USMNT vs. Ukraine friendly open thread
Game moved to Cyprus for the obvious reasons (thankfully not cancelled altogether).
Lineups:
US (4-2-3-1): Howard; Castillo, Brooks, Onyewu, Cameron; Jones, Kljestan; Johnson, Dempsey, Bedoya; Altidore
Ukraine (4-2-3-1): Pyatov; Fedestkyi, Kucher, Rakytskyi, Makarenko; Tymoshchuk, Rotan; Yarmolenko, Edmar; Konoplyanko; Zozulya
i think the US needs to win this, Putin would have fun laughing at us with this game and it won't be easy, Ukraine is a solid team..
Speaking of which, any word on whats going on with the Manchester United / Real Madrid game August 2nd.. It is the only game not announced so far for the ICC ..
I know the field elevation i think is an issue at Big House in regards to soccer ?
i am very stoked for the Italy / Spain game game today ! --- FORZA AZZURRI !
ESPN 2
ESPN2, kickoff at 2 I believe.
Italy v. Spain is on ESPN2 following. Full slate of international friendlies today.
What sport?
Maybe if they put an 'S' into their acronym, people who don't give a shit about soccer would at least have a chance to know what it stands for.
Lineup looks interesting. Going to be fun to watch these friendlies. Deepest team in years. Still, though, I'm not sure we're Onyewu deep. Guess we'll find out.
Nice to see JAB get a start in this game.
Additional info on today's side:
http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/01/usa-usmnt-michael-bradley…
Also: packed house!
- Japan 4:2 New Zealand
- Iran 1:2 Guinea
- Russia 2:0 Armenia
- Greece 0:2 South Korea
- South Africa 0:5 Brazil
- Algeria 2:0 Slovenia
- Montenegro 1:0 Ghana
Lots of others later; those are the finals so far.
It was touching watching the Ukrainians sing their national anthem, titled "Ukraine has not yet fallen" knowing all the crazy events happening over there now...
Wow that was bad. Defense continues to be our problem.
Starting 4 guys who have never played together in defense, 3 of whom have almost no chance of starting when it matters, probably has something to do with that.
I think they may have improved their chances of not starting when it matters.
And I have no problem with that at all--these friendlies are for experimentation, especially the early ones. it's much more important to find out what works and what doesn't, than it is to win.
Yeah, today it does. Defense has been a problem for a while though. It's just our thinnest talent pool, for whatever reason.
Well so far it looks like the Ukraine is not weak.
Gooch is years past his prime - sort of scary he's in the mix here.
But, he is getting meaningful minutes with Wednesday this season--his first in years after Sporting, Malaga and QPR.
I'm glad he was brought into camp, especially without the MLS players there but yeah, he hasn't been good in the first half. John Anthony Brooks hasn't been much better. Cameron hasn't played well at RB despite that being his position at Stoke. I still think we're looking at a Gonzalez/Cameron central defensive pairing at the WC.
Love Yanks-Abroad. Definitely post the link here. Hopefully it won't be one giant Deuce troll face.
I've been doing some stuff with them for a couple of years.
At this rate, it'll ONLY be the Duece Troll Face and Onyewu singing the Spice Girls.
Expect Danny Williams for Kljestian. He's having a poor match. I don't understand JK constantly playing him in the middle. He's a winger at Anderlecht and always looks out of position playing in the middle.
y Espana!
Huh. Intersting.
Still expect Williams for Kljestian, Johannsson. Maybe Spector in at RB and move Cameron to CB.
I could see Boyd or Agudelo coming on after the 75th minute for Jozy or Duece, too.
Wow. Didn't know Spector was still in the pool.
Well, he wasn't initially called in but JK brought him in once Bradley, Ream and Diskerud pulled out of camp. Bradley and Mix are recovering from injuries and Ream and his wife just had their first child last week.
75th minute
That's it, 2-0 final from Cyprus...US look dismal for most of the match. The back four (Castillo, JAB, Onyewu, Cameron) were compeltely outplayed and looked lost. First time they've played together and it showed.
US showed some signs of life before giving up the second goal but couldn't get much going offensively. Gonzalez/Besler still figure to be the CB pairing along unless Cameron moves back into the middle and stays out of midfield.
No Gonzalez, Zusi, Donovan, Besler, Eddie Johnson being in MLS pre-season but lots of questions ahead for JK.
A pretty horrid showing. Ukraine is a good team but our middle of the field in the midfield and backline was a disaster. Most of these guys wont be playing in Brazil - the only positive.