The Last War Comment Count

Brian

6/26/2010 – USA 1, Ghana 2 – End of World Cup

clark-ghana robbie-findley

The internet has a very strong opinions about virtually anything more controversial than the capital of Vermont*. I once read a Wikipedia article about the WWII-era Battle of Kursk that had a distinctly pro-Russian slant and ended up clicking over to the talk page, where German and Russian editors were engaged in a brutal proxy reenactment of history's largest tank battle. Wherever there is a point of view on the internet, there is someone who thinks the holder of that opinion has brain damage.

This goes triple for something as subjective and—for most observers in this country especially, including the author—arcane as the performance of a soccer player. Despite this, the internet was unified in the opinion that Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley should eat bench after a series of mediocre or worse performances. Even shameless homerism and the extraordinary friendliness of Mormons could not see their way towards pulling for Findley: a poll on the Real Salt Lake official site asked if he should start against Ghana. Findley got 27% of the vote.

The debate was about whether Bob Bradley would share this opinion. At the start of Saturday's game, Bradley did not; 45 minutes into what would end up a 120 minute game he was forced to by events on the field. Again.

By that point Clark was largely responsible for a goal scored less than five minutes into the game—the second time he'd managed this trick in two World Cup starts—and picked up a silly yellow. Findley had shot a golden chance directly at the keeper. Looking for offense in the second half, Bradley took off a striker. He got a lot of praise for his ability to make halftime adjustments after the US found themselves behind, but four games into a tournament when your halftime adjustments are the same adjustments that turned your fate around after your starters found themselves struggling, you're less an adjustment genius and more a guy who just doesn't learn.

Bradley is totally stuck on his Confed Cup/Hex model put together as the younger Bradley's box-to-box game developed and Charlie Davies established himself a real striker on a real team in the French League. That model was based on a dedicated destroyer who would allow Bradley to get upfield and a pacey striker who would either get in behind the defense if they pushed up or drive the defense back, giving Donovan and Dempsey time and space on the ball. It worked great when the central midfielders managed to stay on the field, seeing the US into its first FIFA final ever and grabbing a win over world #1 Spain. It was a good idea.

Then Clark moved to Germany and got injured, playing only 3 games for his new club. Davies almost died in a car accident. Instead of attempting to adjust his system to get Stuart Holden—who'd actually been impressive on the field for the national team and had just moved to a Premiership club that extended his contract every Tuesday—or Benny Feilhaber—a key player for his Danish club—on the field Bradley shoehorned a guy coming off the bench for RSL into the starting lineup. Putting Edu, an in-form starter for Scottish champs Rangers since February, in didn't even require a tactical change. Edu had even proven himself a more reliable option in South Africa. And yet… Clark and Findley.

You can't even blame Robbie Findley. Here's Findley on the mid-May game in which he scored his first and to-date only goal of the year:

In the second minute, Findley broke behind the Houston defense and in on keeper Pat Onstad. His final touch was a little hard, setting up a tougher angle for his shot, which Onstad saved as it was hit belt high.

"I probably should have gone low on that one," said Findley.

Findley would certainly like to have his opportunity back from the 66th minute. Once again he got behind the back line and broke in toward Onstad. This time, however, he was in the middle of the field with even more open space. He pushed his shot to the far post, but missed the mark wide.

"I did everything wrong on that one," Findley said. "I should have taken my time, maybe taken one more touch and probably gone near post."

The US put a player who cheerfully admits he does "everything wrong" even when he actually scores on the field for three World Cup starts, and a fourth was only averted because of suspension. In his time Findley did exactly nothing to help the USA's cause. In 169 minutes with Findley on the field, the US scored one goal, that the Robert Green gaffe. In 221 without him, the US scored six, two of which were inexplicably waved off.

The team met expectations by getting out of the group and immediately going home against a team from the brutal Serbia-Germany-Ghana trio, and they did it despite having two goals inexplicably wiped away. That's their second-best modern World Cup performance. But it's hard not to be disappointed in Bradley's insistence on pretending Charlie Davies was healthy and stubborn adherence to a tactical system the USA no longer had the personnel for. The US missed a golden opportunity (get to the semis without playing a world power) unlikely to come again, and the main reason seems to be the coach putting the team in a position to fail.

Bradley did a good job in his cycle as the US national coach but it's time to get someone who has the tactical creativity to adapt when the only round pegs available are made out of snow.

