2009 Dynamo & USMNT Soccer Thread

[Joel]

oh, and i'm really bummed i'll be out of town for the upcoming aztex/dynamo open cup match up.

why do they send the dynamo on the road for this? anyone? i notice that the winner of this game will go on the road again in the next round, no matter what - even if it's dynamo against another usl team (could happen). what up with that?

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Joel

altidore may have a bright future, but i think he pays immature, and slacks a lot.

Originally Posted by papabear

-I think Altidore is coming along nicely. He still has his mistakes, and he can linger on them a little too long sometimes, but for the most part he works hard and does what the team ask of him. Hopefully he has been picking Chings brain when he has the chance because they seem to want to use him in a similar role. Praying he gets more minutes with his Club though.

Yeah, I think this about sums it up. Ching would be playing in this tournament and starting if he hadn't of injured his hammy. Jozy will overtake Ching someday, maybe even next year, but not yet. Almost there. More club minutes would be really nice for Jozy.

Originally Posted by papabear

Now we get the privilege of likely being embarassed by Spain. The crazy part is even though we won by three yesterday, we were still too sloppy with the ball (mostly Dempsey) for my taste. There have been times in the past where I thought the US national team was really ready to compete with the big dogs...and then I watch them get embarassed and remind me of how far away they are. I don't think we have a chance against Spain, but maybe I'm wrong again. I'm hoping they at least put up a solid game against them

Spain will totally boss possession, so either the U.S. needs to bench guys who can't keep possession (Dempsey), or they need to just play for the counters.

btw, the U.S. played decent in Spain in a pre-Euro friendly last year, and guess who stood out when given a half to play in that match... yep, Freddy Adu. Some YouTubes of the match starring Adu.

I really looking forward to watching it... as a Liverpool fan, it's almost like watching the Reds play the USMNT since Spain has quite a few on their roster. And until last year's Euro, Spain had something of a reputation of choking in quarter/semifinal matches like this one in spite of sometimes being the favored team.

Originally Posted by Joel

oh, and i'm really bummed i'll be out of town for the upcoming aztex/dynamo open cup match up.

why do they send the dynamo on the road for this? anyone? i notice that the winner of this game will go on the road again in the next round, no matter what - even if it's dynamo against another usl team (could happen). what up with that?

Beats me. I only like watching these games to see some Dynamo reserves get a run anyway.

btw... Dom is going to coach the MLS All-Stars given the Dynamo have the best point/gm average in the league right now. I'll be interested to see how many orange (and former Dynamo like De Rosario) he picks for the roster. Another match I'll enjoy watching.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Keith

Spain will totally boss possession, so either the U.S. needs to bench guys who can't keep possession (Dempsey), or they need to just play for the counters.

btw, the U.S. played decent in Spain in a pre-Euro friendly last year, and guess who stood out when given a half to play in that match... yep, Freddy Adu. Some YouTubes of the match starring Adu.

Yes, but if I remember correctly the US was coming off a couple of bad losses in their previous friendlies before redeeming themselves against Spain. We could be listening to minutes of "ole's" from the Spanish fans in this game. I would love for them to do well, but I am mentally prepared to get embarrassed. IF they can get on the board early and NOT make sloppy mistakes with possession (Dempsey) they could hold on as long as we don't just lay back and let Spain pick us apart...because eventually they will. I think we've been playing pretty good defense. The goals we give up or mostly from a sloppy clearance or a quick strike after a dumb turnover.

[Joel]

Originally Posted by papabear

The goals we give up or mostly from a sloppy clearance or a quick strike after a dumb turnover.

(dempsey)

the guy is a liability when (a) he has the ball or (b) the other team has the ball. he is only good when he gets a ball that he can put directly on net.

makes me miss clint mathis & josh wolff.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Joel

(dempsey)

the guy is a liability when (a) he has the ball or (b) the other team has the ball. he is only good when he gets a ball that he can put directly on net.

makes me miss clint mathis & josh wolff.

Crazy thing is I that I talked to my buddy today from the UK and he tells me how much he likes Dempsey and said it seems like he's playing well for the US. I informed him that he's playing like A$$, but just had the one header for a goal against Egypt. I was taking up for him as recently as a few matches ago because I really think he's capable of more. After this many bad performances he really needs to be sat down.

[papabear]

Holy Shit!!! 2-0 US 79th minute....and I think I saw Dempsey come back and play a little defense too. I got to see the first half. I was worried they were too willing to sit back and let Spain come at them late in the first half. Dempsey's goal is going to make it very hard for Spain to come back now.

[papabear]

They held on 2-0. Bradley got a red though and will have to miss the finals. Didn't see it, but gamecast commentary hinted that he didn't really deserve a red.


