It seems the words that Bruce Arena uttered 16 years ago, when the US was thrashed 5-1 by Czechoslovakia, in the 1990 World Cup could equally well apply in today’s match. As Arena puts it, “We didn’t belong on the same field that day. It demonstrated that we had a long way to go.” This was Arena when he was the coach of the UVA soccer team. He could have said the same today and nobody would have disagreed. Except now he is the national coach and the US is playing in its 7th World Cup and is rated 5th in the world!
There is no honor lost in losing to a far superior team when you come out to play the game. What I saw and undoubtedly everybody saw was a team that showed a pathetic lack of intensity and passion for the game. The team threw in the towel in the first five minutes after Koller’s goal. And yes, Reyna could have equalized with that narrow miss and maybe it could have made a difference but that is soccer. You go out and try harder.
Reyna should have recognized that this game was a threat to be blown wide open. And as the captain and midfield general, he should have introduced a sense of urgency. Landon Donovan disappeared for long stretches of time, DeMarcus Beasley looked as if he would have been more comfortable playing deep defence. And anytime Beasley had to wheel around and kick with his left leg from the right flank is not a good sign. It was an absolute waste of time to have him on that flank because he is much more comfortable on the left flank, his natural position. I cannot recall the last time Brian McBride’s name was mentioned. He must be stewing right now at the lack of service.
And Arena showed that he was just not up with the strategy. I am still having a hard time figuring out what it was? What happened to the 4-4-2? Was he trying to play for a draw with the 5-4-1? Because it did not work. Minimize the goal differential? Because it did not work. All the 5-4-1 did was to clog up the middle and create no space to push the ball wide and stretch the Czech defence. And weirdly enough nobody wanted the ball, except maybe Eddie Johnson in the last quarter.
We would have still lost if all this was applied but at least we would not have disgraced ourselves. And Reyna’s statement that if they had scored the equalizer then it would have been a different game was BS. It happens all the time- the near and yet so far in soccer. It sounded like an excuse for a team that did not show up to play and a captain that absconded his responsibility.
And if they expect that Ghana will keel over and let them win, then they should see how they played against Italy today. Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah are no pushovers. And Italy showed that it maybe ready to play some attacking soccer.
Maybe the US soccer team is on a peacekeeping mission? But today it was just horrible.
6 comments on “Sure, the US was outclassed, outmatched, and outplayed. But where was the fighting spirit?”
Arjen Robben had more fighting spirit than the whole US team combined.
Our play today was certainly lacking, but I must agree that the most disappointing aspect of our “game” today was the absence of heart. It was shameful to see such a blatant lack of and abandonment of character by the team.
With two remaining matches all is not yet lost, but one foot is certainly in the fire.
Seriously, GET RID OF REYNA. I’ll keep saying it, he’s useless. Beasley should never have agreed to play on the right. Donovan showed that his play the last year is VERY indicitive of his play at the cup. Our defense looked like it was lost, not knowing what to do with the Czech forwards.
Mostl of all, we had no midfield presence, at all. We gave up every air ball, every 50/50 ball, and pressured like a bunch of pansies. Yes, they’re the Czech team, yes, they’re really good, yes, they’ll probably beat Brazil if it comes down to it, but a 3-0 loss was something we could have prevented.
I partly blame Arena, sadly he’s starting to look like Sampson, which is a shame as up to this point he looked like he may know what he was doing, now he’s just living up to the naysayers.
That said, Johnson played quite well, the only glimmer of life in our team, which as all soccer players know is all but useless, but at least he showed he wanted to play. Convey was almost there, but having played the whole game I think he just got tired of trying to make up for the lack of play by everyone else. HELLO ITS THE WORLD CUP, 100% intensity is the starting point.
Oh yea, and GET RID OF REYNA.
I think this loss goes to the coach. The team was not ready. The strategy was suspect. The czech’s scouted us and disrupted our standard patterns of play. We were less prepared technically, tactically, psychologically, and physically.
Watch Arena’s body language last couple days on interviews and the czech coach on interviews. Mentally, we did not believe and that carries over to the team.
We played the same way as we did in our friendlies against weak opposition in preparation for the game. This time we got punished. We did not learn from our past mistakes.
We did not win 1v1, we gave away midfield without even trying to fight for it. Some of this is that the czech republic recognized our patterns of play and closed off the short passes that we normally use in the middle.
Let’s be realistic the czech republic has the kind of finishers that you need if you want to win a world cup. They defend much better than the teams we played in preparation or in qualifying. We were not prepared to deal with their larger size. We played very predictable soccer. Some of the credit for making us predictable goes to czech republic.
I think some blame can go to US soccer as well. They seemed more concerned with marketing then having their team get results. I realize money is important, but you can get much better effect and free marketing with good results.
Any criticisms the coach observed about his players today are the same criticism evident in friendlies leading up to the world cup. The coach made the roster and he had a month to try and fix it.
Our fitness level seemed weak as the team totally lacked energy.
I think US soccer should shield the coach and the team from the extra pressures as much as possible so they can focus on getting the results.
We should have coaches scouting our own team to examine our own tendencies. I’m not sure if we did this. If we did, we failed to be prepared. We played meat and potatoes soccer and we got mashed.
Right, cause other countries don’t pressure their players! Please, the US has probably had the least amount of pressure put on them. They’re in a country that doesn’t care about soccer, and in the end doesn’t care how we do. Sure, they’ll mock soccer in America and all, but thats the way Americans work. They’re gung ho the minute the US team lands in Germany, but before hand, nothing, did the send of series fill the stadiums? Nope. Did the media cover soccer as much as the NBA playoffs? Nope.
So really, how much pressure was on the team? Sure, perhaps in comparison to the attention they normally get here the little talk could be construed as pressure, but to equate that to the pressure teams like Argentina, Portugal, etc feel from their home countries after dismal showings last year, its nothing.
Ok, let me rephrase.
Replace “extra pressure” with “unnecessary distractions”.
You make a good point. I don’t have issue with some pressure.