US Men's National Team v. China Recap...

Let me just say it was a very exciting and enthralling match. Wasn't the most sound match the US has ever played, but they looked phenominal going forward. Dempsey was a bit unlucky and he will most assuredly be glad that no one came out to cover him on the corner for his goal.

There is loads of young talent coming through the ranks. Nguyen played well, Davies was a bit nervous and showed he has the ability to beat defenders, Simek didn't have much to deal with and did his job well and some of the other youngsters that came on were impressive.

Bradley is emerging as a first name on a team sheet for the US. His tackling and service was great. Dempsey again showed that he can be dangerous would of benefited with a little more concentration on his final touch, Beasley was running all over the RB and LB of China and Onyewu made some crunching tackles and a top draw header.

Well done to the entire US side, but a special congrats to Beasley and Onyewu. Performances like that will ensure a contract in England for the coming season.

All that being said. This was China afterall. They are a relatively poor side, but they did their best and made a game of it in the first half.

Any other thoughts?

 

RE: US Men

Sadly I missed the game and forgot to DVR it. But it sounds like a good beginning for the new squad.

 

RE: US Men

Fulham had a lot of exposure on ESPN2. Having both Dempsey Bocanegra playing, Even McBride got a mention. We even got to see Dempsey's goal against Liverpool. Quoted " the goal was worth $40 million", seeing that it secured our Premiership status.

 

RE: US Men

Sadly it pointed out that Dempsey is a little 'goosy' when he gets the ball clear, in front of the keeper... on the second chance that failed, he was wrong footed but he should have studied what Feilhaber did to get his goal.

 

RE: US Men

One thing positive was that he created or got into those scoring positions. Now if he can just put them away, we would have a real gem.

 

RE: US Men

I know Dempsey had a rough day and wasted two clear chances, but what really impressed me is that he didn't hang his head and give up. He stuck in there and continued to attack and put pressure on China's back line. He kept workiing hard and eventually got his goal.

There looks to be a lot of promise in the USMNT. Gooch improved over his terrible EPL form and Beasley showed how he can wreak havoc on defenses. Another valuable point about Beasley. He could of easily just tanked it inside the box and bundled over when the keeper made contact with him, but he continued his run and attempted to complete the shot. Keep hit him too hard and he couldn't regain his feet. I liked the fact that he wasn't willing to go to the deck for the penalt. He wanted to finish off his run.

 

RE: US Men

IMHO we didn't learn much about Dempsey we didn't already know. His attacking ideas are pretty good, his service is excellent (thinking of the ball to Razov and a few others), and he's better suited as an attacking midfielder where he can take on defenders and create good chances than he is as a forward.

Knowing Dempsey, though, he'll probably get better at finishing off those kinds of chances through hard work and determination.

 

RE: US Men

He hasn't played competitive football for nearly a month so it is easy to see that he is a bit rusty. On any other day we could be talking about Dempsey's hat trick and amazing performance right now.

He just went on to show his quality. Again, like you said nothing really new.

 

RE: US Men

Benny Feilhaber. This guy impressed us: supported well in attack, defended nicely, great assist to Dempsey and chipped in a great finish. He's going to be the best U.S. midfielder after another season or two in the Bundesliega. Plus his development will allow Dempsey and Donovan to be free to attack up the pitch. Beasley appears to keep building his confidence, he had a couple of great deliveries (including on Gooch's goal) and I have no doubts he'll be picked up this summer to play in a top league.

Dempsey's blown finishes aside (a little rusty most likely as stated above), the fact that he continues to put himself in position to make plays shows his progression...if he gets to play regularly next year, he's going to net 10+ league goals no doubt.

As for the back four of the U.S., they continue to be an enigma. Gooch and Boca are competent for the most part, Simek and Spector were solid but not spectacular, but they have demonstrated recently that the back 4 will make 1 or 2 errors a game in crucial positioning. There's no way in hell China should have even sniffed the goal yesterday, let alone put one in the back of the net. China was outclassed at every position.

I hadn't seen a match at Spartan Stadium since the Quakes left and I forgot how small the pitch is, especially after watching the massive expanses in Europe. After a few pops in section 131, we debated whether a 3-0 victory or a 4-1 victory was more enjoyable to watch - I thought a clean sheet to be superior however many around me stated they wanted to see more goals, regardless of a shutout...the debate continued on our way out of the stadium and everybody ended up in agreement that any U.S. victory is a fine experience. All in all, the sun was out, the fans were in good spirits and it was a great day to catch US Soccer. Now will the Bay Area build a freakin' soccer specific stadium so we don't have to go to Stanford or San Jose State anymore.

 

RE: US Men

I couldn't agree more about the stadium assessment, nevtzer. The field is so.tiny. The thing that strikes me about the field size, and the way it affected the game against China, is that the game was largely slow. Especially compared to a Prem match, the pace was very laid back, particularly in the second half.

Timmy had a few really nice saves (and his view was completely blocked by the defensive scramble on the Chinese goal), and Kasey had a slow, uneventful second half on his end of the field.

The field size definitely affected the players--Gooch shanked almost every clearance out of bounds because he couldn't adjust to the small size of the field. The Chinese were not particularly quick or clever on this field, and as much as I loved the scoreline and the variety of scorers, I will be way more interested in the Gold Cup and Copa America games for the guys to prove their quality.

I really don't want to be super-negative, because the game was tons of fun, the scoreline was great, the variety of guys who got on the field were impressive, the scoreline was lovely (did I say that already?), and every win for the US makes me happy, but it was really weird how being so close to the field affects my impressions of the game.

