Top 10 Goals of the Week

I've been slacking on posting this the last few weeks but here you go. Enjoy the weekend!

USMNT vs. Belgium Thoughts

The United States Men's National Team lost 4-2 last night to Belgium in an international friendly in Cleveland, the first of a series of  five matches that include two friendlies and two World Cup Qualifiers. To sum it up we were completely outplayed by a much better team with much better players; Belgium brought their A-team (minus Eden Hazard and Axel Witsel) and their quality definitely showed against a USMNT side fielding several B- and C-team players. Here are some thoughts on what I saw last night:

• Below was Klinsmann's starting XI, players in parentheses were substitutes. Guzan came in for Howard at halftime; EJ came in for Altidore at the break and moved wide when Boyd came in for Davis in the second half; Evans came in for Zusi in the second half; Holden came in for Kljestan at around the 80th minute.

• Tim Howard was good in the first half, he made a some good saves and came off his line to thwart a couple dangerous attacking moves by Belgium. He'll feel hard done by the first goal as he made a great play in coming off his line to block Lukaku's initial attempt only to see his defense snoozing and let Kevin Mirallas walk right up to the rebound and chip it home (beautifully, I might add). Overall an alright performance, not anything special but certainly not bad. Nice to see him back with the National Team after missing the last round of qualifiers with a back injury.
• Brad Guzan also had a decent performance when he was in during the second half, made a couple good saves here and there. Unfortunately for him the floodgates opened during the second half and he was subject to three point blank, uncontested shots on goal which he couldn't keep out of the net. All three weren't his fault as the first was a gaffe from Gonzalez, the second was the result of failing to clear a corner and the third was a simple lobbed pass over the top of the entire backline that put Benteke through. Don't worry that Guzan let in three goals in one half, he is still a great keeper and will be fine going forward. He's still as good as Howard.
• Speaking of the Benteke goal, was he not offside? There was never a clear replay of it but it looked like he might have been. Oh well.
• I'll try to be nice and call this game a "learning experience" for Omar. He was caught snoozing during the first goal and didn't react in time to get in the way of Mirallas's chip. As a defender, whenever you see someone breach your line, aren't you supposed to sprint back for the rebound if the keeper manages to block the shot? Can anyone explain to me why he, Cameron, and Goodson all just stood there and watched the play unfold? Anyways, he also giftwrapped Belgium's second goal by playing a horrendous touch in the box trying to dribble out of pressure instead of just simply clearing the ball. Not really sure what his thought process was right there. Other than those couple boneheaded plays he was ok, he showed his aerial dominance yet again on several occasions. Let's just remember that this was Omar's 7th cap and we were playing  a friendly against one of the most talented teams in the world. He's still one of the USMNT's best centerbacks, whether you agree or not. Tell me who's better at this point. Onyewu? Tim Ream? Orozco? Bocanegra? I don't think so. He'll be fine and should be starting next year in Brazil if we qualify.
• I won't be so nice to Clarence Goodson because I don't like him as a player. I'm sorry but the only good performance I can remember of him in a USA shirt in the last few years was the qualifier against Costa Rica earlier this year, where he was only effective because the snow slowed the opposition and forced  them to try going over the top which played into his aerial strength. He's slow, doesn't read the game particularly well, and can have slow reactions, like the Mirallas goal where he should have been sprinting back to the net to provide cover while Howard was out. I wish Klinsmann would just move on and start trying out other options.
• The more I see of Matt Besler, the more I like him. He had an outstanding tackle on Benteke in the box where he came from behind and poked it away. At first it looked like it might have been a penalty but the replay proved it was the right call and a great tackle. He's pretty quick for a centerback and makes for a nice partner with Omar. I'll go ahead and say that the Gonzalez-Besler pairing is by far the best option we have right now in central defense, their chemistry is undeniable and they complement each other nicely with their pace and aerial ability. These two are who I want to see starting these upcoming WCQ's.
• In contrast to Matt Besler, the more I see of Geoff Cameron at right back, the more I don't like him. In fact, I absolutely hate him at right back. Tonight he was also guilty of falling asleep on the first goal as he let Mirallas walk right by him to get to the rebound. He doesn't get forward to help out in the attack at all and just seems to generally struggle with completing passes on the sideline. I really hope we see Michael Parkhurst get some playing time in the coming games.
• Damarcus Beasley had one of the better performances on the night out of everyone and looks pretty comfortable at the left back position. He let Benteke sneak in behind him on the last goal (that might have been offside) but otherwise was solid. He held his own against Mirallas and Lukaku on the sideline and had a couple nice runs going forward. He's been playing well enough for Klinsmann to consider moving Fabian Johnson up to left mid, which would be a fantastic move in my opinion. This would allow for Beasley and Fabian to interchange positions throughout the run of play, providing problems for defenses not knowing how to handle continuous overlapping. As you may or may not know, I am a Valencia fan. From 2009-2012, they employed this strategy on the left side with Jérémy Mathieu and Jordi Alba to great success. Mathieu would start games at left back with Alba at left mid but they would switch places several times throughout the flow of games. This is something Klinsmann should heavily consider with Beasley and Johnson.
• Moving on to the midfield, it was painfully obvious how much Michael Bradley was missed. Kljestan was meh. He can't pull strings and orchestrate games the way Bradley can. Kljestan along with Jermaine Jones didn't offer too much creativity or possession for that matter in the center of the pitch. In fact, Clint Dempsey dropped all the way back in front of the back line from his center forward spot several times to collect the ball and try to make something happen because Jones and Kljestan weren't offering any creativity. Stu came in for Kljestan but didn't have much time to really exert any influence. Perhaps a Kljestan-Holden combo would have been better suited for more possession? Jermaine did well tracking back and had a few nice passes here and there but was only decent for the most part.
• I don't care about his left foot, Brad Davis should not be playing for the USMNT.
• Neither should Brad Evans.

