Thread: Team America

Anyone else see the Confederations Cup semi-final between US and Spain? I wasnt expecting a win but holy crap we played well. Donavon and Howard played exceptionally well.

I need to have a better look at the red card, but that seemed like total bullshit. I was surprised it was a foul, let alone a red card. Thankfully I think Bradley is a pretty shit defender anyway so it might actually help us, but it still seemed like a BS call.

And now we get to play Brazil. If we can at least make a game out of it I'll be happy.

Watched it and was impressed. Of course I was also pissed because I kept wondering, "Why don't they always come out focused and aggressive like this??" The opening 15 minutes of their last couple of World Cup qualifiers and the first two games of this tournament were flat out embarrassing. I chalked up the Egypt game to a nothing-to-lose mentality. We just don't have the talent to go down a goal early, much less two, to good teams...let alone the elite teams of the world. If they want to continue winning against the elite teams, the US is going to have to out-work those teams and play smarter on defense than they have been. I wouldn't mind finding a left back that doesn't suck too.

Howard was outstanding yesterday. Was nice to see the defense refrain from hanging him out to dry. Ogouchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit were especially active in the middle. It was probably the best game I've seen Donovan play in a long time. I wish he could be more consistent. Charlie Davies was a pleasant surprise. He brought some much needed energy and speed up front. He seemed to keep Spain's back line off-balance early.

There were hardly any replays of Bradley's tackle so it was tough to say for sure, but I too believe it was total crap. Bradley's absence will not break us against Brazil but it's kind of annoying to have picked up a red card in all but one of our games in this tourney. Speaking of Brazil...I think we can make a game of it if we just give an effort like yesterday's game and stay focused. Mental lapses killed us early in the first game with Brazil. I'm willing to bet DeMarcus Beasley gets left behind at the hotel on Sunday.

It seemed to me the US played like shit in the second half (I missed the first half). The result impressed on me that in soccer/football any team can win on any given day. The most heartbreaking thing about that match for me was the fall of Spain to the status of mere mortals. I may rethink my stance if the US manages to avoid getting clobbered on Sunday. It's also possible that I won't believe this result until the US beats Brazil and then goes on to do well in the World Cup next year. Right now, to my mind, this is a fluke.

Sigh. At least we didnt get our asses kicked.