US Team Preview

Well here it is finally. I think we have a good team this year and there are just a few factors that will be the difference between getting out of the knockout stage and a deep run. I’ll start with the England game.

Tomorrow at 230 Eastern time the USA sets off with its group stage vs England. England is one of the best teams in the world and it will be a tough game. They last met in 20o7 in London and th US lost 2-0. Do I think we can win tomorrow? Yes I do. Will we? Probably not. Not because England is out of our class but of how we will play and the situation. The US does not need to win this game and they know that. unfortunately I think they will come out like Uruguay did today and play for a tie while trying to score on a counter to Donovan or set piece. Clark will probably start in the middle next to Michael Bradley because he is more defensive minded then Torres and Feilhaber. This will give us no shot a possession. I don’t think giving England 70% possession will work and they will eventually break down the defense. It is asking too much to stop Gerrard, Rooney and Co for 90 minutes. Had this been a do or die game I think they could win. With a big game from Howard in-goal who is capable of putting up a zero on the scoreboard by himself being one of the worlds best and sharp passing and tackling from Bradley we could win. If he is able to possess and get the ball to Donovan in space we have a chance at scoring.  I think Donovan will have two to three good chances this game. He torched Ashley Cole in the English Premier League and we could see that again. I would feel much better is Torres and Feilhaber were there to get him the ball but I doubt either start. No matter who starts up top next to Altidore I am not expecting much. There is a big difference between being the leading scorer in a Mexican League or the MLS and going up against John Terry. I prefer Findley because I think his speed plays off Altidore best. England’s speed on the wing is a concern and hope the experience of Bocanegra can help slow them down. I think it should be Demeritt and Onyewu in the middle, give Gooch a chance to see if he can hang in there. It is going to be exciting though and I expect the US to come out with a lot of energy and make us proud. I will be watching in Manhattan at Nevada Smiths.

On the whole tourment I think we will get out of the group stage at least. From there anything else can happen. In the games vs Slovenia and Algeria I expect a completely different team with Torres or Feilhaber starting to get the offense going.  After how terrible Clark plays vs England Bradley will be forced to. I expect a great tournement from Donovan. He has proven he is a world-class player at Everton and his confidence is sky-high. He knows this is his team and he is our go to guy. He looked good against Turkey and last Confederation Cup he showed he can burn anyone. If given the chance I think Torres will have a good tourney. He looked great against Turkey.  I think Demspey will provide a spark and create chances. I hope Holden gets on the field. He is good on the ball and a great crosser. I think Michael Bradley will have a coming out party. He is a great tackler, good passer, nose for the goal and ultra competitive. he will back down to no one. Can;t wait for the game tomorrow and know Donovan will be busting his butt out there and give us a shot with Timmy Howard behind him.  Hopefully Bradley can slow down the attack and we will have a chance.

World Cup 2010

Tomorrow. Every four years this month comes. The best sporting event in the world. Nothing brings the world together like this. Every nation involved cares. It means so much to so many people. No event on the world captures people attention like this. The World Cup brings nations together. I have been waiting since Italy- France in 2006 for this. I was on board for a plane to Italy the day they won the Cup. When I arrived the next day the place looked like a disaster area and the people where in the ultimate high. Nothing could upset them that day, they were world champs in the worlds game. I think South Africa will do a great job this summer. The stadiums look great and it should be as fun as Germany 06. It’s unbeleivable how an event like this can cause people from all over the world to migrate to a certain place. No religion, political event or natural disaster could cause this, nothing. I love U2 lyrics that say “It’s about one month every four years where we can all agree.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwzTTdEIrvs&feature=related It all means NOTHING. The 38th parallel between North Korea and South Korea means ZERO. The world is focused on a sport. Religion? People will still pray, not for political peace but for glory from their national team. Elections or Gas? No one cares nor does it matter. My nation will clash against yours on a fields where pure skill, athleticism and mentally will prove the winner. The event will be pure. I hope people will be more focused on the athleticism of Wayne Rooney and the magic of Messi rather than the disaster in the Gulf at the moment. We deserve it, we deserve to be purely entertained for one month rather than worry about the worlds problems. It brings the attention of people like my Mom who cares less about the sports than anyone I know. She wants to know how WE will do this World Cup. The World Cup brings together people like that. We live in New York and she couldn’t tell you who David Wright is but has heard the name Donovan enough to ask who this player is and why he is getting so much attention (Ill touch this later). I hope this month can show people human magic and bring nations together as it always does.  Now to my actual tournament thoughts.

