SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums College, Pro & International Soccer US-Jamaica update

Jamaica scored in the 4th minute to go up 1-0. The US just scored to tie it at 1-1. The game is currently in the 26th minute.

Apparently Bruce Arena told Tony Meola that he (Arena) has not made up his mind for his 3 GKers to travel to Germany. This is Meola's 100th cap, and I believe that he should have been notified a long time ago that it will be his last. The goal was a semi-breakaway in which the attacker had been steered well wide of the goal and a more athletic GKer could have easily completely taken away the angle.

I do agree that Meola should been given the honor of the 100th cap; however, Meola thinking that he has any place on the Germany squad is absurd. He did not have any place on the Korea/Japan squad. The thrid GKer spot should have gone to a younger GKer to develop them for the future.

The US needs to prepare the heir to Kasey Keller. It is time that GKers such as Marcus Hahnemann, John Busch and Kevin Hartman get significant playing time in significant games in order for them to be ready for 2010. Keller will probably not be on the squad for 2010, and by taking Meola in 2006 (which i believe was a huge mistake), the US will have a starting GKer with only one World Cup under their belt.

PS-
Where did they get this rent-a-referee?? This was one of the worst displays of international refereeing i have ever seen. There should have been at least 3 red cards on Jamaica.

I would like to see FIFA have all their World Cup referees attend a seminar to remind them and show them video about what certain fouls deserve certain results.... for instance, many referees have forgotten what a red card offense is. FIFA should show them video examples of what is a red card offense and what is only a booking. If FIFA determines that a referee should have given a card and determines this referee consistently strayed from FIFA standards, then FIFA should sanction the referee.

I didn't see the US-Jamaica game, but on the referee note, there have been several articles on uefa.com about referee training and I came across this website: http://www.uefa.com/uefa/KeyTopics/Kind=524288/index.html which is the website for all international ref activities. If you are interested, you might check out the recent headlines. I think they just had a convention in Barcelona where they trained some new refs and they just had a World Cup training session for refs. Anyways, I thought it might be of interest if you wanted to read up on their policy for training refs or refreshing their memory. My guess is the quality refs aren't slated for friendlies like US-Jamaica.

Just my thoughts on the match. Definitely have to 2nd the reffing comment. Dude should have booked someone a lot earlier to deter dangerous play.

General match notes.. I don't think the US played too bad for an all MLS squad (not too great either). Dempsey looked pretty good.. and..I wish Dane Richards had been more of an impact for Jamaica.. those are my thoughts.

my notes: How bad was the Jamaican keeper? He had great reflexes but his hands were TERRIBLE

secondly, I think it was pretty exciting to see Dane play...i think his lack of impact was due in large part to awe of the situation. he arrived in Cary the day before the match with little time to train with the team, he was also playing in more of a central midfield position as opposed to being the "go-to guy" up top...as he trains more with the squad i think he'll have a bigger impact...i still think its pretty BA that a kid can go from playin college ball straight up to his country's full national team and help them fight for a 1-1 draw

I thought Dempsey made a case for himself, especially with Ralston's probable groin pull. He was a difference in the game when he came in.

O'Brien was the calming player he needed to be when he came in but he is obviously not 100% yet. I would take him in a heart beat.

I thought Josh Wolff was better than Ching, Twellman was Ok (needs different partner).

Hedjuk and Albright were average.

Ben Olsen... I am still not sold on him.

Meola.... should be his last game in the national team.

And lastly I think all US forwrds that played in the game need to go to a training session with one of the U10 or U11 CASL teams while in Cary so they can learn to follow up shots. Rickett's had stone hands for crying out loud, after the first 2 you would figure that it may be a good idea to follow up.

"How bad was the Jamaican keeper?" Question is, how bad was our keeper? Hopefully now that he got his 100th(how much time did he have to spend on his knees for that) he will be done and we will not have to see him again. I know it is just a warm up/friendly but come on, the young guys need experience,not some washed up, never was really good, old guy! How does that help US soccer.

On a brighter side...I was really impressed with the crowd in the tight venue. Looked great on TV.