An embarrassing first half followed by a more competitive second with the introductions of Dempsey, Cherundolo, and Bradley. A few very quick thoughts?
- Bradley is the first choice in central midfield, no question. His partner is open to debate. With a healthy Holden available, I'd be leaning that way, but of those on offer, I'd probably opt for Edu at the moment. Kljestan, surprisingly, wasn't completely awful once pushed to the middle in the second half.
- Onyewu wouldn't be in my first-choice eleven at the moment.
- Altidore looks lost. The fact that Wondolowski looked more useful up top is great for Wondo, but speaks volumes about where Altidore is at the moment.
- Where are the goals going to come from? I still wonder if Gomez should have been included. We need guys who've been finishing at a high level.
All in all, you can't be too disappointed about having a mixed-bag side dismissed by the world champions (even if they were missing their string-puller-in-chief), though the margin of the dismissal should be worrying. Here's hoping the Gold Cup group stage brings the goals and builds confidence.
The best thing for the future of USMNT is for it to have a miserable, embarrassing Gold Cup so it can get rid of Bob Bradley once and for all.
ReplyDeleteAnd your suggestion for a replacement?
ReplyDeleteSteve Sampson's looking for work, I think. Heh. 3-6-1 4evar!
ReplyDeleteThe talent pool is what it is. We aren't producing attacking players who can push Donovan and Dempsey for minutes. It's worrying. Whoever succeeds Bradley will have some difficulty managing both the team and expectations.