Panama Recap/ Honduras Preview

Hi! We’re the Red, White and Blues Brothers and this is our color-coded U.S. Soccer blog. Chip writes in red and Danny writes in blue. We cheer for the U.S. and you better too!

What a difference three games make! Before our second game in the Hexagonal World Cup Qualifying round back in March, the U.S. team was sitting dead last as the only team without a point. Now after game five, our halfway point, The U.S. sits alone at the top as we prepare for the Honduras rematch this Tuesday in Salt Lake City.

Up next: Tuesday, June 18. USA vs HONDURAS, Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah
9:00pm EST, 8:00pm CST, 7:00pm MST, 6:00pm PST
Watch on: ESPN, WatchESPN, UniMas
Follow on Match Tracker at ussoccer.com
and via Twitter @ussoccer
CHICAGO: Watch it live on the big screen at the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park!

OK USA fans... a strong showing against Panama. I like seeing Eddie (Johnson) and Jozy (Altidore) finishing off goals. That is so important in World Cup Qualifying and will be even more important in the World Cup. You can dominate a game, but if you don't hit the net then it means nothing. We still need to improve in some areas I feel, but overall I am pleased with our progress. Honduras will be an interesting game. I’ll say! Honduras shocked us with a late goal back in February to steal a victory. That was our only loss in the first half of the Hex. We will get to see how Zusi comes out after sitting out a game. And I will get my personal wish of not having Beasley in the backfield, although I would like to have him available for a late sub. Speaking of late subs, Jurgen Klinsmann didn’t even make his first sub until the 87^th minute. I’ve been a DaMarcus Beasley fan since his days with the Chicago Fire. I thought he played a very exciting, attacking-minded game at left back, but his lack of national team experience as a defender is a concern. We will find out about some of the other defenders I guess. I'm curious to see who Jurgen will play back there. Gonzalez, Cameron, Evans and Besler is my guess... with Evans on the left.  And it will be nerve racking to see if Jones is able to go or not. I think as long as we have Bradley in the middle and our strikers continue to finish, it should be a good result. However, Honduras did beat Jamaica 2-0, so they will be a formidable opponent. So come out and support the Team or watch for us on TV! We will be there! The Red White and Blues Brothers will be unveiling our new supporter uniforms at the game!

Jozy Altidore was again named the Budweiser Man of the Match. Tim Howard shaved his beard. Jurgen Klinsmann looked much more professional in his Centennial USA sweatshirt. Kyle Beckerman who plays for Real Salt Lake was just called up to the team. He has a lot of National Team experience and it’s good to see him back. If the U.S. would have beaten Mexico in the 2011 Gold Cup Final, they would be representing CONCACAF in the Confederations Cup in Brazil right now. That would have been a much better test to prepare them for the World Cup in Brazil. This will be the last World Cup Qualifier until September. The Gold Cup takes place in July and we might see Landon Donovan and Carlos Bocanegra suit up for the U.S. in that tournament. Let’s home the U.S. can extend their 2-game win streak with a victory over this pesky Honduras team. You might have watched the following Honduran players with for their club teams… Victor Bernardez and Marvin Chavez (San Jose Earthquakes) Mario Martinez (Seattle Sounders) Oscar Garcia (Houston Dynamo) Arnold Peralta (Glascow Rangers) Roger Espinoza (Wigan) and Wilson Palacios (Stoke City, teammate of Geoff Cameron).

GO USA!

   

Jamaica Recap/ Panama Preview

Hi! We’re the Red, White and Blues Brothers and this is our color-coded U.S. Soccer blog. Chip writes in red and Danny writes in blue. We cheer for the U.S. and you better too! 

Well, it's a busy couple of weeks for U.S. Soccer! Friday night down in Jamaica the Yanks had us fans on an emotional roller coaster, but our boys pulled off an exciting win in stoppage time!  A trip back to the Pacific Northwest and we're ready to do it again! It's USA vs. Panama in Seattle Tuesday night for our 5th game and the halfway point in the Hexagonal round of our CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.

Up next: Tuesday, June 11. USA vs PANAMA, CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Washington 9:30pm EST, 8:30pm CST, 7:30pm MST, 6:30pm PST
Watch on: ESPN, WatchESPN, UniMas
Follow on Match Tracker at ussoccer.com
and via Twitter @ussoccer

Now Here's Chip with our Game 4 Recap from Friday night...
Hey USA fans. It was a nice, strong win in Jamaica... but we certainly can't rest on our laurels or our Heartys.  We will still need to play with a lot of heart in the up coming games this summer. (Oh, I get it Laurel and HEART-Y! Sometimes your sense of humor is more like a Hardy Boys mystery!) We can't afford to give away points in our home games. In other words, we need to strive for 6 points in Seattle and in Salt Lake City. 4 points would be OK, but I don't want OK. I want brilliance! And we can do it. We will surely miss Zusi against Panama, thanks to a second yellow card. Someone will just have to step up and then he can come back against Honduras. We also have to be careful with several players carrying yellow cards. A yellow card in the Panama game for several players would mean a 1 game suspension. I don't think we can afford to lose any players for the Honduras game, especially Bradley, Dempsey or Evans.