Photo credit: sbnation.com

• Graham Zusi was alright, he did well tracking back and had a few good ideas going forward. Had a nice delivery off a corner to Dempsey at the far post who headed it back across goal to Cameron for the first goal. Zusi has actually become one of the better USMNT players in my opinion, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he is not a naturally wide player. It has become painfully clear that the USMNT has a shortage of true wingers and using Zusi and Davis to fill those spots isn't going to cut it. Donovan needs to come back ASAP. I want to see more of Landon Donovan, Brek Shea, Josh Gatt, Fabian Johnson, even Alejandro Bedoya out wide. Eddie Johnson does pretty well when he's deployed out left but I like him more up top. We are in desperate need of true width and pace to storm down the flanks in our attacks. 
• Jozy Altidore had another forgettable game in a USA shirt under Klinsmann. Everyone always harps on him for not scoring or not working hard enough but the fact of the matter is that he never gets any service. Did you notice how many times he got the ball out on the flanks? He had to constantly drift out wide because that was the only place he could ever receive the ball. We struggle to move the ball up through the middle of the pitch to our strikers so this is what he has to resort to. Terrence Boyd was invisible when he came on in the second half, I only remember him touching the ball two or three times.
• I appreciate what EJ brings to the team whenever he's in the game - he's willing to put his head down and run at defenders. He brings energy and pace to the table, something we don't have much of. He did alright when he came in for Davis, whipping in a couple nice crosses and trying to take defenders on. He's probably our best wing option at the moment for these qualifiers, bar a healthy Fabian Johnson. 

Overall we need to remember that this was only a friendly, and  Belgium is a better team than us and they fielded their best team against our depleted team. I'm glad that we are facing this kind of competition though because it gives us a chance to see what direction we're headed and what needs to be worked on. My biggest concern for these upcoming qualifiers is our lack of wingers. If we're going to be playing Brad Davis and Graham Zusi out wide, with no fullbacks providing much support on the overlap, it's going to be a struggle to break down defenses that flood the middle of the pitch in recognition of our lack of width. Again, this was only a friendly and doesn't count for anything. The real test will come on June 7th when we play our next World Cup Qualifier against Jamaica. 

