Hi. I was at Soldier Field for the USA-Brazil friendly today and have just returned. I'm tired. I haven't had the benefit of replay to see if the USA deserved a penalty after the Heath Pearce bomb or if the Ronaldinho free kick was set up by a legit foul or not. Also I'm not entirely sure about who did well and who didn't because of the being there thing. But we soldier on anyway. Compensation: pictures of fans tomorrow.
Well, for a few minutes the USA led Brazil; we took a picture of the scoreboard. And then, later, for like a minute, the USA had tied Brazil 2-2; we did not but should have taken a picture of the scoreboard. And even though the game ended 4-2 to the bad, the USA acquitted itself pretty well against Freakin' Brazil, standing up to the generally acclaimed best team ever in the history of anything about as well as you could expect a bunch of dudes with a tenth of Ronaldinho's talent between them. Heck, we should get like three goals for the sweet Dempsey strike, and if you could the Onyewu own goal for us -- we scored it, after all -- the final was like 6-3, USA, which is cool.
But that's about as realistic as all those overheated "the USA will win the World Cup by 2010" predictions that popped up after 94 and then in 2002. Six years on from the latest round of unrealistic expectations, it's clear that the USA remains a threat to get out of any group that isn't the Group of Death, but do little else. The performance today was both encouraging and a stark reminder that the best answer for "when will the USA win the World Cup?" is "never." That's life as a USA soccer fan; fun can be had anyway.
After the jump: boxes! Sweet.
| THE GOOD |
| The game. Some international friendlies leave you wondering "why bother," but this one, full of attractive play and six goals, was not one of them. I would be up for one of these every year, if Brazil would so deign. |
 Mike Bradley. My friends and I have been sarcastically skeptical of the young Bradley and his tendency to tackle everything in sight, be it ball, player, or koala bear that wandered onto the wrong damn eucalyptus tree. What's the wrong damn eucalyptus tree? One that Michael Bradley's in! It's no coincidence that most of the pictures from the game in Getty are Michael Bradley-centric. Either he's tackling someone, as above, or getting a facial from Ronaldinho and his teeth, at right, or just generally sticking his nose everywhere and anywhere.Anyway, today Bradley's crazy ass tackles that you're sure are going to end up with a dozen dangerous free kicks and six yellow cards as he gets sent off three separate times... well, they all worked. (Except for that last one; more on that later.) And his possession and distribution, so often lacking over the summer, were greatly improved. By 30 minutes in Bradley had gained our grudging respect; 60 minutes in we were trying to figure out some sort of insanity-related nickname for him. Because Michael Bradley doesn't care. He will tackle your ass. |
| Heath Pearce? I think he did pretty well, but the angle of play robbed me of a real opportunity to see him work in the first half. In the second he was more than adequate versus Robinho and various other Brazilians. Looked a completely different player than the guy caught up in the shambolic C-team that took the field against Columbia. Should be given a couple more opportunities to show his wares before qualifying starts; Jonathan Bornstein is okay but is not playing in the Bundesliga. |
| Clint Dempsey. As of now apparently the USA's first choice up top. Ripped a rocket into the net today reminiscent of his goals against Ghana and Liverpool; generally active and composed on the ball; killing it for Fulham right now. Brian McBride's unfortunate injury may be a blessing in disguise for the USMNT. |
| THE BAD |
| Defense in general? Four goals ceded is not so good no matter the circumstance, and Brazil forced Tim Howard into a number of good stops otherwise. In general, the USA could not cope with the Brazilian attack and was somewhat fortunate not to give up a goal from the run of play. (Save an own goal, yes.) The question mark is for an obvious reason: this was Brazil, and few teams could have done much better. The one-touch passing and dribbling skills Brazil displayed would have cut anyone to ribbons. |
| Hesitancy. One thing that bothered me: often Brazil would permit a Beasley or a Donovan the opportunity to make a run at someone and only rarely did they take it. Perhaps this was a tactical decision designed to keep possession, but then what with the constant long-ball bombing? |
| Attendance. Was I wrong to expect a full house for USA-Brazil? The crowd wasn't exactly sparse -- 43,000 -- but it was nowhere near a sellout. The very high ticket prices have something to do with that. Ours were 60 bucks each after Ticketmaster screwing and they were the second-cheapest available. Is the demand that inelastic? Is it better to get a lot of money from a smaller crowd or fill the place? It would be nice to get a Soldier Field raucously full of actual USA fans. Pipe dream? |
| THE UGLY |
| Mike Bradley's tendency towards one enormous error per game. Bradley's penalty was right in front of us and it was obvious. He was in a poor position and the Brazilian in question was clearly threatening the goal, but that one was a mistake anyway. Couple that with his straight red against Canada in the Gold Cup for a ridiculous tackle from behind and the young midfielder is picking up a reputation for brainlock meltdowns. He's still young, and often dances the line between hideously illegality and stellar defensive play with aplomb: he should grow out of this. But, um... soon? |
| Tim Howard's finger. I am pretty sure I saw a disclocated finger get violently popped back into place after Brazil's second goal, right? Ouch. |
| THE MISCELLANEOUS |
| One major annoyance was a large number of Brazil fans clearly from someplace like Skokie or Milwaukee. This was mildly annoying when the offenders were kids but frickin' infuriating when the offenders were clearly bandwagoners who probably root for Man U, the Yankees, USC, Duke, and North Carolina. INS, stop screwing around with the Mexican border and focus on the real problem: getting these people deported. We'll see how much they like Brazil when they're slumming around the City of God. Also... like, Soldier Field logistics are stupid. Who puts a stadium on the other side of a highway from the city and forces anyone who would like to get to or from it into a looping, near-hour-long walk? Bleah. |
| THE NEXT |
| With the Catalonia friendly kiboshed, the USA is looking for another opponent in the upcoming October international window. It is unlikely to be thrilling. World Cup qualification starts next year. |
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-10-2007 @ 1:21AM
Willmore said...