*(F$&# YOU IT'S MONTPEILIER)

Bullets

  • A first glance at the 2014 roster seems promising. Howard, Demerit, Cherundolo, and Bocanegra will be 34 or 35, Dempsey 31, Donovan and Onyewu 32. Everyone else of import will still be on the right side of 30. Jermaine Jones will be 32 and possibly available; Davies will be 28. Adu might become useful at some point. The main concern is finding some defenders (I think Onyewu will be fine and possibly one of the other three but good lord the outside back positions look horrendous) and hoping Dempsey and Donovan can still be effective.
  • Did anyone else feel a slight pang of regret when the US ended up with Ghana? If the team goes out against Germany, okay, that's going out against Germany. Against Ghana and the Donovan goal maybe loses a tiny bit of its electric mayhem.

Of Great Relief To Certain Folk

WC coverage ends here.

Comments

Kilgore Trout

June 28th, 2010 at 3:10 PM ^

"it's time to get someone who has the tactical creativity to adapt when the only round pegs available are made out of snow. "

So I'm just going to say it, this could be looked at as hypocritical...

umich_fan1

June 28th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^

Our backline was not good and prone to many lapses. For 2014, if we put out a below average backline, we will once again get no farther than group of 16. I think 2010 would/could/should have been a dream scenario for the US. England was the toughest group play opponent. We played Ghana in the round of 16, I can think of only a small handful of teams that I would rather have played here. Pretty sure Ghana's only goals had been on penalty kicks @ this point. I thought both of their goals were on defensive lapses. Had we beaten Ghana we would have gotten Uruguay. Again, almost ideal, not stronger powerhouses like Argentina/Portugal/Brazil/Netherlands/Germany. The USA team has to be kicking themselves. I agree with the other poster here who said that the US would be better off switching coaches for the next time around. I think Bradley did some good things but we might need another coach to take us to the next round. If we consider that the US finished 9th-16th, I would say this is probably close to what we were ranked in the world heading into World Cup play. So, I think we justified our ranking or thereabouts.

CO Blue

June 28th, 2010 at 4:32 PM ^

Ok, so I don't follow soccer very closely either, but didn't it seem that other than having fancy yellow shoes that Altidore was awfully hard to find on most balls going through the box? Not sure if it was a matter of poor anticipation or just plain laziness (not hearing tired legs, not from a 20 year old in an elimination game- not to mention it doesn't take a lot of energy to hang around offsides) but I found his inability to connect with those passes just as frustrating as Cherundolos crosses to the opposing team or well out of anyone's reach.

American football anyone?

wolverine1987

June 28th, 2010 at 5:35 PM ^

No doubt about it, losing at this stage feels disappointing because it's Ghana, losing to Germany would have been expected.  My soccer friends agreed with this line, all saying some version of "no offense, but it's Ghana." 

grand river fi…

June 28th, 2010 at 6:04 PM ^

Which is nothing more then Jingoism.  That Ghana team was very accomplished, much more so then then US squad.  They hold the U21 World Title and made a serious run in the ACN.  They may not have been a major name, or a country the village idiot can find on the map, but that doesn't mean they aren't a strong squad possessing far more big game experience then the Nats

grand river fi…

June 28th, 2010 at 6:39 PM ^

I don't think the semi-final result has anything to do with it.  Uruguay is fantastic team. Ghana will really struggle to break them down, and it will only take Forlan and Suarez only need half a chance to punish you.

Everyone needs to quit acting like these countries are minows, its incredibly disrespectful.  The entitlement of some people around here is worse then the English tabloids.

DoubleB

June 29th, 2010 at 1:03 AM ^

absolutely nothing compares to the English and their beliefs about their soccer team. Their rate of semifinal appearances in big tournaments (World Cup and Euro) is worse than Portugal and the Czech Republic and just a little bit better than Denmark and Belgium. They truly believe they are in the class of Italy and Germany. The belief that the US should have torched Ghana simply pales in comparison.

wolverine1987

June 29th, 2010 at 8:17 AM ^

Why pretend they are not?  (I'm including the U.S. in this, because in soccer that's what we are). If you read media from around the world, not just the U.S. or the UK, the clear line from everyone was that our group was the easiest route.  Why?  Because the teams were relative "minnows."  And that is true.  And there is not one single thing disrespectful about that.

