Unable to Finish Means the US is Finished
Something is severely broken within the United States soccer system. How can this country fail so miserably when it comes to producing a goal scorer? No matter the sport in America, it is the player that puts points on the board that is the hero. Baseball has home run & RBI hitters. Football has running backs, quarterbacks and receivers. Basketball has flashy point guards and versatile forwards.
Tonight's loss to Paraguay was much worse than the loss to Argentina. Now with just a mathematical hope & a prayer of staying in the Copa, the US can begin packing their bags. If this competition's purpose was for Bob Bradley to bleed the young & the inexperienced he certainly has done so. But I think the real lesson here is that whether we are looking at the US "A Squad", "B Squad" or "Z Squad" there is not a hungry goal scorer to be found. In fact, the best American scorer on the planet right now is Brian McBride and he has retired from international soccer to devote all his attention to one of the worst sides in England: Fulham.
There were multiple opportunities tonight to put Paraguay away and get 3 points. Opportunities that were right in front of the goal were wasted. Counter attacks that started out promising ended with an errant pass, a poor touch or a wasted cross with no one attacking either the near or far posts. Set pieces remain a dreadful thing to watch. Just as the first match should have marked the end of Eddie Gaven's time with the national squad, the final match against Colombia should be the end of the line for Taylor Twellman. The guy just doesn't have the ability to go beyond being an excellent MLS player. Probably a handy guy to have around when beating up on a country like Haiti or Cuba, but not World Cup aspiring sides. I like Twellman. I think he gives it everything. But this is a case of your best just not being good enough.
Eddie Johnson needs help. His pace is blistering. His strength is great, but he slows down the closer he gets to goal. He passes the ball back when he should be making a move to get off a shot. He creates opportunities to score with his head, but his shots are well off the mark! For the sake of this program - a program I still believe has come alive this summer - EJ has to get out of Kansas City. MLS cannot do anything else for him. The same goes for Richardo Clark, Jonathan Bornstein and Justin Mapp. They are not ready for a top tier European league, but they are capable of going to a league where the coaching and competition will help them reach their potential.
For US fans, the outcome at Copa will probably mean this was The Summer of What Ifs as opposed to the summer the US repeated as Gold Cup champions. The quality is not that great in Copa. In fact, I'll have more to say about that in the days to come. Had someone stepped up and driven one of these opportunities into the back of the net knockout round soccer was a real possibility. With Mexico and Argentina the only countries to really stand out from everyone else, anything was possible. But again, what if...
In the coming months Bradley will have to find a striker or attacking midfielder that will produce on a regular basis. Otherwise, the US will continue to fall short of breaking into the upper echelon.
Tonight's loss to Paraguay was much worse than the loss to Argentina. Now with just a mathematical hope & a prayer of staying in the Copa, the US can begin packing their bags. If this competition's purpose was for Bob Bradley to bleed the young & the inexperienced he certainly has done so. But I think the real lesson here is that whether we are looking at the US "A Squad", "B Squad" or "Z Squad" there is not a hungry goal scorer to be found. In fact, the best American scorer on the planet right now is Brian McBride and he has retired from international soccer to devote all his attention to one of the worst sides in England: Fulham.
There were multiple opportunities tonight to put Paraguay away and get 3 points. Opportunities that were right in front of the goal were wasted. Counter attacks that started out promising ended with an errant pass, a poor touch or a wasted cross with no one attacking either the near or far posts. Set pieces remain a dreadful thing to watch. Just as the first match should have marked the end of Eddie Gaven's time with the national squad, the final match against Colombia should be the end of the line for Taylor Twellman. The guy just doesn't have the ability to go beyond being an excellent MLS player. Probably a handy guy to have around when beating up on a country like Haiti or Cuba, but not World Cup aspiring sides. I like Twellman. I think he gives it everything. But this is a case of your best just not being good enough.
Eddie Johnson needs help. His pace is blistering. His strength is great, but he slows down the closer he gets to goal. He passes the ball back when he should be making a move to get off a shot. He creates opportunities to score with his head, but his shots are well off the mark! For the sake of this program - a program I still believe has come alive this summer - EJ has to get out of Kansas City. MLS cannot do anything else for him. The same goes for Richardo Clark, Jonathan Bornstein and Justin Mapp. They are not ready for a top tier European league, but they are capable of going to a league where the coaching and competition will help them reach their potential.
For US fans, the outcome at Copa will probably mean this was The Summer of What Ifs as opposed to the summer the US repeated as Gold Cup champions. The quality is not that great in Copa. In fact, I'll have more to say about that in the days to come. Had someone stepped up and driven one of these opportunities into the back of the net knockout round soccer was a real possibility. With Mexico and Argentina the only countries to really stand out from everyone else, anything was possible. But again, what if...
In the coming months Bradley will have to find a striker or attacking midfielder that will produce on a regular basis. Otherwise, the US will continue to fall short of breaking into the upper echelon.
posted by Anonymous at 8:54 PM
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