The Star Spangled Cannon..... the US Soccer and Arsenal Blog

I'MMM BACK!!! Fuckin' Finally....

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 20:44:11 -0500

I know what you're thinking, WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?

Well, to answer that question completely honestly, I haven't had time to reach down and tie the shoe on my right foot whose strings I keep tripping on, on a daily basis let alone update the SSCannon (which grieves me deeply I must say). Hopefully, you all have been keeping well in my absence though. The good news is that the one thing I have been able to, miraculously, is catch the US games. Sadly, I was unable to find a stream for my mac for the Arsenal game, but I did follow along through espn's gamecast feature and managed to see highlights thanks to FootyTube.com.

Anyway, I'm so far behind that I really shouldn't waste anymore time in explaining why I'm so far effing behind, and should just really get into the news of the day/days gone by. So here's a summary of the week's international goings on and my quick thoughts about the US national team. Tomorrow I will get into everything Arsenal.

Well I'm in a generally good mood today and its more than likely that this extra boost is being caused by the USA's double at the weekend. The boys held off a talented El Salvadorian team to secure all three points in a crucial home fixture as well as a staunch performance in Port-of-Prince. Sure, we were supposed to win and were supposed to qualify for the World Cup. But my relief and excitement at all six points taken is fully justified all the same. Another thing that isn't quite minor was the atmosphere in the stadium Wednesday night. Too say nothing more, it was amazing from start to finish. From what the announcers said, there were apparently 70% Salvadorian fans at the Rio Tinto Stadium. Honestly, I doubt it. For my evidence I present the fact that John Harkes = moron and arm-chair quarterback. Secondly, From the one or two views of the whole stadium that we got, it seemed that most of the crowd was wearing pro-America red with only pockets of blue. Anyway before I digress any further, back to the amazing atmosphere. The singing of the national anthem before the game set the pace for as much of a pro-American crowd as its been in a long time. Even from the television feed, you could hear the crowd singing along, noisily and off-key, but oh so beautifully all the same. Then throughout the game when the Salvadorian fans tried their "Si se puede" chant, US fans drowned them out with "USA, USA!!". And they yelled it from start to finish, spurring on the boys. It was simply majestic. For anyone reading this that was at the game cheering on the boys, the bud light I'm cracking open's for you (yes, I drink and study at the same time). A job well done.

Concerning the game itself, something that I didn't know going into the game was that we had some 9 players sitting in yellow card suspension trouble, which is more than concerning when you look at the number of cards players from the US seem to pick up, warranted or not. Add to this the number of fouls being called at the beginning of the match, and a midweek game against Trinidad and Tobago without star players Bocanegra, Donovan, Bradley, Dempsey, and Altidore just to name a few was looking more and more likely. Fortunately for us, we broke our propensity for getting needless yellow cards and had a full strength team available for the second match in T&T.

I'm basically going to just group my concerns and feelings into a few major talking points I felt as I watched both of the games, so I apologize ahead of time for all of you that expected a comprehensive look at each game. In all honesty though, the boys pretty much played the exact same way in both fixtures.

1). Bocanegra really needs to step up his game

I cannot tell you how shocked I was at the two performances Carlos put in last week. I'm not going to go off my rocker and call for his head, but his return to the CB position is a constant reminder of why we need Jay DeMerit and Oguchi Onyewu to be healthy come next June. I know the backline wasn't exactly sturdy in either game, however I don't think there would have been half errors at the back had we seen the normal starters take their place. In the second match up with Trinidad, Gooch's physical presence alone I thought had a calming effect on not just the defense, but also the team in general. Most balls that were even semi-threatening that came his way were quickly ushered into safety by the Milan man. Thats exactly the type of defending we need to see at the heart of the defense. Solid, consistent play that allows the team to build from the back.

2). Jonathan Bornestein's Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde show

Speaking of uneasy defending, Bornestein's performance at midweek was nothing short of dreadful. He was beaten constantly and was given a hiding by ex-American youth Arturo Alvarez who was even carrying a hamstring injury. Thankfully for the US, Alvarez had to be subbed at the half which led to a slighty easier time for Bornestein in the second half. Besides being made to look like a 3rd grade girl playing in a competitive college men's game, Bornestein then had the audacity to try the stupidest clearance I've ever seen in a US game to date. Instead of taking the ball down and playing it up the side, he elected to kick the ball backwards over his head, from a standing position. Unfortunately for Jonathan, he "cleared" it straight into our own box, where it was promptly crossed to the far post and a lazy header somehow found a way past Tim Howard. After his horror showing, you would have bet your house that Cherundolo would get the call on the left side over Bornestein. However, Bradley thought otherwise and to his credit and my utter shock, it completely paid off. Bornestein might have been one of the better players in the team for the US on Saturday night. He seemed to be everywhere breaking up tackle after tackle and even finding some time to harry forward and swing in the odd cross or two. How could this be possible you ask yourself? It really just doesn't make any sense. Against a smaller, more nimble team you would expect an athletic, small fullback to perform decently well. And using that same logic, against a bigger, stronger, more physical team in Trinidad you would think that a smaller fullback wouldn't be ideal. Well, fuck our logic apparently. Again, it just comes down to consistency, and for me Bornestein isn't reliable at the back. Imagine if he would have pulled that type of performance against Germany or England in the World Cup. There has to be better options at backing up Bocanegra on the left.

3). Benny vs. Clark

With this morning's news from Schalke that Jermaine Jones might require another operation to fix his broken leg meaning that he possibly could be out of contention for a World Cup place, the battle for the starting spot next to Michael Bradley is starting to sizzle. The decision between these two really depends on where you want to play Bradley. Michael has shown himself to be successful in the holding midfielder role, but has also show glimpses of his playmaking capabilities when he gets into an advanced position. Plus, he's never afraid to pull the trigger when the chance presents itself. Benny Feilhaber was one of the US's better players for me in the first game against El Salvador. He showed an eagerness to get on the ball, and then great vision to pick out passes to his teammates. He also is probably one of the most technical players in the US player pool. From what he showed against El Salvador, his defensive presence has also improved. I don't remember a time when he wasn't tracking back to help cover rushing attackers, or a time when both him and Bradley got caught up the field at the same time. One more check mark in his resume is that he is a threat off of set pieces. When he's on the field, I think he should be the one bending balls into the box, not Donovan who is hit or miss with his set piece delivery. Ricardo Clark however, is completely opposite to Feilhaber. He likes to sit back and cover for Bradley, allowing Michael a little bit more time in the offensive side of the pitch. Usually he's not known for his offensive ability, but at the weekend it was his superb strike that was the difference in a hard fought win against Trinidad and Tobago. Still, don't expect him to be popping up on the score sheet very frequently, even for an assist. While he has the edge when it comes to defensive tenacity and positioning, he lacks the technical ability and vision that Feilhaber can bring. Its a hard call to make between the two, but purely out of what I have seen, I'm going to have to pick Clark to start over Benny. Why? Because to me Benny is the best option off the bench for the US. He might not bring overwhelming speed like Holden or Rogers, but his sublime passing and vision could be just what the doctor ordered in a tight match in the world cup.

4). Who needs a midfield anyway?

Did anyone else notice that we completely bypassed the midfield in both second halves of both games? Yeah, it was stupid. After taking the lead, that is precisely when one of the team leaders needs to step up and tell everyone to calm down and possess the ball. We needed to slow down the tempo of the game, but instead we decided to try to hit our opponents on the break....every single time we got the ball. The only thing thats going to come of that is that our midfield will tire, and lead to more bypassing of the midfleld.

Thats all I got, mainly because I can't remember anything else. I probably need to start taking notes or something.......Ahh, i hate taking notes. I'm well aware this is a shyte post, more quality next time.

Crucial Qualifier For the USA

Fri, 4 Sep 2009 19:18:09 -0500

Hello to you all again. Hope this long weekend has you longing for some good soccer. What to watch, what to watch? France-Romania, Portugal-Denmark, Argentina-Brazil? Fuck that, how about some USA-El Salvador? Ok, so maybe not as, erm, marque but still important nonetheless. Tomorrow the United States' finest face off against El Salvador for the return leg of the qualifying round. For those who have chosen to selectively forget (and I don't blame you), the USA's initial trip down to Central American country didn't exactly go as planned. Fresh off an opening qualifying win against Mexico at home, the boys stumbled to a late 2-2 draw needing 2 goals in the dying moments by veteran Frankie Hedjuk and then young boy Jozy Altidore.

Things will definitely be different this time around, at least when it comes to the environment of the game, but hopefully the outcome as well. The US will be playing in the 20,000 seat Rio Tinto stadium in Salt Lake City, and this time will more than likely have a largely pro-American crowd on hand. As of this moment (the evening before the game), there is still available tickets which tells us two things. One, that there won't be 20,000 screaming Salvadorians there. Two..... well, maybe it tells us just number one.

