United States eliminated: reflections

By John Pini | 28th June 2010

United States eliminated: reflections | read this item

Despite the group-stage drama that bore the team into the round of sixteen, oozing with optimism and a never-say-die orientation, the United States fell behind early again. Twice actually—once in normal time and once in extra time.

The dispassionate reality is that the US were the second-best team in Rustenburg on Saturday evening, and Ghana deservedly went through. As always, there are positive and negative takeaways from the game, as well as the tournament.

I’ll take the negatives first. Number one, these four games reinforced one thing we already knew: this team has a serious talent vacuum at second striker. Robbie Findley was Bob Bradley’s first choice to partner with Altidore; the only game Findley didn’t start was the one for which he was suspended. This alone tells you something about the US striker pool. Findley made a few decent runs in the time he got, but he didn’t do too much once he got the ball. Neither did Buddle or Gomez. All three made questionable decisions, as well as missed scoring chances, including a number of shots right at goalkeepers.

The irresistible tendency is to think about what could have been with Charlie Davies. What a difference he made when he came onto the scene. He and Altidore were a great pair, and Davies could score goals.

A second negative is that despite having a well-organized defense, and one that can be extremely effective for long stretches during games, it has strange momentary lapses now and then. They’re things that make you wonder how such an otherwise solid defense can let happen. Usually, you can single out Jonathan Bornstein for these lapses. However, he is probably the least culpable American defender that played in this tournament. In fact, he looked damn good, and not at all too green for the stage he was on.

No, this time the main culprit was Oguchi Onyewu. He may just be short of match-fitness, physically as well as mentally. He was the one who didn’t step up when the other three defenders played the offside trap against Slovenia, resulting in Slovenia’s second goal.

The holding midfielders are accountable for these lapses too, particularly Ricardo Clark, regardless of whatever words of encouragement Bob Bradley had for him after his 30-someoddth minute substitution against Ghana. It was a stupid giveaway in a very dangerous position that led to Ghana’s first goal, taking nothing away from Boateng’s finish.

The rest of the defense can be blamed collectively for making a dangerous habit of allowing early goals. They seem to take six or seven minutes to get onto the same page at the beginning of every game. In every postgame interview, the players say they need to stop falling behind early, and yet they continue to do it. It happened pretty frequently in qualifying too, so it’s a trend.

Having said all this, I probably sound very bitter. However, bitter is definitely not the word I would use to describe how I feel at the moment. As I write this in the hours following the Ghana game, I view the team with a combination of disappointment and pride. I’m disappointed that they weren’t quite good enough this time.

But this time, unlike in 2006, I’m proud to call this team my team. That’s the biggest positive takeaway for me personally. They showed a character that not too many other teams can claim. They fought. They scored some dramatic goals, and created some unforgettable moments for US soccer fans. They even played a pretty entertaining brand of soccer, which we can’t always say about this particular country’s team.

Whatever criticism comes their way in the coming days, this tournament was far from a failure for the US, and there’s plenty they can build on for the future. Next game is August 10^th in New Jersey against Brazil. Great way to get the next cycle started.

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United States eliminated: reflections

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