In my opinion the two best teams are England and Spain. No one in the world can put the talent on the field that spain can. Think of a midfield that has the options of Xabi Alonos, Cesc Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta, David Silva and Sergio Busquetes but you can only pick four because you have David Villa and Fernando Torres up top. The defense is on real with players from all over La Ligas best teams and born leader in Carlos Puyol. England finally has a great coach in Capello and the talent go far. Who can stop Rooney? The list up superstars goes on and on. Terry, Gerrard, Lampard Cole and Lennon. The depth is unreal.

I think teams that depend on smooth passing will have a tough time because the fields could be low quality. Spain could be hurt by this. This should help teams like Germany, even without captain Ballack to grind out wins. Serbia is predicted by a dark horse by many with a great back line and a potent striker in Stankovic. Personally I think our arch rivals Mexico can do some damage. Being lead by a great defender like Marquez (even though hes a scumbag) and the talent offensively of Franco, Blanco, Vela, Dos Santos and Hernandez (new man united signing). The talent is there to go deep. Argentina has the talent but will Maradona make bone head decisions like kicking free kicks directly into his players during practice? Honestly what are you thinking. Messi drills a line drives into Riquelme’s knee and the team is without its playmaker. Personally I hope the Dutch go deep into the tourney. Their attacking style is fun to watch and showed in Euro 2008 no defense in the world can stop them when they are on their game. Lets hope Robben is healthy and ready to provide a spark. In the end I dont think the field will stop Spain and they will bring home the cup.

South Africa VS Mexico tomorrow. As I said before Mexico has a talented team and I dont think the South Africans will be able to slow them down. The home side should be able to catch them at least once. 2-1 Mexico in my opinion. First half will be slow though. Uraguay vs France in the second game. France talented bu the chemistry isn’t there. Rebiery sex scandal, Henrys hand ball to get them in, Gallas bitter with everyone on the team. The coach, Raymond Douchmand being a prick and not including talent like Viera and Nasari for no reason. I don’t see the french going far but Henry and Anelka should be able to net one against this defence. Finale score, draw 1-1.

Tomorrow I will post my thoughts on the USA tourney chances and the USA- England game. Can’t wait to get this started, hae fun tomorrow.

Austrilia Warm Up

What a terrible game to watch. It just looked slowww. It was hard to take much away from this game, pretty boring with not much happening. Buddle scored twice and Gomzez added another. I think Buddle looked OK, two goals, good positioning good finishing not much more you could ask for. Again I like how Findley  played. I liked in the 29th minute where he tried taking a defender on and got fouled. He shows confidence on the ball with displays like that. I think mentally he is there and should get the start vs England. He should have finished two goals but he’s a pro soccer player I am sure 90% of the time he finishes that. I’ll give him a break this time. The field looked like it was in terrible condition. Lets not hope the fields that will be used are in that shape. Defense still looked pretty shaky. Australia could have had at least two more goals. Demerit got beat a few times ball watching. I had a lot more I wanted to say about this game but can’t remember. I promise that wont happen with the WC games (not that anyone is reading this). For the important games I am going to watch it a second time and then write immediately after. I was kind of nervous/shocked how long Coach Bradley left Donovan and Dempsey in for. The game was pretty physical for a friendly and if either of those two get hurt we are in trouble. Australia better hope to get Harry Kewell back for the World Cup or else they will have a tough time getting past Germany and Ghana. He has a hamstring problem right now. As I am writing this I am really mad I didnt write it sooner I remember a few points I wanted to talk about. 

Anyway tonight I am going to make two more posts. The first one just a little World Cup Preview/USA Tourny thoughts and the second dedicated to the USA- England game. tomorrow the best sporting event in the world starts and I can’t wait.  

