US vs. Colombia
Hey lads. Cheer up, there's more footy. Join me?
posted by gooner71 @ 7:54 PM
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
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84 Comments:
I've just been shrugging off that shower of s**te from this afternoon by listening to a new Soul Jazz label collection of post-Tropicalia Brazilian music from the 70's.
Revs me up, I tell ya.
Well, that was uplifting. An ESPN treatment of Colombia's Narco-history. And now we have Harkesy spilling his guts about how verklempt he still is about being in the team that won on Escobar's auto-goal. Give me strength.
Now Lalas is emoting about Andres Escobar. He now says that if he'd known that Escobar would be gunned down, he'd have been willing to lose the game. C'mon Lexi, WTF?
That Albino mook from Dallas, Shea is in the US line-up. Julius James owned his pale behind in an early season DC United fixture.
The US lines up like this
Guzan; Spector, Onyewu (captain), Goodson, Pearce; Edu, Jones, Bradley, Holden, Shea; Altidore. Reserves: Howard, Lichaj, Parkhurst, Feilhaber, Bedoya, Feilhaber, Dempsey.
What is that 4-4-3? Very experimental.
So Max Bretos thinks that if Jones has another good game, Bradley will have to figure out who to leave out of the starting 11 next time. I think he's talking 'bout you Bedoya.
Jaunty Colombian national anthem now.
B-t-w, did the Montenegran anthem today not sound like you should be watching Frodo throw a ring into some volcano or other?
Cool, the crowd is full of song tonight. You can really hear the Star Spangled Banner ring in the Philly night.
Julie Foudy thinks that Jones can't play with Edu and Bradley on the field. I for one am cool with Jones putting Jr. and Edu on the bench once Landycakes returns.
It's a shock to see Shea starting this match. Him for the US and Kevin Davies for England in one day. Strewth!
Well, well, well. So much for Mo' Edu and Bradley clogging up the midfield. More composure from the Colombian lying deep and we'd be trailing at 1.10.
3.21, another very close shave for the US. Two saves from Guzan after Edu and Bradley mis-communicate.
Oh, and Shea got his first touch and it was a shocker. The very inspiration for the waggish comment about how some players trap a ball further than others can kick it.
Not much from Jones, yet.
All Colombia to be fair.
US have enjoyed about 7 minutes of possession. Not much purpose behind it other than to inspire the Colombians to hare around after the ball.
What seems to be the strategy is for Holden to fill the Landy role, with Jozy up top, and Shea wandering the field looking for the ball.
In the mid, Edu is sitting on top of the center backs and Bradley and Jones are clogging the middle areas.
Jozy caught offside kills something promising. You can tell he's not playing regularly.
Amazing, even 10-15 years after Valderama, everything for the Colombians requires a touch from their string-puller in the middle of the park. Put a wig on the guy and it's 1994 again.
Wow, I don't mean to beat a dead horse but the ball is passed to Shea, who is just in their half, and his attempt to control the ball goes rocketing forward for a Colombian forward who is fouled at the top of our box by Jones. Very bad.
But their free comes off the wall pops up and is headed harmlessly into Guzan's arms.
Oooh, a foul I didn't see allows Holden to take a wicked free kick that Onyewu's just not shaped correctly to connect with and it goes wide. Very close.
Holden hits a very good crisp forward ball, it has to be noted.
But without Dempsey and Landy, we're missing that verve that they bring when they're on form.
Altidore with a clumsy effort to get away from his marker returns the ball to the Colombians and earns his a chat with the "no more" hand gestures from tonight's ref.
Harkes rattles off the names of 5-6 Colombians in the MLS and wonders when they'll be brought into the squad.
Julie Foudy surrounded by Sammers and apparently there's a point to broadcasting that. Gnash-gnash-gnash.
In Jozy's defense, Harkes reminds us that Didier Drogba wasn't playing for the Ivoirian side at age 21.
I think that's probably untrue to begin with, but is he kidding with that comparison?
