U.S. vs. Morocco Live!
Crikey! Just when your wives thought it was safe to return to the telly after a long footie season, here come the pre-WC friendlies. Tonight, we'll have a chance to see how Bruce Arena's boys are looking ahead of their key tie with the Czechs in a little over two weeks time. It's on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. And on Thursday, the good people from FSC are putting on the England vs. Belorussia friendly.
If you're in and about tonight and can find your way to the telly without causing too much drama at home, join me on the blog with your comments.
~Bob
posted by Anonymous @ 6:00 PM
72 Comments:
Ole-ole-ole-ole
Oh no, that Joga Bonito ad is just pandering.
Find me one Joga Bonitoiste in the squad. It ain't Beasley or Donovan.
Eric -- what is jogo bonito?
Screen erupts to the one time Beasley combines his pace with actually crossing the ball towards his own teammate
Eric -- America, the world no longer looks forward to playing you!
Screen has Dempsey and co after scoring saluting the Firefighters, Police, and Veteran Section of fans.
Pandering
Quality. Did you spring for that Sergio Mendes remix cd?
I'm kinda worried about the way the Moroccans are tackling us.
And Reyna honestly cannot run with the ball. He's one footed and he's got no pace.
I'd have him in the squad now just as a holding player when we needed to protect a lead. He's so flippin' slow, but he holds the ball up.
Hello, hamstring problem for Claudio?
Yep no question, Claudio's got a hammy. Do you draft in someone or keep him in?
See I worry that Arena won't cut Claudio loose and bring in someone. He'll take a hurt Claudio, mark my words.
that's a good point. Wolff we know is as fit as he can be now. we need to see if Johnson is completely back or not.
is John O'Brien kidding with that effort? this is not very good right now.
the Moroccans aren't even very big and look where McBride is playing right now. if he's not leading the line is it Wolff? he's a midget.
Better. Donovan was unlucky.
But should someone tell Beasley that he's not out there to think too much. I want him running like a dog against these mutts and he's dinking the ball ahead of himself like he's Cruyff.
he's flirtin' with disaster with that doo.
Completely correct. concacaf lackey.
But Gibbs went to sleep on the subsequent free kick. If these guys had anything they'd have made Keller work for it.
Please let me know what on earth Landon is doing out there. He's watching the ball without getting involved. And all this leadership chatter from JDLC and Harkey is just not real.
That really is the last time this match that I want to see McBride posting up anywhere away from the last defender. He's wandering in the midfield and you're right that Wolff is just not doing enough.
Donovan's passing is shite. He should just shoot whenever he gets it because he's not doing well with the distribution.
Not too much on that Moroccan card either.
While there's break in the action here,
Keller, not asked to do anything
Cherundalo and Pope and Ochegwu, pretty confident. Gibbs, showing unfamiliarity with the left role. Gotta wonder what the Mad Hatter's thinking when Convey and Albright play that position.
O'Brien, busy with no final result, Maestroeni confidently breaking up he play and filling the role, Landon, hopeless, Beasley, uninspired.
Wolff, not enough, and McBride taking up too deep a position.
I have to say that 0-0 flatters a very under-strength Morocco. US must do better second half.
What the hell is Landon talking about? Everybody said that we stunned a very decent Portugal, Korea were a well managed squad buoyed up by the enthusiasm of their fans and their home country, and Poland tonked us.
Is he high?
I'm muting the chatter if I don't hear "Not going to beat anyone in our group if we keep that crap up" first thing out of Harkesys mush.
As for O'Brien, let me see, how many shots that bothered the keeper? Oh really, now how many that threatened the corner flag? Ahhh!
Ochegwu. He's done what he needed to do which is scatter the midgets whenever they've come close to him. He's monster. Absolutely monster.
I'd dump Beasley or O'Brien and bring on Dempsey. I'd dump Wolff and bring on Johnson. I'd dump Gibbs and bring on Lewis or Convey.
And smack Ching in the knee with a iron bar and get on the phone and beg Twellman to get on his bike.
Oh yeah, first cross of the half, McBride to Wolff. WTF?
Nice one. Harkesy has decided to start talking truth to the people. Better ball and player movement is correct.
Oh McBride has to go off. That was a tackle deep in his own half. C'mon!!!
I just showed up boys. Out at Matt's game
OK, not bad, but on Bobby's poorer foot.
I have missed everything.What has happened.
Is McBride hurt
You've missed 55 very dire minutes. Share our pain.
what about mcbride
No, McBride is playing deeper than a Manchurian miner. And Wolff is trying a McBride impression that's not working.
Reyna has a twinge in his hammy so he went off early.
Off! Wolff must go now.
of course, the important thing is ... do you like the uniforms?
Dave was born too early. 15 years younger and we'd have never heard of Beasley or Donovan.
What's with that DAVE EFFORT comment
I like that comment
Yeah, I do like the new kit. Tasteful and it's not one of those kappa jobs that fatsoes like me can't wear. Won't buy it but Father's day is coming up. Shall I give Kath a call?
I've said it before, and it's true.
Thank God that Johnson is on finally.
I don't know about him.