One more tihng! In one of me earlier posts I mentioned that I was proabalby alone with this thoguht but thought the US would have won the confederations cup had Michael Bradley been able to play. It turns out Grant Wahl agreed and wrote the same thing in a recent artical of his! Thought that was cool http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/world-cup-2010/writers/grant_wahl/06/02/wc.overview/1.html

Turkey Friendly

I thought we saw two completely different teams in the Turkey game. The 1st half was horrendous and if we play like that we will get torched by England and probably wont even beat Slovenia or Algeria. Ricardo Clark is miserable I don’t understand why he ever plays. He is a poor passer. He doesn’t complement Michael Bradley at all in the midfield. His “strength” is tracking down attackers and breaking up passes. This is something th Michael does better and it is not a good fit. Clark couldnt close down a passing lane at all in the first half and was responsible for a lot of the defensive troubles the US faced in the second half. I think Bradley needs to be paired with someone like Feilhaber who is more offensive minded and an excellent passer who moves the ball well and can link up well with the forwards. I think Dempsey up top is a mistake as well. I understand Coach Bradley is trying to see who compliments Altidore up top but Dempsey should played out wide where he is played with Fulham and is most effective. Spector looked awful as well. Churundolo should get the start.  He got burnt several times and was always out of position constantly. The defense looked alarmingly vulnerable thankfully they played a little better in the second half.

The second half a different team came out to play. I must give Coach Bradley credit here, this is why hes the National team coach and im just watching a blog. I would have never given Robbie Findley a roster spot and he changed the game. His speed helped create scoring chances and opened up the game. Dempsey played much better in his natural position. Another player who had a huge impact was Torres. He came in for Clark at half and provided exactly what the US needed. Sharp passing and creativity that got the offense moving. He made several passes that Clark would have never seen, nevertheless accurately made. I didn’t think much of Torres before this game, I only knew he was clever on top of the ball but his passing surprised me and he had made a lot of tough tackles. I think him and Feilhaber have to be the two best passers on the team. I wonder how Feilhaber would have played if given the chance to play in the middle of the park next to Bradley, not out of position out on the wing. regardless if Feilhaber gets the chance  (I dont think he will, Coach Bradley loves Clark) I think Torres is definitely in position to get the start next to Michael Bradley.  If the US starts slow against England or Clark plays that bad against Australia look for a quick switch and big opportunity for Torres. The defence looked a little better. I’m still not sold on Onyewu. He was not really tested in the second half. Churundolo looked good coming on for Spector and I am sure we will see him starting in the England game.  It will be a good challenge seeing them go up against Australia with Tim Cahill leading that attack. I loved how Donovan played in the second half having a hand in both goals. He is playing with confidence that he lacked in 2006 and I think he’ll have a great world cup. He was able to give Ashley Cole a lot of trouble when Everton played Chelsea in the EPL and I hope well see this again when we play England. The offense flows through him and if he plays big we will score goals.

I’ve decided to make two more posts  before the England game. One on the Australia game and one with my final thoughts.

USA!

2006-2010

I decided not to go over the whole qualifying campaign in detail because that would take forever and personally don’t think there is much to say about it. The US (and Mexico to some point) is to good  for CONCACAF.  We are never challenged at home by any of the smaller nations in our region. We do find it hard though on the road to score, especially when teams like Guatemala bunker down with 10 men and play to tie. As the years progress though and the team gets better I dint see this being much more of a problem. It doesn’t help playing on the crap pitches that are in Central America either. It looks impossible to make a smooth pass. The game against Mexico in the CONCACAF Finals was a great game capped of by a spectacular goal by Benny Feilhaber (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcGA2W4d5_E). I think the US did a much better job finding tougher opponents to play in the past three years playing the likes of England, Spain and Argentina all in 2008 alone. There was also the great test of the 2009 Confederations Cup which I will touch on a bit later.