Anyway, the game tomorrow is the perfect chance for the Americans to get back on track after a bitter loss to rivals Mexico, who now look posed to make a late run to qualify for next year's main event. For the US, tomorrow's match is important because we just can't afford to eff things up at home. So far our home record has been superb and its mandatory that we take all points from any fixture inside the United States. We need to keep those points to stay ahead of the surging Mexico in qualifying ranking so that we can have an extra edge in the seeding for the World Cup draw. Last week coach Bob Bradley named his squad, so lets have a look at what we'll be sending into the fray (not the band).

Goalkeepers:

Tim Howard and Brad Guzan

Defenders:

Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Chad Marshall, Oguchi Onyewu, and Jonathan Spector

Mifielders:

Landon Donovan, Kyle Beckerman, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden, Robbie Rogers, and Jose Francisco Torres

Fowards:

Jozy Altidore, Conor Casey (apparently Bob Bradley's other son), Brian Ching (fuck), Charlie Davies, and Robbie Findley

By the way, for all those wondering, yes this squad is going to be the one used for both the El Salvador match at the weekend ane the Trinidad and Tobago game next Wednesday. A small squad if I don't mind saying myself, but it'll have to do. A few matters of significance before we get into who's going to start and where. First off, Gooch is suspended for tomorrow's match due to yellow card accumulation which sucks. What sucks even worse is the possible injury to the other center back Jay DeMerit. I've been searching all the websites I can think off to get some clarification on his injury, but there seems to be some discrepancies as to what exactly he injured, when he'll be fit again, and if he's injured at all. As of 9/3/09, the Watford FC website has our star man listed as fit and I'm sure they wouldn't have let him go if they had doubts as to his fitness. Hopefully Jay can get over whatever is bothering his back/hip/groin/badass gene in time for the game.

Then there's the two newboys: Robbie Rogers and Robbie Findley. For those of you who have been keeping tabs on the former Robbie, its no real surprise to see him called up after his stellar performances in the Gold Cup and I think there's more than one US soccer fan that thinks this is another step in the right direction for Bob Bradley and US soccer in general. Rogers brings blinding speed with a great natural left foot. Oh, did I mention the kid can strike the ball? Throughout the last two years some of his goals have been nothing short of outstanding, here's to hoping he can bring the same energy and skill to the US 'A' team.

While Robbie Rogers is a name that many US soccer know, Robbie Findley may be one that doesn't strike a cord. For those of you that don't know him, here a brief history (no, not from wikipedia). Back when the U-20 team was headed to the U-20 World Cup headlined by stars like Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore, Robbie Findley had to watch from his couch in England after breaking his ankle just prior to the tourney. He was at that time, plying his trade with Bolton's reserves and on the cusp of breaking into the first team from all accounts. Unfortunately, after his injury, the speedy forward struggled to regain his form and after some time made his way back to the MLS, where I believe he signed for Toronto FC before moving to Real Salt Lake. Had things not gone sour right before the World Cup, he may have established himself as an up and comer much like Jozy Altidore, Robbie Rogers, and Stuart Holden at the time. I confess that I've stopped following him after he moved back to the MLS, but apparetly he's shown good enough form to get a call up to the full national team. Now don't expect him to be in the starting line-up, but a late cameo for a tiring Charlie Davies or Jozy Altidore when the game is locked up might be in order. Either way, its a great chance to see if he's really got back on track to being the star he can be.

My final point before announcing my starting 11, is that Brian Ching and Conor Casey made the US roster, again. I'm still not sure what any US coach has ever seen in either of these two. They are good MLS strikers, but can't hack it in the international game and surely aren't two of the four best forwards the US has. Whatever.

This might be an abrupt transition, but here's our probable starting line up for El Salvador:

Tim Howard

Cherundolo, Marshall/DeMerit, Bocanegra, Bornstein

Dempsey, Bradley, Clark, Donovan

Altidore Davies

Nothing too crazy, just the standard 4-4-2 we've been seeing. Tim Howard has had a rough start of the season to put it lightly, but I have no doubts that he'll be starting for us. Old boy Cherundolo will again take his place on the right hand side, even though I think the job should have been Spector's to lose after the Confederation's Cup. If DeMerit's not fit, expect to see Chad Marshall slot in along side Bocanegra in the middle and Bornstein will come in to fill the gap on the left. I'd like to see Spector given some time at left in these two games, but I've come to realize that Bob Bradley and I don't exactly see eye to eye on many things. Midfield is unchanged, and shouldn't be until Jermaine Jones gets stateside. Finally, our sharp shooters up top have been on absolute fire with their new clubs this season. Jozy already has a goal and an assist to his name, assisting on a goal 28 seconds after his making his Premiership debut. Davies isn't exactly struggling either with Souchaux, opening up his French account with two goals from four appearances.

One last thought, completely un-US vs. El Salvador. It actually is about karma. Now, I'm not one of those "don't do that, it'll give you 7 years of bad karma" type people. However, many of you are aware of Adrian Mutu's completely unfair court order to pay chelski 14 million pounds. For those of you that aren't, here's a brief dossier on the situation, bear with me. In 2003, Mutu did coke, failed a drug test administered by chelski and was promptly booted from the team and had his contract nullified. They did this because they are uncaring bastards, because if they had actually cared about their player, they would have tried to rehabilitate the player. Anyway, they let him go for free. He was then signed on a free by Juventus and completely turned his life around. Now with Fiorentina and in high demand, chelski are now seeking 'damages' from him. The stupid morons that run that club don't realize that if they didn't like the player that much, they should have sold him on the next transfer window instead of axing him. To the point of my story, this morning chelski have been banned from signing any players for the next two transfer periods because of the way they lured some youth player. HAHA. How's that for karma you west London pricks?

Arsenal Falls 2-1

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:32:22 -0500

Ok, lets just cut to the chase. Yesterday's game was gut-wrenching. We controlled the game for the most part and really should have had Manchester United dead and buried early in the second half. But we shot ourselves in the foot, yet again.

As predicted, United got off to a bright start with an early chance landing to Darren Fletcher inside the box, but the Scot could only send his volley soaring into the stands. Soon after though, Arsenal got into the flow of the match and settled into a good groove of possession passing. Speaking of Fletcher, both Wayne Rooney and Alex Ferguson called him the player of the match, however, I'm not really sure they were watching the same game I was. Because the game I saw, saw Fletcher repeatedly kick, shove, and foul Arsenal players. For awhile there I thought someone had slipped Lysergic acid diethylamide into my drink because referee Mike Dean apparently had not been seeing the same thing. A quick phone to a fellow Arsenal buddie in San Francisco assured me that I was definitely not hallucinating and that there indeed had been many 'ghost' fouls.

Now I knew we were mostly likely not going to get any penalty decisions from the start in leu of last week's Eduardo antics. And for any potential appeals, it had definitely better be a rock solid case. The thing that bothers me is that we didn't just have one of those, we had two. The second was the easiest call to make and Mike Dean should have been able to call it from a lawn chair while talking to Almunia on the other end of the field. We'll get to the second appeal in just a bit, but first lets move to van Persie's.

With Arsenal dominating the game with fluid ball movement from side to side, the ball found its way to Robin van Persie's feet on the right hand side of the pitch. After a few sideways moves, he cut into the box where he was confronted by both Patrice Evra and Wes Brown. He feigned to the left (Evra's side) and cut right taking on Brown. As he glided away from Evra, the Frenchman stuck out a foot and caught Robin on the left leg, tripping him in the box. Robin, the stud he is, trips, maintains possession of the ball, takes on Brown, cuts away from him and is tripped AGAIN by Evra who just hacked at his left leg. Mike Dean, who has now had two chances to give the penalty from his position which had a clear, unobstructed view of the incident, instead says (and now I'm quoting), "Fuck you Arsenal, you're going to have to do better than that", before screaming "play on". Ok, if you read the laws of the game, the referee only says the words "play on" when there has been a foul committed and the team who had been fouled maintains an advantage. So obviously RvP fouled Evra by leaving his leg out there to be kicked, and we were fortunate to not have him be booked for this grievous offence.

After moments later, the ball was driven down the field by Denilson who fed the Diaby down the right after out-muscling Michael Carrick. Diaby picked his head up and served a delightful ball to the back post to the unmarked Andrei Arshavin. Yes, Man U left him unmarked.

He collected brilliantly and as Fletcher slide in to cover his lapse, AA knocked the ball to the side. Of course you don't exactly need a major in physics to tell what happens next. Fletcher went straight past the ball with his feet and right into Arshavin. Excuse me, I mean Fletcher lunged, and with both feet completely off the ground came straight through him in a scissor movement. To add to this, in his moment of madness, he extended his arms (to stabilize his flight through the air because he thought he was an air plane) and CLEARLY handled the ball inside the box.

Lets just count the amount of fouls on this 3 second play. Fletcher never made contact with ball with any part of his body except for his hands, which by the way is illegal in soccer, while then tackling the opponent. So there's one. He handled the ball, there's number two. He deliberately left the ground and with two feet, attempted to tackle the opposing player in a scissor motion. I can't even begin to count the amount of times I've seen a red card given immediately for that. Its a miracle that Arshavin saw Fletcher's stupidity in time and jumped right before Fletcher hit him, or he could have been seriously injured. To add to that, a ball that's handled in the box by a defender leads to an immediate yellow card for the offending player, and a red card if it directly stops a goal scoring opportunity. Now everyone's favorite Russian is lethal inside the box and it can be argued that handling is stopping a goal scoring opportunity, but lets give Fletcher the benefit of the doubt because, I mean, he's the player of the game and all. So count that as a yellow card. To recap, Fletcher committed two fouls, earning both a red card and a yellow. Or should have, anyway.