Needs

June 29th, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^

Ghana's far from a minnow. They've been dominating African (and world) soccer at the youth levels for a decade. Those players are now coming into the national side and are playing at higher levels in Europe (though not teams of the same quality from players for the Ivory Coast). 

wolverine1987

June 28th, 2010 at 7:15 PM ^

ferreting out of non-existent prejudices (you remind me of the guy here who posted that U.S. announcers should not refer to this country as "America" because that is insulting to Canadians and South Americans), and in your evaluation of soccer. The U.S. were FAVORITES in this game, and are ranked higher in the FIFA rankings than Ghana.  Try again.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

June 28th, 2010 at 7:10 PM ^

I was thinking about grades for the players.  I'm not even remotely smart on tactics and stuff, but this is the Internet dammit and I have opinions.  So I'm sure someone will let me know if this is screwed up.

Strikers:

Altidore: C-.  Seriously, didn't see anything out of him that made me think THE FUTURE, except for one really nice dash against England.  Total 180 from the qualifiers.

Buddle: C.  Eh.

Gomez: C-.  Not much of a participant, whether on or off the pitch.

Findley: D.  Yellow cards and at least one blown golden opportunity.  Team always, always looked better without Findley on the pitch.

Midfielders:

Bradley: B+.  Always looked pretty good, I thought.  Attacked when he should.  Good positioning.

Beasley: Inc.  Old.

Clark: F-.  Sucked at all the worst possible moments.

Edu: B.  Respectable, and robbed of a goal.  Hard to tell if we looked better against Slovenia because he came in or because Findley came out at the same time, but regardless, not, I think, the reason for any failures on our part.

Dempsey: A-. Not guilty by reason of keeper insanity on his goal against England, but at the scene of the crime at least.  All over the place against Ghana.  Foul magnet: drew a ton of them, including the PK.

Donovan: A.  Taking over for Michael Phelps and Shaun White as Official National Hero.

Feilhaber: B-.  Probably a bit high, as the beneficiary of being in when we were desperate, and therefore, looking good.  Still, looked better than our strikers.

Holden: Inc.  Too many splinters in his butt.

Torres: C-.  Didn't see much of him, but shoulders some blame for the leaky first-half defense against Slovenia.

Defense:

Bocanegra: C+.  Almost never heard his name called.  That's good.  Middle of defense was biggest weak point time and again.  That's bad.

Bornstein: B.  Much negative press in this space, but I didn't see a lot of issues.  Looks like one of the least skilled players on the whole team, but seems to know his limitations.

Cherundolo: B+.  Thought he looked good, very solid, if occasionally a little too fancy.

DeMerit: B-.  Often the guy making the last defensive play to prevent disaster.  Whether or not that's to make up for his own mistakes, I couldn't tell, but no harm no foul, usually.  Demerits (HAR), as with Bocanegra, for the middle being too open, too often.

Goodson: Inc.  Dude.....who?

Onyewu: B-, I guess.  Toughest to figure, for me.  Couldn't tell whether he was making too many crazy advances forward or some really solid plays in the back.  Maybe both.

Spector: Inc.  Next time, kid.

Keepers:

Howard: A for England, B for the next two, C- for Ghana.  One of the biggest reasons we even made it to the round of 16, but once there, I think could have stopped both Ghana goals.

Guzan and Hahnemann: Inc., obviously.

My conclusion: Charlie Davies, plz.  And Brian Ching.  There's no way Ching could have been worse than Findley or really anyone.  Replace Gomez and Findley with Ching and Davies and I think not only are we still playing right now, we're (perhaps unrealistically) puffing out our chests and demanding that they bring on Brazil.  Damn that car crash.  And I'd like a do-over on Ricardo Clark.

grand river fi…

June 28th, 2010 at 7:17 PM ^

I think those are pretty fair ratings.  I struggle with how to rate Altidore myself.  He was a passenger for a number of games simply due to bad tactics, I can't really fault him for our midfield getting buldozed.  I also think people have too high of expectations for the kid.  He scored all of one goal this last season for Hull (Phil Brown has to be partly to blame, that fake baked fool is a joke of a manager)  He's not even very prolific against Concacaf sides apart from a hat trick against Trinidad & Tobago.

