It was a very entertaining but error prone match with great goalkeeping from Tim Howard and Oswaldo Sanchez who came up with some excellent reflex saves.
I don’t think the result should fool anyone. Mexico was the better team. Nery Castillo and Andres Guardado are a couple of classy players and this match showed them to be a couple of leagues above Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan. These two made Gooch and Bocanegra look absolutely flatfooted, especially in the first half, when Castillo and Guardado combined for the first goal. USA won because they manufactured goals out of nowhere, especially the Benny Feilhaber cracker of a goal. On the other hand they could not put away goals with Dempsey and Beasley making a hash of the easiest of chances.
Calling Gooch a defender is high praise. His skills are very limited as Newcastle found out very quickly.As a thug he did quite a hatchet job on Borghetti. But when it came to the skill of Castillo and Guardado, he was pretty much left in the dust. In Spector and Simek, the US have decent talent at right back. Bocanegra is not the quickest of defenders but he reads plays well and puts his aerial presence to good use. In attack, the US is quite effective when they play facing the ball as Brian Ching demonstrated on a number of occasions but they still lack players who like to run at defenders like Castillo and Guardado. Some of Castillo’s ball skills were breathtakingly sublime as he ran rings around the defense.
I think Bob Bradley has some good young talent to work with but Gooch is not one of them. This Gold Cup threw up Jonathan Bornstein and Benny Feilhaber as players to watch out for. They will be on display in the Copa America squad which Bradley named with an eye on the future US soccer team. Jimmy Conrad, Ben Olsen, and Kasey Keller are the veterans in this very youthful squad.
And Max Bretos is one of the worst commentators. Just inane hyperbole. Statements like “These two teams are the fittest in the world” and “Mexico can become a world power in soccer but their growth has been stunted by the red, white, and blue” and of coach Hugo Sanchez “he is still learning the ropes”. I guess Bob Bradley has nothing left to learn after his 10-0-1 start. He has become Marcelo Lippi. It was left to Chris Sullivan to collectively pull up their socks.
5 comments on “The US wins and the loser is Max Bretos”
Mexico was clearly the classy, confident and superior team in the 1st half of the USA’s screaming victory in Gold Cup 2007, they seemed more determined to end the 700 odd minutes of scoreless futball against the USA, than winning the game. Mexico was absolutly brillant in the 1st half, they had our side looking like the Keystone Cops of soccer. Thankfully the 1st half ended with El Tri only scoring one goal.
The 2nd half was much better for the Americans and when Brian Ching made that turn in the box and took the knee in the thigh from a frustrated defender, the game turned towards the Red, White and Blue. It was the best move Ching has made in almost 18 months…..finally!!! There was little doubt LD would bury the penalty and he did,,,,it’s startling what a good playmaker Landon is and how under appreciated he is by so many of the bloggers. A scorching goal from the Brazilian born Benny Feilhafer was the sweetest goal since Dempseys in World Cup 2006. A “one timer” off a misplayed clear from a LD corner. This goal came out of nowhere and was so against the flow of the game……. it silenced the Mexican fans at Soldier Field and stunned the players on the pitch….SO SWEET. Thank you Benny. I’ll never forget what a great goal that was and how it crunched the life out the Mexican squad….yummmy, what a satisfying goal.
Terrific Match. I was glad to hear that after all the “hard feeling” in recent years between the USA and Mexican teams that after this match Salcido and Donavan exchanged jersey, a sign of respect and appreciation…..bravo
It is clear you have a signficant bias for Mexico.
Mexico controlled the 1st half but failed to create any clear chances (other than the goal) while USA created (and blew) numerous opportunities. The 2nd half was dominated by the USA and Mexico’s chances stemmed from defensive blunders. Both teams failed to finish when necessary, but USA failed to score on 2 chances when their was an open net. Overall I felt both teams played quite well.
I’d certainly agree with you that the US has no match for Castillo in terms of skillful midfielders at this point, but I’m surprised to hear you claim Mexico controlled the play. I thought both teams played well, especially in the second half, and despite a well-organized Mexico defense, the US team created many chances with very classy attacking play.
As for your criticism of Bretos, despite the occasional giddy hyperbole, but his is FAR more knowledgable than any other US-based commentators. He knows European and South American football inside out. He never detract from a game, which can’t be said for a lot of the ESPN and HDNet commentators.
Bretos does annoy me, especially when he does interviews, but I’ll take him over Eric Wynalda anyday. He comes off as such a tool, and he, along with the other ESPN commentators, talk too much.
Anywhere but Stadio Azteca, the US has the mental edge on Mexico. At halftime, all my American buds and I knew we would win the game despite being down 1-0. The US players felt it and you can be sure Mexico did too.
And like he did against Panama, Tim Howard pulled off another HUGE save to preserve the lead after Beaseley muffed his tap in. Ching missed an easy one too but he did alot to at least create that chance.