SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums College, Pro & International Soccer USA vs Jamacia In Person

After viewing a USA game live instead of on the television I saw a lot of things:

- Refs are bad no matter what level you are reffing (soccer is a very difficult game to ref)

- Twellmen really can jump high

- Those players are fast!

- Twellmen and Wolff messed alot better up top than Ching and Johnson

Who impressed me:

- Hedjuk (always)

- Donovan (he can set up anything and proved it in this game)

- Pope (he was slower than alot of Jamicias fowards but managed to keep play in front of him and use his body)

- Mastronei (Solid attacking middle defender, plays great D and distrubutes well)

- Dempsey (Did not get in until late but had good moves and set up alot of set pieces since he does like to fall alot)

- Olsen (Played fairly solid and put one in the net)

Who did not impress me:

- Albright (I dont know what it was but he was getting bet up and down the field in the beginning of the game)

- Ching (To me not a very good foward has not produced much)

- O'Brian (He might be great in the past but has not proven anything after his injury, made alot of sloppy passes at the end of the game)

- USA's Corner kick ability (9 or 10 corners and none put in)


I would definity go to another game there the facilities in Cary were awsome and the atmosphere was great. My set was on the last row of the on the far side but I was only about 10 rows up, right on the 50.

Look to get tickets for the Morroco game in Nashville...

What,

Glad you made it. Here's what your NC friends thought of the match:

http://www.nc-soccer.net/forum/viewthread.php?tid=9738

Let's not forget that Albright looks like a chimp too..

Edit: amazing that their post counts are so low with all those one liners.. ..chumps!

So you're the guy always peeking at guy's post. Shameful.

..says the guy that was 20 posts above me three weeks ago..and has now tripled that mark.

Wow. I must have watched a different game.

Heydude should have been given a red AND had no clue where his man was on that goal.

I like Donovan, but you say he played well but our corners were bad. Guess who took all of them.

I didn't think Pablo played well as a central defender. Luckily, we won't need him there.

JOB may be our best player ever. He may not be 100% yet, but he was much better than anyone on the field except for maybe Dempsey and Pope.

One last thing. I like Ralston for the lone fact that his MLS and USMNT careers give hope to EVERY single kid playing this game. He is awful, injury or not. Every week I watch u10's, u11's and u12's that are so much more accomplished and creative than Steve.

Our corners were horrible, Donovan took them all about 10 and like 4 were hit too short. The others were on the money, but they were hit over the net or just flew over. Just a little finishing work and that problem could easily be fixed.

We wont need Pablo at the central defender but we will have him on the team, prolly a deffending mid.

when do you think hedjuk should have been given a red, and from were i was the man came from the other side of the field not hedjuks side on the goal.

O'Brien best ever????hmmmm....good yes....best ever?????

red for his two-footed tackle early in the game. Look for a replay of the goal. The goal scorer came from the other side into Heydudes zone. Frankie had no idea he was there until it was too late. Everyone on the field should be aware of the location of their opposition.

As for JOB, I have seen almost all of his USMNT games and many of his games for Ajax. Even Landycakes thinks he may be the best ever. Just a shame he is injured so often.

Yea ok i remember the tackle now but i do also remember after that a Jamacian player did the same thing and no foul was even called. Not saying that Hedjuks tackle was ok because of that just giving an example of what the reffing was like. I am gonna have to disagree with you that that goal was hedjuks fault ovbisouly we just see it from different perspectives so I will let it go...

As for O'brien it sounds like you have followed him for a while, which i have not. So if you think he may be the best ever i will consider him good (not my best ever though)...It is hard for a player to be the best though when they are hurt. I know that is something O'brien can not avoide but it is something you have to factor in at being the best.

what,
just out of curiosity, who do rank up there as all-time best for the US?

I would put Claudio up near the top but alas, he is injured often as well. I think JOB and Reyna can do two things better than any other American. Control the tempo of play and connect on "the pass".

kdlsc,
These are who i would rank near the top:

-Reyna (I agree with you on this one)

-Eric Wynalda (1990-1998)

-Donovan (could be working his way up on this list)

actually now that i think about it i would include Kasey Keller on this list also.