Wow....I think I may have tricked the sports gods with some reverse psychology on this one

[superbowlbound]

Our defense couldn't have been more rock solid. We were under siege the entire game, and still came away with a clean sheet in only our second victory vs. a no. 1 ranked team ever. I'm very proud of our guys. Now rest up and get ready for Brazil, because, let's face it, south africa is only there because they're the hosts.


::edit::
Yeah, that red card was total crap. he slid in low, head on, and got the ball first. hard challenge, definitely. Yellow, maybe. Red? absolutely not. That's now 3 send-offs in 4 games for the us squad. not good.

[Keith]

Yep, we sat back and played the counters. The first half showed the good and not so good of Altidore, but thankfully the good was really good. He took a position on Capdevila and totally pwned him.

Dempsey at forward is something to keep an eye on. Davies actually played a decent game. With Ching and Adu (please!) ready as well, there is finally some depth there, which was a problem in past international competitions.

With Spain, this plan worked. I don't think this gameplan will be nearly as effective against Brazil, assuming they take care of business tomorrow. But that talk is for another day... time to celebrate this before the CWS tonight.

[dalemurphy]

Originally Posted by papabear

They held on 2-0. Bradley got a red though and will have to miss the finals. Didn't see it, but gamecast commentary hinted that he didn't really deserve a red.


Wow....I think I may have tricked the sports gods with some reverse psychology on this one

It was a clean tackle and the guy didn't even pretend to be hurt. Even for soccer, it was one of the more ridiculous calls I've seen.

[Keith]

Gold Cup roster announced. It includes Ching and Holden, but no other Dynamo.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (IK Start), Luis Robles (FC Kaiserslautern)
DEFENDERS (7): Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Jay Heaps (New England Revolution), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaellands), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS (5): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Santino Quaranta (D.C. United)

I know I said I wanted Adu to play in this tournament, but then again, if he is going to get on the field for his club team next season, he needs to be ready whenever their training starts. And I'm a little surprised Bradley is keeping Davies on this roster, but then again, why not I suppose.

Outside of Ching, Holden, Adu... there's quite a few others I'm not too excited to see. Oh well. Those three are more than worth it.

Come to think of it, why is the Gold Cup necessary every other year? Seems like once every four is enough when there is WCQ going on, but I guess if the intent is to trot out your B- and C-level (and by this looks of some on this roster, the D-level) talent, then okay.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Keith

Gold Cup roster announced. It includes Ching and Holden, but no other Dynamo.



I know I said I wanted Adu to play in this tournament, but then again, if he is going to get on the field for his club team next season, he needs to be ready whenever their training starts. And I'm a little surprised Bradley is keeping Davies on this roster, but then again, why not I suppose.

Outside of Ching, Holden, Adu... there's quite a few others I'm not too excited to see. Oh well. Those three are more than worth it.

Come to think of it, why is the Gold Cup necessary every other year? Seems like once every four is enough when there is WCQ going on, but I guess if the intent is to trot out your B- and C-level (and by this looks of some on this roster, the D-level) talent, then okay.

I'm OK with the Gold Cup format....if for no other reasons than it give an opportunity to test out some different players. I'm not too excited overall about this roster either. I'm very happy for Holden, and want to see Adu more. I'm also happy to see someone from the Golden Triangle, Arnaud, get a call up. Even if he is from Nederland, I hope he gets some minutes and plays well.

[Joel]

why so few mls'ers for the confed cup, and then so many for the gold cup? i understand they can't be gone from their clubs for all that time, but wouldn't mixing up the two groups a bit more now help with cohesiveness later?

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Joel

why so few mls'ers for the confed cup, and then so many for the gold cup? i understand they can't be gone from their clubs for all that time, but wouldn't mixing up the two groups a bit more now help with cohesiveness later?

I think what you saw in the Confed cup is basically what you are going to get through this world cup cycle outside of a few minor changes or injuries. Bradley is basically just sending the B-Team. He's got some older guys for leadership and a few guys who will be apart of WC qualifying getting a few more minutes. Other than that it's guys trying out to fill in an injury role.

[papabear]

usa usa usa usa

[popanot]

Originally Posted by papabear

usa usa usa usa

It's amazing how much better Brazil is/was at handling the ball than team USA (or a lot of teams for that matter). I missed the first half, but you could tell it was just a matter of time before Brazil got back in it the way they had the US on their heels in the second half. It seemed they played down the US end the entire half. The US played great and did us proud, but they still have a ways to go. They've got get better at passing and setting up plays, with a little more aggression on O' to have a chance in the WC.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by popanot

It's amazing how much better Brazil is/was at handling the ball than team USA (or a lot of teams for that matter). I missed the first half, but you could tell it was just a matter of time before Brazil got back in it the way they had the US on their heels in the second half. It seemed they played down the US end the entire half. The US played great and did us proud, but they still have a ways to go. They've got get better at passing and setting up plays, with a little more aggression on O' to have a chance in the WC.

