BUCKnation wrote:End of world cup thoughts and maybe rant.
Goalkeeping:
Howard = God. Was probably a top 3 GK all tournament and I wouldn't be surprised to see him again in '18 if he is willing. GK age quite well compared to other positions. If not, Guzan is not bad at all.
Only position I'm never concerned about for the U.S., Guzan will be fine in 2018.
Defense:
Fullbacks:
Thought Beasley and Johnson played surprisingly well, especially Beasley. He was pretty solid for the most part after the 1st half against Ghana when Atsu was consistently burning him. Johnson played awesome as well. Yedlin played like he was a vet out there. The moment definitely wasn't too big for him. I look forward to the potential pairing of Johnson on the left and Yedlin on the right in the near future.
Centerbacks:
Other than a couple of lapses (Portugal/Ghana, with the bad clearance and bad positioning), I thought Cameron played pretty well. I liked him in the DM role.
Gonzalez worried me a lot as he was quite off form coming into the WC and it seemed like we gave up a goal every time he came in late to give us 3 CBs (last friendly vs. Nigeria and Portugal), but he played really well in the Germany game and did very well in the Belgium game as well before the injury. I wish that didn't happen btw, as he would have been the only CB to match up with Lukaku's physicality and body type. We were too tired to deal with his presence and it showed.
Besler was solid throughout. Very few mistakes from him although he looked gassed in extra time and kept overcommitting. I'll chalk that up to fatigue as he was otherwise our best CB imo.
Brooks, what can I say. His header will be remembered for awhile. He was very good defensively as well in his appearance, although he was giving too much stick by some fans who were looking at him with a magnifying glass due to his recent struggles. He is definitely the CB of the future for this team. High potential.
Yedlin/Johnson surprised me and they look like the future back there. Brooks is the future at CB, which is nice since he's actually young - I believe Onyewu was 26 or something when he broke through with us - but who plays with him? Besler was good and I really like Cameron, but the latter's lapses really upset me. Mostly because I think Cameron is our best defender talent-wise. Overall the defense looks good when it comes to physical traits. They weren't the problem, the problem on defense was due to the midfield - namely a lack of possession from CM and poor covering on the outside with Zusi being the main culprit.
Midfielders:
Outside Mids:
Zusi, I am a fan of him. He usually is the one providing the assists. He doesn't provide too much width, but when he does, he usually can whip in some nice crosses and his corners are excellent. I like him more as a sub late though, like in the Ghana game.
Is there a more forgettable player than Bedoya? What does he even do? He isn't bad, but he is just a non factor. Did he even play?
Why was Brad Davis on this team? He played a little over a half against Germany and had a howler. No reason for him to be on the squad over Donovan.
Julian Green proved the haters wrong. It did seem like a white flag move at first, but why not throw him in there. Turns out that he was the spark we needed. It was finally nice to have an outside mid/winger who actually knew his position and made runs. His first run to score was probably the best one from a winger on the team all tournament. He just knows what to do in those situations and I look forward to seeing him in the future. Hopefully this earns him some more PT.
Overall our outside mids/wingers were pretty poor offensively. Green in his few minutes showed what a true winger can do in terms of offense. Way too often it seemed like we were playing a 5-4-1 or something like that and relied on our fullbacks to make the runs. When we would start a counter it seemed like Dempsey was the only option, which was a problem. Our offense and possession suffered because of this area imo.
This is where we lost it IMO. Our outside mids were bad, wait no, they were ****. Zusi was crap outside of set pieces, Bedoya barely existed and Davis was only in there to cross it but couldn't even do that. As I mentioned a bit ago, this is where I think American soccer is drastically failing and has sucked at for as long as I can remember. 0 flair and 0 pace on the wings.
We NEED players like Green out there. Risk takers. Playing it safe won't get us far if we're out-matched talent-wise. Emerson Hyndman looks good, but Paul Arriola, Junior Flores and Gedion Zelalem if we can get him citizenship will usher in a new era of flair, pace and risk taking. We need that to start making serious noise without the help of dumb luck (the only way we would've beaten Belgium it seemed).
Center mids:
Bradley was crap. Usually one of the best and most consistent players, he forgot to show up. Way too many turnovers, way too many bad passes, and considering his experience lacked the kind of composure we expect from from him. He did have a few glimmers and nice balls, but overall just didn't show up.
Jones on the other hand was excellent. Maybe one of the biggest surprises of the team. Played consistently well throughout. Broke up plays, worked hard, and showed himself to be a nice offensive option. Overall, I couldn't be happier with his performances. Had some funny moments as well with his ridiculous head knocks.
Beckerman was also surprisingly solid. We know what he is, pretty much a 5th defender, but overall I thought he was solid during his team and did his job. I wish we would have saw more Mix. He could've maybe provided something more than Bradley in the CAM role. I think he was probably a bigger part of the plan, but untimely injuries led to unusual subs so that hurt his opportunity to get on the field. Also, can we please get this team on a yoga regiment to help with these hammy injuries. It was getting a bit ridiculous with the amount we suffered.
I think Bradley was bad for what we expected of him, which was never realistic. You can't expect a CDM to be a flashy 10. I think Mix will be big moving forward, as he's more of a traditional 10. Agree with your thoughts.
Forwards:
Altidore, his time was cut short. He was poised to make a big impact and never got the chance. His absence really hurt our overall squad play imo.
Dempsey was pretty awesome throughout. I wish he would have put a couple of his chances away today, but overall he was excellent considering the circumstances and lack of help he had. He is much better off of another striker.
Johannsson didn't due well in his time, but the team had to adjust when he came on and never successfully did. He is a proven striker in club play and I'm disappointed it wasn't him who got the opportunity today instead of Wondo. I feel like he didn't really get a fair opportunity to maximize his skill.
Wondo is useless. Seriously, f*** that guy for missing that putt into the back of the net. No reason he should have made the squad over Eddie Johnson, who I feel was a missing link. Sure he is off form atm, but he provides pace, skill, and power. An option we could have definitely used.
If you are still reading congrats, and thank you. Those are my thoughts on the team and tournament. I'm looking forward to our friendlies and tournaments coming up before '18. I think our current young core of Brooks, Green, and Yedlin is something to look forward too. Hopefully, we get talents like Zelalem, Junior Flores, Gil, and other young players come through and succeed.
Striker is another position where we have traditionally sucked. Altidore was gonna be big, so that's a huge bummer. Dempsey is likely done as well so that really sucks. I really wish EJ's resurgence was rewarded, but he was clearly to Klinnsman what Altidore was to Bradley - someone he didn't trust that would need to be subbed at minute 60-70.
In summary, I think we have a deeper and stronger talent pool than ever before, but we're about to see a ton of turnover with our most talented players. The midfield will be almost 100% new with only Bradley remaining (and you kow Zusi will somehow start...) which is a good thing, but what do we do without Dempsey? I really don't know, but I do know that Green has a good shot at filling his role - much to my surprise.
I'm excited about our future for the first time since...ever.