So what did Mike Dean think of this stonewall penalty call from his vantage point 10 yards away?

"HAHA, you Gunners really think you'll fool me with that blatant dive? Fletcher is going to be the player of the game"

Fuck you Mike Dean.

And AA, fuelled with Russian fury with a trace of vodka, immediately recovered possession and rifled the ball into the net from 23 yards. At this point Manchester looked to be in a whole world of trouble and at the brink of falling apart. Too bad we couldn't muster a second goal before the end of the second half. Still, Arsenal 1-0 at half is something that I would have taken before the game.

We started the second half with same passion and fire as we ended the first, and some excellent work by our Russian maestro (I'm still trying to figure out a cool Russian nickname for him) teed up RvP from 5 yards. His first time effort was magically turned aside by United keeper Ben "I wouldn't be starting for a MLS team" Foster. I'm still not sure he did that intentionally as I've seen him play on numerous occasions and he is terrible and has never pulled off a save as crucial. The law of averages I guess.

Moving along, Manchester finally started putting a few chances together. Then Ryan Giggs who was absolute drivel for most of the match, put through a ball that should never have amounted to anything. I'm not sure if Almunia was just bored as he hadn't been called into any action up until then, but he inexplicably came out. And just like that, Rooney took a touch and a tumble which may not be the correct order in which things happened. But Rooney would never go to ground easily, he's English. Nonetheless, Almunia's minimal contact was spotted by referee Mike Dean from 45 yards away through a sea of players. That makes sense. If you think I'm exaggerating the yardage go and watch the highlights from footytube. Its lunacy that he can make that call from there, but not see four separate fouls in the box from inside 15 yards.

Rooney turned in the ensuing penalty and sent an otherwise quiet United crowd into pandemonium. Then Giggs floated in a completely harmless freekick from the left after a nic-knack foul by Denilson. What should have been a routine, uncontested defensive clearance was botched so badly I don't know what to say. Diaby somehow headed into his own goal and left millions of Gunner fans scratching their heads not really sure what just happened.

The players must have been shell-shocked as well, because United started to dominate the proceeding from then on. Diaby did have a chance to atone for his mistake but slid his shot wide of the far post after doing all the hard work to get past 2 defenders. Berbatov and Nani showed how worthless they both are near the end of the game, both players missing chances to seal the win. Arsenal continued to push for the equalizer and with 5 minutes of added time giving us some hope. And then in the dying moments of the 95th minute, Gallas flicked the ball to RvP who crushed the ball into the net causing Arsenal fans to go crazy. His celebrations were cut short though as he saw the linesman's flag rightly raised for offsides on Gallas. Honestly I never thought in a million years we would have a goal ruled out because Gallas was offside.

In his exasperation, Arsene Wenger kicked a water bottle in the Arsenal dug out. Apparently the fourth official found fault with that, called over Mike Dean who then promptly sent Wenger to the stands. WITH 20 SECONDS LEFT. To compound problems, they made Wenger get up from his spot in the stands to stand with United supporters, who jeered him the entire way. Absolutely unacceptable. That is atrocious from the referee. Imagine if he had done that to Sir Alex Ferguson. Unbelievable.

So we lost to United not because they were better, but because they had a very fortunate penalty and an own goal. Their only two shots on target, one of which was from one of our players. As much as it hurts, we shouldn't lash out at Diaby. He had a terrific game in my opinion with the exception of the own goal. United got away, but the boys put in a fantastic performance and with lady luck on our side, the game could have easily been 3 or 4 to 1. And what of our player of the match? Oh well despite his numerous fouls and sloppy finishing, Fletcher escaped without a card. Wenger even mentioned him, although not by name, when he talked about a player who got away with over 20 fouls without as much as a caution. When asked to specify, he responded by saying "if you watched the game you know who I'm talking about". Yes, I know exactly who you are talking about Mr. Wenger.

All this is making my head hurt and my heart ache, so with that I bid you adeu. Til next time.

Arsenal Through, Manchester Next

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:31:42 -0500

Oh man, so much to say with so little time. Ok so its not so 'little time', but I haven't been keeping to the schedule that I had proposed, for which I apologize. So where else to begin today other than the all impressive Arsenal F.C.

In case you've been hiding behind a rock, you've heard/seen how utterly destructive Wenger's team have been. I mean what a way to start the season: 6-1 away, 2-0 away, 4-1 at home, and 3-1 at home. Not too shabby.

The last Wednesday's game saw Wenger make a few changes from over the weekend, with at least half an eye on tomorrow's match-up with United looming (although maybe not as much now that they are CR7-less). After giving the fullbacks a rest at the weekend, Sagna and Clichy were restored to the line-up with Vermaelen and Gallas again forming the core of the defense. In front of them were Denilson, Song, and Ivorian Eboue. Up top, the gunners started Bendtner on the left, Diaby on the right and Eduardo up top. In a usual system, I think don't think Eduardo would be well suited to life as a lone striker, but with Bendtner and Diaby roaming, he seemed more than comfortable.

Which transitions me perfectly to the moment that "Arsenal stole the tie". Bullocks. Celtic opened strongly with excellent interchange and all credit to them. They played an aggressive, pit bull-like game and seemed to trouble the back for the opening exchanges. However, soon after Arsenal settled into the game and started to control the tempo and flow of the game. Cue Eduardo. Now, I'm not going to defend him. It was a terrible dive and its awful to see something like that result in a goal. The ref can't be blamed really either, having seen the view of the incident he had (and he was in perfect position, or at least textbook position). From the 'head-on view' of the goal, it does appear that Boruc clips Eduardo's ankle with his leg. Regardless, expect Wenger to have a quiet word with the Brazilian-born Croat. It'll probably go something like this, "Eh!, wtf? Don't do it again. Shit, fuck, shit." Or something along those lines.

Anyway, Eduardo cooly slotted through the ensuing penalty and the game was done. Kinda, we just had 65 more minutes to get through. I don't know about you, but watching the game after the penalty was intensely nerve wracking simply because of the fact that the Celtic players seemed to up the ante when it came to the physicality. In deed, according to Arsenal.com, Aaron Ramsey, who was brought on as a substitute in the second half and played phenomenally for the second week in a row, will now miss the match at the weekend against United after he was caught by a tackle late on. By the way, for any of those who are wondering, I don't care that that was a run on sentence.

It took us a whole 45 minutes to get going, but after we did we were irresistible. The second goal was just classic, classic Arsenal. After working the ball from the back, the ball was played up the left hand side up to Bendtner, whose first time backheel was right into the path of onrushing Abou Diaby. Diaby, who again had a fantastic game, played the simple ball across the box to pick out Emmanuel Eboue, who should not be confused with greedy, lanky, dickcheek, all the fans hate me and now I'm crying, I moved to Man City because I believe in their project Emmanuel Adebayor. Eboue magnificently turned the defender, before he rifled in a low shot that left Boruc completely stranded. For the third goal, some good work by Denilson up the middle found its way to Andrei Arshavin who duly poked it to Ramsey. Ramsey, after collecting nicely, faked a shot and slid a perfectly weighted ball towards AA, who of course turned his defender and finished.

There really isn't that much to say about this game. We dominated. We dominated early and often, and it took Celtic 92 minutes to get a shot on frame, which happened to go in. Celtic weren't at the top of their game, but there was always only going to be one outcome.

Moving along, after fighting through the qualifiers Arsenal seem to be handed a Champions League draw straight from heaven. I mean, if you were to have told me that before the start of the season that a draw with AZ Alkmaar, Standard Liege, and Olympiakos was even possible I would have thought you mad. Seriously though, yes they are good teams. But they are not title contenders for the CL and it would truly be a travesty if we don't get out of the group. I'm predicting AZ to be the hardest team to beat away from home, but even that shouldn't stop us rounding out the group as the leaders.

On to the big game.

United at Old Trafford is a game that both sets of fans get excited for. Its the first match that I put down in my calendar, and the game that I always want to win the most. Unfortunately, last year we got swiped twice with loses, once in the league and once even more painfully in the Champions League. By fucking John O'Shea. Damn him.

Again, to my point, tomorrow is the day that I have been waiting for ever since Ruud van Nistelroy broke our 'Invicible' record at 49 games. I think we have the chance to absolutely blow them out. We have been playing absolutely superbly and even our 'fringe' players like Diaby, Eboue, and Ramsey getting involved heavily. That mixed with the onset of teen sensation and Paul Scholes 2.0 Jack Wilshere, make us a very formidible force to be reckoned with. And honestly, United haven't been putting their best foot forward as of late. After starting slow yet again, they crushed a sorry Wigan side by 5. Oooo. That was also the team that were absolutely thrashed by Blackpool 4-1, so I'm not so sure of how good of a gage the Wigan match is for United. Are they only 1 goal better than Blackpool? Of course not, but are they 1 goal better than the Arsenal? I don't think so.