With Brian McBride, Kasey Keller and Claudio Reyna all gone in the years following the 2006 World Cup the team was taking on a new look. For the past four years there have been 9 or so set in stone starters. Tim Howard (G), Carlos Bocanegra (D), Oguchi Onyewu (D), Steve Churundolo (D), Michael Bradley (M), Clint Dempsey (M), Landon Donvan (M), Jozy Altidore (F), Charlies Davies (F). This has a solid mix of experience, (Howard, Dempsey, Donovan, Churundolo, Boca, Onyewu) and youth. Jozy had his coming out party with a goal against Mexico in Houston during a 2008 friendly. These 9 players are what helped us breeze through qualifying and show the talent gap between the US and other CONCACAF Nations. Going into the 2010 World Cup 7 of these 9 will be the deciding factors on how far we go in South Africa. Unfortunately the horrific car accident to Davies knocked him out of the World Cup and Onyewu has not looked 100% since his injury in the fall 0f 2009. More on that later.

Tough to take much away from the Czech game. Onyewu scared me on that header he let in. Is the knee OK?  He should have won that ball to someone so much shorter than him. His clearing  helped the USA advance so far in the Confederations Cup. Bornstein looked terrible and if he starts against anyone he will get smoked. It doesn’t look like he can stay on the field with anyone. Bocanegra should start outside and slide someone else to centre back. Goodson has not looked to bad so perhaps him paired with Demerit.

Lastly I want to talk about the 2009 Confederations Cup. I don’t want to go into to much detail because most people know what happened with the US upsetting number 1 Spain in the semi-finals with great goals by Altidore and Dempsey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S58rstMhKK8&feature=related). I want to mention something on the second goal by Dempsey. The pass by Feilhaber was spectacular. The calmness on the ball is amazing and the pass is perfect. This is why I think he should start along side Bradley in the centre midfield. No one on the US team has the vision nor passing skill he has to set up Donovan, Dempsey and Altidore. In the game against Brazil, I think I am alone when I am going to say this but I think we would have won if Michael Bradley had played in that game. He was suspended because of a Red Card in the game before against Spain. The US went up 2-0 nothing at half time in this game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbuAUrrgPL0). And went on to lose 3-2. In the second half Brazil dominated the US and was able to mount wave after wave of attacks. This I believe is one of Bradleys strengths. Being a tough tackler breaking up plays before they can start and slowing down counter attacks. We have seen him do this countless times before and once against the SAME opponent. In a 2007  game against Brazil in Chicago he played a game that silenced most of his critics saying he was only getting time because he father is the coach.  In this game he worked harder then anyone on the field breaking up attack after attack. Brazil won on a free kick by Ronaldinho. He was praised by Grant Wahl after the game for his work ethic. We have seen this countless times against every opponent. Had he been there to slow Brazils attack in 2009 we could be looking at the first major US victory in a FIFA competition.

I have re read this a few times and its pretty unorganized. This is something I am going to work on. I think I want to get in one more post before the Australia friendly on June 5th. I want it to contain my thoughts on the Turkey game and what we should look for in the friendly vs Australia.

Intro

You can see under “about me”, my name is Steve Baydala, I am 21 and attend Loyola College. I played soccer my whole life and love following the National Team as well as Arsenal FC of the EPL. In this first post I just want to state why am I doing this even though no one is reading it haha.  Basically I love watching the National Team and try to watch every game. Sometimes I’ll watch it twice, usually I watch it a second time if I was to distracted the first time because I was with my friends or for whatever reason. Over the past year with qualifiers and important friendly’s going on I broke down the games more and more. It’s gotten to the point where I wanted to start putting down all my thoughts on the games to be able to reflect on as the years progress leading up to the World Cup. I’ll read anything I can get my hands on immediately following the games. I especially like Grant Wahl (Sports Illustrated), Ives Galarcep (Fox Sports), Leander Schaerlaeckens (ESPN) and Jeff Carlisle (ESPN). So I basically want to use this blog to be able to write my reactions the the games leading up our match with England and the games following that. Hopefully we have quite a few between the England game and the friendly with Brazil in August.

Well that’s my first post as an intro basically to give anyone who happens to run into this an idea of why I am doing this. I want to get in two-three more posts between now and the Australia friendly on June 5th. I know one will be dedicated solely to the Turkey game that I’ve watched twice. The other post/posts will be my current thoughts on the team and the qualifying campaign.

One more thing. . .I’m not a writing major, I’m a finance major. Sorry if there are some grammar mistakes here and there.

USA!