"it's unfortunate when you have a play maker that doesn't come."

- julie foudy

freud? freud?

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Simply put guys, we don't have finishers. We don't have a great goal scorer on this team. Our strength is our goalie, and speed at midfield.

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The ability to finish, or just take a decent shot, is a skill that is missing from the team. Not one player looked like a dangerous threat to score at this level of play.

Agree on the horrible set pieces, as well.

The US needs to find a lethal forward who can shoot and they need to practice free kicks and corners.

Always seemed like the attack was done with a blueprint in hand and if the defenders gave an unexpected opening whoever had the ball looked completely lost and just gave the ball away rather than taking advantage.

The 90 minute hustle and ability to tire opponents seems to be an advantage that has lessened quite a bit since 2002. And not having a speed threat to open up the defence...

And...

Where's the throwing up emodicon when you need it. Absolutely sickening.

Others and Wynalda are spot on with Bruce blowing this WC. Where was the Bruce of '02 that took risks, played more attacking soccer, and got results (except against Poland)?

Aside from the poor call on the PK, the best result we could have hoped for was a draw. I blame Arena for having no confidence in the the defense and did not put our midfielders in a position to be successful. The only thing that Arena did right was play Dempesy on the right. After that, Beasley needed to be on the bench for his attitude (although his cross to dempesy was spot on). Arena did not manage injuries well, should never have put JO'B on the team as he was not WC fit to begin with. I just think Arena lost some cockiness and did not have faith in his players to get the job done. At the same time, the players did not step up. Donovan should have taken the role of the play making #10 from Renya, but he never did or will. Beasley needs to get his head out of whatever he is smoking in Holland and put his rear in gear. He had no fire. EJ played hard when he was in and thought he deserved to be on the pitch. He openned up a lot more space for McBride. The D made costly mistakes but overall put it together the last two games. Gooch will be much better the next time around. Keller played well and kept us in it. Would have been nice to see him come off his line more on the 1v1, but the Ghana forward had the angle. Overall, poorly managed team by Arena led to the demise of this team. Sorry for the long post but had to vent!

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pretty spot on i'd say.

Good post, weatherag.

dempsey is a man. wynalda made the acute point that he's out there as an mls player, playing without fear or hesitation. mc bride was left out there on an island until ej came in. then the chances increased. nice points. like wynalda's analysis.

Not enough was risked today (as the English say).
This team also badly missed John O'Brien and I also think that Cory Gibbs, had he been available would have made the central defense rock solid.

Disappointing World Cup. I think the USSF needs to sit down and seriously consider making a change.

while we're at it, i'm going to go ahead and throw keller under the bus too. he had a good game against italy, but for ghana's 1st goal, he was woefully out of position, and didnt come forward to challenge the shot--he was more of a read and react than attacking the ball.

the PK was out of his control, but he's looked out of position on more than one occasion.

I'm trying to figure out how some analyst said he was the best keeper in the world.

That was Keller's last performace for USA. Unless he gets well-deserved curtain call on American soil.

But the first goal wasn't his fault. Reyna hung him out to dry. He had the right position. You can't cover the entire goal. The Ghana player had the corner availble only. He made a great finish.

Reyna definetly hung him out to dry, i just thought that he'd try and go out to cut down the angle on the shot that the ghanaian had.

again, this is only from my experience of playing soccer a long long long time ago, but i figured as long as we're venting i might as well give us some more fuel :-)

[This message has been edited by Aggie2001 (edited 6/22/2006 11:56a).]

I agree with birdman. Blaming Keller at all for the first goal is rediculous.

On the bandwagon since birth. Raised in the bleachers of Kyle, Olsen, and G. Rollie White

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Playing to score 1 goal is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH easier than playing to score 2, especially, when you are down to the last 30 minutes

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But we didn't play to do either.

[This message has been edited by agracer (edited 6/22/2006 11:57a).]

2001 you cut down the angle as much as possible, but at some point you just have to make yourself big to try and guard as much of the goal

On the bandwagon since birth. Raised in the bleachers of Kyle, Olsen, and G. Rollie White

former keeper here. he did just about all you can do. he took away most of the angles like he should have. only gripe is that he could have come out further. but the ghana player made a great finish. keller never should have been in that situation

Coming out is tricky business for goalies. When you're all alone with striker that near goal, it's usually fatal to come out. Keller would have to close several yards just to make significant difference in shooter's angle.

f.u. to the guys calling out keller. f.u.! reyna's not getting called out? that was piss poor on his part. his comments after the game about the us being a small soccer nation is b.s. you screwed us with your dribbling, buddy. now put a sock in your verbal dribbling! how about an apology for screwing your team?!

keller's play on the reyna screw job was spot on. you don't give up near post. he reacted perfectly and came close to redirecting the ball. on the p.k. i went left. even if keller had gone right, that p.k. was perfectly placed in the top left corner - unreachable for any goalie.

easy killer. not blaming him for the PK, not blaming him for the goal either. everyone could clearly see that was reyna's fault. i was saying that he could have come out more to challenge the shot. that's my admitted underinformed opinion which has been refuted.

take a breath.

I'm not blaming keller for the loss. That would be asinine. As you all said, Reyna hung him out to dry, and PK's are virtually impossible to stop.
I just don't think he's the best goalie in the world.

Reyna made the worst play of the tournament, then we score within seconds of him leaving. He's like a bad luck charm.

As I said on another thread:
Reyna sucked.
Arena sucked.
Landon sucked.
The ref sucked.
And everyone's touch sucked.

Full credit to Ghana for being a better team today. They hustled for every ball and played great defense. Good luck to them in the next round.

And Conrad: I'm sorry I called you out, man. Other than a few miscues early, you did a fine job back there.

Reyna should never have had the ball in his position. It should have been cleared instead of being dinked around. Reyna got the ball in a bad position and the Ghana forward was all over him, and picked him. From this former GK's perspective too, Keller did the best he could but hard to come off your line fast when the forward has the ball at his feet. When a GK gets caught moving, he's toast on a 1v1 unless the forward puts the ball far enough off his foot. The D let Keller out to dry and to some exent Reyna.

But overall, the US is lacking a killer striker and a midfielder that can dictate the flow of play. At this level, injuries are not an excuse because everyone will have them. Just need to have depth, which we have none. That was evident after Gibbs went out. Maybe we can find some hidden gems out there in time for 2010. I hate waiting 4 more years.

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The D let Keller out to dry

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Couldnt agree more.

And if I was Keller, I would have been ripping the defense a new hole after the Czech game.

i've taken a breath - it just appeared that the seemingly uninformed were ready to roast one of the best players on the team.