They were able to just sit back against Spain and keep them out of the goal. I knew that if we weren't able to keep possession at least a little that Brazil would eventually pick them apart. While I'm thrilled with the effort, I'm not near as warm and fuzzy over this team as some of the stuff I read is. As a team our first touch and passing still isn't at the level it needs to be. They rely entirely too much on the long ball at times when they should just be trying to hold the ball. I liked the way they used their speed for quick counterstrikes the last few matches, but you can't let Brazil spend the entire match in the attacking third.

After seeing the Astros look like a good team on Saturday (took my nephew to his first Big league game) and the first half of the USA match I was having a pretty good weekend....then the second half came. To top it all off the Dynamo choked against Arena and the Galaxy. I was thoroughly depressed by the time I went to bed last night.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by papabear

I was thoroughly depressed by the time I went to bed last night.

Me too. Still a little sad actually.

The US has to sit back and play the counters. That's it. They play too many long passes forward sometimes, but sometimes that's because they aren't good enough to possess the ball long enough to matriculate it up the pitch, so to speak.

More bad news for Dynamo fans, though potentially good for the development of the USMNT... Rico is drawing interest from the French team Rennes, the squad that employs Bocanegra now.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...405043,00.html
http://blogs.chron.com/soccer/archiv...onversa_1.html

Talks are preliminary right now and might go nowhere, but Rico going somewhere overseas seems inevitable to me at some point. I'm a little surprised he didn't leave last year actually.

As for the loss to the Gals, I didn't like the starting 11, but with Hainault gone, Waibel and Barrett unavailable, options were limited... but I really would have preferred to have Mulrooney at D-Mid and keep Holden in his normal spot with Davis wide left. Maybe put Ashe at right back (or left... not sure which Chabala prefers more). I think that would have been less disruptive to the offensive engine. Heck, put Mullan at RB and Ashe in front of him, just keep Davis out left and Mulrooney in the middle without Rico.

[superbowlbound]

You're absolutely right. We are not good enough at possessing the ball, period. I think part of that is that we are a very good counter-attacking team, so whenever we win the ball in midfield the first reaction is "attack! attack!" which leads to the poor passing and ill-advised long balls. In the second half of the Brazil match, there were several opportunities for the US to hold on to the ball for 30-40 seconds more at a time before attempting to get the ball in on goal, and every time, the second pressure came, especially in midfield, they would panic and send an ill-advised long ball at a poor run, presumably because they were afraid of being dispossessed. That absolutely has to be improved before the end of WC qualifying, or it's going to be a very short cup for the US, especially considering how much FIFA dislikes us. You know we're going to be in either the Group of Death or the other one that's just as strong. Really the only thing we've got going for us as far as some love for the draw goes is that we currently lead the world in ticket sales.

But that's neither here nor there. What is really troubling to me is the way that our players seem to drift in and out of the game. feilhaber and altidore were two prime examples of players that played well against spain (altidore was in and out, but that's what you get from a 19 year old who doesn't get any club minutes), but neither of them made a mark against brazil.

Also, does landon donovan bother the crap out of anyone else? He's a talented player, sure, but he's nearly crumbled under the expectations of greatness, as evidenced by that ill-advised low cross in the spain match. He's afraid to make mistakes, though that's not entirely his fault. What bothered me most about him vs. brazil was his celebration after his goal. Running around the field shouting "me! me! me!" really? If it wasn't for the perfect ball you got, you wouldn't have even had a shot on goal in the first place. Congratulations on taking the shot when you literally didn't have any other options. I don't know, maybe I'm being hard on him, but when you're the face of a team that's been mired in mediocrity the way the US squad has, it just seems like a little more "we" than "me" could go a long way. Some of our players looked a little put off by his celebration. They just looked a whole heck of a lot happier for Dempsey than they did for Donovan. Maybe that's just me not liking him, but that's what I saw. Thoughts?

[Keith]

Congrats to Stu Holden and Geoff Cameron on being voted to the starting XI in the All-Star game against Everton! And for those who missed the USMNT's match against Haiti in the Gold Cup, Holden's stoppage time golazo tied the game.

With Kinnear as the All-Star head coach, I imagine at least two more Dynamo players will be named to the squad out of: Pat Onstad, Ricardo Clark, Brian Ching, and Bobby Boswell. And I imagine Kei Kamara and Brad Davis wouldn't mind the consideration, too.

Also, the chron is reporting that the Dynamo are putting together a bid to host the USOC final on 9/1, assuming the Dynamo beat the Sounders to advance. I can understand why the team hasn't bid for home dates in the lesser rounds (money/costs), but hosting the final would be sweet. Hopefully if it happens fans come out in full support. With no extra SuperLiga dates to contend with, maybe that will happen.