2010 World Cup qualifying

you make a good point, Europe. ididn't thinkof that possibility.

Jimmy Chitwood said:

Matra1 said:

How come Brad Friedel is never the US goalie? Surely he is the best US goalkeeper.

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this is just my opinion, but i suspect that the USA coaching staff knows what they have in Friedel and are simply trying to find another, younger, keeper to add depth to the National Team. Friedel has been good for a long time, but he's not getting any younger.

 it is possible that the USA coaching staff feels his best days might be behind him, as hard as that is to imagine. again, i am just speculating, because i haven't heard any other reason.


also, the USA looked awful in the first half against El Salvador. i think the incredibly hostile crowd really got to them and severely hampered their ability to communicate on the field. the left side on the attack especially looked poor. Pearce (white man) and Beasley (the lone black starter) simply looked terrible. furthermore, it looks as if Beasley has lost a step. a big step. the normally superb Carlos Bocanegra, defender extraordinaire, had a couple of lapses as well, one of which cost the US a goal. that's exceedingly rare for this excellent player.


conversely, the fleet footed Frankie Hejduk looks as fast as ever. if he hadn't been on the field, i don't think the USA would have been able to come back and earn a 2-2 tie. he was everywhere! even assisting on 1 goal and scoring the other. (he's a defender to those who don't know.) he's STILL the fittest player on the roster, and it doesn't appear that age has slowed him at all. also, Brian Ching looked good at the front.


Danny Califf, in just his 4th-ever start for the National side, looked very impressive filling in for the absent Onyewu. he displayed speed, composure, and a very physical style of play that was fun to watch.


the USA plays Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday in the USA.

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You are right about that hostile crowd JimmyC, a very loud sea of blue with white painted faces all screaming and chanting in unison, some were climbing to the top of the fences after the two goals by El Salvador, very hostile enviroment for the "gringoes " to deal with. But they overcame in the second half and got the needed point you hope to get when you play a road game in World Cup Qualifying. Hejduk was great in the second half and to be fair Josi Altidore did a fine job as a substitute in the 70 th minute and scored the first goal with a assist from Hejduk, of course. The USA is still in first place by a point over Mexico. The USA started nine whites, a mixed guy in Ching and the lone black Beasely who is usually a very good player for us but his quality of play the last 6 months has me wondering if he is healthy, tentative in his play or he may have lost a step. He still is fairly young though to have lost a step.

The El Salvador game, in short, was an embarrassment. Yes, it was an away game, in a hostile crowd, with a couple guys out, but these are the games you have to find a way to win if the US looks to make the jump from a mediocre team to one that has serious world cup ambitions. The Red, White, and Blue have always struggled on the road. If this game was played on home soil, I would guess a 3-0, 4-0 scoreline, as I'm sure we'll see in DC. However, the WC is played almost halfway around the world, and this squad has got to get in the habit of winning away from home. period. Although the possession was clearly in the US' favor, there were not a numerous amount of goal scoring opportunities. A point should be made to get it more to Donovan's feet and let him run at defenders. He almost had no effect on the game the other day, and he is too good to not have the ball go through his feet on every offensive possession. I keep waiting for the day Hejduk will start to show signs of age, but I keep being impressed with his play. Hopefully he can continue his form into 2010. I can find confidence in him and Onyewu on the back line, but I find it hard to place any in Bocanegra, Pierce, Cherundalo or any other back at the moment. These players are much better than they are showing and need to step it up. Klejstan looked less than stellar, and I'm going to give him a little slack here because he hasn't been a part of the senior squad for awhile and this is his first game in a hostile environment. I continue to believe he is an up and coming big time player. Lets hope for a better result tomorrow and I look for the stars to come out and shine.

blue_mentos said:

The El Salvador game, in short, was an embarrassment. Yes, it was an away game, in a hostile crowd, with a couple guys out, but these are the games you have to find a way to win if the US looks to make the jump from a mediocre team to one that has serious world cup ambitions. The Red, White, and Blue have always struggled on the road. If this game was played on home soil, I would guess a 3-0, 4-0 scoreline, as I'm sure we'll see in DC. However, the WC is played almost halfway around the world, and this squad has got to get in the habit of winning away from home. period. Although the possession was clearly in the US' favor, there were not a numerous amount of goal scoring opportunities. A point should be made to get it more to Donovan's feet and let him run at defenders. He almost had no effect on the game the other day, and he is too good to not have the ball go through his feet on every offensive possession. I keep waiting for the day Hejduk will start to show signs of age, but I keep being impressed with his play. Hopefully he can continue his form into 2010. I can find confidence in him and Onyewu on the back line, but I find it hard to place any in Bocanegra, Pierce, Cherundalo or any other back at the moment. These players are much better than they are showing and need to step it up. Klejstan looked less than stellar, and I'm going to give him a little slack here because he hasn't been a part of the senior squad for awhile and this is his first game in a hostile environment. I continue to believe he is an up and coming big time player. Lets hope for a better result tomorrow and I look for the stars to come out and shine.

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Hopefully those stars will shine tonight in their home game against Trinidad & Tobago 745 pm Eastern on ESPN. I will be doing alot of channel surfing tonight with the soccer game and UFC fight night happening at the same time.

Donovan made a great pass on that 2nd goal.

Huge crowd on hand, from what I saw. Glad the US came away with a big win.

Peeople we are forgetting the most important thing today, Argentina was massacred 6-1 by Bolivia. Showing again that playing above 3000 m and chewing coca leaves gives those indians a ridiculous advantage.
http://www.perunotas.com/2009/04/video-goleada-bolivia-s-arg entina-6-1.html

Canada's 'best team ever assembled' (as the Canadian media kept saying), a team filled with ethnic minorities, was knocked out early on. Normally Canada, at least, gets to the last stage of qualifying then usually loses out because of a phony last minute penalty given to their (usually) Central American opponents.

