1576 replies to this topic

[Jed Zeppelin]

Get beat again Klejstan.

[soxfan121]

Spector with three huge blocks.

The ref is calling NOTHING.

This has become a white knuckle game all of a sudden. Borini could have tied this three times now.

[tims4wins]

Spector is playing like Seidenberg circa spring 2011

[Jed Zeppelin]

Take it to the fucking corner Boyd

[EP Sox Fan]

Get beat again Klejstan.

He's getting skinned out there. Brutal

[Jed Zeppelin]

Signature win.

[SoxFanInCali]

It's a friendly, but that's still a very nice win.

[The Napkin]

Can I ask a dumb question?
With about 3 minutes left the announcer said something about "that was the last chance for Italy". I was all, no way, the keeper is just going to kick it deep and in 5 seconds Italy will be back attacking like it's happened all game (match?). And sure enough it happened just like that. And then again like 3 more times.
So the question is, what's the strategy there? Wouldn't it have been better to have made a shorter/easier pass and kept possession rather than giving it right away and letting Italy attack again? And again? And again?

[RedOctober3829]

Very nice win for the USA. Doesn't mean anything, but still nice to beat Italy.

[SocrManiac]

Tim Howard is not a smart goalkeeper with his distribution, or he doesn't trust his men at the back.

[ivanvamp]

What a terrific win. Italy must have possessed the ball for 70% of the match, given that the last 15 minutes (including extra time) was pretty much all Italy. But still, a draw in Italy is a good game....to get a win? Wow.

But yeah, it was white-knuckle time down the stretch. Yikes.

[NomarRS05]

Very nice win for the USA. Doesn't mean anything, but still nice to beat Italy.

Out of curiosity, why not? Can't they at least build on this?

[Statman]

Can I ask a dumb question?
With about 3 minutes left the announcer said something about "that was the last chance for Italy". I was all, no way, the keeper is just going to kick it deep and in 5 seconds Italy will be back attacking like it's happened all game (match?). And sure enough it happened just like that. And then again like 3 more times.
So the question is, what's the strategy there? Wouldn't it have been better to have made a shorter/easier pass and kept possession rather than giving it right away and letting Italy attack again? And again? And again?

Not a dumb question at all. Howard just doesn't trust his defenders to be able to play the ball out of the back so he boots a long ball each time.

Our central defenders in this game (Bocanegra and Goodsen) aren't known for their passing ability and we didn't have anyone on the bench (i.e., Ream who is finally getting a shot at Bolton or Orozco) capable of replacing them. Even someone like Torres, who would have helped with possession, was injured so I am guessing that Howard thought that his only shot once he had the ball was to boot it up field and hope that our guys could hold the ball. Obviously, that didn't happen so it was like the Alamo around our goal.

[canderson]

Dempsey grew up close to me, he's an awesome dude. Good on him.

I wish in all of America we could find another offensive weapon, though.

[Jed Zeppelin]

Even better than the win, for me at least, is how competent they looked pushing forward and creating chances. They struggle with the final cross or pass, but I loved the build-up today.

[soxfan121]

1. Michael Bradley was the man of the match. As Lalas just said on ESPN, his positioning and read of the game today was outstanding.

2. Dempsey's goal was the perfect counter strike goal that gives me hope for the USMNT in tournament play. That's the plan when fighting out of your weight class and to see it executed is encouraging.

3. The defense was excellent today; from Johnson's contributions to the attack, Cherundulo turning in a workman like performance, Goodson & Bocanegra clearing every cross and Bradley tracking back.

4. Good Jozy in the 2nd half; bad Jozy in the first. Play tough big man - when you do, it opens up the offense.

5. Boyd had to be overwhelmed, especially when he tussled with Pirlo's hair. I bet he sees that on tape later and has that "ohgodIjustmademydebut" moment of clarity.