Number 20

It's official - Major League Soccer's 20th franchise will be New York City Football Club and will start play in 2015. The club will be a joint venture between Manchester City of the English Premier League and the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. Here are some of my thoughts on the expansion:

• (In case you haven't figured it out by now, I really like using bullet points. It's a good way to mask my amateur writing skills...)
• New York was always going to get the next expansion franchise over Orlando City. In Don Garber's eyes New York City is the most important market MLS needs to win over for the sake of TV revenue and increased media exposure.
• Speaking of Orlando, don't you guys worry, Orlando City Soccer Club will surely be the next expansion franchise. There's already too much money invested in the club for it not to be and one of the league's next objectives will be to gain some exposure in the southeast.
• To me it looks like the New York Red Bulls are kinda screwed. NYCFC will be located in the middle of New York City, as opposed to New Jersey, which will be a significant advantage in drawing sizable crowds and generating support. Having a public transit system that can run straight to the stadium, or at least really close to it, is something that NYRB can't compete with. It currently takes around 40 minutes for someone to catch a train from New York City over to Red Bull arena. Also, NYCFC will be a bigger draw for top players around the world deciding to come to MLS. With the backing of Sheikh Mansour (Man City) and the Steinbrenners (Yankees), NYCFC will have an insane budget to use on designated players, facilities, and other aspects of running a top football club. NYRB already struggles with attendance as it is. I hope that the introduction of a second New York team will turn out to be healthy for the Energy Drinks, causing them to step up their game and draw in top players and put some more money into their efforts, but it doesn't look to good for them long term right now. Hopefully it won't get as bad as the dynamic between LA Galaxy and Chivas USA.

Photo credit: www.mcfc.co.uk

• Overall this is a great move by MLS. The league's biggest struggle in it's growth process has been it's inability to garner significant TV revenue. Placing this team in one of America's biggest TV markets is only beneficial for the league as a whole. MLS really, really needs to start getting some big TV deals in order to increase national exposure and compete with other professional sports leagues like the NFL and the NBA.
• There aren't many sports teams in the world that are hated more than the Yankees and Manchester City. I can only imagine what kind of hate NYCFC will generate. Yikes.
• #NYCFC is kind of a mouthful, especially on Twitter. I'm not a huge fan.
• I hope the club will be able to establish its own identity apart from Man City and the Yankees. I don't mind it having some players from Man City on loan or something like that but I'd hate to see it become a feeder club for them. It needs to become a destination club, not a feeder.
• It will be interesting to see what becomes of the New York Cosmos, which are going to begin playing in the NASL next year. Will they be able to compete with the two MLS teams in its own city? Will they ever be as big as NYCFC and NYRB? Only time will tell.
• Speaking of the Cosmos, I would like to end this post by presenting to you my find of the week. I came across this fantastic documentary the other day which chronicles the clubs rise and fall during its NASL days in the '70s and '80s. It's an hour and a half long but check it out if you ever have the time, it's extremely well done and gives a great look at the sport during its early days in America. One part I found particularly interesting was the shootouts they would have at the end of tie games in the NASL. Instead of a penalty kick shootout, the kick taker had 5 seconds to go one-on-one with the keeper from 35 yards out and score. I'd never heard of that before and I think it's a really cool idea. That part comes at around the 53:20 mark of the documentary. Below is a video of a full NASL shootout between the New York Cosmos and Washington Diplomats.

USMNT Roster Thoughts

 

Here is Jürgen Klinsmann's USMNT training camp roster for the upcoming friendlies and World Cup Qualifiers, as well as some of my thoughts:

GOALKEEPERS (6): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tally Hall (Houston Dynamo), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Tim Howard (Everton), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake).

• Before you freak out after seeing that we have six keepers, note that the four MLS keepers (Hall, Hamid, Johnson, Rimando) are going to be rotating as the third goalkeeper behind Howard and Guzan throughout camp. As far as who claims the starting spot, Howard and Guzan are 1A and 1B in my mind. Both are fantastic keepers that have proved their worth on the international stage and I'm completely fine with either one starting the WCQs. I don't have any issues with this group.

DEFENDERS (8): DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Michael Parkhust (Augsburg).

