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| Subject: I guess we'll have to agree to disagree |
| Posted by: the_slammer on Tue Jun 30 2009 5:27:40 PM |
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Message:
I think the question is not whether we're better off now than we were in
2002 (which is a difficult thing to quantify), but whether we're better off next summer than we were in 2002. And I guess time will tell with that. Look at it this way. During the 2002 CONCACAF qualifying tournament, the USA struggled to get results against middling to poor teams - drew 0-0 away to Jamaica, lost 3-2 at home to Honduras, lost 2-0 away to Costa Rica, drew 0-0 away to T&T. In fact, the USA limped into the third spot, tied with Mexico while CRC ran away with the group. So it isn't like we looked like world beaters a year before the 2002 cup. Also remember that during the great result against Portugal they outpossessed us 60-40 and we let them pull two back from 3-0 down (well, Portugal got one and Agoos got one, I guess :] ). And we needed a miracle result from South Korea, with 9-man Portugal missing three times from point blank range as the game expired, to go through. Not to take anything away from that team, who performed brilliantly in the knockout and deserved to beat Germany and make the semis, but I would say we certainly haven't regressed in our perfomances in qualifying since then, nor have we significantly changed our style of play...hell, Mexico outpossessed us 2:1 in the first knockout game! And just like in the past week, we used counters and took our chances when they came to defeat what a neutral would say was a superior team. So I'd be wary of romanticising the 02 team too much. Again, I don't know if we have a better team than we did in 02. And I agree this team has some fundamental problems that the second half of the game against Brazil brought out - i.e. keeping their composure, keeping possession, and connecting on passes (we were easily the worst semifinal team at completing passes, at 60%). However I don't think that Bradley's script is fundamentally wrong, nor do I think another style of play would get more out of these players. I also agree we could or should have used more players at the Confed. But again, when we talk about the USA's lack of depth, we have to remember that we left four players who would have certainly been on the squad ('Dolo, Hejduk, Edu, Ching) due to injury, and are picking up another in Jermaine Jones this summer. When you see the performances that Casey and Kljestan put in, you see the need for more depth, to be sure. But I'd argue that with a healthy Edu and Ching, or with Jones in the fold, Kljestan and Casey never see the field. I mean, the central midfielders we started against Brazil are two guys (Clark and Feilhaber) who before this tournament fans would probably have ranked our #4 and #5 central mids for SA2010, after Bradley, Jones, and Edu. I don't disagree with many of your points, but I just have a different perspective on the situation, I guess. I think we can both agree that it was nothing if not exciting and excruciating watching this tournament, and it was great to see the USMNT as the top sports story in the USA for a few days. |
| Current Thread: |
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The attitude of some of the posters on here really confuses me. -- the_slammer Tue Jun 30 2009 10:38:59 AM |
Did you or did you not see a change in the style of play over both halves? -- Nova Hokie 95 Tue Jun 30 2009 12:56:41 PM |
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I'm sure Bradley told them to come out more defensively. -- the_slammer Tue Jun 30 2009 2:38:55 PM |
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No hiding it...I'm not a Bradley fan at all -- HoosInLondon? Tue Jun 30 2009 4:20:57 PM |
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Meant to say that South Africa lost both, of course... ** -- HoosInLondon? Tue Jun 30 2009 4:38:53 PM |
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I guess we'll have to agree to disagree -- the_slammer Tue Jun 30 2009 5:27:40 PM |
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Re: I guess we'll have to agree to disagree -- tightenuppeople Wed Jul 1 2009 6:56:48 PM |
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I guess it's how you look at it. to me, the tournament went like this -- CAVern Tue Jun 30 2009 11:27:24 AM |
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