Damn, we got waxed.

6/4/2011 7:49:44 PM

To say the least. That was painful to watch (from a US perspective of course). Spain played beautiful though.

6/4/2011 7:54:35 PM

What a beat down. Didn't get to watch it live so I replayed the ESPN3 feed a couple hours ago. For some reason it crapped out on me at 55 minutes but apparently I didn't miss anything but the Torres goal. Bad call to field a weak side against Spain. The Davids Villa & Silva were making our backs look like clowns in the first half.

6/5/2011 12:26:41 AM

Quote :

"It would be nice to schedule teams we're on equal footing with (like England, right kiljadn?) and not get blown out like this or bunker like assholes against Argentina... but USSF's gotta get that $$$$$$"

I see you over there trollin. but just know that England's main problem is Capello and his excuse factory.

6/5/2011 12:42:30 AM

Quote :

"What a beat down. Didn't get to watch it live so I replayed the ESPN3 feed a couple hours ago. For some reason it crapped out on me at 55 minutes but apparently I didn't miss anything but the Torres goal. Bad call to field a weak side against Spain. The Davids Villa & Silva were making our backs look like clowns in the first half."

Yes and no. It was more of a bad time to schedule that game. They should have played that game on Wednesday, so the starters would have time to rest for the Gold Cup opener. In the end it was a good experience for the young players. This is no different than 2007 when the A squad went to the Gold Cup and then the B squad took a beating in Copa America while the starters were at the U-20 World Cup and back with their club teams.

6/5/2011 1:08:49 AM

that 2007 decision was a bad call, too. Playing the defending World Cup champs at home is a rare opportunity. To rest your guys for the Gold Cup is pretty weak sauce, in my opinion. It's one of the strategic moves that Bradley constantly makes that make me doubt his desire to bring the US to the next level rather than just simply secure his job. Simply winning the Gold Cup shouldn't be the benchmark anymore. The US should be trying to get quality results against top tier teams.

6/5/2011 4:53:07 AM

^Actually the clubs weren't required to release US players for Copa America since it wasn't the USA's confederation championship. Plus we needed to win the Gold Cup, so we could get to the Confederations Cup and get our possible 2010 World Cup squad more games together, which we did and that didn't hurt us in 2010. We really didn't have much to gain by playing in Copa America 2007 just days after the Gold Cup ended.

6/5/2011 11:50:33 AM

....aside from a potential gain in world rankings and international respect

6/5/2011 1:36:00 PM

Or loss of both because some tired players blew a game against Bolivia.

Friendlies are a pretty ridiculous measuring stick, as are inconsequential tournaments like the confederations cup, but even more so - individual results. To prove my point:

We beat Spain in the Confederations Cup.
We barely make it out of a relatively easy World Cup group thanks to a miracle goal, and Spain goes onto become champions of the world.

I'd rather string consistent wins against mediocre opponents (which we have still yet to accomplish) than beat a Spain once every ten times.

6/5/2011 4:03:26 PM

^ I agree.

I was trolling about England earlier but we need to play teams like Slovenia, Algeria, and Ghana and learn how to beat them consistently before we step up to the bigger teams

6/5/2011 4:21:25 PM

Costa Rica is running Cuba into the ground right now! lol!

6/5/2011 7:37:53 PM

F that. You improve by playing above your talent level. Being the baddest motherfucker at the kiddie table doesn't mean shit.

6/5/2011 8:01:51 PM

We needed 90 min to beat Algeria, an inspired 2nd half to come back against Slovenia, and we've been knocked out in successive tournaments by Ghana. We need to learn how to beat those teams consistently. I wasnt suggesting we play Andorra and Cuba in friendlies.

6/5/2011 8:10:55 PM

^passing up opportunities to play your best guys against the best team in the world would seem like a good way to improve our quality of play against the likes of Ghana and Slovenia.

Constantly beating Costa Rica is not.

6/6/2011 12:02:42 AM

Yeah that was kind of my point. We have Canada, Panama and Guadaloupe in the group stages. Between those 3 teams, Canada is the only one to ever appear in a WC (once, in 1986)...not really the powerhouses of world football. Use those games to stagger rest for guys who need it and let our best play Spain. The USA v Spain game was 10x as hyped up as any of these 3 Gold Cup games, so put in the best vs Spain and try to get some good PR and a decent result for the US instead of lying down for them with guys who have never played together.

6/6/2011 12:21:17 AM

I just want to point out that Chicharito scored a hat trick tonight. You guys should be shitting bricks.

6/6/2011 1:13:52 AM

Quote :

"passing up opportunities to play your best guys against the best team in the world would seem like a good way to improve our quality of play against the likes of Ghana and Slovenia. Constantly beating Costa Rica is not."

Who said we should play Costa Rica in friendlies? We should play teams that make World Cups but that we can also hang with.