• Great to see Castillo called in after a great run of form with Xolos, who just advanced to the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores. Also glad to see Fabian back, who was injured during the last round of qualifiers. Timmy Chandler not called in this time because of some apparent ligament damage suffered about 10 days ago in training, but I believe Michael Parkhurst is an extremely solid replacement for now. I don't really have a problem with any of these players being called up, though I am really confused by Steve Cherundolo not being called in. According to the roster notes on ussoccer.com, Cherundolo isn't fully recoverd from the knee injury that kept him out for four months earlier this year. But he's been training and playing with Hannover since April 7th. What gives?

MIDFIELDERS (10): Michael Bradley (Roma), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Bursapor), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Brek Shea (Stoke City), Danny Williams (Hofffenheim), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City).

• The first thing that jumped out at me when looking at this group was the inclusion of Brek Shea. Supposedly, one of Klinsmann's biggest factors in deciding national team call-ups is consistent playing time at the club level. Judging by that criteria, Brek should not even be getting a sniff of the national team right now as he has barely played for Stoke in the last few months. This decision is baffling to me. Don't get me wrong, I believe Brek is one of our biggest impact players and can change a game at any moment, but Klinsmann needs to start practicing what he preaches. You're gonna leave Landon Donovan off the roster, who has been playing great football for the LA Galaxy since his return, but call in Shea? Doesn't seem right to me. Moving along, it's great to see Stu Holden back in the mix after suffering a broken leg. I hope he gets back to being his old self. I would rather have seen Mix Diskerud called in instead of Brad Davis but I'm sure he'll be in the Gold Cup roster. Davis almost cost us that historic point in Azteca by giving up a silly foul outside of the box in the closing minutes that could have easily led to a set piece goal.

FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Clint Dempsey (Tottenham), Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders FC).

• Not much to say here, solid choices. Jozy is coming off an absolutely fantastic season in Holland and hopefully carries that form into these qualifiers. Eddie Johnson has some haters but I am not one of them, I freaking love him. He's fast and dynamic, something that the USMNT usually lacks across the board. He seems to do extremely well in qualifiers and I hope we see that this time around.

Summer...Finally

I haven't been able to write much lately because I have been swamped with finals...but they're over and summer is here! Hooray! With that I will just give some of my random football thoughts and observations from the last week or so:

1. Benfica plays at Porto this weekend with a chance to clinch the Primeira Liga title. Both sides are unbeaten in the league this season. This will be one of the biggest games of the year in all leagues and the atmosphere is going to be absolutely incredible. Must-see TV.

2. Graham Zusi single-handedly dominated Chivas USA over the weekend in SKC's blowout win. One of, if not the best individual MLS performances I've ever seen.

3. I'm a Valencia supporter if you haven't figured that out by now, and Los Che had a perfect weekend - they beat Osasuna 4-0 and Real Sociedad lost to Getafe. Valencia only trails la Real by two points for the last Champions League spot. It's gonna go right down to the wire.

4. Gareth Bale.

5. Jürgen Klopp is a hero. I freaking love that guy. In addition to being a football genius his personality is top-class entertainment. He should have a TV camera on his face at all times. Can't wait for the Champions League final at Wembley.

6. Lionel Messi is the best player in the world and anyone who makes an argument to that is insane. I mean I already knew that but that fact was just reiterated to me again with his display against Betis over the weekend. His mere presence on the field changes the atmosphere of an entire game, from the fans to the players on both teams. It's incredible to watch. I'm so grateful that we live in an age where everything he does on the pitch is saved for posterity on the internet. People will be able to appreciate him years and years from now.

Well that's it for now but hopefully I'll be able to post a little more regularly since I'm out of school. Happy summer to all.

Top 10 Goals of the Week

Happy Friday! Here are the Top 10 Goals of the Week.

Atticus' Big Day

I have been extremely busy with finals and haven't been tweeting or posting much, but this story is just too good not to pass along. Massive props to the Portland Timbers and their fans for making all of this possible for Atticus, an eight-year-old boy who was diagnosed with cancer last year.