Keller yes. maybe even Friedel. I know there is a lot of debate about which one is better. I have always preferred Keller. I would agree also on Donovan. I do not like Wynalda though. I imagine my hatred for him keeps me from realizing how good he was. I do have to admit, I was at Blackbaud a few years ago when he blew out his knee before the Battery season ever got started.

You should check out the soccer365 message board--bigsoccer.com. There are many interesting threads about all these guys.

how about Tab Ramos. Put the USA in WC 90 with a free kick against T&T. Ramos was definitely the best American on the pitch for the US against Brazil in 94 before Leonardo broke his jaw. Game was 0-0 at the time. His name at least has to be in the discussion of best US player ever.

One last question, how many times did Frankie give the ball away the other night?

Loc Dog Ramos and Balboa were prolly gonna be next on my list.
Frankie giving the ball away is easily overlooked by his work rate and skill moving up on the wing at outside back in my oppionion

I value possession of the ball. I think he is on the squad and may even get a start in the cup, but just do not think he is one of the top 4 backs. dolo is our first option at right back left back is a bit of an issue, however JOB can easily play there if healthy. Gibbs did an adequate job there against Germany, esp considering that they were in a 3 back system. hejduk would be a great second half sub to help kill a game off b/c of his work rate, like Cobi Jones in the 02 Cup. the two footed tackle would have been a red card in germany this summer, which means a loss in the WC. plus he did the same tackle in the second half and got away with it.

Since we are talking mainly about defenders here, I think our best defender for the world cup is gonna be Oneyui.

Here's a link to the Jamaican goal. Bennett comes from Olsen's side to Frankie in the middle. This is the exact reason I put an end to zone coverage on my men's team when I started playing in the back. Who's fault is the goal? Maybe Ben's. Could be Frankie's. I would bet they were marking zones, making it more Heydude's fault. You can even see Ben calling to Frankie.
BTW, Fat Tony should have been able to make it a bit tougher.
http://www.thereggaeboyz.com/videos.htm

yea i definately dont see tony making the World Cup team, he would have to do some outstanding things between now and the final roster time!!!

Ok I agree now that Frankie could be to blame for this goal, but one thing. In the World Cup Keller would make this save no problem. (Not using that as an excuse for Frankie messing up, just stating)

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I pretty much agree except for Josh Wolff!?!!?! I just can't buy into this guy. I saw him play against Guatemala in person in Dallas and watched him give away balls with bad touches against Jamaica. Maybe y'all see something in this guy, but he just hasnt impressed me! Along with Ralston, he is very unimpressive!

Yea it is hard to pick the second striker...Nobody besides McBride stands out...I can not even pick a second i dont know how bruce will do it...

whatever happened to clint mathis? he totally fell off the map after korea/japan

i dont know about his skills dropping but his attitude gets him into alot of trouble in the MLS...I just picked him up yesterday in my fantasy league actually

Balboa, No way. Where does Harkes rate? What about Bruce Murray? Meola in his Prime was key and it was Paul C that it the volley that beat T&T not Ramos. Then it was "foot save" Vanole.

How about Taylor Twellman!?! Arena has a history of rewarding MLS success and few strikers have had MLS success like Twellman.

I also think that at some point, you need to leave an older player at home in favor of a younger player to build for the future. Brazil has taken several younger players over the years for the sole purpose of having them sit on the bench and gain the experience. This is my main problem with taking Meola in 2002 and starting him againt Jamaica. Yes, in his prime, he was a good GKer and was a part of the whole era that helped bring back interest in US men's soccer. But, US Soccer could have rewarded Meola with his 100th cap in a game earlier and not so close to the World Cup. A younger GKer (i.e. Keller's heir) should have gone in 2002 and should have started against Jamaica-- Howard, Reis, Hartman, Busch, etc.

I dont think that Bruce is even considering taking Meola to Germany. I think he just thought it a better gesture to give Meola his 100th cap than put in a GK for one game.

yea i think it will be Mcbride and Twellman up top for the U.S. in the WC!