OT - USMNT v. Canada Open Thread

Submitted by hailtothevictors08 on

Final tune up  for WC Qualifying. The US is starting its choice lineup with the possible exception of gomez over jozy (still not in shape for a full 90).

Game is on NBC Sports.

Odd Note: Canada will be in blue and we will be in red.

 

Edit: Twitters report

Fabian Johnson has been injured in warmups, and is replaced by Edgar Castillo in the lineup.

swan flu

June 3rd, 2012 at 7:54 PM ^

The qickest way to appreciate Fabian Johnson: have Edgar Castillo play left back.

 

Man he takes waaaay too many touches and has no sense of where anyone is on the field.

steviebrownfor…

June 3rd, 2012 at 9:34 PM ^

and trust me, i'm not his biggest fan, but considering how he played last time he was with the Nats, tonight was a serious improvement in my opinion.  Last time out he looked completely overmatched - I can't recall the opponent.

As a defender who poses an attacking threat, Fabian Johnson is miles ahead of everyone else on our roster, but Castillo is really the only other option who can provide any sort of threat going forward.

steviebrownfor…

June 3rd, 2012 at 8:16 PM ^

very flat performance by the US.  The midfield has looked very weak.

if anyone needs it, go to lagerassassin.com for free, registrationless streaming of all international football.

Fhshockey112002

June 3rd, 2012 at 8:38 PM ^

After looking great against Scotland, and good, not great, against Brazil the US looks very bad tonight.  Not making a lot of quality build-ups, not controlling the ball the way they should against a lesser opponent.  

Will be interested to see Klingsman's substituions in the final 30 minutes.

swan flu

June 3rd, 2012 at 8:55 PM ^

these refs are astoundingly bad tonight. missing calls for both sides all over the place.

 

EDIT- the refs are almost as bad at making calls as we are at passing.

steviebrownfor…

June 3rd, 2012 at 9:07 PM ^

we need Freddy Adu or someone young and creative. The offense just lacks dynamisim and creativeness.  We look way too predictable out there, at least tonight - although this has been our sloppiest offensive performance as of late.

swan flu

June 3rd, 2012 at 9:07 PM ^

as a coach, it pains me to watch the US.

 

my team is very good because we stress the basics: play one or two touches, play the way you face, play to your teammate's lead foot, and above all else: KEEP THE DAMN BALL.

 

and the US national team doesn't do any of that. sigh.

Yeoman

June 3rd, 2012 at 9:21 PM ^

through an online translater, I thought this interview with Loew was interesting--it might shed some light on what you can expect from Klinsmann.

Joachim Löw

ZEITmagazin: Was ist ein Beispiel für diese Dominanz? Die Forderung, den Ball sicher und schnell weiterzuspielen?

Löw: Möglichst sicher nicht! Möglichst schnell ja! Wir haben früher zu langsam gespielt. Unsere Spielweise war geprägt von zu wenig Bewegung und zu wenig Handlungsschnelligkeit. Vom Moment der Ballannahme bis zum Abspiel dauerte es damals durchschnittlich 2,8 Sekunden. Also haben wir uns gefragt, was zu tun ist, damit der Ball nicht mehr so oft quer oder zum Torwart zurückgespielt wird. Wir haben uns um eine andere Raumaufteilung gekümmert, um andere Bewegungsabläufe, und wir haben mehr Sprints geübt, mit und ohne Ball. Wir haben Trainingsformen geschaffen, die das Spiel gezwungenermaßen schneller werden ließen.

ZEITmagazin: Wie viele Sekunden sind es heute?

Löw: Bei guten Spielen liegen wir jetzt bei Zeiten von einer Sekunde, 0,9 Sekunden haben wir übrigens auch schon gemessen. Hängt natürlich immer auch vom Gegner ab. Wenn Kasachstan mit zehn Mann im Strafraum steht, brauchen wir schon etwas länger.

Speed over security; never play the ball to the side or backwards if at all possible. Loew is more uncompromising with this than Klinsmann was; I remember during the '06 WC Fox Soccer had a graphic showing all of Frings's passes during one of the matches; the vast majority were not forward. Loew's first move when he took over the team was to remove Frings from the player pool--he was a great player but he wasn't able to adapt to the system so he was gone.

steviebrownfor…

June 3rd, 2012 at 9:30 PM ^

I've also noticed that they don't send nearly as many balls long as they did under Bradley - although with Bradley I think that had more to do with his approach of playing how your comfortable rather than trying to be creative or risky, as opposed to Bradley telling the boys to send it long.

It's interesting to watch guys like Cherundolo try take Klinsmann's approach.  He's certainly not the style of player Klinsmann prefers, but he's clearly the best at his position in the pool, and he's done an admirable job of bending his style of play to suite what Klinsmann is trying to do.

Yeoman

June 4th, 2012 at 12:04 AM ^

The overarching idea came from some combination of Klinsmann, Bierhoff and Loew, but the actual tactical implementation was all Loew. Klinsmann's contribution was (1) political (don't get me wrong, this was absolutely essential--the DFB was pretty crusty and there's no way in hell they ever would have turned over the reins to Loew if Klinsmann and Bierhoff hadn't been involved) and (2) bringing a US-style conditioning program to Germany. He'd been very impressed in LA with the strength and conditioning and nutritional programs in place for American athletes, not so much soccer players but basketball and football, and he rightly thought that was something that was missing from the European game.

I thought, and still think, that Klinsmann was hired into the wrong position here. He should be in charge of the entire US national program, where he could focus on getting appropriate technical training in place at the lower levels so we'd have a cadre of players able to play accurately at the necessary speed. He's also got the recognizable name that would let him clean out the deadwood and force through the necessary changes.

Somebody else, somebody on board with this general high-speed and high-pressure approach to the game, should have been put in charge of day-to-day operations of the national team itself. I'm not sure who that would have been, but I think Klinsmann's talents are being misused. He's not a tactician and his team management during the WC was abysmal.

 

BlueinLansing

June 3rd, 2012 at 11:34 PM ^

ask me before the last Euro Championships if I thought the US had a chance.  I was too dumbfounded to even give the smart ass answer of 'not very good'.