6. Shea, Klejstan, Edu - invisible to poor. Jones looks to have the edge on Edu for that slot going forward and the absence of Chandler slid Johnson to LB - when Johnson & Chandler get some practice time together...this is also encouraging. Spector with some late game defense as well...LB is well stocked? How'd that happen?

7. I love Clint Dempsey. Great awareness of where the attack is going to move.

8. Prandelli with an odd game management. I can see if the clubs asked for the big stars to play limited minutes but the substitution of DeRossi was a panic move - 'oh shit, we might lose - empty the bench!' Losing for the first time in Genoa, losing to the US for the first time ever, losing a home friendly against "inferior" competition. Bad game for the Italians.

9. Giovinco & Borini ended up with most of Italy's dangerous chances and the young guys failed to capitalize. Both played well, ignoring the results, and I was impressed.

10. It's always a joy to watch Andrea Pirlo direct the action. Guy is a magician.

[The Napkin]

Not a dumb question at all. Howard just doesn't trust his defenders to be able to play the ball out of the back so he boots a long ball each time.

Our central defenders in this game (Bocanegra and Goodsen) aren't known for their passing ability and we didn't have anyone on the bench (i.e., Ream who is finally getting a shot at Bolton or Orozco) capable of replacing them. Even someone like Torres, who would have helped with possession, was injured so I am guessing that Howard thought that his only shot once he had the ball was to boot it up field and hope that our guys could hold the ball. Obviously, that didn't happen so it was like the Alamo around our goal.

So the theory is they're going to give it up anyway, might as well give it up at 3/4 field? Makes sense, thanks.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Out of curiosity, why not? Can't they at least build on this?

It's not completely meaningless: it counts in the FIFA rankings (which are still used in the formula to select the group heads for the World Cup), they play in front of fans who want to win, they keep score, and the press takes note when losses start piling up.

But it's also not a seminal moment in U.S. soccer history the way that, say, beating Spain in the Confeds Cup was. It's not an official competition; we don't gain anything aside from FIFA ranking points and confidence from a win, nor would we have lost more than that in a loss.

My general philosophy on friendlies is, first, how you play is more important than the result, and second, while a trend can become significant, no one result is worth getting overly excited or overly depressed. (This is why I was somewhat concerned with JK starting out 0-1-4 or 0-1-6 or whatever it was but never took him to task for any one of the matches.)

Edited by Mr. Wednesday, 29 February 2012 - 07:30 PM.

[Snakebauer007]

Out of curiosity, why not? Can't they at least build on this?

Given the US record on European soil, it was definitely a big win

[Titans Bastard]

1. That was a tremendous performance. It wasn't dominating by any stretch and Italy looked more dangerous on the whole. But we're talking about playing Italy IN Italy -- a country we've never beaten in 10 tries in a city where Italy has never lost in 20 matches.

2. I have to agree with Bradley as MOM. He was well-positioned defensively and very calm and tidy in possession. He rarely gave the ball away. A move to a tactical league like Serie A was probably the best thing he could have done; I think the effects of playing at Chievo are already showing. He's more tactically disciplined in his positioning, which was long his weakness. The Italian media has always loved Bradley going back to the 2009 Confederations Cup and this is only going to deepen that sentiment. He's really an Italian-style player at his best. I mean, he grew up idolizing Demetrio Albertini. Who does that?


3. Jozy had some stone-touch moments, but I was really encouraged by his play as a CF. He's another player who I think has benefited from his choice of club. At AZ, he's been used as the lone forward in a 4-3-3 and his manager is a disciplinary tightass who is riding Jozy especially hard. His hold-up play was as good as I've ever seen from him. He's obviously a strong player, but he still sometimes acts like he isn't, though, going down too easily at times.


4. I'm not a big fan of Maurice Edu, but I thought he had a good game tonight. He was a terrier defensively and made a number of key interceptions and tackles. He ran out of gas in the last 15 minutes and got sloppy, though.


