited on July 1, 2007 at 4:43 PM. Reason : .]

7/1/2007 4:40:37 PM

robinho is extra whiny today

7/1/2007 5:11:06 PM

The ref sure is calling some pretty silly fouls today, and has been letting some almost blatant ones go.

He may be extra whiny but he has put 3 in the back of the net so far..

[Edited on July 1, 2007 at 5:57 PM. Reason : .]

7/1/2007 5:52:21 PM

banana pudding is extra runny tonight!

7/1/2007 9:38:33 PM

After today's matches, Group B looks like this:

1) Mexico...6pts (2W), +3 GD
2) Brazil.....3pts (1W, 1L), +1 GD
3) Chile......3pts (1W, 1L), -2 GD
4) Ecuador..0pts (2L), -2 GD

Next Group B matches:
Brazil vs Ecuador
Mexico vs Chile

7/1/2007 10:03:57 PM

Fuck!

7/2/2007 7:09:23 PM

GGGGGGOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!

7/2/2007 7:20:14 PM

I feel so stupid watching this team... Califf, Moor, Kljestan. As much as I like Ben Olsen, he has no business being on a national team. The thing I don't understand is, if we're playing all these sucky no-name people, why did Bradley start Twellman/GAM in back-to-back games when they accomplished absolutely nothing except for an early pk in the Argentina game? Why not start that Charlie Davies kid or even Herculez Gomez? Why is Keller getting another start when he didn't perform that great in the Argentina game, there's no chance he'll be on the 2010 WC squad, and he's not even our #1 anymore? Guzan has a legit shot of being the starter in 2010 and even if he doesn't, he'll definitely be on the majority of rosters for qualifiers.

It's unfair to judge Bradley's coaching ability with a depleted squad of course, but some of his decisions don't make sense to me. It was either a go-all-out and try to win or a get-guys-experience tournament and the decision was pretty much made for him, so why is he trying to stay in the middle?

7/2/2007 8:13:58 PM

A completely free header from six feet out.

Nothing.

The United States of America is the worst finishing team in the history of organized association football.

7/2/2007 8:23:54 PM

FIRE BRADLEY

7/2/2007 9:12:07 PM

After watching the Gold Cup and Copa America it would not hurt my feelings if Eddie Johnson and Taylor Twellman never played for the National team again. Eddie Johnson has no moves at all. One of the worst performances from a US back line I can ever remember tonight, mainly b/c they kept turning it over right near our 18.

7/2/2007 9:55:52 PM

Eddie Johnson can play our weaker competition in concacaf qualifying, i dont mind that...but twellman, i have never liked him or his style..he is dreadful when it comes to the national team...if he gets another start after this cup(in meaningful games) then i prob wont watch anymore games under Bradley's reign.

7/2/2007 10:08:21 PM

And to think that a year ago all US fans were wondering why Arena didn't call up Twellman for the World Cup.

^ Who's better than Eddie Johnson for forwards? It's a sad statement but true. He's pretty much our #2 or #3, so that's more than "weak CONCACAF opponents" if we're to win games.

Don't say Dempsey. His game has clearly gotten worse since he left New England. Beasley is allright, but he's small and hits a crossbar from three yards out with no goalkeeper to worry about. McBride's retired. Donovan, as maligned as he is, is the only person that can take a shot with confidence consistently.

Game and player review here: http://myespn.go.com/conversation/story?id=2924112

[Edited on July 3, 2007 at 8:06 AM. Reason : .]

7/3/2007 7:47:41 AM

I'm going to say Dempsey.

He has only gotten a few starts at forward and he's looked just as useful as Eddie Johnson. He hasn't been the same because he had to adapt to the English style and then he was only playing 10-15 minutes a game... how fair of an assessment can you give somebody under those circumstances?

For all the chances Twellman and Johnson have received, they've never really come through and I think it's time to start moving on. Let's see if Dempsey/Donovan can start something up top and if not, fine, but let's not stick with the same people just because "there's nobody else." Dempsey, Ching, Cooper... there are plenty of people who deserve the opportunity over Johnson and Twellman.

[Edited on July 3, 2007 at 8:22 AM. Reason : .]