The most surprising news from qualifying has been in Europe. It is starting to look like Portugal will not qualify. So no Cristiano Ronaldo at the sport's showcase event.

The USA national team plays Costa Rica tonight on ESPN, 10pm in San Jose, CA. Wonder what will be the ratio of American fans to Costa Rican fans in San Jose tonight.

Well I was mistaken. The game was held in San Jose, Costa Rica and not in San Jose, CA. The USA lost in embarrassing fashion 3-1 last night and have a pivotal match as far as the standings are concerned with a game against Honduras at Soldier Field in Chicago this Saturday. Brian Ching and Frankie Hejduk didn't play last night I think due to injury.

guest301 said:

Well I was mistaken. The game was held in San Jose, Costa Rica and not in San Jose, CA. The USA lost in embarrassing fashion 3-1 last night and have a pivotal match as far as the standings are concerned with a game against Honduras at Soldier Field in Chicago this Saturday.

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Any idea what channel is showing it?

Fairly sure it is ESPN, Matra1. I will check my listings tonight and give you the info tommorrow.

Some interesting World Cup games playing on the Fox Soccer Channel from now till Saturday. For instance, North Korea vs Iran, the axis of evil matchup and a few days later North Korea vs South Korea. Games featuring Russia, Australia, Japan, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and others are featured as well. I wish they carried the European national teams more such as England and Ireland, the Irish are doing real well in their group.

Matra1,the USA/Honduras game is 8pm Saturday night on ESPN.

Thanks.

guest301 said:

Some interesting World Cup games playing on the Fox Soccer Channel from now till Saturday. For instance, North Korea vs Iran, the axis of evil matchup and a few days later North Korea vs South Korea. Games featuring Russia, Australia, Japan, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and others are featured as well. I wish they carried the European national teams more such as England and Ireland, the Irish are doing real well in their group.

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You can try Setanta Broadband for European games.

guest301 said:

Well I was mistaken. The game was held in San Jose, Costa Rica and not in San Jose, CA. The USA lost in embarrassing fashion 3-1 last night and have a pivotal match as far as the standings are concerned with a game against Honduras at Soldier Field in Chicago this Saturday. Brian Ching and Frankie Hejduk didn't play last night I think due to injury.

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good call on the embarrassing play of the USA against Costa Rica. they were, in a word, HORRIBLE.

not coincidentally, it was the blackest lineup that i can remember for the US side ... and the black players were the WORST players on the field for the Americans. simply god awful!

the experiment with DaMarcus Beasley at right back has been an abysmal failure. he looks lost, and he repeatedly makes boneheaded errors along with an unwillingness to close down attackers.

the poorly named "Marvell Wynne" is a total loser and not marvelous at all. how the hell is this guy even in the player pool?!?!?! he was rightly jeered all night by the Costa Rican fans, as all he did was run around (slowly, i might add) like a chicken with its head cut off. despite playing left back, he apparently considers defending to not bein his job description. he pushed forward all night for no apparent reason and let opposing players run right past him on the few occasions he was back where he was supposed to be. completely useless, like tits on a boar hog.

the supposedly tough Onyewu, he whose feelings got hurt because someone called him a name in England, played like a total chump. he's either STILL playing hurt, or he's just gotten really slow. furthermore, he made so many boneheaded mistakes in the game, that goalkeeper Tim Howard (another black) was lambasting him regularly. pathetic effort by the supposed "stopper" of America's defense.

goalkeeper Time Howard gave up three goals, although two of them were the fault of the aforementioned horrid defenders. ouch!

at the front, Jozy Altidore did absolutely nothing.

off the bench, Freddy (much) Adu (about nothing) and Charlie Davies (who the hell is this guy?!) were the two blacks that came in ... and did nothing.

all in all, a pathetic showing by the USA. aside from Michael Bradley, who played exceptionally well though he did pick up another Yellow Card and won't play in today's game, not much can be said that's positive.

Holland can be the first European country to Qualify for the world champs if they win tonight against Iceland.The last matches and also tonight greatt chance they play with 10.5 whites

Austrailia qualified for the 2010 World Cup today with a tie against a desparate Quatar team that was playing at home. It was kind of a boring match to watch with the Aussies basically playing for the tie. Good for the land down under! England beat Kazakstan 4-0 today.

Team USA plays Mexico in Azteca Stadium in about half an hour ... sadly, it isn't televised in my area. if any of you guys have access, please watch it and tell us what happens.

the USA has never defeated Mexico in Azteca Stadium in qualifying, and the Red, White, and Blue have only scored 1 goal there ... [/i]Edited by: Jimmy Chitwood

Landon Donovan is on ESPN right now recalling a story when a mexican player said "Ill find your mother and kill her". And apparently the stadium began chanting "Osama, Osama" a few years back. Class acts those guys are.

As a rebuttal, the Mexicans were insulted when Landon Donovan urinated on outdoors by some bush they consider very important. What they forget to mention was that they didnt allot Landon to go use the restrooms, giving him the option of goin in his pants or by a bush.

u.s. up 1-0 early

for the first time in my life, i'm happy to have a spanish-speaking tv channel! i found the game on telemundo ... and the US scores to make me happy soon after i turn over. Davies on a breakaway, set up by a beautiful lead pass by Donovan, i think it was. point blank, easy shot with no chance for the keeper.perfectly timedrun, and aneven better pass to split the defense andhit him in stride.

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Macias with a game-tying blast from 25-30 yards in the 19th minute. damn. Howard couldn't reach the brilliant shot.

the US caught a break, there. Howard was beaten but the ball goes juuuuuuuust wide.

the crowd is back in it, and the US seems a little deflated.