USMNT: vs Russia international friendly
USA vs Russia in Krasnodar
Very happy to see Josh Gatt get his first cap, though through 6 minutes he looks overwhelmed by first-team play. Mix Diskerud could also come off the bench, which I would love to see.
In other news, Timmy Chandler suits up again for the US... surprise surprise, it's another non-cap-tying game. but on the plus side, Klinsman is playing him in his natural position!
November 14th, 2012 at 10:11 AM ^
aaaaand Danny Williams does his best impression of Ricardo Clark.
November 14th, 2012 at 10:29 AM ^
Josh Gatt representing for Catholic Central
November 14th, 2012 at 11:02 AM ^
Down 1-0 at halftime, hopefully they can get a few more shots on target in the 2nd half.
November 14th, 2012 at 11:14 AM ^
Ive been very impressed by Geoff Cameron's progress, depressed at Clarence Goodson's complete lack of ability to do anything of worth.
Josh Gatt has looked a bit better since the early going but I'd like to see him get some confidence to go 1 on 1 with defenders.
November 14th, 2012 at 11:23 AM ^
I like Cameron because he is good on the ball and passing out the back. If we want to build from the back and not just boot it down the pitch, we need CBs like Cameron.
November 14th, 2012 at 11:35 AM ^
ho.... ly..... goal.
Michael Bradley puts away a wundergoal, thanks to a sweet headrer from Agudelo.
November 14th, 2012 at 11:43 AM ^
and Clarence Goodson proving once again that you may as well play with a man down if you have to play with Goodson on the pitch.
ugh.
November 14th, 2012 at 11:52 AM ^
Goodson is pretty terrible..why does he continue to get the caps? I feel like we have some better "high-effort" players that we can insert that wont give up those lazy goals
November 14th, 2012 at 11:54 AM ^
GOALLLLLLL 2-2
November 14th, 2012 at 11:56 AM ^
Mix Diskerud scores on a volley from a long ball played into the box.
Mix Diskerud reminds me of Carlos Valderrama in that he never looks like he's working hard, but he is always an option and always does the smart thing with the ball. He should become a very important cog in our midfield.
November 14th, 2012 at 11:57 AM ^
amazing we salvaged a draw in that game. really poor performance by altidore. goodson was, of course, not good.
i'd feel for the russians if they were not russian
November 14th, 2012 at 11:58 AM ^
is gloom and doom. How bad did we look despite tying? My sense is that this team seems incredibly promising up front, at midfield, and in goal, and really f'd up in the backfield. Do we have talent to draw on that isn't evident in the back? Other players?
November 14th, 2012 at 12:15 PM ^
We looked bipolar. We had good posession at times, we gave it away too cheaply at other times.
Our front line has a lot of potential in guys like Agudelo, Boyd, and to a lesser extent Brek Shea.
In the midfield, Michael Bradley really looks like a world class player, and we have young guys like Diskerud, Joe Corona, Marc Pelosi, and Joe Gyau
Our backline looked pretty bad today but I would argue that was mostly Goodson's fault. Geoff Cameron has looked quite strong since calming his nerves a bit, Fabian Johnson is a solid starter, and don't forget when the games really matter we will have Bocanegra and Cherundolo. As far as youth, Omar Gonzalez has been the hot prospect for a long time, has been dealt some shitty injury blows but looks good for the Galaxy this season, but hey, Tim Ream looked really good in the MLS once too... so who knows. There's also George John, but he may play for Greece. We will likely use Bocanegra and Goodson to qualify for the WC then try to solidify the defense leading up to Brazil.
November 14th, 2012 at 1:08 PM ^
Is it now fair to describe Michael Bradley as the best field player the US has ever produced?
November 14th, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^
At this point in his career that is a stretch, but I would say he has the potential to be the best midfielder player in US history.
It's hard to compare him to a guy like Dempsey because they have very different roles, but Bradley being a box-to-box engine-type midfielder, I think he could surpass Dempsey if he continues to impress and improve.
November 14th, 2012 at 3:26 PM ^
Agreed. There is a reason why they call him MB90.
November 14th, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^
is heading somewhere good.
November 14th, 2012 at 6:33 PM ^
November 14th, 2012 at 12:18 PM ^
honestly, the russians outplayed us. their offense was crisp and organized, and they effectively crowded the box on d. our backfield was not consistently bad, but did lose track of assignments at inopportune tiimes. howard played amazing. the russians should have scored 4 times at least. michael bradley played great in midfield. offensively, we squandered a lot of bradley's strong play by making a poor pass or decision. i guess the biggest takeaway is that we were scrappy enough to pull out a draw against a team that played better than us. both of our goals were off crafty little headers played backwards from a long pass sent forward.
November 14th, 2012 at 1:04 PM ^
Isn't playing beautiful, free flowing, creative attacking football with inexplicable defensive laxes Russia's trademark, though?
November 14th, 2012 at 12:44 PM ^
Can't wait for Timmy Chandler to get cap-tied, hopefully during our next qualifying game February 6th. Word is Germany told him they weren't interested, and now he's 100% committed to the United States. Link here.
November 14th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^
USMNT? The US mutant ninja turtles?
November 14th, 2012 at 1:21 PM ^
US Men's National Team.
November 14th, 2012 at 4:25 PM ^
Russia are good, folks. Let's get that straight. This is a good result.