One of my favorite bloggers, Arseblog, is tipping our favorite Russian playmaker to be the difference on the morrow. A fair pick, but I've cast my own eye on another player entirely. One whom no one would think to be the difference maker. And who might this be? (Drum roll)

NICOLAS BENDTNER!!!!!

I honestly think that tomorrow we will see the advent of one of the most productive strikers for our team this season. He might not have opened his account for the season yet, but I'm predicting that a brace from Nicky plus another late on by our other leading striker William Gallas to run out 3-1 winners over the Manchester boys. Bold and refreshing, just like the Samuel Adams in my hand.

Not too much else for new for Arsenal, except for those pesky injuries. According to Arsenal's podcast, Cesc Fabregas is "50-50" to make the game. Also, Ramsey who had a positive scan on his knee, is most likely not going to be risked. Theo Walcott is still out. So is Rosicky, but on the positive side, Rosicky has returned to full training, but he won't be fit enough for the weekend. Finally, don't expect to see Djourou, Vela, or Nasri on the field for the next few weeks as they are still well shy of their recovery dates. It'll be a fun match at the Theatar of Dreams, and I expect to see a bullish ManU and an attractive Arsenal go at it. In the end, Arsenal with their new 4-3-3 formation, will be too much. My predictions on the starting line-up are as following:

Almunia

Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Clichy

Diaby, Song, Denilson

Arshavin, van Persie, Bendtner

See you at the game! Ok, not really, but come on you gunners!!

Arsenal Hit Pompey for 4

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:20:06 -0500

Another day, another dollar.....or pound I guess in England. Either way, Arsenal is looking more and more unstoppable and from all the signs, this could be The Season (I don't think I have to explain what I mean by that). Yes I know, its only two weeks into the season. Even Le Professor himself said that it takes ten games to determine league standing, paraphrasing of course. The point I'm trying to make though is that Arsenal were completely written off as having no chance for the title and were the most likely of the 'Big Four' to drop out of the top four. Before jumping into Saturday's game versus Portsmouth, lets just take a look at how the other teams in the Big Four are faring.

Lets start with Liverpool, a side that most pundits had finishing easily on top of us before the season began. The Reds were thrashed by Aston Villa 3-1......at home. The best part of this is the fact that it was their second loss of the season, their first coming courtesy of our own cross-town rivals Spurs. The only team Liverpool have beaten is Stoke City, a team completely out-gunned when it comes to available talent.

Then there is much malgined Manchester United, albeit this year without their get-out-of-jail card that was CR7. Last year, it was Cristiano who grabbed the Mancs by the trousers and dragged them to victory time and time again much to the irriation of Chelsea and Liverpool fans. And even though he won the big games for them, he was also the inspirational difference that won the scrappy games against 'lesser' opposition, something that Arsenal lacked last year. If their match against Burnely is any indication, they now lack that ability. That aside, with the exception of their match this weekend, they have played largely uninspired and sometimes boring football and haven't impressed.

Finally there is Chelsea. In all honesty, I think it will come down to Arsenal and Chelsea for the title. They seem to have a good system in play and Carlo Ancelloti has taken over where Hiddink left off. Their squad is almost completely unchanged from that of last year and as long as key players such as Lampard and Drogba have good seasons, they will be challenging come May.

With that in mind, it is utterly foolish to write off the Gunners. Not only have they managed to play beautifully, they managed to make the scoreboard reflect it. Their 4-1 trouncing of Portsmouth is the just the continuation of what they have been doing since preseason.

We started the game with a few changes to the line-up, no doubt with Arsene thinking ahead to the midweek clash against Celtic. Eboue and Gibbs replaced Sagna and Clichy respectively at the back, while Alexander Song was given a rest with Diaby replacing the impressive Cameroonian. Finally, Nicky Bendtner was swapped out with Eduardo on the left hand side, moving Arshavin to the right with van Persie up top.

The game started with a bang as Arsenal immediately got possession and after a few silky passes put Abou Diaby of all people in on goal. While his shot was blocked away by a sliding Belhadj, the warning signs were there for all to see.

Again Arsenal grabbed possession after Portsmouth failed to keep the ball and good ball by Fabregas picked out the Croatian Eduardo on the left. After controlling, he pushed the ball around the defender with infinite ease and cruised on by before cutting the ball back to the top of the penalty area. The inch perfect ball was met by Diaby who's first time, right-footed rocket found the upper corner. Pompey, while a little deflated, searched for the equalizer. After a trip on the left hand side of the pitch, they lauched a freekick into the box. Diaby was highest to the ball however, and cleared with a header. Arshavin then picked up the loose ball on the right, found Cesc in the middle, who then sent a terrific through ball to Eboue who had bombed down the right hand side of the pitch. His first time ball across the 6 yard box found none other than Johnny-on-the-spot Diaby, who cooly slotted it past David James. Now I must say, Diaby supposedly has been working on his physical game in the off-season, but I attribute his impressive form to his hair, or his unlack of it. Keep the hair Abou, I think your talents growing with it.

Credit to Portsmouth as they kept battling. Finally after a corner from the left that wasn't properly cleared, Portsmouth were able to knock in another cross to the 6 yard box. This time however, Almunia hesitated, allowing Kaboul to leap higher than the Empire State Building and knock it in. While I blame the keeper for that one, the sheer height of Kaboul's jump itself should warrant a goal as I swear his head cleared the top of the crossbar.

Moving along.

The only remaining action that occured in the first half was a shot by van Persie, who was earlier denied by James from a freekick. After recieving the ball in the penalty area, he wriggled around a few defenders before seeing his right-footed shot saved well by James before being cleared away. Only a goal back at halftime, Pompey mustered a few half chances to the start the second half with Piquione wasting a golden chance when he was one-on-one with Almunia. Then came the 'moment of controversy', which in my opinion wasn't. As Nigerian striker John Utaka was sent in on goal, he was chased by Gallas. He ended up sprawled out on the floor as Gallas caught up to him at the edge of the box. Later replays show that he tripped himself, but with our luck from last year along with the protestations from the Portsmouth bench, Gallas easliy could have seen himself sent off. To add to the hiliarity (at least mine), Gallas popped up on the other side of the pitch minutes later to effectively seal the win. Apparently City signed the wrong striker from us because Gallas has now scored in all three games so far, making him the leading goalscorer. Wtf?

With Portsmouth consigned to defeat, substitute Aaron Ramsey made a cutting run that was picked out by Robin van Persie and the young Welshman iced the game. Fantastic play from all our players. I'm more than impressed with the new partnership of Gallas and Vermaelen, who between them have 4 goals and one assist in three games while only letting in 2 goals on the other end. However, what impressess me the most so far is how far a few of our players have progressed since the end of last season. Abou Diaby had himself a fine match and earned high praise from the manager, even being likened to midfield general, Patrick Viera. If he can stay healthy for the whole season, he could be of tremendous use, especially in the spring when the African Cup of Nations and the Champions League starts in earnest. Alex Song, who will be missing in the early part of 2010 for the ACN, has also looked very impressive, even though he didn't see the field on Saturday. He seems to have kicked his habit of errant passes, and his grit and physical presence in the middle of the field have come leaps and bounds in terms of where it was at the start of last year. Both of these players must step up and become the stars in their own right if Arsenal are to hoist any silverware this season. Above all else, they need to stay healthy, which brings me to my final point.

Aaron Ramsey was subbed on at halftime for Cesc Fabregas, who limped out with a hamstring injury. All fingers crossed that it's nothing more than some tightness, with the big game with ManU next week and all. Nasri, Walcott, Djourou, Rosicky, and Vela are all still MIA with injuries so the last thing we need is for our captain to join that list. It'll be interesting to see how Wenger will replace Cesc for Wednesday's CL match against Celtic, but from what we've seen of Ramsey so far, it may be the perfect situation to give the lad some big game experience. Hopefully there will be some news on the situation tomorrow, and I'll have it here for the preview for the Celtic match. Til next time.

Arsenal Sets the Pace like Usan Bolt

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:04:08 -0500

Its been an excellent week for all gunner fans to be sure. Everyone was asking questions about our team, not to mention many fans, including myself, thinking we needed to add to the squad. And in all honesty, we still may need to because of our propensity for having our key players get injured down the stretch. That aside, lets get caught up on the past few months.

The gunners opened up the 2009/2010 season against last season's fifth place team and this season's Europa contenders Everton F.C. at Goodison Park. It was always going to be a great game and Everton are usually pretty tough for the 'Big Four' teams to break down at home. Back when the Premier League fixtures were announcedit seemed that the Gunner's had the hardest first stretch of games out of the top four. After the opening fixture we would have to play a Champions League qualifier with more than a few pundits predicting an early Champions League exit......Before we even knew who we were playing! Fuck! To add to that, Greedy Pockets City were buying every player in the world that was above an 85 in FIFA 09. Samir Nasri then broke his leg, Adebayor cried his way out of the team, and Kolo left us with a whimper. All of a sudden the summer had taken a drastic downturn and fortunes looked very gloomy indeed.