Friday night's hero, Brad Evans received a yellow card for celebrating after his amazing goal! All he did was put his shirt over his head, run to the sideline and laid on his back before he was mobbed by his teammates. I think it was crossing the touchline and leaving the field, but I guess it could have been "delay of game". I think the Panamanian referee could have let that slide. I think the game is better with goal celebrations.

Now for an assessment of the game. I felt we controlled and dominated the first half. This made me very happy, but I also felt we were lucky to be up 1-0 at half. Another breakdown in the defense gave Jamaica a golden opportunity in the 42nd minute, but luckily the right post held strong. Of course, we hit a post early on too, so fair is fair. I don't think goalposts operate on a basis of fairness, but each team just missed and hit the post in the first half. Either goal would have been a huge momentum swing as Bradley's post was in the second minute of the game and Jamaica's was right before halftime. 

Speaking of post shots. Is it just me that thinks this, or is Michael Bradley the best player on the field these days? He controls and dominates the mid field and seems to do it with ease. He always knows where the ball should go and almost always gets it there. Nobody ever dribbles around him when he is on the defense and he can get a shot off once and a while too.... as he did when he hit the left post early in the game. We can thank our lucky stars and stripes we have him on our team!

Well, Budweiser awarded Altidore the man of the match and I thought Zusi was the best player for the U.S. on Friday. It's a bummer he has to sit out Tuesday's game with that yellow card suspension.

On to the second half. I felt we played fairly well in the second half as well, but a little sluggish. Blame it on the heat and humidity perhaps? Or partaking in Jamaican customs at halftime? One thing is for certain, we need to shore up the line on free kicks! Jamaica has 3 goals off set pieces in the past two games against us. That is unacceptable! I would blame this one on late sub Eddie Johnson. He was out of position in the end. He is a forward and a goal scorer, so can we really blame him or should we blame Jurgen for the substitution choice? I don't really like to "blame" anyone, so let's move on and hope that both people learn from their mistakes.

However, I sure would like 5 minutes with Jurgen to discuss his substitution choices. So much for moving on! It looks like Chip is getting fired up. We now return to his rant, already in progress... I understand his hand was forced a little with the Jones injury (let's hope his injury is not serious) and bringing Cameron in. I am not sure about the Castillo sub? He didn't seem to do too bad, but he didn't seem to do too much either. Maybe he needs to develop more. But I am baffled by the Johnson sub. Was Jozy exhausted? Hurt? If so, why not bring in a fresh defender for him and move Beasley up to fill the void? Beasley could attack some and still get back to help on defense. Or were his legs done too? These are things I don't know by watching on TV, and I sure would love some insight into it! In an earlier post I mentioned Johnson scoring two goals and being in form. I am not so sure about that anymore. He didn't impress me, and he certainly didn't seem to understand the situation of the game. I can think of at least two times where he pushed the envelope forward late in the game when he should have settled and controlled. Another goal at those times would have been nice, but the play wasn't there in my opinion. Of course, that is just MY opinion. What is YOUR opinion? The Red White and Blues Bros. want to hear from you!

Danny, anything you want to add?
Why yes Chip, thank you for asking! Since you're asking our readers their opinions of coaching tactics and strategy, I have a few items I'm curious about... Tim Howard's beard and Jurgen Kilinsmann's wardrobe choice. Tim, it's great to have you back in the net after recovering from your broken back, but c'mon man, lose the beard! You're one of the only players on the U.S. team that a casual American sports fan might recognize on the street and now you have a disguise. And Jurgen, I think it's totally cool that you brought the team down a few days early to enjoy Jamaica and to watch the Mexico/Jamaica game, but your khakis and T-shirt was a bit too laid back. You looked like you were coaching your daughter's Saturday morning youth game.

And I'd like to point out, that Klinsmann started the same line-up 2 games in a row for the first time since he became the U.S. coach in 2011. Unfortunately with Zusi and Jones out, he won't be able to continue the streak. In the three U.S. away games in the hex, they've worn 3 different uniform combinations. In Honduras in February they wore the all-blue kit and in Mexico in March they wore the all-white kit as the Mexicans wore all black. On Friday they mixed it up a bit by wearing white shorts with the navy blue jersey and socks. Maybe they did that because Jamaica wore black shorts, but it got them a win, so in September when they resume qualifying on the road, I hope they wear the lucky kit.

