US vs. Guadeloupe

Last night when I got home from training my boys showered and ate, all I wanted to do was watch the US whoop up on Guadeloupe. Unfortunately this was one of the worst US performances I have ever watched, even worse than the game against Panama. If the US continue to play this way we will be knocked out of the tournament by Jamaica, and the Reggae Boys will make it look easy.

Things that I think the US need to change:

Jozy Altidore might have a boat load of potential, but he is not there yet. Yeah he has scored two great goals, but then he disappears for the rest of the game. The guy is one of the laziest players on the team, he consistently loses procession for the US because he either makes the wrong run or he does not go to the ball. Hello, defenders go to the ball, so should you! I would have taken him out of the game and put in Agudelo, at least he hustles and puts in the effort.

Clint Dempsey might be the best player the US has, but he too is lazy and thinks he is god. You are not god and you need to get the damn ball off of your foot! I cannot believe the sitters he missed last night, hopefully it is out of his system and he can move on to scoring great goals again. I would have subbed him off the second I saw him miss that tap in, set a standard for crying out loud!

It is time for Bob Bradley to go, he has played his part and done a good job with the team to this point, but his set-up is old and it is time for some fresh blood. When you have a team with this amount of talent and you cannot score goals there is a problem, and sorry to say that it is normally the coach’s fault. Bradley relies too much on the long ball and the US offense is too predictable. All they do is try to either have their forwards make that diagonal run into the corner to get a cross or out wide to the defender making the overlap. Everything they do is to the outside, all teams have to do is clog the middle. Panama clogged the middle and then countered on us and ended up winning, Guadeloupe did the same thing last night and the US struggled to get any open shots in front of goal (besides the shot from Altidore and Dempsey, which were taken from over 20 yards out). The US needs to vary their attack, work the give and go thru the middle with the late 3^rd man run, get the ball out wide for a cross, get the defense on their toes and don’t make it so one dimensional. I know they are trying to transition to a new system, but it still looks stagnant and one dimensional.

Here are some highlights...