Putting your best players in against Spain and trying your hardest won't do shit because to have a chance, we have to play a bunker, pack-it-in style, with very little counterattacking, and hope Spain miss their chances. That's fine when you need results in a tournament but what the hell is the benefit of doing that in a game that the result means nothing? We can play our best guys and grind out some sort of result all day long but it won't get us anywhere closer to having forwards that can play with confidence, defenders who can pass out of the back, outside backs/midfielders who develop chemistry with each other overlapping/making runs/etc, finding a central midfield pairing that can control the tempo of the game and connect with our forwards. Those are examples of things our team needs to learn, especially with a transition period approaching when our stars are getting old and the young guys are coming up. Getting your shit kicked in by Spain doesn't help anybody.

And I agree playing your best players against the best competition should be helpful... if it's in a game that means something (Confederations Cup, Copa America, Gold Cup).


^ I'm not as worried about Chicharito as I thought I would be. He's definitely quality and a threat to score but he's pretty much a non-factor if you can shut off the service to him. I mean, you don't game plan for him like you would Messi or Rooney or somebody on the ball all the time so it's really just going to have to be a focus on stopping other people.

6/6/2011 8:31:59 AM

aimorris, save your breath, you're arguing with a moron. He even thinks we constantly beat Costa Rica. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we almost lost to them the last time we played them - a fucking home game - we were lucky to salvage a draw in the last minute of the match. And wasn't it in that same qualifying campaign that we drew to El Fucking Salvador. I think I played El Salvador and won in a pickup game in North Raleigh once.

Or, fuck, maybe my definition of "constantly" is outdated. Hell, bring on Germany, Brazil, and Holland; we can take 'em. Our constant wins (and sometimes draws and losses) warrants it.

And kiljadn be trolling. Chicharito ain't a number 10. He's a poaching number 9. Hell that might even be a stretch, lets just agree to say he's an 8 and a half.

[Edited on June 6, 2011 at 5:47 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2011 5:40:11 PM

^Now you just take her easy. My point is that we only play our best 11 against "games that matter," which amount to the Gold Cup and qualifiers only, which means that Costa Rica and Mexico are usually our best competition.

Then, when we have an opportunity to play Spain or Argentina or Brazil, we send in the clowns.

We're not in CONMEBOL, and we're not in UEFA. We simply don't play quality opponents often, so passing up a chance to get quality minutes for our guys against top notch opposition is a wasted opportunity every time.

And that's to say nothing of the national appeal to a high profile game against a world heavyweight. Landon Donovan vs. David Villa.......or












Landon Donovan vs. Pablo Wanchope....hmm....

[Edited on June 6, 2011 at 7:54 PM. Reason : ]

6/6/2011 7:50:33 PM

The problem isn't team selection. It's opponent selection.

6/6/2011 8:16:10 PM

when you send your C squad to Copa America, the problem is most definitely team selection.

I understand the desire to save your best guys for the Gold Cup, but we're in the CONCACAF. you don't improve by constantly playing Barbados.

I promise you Boise State wouldn't rest their guys against Virginia Tech so that they could focus on their regular season game against whoever the fuck else is in their shit conference.

Seriously. It's CONCACAF. one of the top countries is more famous for their bobsled team than they are for soccer.

[Edited on June 6, 2011 at 8:23 PM. Reason : ]

6/6/2011 8:21:18 PM

Quote :

"when you send your C squad to Copa America, the problem is most definitely team selection."

That was like 4 years ago, right? And I agree you about that particular incident anyways.

Getting a draw or pulling out a win somehow even with our best players in a friendly does NOTHING for our national team's future. Getting a result just to say we got one is stupid when the result doesn't matter. Going from Barbados to Spain and expecting us to get something out of it is dumb.

6/6/2011 9:03:15 PM

Quote :

"That was like 4 years ago, right? And I agree you about that particular incident anyways."

Same coach, same decision. That was my point: Bradley always plays it safe, often at the expense of improving in strides.

And I'd argue that a result does matter in a friendly against a top tier team. Why even bother playing if it didn't? Experience at the top flight shouldn't be passed on lightly, especially for a team that only gets a handful of opportunities to play at that level. When it comes down to it, we shouldn't be going in to World Cups with only a handful of games against top teams. Honestly, why would that be a good strategy?

[Edited on June 6, 2011 at 9:18 PM. Reason : ]

6/6/2011 9:13:52 PM

Quote :

"And I'd argue that a result does matter in a friendly against a top tier team. Why even bother playing if it didn't? Experience at the top flight shouldn't be passed on lightly."

The final scoreline result means jack shit in friendlies, always. It's how you play the game that's beneficial. And playing with your back to the wall for 90 minutes doesn't help any of our players learn how to play good soccer, even if it somehow gets them a 0-0 draw or a fluke 1-0 win.

Quote :

"we shouldn't be going in to World Cups with only a handful of games against top teams. Honestly, why would that be a good strategy?"

Yeah because there's no in betweens. It's either Barbados or the fucking world champions.