29.40, and the US have settled. The Colombians have retreated into their half and are content to watch us play the ball side-to-side. Occasional forward forays are dealt with by their defenders, but their midfielders do tend to give the ball back quickly.
Shea now defining his role as forward by occupying space in his own half near the touch-line.
None of those no-look, full of field vision passes from Jones to a forward lying Altidore yet.
Those two that he hit against the Poles were spirit lifting so I can't think why he wouldn't try to spring Jozy again.
Hiya, mate - I'm home from my late class and looking forward to at least an hour of this stuff. How have they looked so far?
Gooch as captain - really?!
It's my first look at Shea. Honestly, put a robe on the kid and he'd be the villain out of The Da Vinci Code.
It's too experimental and full of guys who won't likely feature much again.
Jozy looks very raw and the referee is not having any of his physical play. He's plowing a lonely furrow because Brek Shea is anywhere but where you would hope that a big mook like him would be. We miss Donovan and Dempsey, but Holden's frees have been good. Jones is playing holding mid and after a rough start he and Bradley with Edu sitting on top of the center pair Gooch and Goodson are doing their jobs. I keep expecting Spector to have more quality but he can't pass and can't get by any of the Colombians on his wing.
Good point about Shea. Maybe he's looking for areas of the pitch that aren't quite as bright.
I've just had a look through your earlier comments, Gooner. I did find the Montenegran anthem a wee bit melodramatic. Not at all your typical martial style anthem.
Do we really need two holding mids when playing at home to the Columbians in a friendly. Honestly!
Looks like some activity on the US bench. Dempsey to come on at half time perhaps?
Two? Count 'em. We've fielded 3 holding midfielders tonight. No wonder our possession numbers are good.
Half-time: Well, that's 120 minutes of goal-less footie today and I am well and truly goal-starved at this point.
Three?! This holding mid thing is getting bloody out of hand. I heard that the Scots went with a bloody 4-6-0 on Friday! Where the hell is Sepp Blatter with a wild and crazy idea for preventing this sort of thing?
JP Angel sitting next to Lexi said that the US was playing negative football. Zing.
Yes, three. Jones, Edu, and Bradley are out there.
Check your email bub. I just shot you that post-Tropicalia record. Win-Draw-Lose, celebrate or commiserate, it's a good time.
Awesome - thanks, mate!
Juan Pablo with some fairly serviceable English there.
Any thoughts about England or are you too sick about it to talk it over? What was the crowd response at the Lucky Bar?
Four changes at the start of the second half: the aforementioned Dempsey along with Parkhurst, Lichaj and Eddie Johnson.
Hopefully that will mean that Jermaine Jones has a bit more license to get forward. There's really no need for the kind of cover they had in the first half. It didn't sound from your comments as if the Columbians posed that much of a threat.
The bar thinned out at the end. I don't think anyone's happy. Rooney continues to suck, Gerrard was completely flat. AJ and AY were decent enough on the wings, but while they had the beating of their markers, they couldn't cross for toffee.
I see that Da-Vinci-Code's night is over. Dempsey, Parkhurst, Johnson, and Lihaj. OK, who's he?
Eric Lichaj, is a Villa player, but has been loaned out to Orient this year and he's bagged a goal for them.
Already, giving Jozy a partner to play off of returns a chance. Johnson unlucky to latch on to it.
You really can't leave Jozy up front alone to lead the line. He just doesn't have that in his tank. He plays much, much better with a partner. Doesn't Bradley know that at this point?
Love it - the Philly Sammers have adopted an English brass band strategy, with a nice rendition of "The Saints."
Decent hit from Holden there well held by Mondragon. Apparently that's the U.S.'s first shot on goal all night. Says it all, really.
He should by now for sure. It's possible that he thought he'd get a pairing with Shea. But he's such a quiet coach and his assistant Sorber is the same sort. I'd have been shouting at Shea to pull himself together and I didn't see that from Coach B at all.