To add to this, we ended up signing only a relative no-name player and continuely were beaten to 'better' options such as Benzema and Felipe Melo. Even the slight hope we all had to sign Patrick Viera didn't come true. Then preseason was upon us and apparently so was a new mystery formation. And boy did it work. We cruised through all the preseason games with the exception of Valencia, not only playing beautifully but also showcasing a killer finish. You can't read too much into preseason though, and so we watched and waited for the big day, Everton.

While the wait seemed like an eternity, damn it was worth it. The boys played absolutely scintiliating football. After threatening early in the game, some great build up play by Bendtner and Fabregas set up a stunner of a goal by Denilson. Then Robin van Persie's freekick teed up Thomas Vermaelen for his first goal in his Arsenal career. And remember when I called him a 'no-name'? Well, you should remember this name because he formed a very formidible partnership with William Gallas and had a peach of a game. Speaking of Gallas, he popped up on the offensive side of the ball just before half time to head home his own set piece, this time swung in by Fabregas.

With Everton in shambles, Arsenal went for the jugular in the second half. Two goals from Fabregas and a sixth from Eduardo sealed the game for the gunners. Both Fabregas' goals were beauties, but his first had Arsenal written all over it. After winning the ball in the defensive third, Arshavin played the ball up to Denilson, who then found van Persie. After controlling, his pass between the legs of struggling Joleon Lescott found Cesc who cooly slotted through the legs of poor Tim Howard. And you have to feel for Howard, out of all six goals a one-on-one with Cesc was the only goal he even had a chance at saving. It hasn't been a good last few games for Timmy, but I'm sure he'll get over it.

Of course after the game, 70% of the press, especially in England were saying that it was a fluke result and that Everton didn't show up. Apparently, beating last years number 5 team at their place 6-1 was purely the result of luck. Luck that Everton came out flat. Luck that City was causing a disturbance in their team (go figure). Luck that....well, fuck I don't know. Maybe if we had scored that seventh goal, they would've believed that we are good...

Anyway, Arsene and the boys didn't have time for answering that nonsense, they had a heavy fixture at Whitehead Park, home of the Glasgow Celtic and notorious spot for upsetting top sides. So what do we do in a pressure cooked environment? Play at pace with skillful passing and we finally got that little thing called luck to go in our way. The goals came from a very fortunate Gallas deflection and an own goal, but the boys completely deserved it.

And still, even though our form shows otherwise, people are just calling us lucky. Thats fine, fuck you. We have Pompey up next and when we beat them. people will say "Its just Portsmouth, they're shyte mate". Yes, Portsmouth are shit, but they also are the next team in the way of our Primeir League title so we'll knock them out of the park. Or the Grove for that matter. Anyway.

They come into the game with not so much luck as us and really are in bad shape. I think at the end of the year, you'll be seeing Pompey fans crying because of relegation. They've had a lot of troubles lately and it seems that the only skilled players on their side are David James and that Krancjar chap. And even these two are a shadow of what they were a few short years ago.

According to the club website Arsenal.com, everyone from last match is fit. We're still missing Theo, Rosicky (of course), Nasri, and Vela. Other than that we should be at full strength unless the team bus gets into a wreck. Knock on wood.

So until after the match, smell you later.

Thoughts on the Azteca match + Player Ratings, albeit late

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:06:35 -0500

Hey guys, sorry about how late this posting came. The reason for the delay was in short, "life happened". The good news however, is that I've decided on a schedule for updating the blog (as cheers can be heard from all around the world). I will do a preview of each upcoming match on each Friday for Arsenal matches and the day before every US international game. The US game previews are most likely going to be a bit shorter unless there is some significant news going around. In addition to this, I'll be giving my thoughts on how the boys (both Stars&Stripes and gooners) the day after the match. So without further delaying my earlier delay......

2-1 Mexico in the Azteca. Fml. Seriously.

After yet another hard to swallow loss to our most hated rivals at the Azteca the US team and fan base have little solace in the performance of the team. Yes, it was at altitude. Yes, we have never won in Mexico. And yes, there is smog, dirt, filth, 100,000+ hooligan fans, and bad officiating. But you just can't help thinking that we should have come away with all three points.

My prediction that we would start out defensively and frustrate Mexico was completely and utterly wrong. And to my absolute sheer joy, I watched Landon Donovan play a fantastic defense cutting ball diagonally to Charlie Davies. The diminutive striker's finish was anything but small as he tucked a curled effort away with world class. After the goal, the US settled down and played very similarly to what I had thought they would have opened out as. The defensive line was neat and compact. They stayed at home and did their jobs. Michael and Clark played right above Onyewu and DeMerit, providing the shield, and Landon and Clint Dempsey looked creative on the ball. Hmmm, what could be missing then?

Oh yeah, possession.

Unfortunately, after we scored we failed to hold onto possession of the ball. The US has the best fitness of any team in the world. We can chase Brazil (more or less), we can chase Spain, and we can even usually chase Mexico. But we can't chase Mexico in the Azteca. It will never happen. We seemed to never fully recover possession by the time that Mexico struck the equalizer ten minutes after Davies' opener. And worse, our stars again had a quiet day. Dempsey, Donovan, and Bradley all had sub-par performances by their standards. After assisting on Davies' goal, Landon seemed to be swallowed by the Mexican defenders. He was either helping out on defense or double teamed, and couldn't get involved in any build up play the rest of the game.

But more than lacking individual play on the evening, the US was far too concentrated on all out defense than possession. As soon as they would steal the ball, it would be kicked up toward Brian Ching who would subsequently lose possession. Either that, or Charlie Davies was sent on a long run which usually ended in him "fouling" the defender. It all made for a nervy finish that was all but too predictable and familiar for the last part of the second half looked eerily similar to the US-Brazil Confederations Cup final. And again, lack of possession killed us.

There's really not much else to say about the game besides it gave Mexico a lifeline back into the World Cup qualifying and took a little bit of the swagger out of our step. It was gut-wrenching. Lets have a quick look at player ratings and forget all about this failed adventure in Mexico and gear up for the next few WC qualifiers, in which our players will be able to breathe.

Coach Bob Bradley - 7

Honestly, I'm the first to criticize Bradley. However, the loss in the Azteca was anything, but his fault. In my opinion, he actually did a good job on both squad selections, tactics, and substitutions. The team played the right defense to win the game. Unfortunately, we needed to play defense and keep possession, and we only did the former. Still, bringing on Stuart Holden and Benny Feilhaber early in the second half for an ineffectual Ching and tiring Ricardo Clark were great decisions. True they didn't change the game as much as they should have, but how many times over the last year have we yelled for certain substitutions only to get none or even worse "bad" substitutions. I would have made the same decision, and both these players have been on fire lately so it was a sign the Americans were trying to do more offensively. Holding onto Jozy until late was a great call too and on another night, in another stadium it would've proved to be golden. Unfortunately, Bob didn't have an answer for Mexico's possession and it cost us big time.

Goalkeeper

Tim Howard - 7.5

Would have had a great night had luck gone his way. He was again himself, making a few clutch saves, especially on Gio dos Santos, that baby-faced prick. He was given no chance on the equalizer, which again was bombed in from long range. Why we can't close down shooters sooner is infuriating, almost as infuriating as Marcelo Balboa saying that we should "take our chances on them" shooting from range a few minutes before they did just that. His reactions just didn't let him keep out the winner, but still another solid day at the office, no matter how painful it ended.

Defenders:

Steve Cherundolo - 6.5

Couldn't be at fault for any of the goals. He did a neat and tidy job at the back with his experience really showing. Also it was good to see that he is back fully healthy. He tried to push forward, but to say he did so with great success is a very bold overstatement. His runs usually ended with him getting fouled/tackled off the ball and giving up possession. Whether he tried to do too much or Dempsey didn't do enough is debatable, but whatever it was, it didn't lead to a goal.

Jay DeMerit - 5.5

I'm a fan of his, but this game wasn't his best in the US uniform by a long shot. He had trouble with Mexican forwards all night, most notably Franco. He picked up a silly yellow card and looked winded all night. He was just missing that extra little bit that made him great at the Confed Cup. Hopefully that has more to do with the venue and not his consistency or skill level. Still, he wasn't horrible and to blame him on the last goal should be a sin. 99 out of 100 times his tackle on Juarez would've sent the ball out of touch, but yesterday it sent it straight to Sabah who rifled in the winner late on.

Oguchi Onyewu - 8.5

I just looked up wall in the dictionary, and there's a picture of Onyewu in place of the definition. He was everywhere disrupting plays and won everything in the air yet again. His only questionable moment came when he was caught ball watching slightly on the winner. His pause allowed Sabah to turn and shoot. Still, he was impressive and showed why a big club like A.C. Milan came calling.

Carlos Bocanegra - 6

In and out of the game in sorts. We didn't hear his name being called that much, but that's usually a good thing for a defender. He held back for cover in defense and, if I'm not mistaken, never tried to combine with Landon down the wing. He did look susceptible however on many occasions, and even said afterward that the game winning goal occurred because he was pulled out of position. Not terrible, but I was hoping to see a little bit more.

