U.S. soccer: A late look at the Ghana match

Posted by Creaven on July 1, 2010 under United States, USMNT, World Cup | 12 Comments to Read

I’ve been AWOL in the last couple days, and to my eight dedicated readers, sorry.

So I’ve had a couple days to look back at the United States 2010 World Cup and it’s hard to ignore how close it was to complete disaster. If Michael Bradley volley went flying over the bar against Slovenia or if Algeria could have defended for one more minute, U.S. soccer would have had its disappointing World Cup ever. But the U.S. did put together two climatic last-minute finishes, which for the first time ever put the American public in a soccer frenzy.

Then came Ghana…

When the match kicked off I was 35,000 feet above the ground (I can’t articulate how pissed off I was). When I came back to Earth 35 minutes later I was feeling fairly confident. I was worried about how the U.S. was going to play in the final 30 minutes, since it played Algeria just 72 hours earlier. But the first 30 minutes? There’s no way the U.S. would come out flat. With maybe one or two exceptions, this was the biggest match any of the Americans had ever played. Plus, they’ve already started matches slowly and paid for it, surely they had learned their lesson.

Nope. When the planes’ wheels hit the tarmac I feverishly turned on my cell phone and saw the headline, “Ghana leads 1-0, goal in the 4th minute.” Errrrrrrrrrrr. How could this of happened? Then I remembered one of our center backs plays in the second division in England and the other is a left back in Ligue 1. Oh, healthy Oguchi Onyewu how I miss you.

I watched the second half at a sports bar inside the terminal at John Wayne Airport in Orange County (a surprisingly good place to watch). I sat down when I saw Benny Feilhaber was about to be subbed in. “Un-fuckin-believable,” I thought. “He started Robbie Findley.” Hoping I was wrong, I saw Findley’s name with a red arrow pointing down on the screen and I just shook my head.

(Tangent No. 1 — I have run out of ways to describe the absolute madness of Robbie Findley starting World Cup matches for the United States of American. In four years, when Tristian Bowen is lighting the World Cup on fire (you heard it hear first) commentators are going to say, “Just think, four years ago Robbie Findley was a starting forward on this team. Look how far the U.S. has come.”

I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s really head-scratching why Bob Bradley got a pass by the media on continually putting Robbie Findley on the field in South Africa. I didn’t read one person write or say on television, “Wait, this is crazy. Robbie Findley can’t be in the starting 11.” Instead, I read stuff like this from Steve Goff about how Findley’s speed is a game-changer, his teammates love him, blah, blah, blah. Sometimes when reporters closely follow a team, and a have a personal relationship with the coach, it can be hard to question what he’s doing. I’ve been there before, I know. But that’s their job. Calling Findley out was an easy one. He’s always struggled with the national team and scored one goal for Real Salt Lake this season. Maybe if Grant Wahl, Ives Galarcep and Alexi Lalas all yelled at the top their lungs, “Starting Findley is bat shit crazy,” Bradley might have felt a little pressure and kept Findley on the bench. Probably not, but maybe.

The most disturbing statistic for the U.S. at the 2010 World Cup — Robbie Findley 167 minutes played, Stuart Holden 0 minutes played.)

The U.S. looked good from the opening whistle in the second half. The five-man midfield was able to hold the ball and though chances weren’t coming every second, I was feeling confident a goal would come. It did when Clint Dempsey nut-megged a Ghana defender before getting tripped in the box and Landon Donovan bounced the penalty kick off the post: U.S. 1, Ghana 1, the John Wayne Airport terminal goes wild.

(Tangent No. 2 – If I’m going to kill Bradley over Findley, I got to give him some credit for Jonathan Bornstein. Bornstein benefits from having extremely low expectations, but I thought he played well against Algeria and Ghana. Bornstein was the one U.S. player the media didn’t hesitate to criticize and he responded with a couple good games. Surprising, sure, but good for him.)

The goal seemed to jolt Ghana and it raised its game for the remainder of the second half. But the U.S. was still dangerous and if Michael Bradley took an extra touch before his shot or if Jozy Altidore didn’t flop one too many times and stayed on his feet when he got free on goal, maybe the U.S. scores and advances to the quarterfinals.

But the goal didn’t come and the U.S. biggest weakness (central defense) cost them a goal when Asamoya Gyan powered his way through Carlos Bocanegra before firing a shot over Tim Howard and in the net. That was about it. Feilhaber and Dempsey had shots blocked and the U.S. were out of the World Cup.

If the U.S. got stuck with the Netherlands or Argentina and lost 2-1 in extra time it would be a lot easier to swallow. Ghana isn’t Guatemala, but only advanced to the Round of 16 because of goal differential. With Michael Essien injured and Sully Muntari not fit enough to play a whole match, Ghana is just an average international soccer team. The U.S. were slight favorites and deservedly so.

