The Z Machine
Footballguy
Now to comment on Spain.
This was a poor match all the way around for them. The Americans got somewhat lucky, but a lot of the blame for this loss falls on the shoulders of 4 people: Villa, Capdevilla, Cesc, and Ramos.
I would agree w/ DP when he said that Ramos is the most dangerous two-way player in the world. He can play brilliantly from end line to end line making tackles, muscling players off of balls, winning balls in the air, running down opposing wingers, as well as making extremely dangerous overlapping runs, taking the ball himself up the sideline, making great crosses, and finally beating guys with the ball at his feet in the box. There's not a lot of players that can do that. Dani Alves comes close, as does Wayne Rooney actually (who really plays outstanding one on one defense). That said, the guys is prone to some stupid, stupid mistakes. On Dempsey's goal, he obviously had no idea that Demp was right there, otherwise he would have done something else with the ball. It was a really bad error to try and trap it with the bottom of the shoe from within the "area pequeña". He made a similar mistake in the EUROS against Sweden or Russia. Simply put, other world class defenders make far fewer errors than Ramos.
Villa had a tough match. He should have finished on a few balls that were there for the taking. He seemed to get bodied up too much and wasn't doing his "run past the defender to get open for a diagonal pass that he plays back to a trailing attacker" thing that he does so well. His touch was still fantastic however, and Altidore can learn a thing or two from that guy.
Cesc disappointed in this game. He made some good runs at the US defense, but never seemed to find his rhythm in the center of the park. Nonetheless I wouldn't have pulled him as he didn't seem that tired, and Cazorla doesn't bring that much. (By the way, it sure looks like Xavi misses his partner in crime Iniesta... Riera is a poor replacement).
Capdevilla. He got beat and beat up by Altidore. There's simply not a good reason to be out of position and outmuscled like that on Altidore'g goal. He's obviously the weakest link in Spain's defense, and it doesn't help that Riera isn't all that great to take some pressure off him. I might actually consider Puyol at left back and put Albiol in ther center spot. Piqué again showed that he's got a lot of passion for the game. What a soldier (although he looks like a bull in bullfight when he takes the ball upfield himself).
Spain didn't play their game. They didn't finish and they didn't have the smooth as silk passing and running that they've shown over the last 2 years. Give a lot of credit to the US, but it sure looked like they were rattled at times, and probably way overconfident. Del Bosque (and the Spanish press) also has to take some of the blame for this by not preparing them well (like asking questions only about Brazil).
BTW, in an article on a Spanish online newspaper, the headline for this game read: "No we can't" (not translated). I thought that was pretty funny.
This was a poor match all the way around for them. The Americans got somewhat lucky, but a lot of the blame for this loss falls on the shoulders of 4 people: Villa, Capdevilla, Cesc, and Ramos.
I would agree w/ DP when he said that Ramos is the most dangerous two-way player in the world. He can play brilliantly from end line to end line making tackles, muscling players off of balls, winning balls in the air, running down opposing wingers, as well as making extremely dangerous overlapping runs, taking the ball himself up the sideline, making great crosses, and finally beating guys with the ball at his feet in the box. There's not a lot of players that can do that. Dani Alves comes close, as does Wayne Rooney actually (who really plays outstanding one on one defense). That said, the guys is prone to some stupid, stupid mistakes. On Dempsey's goal, he obviously had no idea that Demp was right there, otherwise he would have done something else with the ball. It was a really bad error to try and trap it with the bottom of the shoe from within the "area pequeña". He made a similar mistake in the EUROS against Sweden or Russia. Simply put, other world class defenders make far fewer errors than Ramos.
Villa had a tough match. He should have finished on a few balls that were there for the taking. He seemed to get bodied up too much and wasn't doing his "run past the defender to get open for a diagonal pass that he plays back to a trailing attacker" thing that he does so well. His touch was still fantastic however, and Altidore can learn a thing or two from that guy.
Cesc disappointed in this game. He made some good runs at the US defense, but never seemed to find his rhythm in the center of the park. Nonetheless I wouldn't have pulled him as he didn't seem that tired, and Cazorla doesn't bring that much. (By the way, it sure looks like Xavi misses his partner in crime Iniesta... Riera is a poor replacement).
Capdevilla. He got beat and beat up by Altidore. There's simply not a good reason to be out of position and outmuscled like that on Altidore'g goal. He's obviously the weakest link in Spain's defense, and it doesn't help that Riera isn't all that great to take some pressure off him. I might actually consider Puyol at left back and put Albiol in ther center spot. Piqué again showed that he's got a lot of passion for the game. What a soldier (although he looks like a bull in bullfight when he takes the ball upfield himself).
Spain didn't play their game. They didn't finish and they didn't have the smooth as silk passing and running that they've shown over the last 2 years. Give a lot of credit to the US, but it sure looked like they were rattled at times, and probably way overconfident. Del Bosque (and the Spanish press) also has to take some of the blame for this by not preparing them well (like asking questions only about Brazil).
BTW, in an article on a Spanish online newspaper, the headline for this game read: "No we can't" (not translated). I thought that was pretty funny.
I think he is best suited to play maybe the last 20-30 minutes of the game.I didn't make any comments on the US game yesterday, but I thought they played a really nice game. Agree that Gooch and Demerit in the back were awesome, and really love watching Donovan play - he looks exhausted after 5 minutes, but never ever stops playing/running hard. Maybe it's his diminutive nature that gives me this impression, but, to me, he is a great player to watch, probably my favorite US player since Ramos.I will say it's nice to reach a final, but it is only the Confederation cup. Sure, we get to play some world class talent, but as witnessed in the first two games, let's not go overboard here with the one win. I think the nicest thing about yesterdays victory, well besides snapping Spains unbeaten streak, was the confidence it hopefully has instilled in the mens team and shown what they can do. Getting the first goal was huge - really enabled them to pack the box, and while Spain did control possession, and had a ton of corners, for the most part they were kept to the outside and any of their crosses were ably defended by the US. That type of game will work great against Spain who like to build their attack through the middle of the field.I didn't see why Iniesta didn't play, was he injured? Not at all implying his absence was the reason for the US victory, as Spain has talent to spare, I just was curious.Cheers USMNT 
I think he is best suited to play maybe the last 20-30 minutes of the game.
with bonuses for scoring... 50, IIRC.) I was a better youth player- ODP and all of that. I think there's an FFA who was a consistent East Regional youth team member who played with or against Charlie Davies... Neo, or Morpheus... one of the Matrix names.
with bonuses for scoring... 50, IIRC.) I was a better youth player- ODP and all of that. I think there's an FFA who was a consistent East Regional youth team member who played with or against Charlie Davies... Neo, or Morpheus... one of the Matrix names.
