USA-Netherlands friendly

[HattonTheHammer]

England had a rough go and vs Egypt


My DREAM World Cup roster for the US (providing everyone returns healthy):

GK: Howard, Guzan, Hahneman

D: Bocanegra, Onyewu, DeMerit, Cherundolo, Spector, Goodson, Castillo

M: Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Holden, Edu, Beasley, Torres, Clarke

F: Altidore, Davies, Cooper, Adu

and 1 more player, perhaps Jermaine Jones or someone else in midfield

some awful performances in the 1st half from our lot especially at the back

Why on gods earth capello chose to play walcott who hasnt had a run of games in years over young, milner, beckham and shaun wright is a complete mystery. As soon as madonnas child came on it was a different ball game and crouch did himself a hell of a lot of favours last night

[El Kabong]

Why you wouldn't start Crouch is beyond me, he's a quality striker and helps out a bunch with set pieces as well as with winning headers and pushing play forward.

The US COULD have a player like that in Kenny Cooper but Bob Bradley refuses to play him for some reason.

[HattonTheHammer]

Why you wouldn't start Crouch is beyond me, he's a quality striker and helps out a bunch with set pieces as well as with winning headers and pushing play forward.

The US COULD have a player like that in Kenny Cooper but Bob Bradley refuses to play him for some reason.

capello has stated endless times rooney-defoe just cant work and what does he go and do...

Completely agree about crouch he is tailor made for sides like egypt. The problem within crouchy comes into play when we get in with the big boys come quarter final time and you need both your strikers to be mixing it up in the middle of the park as well as tracking back.

Wayne rooney hasnt all of a sudden become this world class player just because he is now banging them in left, right and centre. His workload is truly immense for man utd and you often will see him covering at left back or making an important tackle inside his own area

fantastic player and one that we should wrap up in cotton wool until the summer and release him to the world and let him try and win us a world cup

[El Kabong]

Do you think England should be worried about playing the US after their issues with Egypt?

ESPN player ratings
GK, Tim Howard, 7 -- Howard made several fine saves and had little to do with the goals the U.S. conceded. His defense was organized well.
D, Jonathan Bornstein, 2.5 -- Bornstein had a dreadfully unlucky game. The good: He got forward well on a few occasions. The bad: He had something to do with both Dutch goals and was torched time and again by Arjen Robben.
D, Jay DeMerit, 7.5 -- DeMerit was one of the strongest players for the U.S. on the day. He was superior in the air and simply denied Dutch attempts to reach the strikers with high balls after attempts to play them over the ground proved fruitless.
D, Carlos Bocanegra, 7 -- Scored on a nice header and was composed in the back, keeping cool under prolonged periods of pressure.
D, Jonathan Spector, 5 -- While he did some good offensive work and didn't have a bad game, he was made to look foolish by Eljero Elia a number of times.
M, Michael Bradley, 6.5 -- Bradley really played two games. Defensively, he was instrumental in controlling the center of the field and keeping Sneijder from getting into a rhythm. Offensively, he had an off day, with pass after pass finding nothing but an opponent.
M, Jose Torres, 4.5 -- The game passed him by for large stretches of the first half. His offensive flair didn't show and he became a liability defensively.