(Tangent No. 3 — The U.S. wins if it starts the match in a 4-5-1. It was clear in the second half Ghana couldn’t matchup man-for-man, but with the extra midfielder in the first half it was able to dominate the tempo (I watched the first half later).

I’m going to give Bradley a break on starting Clark. He isn’t as good as Edu (which I have been stating for months), but Clark was the fresher body. For people who aren’t big soccer fans, soccer teams rarely play two games in three days, so fatigue was going to be a factor. Clearly, in retrospect, starting Clark was a mistake but Bradley deserves some credit for recognizing and getting him off the field before he could do any more damage.)

What also makes the loss painful was if the U.S. won it would be only slight underdogs against Uruguay; the U.S. would have had a legitimate chance of advancing the semifinals. If that were to happen, soccer would have exploded in the United States (we love winners). It still might, but the loss puts an anti-climatic end to an exciting World Cup for the U.S.

—————————–

Friday’s Bets:

The over (2.5) in the Brazil\Holland match — $10 — to win $12.50.
Ghana and Uruguay to tie in 90 minutes (+210) — $10 — to win $21.

——————————–

Betting Summary

I’ve won and lost a couple future bets since my last post. There were less than 17.5 goals in Group G (there were 17) and Landon Donovan was the leading scorer for the U.S. (which I had $5 on at 4/1). I also had the over for goals by Chile in the group stages, which was 4 1/2 (it only scored) three and my 110/1 longshot — the predicted finish of Group G (Brazil, Portugal, North Korea, Ivory Coast — had a chance but North Korea could pull off the upset against North Korea. Overall, I won a grand total of $2.69.

Individual matches: 2-8 (lost $17.50)
Prop bets: 0-1 (lost $5)
Parlays: 1-2 (lost $15.68).
Over\Under: 3-2 (made $26.59).
Future: 3 pending, 4 wins, 3 losses — made $12.33 — $63 invested
Total: Made $.64.

You can get my most up-to-date bets on Twitter at IntelSoccer.

Also, if you want to start betting on soccer or any other sports, please click on the Sportsbook ad on IntelligentSoccer and signup. I’ve belonged to SportsBook for years and I can tell you it is the best online sports book on the Internet. I only get paid if someone signs up after clicking through the ads on IntelligentSoccer, so please go that rout. Thanks so much!!!

Bill said,

Good to have you back. Keep plugging away!

Your piece generally summed up some of my thoughts. Basically, the loss to Ghana was Bob Bradley’s, he absolutely blew it. Saying this, I am higher in my opinion about Bradley than ever (some good tactical developments albeit negative, and good team spirit chemistry), but his tactical and game acumen is terrible. He is not up to the standards we should have.

There’s alot more to say about the state of the game in the USA, but that’s for another day.
U.S. soccer: A late look at the Ghana match » Intelligent Soccer | Blog Cast said,

[...] is the original post: U.S. soccer: A late look at the Ghana match » Intelligent Soccer Tags: algeria, flying-over, michael, michael-bradley, one-more, over-the-bar, Slovenia, the-bar, [...]
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by telissa little, Patrick Creaven. Patrick Creaven said: A very untimely look at the Ghana match: http://bit.ly/bB8zrG [...]
nick said,

I think your thoughts are generally correct.

Bob Bradley made the mistake of putting Clark and Findley in the starting lineup. Clark’s midfield mishap really screwed us on the first goal. Maybe if we had a better central midfielder in there it wouldnt have happened who knows. I personally like Torres but he is still young and will hopefully pan out in the next few years.
I think Onweyu is to big and slow to play in the central defense (right now). If he was 100% injury free then I would say yes start him. But Bradley made the right call on sitting him, he would have hurt us more then help us throughout that game. He may have been able to stop that game winning goal but it is doubtful being that he would have been very fatigued because he isnt 100% fit.
I think Jozy Altidore is a bust. The ever so intelligent commentators, Harkes and Lalas, say that Jozy is great at drawing fouls. Well that is true but if I am on a team I dont want my forwards greatest accomplishment to be drawing fouls. I want it to be scoring goals! If we had an expert at free kicks then ya this is a great thing to have but the U.S certainly lacks in the free kick department.
If you watch that game I think Michael Bradley seemed a little flat throughout it. He was definitely tired and didnt play at this absolute best.
I just hope some U.S players get picked up by some quality European clubs where they get playing time.

And I hope the next soccer savior has some personality. Landon is a horrible interview, he needs to get some personality. I watched the daily show and even John Stewart had some trouble getting some jokes out of the guy.
We did improve this year but who knows if it will continue to the next world cup. Keep our fingers crossed.
Marcus said,

I think you hit it with your 3rd tangent, the US would have won had it rolled out a 4-5-1. Poor tactics at the start of the match forced early changes. By the end of the 90, the US was clearly drained (both physically and mentally) from fighting back but didn’t have the subs to make the difference. You can’t tell me Holden wouldn’t have helped keep pressure up and stabilize the midfield late in the match.
Overall I think the US simply ran out gas, which was to be expected considering the way the played. They spent more than 300 of the 400+ minutes they played in the tournament needing a goal (all but the last 60 against england, about 20 against Slovenia, and about 30 minutes against Ghana). That is simply too much and indicates consistent tactical/motivational errors at the start of match. Bradley may be great at in game adjustments, but he has to be taken to task for his inability to dictate the proceedings from the outset.
Patrick Keeler said,

If you look at things from one side, the U.S. lost to Ghana in the R16 on two bad goals. And they only got there by beating Algeria in penalty time. This is the view you have.