5. Sacha Kljestan isn't a useful player on the flank. Use him as a box-to-box central midfielder or not at all.


6. I admire Danny Williams for showing grit and hustle at RM. He's obviously out of position and he really struggled going forward. But who could expect anything different? I do hope that Klinsmann gives him a shot at DM or CM, where he belongs.


7. Dempsey. What a player. 25 goals for the US now, and not just against CONCACAF minnows. Ghana, England (twice), Italy, Spain, Brazil, Turkey, Egypt, Japan.


8. Fabian Johnson is going to be a real asset this cycle. He's useful in so many key areas where we lack depth -- LB and both wing positions. I thought he played LB like a winger playing LB....he was caught upfield a few times. But he's great going forward and he combined well with Shea at times.


9. Shea had a solid game, I thought. He wasn't spectacular, but he caused problems and didn't look as directionless as he sometimes did in more recent friendlies. He seems to be very much a confidence-based player. He had some stupid giveaways at times that should be ironed out of his game at times. He'll be gone from MLS in a year, I'd say.

[Titans Bastard]

And I never expected this, but Carlos Bocanegra is aging like a fine wine.

[Titans Bastard]

Round two for the day: USA U23 vs. Mexico U23.


Hamid; Sarkodie, Opara ©, Kitchen, Valentin; Morales, Diskerud, Corona; Adu, Agudelo, Gyau


After two domestic friendlies, Zarek Valentin moves to LB and Kitchen comes in at CB. Morales, Diskerud, and Corona have arrived from abroad and all three will get a look in the middle. Excited to see the attacking trio.

[Infield Infidel]

How did Spector look replacing Johnson? Any chance Klinsy uses them at the same time and moves Williams?

[Titans Bastard]

How did Spector look replacing Johnson? Any chance Klinsy uses them at the same time and moves Williams?

He made some heroic blocks, but it was typical Spector fare at fullback: he can be beaten for speed too easily.

[Titans Bastard]

Round two for the day: USA U23 vs. Mexico U23.


Hamid; Sarkodie, Opara ©, Kitchen, Valentin; Morales, Diskerud, Corona; Adu, Agudelo, Gyau


After two domestic friendlies, Zarek Valentin moves to LB and Kitchen comes in at CB. Morales, Diskerud, and Corona have arrived from abroad and all three will get a look in the middle. Excited to see the attacking trio.

2-0 to the good guys at HT.

Agudelo scored on a nice near post run off a Mix Diskerud corner.

Adu scored the second goal on a low, driven, left-footed shot from outside the 18 after cutting in from the right wing. It took a slight deflection from Diskerud, I think.

We almost scored a third on an Opara header off another beautiful Diskerud corner.


It's not quite champagne football, but we are outplaying Mexico. Their GK in particular has been poor. Gyau is looking dangerous, Agudelo has been solid. Diskerud and Morales have been solid in the middle, although Corona has been somewhat invisible, I'd say. I think Diskerud and Morales still have some work to do to handle the speed of the senior international game, though.

Defense is holding up so far.

[Titans Bastard]

Wow, we are just dominating them so far in the second half.

[Titans Bastard]

62' Bunbury for Agudelo

[Titans Bastard]

66' Tony Taylor for Adu

[Titans Bastard]

Mexican player booked for diving in the box. Definitely embellished, there was minor contact.

[Titans Bastard]

77' Duka for Gyau


Totally different front three now.

[Titans Bastard]

2-0 FT.

Good stuff from our U23s. I feel like there is more to come as this group develops better chemistry. We were also missing Boyd, Shea, and Gatt today -- as well as Jozy, Chandler, and Williams although those three won't be available for qualifying.

I'm a fan of Mix Diskerud. He's not an attacking midfielder as hyped, he's a box-to-box midfielder with some class and some defensive chops -- a Stuart Holden type. He showed a lot today.