Wait ... Catalonia? Catalonia isn't a country, it's a part of Spain, a semi-autonomous, somewhat rebellious and historically separate part, but a part nonetheless. And unless you mean a friendly with Barcelona, Catalonia doesn't have a team of its own.
Reply
9-10-2007 @ 1:22AM
Brian @ AOL said...
For whatever reason Catalonia is allowed to sort of pretend it can field its own national team sometimes.
http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=3379
Don't ask me why.
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9-10-2007 @ 8:40AM
Adam said...
Wales has a team... why can't Catalonia?
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9-10-2007 @ 10:12AM
tsx7by said...
Well for USA to win against anyone, why not Catalan? haha
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9-10-2007 @ 3:06PM
RobinFiveWords said...
Ever since the start of the Gold Cup, I've been referring to Michael Bradley as "Back Pocket" -- how does that sound?
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9-10-2007 @ 3:27PM
Flying Spur said...
Low attendance: Its a combination of stupidly high ticket prices and not expecting to see stars play...A lot of Chicago area soccer fans got burned a few years ago when ManU play Bayern Munich in Soldier Field and ManU did not bring a single.damn.starter. The score was 0-0, I paid $60 each for crap seats, and I vowed never again.
Yesterday's match was an exception rather than the rule. I went to Germany for the World Cup last year, and fly to London to catch a couple of Premiership matches every year. Im a soccer nut, and I spend money to attend quality matches, and I even go to MLS games, but no one ever accused me of being a sucker...
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9-10-2007 @ 6:18PM
kyle said...
Hi there. I'm an MSU fan who found this post through your Michigan blog. Glad to see there are other college sports fans from Michigan who enjoy the Beautiful Game. I was at Soldier Field, as well. Also went to the Brazil open practice on Saturday. Believe it or not, but Ronaldinho made about five consecutive free kicks at the end of the practice that were exactly like the one he scored in the game--just sliding them in the upper left side of the goal.
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9-11-2007 @ 12:16AM
Marcos Porfirio said...
First thing Brian. I´m a brazilian, and congrats on your blog, better than espn.com.
Secondly, "city of god" is not a fictional play, but historical, and happened in mid 80s, but it´s not like that anymore (i used to leave nearby at the time, in a military station).
About the game. It was funny, at least for us in Brazil. Seeing those guys playing lazy as they were (as always, except when playing Argentina). The 2002 US team was good, dangerous and could play anyone, but this one is lame. Looks like playing England from the 80s, just long balls, and the players (specially the one on the right) aren´t even speedsters. When US played passing game it was more difficult. Have to do it and trust the players more.
To play long ball against Brazil, one need a pivot (or center, don´t know how you call it) and at least two speedsters passing through, like Mexico (2) or Uruguay (3!) do.
The US under-20 team was definitively better. At least they had a (good) gameplan, and stick to it till wore brazilians down.
Keep up the good work.
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9-11-2007 @ 1:09AM
soccergoofy9 said...
I saw the game yesterday it was a good game, it just amazes me how good Brazil is. I was wondering, how much the game would changed if Adriano and Ronaldo would have played what about Roberto Carlos and Ze Roberto? I believe we wont be seeing much of the "A" squad from Brazil until the World Cup in 2010. just a bunch of mixed squads. What i thought was messed up, was how Robinho saves the ball in the corner, gets double teamed, jukes them, makes the next defender look stupid then gets tripped and gets a yellow card. that was a huge mistake by the ref. well once again Ronaldinho makes another goal from a free kick, He is the best player right now.
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9-13-2007 @ 12:41PM
Marilia said...
"...stop screwing around with the Mexican border and focus on the real problem: getting these people deported. We'll see how much they like Brazil when they're slumming around the City of God."
I was enjoying the reading until I read this. That's why the rest of the world hates americans.
Reply
9-16-2007 @ 8:12AM
steve said...
You know a thing or two about soccer. But why is it that most outspoken sports enthusiasts in the US also have to be xenophobic flag-waving idiots when it comes to complex questions like immigration? Maybe its because in sports things are black and white --the ball either did or didn't go into the net -- whereas most social questions are in shades of grey. Stick to sports. Leave the immigration question to people with more information and more subtle minds.
Black and white: The ONLY american player who looks like a world-class player is Dempsey. Bradley is college. Donovan is stuck in 2nd gear. Beasley seems to be afraid to what he might be capable of. Defense? What defense? Goalie? Tim Howard isn't even close to what Friedel or Keller were capable of back in the day. Group of death or otherwise, we'll be sent home after the first round unless we get half a dozen new Nogadoches wonders coming along.
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6-21-2008 @ 1:35AM
Willmore said...
Well, I suppose in a friendly one can play practically anyone, it just seems weird to see a Catalan national team.
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