February 7, 2008

Longshoe's Birthday Celebration Soaked Thoughts on US v. Mexico

In no particular order...
  • Drew Moor couldn't mark a traffic cone. Johnny Magallon?!? Twice?!?
  • Bobby Convey, where have you gone? I don't know who that guy was in your jersey tonight, he did absolutely nothing.
  • A note to some fans in the bar, the "referee is a bastard" chant was funny the first time, at least a little funny. It wasn't the least bit funny the 10th time. "Get a new chant, table 3" however, was quite funny. Well played.
  • Thanks for taking 20 minutes to find a suitable replay to explain why Dempsey's goal was called back. I wasn't happy with the referee (although I've seen way worse), but I thought he was drunk until I saw the replay right before the second half kickoff showing Deuce a step offside.
  • Landon Donovan was completely neutered in the second half. That's the danger of playing him wide, he's a lot easier to mark out of a game out there.
  • Jozy and Deuce had no rhythm together, they kept making the same runs.
  • That said, Jozy did quite well for his first 90 minutes at this level. Me likey, especially with the sweet header to take the lead.
  • If we can get Gooch and Marvell Wynne on the field together, they could just keep throwing the ball in from sideline to sideline.
  • Outside backs, the audtions start tomorrow.
  • Pretty even game overall, although I'd have to give the overall edge to Mexico. They had so much more possession in midfield, even if they really didn't test Howard that much.
  • Was anybody else slightly freaked out about the close up shot of Timmy's ticks?
  • Considering he's barely played lately, Benny Feilhaber looked pretty damn good. He was the best of the holding midfield quartet tonight.
  • Mr. Adu did pretty well, earning a dangerous free kick to close out the match.
  • I was begging for a schemer to come into play late in the second half, I think it would've helped us in midfield. Feilhaber could've slid out to the right, with Donovan coming inside to play behind Adu and Jozy. We just needed some sort of change at that point (65"+) because Mexico had figured us out.
  • Rafa Marquez had quite the strategy of defending Jozy, just fall down. It worked. Sad.
  • Gio Dos Santos used the same strategy in the offensive half when he came on. It worked. Sad. I guess it's taught at the highest levels at Barca these days.
That's all from here, throw your thoughts in the comments...

5 comments:

prairie said...

Was anybody else slightly freaked out about the close up shot of Timmy's ticks?

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed. I don't think I've ever seen him shake that much in a game, and he looked like he was ready to end the match by ripping Moor to pieces. Usually if you catch him twitching in a game, it's just a little hand or shoulder shake, but that was alarming. Still, good way to get him up to speed on what's to come during the WCQ cycle.

truth said...

Tics. Tics.

Ticks are little bugs.

Lucas said...

Can't argue with your assessment of Convey and Moor. Poor.

And since we're being internet nitpickers (something that never gets tiresome, right?): ticks aren't bugs, they're arachnids.

Longshoe said...

Maybe they were little bugs that were causing the tics, I'm not sure...

Thanks...

zlewis said...

I'm just utterly disappointed in the selection of outside backs. Corralles was nowhere to be found and Moor is absolutely horrible. Rule #1 that you teach defenders, NEVER face your own goal, you will always lose your mark and end up having an easier walk to pick the ball out of the net. As well, I don't think Bradley had his best game ever. I'm not sure if his performances at Heerenveen/the transfer speculation are getting to his head or not, but I was a bit disappointed by it.
One last note, Eddie Lewis going in against Mexico is like putting a snail up against a cheetah, he'll always get beat, experienced or not. Not to mention he's how old? 35? For sure will not be in South Africa come 2010.f