The reemergence of Ike Opara from injury has done a lot for our defense. Along with Kitchen and Valentin, I feel much better about our defense going into qualifying than I imagined I would a few months ago. I'm perplexed, however, by Porter's commitment to Sarkodie at RB. I think that Philadelphia's Sheanon Williams is a better option.


I continue to be unimpressed with Teal Bunbury. He's a great athlete, but he doesn't bring much else to the table.

[Billy R Ford]

Finally finished the senior match on replay- great match, definitely agree it was white knuckles at the end (or would have been, I had the score spoiled for me).

I liked Johnson and Shea on the left. Shea, despite being left-footed, is not a particularly 'wide' player on the left for Dallas or the US: he pinches in and passes it around a lot, so to have an attacking fullback making overlapping runs suited him. For me an overall OK game for Shea, who seemed more eager to play it in to Dempsey than take on defenders than normal, and a solid game for Johnson, particularly going forward. Spector I saw too much of at left back for West Ham in 09-10 to ever be convinced of as an option there.

I was interested right away to see that Bradley on the whole was tasked with playing deeper than Edu. MB still made a few of his usual crashing runs forward, which Edu covered, but for the most part I think he sat in front of the defense while Edu challenged further up. This is the opposite of how Bob Bradley always played them: Edu was always the d-mid, and MB the box-to-box player. Bradley's positional discipline has improved tremendously to allow him to play as the d-mid, he was also my MOTM. Edu I thought was fine defensively, and his discipline in covering for Bradley's runs forward should not be overlooked (Jermaine Jones was always poor at this, see the Gold Cup) but I'm still completely unconvinced by him going forward.

(It was tough to try to figure out their roles since Italy had the ball so much, and with the US in two banks of four, Bradley and Edu were often level. I think Edu was tasked with moving forward when the US did get the ball though; this same thing happened in the France match, where Edu was often level with Beckerman since France dominated possession, but was clearly meant to be the more advanced midfielder.)

Other than that I agree with what's already been said: Kljestan and Williams are clearly central midfielders, Altidore was a tale of two halves, and Dempsey is en fuego ahora.


For the Olympic team match, I was mighty impressed, especially considering they were missing so many guys expected to contribute at qualifying. Diskerud and Gyau stood out to me.

Re: Sarkodie, my theory was Porter had something in mind similar to Barcelona a few years ago, when they had Messi cutting inside from the right and Dani Alves overlapping to stretch play. Porter similarly played a left-footed playmaker at right wing (Adu) and a very attack-minded right back in Sarkodie. Long term Chandler would seem to be a natural fit for this system. In practice Adu stayed a bit wider than I would have expected.

That he doesn't want to compete with those guys - that he's happy to collect his pay, kick it around with EPL washouts like Beckham & Blake...well, it tells you something, doesn't it? Beckham and Blake were top players in the EPL, once upon a time, and now they're soaking in the sunshine and not slogging it out in the rain in an away tilt with Stoke. Retirement community for aged footballers.

Last thing, but who's Blake?

[Titans Bastard]

As for the Dempsey/Donovan conversation:

1. I think Donovan would be better had he spent his career playing against better competition - he's unquestionably the best player in a minor league. Donovan obviously CAN play in the EPL and the competition in MLS isn't close to the EPL. Were Donovan to be sharpening his skills against better competition, it would be better IMO for the USMNT. When you compare the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, Brazil's First Division and maybe some of the 2nd tier leagues (Turkey, Russia, SPL, etc) to MLS, it's fair to say MLS comes in close to the bottom. The quality of play in MLS does not match any of those listed.

That's true, with the exception of the SPL which is a clear step down from MLS. The differences between MLS and some of the mid-tier European leagues are overstated, though. I think MLS is comparable to, say, the Belgian league. We don't have any teams as good as Anderlecht, perhaps, but MLS has more depth -- which is just a result of the relatively equal median salaries that you'll find in the league.

I can't refute that Donovan could be better had he spent more time in a better league because it's a hypothetical. But it's quite possible that that would be the case. At the same time, though, I don't think you are giving MLS due credit; if it's such a poor league, how is Donovan as good as he is?

