USA vs. Australia

[Tennessee Blue Mike]

The back four still worries me. 3-1 scoreline was a little flattering watching the matches ebb and flow.

I think the US has goals in them but on set plays we look very poor. England strength is their set plays. This is very troubleling at the moment for me.

Nice game for Buddle. Hate that Altidore missed the match due to injury. I can't wait for this Saturday not only my anniversary but a cracking match to watch everyone around here thinks we will be up for it and do a 1950 shock. We will see.

 

[threadkiller]

Based on today, my eleven to start against England:

.....................Howard...........................

Cherundolo.....Onyewu...DeMerit.....Bocanegra

Dempsey......Torres....Bradley........Donovan

............Buddle..........Altidore.....................

I'll take that. Really the only questions at this time seem to be who pairs w/ Altidore and who plays next to Bradley. I think the other 3 forwards have all shown enough in the past couple friendlies to keep Dempsey in the midfield. Been pleasently surprised by each of them.

 

[Tennessee Blue Mike]

No Torres. I was hoping for him as well.

Findley looked poor. The defense was spotty and the pitch was also.
But we did produce some good chances and Dempsey was onside.

Overall, not encouraging, not deflating.

Agreed Torres I am tipping for greatness as with Bradley. I really like both players more so than the well known names.

Findlay missed two sitters. Like his quickness and skill but to be a finisher he isn't their yet.

 

[TX Bill]

You could do that but I think we've got to go with Buddle's hot hand right now. He's scoring for fun.

 

[Tennessee Blue Mike]

Edson even has the name for it. The American Pele.

 

[hotsauce421]

The back four still worries me. 3-1 scoreline was a little flattering watching the matches ebb and flow.

Really? I thought that there were several opportunities that were missed and Dempsey's goal should have counted. I think it could or even should have been 5-1.

The intensity was off, but that is completely understandable. Tactically the US was strong for the most part, though the center back situation is worrying.

I don't know, I thought there was more positive than negative to take from this game.

And yay! Timmy scoring. Hopefully Australia can patch things up, because they didn't look too good.

 

[Tennessee Blue Mike]

Really, I think Kennedy alone in the second half could have netted thrice. Maybe I am being to critical because the Aussies had a thirteen game wining streak. But if you think we were tight at the back so be it. I didn't. It could well have been a 5-5 shootout the game was to open and deffo a true friendly in ever sense of the word. Findlay missed a couple of sitters one off the cross bar and who knows what Marcus Hanneman was up to today made one excellent save and then completely missed the ball on two occasions that I witnessed.

 

[NelsForBlues]

The thing with Findley...I'm not all that worried about his two missed sitters because that happens. But the thing with Findley is his decision-making with the ball, especially regarding passing. He missed several opportunities to play people through but held onto the ball too long and the opportunity was lossed. I can think of at least 3 without even trying: once with Dempsey, once with Donovan and once with Buddle. And I'm sure there's more. But that's at least 3 golden opportunities to have people in on goal all alone that he blew.

I'm just not so sure about his soccer IQ at this level.

 

[Tennessee Blue Mike]

The thing with Findley...I'm not all that worried about his two missed sitters because that happens. But the thing with Findley is his decision-making with the ball, especially regarding passing. He missed several opportunities to play people through but held onto the ball too long and the opportunity was lossed. I can think of at least 3 without even trying: once with Dempsey, once with Donovan and once with Buddle. And I'm sure there's more. But that's at least 3 golden opportunities to have people in on goal all alone that he blew.

I'm just not so sure about his soccer IQ at this level.

Good post. The first time around watching I totally agree with you. But some of the problems passing could have been due to the bad pitch. I watched Gomez and also Demerrit who whiffed at the ball at the back and open up a decent chance for the Aussies. I gave Findlay a average grade untill a few things started to make a little more sense to me.

I do like our quickness and movement. The biggest worry to me at the moment is set pieces and command in the penalty box. Howard showed his anger when we played Turkey.

 

[Rook]

I missed the match and forgot to tape sadly. Im thinking that now is the time to give Bradley an extension. Whether or not this team advances Bradley has proven to be a very good underrated coach. If you look at it his teams have punched above their weight. 1st team to beat Spain in 42!? matches (no fluky 1-0 victory either). 2nd in the Confed cup. He won the Gold cup (in the GC that mattered). Almost every one of his moves have come up positively. Torres, keeping Dempsey in during the Egypt CC match, Davies moving Landon to the wing when Davies gets hurt etc. Picking Buddle and Findley now looks like a winner too. Bradley is ace.

 

[Bundy]

I honestly don't think Australia will win a single game. All our players are over the hill and Verbeek is a useless drunk. Bring on 2018.

 

[Tennessee Blue Mike]

I missed the match and forgot to tape sadly. Im thinking that now is the time to give Bradley an extension. Whether or not this team advances Bradley has proven to be a very good underrated coach. If you look at it his teams have punched above their weight. 1st team to beat Spain in 42!? matches (no fluky 1-0 victory either). 2nd in the Confed cup. He won the Gold cup (in the GC that mattered). Almost every one of his moves have come up positively. Torres, keeping Dempsey in during the Egypt CC match, Davies moving Landon to the wing when Davies gets hurt etc. Picking Buddle and Findley now looks like a winner too. Bradley is ace.

Love to see more of Torres and Buddle just for the excitment factor. I agree someone lack fitness we have a exciting group of younger lads behind them. Findlay could be a gate crasher being subbed in just hope he finishes better.

 

[pfim]

In the attacking half, the US were good. I think they were happy to let Australia have some possession and punish their poor defense on the counter. The US easily could have had 5 or 6.

Defensively, they really missed Onyewu. And while you could say that the US should have had 5 or 6, Australia should have had 3 or 4. Clark was not very good in the first half imo, seemed to do much better in the second half when Bradley tracked back and started possessions, Clark was further up field. I've always been a fan of Clark and the hamstring is troubling.

As far as individuals, easy to point out Buddle. He's a similar-type player to Ching, will probably score more goals than Ching but isn't the worker or as good at holding up the ball and drawing fouls. I still think the US is missing something without Ching coming off the bench.

I don't think Findley will miss many of those chances going forward. His record hasn't been the cleanest in MLS, but I've seen him score some very smart goals, very tidy finisher when he gets the chance imo. His problem at the national level has been that when he's on the pitch, he gives away possession far too easily and hasn't been working for the chances. That seems to have changed, at least for the past two matches.

I thought Demerit was very sloppy in his own half. I didn't mind any of the fouls he committed, half of which weren't really fouls and most were near the center line. But he was very poor in the air imo and in the box.

Cherundolo was great and needs to be the starter at this point. I don't think I've ever seen him play this well for his country. That's always been his knock, played at a high level in Germany but was very lackluster for the Nats.

 

[Maverick]

I don't think Buddle and Ching are even close to being similar players.

 

[Jobby]

I don't think Buddle and Ching are even close to being similar players.

I was thinking the same thing.