Midfielders:

Landon Donovan - 6

Unfortunately, the Landon we all saw during the Confed Cup didn't show up against Mexico. Maybe this is because Mexico mark him more than any other country, but he barely touched the ball after his magical turn and pass to set up Davies. For large stretches of times, you kinda forgot he was even on the field. For the best player in the US pool and one of leaders of the team I just expected more out of him.

Michael Bradley - 6

Bradley, the Michael variety, had his hands full in the midfield and for the most part, I thought he coped with the pressure pretty well. I would have liked him to get up field more as I said in the preview however, as I see him as the engine of the team. Usually he runs things through the middle and his driving runs push the US attack forward. Unfortunately, both he and Ricardo Clark were clogged at the back, preventing them from transitioning into attack. To compound issues, there was no outlet pass for them once they got the ball. Seen better from him, and the US needed more on the night.

Ricardo Clark - 5.5

Played reasonably well for the first half, although he should've been better positioned to stop Castro from shooting from outside the box on the first goal. He was hard in the tackles, but stayed on his feet for the most part which was good because the referee was looking to give a red card to someone it seemed. I can't really remember him in the game either and I think the majority of his work came on the defensive front. He started to visibly tire in the second half and that caused him to stay further back on defense, disabling his ability to shift to attack. This happened to the US as a whole, but on a few occasions I saw Clark win the ball only to then give it back straight away with a lousy long ball up to Ching. It went against everything that the US needed to do to win, and they didn't.

Clint Dempsey - 5.5

Dempsey looked sharp at the start of the game. Unlike in previous games, he came back to help out on defense and tried to transition to offense after recovering possession. However, I can vividly remember thinking that he was doing too much running, as stupid as that sounds. And he did. After a good start, he was lost in the sea of smog and his runs forward became fewer and far between. He had a slight resurrection in the second half, but it was too little too late. I don't think he touched the ball once when he got moved up top.

Forwards:

Charlie Davies - 8.5

I thought Davies played outstanding. He did everything that was asked of him, even if it was to chase down every ball kicked up to him. He worked tirelessly, until he cramped and was substituted. His pace threatened Mexico on multiple occasions and only a timely Magallon tackle stopped him from being through on goal for the second time in the second half. The hold up play that Brian Ching was supposed to be doing but wasn't, was picked up by Davies and he chased long balls down the line too give the defense a break. Finally, his diving header was mistimed in my opinion and he should have made that cross count. Still, for doing all the offensive work by himself, he didn't do bad.

Brian Ching - 4

Just plain bad. I don't know what to say to him. All the reasons why I don't like him as a player showed the other day. Again, everyone knows what I think of him so there is no reason to say it again. You're a useless piece of shyte! *terets* Oops.

Subs:

Stuart Holden - 6.5

He did well for a young lad in a high pressure situation in my opinion. His excellent cross from the right hand side almost connected with the head of a diving Charlie Davies and would have certainly given the US the lead if it had. Because of Mexico's relentless pressure and the US' inability to hold onto the ball, he was forced to stay in the defensive third for the remainder of the night, however. But I'd love to see more of this kid in the future, and don't be surprised if he not only makes the World Cup team, but also hits a very important goal for the US off the bench. For the record, when that happens, you heard it hear first.

Benny Feilhaber - 6

When he stepped out onto the field, I along with every US fan thought about his marvelous strike against Mexico in '07. Unfortunately, he couldn't duplicate and really, he didn't do too much offensively. He came on for a worn out Clark and "took over the offense" or so to speak. Too bad the US couldn't hold the ball to get some offense going. I don't blame him solely though, and the main reason I rated him as high as a 6 was because of the way he backed up Davies who was injured when he was mobbed by Mexican players. We need more players like that, players who when our star players are being kicked, will do the same to the other teams. It's not the prettiest thing, or even the most sporting, but it is necessary.

Jozy Altidore - N/A

Wasn't really on the pitch too long and didn't really touch the ball at all. That is usually a negative, but when you consider that he had no service, its not really his fault.

US vs. Mexico Preview, Part 2: Tactics

Fri, 7 Aug 2009 21:04:07 -0500

Hello again, sorry its taken so long to get the follow up to the preview uploaded. I had some unfinished business with some beer that needed to be taken care of before school starts. But anyway, back to football....

A lot has happened since the previous post, but most notably Bob Bradley has released the 20 man roster for the game. The team he listed is below:

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard and Brad Guzan

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Chad Marshall, Oguchi Onyewu, and Jonathan Spector

Midfielders: Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden, and José Francisco Torres

Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Brian Ching, Charlie Davies, Landon Donovan, and Conor Casey*blah*

There are a few items worth taking note from the squad named. First, we only named 20 players, which means that Bradley is most likely looking at bringing in 3 more. One of the names left off the squad as of right now is Freddie Adu. Most likely we'll see the inclusion of one more goalkeeper (my money's still on Troy Perkins) and two midfielders. The midfield choices are much more open though. The choices are endless (kinda), but if Bradley decides against Adu, he better not pick up Sacha Kljestan or DaMarcus Beasely. Honestly, at this point I think Kyle Beckerman is ahead of Sacha in the pecking order and Beasley isn't even on the list. I think he's going to pick up Robbie Rogers and at least with him, its more or less a pretty safe option. Also, it has come to my attention that Jermaine Jones (my now star acquisition on FIFA 09) is out injured with a hair line fracture to his leg. He's supposed to be out until early October and rumors are circulating that he may get a call up for the next round of qualifiers.

So how will we be able to use these players to our benefit and what line-up are we most likely going to see?

Most of the ESPN writers seem to think that we'll again use the 4-4-2 again. No surprise there. The 4-4-2 has definitely become the fan's and players' choice for formations, and thank God Bob Bradley's as well. It provides stability at the back, while giving enough fire power and structure to the attack. So lets start from the back.

Again our defensive line of Spector, DeMerit, Onyewu, and Bocanegra should be the starters. There's a chance that Bob Bradley restores Cherundolo in place of Spector, but I don't think Stevie has done enough to warrant a place over Spector. Also, Cherundolo may not be fully match fit and if so shouldn't be starting in the Azteca.

During the Confederation's Cup, we saw Spector bombing down the field to help out offensively, putting in a few highlight reel crosses in the process. But for the Mexico game, we are most likely going to see both fullbacks stay at home, at least for the opening 50-60 minutes. Now, I'm not a fan of packing it in and playing defense, however, for the first part of this match the Americans need to make sure they don't give up an early goal. We CANNOT fall behind and chase the game, only bad things will come of that. That's exactly why the key to an American victory in the Azteca hinges on one word: Possession. By playing possession we will not only frustrate the Mexican players who will want to attack attack attack, but also it'll take the boisterous crowd out of the game. If we can frustrate the Mexican attack, they may start throwing more numbers forward as the pressure starts mounting on them. Which is exactly what we want to happen. Everyone knows just how good the US counter-attack is, just ask Brazil. Hitting Mexico on the counter is our best bet to strike first. So again, expect to see a very compact back line that will sit higher up the field than usual. We don't want to sit back in our own box, just to let Mexican banditos launch long range missiles at altitude. Also, playing a higher defensive line will enable the midfield to help provide more defensive cover, while at the same time allowing possession play to develop much easier.

The midfield will be responsible for the control of possession. We'll most likely start Dempsey and Landon on the wings with Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark sitting deep in the middle. The former pair will be responsible for the majority of the offensive build up play. Landon will have to use his speed and vision to create space for the forward pairing. A few excellent crosses might not hurt either. Dempsey doesn't have blinding speed, but when he's on his game he seems to be at the right place at the right time. He's also been known to play some niffty through balls, and with news of Rafa Marquez aka Dickwad missing in the back for Mexico, it could be one of his timely balls that breaks the Azteca.

Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark are set to continue their great chemistry in the middle of the field. Remember both those players sliding around blocking shots and making tackles against Spain? Well they're going to have to put in the same performance at the Azteca as their defensive grit will be what drives the US to victory. Another important goal for both these players: DON'T GET SENT OFF! Or anyone wearing the Stars and Stripes for that matter. These two will be key for possession play. They will have to be the shield for the back line. With Mexico liking to play direct, down the middle football, they'll have their hands full. This is one of the problems in the US-Mexico Gold Cup final. Both Logan Pause and Kyle Beckerman left their posts unguarded, exposing the US backline. Look for Clark to sit deep while Michael provides a bit more in the attack. Bradley will need to be careful though as the high altitude will take its toll when he makes his box-to-box runs. When he breaks up a play, look for him to find Landon and Dempsey out wide with simple passes.