2. Donovan's lack of ambition factors into my analysis - he's quite comfortable in Stockholm, I mean LA. Were he serious about playing against the best, he'd have moved. Instead, he has passively allowed MLS to control his career because he's "the man" in LA. At Everton, he'd be one of the top players but he wouldn't be "the man" and he'd be one of ~100 players in England with his talent/skills. That he doesn't want to compete with those guys - that he's happy to collect his pay, kick it around with EPL washouts like Beckham & Blake...well, it tells you something, doesn't it? Beckham and Blake were top players in the EPL, once upon a time, and now they're soaking in the sunshine and not slogging it out in the rain in an away tilt with Stoke. Retirement community for aged footballers.

Which brings me back to my point - Donovan, to me, is a "what if?" player. He's very good. Could he have been great? If the Leverkeusen situation doesn't bomb, if he doesn't lose confidence in himself, if he doesn't get "comfortable" being the big fish in MLS's little pond, if he HAD pushed himself to fight for EPL playing time (the way Clint did)...has Donovan "wasted" some of his promise/talent/potential? Feels like it to me. Which is not to say he's not very good or that he's not important to the USMNT - he is. But I can't root for Donovan in the same way I can for Dempsey. Clint fought for playing time, fought to get better, fought to stave off relegation...all that experience made him a better, smarter, sharper football player than the guy who kicks it around with Becks in La-la land.

What's with all the scorn for MLS? Have you looked past a few older big-name signings who are on the downswing of their career? If you had, you'd see a league that has been focusing heavily on youth both domestically and internationally. In the last 3-4 years, we've seen far fewer cut-rate Euro veterans signed and a ton more young & talented Latin Americans. We're also starting to see returns on the investments made in academies and youth development. MLS clubs are now fully vertically integrated from the senior team down to the U16 level. The reserve league has been revamped and a change in NCAA rules means that academy players can play in reserve matches without sacrificing eligibility. Academy products like Bill Hamid and Juan Agudelo have already been capped by the full US team and another one -- Andy Najar -- was the rookie of the year at age 17.

Off the field, the league averaged over 17,800 in attendance over the course of the season. Everyone has their own stadium except for a handful of stragglers like New England, DC, and San Jose (who just got final approval last week). Chivas USA shared with LA. Seattle and Vancouver play in football stadiums, but when you are drawing close to 40,000 a week like the Sounders are, it really doesn't matter.

Is all this "real league" enough for you?


A few aged footballers doesn't make the league a retirement community. The league doesn't revolve around a few big names; it revolves around its clubs, which are improving on and off the field.


Furthermore, the older guys brought into the league aren't even "washouts". Beckham has been on loan to Milan twice, he was wanted on loan by Spurs last offseason and turned down a very lucrative contract from PSG at age 36.

Keane and Henry had successful loan stints just in January -- a combined 5 goals in 10 EPL games.

We've seen over the past 4-5 years that world-class players who are past their peak like Henry are still good enough to be transcendent players in MLS, but only if they put in the effort. We've seen guys mail it in and it's ugly. MLS isn't the EPL, but it's not a league you can sleepwalk through, either.

[soxfan121]

OK, maybe I'm too harsh on MLS. And by Blake, I meant Keane - got my Robbie's confused. It's detracted from my real point, which we've covered and seem to agree on.

[CJChap]

2-0 FT. Good stuff from our U23s. I feel like there is more to come as this group develops better chemistry. We were also missing Boyd, Shea, and Gatt today -- as well as Jozy, Chandler, and Williams although those three won't be available for qualifying. I'm a fan of Mix Diskerud. He's not an attacking midfielder as hyped, he's a box-to-box midfielder with some class and some defensive chops -- a Stuart Holden type. He showed a lot today. The reemergence of Ike Opara from injury has done a lot for our defense. Along with Kitchen and Valentin, I feel much better about our defense going into qualifying than I imagined I would a few months ago. I'm perplexed, however, by Porter's commitment to Sarkodie at RB. I think that Philadelphia's Sheanon Williams is a better option. I continue to be unimpressed with Teal Bunbury. He's a great athlete, but he doesn't bring much else to the table.

