A Sea Of Red

Figured i'd start this since i don't see one open. USA vs Mexico in less than 20 min. in Azteca. BRING IT.

Watching it now. Glad to hear them boo our National Anthem.
I will refrain from other jokes

they also boo their own team

We have our first yellow card

Beas doesn't need to be on the field....

And he almost scores

Yikes. These guys are good.
[not a news flash]

for the love of Landon where is our offense/defense

scoreless at half? i'll take it. but Lasers? Really?

We didn't lose!

Purple Haize wrote:We didn't lose!

In Azteca that counts as a W. I'm thrilled. thought Klinsmann was crazy putting in Johnson and not subbing Beasley. if you followed my twitter you'd think i might need to have my heart checked out. Mexico as it sits right now does not make the world cup and we do. That is a great feeling. 7 more games to go.

01LUGrad wrote:Yikes. These guys are good.
[not a news flash]

Golf? Who won?

We looked terrible. Mexico dominated us the entire game. Sure, we tied and got a point, but that performance gave me nothing to feel good about. Guzan was the only US player to have a good game, nobody else played well.

And I felt like the announcers were watching a different game than me, their glasses were wayyy too rosie-colored. Especially the British play-by-play guy, I like him less and less as each game goes by.

I agree. I felt like Mexico pushed the pace and we were content with relying on our defense. We had one decent run that I can remember and it ended with Dempsey chasing the ball out of bounds.

Klinsmann has been a major disappointment.

TDDance234 wrote:I agree. I felt like Mexico pushed the pace and we were content with relying on our defense. We had one decent run that I can remember and it ended with Dempsey chasing the ball out of bounds.

Klinsmann has been a major disappointment.

I'm not a Dempsey fan.
I think Klinsmann is doing fine. This is s out of the same path his surprise German team took.

We actually had more possession than Mexico. We played for the tie and that's it. That's a huge result in Azteca as evidenced by getting only the 2nd point ever in that place in a qualifier. Beasley started poorly but had a very good 2nd half. The only subpar performances were Edu and Dempsey.

The young CBs, especially Gonzalez, really stepped up and Guzan may have passed Howard at this point in their careers in goal (even though Guzan only made 1 save last night). That's how you build a winner in any sport, defense first. Klinsmann is trying to make changes that will take nearly a generation to be fully realized. There's a reason why he's not playing a lot of the old guard as they learned the old version of US soccer. We won't see the true effect of Klinsmann until a few cycles of players come through the US academy system with his style being taught. Then we'll see a more free flowing, open game being played with that strong defense playing a supporting role instead of a primary one.

The only strange move by Klinsmann last night was subbing Altidore who had done well with the few chances he had.

Don't forget that game was played with 10 players injured, including pretty much everyone in consideration as a LB at the USMNT level.

Anybody disappointed with 4 points out of the 2 matches this week needs their head checked.

Purple Haize wrote:Watching it now. Glad to hear them boo our National Anthem.
I will refrain from other jokes

Here's a joke... they still live in D.F.

And before a certain member calls me a biggot, I've been there. Have you? Boo our country, but for some reason they all want to leave theirs and come here!

Other than that I agree actually with NAJ's analysis. A point was all we needed, and we got it.

jbock13 wrote:

Purple Haize wrote:Watching it now. Glad to hear them boo our National Anthem.
I will refrain from other jokes

Here's a joke... they still live in D.F. :I chortle audibly.:

And before a certain member calls me a biggot, I've been there. Have you? Boo our country, but for some reason they all want to leave theirs and come here!

Other than that I agree actually with NAJ's analysis. A point was all we needed, and we got it.

I was sorta ticked at the Mexican player who was born in San Diego and said he thinks of himself as a Mexican. I understand player play for other countries but considering you were born here and live here you are not Mexican. No problem with the guy playing for Mexico but don't diss your home country.

Agree. But it also happens in European countries as well in soccer. Not that it still makes it okay.

jbock13 wrote:Agree. But it also happens in European countries as well in soccer. Not that it still makes it okay.

Again I don't care that he plays for Mexico. Just no need to be an azzhat to the place you live and were born.

Sure it was a "success" if you just look at the result (a tie & a point). But the play was terrible. Mexico was left scoreless, but they could have had several goals. I agree that Klinsmann needs more time, and I think they should give him way more time to build this thing. But last night was not a step forward. It's like everyone (players and analysts) was so preoccuppied with not getting scored on, they forgot there was a soccer game being played.

But Mexico has been playing like garbage lately as well.

ALUmnus wrote:Sure it was a "success" if you just look at the result (a tie & a point). But the play was terrible. Mexico was left scoreless, but they could have had several goals. I agree that Klinsmann needs more time, and I think they should give him way more time to build this thing. But last night was not a step forward. It's like everyone (players and analysts) was so preoccuppied with not getting scored on, they forgot there was a soccer game being played.

Mexico got 3 shots on goal. That's it.

Last night was a massive step forward considering it's only the 2nd time in history that we've gotten even a point out of a match at the Azteca. Throw in the following list of missing regulars and it's criminal to discount what was accomplished:

Landon Donovan
Fabian Johnson
Steve Cherundolo
Tim Chandler
Jermaine Jones
Danny Williams
Stuart Holden
Clarence Goodson
Tim Howard
Edgar Castillo
Jose Torres
Michael Parkhurst

That's 12 players who, if available, would have been chosen ahead of people who played last night. There isn't any prior time in USMNT history that so many regulars could be out and a point still be gotten in Mexico. No one "forgot a game was being played," they simply saw that they were woefully undermanned and put a gameplan together that could potentially get something out of the game. They succeeded. CONCACAF is not an easy hex to qualify from, especially for a country that is only now starting to focus on the sport. The right approach is wins at home and ties on the road. That will give you 20 points and put you through to the WC every single time. Right now the USMNT is 1 point off that pace, with the two toughest road games out of the way, which is okay as usually 15-16 points is enough.

One other major positive. All 14 players who were on the pitch for the US last night played or currently play in MLS. The home league is starting to do the job it was started for.