In the Confederation's Cup, we saw Jozy Altidore and Charlie Davies form a formidable partnership up front. While Davies is on the roster, the fact that Bob Bradley named Ching to the roster as well gives a foreshadowing of what he may decide to do. Most likely, he'll decide to start a pairing of Altidore-Ching, with Davies coming in off the bench. And while anyone who reads this blog regularly will know how much I...erm....disapprove of Ching, I will concede that this may be the starting pairing for this occasion. They have shown that they can definately play well together, with Jozy scoring a hat-trick when they paired against Trinidad in April. But a better reason for choosing them is that Jozy plays better when playing off a target striker, which as much as I begrudge Ching, he is. Also, Jozy wasn't able to go the full 90 in the Confederation's Cup and I don't think he'll be able to do it in Cuidad de Mexico. As a substitute Davies could bring experience and fresh legs, and more importantly a true offensive threat off the bench. Whatever happens and whoever starts, the forwards will need to play with their backs to goal more often than not. Most importantly, they have to finish when they get the chance. Brian Ching, this means you.

Finally, set pieces may be best bet the US have for scoring against Mexico. With Onyewu, Bocanegra, Ching, Bradley, and Dempsey as targets, the US should be more threatening in the air than Mexico. Donovan will need to make the best of opportunties when he gets them, so hopefully the US has been working on them.

The US this summer has grown as a team and has taken on a definable style of play that has been lacking in the past. While not free-flowing attacking football like the Samba Kings of Brazil, the US has clothed itself in a style so gritty that Frank Miller movies would be envious, as well as lightning fast counter-attacks. And I'm not going to lie, I like it.

A Look At Possible US Squad, Part 1: Squad Selection

Mon, 3 Aug 2009 17:37:48 -0500

Last week Mexico coach Javier Aguirre named los tricolores' roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against the USA. In it he named several members of Mexico's Gold Cup winning team, 12 in total. Desperately seeking a win to get their qualifying campaign back on track, Mexico has thrown a very strong team together for the clash in the heart of Mexico City, a place where the US has a record of 0-18-1. Just to clarify for anyone who's confused, thats 18 losses and one tie, not the other way around.

That record alone should be indicative of the extremely tough task ahead of Bob Bradley and his staff in getting the right players together to avoid adding yet another loss. They will also need to come up with a better game plan as well. In bringing in the the core squad of the Gold Cup, Aguirre will most likely play pretty much the same way with this squad, which promises to be the strongest Mexico has to offer.

So with all of this working for the benefit of the hosts, what can we expect from the US? And what strategy is required to unlock the Mexico defense at the Azteca? Bob Bradley will release his squad list sometime in the next week, but lets have a look at the possible selections he will have at his disposal.

If nothing else, this summer has shown US fans where the we sit when it comes to player progress, depth pool, and what tactics seem to work/don't work. Lets start at team selections for the game.

At goalie, unless a mexican gangster puts a hit out on Tim Howard, the Evertonian will be starting between the pipes. He was in phenonmenal form in the Confederations Cup and his leadership and organization at the back will be more than needed. Behind him expect to see Peace Cup final hero Brad Guzan. He made a few solid saves for Villa earlier in the pre-season and was a wall stopping 3 penalties against Juventus in the final. He has also had a good summer, dating back to the Confederation's Cup group stage where he was solid in goal against the Pharohs of Egypt.

The third spot on the squad is the only spot up for grabs in terms of goalkeeping. In the 2006 World Cup, Arena turned to Marcus Hahnemann, who now plies his trade at Premiership club Wolverhampton. I'm not so sure about him right now, but a strong season in the Premiership could get him called back to the squad for South Africa. Little known Luis Robles was another to see time with the US this summer. Unfortunately, his summer didn't go that well. After getting called up for the Confederations Cup as the 3rd keeper, he got his debut against Haiti in the Gold Cup. He couldn't have had a worse time in goal as he saw the minnows bulge the back of his net twice. At the moment, Troy Perkins fits the bill as the No. 3 keeper for me. He's in form, plays in Europe, and has very good reactions which were tested often in the second half of the Gold Cup final. In addition, he might be the one who benefits the most from this experience in terms of taking in the atmosphere and understanding what it is to truly play a game of massive importance.

Thankfully, one of the major questions of the national team before the Confed Cup has been resolved, at least more or less. I'm talking about the defense of course. At least now we won't have to speculate on the possiblity of DaMarcus Beasley being the leftback or having Danny Calif lining up as starting center back. The back four of Spector, Onyewu, DeMerit, and Bocanegra looks to be set in stone barring injury, *knocking on wood. Besides playing well together, these four bring a physical aspect toughness mixed with guile and excellent positioning. To add to that Onyewu and Bocanegra add an extra threat on set pieces that could well be vital. Backing them up, I would call up Chad Marshall, Clarence Goodson, Frankie Hedjuk, and Stevie Cherundolo. And before anyone starts yelling, yes I fully realize that leaves out a true left-sided fullback but my thinking is that Jonathan Bornestein is more dud than stud when it comes to big time international football. Steve Cherundolo and Spector can play on either side, and my thinking is that if we need cover at the leftback spot we should turn immediately to Cherundolo. He has tons of experience playing in the Bundesliga and the 2006 World Cup. Even though he only played a few games early in the Gold Cup competition, he showed that he is fully fit and healthy. That coupled with his propensity of not making mistakes makes him an ideal fill in man. Chad Marshall and Clarence Goodson are in the squad after their overall good performances in the Gold Cup. If an injury does happen to either Gooch or DeMerit, I think it should be Chad Marshall who steps into the void. His man to man marking is excellent and he doesn't lack for quickness which is so crucial in the center back position. Goodson being tall and lanky is a solid European defender, but he still needs to progress before I care to see him on the field against quality opponents. Last but certainly not least comes Frankie. He's a solid player and plays with great intensity and heart. But thats not why he's on my roster. He makes the squad because even at 34, he's one of the most fit American players in the pool. And at altitude where the thin air is made thinner by the smog around the city, you need to take athletic players because this game might hinge on having that extra little bit in the tank.

On to the midfield selections. Here, like the defense, the starters look to be somewhat already settled on. Landon, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, and Dempsey should round out the four man unit. This is where the game will be won or lost as it will be these guys who will do the most running. For the most part the playmaking will be left to Lando and Demps, with Bradley and Clark anchoring the middle of the field and controlling Mexican playmakers Blanco and Guardado. When Bob Bradley looks to the bench, he needs to bring on players with technical talent, good physical conditioning, and intelligent play. To me, the choices are obvious. Jose Francisco Torres needs to make his re-entrance into the squad, but play this time. He plays in Mexico so he'll be more used to the altitude than others on the roster, he's gifted technically, and an excellent passer of the ball. Stuart Holden also makes my roster. He is young and maybe slightly inexperienced, but a baptism by fire might be what we need to judge whether or not we can count on this laddie in World Cup games. My gut tells me he's up to the task. Benny Feilhaber is in the squad for me as well. He was prime time coming off the bench against Spain and had a great showing against Brazi. His versitilty could also be useful for in-game tactical changes, as he has been used in the middle and the right side.

The biggest question is who to include as the last midfielder? In Holden and Benny you have two very good offensive options. They both track back well, but in no means are defensively minded. Torres is slightly closer to the title, but again he is more able to play in an attacking role. So ideally you would want the last player on the bench to be a combative defensive midfielder. A year ago the choice would have been between three players: Maurice Edu, Sacha Klejstan, and Pablo Mastroeni. Edu is still recovering from knee surgery earlier in the summer. So cross him out. Sacha has not been able to find his form from last year to save his life unfortunately. His performance at the Confederation's Cup was dismal to say the least. No to him too. That leaves us with veteran Pablo Mastroeni who was part of the team that played at the Azteca last time around. He broke out in 2002, but has done little since and less than that this year. His exclusion from the Gold Cup roster seems to be a sign that he isn't in Bradley's plans at all. Hmmm, what then? Anyone remember Jermaine Jones? Well, according to Sunil Gulati earlier this summer, unless there was a hitch in the paperwork Jones would be available for selection on the 2nd of August, conviently in time for the Mexico match up. As far as I know there hasn't been any problem and he should be now available. Its completely an outside chance, but it would be absolutely perfect. He's everything a CDM needs to be and could make a bid for the starting role over Clark if he gets called into camp. It might be one to cross your fingers over.

Finally everyone's favorite position, the goal scorers! The starters will most likely be Charlie Davies and Altidore. They are both physical and fast forwards with an eye for the goal. Davies works hard off the ball and his runs create space for Altidore, who is lethal in the box. They were outstanding up top for us this summer. The only downside is that Altidore will most likely last 60-65 minutes. A lack of playing time at your club and the atmosphere will almost assuredly cut his afternoon short. On the bench, I would like to see Bob Bradley have Kenny Cooper and, dare I say Eddie Johnson!!! Ten million gazillion dollars to whoever guessed it. Everyone is familiar with my respect of Kenny Cooper as a striker. He has terrific work rate and a calm, composed finish. All in all a pure striker. His selection is pretty predictable. However, Eddie Johnson has irked many US fans with his troubled form and his would be a somewhat surprise inclusion. True he is a risk, kind of. He's a veteran of the US national team and knows how to score goals. He is very quick and the extra bit of pace he can add could be crucial up top. He also is resurrecting his career in Europe. He was loaned out to Cardiff City last year and was given a chance. He took it eagerly and flourished, almost helping the Blues to promotion. He's back with Fulham now, and seems to have remembered to pack his talent this time around as he's already gotten on the score sheet in their preseason. His progress should be rewarded with a place on the squad, and don't forget he has a knack for scoring in qualifiers when he's confident. Though he certainly isn't close to breaking the pairing of Davies-Altidore, he could bring more of a goal scoring threat off the bench than say, um, I don't know, hmmm..... Brian Ching.