Gyau is going to be fun as hell to watch. He's a skill player with blazing speed on the flanks and he's still really young (19)- he's starting to get on to the team sheet for Hoffenheim. I really liked Kitchen at the back because he's so calm with the ball. Opara is a beast. It'll be interesting to see what the first choice 11 is for that team because there's actually a good amount of attacking depth.

[Snakebauer007]

The MLS is slowly but surely getting better and better, it would definitely help if more Americans got behind their own League, instead of dismissing it as 3rd rate. Which admittedly, is how I used to feel about it, but watch it anytime I can these days. My big problem is having no team in close proximity

[SoxFanInCali]

I've been to a couple of Quakes games, but the stadium and atmosphere suck. Hopefully the new proposed stadium will improve things.

[Titans Bastard]

The MLS is slowly but surely getting better and better, it would definitely help if more Americans got behind their own League, instead of dismissing it as 3rd rate. Which admittedly, is how I used to feel about it, but watch it anytime I can these days. My big problem is having no team in close proximity

The league is still atoning for its early sins. The people who ran the league in the early days had no idea what they were doing and their mistakes drove fans away. The jerseys, the counting-down clock, the shoot-outs, and zero understanding of fan culture. The bad stadiums and football lines couldn't be helped, though.

It's easier to destroy than it is to create. MLS has turned a corner now, but sometimes it takes a while to notice slow progress. And of course others will just prefer the higher standard of play of elite European competitions.

[Snakebauer007]

i think you can prefer the better product but still support the home product at the same time

[Pxer]

Can anybody hook me up with a dload link to the U23 game? torrent, direct link, whatever. Can't seem to find it at the usual places...


Please PM me.

[mgoblue2]

Question: What do we expect from Agudelo in the future? US version of Hernandez?

[Pxer]

US version of Hernandez?

Not even close.

But he is one of a number of exciting attacking prospects for the national team. It's doubtful any of them is ever going to sniff the class of Chicharito but it's looking more and more like the US squad is going to have solid options (with depth!) at most positions with few blackholes moving forward. The future (and present) of the back line is still in question but things seem to really be coming together for the Nats moving forward to 2014 & beyond.

It's nice to have a technically sound player like Agudelo in the fold, but he has a lot to prove at the MLS level yet before he even thinks about moving to a bigger league and elevating his game. I expect him to be a top choice at forward but with all the likely competition coming up, he's going to have to separate himself from the pack in order to become the automatic callup in the ensuing frenzy after his USMNT debut.

[Titans Bastard]

The USSF announced a roster for Olympic qualifying (U-23).

GK
Bill Hamid (DC United)
Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire)

DF
Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes)
Perry Kitchen (DC United)
Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact)
Jorge Villafaña (Chivas USA)
Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo)
Joshua Gatt (Molde FK -- NOR)

MF
Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union)
Mikkel Diskerud (Gent -- BEL)
Jared Jeffrey (Mainz -- GER)
Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union)
Michael Stephens (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Joe Corona (Club Tijuana -- MEX)

FW
Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls)
Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund -- GER)
Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City)
Joseph Gyau (Hoffenheim -- GER)
Brek Shea (FC Dallas)

Dilly Duka was invited, but injured his hamstring in Columbus' opener. Gale Agbossoumonde also apparently couldn't make it due to injury. Alfredo Morales is the most notable absence; the USSF is having trouble getting him released from Hertha. That's why the roster stands at 19. Morales will be the 20th player if we can get him, otherwise I'd expect a DM or defender to be added.

There was never any chance of getting Altidore, Danny Williams, or Chandler released for this tournament.