And things to watch for the Panama game... Panama is coming off a 0-0 tie with Mexico on Friday. That's huge for them, even at home. They're currently in 4th place in the hex. Brad Evans should get a hero's welcome at his home stadium in Seattle. Eddie Johnson also plays for the Sounders and he got a hat trick against Panama (as a sub!) in 2004. Ok, it was 9 years ago, but still that's pretty cool. Panama is playing only their second game on the road in the hex. They tied Jamaica back in March. Panama has never qualified for the World Cup. They have only 1 player playing in the Eastern Hemisphere (Rolando Blackburn plays in Slovakia) and only one player in The MLS (Blas Perez plays for FC Dallas but he might miss Tuesday's game.

Let's Go U.S.A!

QUALIFIER TONIGHT! Ya Mon!

Friday Night... USA back in action vs. Jamaica at "The Office". Mexico beat The Reggae Boyz earlier this week 1 to 0 and the U.S. should do the same. But the last time these two teams met, it was Jamaica who came out on top. Let's Go U.S.!

The Red, White and Blues Brothers will have a game recap and we'll look ahead to our next qualifier with Panama on Tuesday.

100 Year Victory

Hi! We’re the Red, White and Blues Brothers and this is our color-coded U.S. Soccer blog. Chip writes in red and Danny writes in blue. We cheer for the U.S. and you better too!  
 
The U.S. split their two friendlies as they get ready for their most intense month of World Cup Qualifying. Their loss to Belgium left many of us cringing, but the victory over Germany during the Centennial celebration gave us hope and hopefully gave the Yanks the confidence they need to come away with three victories in World Cup Qualifying. Here's Chip with his U.S. vs. Germany recap...

Well USA fans.... let's not get too excited about a 4-3 win over a second-string German team using their fourth-string goalie. It is a nice win and it was nice to see Jozy (Altidore) play well and Clint (Dempsey) continue his mastery. I am also happy to see Jurgen (Klinsmann) playing Michael Bradley this game. Hopefully the Belgium game was just a game of rest for Michael, although he really doesn't need much rest the way I see it. Michael Bradley joined the team after the Belgium game. He played in Coppa Italia last Sunday and didn’t push himself to get back by Wednesday. I think if it was a qualifier he would have had a much more aggressive travel schedule. After all, Neymar played in Brazil on Sunday and was being announced as the newest member of Barcelona in Spain on Monday.  If Jozy played as fast and hard as Michael, he would be a monster. As it is, I am happy with the result and see room for improvement... which needs to happen SOON… Like this coming Friday soon! The U.S. travels to Jamaica for a World Cup Qualifier on Friday.

The qualifiers are upon us and this is where we will see which direction the USA team will go and if Jurgen is truly the right man to lead us to the Holy Land... some of you know it as Brazil. If he gets a set lineup and quits tinkering with it through the qualifiers, then I think we will have a strong qualifying round and maybe make some noise in Brazil. If he continues to shuffle the lineup like an old deck of cards, then we will never get the continuity and cohesiveness we will need to win the World Cup… or even qualify for the World Cup.

Our defense needs to grow up quickly! Without a solid defense, we are doomed. This is where Jurgen especially needs to decide on his four backs and stick with them! If he can't tell who the talent is by now, he will never be able to recognize it. I am not at practices, so it is hard for me to completely evaluate who should be there and who shouldn't. However, if it were my decision I would be playing (Geoff) Cameron, (Matt) Besler, (Omar) Gonzalez and (Clarence) Goodson. Those are my picks for now and would hope (Carlos) Bocanegra will get healthy enough to play. Or maybe even Oguchi Onyewu could dream of getting healthy? Yeah, C'mon Gooch, we KNEED you, Man! I am not holding my breath though.  I think the Beasley experiment should be put to rest. He is too risky back there. I think he is better utilized as a late midfield sub who can use his speed to attack and still get back on defense.

So, let's all hold a collective breath together and pray we come out on the other side as a color other than blue.... how about Red and White and Blue! Go USA!

Danny's comments:

Wow, this is cool. My first international game was U.S. vs. Germany in Chicago's Soldier Field 20 years ago... June 13, 1993. I was at the game with my dad. I remember discussing whether or not Germany was "letting the U.S. score a few goals." Germany won that game 4-3 and Jurgen Klinsmann scored the first goal for Germany. Twenty years later: same score- different result. Germany is ranked second in the world. I would think even their second-string team is worthy of a World Cup bid. And even their 4th-string goalkeeper is very talented. Heck, we have 6 keepers on the roster this month and I'd be confident with any of them in the net. So I say let's not dismiss this victory. Anytime we can beat Germany, it's a big deal. And I don't think we have our best XI on the field either... so there! I don't think Jurgen is going to stop tinkering with the lineup. In fact, the Gold Cup in July will probably be the mad scientist's lab. I predict the lineup we see this month will be much different than the one we see in our September and October qualifiers.    

We'll post a pre-Jamaica game blog later in the week, but if you want a sneak peek of The Reggae Boyz, check out their game tonight (Tuesday) against Mexico. Hopefully their tough opponent will wear them down for us!