I'd also give Bradley an A-, I think he deserves some extra credit for performing as well as he did without a consistant midfield partner.

burntorange wi…

June 30th, 2010 at 2:57 AM ^

bump bradley to an A-. to be honest, maybe even an A. he was key to our runs. honestly, he was my favorite player for this WC team.

i'd bump bocanegra to a B-. he only played in the center of the defense for 2 games. the 2 games he played outside, i had no issue with him.

i really really really wanted to see holden play, that was really disappointing.

i'd give demerit a high B-(is that possible?) or a low B. he made a lot of great plays that saved us but the 2 goals against ghana straight should not have happened.

EDIT: now that i think about it(more), demerit = B IMO

ken725

June 28th, 2010 at 7:28 PM ^

Does anyone know where I can get some info on USMNT development teams or news on who might be getting called up next to the national team?

Number 7

June 28th, 2010 at 9:53 PM ^

no pangs at all about losing to Ghana.  One, they did what they needed to do -- and before one calls out their gamesmenship for rolling around on the grass with cramps, note that they did the exact same thing against Germany.

Two, Ghana (with Japan) is one of my two second favorite teams in South Africa, far and away.  Ghanaians are truly some of the best people on earth, and I'm glad an African team is still in the running on African soil.

jumpbalya

June 28th, 2010 at 10:53 PM ^

I'm glad that we won't be completely inundated with soccer stories.  Not from this site solely, but from the MSM in general.  Now that the team that most viewers are following is gone, there will be less of a reason to pass along stories.

Now, I would have liked the United States to continue on, but there is some good to come out of it.

I'm personally rooting for Ghana here on out though, just as an aside.  Best to lose to the champion I always say.

The Man Down T…

June 28th, 2010 at 11:37 PM ^

It's not like anything good is going on.  Hockey is over, football doesn't kick off until August, baseball is at the pre-all star boredom stage.  Fill the dead time with something.  At least your coverage was interesting.  Which, BTW, I did appreciate.  Job well done on the coverage.  But please, don't stop because the U.S.A. is out.  Finish it out.  It's only once every 4 years.

ProfMurdoc

June 29th, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^

Definitely takes some shine off. We had two dramatic come-from-behind wins and one uber-dramatic late goal that put us in the best position we could hope for: to top our group and put us in the one quarter of the bracket without a top tier team. Winnable games and hope is what we had looking forward but we lost with painfully quick goals that force one to watch for 2 full hours with overriding depression an anxiety; hope slowly dying and taking bits of humanity and restraint with it. That end definitely makes what it took to get there less bright, especially when it can be framed as a series of improbable gifts: fluke draw, fluke goal, a (fluky) bright shining path to the semis; and the end result was fun, yet very depressing.

 

mrguy

June 29th, 2010 at 6:47 PM ^

I meant to post this sooner, but I want to thank Brian and all for the coverage, it really was key in my conversion. Never paid attention before this one, and the stuff from Brian was key.Wow that was heart breaking, I don't think I ever had my spirit crushed by a team like that. I know I never felt the urge to listen to the Smiths and Morrisey before. I still can get over the feeling like we a golden opportunity slip through our fingers. Anyway interesting comments on where people believe things are headed now that it's over for us.

One question from myself the noob: now what do we do? So is it like a three year off season or is there something we can follow in the mean time? I haven't read one positive comment about MLS. Anyway, it was fun while it lasted guys.

still ill

July 2nd, 2010 at 1:41 AM ^

There's all kinds of stuff to follow in the meantime. It takes about two years to go through qualifying for a world cup, and even though the US making it through is very nearly a foregone conclusion, traveling to places like Honduras and Guatemala for away matches is pretty intense.

There are also periodic "friendlies" that don't necessarily count toward anything other than bragging rights and a chance to see players. The next US game is against Brazil later this summer.

And every time we play Mexico, "friendly" or not, it is a GRUDGE MATCH, and you should watch.

I'll also say something nice about MLS: it's OUR league. Would you rather support some American kids in Columbus or Kansas City making 30K/year or some team of fabulously wealthy, fashionable Euro superstars you have no connection to? Pick an MLS team and support them and have fun, and don't worry about whether it's the top level or not.

MGoShoe

July 3rd, 2010 at 6:25 AM ^

...yes.  It's a fiction that soccer in the US just stops for four years.  In addition to these things, many shiny Euro teams from the EPL, Serie A and La Liga make exhibition runs through the US during their offseason.  They play each other and MLS teams and the matches are entertaining.  Also, if you're in A2, you can behind the Michigan Wolverines soccer teams.  Great new venue, and you have a built in rooting interest.