[Edited on June 6, 2011 at 9:28 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2011 9:25:39 PM

http://www.goalgaga.com has links to online Gold Cup streams incase you don't get galavision, or telefutura.

6/6/2011 9:26:48 PM

Quote :

"Yeah because there's no in betweens. It's either Barbados or the fucking world champions."

My point always has been, and always will be that our opportunities to play against the top teams are limited, simply because we are in a region of the world that has few soccer powers. And since when is learning to play with your back against the wall for 90 minutes a bad thing? I'd be damned impressed if the US could eek out a draw against such a heavyweight, and I'd bet it would do a bit of good to the players confidence levels as well for the next time they find themselves in that position.

6/6/2011 9:38:43 PM

Because we already know we have the toughness/intensity to gut out points against good teams... Italy '06, Spain '09, England '10. That's been the main thing going for us for years.

If we're ever going to challenge the bigger teams consistently or even remotely close to a level playing field, we need more than that. And it's going to have to be a progression against similarly skilled opponents and then more challenging as we improve. You can't just throw teams out there and hope it just happens.

Actually forget challenging the big boys. We can't beat Ghana yet. We can't beat Slovenia. We've never won in Mexico. We rarely win in Costa Rica. We still have trouble with Guatemala and Honduras. It's pretty easy to qualify for a World Cup but we don't dominate Hex teams yet.

[Edited on June 6, 2011 at 9:50 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2011 9:47:26 PM

http://www.goalgaga.com/TV5.html

You can watch the Gold Cup game in English on this channel.

[Edited on June 6, 2011 at 11:29 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2011 11:29:07 PM

Quote :

"Actually forget challenging the big boys. We can't beat Ghana yet. We can't beat Slovenia. We've never won in Mexico. We rarely win in Costa Rica. We still have trouble with Guatemala and Honduras. It's pretty easy to qualify for a World Cup but we don't dominate Hex teams yet."

This is what bothers me the most. I could care less how many top ten coca cola teams we schedule. I care about results against teams we play regularly, more specifically lack of consistent positive results.

Should we play our best players in friendlies? On occasion. Should we field our best players three days before our continental tournament. Fuck no, especially when we're not a lock to win it.

Friendlies are also the only chance we have to assess upcoming talent and experiment with team chemistry. Donovan is not going to be around for the World Cup in 2018 (shit, he's gonna be 32 in Brazil). This whole national team thing is a continually evolving process.

6/7/2011 12:31:10 AM

Best stream for tonight?

6/7/2011 7:40:50 PM

Jozy goal, 1-0 Good Guys. Extremely weak goal, would probably be saved 99 of 100 times

6/7/2011 8:24:06 PM

Wow, nice goal keeping Canada. Lol, Jozy getting cocky.

"Altidore likes scoring goals like a fat kid likes cake."

Play by play dork from this feed.

http://www5.livetv.ru/webplayer.php?t=veemi&c=fewa&lang=en&eid=76598&lid=93794&ci=267&si=1

6/7/2011 8:24:56 PM

that field is a fucking disgrace

[Edited on June 7, 2011 at 8:31 PM. Reason : I'm sure Drogba would agree]

6/7/2011 8:31:19 PM

^^i watched that stream for a while, and then switched to univision.com

I'd rather hear the whiny mexican color-commentator than listen to those two guys make up words in english and confuse the two bradleys.

[Edited on June 7, 2011 at 8:39 PM. Reason : ]

6/7/2011 8:37:48 PM

^^ That was my first thought. It looks as if it is fucking with the players too.

[Edited on June 7, 2011 at 8:38 PM. Reason : ^]

[Edited on June 7, 2011 at 8:39 PM. Reason : this back line's clearances are god awful... they make me cringe]

6/7/2011 8:37:59 PM

^^
I'm enjoying how comically bad those two are.

6/7/2011 8:39:01 PM

FUCKING A DEFENSE CMON

6/7/2011 8:42:00 PM

It's like playing in sand. They should've just left the field turf.

6/7/2011 8:46:25 PM

Is there really not a better keeper in all of Canada? This guy is LOLworthy.

6/7/2011 8:48:52 PM

no. he is the best.

6/7/2011 8:56:18 PM

Bradley looked good in that half

6/7/2011 8:57:29 PM

You can also watch the US games on Fox Soccer Channel.

6/7/2011 9:01:26 PM

steve nash is probably better than all these guys

6/7/2011 9:15:14 PM

Was that Daniel Tosh playing CB for Canada?

6/7/2011 9:21:08 PM

Jozy has to put that home

6/7/2011 9:21:38 PM

would've been the best US goal EVAR

6/7/2011 9:25:26 PM

deuce

6/7/2011 9:27:27 PM

Dempsey. Heck of a goal.

6/7/2011 9:27:56 PM

That's what I'm talking about.

6/7/2011 9:28:12 PM

deuce

6/7/2011 9:28:52 PM