Copa America game thread

BigSoxFan

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That would be an annoying loss in a WC match. Offensively-challenged, as always, but they did have a few chances.
 

Cellar-Door

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God everything after the 80th minute was disgraceful even by Colombian standards. As for USMNT, meh... Orozco should be done as a squad player, Bradley needs to not have an automatic starting spot, we really need to find someone better than Zardes,and we have a legitimate concern at goalkeeper but on the whole not bad.
 
Dec 21, 2015
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Zardes wasn't the problem tonight, except for that ball in the last 5 minutes where he got it charging into the box, should have shot on his first or second touch but decided to take 4 and then pass it back to nobody. But he looked pretty good to me otherwise.

With Brooks and FJ on the back line, that killer cross probably gets interrupted. I don't blame Howard at all for it, though - he covered the near post, as is his assignment, and Bacca got in front of the CB (I assume Besler). Lots of things had to go wrong to let that goal in, but Howard's positioning and switching wasn't one of them.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Tough not to put one in last night. Always one touch too many, or not seeing the open runner, or Bedoya running directly in front of Wood before he can shoot it.

Bradley is just awful. All the talk about finding his optimal position is moot. If he's upfield he'll keep his head down, miss runners and pass it backwards. If he's deep he'll do the same except those hospital balls will instead put the opponent in prime position to score. Shellshocked.
 

crystalline

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Is the problem with Bradley that he doesn't have any good passing options because the rest of the team isn't getting themselves clear?

I'm reminded of this quote from the PDL player joining Argentina for a scrimmage:

“Before the game started I was thinking 'Man, I really need to play good,' but then when I got the ball I had like three [passing] options, every single time I picked my head up,” Mursowski said.

“It's easier for you to pass the ball, to open up for the ball, because everybody does the right movements,” Somera added.
 

Cellar-Door

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Is the problem with Bradley that he doesn't have any good passing options because the rest of the team isn't getting themselves clear?

I'm reminded of this quote from the PDL player joining Argentina for a scrimmage:

“Before the game started I was thinking 'Man, I really need to play good,' but then when I got the ball I had like three [passing] options, every single time I picked my head up,” Mursowski said.

“It's easier for you to pass the ball, to open up for the ball, because everybody does the right movements,” Somera added.
Not for the most part no, on of the complaints we've had over the Copa is that he's missing runs because his head is down, and he's making terrible decisions with passes you never make back across the face of goal to a marked player. Obviously there is less space against good teams, but making the most of it is what good players do.

Bradley's problem is that he can't handle pressure for really good teams. He's fine against Haiti where he knows that the defenders lack the skill and tools to efficiently press, or in MLS where the same is true. In international play against good teams where he has to make quick decisions under pressure and doesn't have time on the ball, he rushes everything, doesn't see the field well enough and has disastrous mistakes. He's also not really that fast which hurts as well since he can't create his own space and finds himself trailing the play a lot.
 

Titans Bastard

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Bradley has turned in some very good performances on the international level and at the club level in better leagues than MLS. Anyone remember that friendly win @Italy in 2012? He was fantastic. And he's had very good performances in the Bundesliga and in Serie A, too.

He's just not doing it anymore. He understandably struggled as an attacking midfielder at the 2014 WC, but his problems have continued when he's been used in more suitable positions, too. Returning to MLS didn't hurt Dempsey, Jones, Beasley, or even someone like Altidore really. Perhaps it did hurt Bradley. Or perhaps he's just mentally lost focus somehow. He's actually been better for Toronto this year than he has in 2014 or 2015, which doesn't quite fit the MLS-killed-Bradley narrative. I'm not sure what's going on with him, but he wasn't always like this.

Whatever the case, he's still going to be needed to play a DM type role because we don't have anyone else suitable enough for the role unless Cameron is moved up. Hopefully someone can challenge him in the way that Wood has now challenged Altidore's long-time perch at forward, as only good things can come from that.
 

Cellar-Door

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Bradley has turned in some very good performances on the international level and at the club level in better leagues than MLS. Anyone remember that friendly win @Italy in 2012? He was fantastic. And he's had very good performances in the Bundesliga and in Serie A, too.

He's just not doing it anymore. He understandably struggled as an attacking midfielder at the 2014 WC, but his problems have continued when he's been used in more suitable positions, too. Returning to MLS didn't hurt Dempsey, Jones, Beasley, or even someone like Altidore really. Perhaps it did hurt Bradley. Or perhaps he's just mentally lost focus somehow. He's actually been better for Toronto this year than he has in 2014 or 2015, which doesn't quite fit the MLS-killed-Bradley narrative. I'm not sure what's going on with him, but he wasn't always like this.

Whatever the case, he's still going to be needed to play a DM type role because we don't have anyone else suitable enough for the role unless Cameron is moved up. Hopefully someone can challenge him in the way that Wood has now challenged Altidore's long-time perch at forward, as only good things can come from that.
Yeah, I should have noted I meant that he's developed those problems in the last few years. I think part of it is just losing that edge by not challenging himself, and part is that he's probably better when he's not counted on to do too much (like in Serie A). I don't know that he's unsalvagable, but I think he needs a break and he needs to be pushed. Jurgen's insistence that he starts and plays the full 90 every game is hurting him, he needs to have competition and to be pushed.
 

soxfan121

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Jurgen's insistence that he starts and plays the full 90 every game is hurting him, he needs to have competition and to be pushed.
I got nothing to back it up, but if JK had other options, would Bradley be an automatic starter? Like, had Danny Williams or Perry Kitchen blossomed unexpectedly into a world class MF, would Bradley be the "automatic starter" he has been?

That Bradley and Beckerman is still the best MLS can cough up is... the problem. Maybe in a generation, there will be sufficient talent in the pipeline to allow the NT coach the luxury of dropping an out of form, aging "star" .
 

teddykgb

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Cagey game so far. Lots of players staying down. Aguero would have buried that one but I like the extended rest he's getting

Edit: I can't remember seeing Messi harassed and harried like this in a while. Chile are fouling him and aggressively closing him down. People are usually so terrified of Messi that they give him space but Chile are doing no such thing
 

Ed Hillel

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I don't like that call. What can a defender do there? Messi's momentum took him into him.
 

teddykgb

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I guess that's what happens when you mark Messi as I described above...

But that's one of those annoying yellow cards that are always called. I think it's senseless but refs have been calling it consistently
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Both Diaz fouls were stopping a rushing Messi, with no cover behind. That was the ref rationale, even though the second was wayyy too harsh.