Major League Soccer Talk

Eddie Johnson’s Goal versus Argentina gave the US three minutes of false hope

The inexperienced side Coach Bob Bradley took to Copa America contrasted directly with the experienced “A” side that Bradley took to the Gold Cup. Despite lifting the Champions Trophy at the Gold Cup, the campaign was far from flawless, and […]

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Obviously winning the Gold Cup is a wonderful achievement for the United States national team. However some lingering questions remain in my mind about the future of the national team. While Landon Donovan once again showed his quality and class when he decides he really wants to play the game (instead of hanging out on […]

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I arrived in Mexico this afternoon eager to find out if a buzz existed about tomorrow’s Gold Cup final between Mexico and the USA. Coming into a touristy airport like Cancun doesn’t tell you much about Mexico. In fact you might as well be somewhere in middle America, because probably less awareness of the beautiful […]

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Canada and Guadeloupe did not make it easy, but we have the final everyone expected in the Gold Cup. The US once again squandered chance after chance but somehow managed to hang on to a 2 to 1 victory over a very game Canada squad. The US was without question the beneficiary of poor officiating […]

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Mexico’s hard fought 1-o victory over Panama last night in Houston ensured that the US would avoid playing Mexico until a potential Gold Cup final on June 24th in Chicago. Had a draw taken place last night the US would have played Mexico on Saturday in Foxboro, MA in the quarterfinals. Instead now the US […]

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While the initial few minutes of the second half of tonight’s match looked dicey for the US (largely because of Landon Donovan being replaced by Taylor Twellman), the squad recovered and played outstanding soccer without its captain for the night and best player. The US offense seemed stagnant until Brian Ching entered the match around […]

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Playing Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber and Pablo Mastroeni together is a mistake. You don’t have anyone remotely resembling a playmaker occupying space in the center of the midfield, thus a tendency to push the ball exclusively down the flanks or play long ball seemed to set in at points during the first half.
Landon Donovan and […]

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Major League Soccer Talk correspondent Michael Haley and I both attended the US-Trinidad and Tobago match yesterday at the Home Depot Center outside Los Angeles. The US made ten changes in the starting eleven from Thursday night’s victory over Guatemala. Most interestingly the new players seemed to adjust well to Bob Bradley’s attacking formation which […]

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Scratch my half time comment on Gooch. His poor form for Newcastle returned in the two bonehead plays he made to be sent off.
The US players need to become mentally tougher. Guatemala now has twice in three months given CONCACAF countries a blueprint for beating the US. Cheap shots and rough play are part […]

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Great finish by Dempsey for the goal
I’m not sure how many bad clearances Carlos Bocanegra has to make before US coaches begin to look at other options at left center back. I don’t care how many goals Bocanegra scores for Fulham, he just is too inaccurate when clearing the ball to be on the back […]

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