Time To Start Over
Alecko Eskandarian; Eddie Johnson; Freddy Adu; Brian Ching; Sasha Kljestan; Bobby Convey; Lee Nguyen; Clint Dempsey; Michael Bradley; Oguchi Onyewu; Chris Rolfe; Tim Howard; Ricardo Clark; Justin Mapp; Marvell Wynne; Brad Guzan; Jonathan Spector; Heath Pearce: these are the names that figure to carry U.S. soccer beyond its present down point. It is time to drop the under-performers. It's time to grow up as a soccer program, and do what the teams who play this game for real do: bring in younger, in-form players, and lose the dead weight. Incidentally, we have some pretty heavy dead weight on our squad. It's true that MLS has provided a forum in which the American player can improve, but for our team to truly progress internationally, each of the previously mentioned names needs to get some serious run in Europe. The Landon Donovan "I'm happy here in the USA" mantra has done some serious harm. It is also time for new leadership at the top; where once we were unafraid to play the young and untested, we have now fallen into the trap of playing out-of-form favorites. Thus, we have one goal and four shots on net to show for our entire World Cup outing. That's all I'll say about the U.S. disaster, other than to give a big shout-out to Sam's Army, which is ever growing.
posted by Zach | 7:00 PM
5 Comments:
I think disaster is a little harsh. 98 was a disaster, this is a setback. E was a tough group for all (did anyone forsee the Chechs losing out on the big dance?), 1 point with 9 guys is nothing to slouch at.
That said, Beasley was a disappointment and Donovan never got started. Bruce didn't do his homework this time and didn't bring out the ones could have done some damage today. I was suprised that he put Dempsey in and wish Bruce had taken more chances with the lineup.
But they looked just as lackluster in the warmup games, I saw it coming but couldn't get out of the way of the train. 2010 can't come soon enough.
I think disaster is about right. The US was in a tough group and they did fight hard against Italy - but those sound like excuses to me. Teams that make excuses don't get better.
Don't get me wrong. No one should be commiting suicide over the showing, but if we want the US team to be better we NEED to start thinking of 1 point as a disaster. We NEED to call for the coach's head and not simply pat our "boys" on the back and say they had bad luck and worse refereeing. Once a something becomes unacceptable, it is far less likely to happen again.
And that WAS a terrible three game stretch. In case you think the US deserved to go through to the second round, ponder this: "Of all 32 teams in Germany, the U.S. will finish No. 32 in terms of shots on goal with four. The next worse is Trinidad and Tobago with seven. Iran have 19. England, 21. Germany lead the pack with 27."
I think disaster is an appropriate term for this outing. This current U.S. crop seems more concerned with prestige than results, and the fact that the one game we actually showed up for was the Italy game speaks volumes to me.
We are in no position to take our opponents lightly, in any circumstance, and we are definitely in no position to play favorites over in-form players. No reputable international power does that. That we registered four shots on goal in the entire tournament is inexcusable, and all this talk about "swagger" is a farce. Let's get the younger guys caps immediately, and get on with the business of getting ready for 2010.
Word. The main faces of US Soccer were the biggest letdowns.
And would it be terrible of me to dead Captain America aka Reyna?
Okay, I admit, yesterday I was a little emotionally overwrought and looking for something good out of the day. Seeing who moved forward and who didn't, this was indeed a disaster. 4-5-1 is no better then 3-6-1.
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