M, Stuart Holden, 5 -- Playing for only 34 minutes, Holden made some nice moves out on the right, showing himself as a serious option there.
M, Landon Donovan, 5 -- Donovan did not do what one might reasonably expect of him: inject U.S. play with some offensive moxie and help distribute the ball. Isolated for much of the first half, Donovan lost the ball too easily. He was much better up top, getting teammates involved, but was taken off soon thereafter.
F, Robbie Findley, 4.5 -- Findley was slightly out of his depth, with little involvement in the play. He showed again that he doesn't have the physique or the savvy to find space against a quality opponent.
F, Jozy Altidore, 6.5 -- Showed more in the second half than in the first, when he started receiving the ball closer to the goal and unleashed a fierce shot. He was the only American consistently keeping the Dutch defense busy.
Subs:
M, DaMarcus Beasley, 6.5 -- Beasley came on for Holden in the 34th minute and provided a spark. Contributing several dangerous runs on the wings, he also delivered a fine assist on Bocanegra's goal.
M, Maurice Edu, 6 -- Coming on for Torres at halftime, Edu proved an upgrade. He held his ground and did a good job distributing the ball.
M, Alejandro Bedoya, 5.5 -- A 63rd-minute entrance into play was a success. Bedoya was part of the U.S. resurgence near the end of the game with several good passes.
D, Heath Pearce, 6 -- A 70th-minute addition, Pearce showed that he is one of the better options on the left. Going forward, he hit a few dangerous crosses to the U.S. strikers.
F, Eddie Johnson, N/A -- While Johnson was on the field during the strongest attacking phase the U.S. had, his touches were limited after he came on in the 76th minute.
D, Clarence Goodson, N/A -- Another late addition, Goodson, who came on in the 86th, hardly got a whiff of the ball.

[HattonTheHammer]

Do you think England should be worried about playing the US after their issues with Egypt?

ESPN player ratings
GK, Tim Howard, 7 -- Howard made several fine saves and had little to do with the goals the U.S. conceded. His defense was organized well.
D, Jonathan Bornstein, 2.5 -- Bornstein had a dreadfully unlucky game. The good: He got forward well on a few occasions. The bad: He had something to do with both Dutch goals and was torched time and again by Arjen Robben.
D, Jay DeMerit, 7.5 -- DeMerit was one of the strongest players for the U.S. on the day. He was superior in the air and simply denied Dutch attempts to reach the strikers with high balls after attempts to play them over the ground proved fruitless.
D, Carlos Bocanegra, 7 -- Scored on a nice header and was composed in the back, keeping cool under prolonged periods of pressure.
D, Jonathan Spector, 5 -- While he did some good offensive work and didn't have a bad game, he was made to look foolish by Eljero Elia a number of times.
M, Michael Bradley, 6.5 -- Bradley really played two games. Defensively, he was instrumental in controlling the center of the field and keeping Sneijder from getting into a rhythm. Offensively, he had an off day, with pass after pass finding nothing but an opponent.
M, Jose Torres, 4.5 -- The game passed him by for large stretches of the first half. His offensive flair didn't show and he became a liability defensively.

M, Stuart Holden, 5 -- Playing for only 34 minutes, Holden made some nice moves out on the right, showing himself as a serious option there.
M, Landon Donovan, 5 -- Donovan did not do what one might reasonably expect of him: inject U.S. play with some offensive moxie and help distribute the ball. Isolated for much of the first half, Donovan lost the ball too easily. He was much better up top, getting teammates involved, but was taken off soon thereafter.
F, Robbie Findley, 4.5 -- Findley was slightly out of his depth, with little involvement in the play. He showed again that he doesn't have the physique or the savvy to find space against a quality opponent.
F, Jozy Altidore, 6.5 -- Showed more in the second half than in the first, when he started receiving the ball closer to the goal and unleashed a fierce shot. He was the only American consistently keeping the Dutch defense busy.
Subs:
M, DaMarcus Beasley, 6.5 -- Beasley came on for Holden in the 34th minute and provided a spark. Contributing several dangerous runs on the wings, he also delivered a fine assist on Bocanegra's goal.
M, Maurice Edu, 6 -- Coming on for Torres at halftime, Edu proved an upgrade. He held his ground and did a good job distributing the ball.
M, Alejandro Bedoya, 5.5 -- A 63rd-minute entrance into play was a success. Bedoya was part of the U.S. resurgence near the end of the game with several good passes.
D, Heath Pearce, 6 -- A 70th-minute addition, Pearce showed that he is one of the better options on the left. Going forward, he hit a few dangerous crosses to the U.S. strikers.
F, Eddie Johnson, N/A -- While Johnson was on the field during the strongest attacking phase the U.S. had, his touches were limited after he came on in the 76th minute.
D, Clarence Goodson, N/A -- Another late addition, Goodson, who came on in the 86th, hardly got a whiff of the ball.