I really think that the wacko named kid who didn't even make the squad should be on
Nice looking cross from Bobby. He learned that at Reading? You don't want to know about his crossing for DCU
That's funny. He's been on from the start. Cherundalo, Pope, Ochegwu and Gibbs. Or are you being wry?
That's him
he's ok
should have been a goal
the morrocan keeper looks like a terrorist
Nice shot of Ching using the fatblaster band.
It's a look guaranteed to get you a bit of attention when you check in for your flight back to Casablanca.
another compliment
i'll keep a look out for #31,
useless shot by LD
they're going to score from this corner
may be not
OK, the mad hatter's gone all Ardilles on us. That's Dempsey, Donovan, Beasley, Johnson, Convey, and isn't McBride still on? If we cannot score with half of the team in their half, there's little hope.
Go on Harkesy, I dare you to name the Ghanaian keeper!
i like JPD's attempt to pronounce the Mor sub
LD just kicked the linesman
There would have to be a recently issued indictment against all of them to get a result based on this showing.
how good were the US doing before the Portugal game last WC
Back and forth though. We had his induction into the prestigious Virginia Soccer hall of fame and he was all Pearly King.
great shot by LD. Fabulous attempt on the rebound from Johnson
Alright. A decent shot and pressure on this mug of a keeper.
Bob, Harkesy has a media guide. He can't find the team that begins with G and look at the squad numbers. Harkesy, you are no Alan Green.
or john motson
...and rememberrrrrr, what the gorgon saaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiid!!!!!! keeeep your heaaaaaaad!!!!!!!
Yeah that's going to win it in the 88th. Ching. We're gonna draw this one
wait, free kick--------- crap!
No actually, we're going to lose this one. Pitiful.
good finish
word. very cool
i doubt language has anything to do with being blocked.
Now you know what I felt like
boy I thought that convey shot was in
gotta say that Convey is looking way sharper than Landon on the frees
bugger, oh well, save all the good perfomances for the WC.
Night fellas
It's just a bug Bob-san. The R-T-C is effing this and the c-word that because there are a couple of salty Brits in their twenties. Atrocious potty mouths
Well that was poor. Morocco expected a better team and came prepared to be run and and shelled. They played 8 back, one wide and one central for great hoofs forward.
We had plenty of play in dangerous positions, but the forwards were failures and the midfielders were not direct enough. Getting this out of the way early, Donovan was really poor. I lost track of how many balls he played behind his target, hitting their heels usually and ceding easy possession. He also was very uninterested in challenging for anything loose that he had a 50/50 chance of getting. There was no leadership, nothing from him. That's very bad because it frustrated McBride for one who spent a lot of time coming back for scraps when he should have been getting service in the dangerous areas.
Beasley also was poor. Did he beat anyone tonight for pace. What else has he got. He's not going to dribble around a Moroccan, he can't be expected to waltz around the Czechs, the Italians, or the Ghanaians. Maybe the Ghanaians.
O'Brien was busy as I said. He got little payoff from his balls through to Landon but he also received a few balls out where his ensuing shot made him look like the reincarnation of Geoff Thomas.
Reyna, choked the game dead with his pondering and slow play. It was only when Maestroeni came on that we got forward with any verve. Pablo was good but unspectacular.
McBride should have lifted Donovan up by the nuts and told him he wasn't running back into his half any more because Landon couldn't be bothered. Wolff, just not good. Makes the Twellman decision look really, really bad. Because Ching didn't get much of an outing, expect much of the pro-Taylor crowd to concentrate on Wolff.
Cherundalo was ok, but his crosses too were aimed at no-one and consequently didn't present any real danger. Pope, hah, Bob-san asked when he came on and he'd started the match. Gibbs was conclusively proven a central defender and that's it. The left is not for him.
Keller, was untested until he didn't get close enough to the Moroccan that scored. I've seen him stone a lone forward in that position and he didn't get close enough this time.
Dempsey didn't get any minutes to keep proving that he should start. But that said, in the minutes he played, he didn't do much. Convey came on and put a few dangerous balls in and had a good chance go just wide. Johnson missed a sitter but he too didn't get enough time on the pitch or enough service to make an impact. Ching didn't touch the ball in the 5 minutes he got.
This was a big disappointment and a big warning sign that Arena needs to find something that works in the next two friendlies. On this showing, he's made a lot of Czechs, Italians, and Ghanaians very confident tonight.
Cherundalo wasn't very sharp with his distribution which is odd when you recall that he plays in Germany where the incisive cross from the flank is king.
But defensively, I thought he acquited himself well mostly. It was a failure of a decision to try and keep the ball in play rather than hoof it up or out. Once that Moroccan picked up the scrap left him, it was too late to recover.
That said, we had McBride, Johnson, Convey, Donovan, Beasley, and Dempsey on at the end and couldn't score. That's simply not good enough against Morocco, let alone the Czech Rep. and Italy, and who knows, maybe Ghana too.
The Mad Hatter must cobble something together that works and quickly.
Fox News is reporting today, "The U.S. World Cup defense took an unexpected blow Thursday when Cory Gibbs was removed from the roster because of a knee injury sustained in this week's exhibition game against Morocco and was replaced by Gregg Berhalter."
More good new!
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