U.S. - Spain Friendly

[BishopMVP]

Started at 5:30ET on Tape Delay on ESPN2. U.S. starting in the 4-5-1 with Freddy Adu at supporting striker. Spain using a 4-4-2 with Fabregas on the left according to ESPN but I think he'll swing to the middle more. Game actually started at 4PM ET.

[BishopMVP]

After easily being the best US player in the attacking half, Freddy is taken off at halftime. It seems nobody else on the team can even play a ball in front of a running teammate.

Still 0-0 50th Minute, Eddie Johnson just missed a header from inside the 6'.

[MrBug708]

I have no faith in Bradley as head coach

[Big Fo]

Nice goal by Xavi.

Altidore to Villarreal eh? Interesting news and I wonder what the transfer fee ends up being.

Edit-

Originally Posted by soccernet.com

No transfer terms were released but a person with knowledge of the deal said it was worth a minimum of just under $10 million, nearly double the amount previously paid for an American when English club Sunderland bought Claudio Reyna for $5.7 million in 2001. The person could not speak for attribution because league policy is to not disclose financial terms.

Reyna transferred to the Red Bulls last season. The previous record paid for an MLS player was the $4 million Fulham paid for Clint Dempsey after the 2006 MLS season.

[MrBug708]

It's rumored to be about 10 million dollars and he'll be loaned to Recreativo Huelva for the season

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

I have no faith in Bradley as head coach

Not excited to see a 4-5-1 against Barbados and the rest of CONCACAF? Or a team that can't score from the run of play against a team better than Poland?

The Altidore deal is rumoured as $8m now, performance clauses that could up it to $10m, and a sell-on clause. And he's easily worth it. Put him up top in front of Adu today and they probably have at least 1. That header Johnson missed in the 2nd half was right in Altidore's wheelhouse too.

[MrBug708]

Problem is that the US has no strengths anyware. I think going with Donovan as a hybrid AMC with Adu/Jozy up front is about the only chance we'll ever have to score goals.

[GoldenEagle]

It would please me very much not to see Eddie Johnson is a US uniform ever again. The problem is, he is our best striker. Yikes!

Team defending was pretty good today. Except on the Spain goal. He went through 3 US defenders. That was a mental breakdown.

As far as the US not having any strengths, Tim Howard is a fantastic goalkeeper.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Problem is that the US has no strengths anyware. I think going with Donovan as a hybrid AMC with Adu/Jozy up front is about the only chance we'll ever have to score goals.

Put Altidore, Adu, Donovan, Beasley and Dempsey out there at the same time and we'll score goals. Particularly if we have guys like Lewis and Cherundolo at the outside backs for making runs and crossing. Unfortunately, that would require breaking up this 2 D-mid formation Bradley loves, so it'll never happen. Even if it did, Bradley would force Beasley and whoever was the right wing (Donovan/Dempsey/Robbie Rogers?) to play so far back it would be pointless.

We have a fantastic GK, solid CB's and struggle mightily to score. Stop bunkering down until we need too in the WC and let's try to score some goals.

[GoldenEagle]

The Lewis at LB experiment has been tried and failed miserably. I am not sure if the 5 guys you listed score goals against good defenses. I also would not call the CB's solid. They are ok, but are prone to make mistakes.

I was thinking about it earlier and by the 2010 World Cup, we may have ten solid players, but no real depth. Here is a break down of what you might see:

GK - Howard, Guzan
D - Gooch, Specter, Subotic,
M - Beasley, Donovan, Bradley
F - Adu, Altidore

That will be the core of the team. You are going to have to find another 13 players to supplement them, including 2 starters if everyone is healthy.

[DaddyTorgo]

I really feel like bradley with his defensive mindset was the wrong coach to lead this team at this time. We need someone who would be encouraging the young players that we have to develop their offensive skills.

problem too is that poor showings by this US team due to a lack of offensive-flair may reflect poorly on US Soccer to the "average" fan

[GoldenEagle]

The US has no offensive flair, other than Adu. We have many fast, strong players who can run past weak opponents but not good opponents. Playing Adu in an attacking midfield slot is fine, if he has target man like Altidore to play to. But putting him 30 yards from goal with only Johnson to play to makes no sense at all. Putting Johnson as a lone striker and asking him to a possession striker makes no sense at all.

I am also not a big fan of Bradley's player selection. I appreciate the contributions made by Lewis, Hedjuk, Wolff, and Ching but what future do these players really have with the national team?

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle

I was thinking about it earlier and by the 2010 World Cup, we may have ten solid players, but no real depth. Here is a break down of what you might see:

GK - Howard, Guzan
D - Gooch, Specter, Subotic,
M - Beasley, Donovan, Bradley
F - Adu, Altidore

That will be the core of the team. You are going to have to find another 13 players to supplement them, including 2 starters if everyone is healthy.

I've actually liked Seitz better than Guzan in the matches I've seen, but Seitz gets no run in MLS. Guzan is playing pretty poorly there too.

Subotic is a wish (he picks in July, right?), but without him Edu definitely will be there. He's shown as well as Bradley in NT games. Robbie Rogers is one guy I really hope to see on a wing this Sunday. Stu Holden and Michael Orozco also appear to be developing into solid players.

Beyond that, I'll guarantee EJ is on that roster barring injury, and Dempsey as well. I hope he starts caring every game, but there's not enough players coming up to dislodge him. Between Cooper and Ching we'll have another target forward as well. On the backline, I can't understand why we run out Bocanegra every game. Why not try Michael Parkhurst back there at all?

[Butter]

I also thought Adu was terrific yesterday. The rest of the team barely seemed interested. Although Johnson really just can't play much better than that. He's not very good.

Bishop, agree about Bocanegra. I groan every time I see him in the starting lineup... which is every time the USA plays.

[chesapeake]

I'm giving Bradley the benefit of the doubt with regard to player selection until we actually have a game that means something. I also have a tough time blaming him for the team's focus on playing defensively. When you have a grand total of zero strikers who have shown any kind of consistent quality internationally, you're probably best off playing defensively.

[Sgran]

Is McBride done?

[chesapeake]

McBride announced his retirement from international soccer in July 2006. And, according to Wiki, he'll be 36 in two weeks. It is a sad commentary on American soccer that our best option up top remains a retired, (internationally) soon-to-be 36 year old.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

McBride announced his retirement from international soccer in July 2006. And, according to Wiki, he'll be 36 in two weeks. It is a sad commentary on American soccer that our best option up top remains a retired, (internationally) soon-to-be 36 year old.

Rumor is he wants to be included as one of the 3 overage players for the Olympics.

[BishopMVP]

Preliminary roster for the US-Argentina friendly I'm going to Sunday night. (I'm assuming just Cervi is not going to be included.)

Goalkeepers- Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC)
Defenders- Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)
Midfielders- Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)
Forwards- Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC)

No Bocanegra (but still no Parkhurst, so it'll be Demerit/Onyewu/no backup), no Altidore (slight injury), no back-up forwards if we're down a goal late (seriously, Jaqua or Cooper couldn't be included?) no Robbie Rogers for a wing.

If Freddy doesn't start, somebody's going to have to stop me from bum-rushing the field and injuring Bradley Sr.

[MrBug708]

Whatever happened to Jimmy Conrad?