But looking back on it even more, what if the 3rd goal against Slovenia had stood (as it should have). The U.S. would have qualified right there for R16. Dempsey and Donovan (who now says he was nursing a hamstring) could have rested against Algeria. But the U.S. had to press and press against Algeria all game (because of their curious strategy of playing for a 0-0 tie just to eliminate us).

We would have walked into the R16 well rested having won the group, easily, that included England. Quite a different viewpoint. All because of the Mali ref and a horrible first half.

Ghana as it turns out was not bad. They won the U21 World Cup, are the only ones who played Germany tough so far (Germany scores 4 against England and Argentina but barely scraped up 1 vs. Ghana), and missed a PK or they would be in the Semis. The U.S. looked tired, very tired, in the last 45 min. of the Ghana match. They went to the well too often, but if the Mali ref doesn’t call back Edu’s goal on a phantom foul, then they might have had the energy. Who knows. But overall, a good World Cup for a team that barely qualified 20 years ago.
Creaven said,

Bill,

Thanks for the encouragement!

Nick,

Come on, Jozy Altidore is 20 years old how could he be a bust? I think he played quite well in two of the four games. I think Jozy is your guy when it comes to the next American soccer star having some personality.

Marcus,

Couldn’t agree more.

Patrick,

Very good point. If Edu’s goal wasn’t disallowed the U.S. would have been in a much better position. The Algeria match took too much out of the team.
philmatt24 said,

You think drawing England, losing to Slovenia, and drawing Algeria would have been more disappointing than losing (3-0) to Czech Republic, drawing Italy, and losing to Ghana? I’d say they’re about equal, because expectations were higher this year, but at least it would have been 2 pts…

I agree with you on Altidore – he played well for stretches, but obviously didn’t score goals so he’s not there yet. If you pair his play with a healthy Charlie Davies (speed but can also actually score), or, say, ANYONE who can finish a decent chance (see: Findley’s misses vs. Australia 6/5), then Altidore’s hold-up play, foul drawing, and assist on Bradley’s goal look very good, as they complement the scoring striker well. But we didn’t do that, did we? Buddle’s borderline international at best, but at least he can score goals, sometimes.

And don’t get me started on Stu Holden. I know he was coming off an injury, but if you’re willing to get Torres and Findley and Clark and Edu all time, you’d think you’d also give a chance to a guy who did nothing but impress for the USA last year, and cracked Bolton’s starting lineup in his first month there before said injury (curse you, De Jong!) BTW, Holden did see the pitch for about 5 minutes against England…

And your comment about giving BB a pass on starting Clark because he was “fresher” than Edu… someone else commented that Michael Bradley looked gassed in the later stages of the Ghana game. Maybe we should have benched HIM for fresher legs! Edu may have played a lot vs. Algeria (actually, only 64 minutes), but he’d only played 45 against Slovenia, and if a guy can’t play 90 on Saturday after playing 64 on Wednesday, he’s nowhere near match shape. It’s not like this was a stretch like the Sounders just had (games on July 4, 7, 11, 15, 18 – oh, with about 78,000 miles of travel in there for good measure) in the middle of a long season.

What I’m trying to say is, although I’m glad the US won the group, and this Cup was way more successful than ’98 and ’06, I can’t help but have a bitter taste in my mouth because of what might have been. Numerous factors led to the US’ demise in the tourney, but by far the greatest had to be the coaching. Clark and Findley aren’t at fault for being on the field, but they were, and they (in my opinion) were by far the biggest culprits. Clark was the primary cause for the Gerrard goal, which set us on our heels. Same goes for the first Ghana goal. And if BB doesn’t waste 2 of 3 subs “correcting” for the mistakes in his lineup vs. Ghana, maybe just maybe a Holden or Torres or Buddle can come on in extra time with Gomez and provide the spark needed to win the game – or at least make up for the dreadful defending on the second Ghana goal by tying it up and sending it to PKs. I have a lot of respect for what BB has done right in the past 4 years, but I can’t help but think that his decisions (oh, and Coulibaly’s) were what held the US back from greater things this tourney.
How the U.S. soccer media failed U.S. soccer » Intelligent Soccer said,

[...] the World Cup: Selecting Robbie Findley on the team, starting Findley, starting Findley again, starting Findley again, beginning and ending the tournament by starting Ricardo Clark over Maurice Edu, not figuring out a [...]
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