We never got out of second gear and a lot of the big name players took the game with a grain of salt which they always do with these friendlys.

3 of the back 4 were injured and the midfield never clicked. A side like the USA is always horrible to play for the bigger footballing nations because a good solid 4-5-1 can always get you a 0-0.

Id say come world cup time we`ll probably be just too much for the 3 in our group but going on what ive seen from your game last night it`d be an absoloute shambles if you werent to take that second place!!

[El Kabong]

The US have been throwing more at the opposing goal these days and I think that is good for us. Hopefully we can continue our success with the 4-4-2.

If we put out a HEALTHY side with these players

--------------Altidore----Davies-----------
------------------------------------------
---Donovan---Bradley----Edu-----Dempsey
------------------------------------------
Spector---Onyewu----DeMerit---Bocanegra
------------------------------------------
----------------Howard--------------------

Then we can give England some trouble and maybe hold them to a tie or even beat them. But to do so we have to link our defense and our attack better.

[OumaFan]

Actually Spector's been pretty good for us lately. He was very good at the Confederations Cup. I don't pay attention to him much at West Ham.

Beasley up until a month ago was probably gone from the team. Wasn't playing at Rangers, was capital letters horrible for us when he did. So he's working his way back in, he's still got some work to do to start for us at the WC. Actually the only way he will is if Dempsey moves up top and even then he might not.

[HattonTheHammer]

Actually Spector's been pretty good for us lately. He was very good at the Confederations Cup. I don't pay attention to him much at West Ham.

Beasley up until a month ago was probably gone from the team. Wasn't playing at Rangers, was capital letters horrible for us when he did. So he's working his way back in, he's still got some work to do to start for us at the WC. Actually the only way he will is if Dempsey moves up top and even then he might not.

He mainly starts on the bench at west ham, one of those players who doesnt neccesarily do anything wrong but just fails to impose himself on a game.

Everytime ive seen demarcus play he has been the best player on the pitch. Superb little creative midfielder but you can understand bradley not starting him because of the little game time he is getting and if you cant make a starting lineup for a side in scotland then you really cant be all that.

You`ll tear algeria and slovenia to peices, chances are it`ll be germany in the second round for you and thats gonna be a massive ask. If you were to get past them and make it to the quarters who the hell knows how far you could go.

[OumaFan]

Beasley is a regular starter for Rangers when he's healthy but he's almost never healthy.

[OumaFan]

Holden out six weeks at least with a fracture in his leg. De Jong apparently showed himself a yellow piece of paper as a sympathetic gesture.

He should just be glad Holden doesn't play for Arsenal.

[El Kabong]

hattonthehammer, did you see Beasley play vs Brazil?

When Beasley is settled he's a very good player and if we had to move Dempsey up to striker(which may not be a horrible idea) then it's not out of the question for Beasley to start for us.

Donovan showed us in this game that he still needs someone to get the ball to him. I think Cherundolo and Spector are the best assets for us at left back because they are guys that will look for a pass down the pitch to clear the ball (something we rarley do) and they are good at placing some dangerous crosses. Pearce had a couple good crosses go in in the match as well so he shouldn't be left out.

The US has better skill and more importantly we're begining to play like we belong on the field no matter who it's against. Don't get me wrong we can obviously still get shell shocked but the possibility is out there now that wasn't before that we could damn near beat anyone on any given day. Now if our team could play consistently with poise and composure and make cleaner passes/first touches then we're going to be a top 10 team very soon if not by the end of this World Cup. We also have to continue to grow our talent if we can get Zizzo and Sztela and McCarty to produce to replace the older players then we'll be able to build on our successes and limit our failures.