I'm not sure I've ever seen Stuart Holden play for Bolton, have you? I'm shocked to hear that he's still there.
Yeah - Bradley makes Arsene Wenger seem positively chatty.
Holden was injured all last season. De Jong got him.
Harkes as usual is brutally honest calling both sides "stale." No wonder the company men at FSC turfed him out.
Jesus - how many people has Nigel De Jong crippled at this point? What a villain that guy is!
Holden's night over. On comes Fielhaber.
There's a second division in Denmark?!
I'll say it cautiously, we're better than Colombia. For all their reputed fancydannery, they don't half look rubbish so far.
And now, with Johnson occupying their defense and Dempsey and Fielhaber on, we're looking much better.
First corner of the night. (sigh)
What on earth was that camera angle from the corner - the bat cam?!
The guys at the Deuce are trying what they can to spice up this match for the viewers.
Always going to be behind Goodson.
I didn't like that camera angle.
Would you have known that Columbia had had a fancy pants striker from Porto on the pitch tonight?
Maybe they were getting glare off of Julies knashers with the regular cam.
No, I didn't know that. But with very few exceptions, the Portuguese and their league are pants. Not fancy, just pants.
Suddenly the Columbians have sprung to life, pulling a decent interception out of Parkhurst.
Did not like that at all. Colombia got through our lines very easily. They're coming back into this.
Foudy with a pitch-side interview in the middle of the match with Sunil Gulati - why?
The Deuce deserve to miss a goal during this bollocks and to receive thousands of angry emails.
I would like to give Sunil a slap. He's totally botched the coaching situation and strengthened Bradley beyond a point that's reasonable.
He's an idiot.
Eddie Johnson not at all resembling a great big werewolf tonight. Shame.
Thank-you for remembering that brilliant Hudson moment.
Every time I get the chance to hear Ray Hudson he produces a line like that.
And now Eddie's down on the turf clutching himself.
Bradley's got it in the net but Jozy was flagged offside.
I agree with Harkes. Jozy's laziness was what kept that from being a goal. Unacceptable.
The Columbian cynically pulls a yellow card for Jermaine Jones. Shocking behavior.
The Columbian coach has a really brilliant Telenovela kind of look to him as if he should be shirtless and riding a stallion.
Eh, this is a bore, no?
Why, why, why, has Jones not done that before now?
An homage to girl groups as the brass band strikes up a version of Peggy March's "I Will Follow Him."
Never a foul. Jozy's lucky to get that call. Is there anyone on the pitch that can hit it?
Answer: no.
No kidding, eh? If we don't get a goal in the next few minutes, I may just have to take my ball out to the Fredonia practice field and bang a couple in the net just to hear the sound of a ball hitting the old onion bag.
Oh - probably the best chance of the match. Great ball in from Lichaj and Jozy had a free header that he put straight at the keeper.
Well, I don't know why Jozy couldn't have got a bit of placement on that. Straight at the keeper. Shame.
And now Jozy's talked himself into trouble and a yellow card. Pure frustration there.
What do you take away from this? Anything other than there is little
forward movement since the World Cup.
Jones is undoubtedly a good addition but I want a system that utilizes his talents.
More than that, what can you say?
What's with this dropping the definite article off of the title of these tournaments? Julie calls it "Gold Cup." Not "The Gold Cup?"
I agree with you. Jermaine Jones is a useful addition but I don't think even a quality holding player is what we need at this point. And at his age, he's not a future plan.
We're in desperate need someone up front who can stick it in the net on a regular basis. We've relied over the past years on the guile of our attacking midfielders, particularly Dempsey and Landycakes. I hadn't realized until Harkes mentioned it that no U.S. striker has scored in the past two World Cup Finals tournaments, but it's absolutely right. Dempsey was the only scorer in 2006 and then he scored two, Landy scored two and Bradley one this summer. That's shocking.
Right. I should see if Eric and Melanie have changed the locks. Goodnight.
Cheerio, mate! Talk to you at the weekend.
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