World Cup Qualifying Roundup & More
Relief for Mexican coach Javier Aguirre after Israel Castro's tying goal against the U.S. (AP Photo).
A valiant U.S. effort fell about eight minutes short today against Mexico. In large measure, the U.S. ran out of gas in a territorial game they mainly ceded to Mexico in a bid to survive the conditions.
BTW, does anybody know if they've launched a search and rescue effort for missing U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley?
Here are the CONCACAF standings and the other result today in the region.
Here are all the World Cup qualifying results.
Meanwhile, a "pedestrian" David Beckham was replaced at the half of England's draw with the Netherlands.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
That was US just being US.
Lots of effort but not enough quality to get the tough point.
Gooch was THE best US player today, bar none. I am amazed how much he was playing with the ball at his feet. Gotta be the AC Milan training.
Bad outings: Dempsey, Ching, Bradley, Bocanegra.
OK outing: Donovan, Clark, Howard, Cherundolo, davies.
Great outing: Gooch.
Worst part of watching this game: the unbearable tandem of Marcelo an Phil. The constant babling and ranting by both of them made me wish that Mun2 was never offered. Sorry Andreas I should have stayed with you on Telemundo. God, I'm still irritated.
Why is Brian Ching even on this squad? Every person I spoke with agreed he doesn't belong on the National Team...
Nick replies: You're asking the wrong person. I agree with you and every person you spoke with.
Are you kidding me? "Gooch was the best US player today..."???
Someone needs to teach him the difference between white and green. Ball at the feet was fine, but over and over and over again he just kicked the ball out to a green shirt at midfield. One of the jobs of a defender is to start the offense when he wins the ball.
Poor (horrible) distribution and no transition to midfield kept the US on their heels. The offense never got started. The other defenders did this too. My god, was Bocanegra bad or what? Slow. Behind the play. Poor distribution. Poor positioning. He needs to take a rest from the team.
Props to Mexico. They played a much better game than the USA on Wednesday and deserved the win. Glad to see El Tri playing better again. I think all the time together and the win at the Gold Cup really helped Aguirre and the Seleccion bond and become a cohesive unit. Something they had not shown since Lavolpe was coach.
Once again, Bradley is outcoached, just like vs. Espana and Brasil. Well, actually, Aguirre is a much better coach having coached in La Liga and Champions League. Bradley comes from where... NCAA?? The difference shows.
Substitutes again made a huge difference I think. Parking the Red White and Blue Bus in front of our goal does not work. In the second half I think we only had 1 or 2 counter attacks. Beautiful cross by Stuart Holden, that just missed Davies. I hope Holden develops something special. Bottom line, we lost the game at midfield, I think, and Bradley failed to make any changes to try to correct the situation.
Nick, do you think the US Goal came too early--thereby the USA team got comfortable with the lead and just sat back to try to defend? Also, curious on your thoughts about Bradley? Do you think he is a good coach?
Nery Castillo should never wear the Camiseta again. Guy brings nothing to the game and only causes trouble.
I don't think there's any such thing as scoring too early against Mexico at the Azteca. Somehow I don't think it had any effect on the U.S. tactics though. They were dominated and that would have been the case whether they scored early or not. With regard to Bradley, I'm not a huge fan. He's cut from the same mainstream, conservative, predictable U.S. Soccer cloth as his predecessors. To really progress on the world stage, the U.S. needs a breakout coach almost as much as a breakout player.