Well, go ahead and call me an idiot for assuming that the "nearly impossible" meant "impossible". I plan on writing a full retrospective about the team once the tournament is over, but let me just say it now for immediate effect: this team has unbelievable heart. The fightback against Egypt definitely ranks as one of the best "I can't believe this is happening, but I love it" moments in recent memory. This spirit doesn't solve all of our problems, but it is almost indescribably beautiful to watch such an intangible quality at work.
I'll leave the team summary to the retrospective, but let me write one sentence each about individual players from this game. In no particular order:
Charlie Davies has the scrappiness needed in front of goal to play at this level.
Clint Dempsey should focus more on simple play than his fancy tricks.
Michael Bradley and Benny Feilhaber are the two best playmakers that the USA has.
Landon Donovan still has the pace and skill to make things happen, but he needs to be more selfish in front of goal.
Conor Casey has no place on this team when Brian Ching is healthy.
Ricardo Clark has proven that he is vital to this team as a holding midfielder.
Freddy Adu needs a chance to prove himself on a bigger stage than underage teams and CONCACAF games, which he'll only get by playing regularly at club level.
The backline has incredible depth, and is capable of competing with the world's best when focused.
More than anything else, the team as a whole needs discipline in order to be a contender.
More to come after the next rounds.
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What do you think of making Dempsey a permanent forward? Almost every time he plays up top, he scores, and he is a top three skill player on the USA with his touch, heading, and scoring abilities. This would also free up a spot for Benny Fielhaber to start, and Charlie Davies energy and hustle could be used at the end for an end game lift.
ReplyDeleteWow, didn't even see that anybody had commented, sorry to be late!
ReplyDeleteIt could work, but the formula we used for those last three games was so effective that we almost don't even need to change it up. Donovan and Dempsey are great on the wings, especially at creating chances for others, a skill best deployed in midfield. Plus, Davies and Jozy seemed to complement each other well, so breaking that up might not be best.
Of course, I've had the benefit of the games against Brazil and Spain to answer this, but I think they showed that the formation we had going against Egypt worked best.