TAMPA, Fla. – It wasn’t great, not by any stretch.
Considering the water-logged conditions and a team committed to defense, a win by a smaller margin than most of us expected is hardly a disaster.
BUT, this must be said: it will have to be better Tuesday, especially in the offensive final third.
The United States just wasn’t sharp in there. Herculez Gomez got a goal of effort and persistence. And he was full of hurry and hustle. But at some point, he has to find ways to be dangerous with the ball, not just in harassing defenders and poaching from inside the 6.
The Jose Torres experiment of necessity at left back can now be marked “incomplete” as he needed to leave shortly after the break due to an ankle contusion. So, that’s three left backs down. As I said earlier, U.S. officials are quietly hopeful that Fabian Johnson can be ready by Tuesday’s date down in Guatemala.
As for Oguchi Onyewu’s latest appearance. Sigh. What more can we say?
I’ll have more thoughts in about an hour. For now … it’s down to the locker room to see that they all have to say about it.
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- Mel - Jun 8, 2012 at 9:35 PM
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Did what’s expected, but exhibited little craft or fantasy…workmanlike win, which as the minimum expectation.
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- tylerbetts - Jun 8, 2012 at 9:39 PM
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Kinda sad to see Gooch look so out of place against a minnow like A&B. The Spain game seems so long ago.
My biggest problem wasn’t the finishing in the final third. Yes, they had issues, and yes they spent too long waiting for a perfect shot rather than taking a good shot (mainly, I’m looking at you, Donovan). I’m much more concerned about the sloppy passing and poor giveaways. If you do that on the road against Guatemala, you’re not getting three points. Heck, you’re probably not getting one point. They have to clean that up.
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- jhalion - Jun 8, 2012 at 9:53 PM
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The left back issue has to be shored up, hopefully Fabian will bring some stability. Watching Gooch out there makes me cringe. He used to be solid as a rock but now lacks the mobility to keep up.
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- george3246 - Jun 9, 2012 at 12:34 AM
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I’ve always liked Gooch but he looked like he was running in slow motion when Byers burned him. I’d say he’s at least a few months short of progressive conditioning drills in order to get back into game shape.
I hope that he stays committed to getting there because he was showing great long term potential before he got hurt. We really need the old Gooch back to take over for Carlos Bocanegro when he gets ready to retire.
If Gooch can’t return to form, I’m afraid he’ll beat Carlos out of the game.
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- tsingletonvt - Jun 9, 2012 at 12:53 AM
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There was a lot of standing around by the US players tonight. Tough to break an opponent down when nobody is moving without the ball.
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- soccerknowitall - Jun 9, 2012 at 6:46 AM
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can JK coach defense?
Posted on June 9, 2012
Jk cant coach defence, his overall strategy is to tell his wingbacks to press forward up the pitch. It’s the reason I believe he has stayed with the older guys (Boca, Gouch,Edu,Dolo) in the back area and let them coach themselves. but this game put JK’s ingame tactical awareness and adjustments to the test on defence, and he failed bigtime! Torres should not be playing out of position at leftback when Cameron could use the minutes, all torres did was get injured trying to slide tackle a (A&B) winger at fullspeed coming down the leftflank. Then he moves the heart of our defence (BOCA) wide left, inserts Gouch! who has cost us 4-5 goals in the last two weeks with his big mistakes in the back; of course this leads to a breakdown and the A&B goal.
The other thing JK is gonna have to learn is how to put players and formations on the field against the wide variety of countries the USMNT plays in CONCACAF.. Canada, A &B, parked the bus in the back and dared the US to score. Mexico can carve us up with there speedy, skillful, triangle-give n go/ interplay. the other’s; guat, hon, el sal, pan, crc.. etc are slower less skillful versions of mexico but still can impose there will on USMT at home; So I think it’s baptism by fire for JK in WC qualifying, as his 4-3-3 uptempo, possession, attacking style plan for the USMNT is going to get bogged down in latin america. What will JK’s pregame strategies, ingame tactics, and halftime speeches be then?
http://soccerknowitall.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/can-jk-coach-defense/
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