On Beginnings

It is finally here. After a long and mostly unsatisfactory stretch of friendlies where the Yanks saved their finest play for last; after an Olympic Tournament that saw our young future burn brightly and fade tragically into the humid, Beijing night-- we've reached the first semifinal group match of our trek to South Africa 2010. We play a Guatemala side that traditionally gives us trouble on its home turf. The Yanks are 1-4-4 in 9 matches historically in Guatemala, but the number is a bit deceptive. The 06 group played to a meaningless draw after securing qualification, and the 02 group did not lose, drawing instead to a Guatemala side that bunkered in, as one would expect the Guatemalans to do in Guatemala City tonight. A few thoughts on challenges before kickoff.

First, what to do at forward? Eddie Johnson is with the team and will likely be slotted in the starting 11. I can't emphasize how strongly I disagree with this decision. He possesses tremendous speed but is horrible on the ball, has the worst first touch in the history of the world, and his recent inability to finish in the six cost the US at least a draw against eventual European Champion Spain. I'd like to see Brian Ching.

For all of Ching's faults, he did manage a brace in opening round qualifying against Barbados. Ching makes intelligent runs and plays with rarely seen effort. All of these qualities are admirable and field-worthy in my opinion in the absence of Jozy Altidore, who remains in Spain partly due to Bradley's deference to the club on its new transfer.

If Bradley were to decide to play Landon Donovan in a midfield role-- then the other options up top, outside of Ching and Johnson are simply Clint Dempsey, who has struggled against elite sides but has excelled in qualifying matches stateside and makes the optimal choice.

Dempsey's struggles can also be attributed at least in part due to fatigue following a long, difficult season in England -- but he rebounded to score a brace against Barbados in the blowout. His other options are Johnson and Ching. One of these two players must produce now, because Bradley's deference to Villareal won't last forever and he is clearly the future of the side at the striker position. Johnson surely is running out of chances, and Ching's age may impede him from being more than a mascot in South Africa. Either way-- given the choice between frustrating talent and great effort, I'd play Brian Ching.

This is clearly the most difficult choice this evening, and the most worrisome one (outside of the condition of the pitch) given the strength of the American back to defend against Guatemala and its world class counterattacker Carlos Ruiz. A 0-0 draw will be an ideal result for the Guatemalans, and a stumble for the Yanks out of the block is more dire in this group given the uncertainty of a trip to Cuba.

Here is my ideal lineup to counter the 0-0 result:

This would be most ideal:

Howard


Pearce--------------Oneywu--------------Bocanegra---------------Cherundolo


Beasley---------------------Edu-----------Bradley--------------------Dempsey


Donovan---------Ching


Substitutes utilized:

Klejstan for Clint, around the 60th minute

Adu for Ching, around the 50th minute, tactically bump Lando up

Hejduk for Pearce if tied late, 80th minute or thereabouts.




We win 1-0.

The Olympic Team

They had me excited. Even before the Olympics started they had me excited. Then they beat Japan and outplayed UEFA’s back-to-back U-21 champions and I had to start annoying people.

I assaulted friends and coworkers with unprompted diatribes on the merits of Sacha Kljestan, and all the permutations that would see the US through to the knockout round (don’t feel bad for them though, the friends know what they’re getting into, and it’s because of the coworkers that I have to listen to Evan Longoria Hall Of Fame chatter halfway through his rookie year). Then the Nigeria game happened and another US national team proved they could continue to find new and different ways to exit an international tournament after group play. Harsh? Yes. True? Also yes. But the question I was left asking myself was this: Why was I, a seasoned sports fan and no stranger to USA Soccer, so excited for this particular Under-23 (plus three) version of the men’s national team?

It’s not like this team completely broke the US mold in terms of style of play. They weren’t out there playing Tottenham Hotspur football, pinning back their ears and hoping the defense would sort itself out. They weren’t dazzling with inspired passing on every attack or winning every 50/50 ball in the box. In fact, by most accounts, this team’s aim was to do what American national teams do when they’re playing well. Play great defense. Control ball possession in the midfield. Score on counter-attacks and set pieces.

It wasn’t this team’s style of play that inspired such excitement, it was their results. Half of this team reached the quarterfinals in Canada during last summer’s U-20 World Cup well before they eeked out a 1-0 win over Japan in the first game of the Olympics. Freddy Adu struck a hat trick against Poland and Jozy Altidore’s brace powered the US past a Brazil team, eliminating them from the tournament. Yeah, ELIMINATING BRAZIL.

Couple this with the gritty win over Japan and 90 minutes of inspirational play to tie the Netherlands and my excitement was a little easier to understand. Sadly, we may never see this exact team take the pitch together again. We will; however, see most of the players that comprised this team on the international stage for many years to come, and this is promising.

I only hope that rather than letting the “almost got there” feeling haunt them for the rest of their international careers, these players derive a lesson from the disappointment. The lesson exemplified by the successful Dutch free kick in stoppage time against the US, and the Nigeria debacle. It’s the lesson embraced by all quality strikers, and lost on the 2007 New England Patriots. FINISH.

This Blog's Purpose

The purpose of this blog is pretty simple--- to document the happenings of the United States Men's National Soccer Team from today, where we lost in the fashion of a Shakespearian tragedy to Nigeria and missed the medal round at the 2008 Olympic Games, up until and including our performance in the 2010 World Cup. I'll do my best to focus on qualifying matches, write reviews, with the help of some of my fellow Sam's Army pals, on American matches in qualifying, and to keep things somewhat optimistic when need dictates. I can't guarantee I'll be funny-- though I'll try and I may end up at least making myself laugh, which is really the idea anyway. Finally, I'll avoid absolute conclusory statements about our performances, and I'll avoid absolute conclusions about all American players outside of Eddie Johnson, who has the worst first-touch in the history of the world. I will avoid absolute statements because I absolutely abhor absolutists. That's about all for now. More on the tragedy of this morning in a bit. There's a cute girl sitting by me in Starbucks I want to keep making eyes at.