7/3/2007 8:21:48 AM

^^People were calling for twellman because ching is completely worthless. At least twellman, at the time, was somewhat of an unknown exciting commodity on the international scene. We all already knew ching couldn't do anything against top notch competition

^I'm gonna have to agree with you and say Dempsey as well. He is one of the few American players that showed up for the last world cup. He plays very agressively and he has a decent finishing touch. I always thought he was wasted on the wing.

[Edited on July 3, 2007 at 9:04 AM. Reason : d]

7/3/2007 9:04:00 AM

maybe Freddy Adu will turn into something one day...

7/3/2007 11:31:12 AM

Quote :

" maybe Freddy Adu Jozy Altidore will turn into something one day... "

7/3/2007 12:57:59 PM

The only chance USA has to advance to the next round is if:

Mexico beats Chile
USA beats Colombia

USA is at a -5 GD and Chile is at a -2 GD, which also needs to be overcome. It's possible, but just for today, Go Mexico!

USA would be the 2nd best 3rd place team, thus advance

7/4/2007 11:42:38 AM

With our "amazing" goal scoring abilities I dont feel all that confident on advancing

7/4/2007 12:39:00 PM

who would want to see them advance anyway? we would just lose to whoever we played next, im already embarassed at the team we fielded for this tournament

7/4/2007 10:27:25 PM

Mexico just had to put up a goose egg - ah well - come on Paraguay!! (only because I don't want to see Peru play Argentina yet )

7/5/2007 10:54:27 AM

spanishspanishspanishspanishspanishspanish

WHO ARE YOU?

I AM THE KEEPER.

spanishspanishspanishspanishspanishspanish

7/5/2007 7:21:49 PM

Well the U-20 team is beating brazil in the U-20 World Cup...probably going to win the group...on espn right now

7/6/2007 9:23:55 PM

ALTIDORE!! with 2 goals this game


OH AND WHAT A SAVE!! 86th minute

7/6/2007 9:27:20 PM

good game, wish they would put the rest of the tourney on espn...not espnu

7/7/2007 12:03:04 PM

QUARTERFINAL Results:
Uruguay def Venezuela
Brazil def Chile
Mexico def Paraguay
Argentina def Peru

SEMIFINALS:
Uruguay v Brazil
Mexico v Argentina

7/9/2007 10:21:51 AM

juan 'rrrrrrrrramon' riquelme was the catalyst yesterday against peru, helped that one get ugly down the stretch

7/9/2007 11:11:58 AM

shades of dudek in doni's last save last night...still pisses me off

7/11/2007 5:28:12 PM

it seems as if they've stopped calling goalies for coming off the line in almost every league around the world

7/11/2007 5:41:59 PM

Copa America Finals:

Brazil vs Argentina

july 15th

7/12/2007 9:42:41 PM

argentina should easily win

7/12/2007 9:43:01 PM

Argies 3-1.

7/13/2007 2:12:32 PM

brazil owns arg, but not with this squad...3-2 arg

7/13/2007 2:31:59 PM

it still pisses me off that brasil could find their way back into the final with robinho + the b squad in almost an identical manner as they did 3 years ago. they beat argentina then and even though this team is stacked, they're still losing their main goal scorer in crespo. for arg to win, riquelme is going to have to continue to dominate, and little robinho is probably going to be physically assaulted by argentina all game. but, to brasil's credit, they've played successively better each game.

arg 2. robinho 1. julio baptista 1.

game goes into PK's, hopefully this time in argentina's favor.

7/13/2007 5:01:07 PM

it is my opinion that fred should be fielded over vagner love...i want to see more of danny alves and naldo as well in the back

7/13/2007 6:29:15 PM

JTMONEYNCSU
All American
5209 Posts
user info
edit post

Quote :

"argentina should easily win"

good call dumbass...Brazil wins the copa america 3-0, how dare i go against my heritage

7/16/2007 12:40:34 AM

brazil is my heritage as well, me and my father ( full brazilian) both thought brasil was gonna get their ass handed to them tonite, i guess not, argentina's definitely had their A team out there, and i think maybe 2 or 3 players tops from this brazil team played in the world cup, everyone else is part of the 2nd and 3rd strings

7/16/2007 1:10:07 AM

Quote :

"brazil owns arg, but not with this squad...3-2 arg"

that is what i meant

[Edited on July 16, 2007 at 1:39 AM. Reason : U 20 run is over for the us...2-1 to powerhouse austria]

7/16/2007 1:35:20 AM