3/22 vs. Cuba in Nashville [a time-honored tradition resumes. which will be higher: the # of US goals or # of defectors who disappear from the Cuban team's hotel?]
3/24 vs. Canada in Nashville
3/26 vs. El Salvador in Nashville

Top two advance to the semifinals in KC, which are on 3/31. The finalists qualify for the Olympics and play a meaningless title game on 4/2.

Group B is comprised of Mexico, Honduras, Panama, and T&T.

[Titans Bastard]

US vs. Cuba right now.


Shea, Agudelo, Adu ©
Jeffrey, Corona, Diskerud
Valentin, Kitchen, Opara, Sarkodie
Hamid

Bench:
Johnson, Villafaña, Williams, Okugo, Stephens, Gyau, Boyd, Taylor, Bunbury


Jeffrey over Okugo at DM is the only lineup choice that could be viewed as a surprise.

[Titans Bastard]

4-0 at HT. Corona (2), Agudelo, and an own goal. Cuba picked up a stupid red at 19' and that only made things worse.

[Infield Infidel]

Since I don't follow college soccer, how different is what Porter normally runs in Akron from what the U-23s are running?

[Pxer]

Joe Corona capping things off in the 87' with the hat trick. 6-0


Total control a man up for most of the game. The backline has been a little sloppy in distribution (minor complaint) and would love to see the outside backs getting forward more. Good start. Gyau's speed again impossible to handle.

[Titans Bastard]

Since I don't follow college soccer, how different is what Porter normally runs in Akron from what the U-23s are running?

I don't follow college soccer super closely, but from what I know Akron usually plays a variant of the 4-4-2. Keep in mind that they've been dominant, especially against MAC competition, which changes things. When Kofi Sarkodie was there, he was nominally the RB, but he had license to maraud up the right flank -- Akron was good enough that they just didn't need to worry about defensive cover that much.

The current system is different. It's more similar to what Rongen had been doing with the U-20s for years and what Klinsmann talks about but doesn't quite have the personnel to pull off.

Joe Corona capping things off in the 87' with the hat trick. 6-0


Total control a man up for most of the game. The backline has been a little sloppy in distribution (minor complaint) and would love to see the outside backs getting forward more. Good start. Gyau's speed again impossible to handle.

Yeah, it was a good performance all around, albeit one that means little because Cuba was terrible. It's interesting that Corona was dumped by the Mexican U-23 team a while ago. Long-term that may or may not matter, but it's looking like a mistake with regards to the U-23s. He looks like a classy player out there, and he looked good against Mexico too.

Gyau's explosiveness is going to terrify defenses, especially at the U-23 level. He does need to learn how to use his left foot because he cuts to his right every single time and good defenders are going to catch on to that.

We've got a lot of quality on the ball in this team. Adu, Corona, and Mix are good in tight spaces. Agudelo and Gyau have solid technique as well. I'm looking forward to a sterner test.


Speaking of (not being) good in tight spaces, Bunbury continues to struggle. I didn't mind Porter's decision to bring him on at halftime, though. With a game every other day, save Agudelo's strength for another time and let Bunbury try to snap out of his funk against a poor, beaten Cuba team. Plus, Boyd had only arrived from Germany the day before.

[Pxer]

Bad showing and worse result for the U23s. Hopeless long ball after long ball in the second half with terrible passing and an atrocious back line that did nothing to help create save one nice overlapping run by Villafana. Diskerud nonexistent, really, and the team lost all steam with Corona coming off after the first.

[mic99]

Bad showing and worse result for the U23s. Hopeless long ball after long ball in the second half with terrible passing and an atrocious back line that did nothing to help create save one nice overlapping run by Villafana. Diskerud nonexistent, really, and the team lost all steam with Corona coming off after the first.

Yeah, that was disappointing. They looked terrible and uninterested most of the time. That was a strange red card at the end.

Not qualifying for the Olympics would be a disaster.