Thats all I got for you guys now, but tomorrow we'll take a look at the tactics and game plan the US will need to disrupt Mexicos play and take 3 points. As they say in the streets 'keep it real'.

Mexico Hits US for Five in Final

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:51:00 -0500

Listen carefully. It'll be hard to hear at first, but in the silence that follows you will hear a low rumbling. An angry murmur which the longer you listen for, the angrier and louder it becomes. It will grow, slowly at first, but it will and when its rhythmic waves wash over you, you too will be consumed. Consumed with only one thought, vengeance. Not blind revenge, but livid spite and resentment that wants nothing else than a shot at redemption.

A 5-nil shell-shock result by the hands of Mexico in the United States of America has inspired many different emotions inside me, but the main one is fury. Mexico has drawn first blood, and now we must pay them back with interest and then some. Mexican coach Javier Aguirre had been quoted earlier in the week as saying that the final is a dangerous position for Mexico. He was talking about how if they lose, it would bring even more scrutiny from the fans and if they won, it should be expected with regards to the team they sent to the Gold Cup and the team the US sent. Little did he know that he was all too right. This game might just be his undoing. In humilating the US on American soil, even if it was a C team, Mexico has woken the beast. If they had squeezed a result, say 2-1 or even 2-0, US fans would have been upset over the loss of our undefeated home record against Mexico that dates back 12 years. But after being disgraced with five goals, I expect everyone from the fans, the coaching staff, and every player in the national team pool to to be more determined than ever to take it to Mexico.

Anyway, lets look at what happened and how Mexico managed to score a goal every 9 minutes in the second half.

After watching the first half, I had a lot of hope that we would pull it off. The team moved the balll around early in the game and Mexico looked very uncomfortable with the pressure coming in from the wings. The US was able to hold and keep possession of the ball and control the flow of the game. We didn't mount any serious goal scoring chances in all honesty, but created a lot of half-chances the best being Stuart Holden's righted footed effort that swerved just wide of the goal from 20 yards. Mexico didn't trouble the US at all, with the backline of Heaps, Marshall, Goodson, and Pearce taking care of most threats with ease. The only thing that was troubling was Logan Pause's inability to get established in the game. The decisive tackles and creative passes that were seen from him all tournament were MIA. I actually forgot he was playing until he picked up a stupid yellow card in the first half. But even with him off his game, Robbie Rogers and Stuart Holden were having good performances and linked up with several teammates. It was only a matter of time until they broke through it seemed. With the scores leveled at halftime, I was nothing but confident and so were most US fans I'm sure. Why shouldn't we have been? The US has been excellent in the second half all tournament and Bob Bradley has been able to make the necessary adjustments to fix any problems.

Near the end of the first half, Mexico had seen most of the possession of the ball which was a little worrying, but with the beforesaid adjustments at half it didn't seem like it would matter. The beginning of the second half was much like the start of the match, with the US pressuring heavily again mainly through the work of Holden. It was Holden who set up Rogers for the best chance in the match six minutes after the restart. A terrific ball to the back post by Holden was controlled by Rogers. From 10 yards you would have put your mortgage that he would have finished, but on his favored left foot Rogers' driven shot screamed over the woodwork. That close call seemed to sound the alarm bells for Mexico as they started to stream forward.

Now (I may have said this before), I'm not one to blame the ref for a five goal loss. However, the referee made an inexplicable penalty call in the 55th minute. Giovanni dos Santos backed into the area, then clearly, CLEARLY, threw his right arm into Jay Heaps face. Like anyone who gets cold-clocked, Heaps grabbed his face and fell, and dos Santos tripped over him. Somehow, the ref signalled for a penalty which was nothing less than shocking. That wasn't the first elbow to be thrown by the Mexican players however, and it wasn't the last. All in all, I counted 3 elbows thrown, none that were called. You can't expect anything less from a Mexican player, but I expected the ref to be able to handle it. Torrado threw two very sneaky elbows throughout the game, all in the second half. The one on Ching was the only one that didn't directly set up a goal. He threw another in midfield when he stole the ball away from Pause, which was the give away that led to the third goal. I know this might seem like a minor complaint, but still.

For all the good he had done this tournament, Bob Bradley showed us that he still isn't the right man to do the job. With 35 minutes left in the half and one goal down, Bradley immediately changed from the 4-4-2 that had gotten us this far to a 3-4-3. Tactically, this is a move that I do sometimes in FIFA 09 when my friend Jared is beating me 2 goals with ten mintutes left. In the words of Vin Diesel in the Fast and the Furious, "he hit the nos to soon". There was absolutely no reason to panic. And when players see their coaching staff panicking, they usually respond with more rushed, panicked play themselves. Which is exactly what happened. As soon as we switched to the 3-4-3, Beckerman and Pause lost all control of the middle of the field. Whats worse is that they never bothered to track back. Neither did Rogers or Holden or Ching or anyone else for that matter. Most of the time, both of the full backs would be caught up the field. You can't do that and not expect to be punished. Mexico dropped to a 6-0-4 it would seem and would just boot it to the four offensive players who would sit at midfield. Given they were up against just 2 American defenders for the remaining time, it really was a good plan by them.

If I hear anyone ever call for a formation for the US that uses 3 at the back ever again, I will personally destroy you. This game if it showed us anything, it showed us how using 3 defenders at the back turn even classy, solid defenders into elementary school defenders. Our system honestly made dos Santos and Vela look as if they were Cristiano Ronaldo and KaKa.

Once we switched our formation, we were done. Even while Bradley prepped Kenny Cooper and Santino Quaranta, Mexico grabbed a second. Their introduction did nothing for the US and Mexico scored again pretty soon after their entry. From that point on, all the American players seemed to stop playing/caring with the exception of Troy Perkins. He alone kept this game to just 5 goals against. What angered me most about the other players was they didn't even play for pride the rest of the game. After the third goal, Bob was faced with a decision. He could have packed it in and reverted to back to the 4-4-2 to kill the momentum Mexico had and perhaps grab one or two goals late to make the scoreline respectable, or he could have stayed with the 3-4-3, as ineffectual as it was, and kept floundering. Much to my and many other US fans' misery, he chose the latter. Obviously it was the wrong choice because Mexico ended up scoring twice more.

I tried to hold off releasing this blog until I was sufficiently cooled down so that I didn't say anything stupid. I'm about as cooled down as I will get and I'm still molten like the lava. Personally I think five players from this squad should ever be given the chance to represent the States internationally ever again. Troy Perkins was the only American to play the last 35 minutes of the game. He was stellar in goal, coming up with some huge point blank reaction saves to singlehandedly keep Mexico at bay for as long as he did. It isn't his fault when he makes three back to back saves only for the defense to not clear the ball and the fourth attacker to fire home. He, in my opinion has put himself in contention of the third spot on World Cup roster. Stuart Holden is another that I think carried the US through the tournament. He created many chances all tournament long, and was always a threat in the final until everyone else gave up. Don't expect to see him starting in any US line-up any time soon, but coming off the bench he could provide a great spark, at least more than Sascha Kljestan and Connor Casey. Chad Marshall was a pillar at the back in the 4-4-2 set up. He was physical and quick, with excellent positioning. I will forgive him and the American Peter Crouch Clarence Goodson for the last game as they played defense by themselves and were hung out to dry. They both did enough in my eyes to warrant a call back to a qualifier. And the last person I would save from this group before we throw everyone else away is Kenny Cooper, but only just. He was given limited opportunities this tournament when he should have been given a starting role. Even then he was able to score a couple goals and showed great positioning and skill for a man his size. Him and Altidore are identical type strikers and should make a great sub for the full national team. He may have not boosted the American team much with his arrival in the final, but in my opinion the his substitution came too late. He should have been brought on at half for Brian Ching whose indifferent play did nothing for the US offense. Hindsight is 20/20 though. The final was the chance to see how the team stacks up with much better opposition. We at least have a much better grasp on not only the ability, but the heart players in the US player pool have. Unfortunately this game was big reality check for those of us who thought the pool was deeper than it was, but better it happen in a meaningless tournament than the South Africa.

Conveniently, the next game up is an important World Cup Qualifier against none other than Mexico. Mexico and its fans from what I've read in message boards, seem to think they are going to trump the US for 8 at the Azteca. Let them. Let them all think that game will be an easy affair, because on August 12th, 23 A-team Americans will face an overconfident, arrogant Mexican side with a chip on their shoulder. I had previously thought that the game on the 12th would be our best chance to pick up a result, most likely a tie, from the Azteca. I now know that we will win. We will win, win in style, piss off a hundred thousand Mexican fans in the Azteca, bring Mexico back to reality, and leave their World Cup qualifying campaign in the trash.