We're 8 games into the 2010 World Cup finals as I type this, and with the notable exception of Germany, there hasn't been much good soccer. The highlight of the first weekend was of course the titanic clash between the US and England. Both teams played fairly cautiously, and to be honest it wasn't the prettiest soccer you'll ever see. The US concentrated on taking Wayne Rooney out of the game, and succeeded. England concentrated on not getting caught on a counter-attack, and they also succeeded. Fans hoping for an exciting game with back-and-forth were disappointed.But actually the US-England game was the most entertaining of the tournament's first 7 games. Of the other 6, one was mildly engaging, and the other 5 were colossal bores. Not only were the games poor from an entertainment perspective, but they were simply awful from a pure soccer perspective.
For proof, consider the goals that were scored (and they're easy to recall, since there were so few of them). South Africa opened the tournament with a smashing goal from the edge of the box, a real gem. But the next goal (to Mexico) was the result of a horrible mis-communication on the South Africa backline. Uruguay and France then delivered a sure cure for insomnia with a defensive, chippy affair where neither team hardly sniffed the goal. South Korea did manage to get a couple past Greece, but only because Greece was absolutely putrid, showing absolutely nothing on the day. Argentina managed to get several chances against Nigeria, but squandered all but one, a header from a corner kick. Nigeria rarely threatened. The England goal was the result of a complete brain fart by Ricardo Clark, who let Steven Gerrard run completely free in the box. English keeper Robert Green simply gave the US the equalizer by fumbling a rather simple shot into his own net.
The next morning (US time), Algeria and Slovenia played 90 minutes of kick-ball without the slightest hint of skill. The lone goal came only after Algeria was reduced to 10 men (after a pair of idiotic decisions by an Algerian substitute), and then required an even worse goalkeeper gaffe than the English's Green (after all, at least Green got his hands on the ball). Serbia and Ghana played a cautious, dull affair with squandered half-chances that was decided in the end by yet another brain fart, this time by a Serbian defender who blatantly handled the ball in his own penalty area.
To sum it up, there has been precious little good soccer on display. Germany's demolition of Australia was the first time all tournament that any team has really shown both an attacking attitude and the skill to make it count. It's entirely possible that the dearth of good soccer is due to early tournament nerves, but I fear it's more the result of ultra-cautious coaching and mentally fatigued players.
Oh well, there's always hope for better. Back to the US-England affair. The US played reasonably well, again minus the huge defensive lapse that led to the early England goal, and minus the last 15 minutes or so, when the US basically just played for the tie and bunkered in on defense. Let's grade the players.....
Starters
GK -- Tim Howard : A
Howard could do nothing to prevent Gerrard's goal, but he stopped everything else. He survived a hard collision with Emile Heskey, and stoned a couple of English breaks on goal. England didn't have many clear chances on goal, but they did have a couple. Howard came up with huge stops.
D -- Steve Cherundolo: B
He gave us exactly what we expect to see from him: solid defense and respectable passing with nothing spectacular. Cherundolo was never caught significantly out of position, and his one-on-one defending was good. He failed to generate any offense from the flank, but that was partly a natural result of the US' defensive posture.
D -- Jay DeMerit: B-
DeMerit got lost a couple of times, and his one-on-one defending was dodgy. But he scrapped and hustled and battled all day long, winning more battles than he lost. It should also be noted that four years ago in Germany, the US defense seemed over-awed by the stage and panicked after giving up an early goal. DeMerit's experience showed in that he never looked overwhelmed and he picked up his play after the early goal.
D -- Oguchi Onyewu: B+
Onyewu finally looked healthy again. He played the full 90 minutes and rarely put a foot wrong. He still made some clumsy challenges and committed unnecessary fouls, but he positioning and awareness was 100%.
D -- Carlos Bocanegra: C+
Bocanegra had his weaknesses exposed when he had to contain Aaron Lennon on the wing. Bocanegra simply doesn't have the quickness and speed to defend the world's best wingers by himself. It's to Bocanegra's credit that he played to his strengths and used his defensive help. Carlos was careful not to get caught out of position, even though it meant that the US never had much attacking pop down the left flank.
M -- Clint Dempsey: B
Dempsey can't claim too much glory for his goal, as it was 95% keeper blunder and only 5% hard shot. But Dempsey did play a solid game and made a few chances with almost no support from the back. The US was technically in a 4-4-2, but it was really a 4-2-2-2, with Clark and Bradley in a purely defensive role. And with no support from the flank defenders, who were staying at home all day, both Dempsey and Donovan ended up moving to the middle of the field to start attacks. Due to the narrow nature of this form, the US rarely opened up the English defense or threatened to score. The good side effect was that this packed center kept Frank Lampard at home, and forced Steven Gerrard to come back and play more defense.
M -- Michael Bradley: C+
Bradley contributed little offensively, but his defense was solid. The biggest concern was how he seemed slow to track back on the very few occasions he tried to get forward. Bradley is supposed to be the fittest member of a highly-fit team, but he looked gassed during the last 15 minutes as England overran the midfield.
M -- Ricardo Clark: D
Take away his rec-league level concentration lapse that resulted in the England goal, and Clark wasn't too bad. But as the old joke goes, "other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the theatre?" Clark simply fell asleep on the England goal, which was doubly strange since it was clear that his lone responsibility on the field was to cover Gerrard man-to-man whenever the latter ventured into the US half. At least he got his head back into the game right away and never fell asleep again. His defending was very good for the rest of the match. Offensively, Clark is rarely a positive. Saturday was no exception. The question must be, would the US have fared better with a Feilhaber or Torres in Clark's spot? Neither bring the same defensive muscle to the table, but both (especially Torres who has looked very good lately) add a lot more offensive ability. And since Clark was mainly to blame for the England goal, would we really have been any worse off defensively with someone else?
M -- Landon Donovan: B
"Landy-cakes" was much better than he was four years ago against the Czechs. Donovan hustled hard and got involved all game long, despite (like Dempsey) often toiling by himself as the only true "midfield" player on an entire half of the field. Donovan made the English defense work, but wasn't able to crack it open.
F -- Jozy Altidore: C+
He had one powerful run into the box when he abused Jamie Carragher and saw his shot saved off the post by Green. He also did an admirable job trying to hold up the ball and wait for help from the midfield that was only rarely coming. All that said, he failed to score, and really only made the one opportunity. While he certainly worked hard, he couldn't generate any goals and was held in check rather easily by the English defense.
F -- Robbie Findley: C
In the first half, his speed caused the English some concern, and his touch was good enough to keep possession in most circumstances. But Findley tired badly in the second half, and he blew a couple of chances to get in on goal with bad touches. He was a liability until he was substituted late.
Substitutes
F -- Edson Buddle: C
He didn't get a lot of time, and he was mostly invisible while he was out there. Bradley waited too long to replace Findley (and make subs in general, actually), and the US was under siege from the time Buddle entered the game.
M -- Stuart Holden: NG
Holden made only a late cameo appearance. Coach Bob Bradley was too conservative with his decisions in this game. He started Clark and instructed the team to play an ultra-defensive style. In the second half, he was afraid to risk making a change, even as his midfielders and forwards were tiring badly due to having to cover too much space.
Overall: C+
To tie England is no small feat, but this English side didn't play that well, and we are capable of being much more threatening than was seen in this match. The US didn't play badly by any stretch, but we'll have to generate a lot more offense against Slovenia and Algeria. Bradley should be less conservative now that the tournament is underway and we have at least one point on the board.
Until later,
SAH
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