Who would have guessed that the boys would have fought back and beat a good Egypt team 3-0, but also to turn around and take out # 1 ranked Spainby a score-line of 2-0 to setup an improbable finals rematch with the same Brazil team that made the US look like club soccer team less than a week prior.
What I wanted to see all along was a better effort from our guys and for Coach Bradley to start getting the best out of his star players for once. While the players started to step up and prove they were worthy of the occasion I don't think it was due to any speech or advice that coach Bradley may have given. I really think the players didn't want to be the laughing stock of yet another international tournament and at that point, just decided to take it to another level. With that mindset, the team made it to the finals against the footballing juggernaut know as the Brazilians.
One thing I didn't want to see from a tactical standpoint was for us to sit back and try to weather wave after wave of Brazilian attack like we did in the second half of the Spain game. Seen that far too often and if there is anything I know about watching the Samba Kings, its that you have to go at them if you want to walk off the pitch victorious, and even then its still a tall order. I don't know of any team in the world that is good enough to sit back and absorb attack after attack from a group this talented.
I watched that first half of soccer and was honestly inspired by the effort put in by the US team. Not just the two goals that we scored which were both well worked, but just the effort in which we we able to take the Brazilians out of their game. You could see it in Robinho as well as Kaka's face that they were frustrated with a lack of opportunities to really trouble us, and when they did make into our defensive third, were thwarted by the defense or great saves from Tim Howard. Despite what I saw a few people say on Facebook, both US goals were good ones. Spector's cross into the box was clinically finished by Clint Dempsey, who at some point decided to go on a goal scoring run in the last few games. The US second goal, was nothing but a text book counterattack finished off brilliantly by Donovan.
Then came the second half and it was a completely different story. I can't really fault Jay Demerit on that first goal, as he did close down the space, but that was just a brilliant play by Fabiano, nothing more nothing less. You can't do much about it when a guy receives the ball with his back to goal, and without even looking up turns, fires, and puts it into the side of the net. Brilliant goal, plain and simple. After that, I think the rest of the way was purely a failure by Bradley and his staff to make the proper adjustments, or just make every effort to keep the Brazilians on there heels like in the first half. We employed that sit back and relax tactic against Spain, and rode our luck that the defense was able to come up with some big saves, but you can only employ that tactic for so long before you get punished. Even after the game all Bradley could talk about was how that goal hurt us, which indicates to me that he had answer for it. News flash coach, you are playing Brazil...did you really expect a shutout? Great teams and great coaches find a way to win, they don't make excuses at every chance.
What troubles me is something that we have not only seen in this tournament but in World Cup Qualifying as well. Bradley and his staff can't seem to be able to make necessary adjustments when the team gets scored on. Granted, we shouldn't plan to get scored on, but it does happen, and when it does you have to adjust your tactics and just deal with it. We saw it against Costa Rica, Italy, and twice against Brazil where once we gave up a goal, the game was turned on its head and we never really recovered. Imagine how different the games against Spain and Egypt would have been had we given up at least one goal? Based on recent results, we would have capitulated and the coaching staff would not be capable of making those adjustments. That's what separates this coaching staff from the likes of some of the worlds best. I mean seriously, someone explain to me what the hell Sacha kljestan and Bornstein are doing coming on for two of our most dangerous players in Felihaber, and Altidore. Bornstein is not at this point a world class calibre player, and all Sacha Kljestin had done in this tourney is lose the ball and get sent off for an woeful red card. Did i mention that Bornstein is not even a midfielder by trade, which is where Bradley had him playing. Explain to me why Jose Torres can't get a look. This guy plays in Mexico and is battle tested. Against Costa Rica a few weeks ago he was the only player on the filed who seemed to not be fazed by the occasion and was a bright spot on the evening. He should have been on the field, him and Feilhaber both. Jozy did look tired in the end, but to think that either of those guys is an able sub is laughable.
I am proud of the way we fought back to get back into this tournament, but I can't help but think about how we could have lifted the trophy with better coaching. Its obvious to me that after watching this tournament, that there are good and dare I say it potentially, world class players on this roster, but they have to be put in the right situations to succeed. We are not as deep as Spain, England, or Brazil, but we can probably put 11 guys on the field and compete like we did the last few games.
We made allot of progress in this tournament, but I won't settle for second place, especially since I know we can do better. I think Landon Donovan said it best after the game when he said “Hopefully, but we’re at the point where we don’t want respect, we want to win. There’s no guarantee that we ever get back to a final game like this so it’s disappointing.”
I only hope Sunil Gulati was listening, because if he was, then he has to realize that if we want to win next year's World Cup, then we need a new mindset as a soccer nation. And yes I said win dammit, part of moving forward is expecting to win the tournaments, not just show up and not get embarrassed.
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