My *&*^ Tivo failed to record the game, so I think I will have to find out if my sister got it. I'm really curious to see if my impressions are different after watching it on tv.

Overall, a great day, a great result, and on the the summer tournaments!

 

I didn't think that Dempsey had a bad game at all. Yes he did blow a pure sitter but sh*t happens. Mostly he was double teamed and I thought his dribbling in crowed areas was good as well as most of his passes. If you finish every chance you get your name is probably Henri & your making a quintillion bucks a year.

 

RE: US Men

The Chinese were content with letting the US have to make the perfect pass in order to break down their back line. The US did it a few times and lets be honest here, the China defense is a joke and is even worse than most CONCACAF sides.

Gooch impressed me with his cross he set right on to Beasley's feet and he just happened to miss time it. I think Beasley was surprised the big man could deliver a pass like that. Feilhaber was impressive and on the same level as Bradley. Both, IMO, were the players of the game. Showed great heart, tough tackling, tracked back well and linked with teammates the entire game.

Spector defended quite well, but had the most trouble out of anyone else out on the pitch adjusting to the size. His passes were hit too hard or too soft and he didn't look comfortable out there. Simek didn't have much time and from what I saw he did a solid job. Nothing too special and nothing too bad.

 

The chinese defense made it their obvious objective to shut down Dempsey. They did a poor job in that regard and as you said he did a fine job at getting seperation and controlling the ball when he was put under pressure.

Yes, "Henry" even misses chances from time to time, but Dempsey's chances were the definition of a sitter. Understandably he wasn't in top form, because of his long break. I see him conntinually improving and if Sanchez puts him in the right position and uses the proper tactics he could be a 10+ goal scorer next season. IMHO, he is the biggest threat in attack that Fulham has.

 

Well, I was encouraged by our performance overall but I wish we'd play that well against top European sides. Oh, wait. We don't schedule friendlies against top European sides. Never mind.

Beas was fantastic. If he can play that way consistently on the USMNT, we're in good shape. Our younger guys are doing great as well. Michael Bradley should be starting every match. He's got great passing skills and is an aggressive tackler. Between him and Feilhaber, our midfield future is bright.

Defensively, we've got very talented players. We just have to get them working well together and erase the few lapses they have each game.

I was glad to see Bradley change up the strikers. Rather than having Ching, Twellman or Johnson, none of whom have really impressed in their USMNT performances so far, he went with Razov. I'm glad to see him try to different guys up front.

I'm liking Bob Bradley more and more (and not just because of his record). He's willing to change things up to find the right group of guys. He seems like a serious and smart coach who has garnered the respect of the players. I think we are in good hands.

 

I think the thing that I like most about Dempsey is the fact that you can tell he hasn't reached his full potential yet. He can get even better than he already is when it comes to some areas of the game, and he's already showing good skills as a playmaker / dribbler.

Feilhaber is also starting to make me hopeful...could this finally be the box to box central midfielder I've been waiting for? I loved Reyna and I still like Mastroeni, but they are somewhat defensively minded center mids, and Feilhaber is at least showing the willingness to cover both boxes for 90 minutes (even in a small field).

 

I would agree it is great to have a manager of the USMNT that is willing to adapt in games and try something new, but Ching, Twellman and Johnson all decided not to play because of MLS fixtures. It would of been interesting to see if Bradley still would of started Dempsey and Razov up top regardless.

Again there is a lot of promise in the USMNT at this time. Lets not get overhyped though. This was just China afterall.

 

I think US fans can get use to seeing a CM partnership of Feilhaber and Bradley continuing in the future. That was the best part of the US game yesterday. They completely bossed the midfield. Every China player was closed down immediately and the distribution was fantastic.

If Dempsey would of been on form we could be talking about a 6-1 victory right now. Think about how much hype would be surrounding Bradley and his new youngsters under those circumstances.

Side Note...Lee Nguyen looked amazing. Davies was obviously rattled with it being his first start, but Nguyen was cool, calm and collected. Great to see out of such a young kid.

 

Yeah not bad. You have to take into account that this was a seriously depleted US squad. Guys like Hill, Bradley, Davies, Bornstien, Philhaber, Nyguen, have hardly begun their pro careers let alone have any international experience. The average age was 24 and that was with dinosaurs Marsch and Razov out there. So all that considered, 4-1 over China is pretty damn good.

If you can go back and watch the Philhaber goal from the beginning, it was pure gold. About 8 consecutive passes that didn't look like much and then Spector played a teriffic chip and Philhaber hit off the bounce.

Bornstein gets better all the time, by 2010 he could be a real player. And theres loads to come from Clint Dempsey for club and country!

 

Just a heads up so Don doesn't critique your posts for spelling as well...Feilhaber and Nguyen.

I agree that Feilhaber was fantastic and a great chip as well.

Bornstein has some pace to burn as well. He got back and rescued Boca I believe twice after he failed to clear the ball. Well done.

 

Yeah not bad. You have to take into account that this was a seriously depleted US squad. Guys like Hill, Bradley, Davies, Bornstien, Philhaber, Nyguen, have hardly begun their pro careers let alone have any international experience. The average age was 24 and that was with dinosaurs Marsch and Razov out there. So all that considered, 4-1 over China is pretty damn good.

If you can go back and watch the Philhaber goal from the beginning, it was pure gold. About 8 consecutive passes that didn't look like much and then Spector played a teriffic chip and Philhaber hit off the bounce.

Bornstein gets better all the time, by 2010 he could be a real player. And theres loads to come from Clint Dempsey for club and country!