USA vs. The Netherlands tomorrow!

I'm skipping class to watch this. It'll be on ESPN 2 at 2:30 eastern time.

It's just a friendly, so i'm not placing weight on the results, but I'm excited to watch how some of our younger players hold up against the #3 team in the world.



Who else is watching?

I'll definitely be watching! Whether it's friendly or a tournament it's always good to cheer for Team USA!

Absolutely. Have you seen our new away jersey's? I think they look awesome.

What are we talking about here? Soccer?

US is already qualed for the WC right?

Are they the black ones or something different? I wanna get one before the WC for sure,

Yes, we are talking about soccer. We Qualified over Honduras 3-2 in early October, and will be playing England, Algeria, and Slovenia in group play for the WC in just 99 days, 17 hours, and 36 minutes! This game however, will just be a friendly (Exhibition essentially) as a warm up to see who we are naming to our 23 man roster.

This is the new away Jersey, Nike leaked it just a few days ago. They haven't released the home jersey yet.


I can't wait to get mine. It's supposed to be a remake of the jerseys we wore at the 1950 WC when we upset England1-0.



Also, the Slovenia national team finally gave Charlie Brown a call up for the 2010 WC:

USA AWAY Jerseys can be found in this link.
Same pattern as the away but in all white.

http://www.four4two.com/usa_home_001.htm

I meant to say USA HOME JERSEYS

I like it, I've seen a lot of people that dont like them, and I just cant see how not. Those jerseys are sick.


Now, the new purple Vapors Nike has their athletes wearing on the other hand........

Watching it on ESPN 360, unintentional or not, that hand ball was ridiculous, and who are half of these players?

^ Right

The USA is a mess because of injuries... the PK was so far from needed, uggg, he maybe losing his starting spot of ther PK and teh handball

Injuries to our usual starters:
Clint Dempsey - replaced by Holden/Beasley
Charlie Davies - Replaced by Findley/Eddie Johnson
Oguchi Oneywu - Replaced by Spector
Steve Cherundolo - Replaced by Demerit
Ricardo Clark - Replaced by Jose Torres/Maurice Edu

And two of our main subs are injured, so this was a mix of our A team with our best B team players.

Missing almost half of our regular starters brought on some interesting combinations, but I liked what I saw from most of the players. Jose Torres had a rocket of a shot despite being anonymous for the first half, Holden was doing well before De Jong pulled a typical play out of the Man City hand book, and Beasley was incredible.

The dissapointments were Findley and Bornstein, who was responsible for BOTH goals. Findley has all the tools, he just cannot finish, and Bornstein looked lost.

I got a lot of hope out of this game. It really should of been 1-1, as vlaar dove like he was on a diving board. A great result for playing the number 3 team in the world in their house.

The only thing I got that is encouraging out of this game for the US is that Tim Howard is in good form. Other then that another horrible game for the US. No creativity in the mid field, our forwards can't hold the ball and when they do, they end up giving it up with a stupid pass. The US side looks like they are running around on the field like they have no idea what positions they are playing and especially clueless of where the rest of their team is on the field. They don't work together and maybe had 3 shots on goal all game. We don't have attacking players that can convert on the first chance.

It doesn't matter who was missing injured cause most of the players missing don't show anything more outstanding then what was on the field today. The good majority of the US players show up to play about 40% of the time and it is extremely rare that the good majority of the team shows up at the same time. You can't win games when 4 players on the pitch really want to play and the rest are playing half ass. I don't see this being a good summer for the US again. I love my country and wish they would learn to play as a team because if we could figure it out we could have a really good shot at making a good showing. Please Bob Bradley figure out the right words to say to these players so we can get them to show up.

Asking Bob Bradley to find the right words is never going to work. The man keeps giving Brian Ching chances, there is obviously something wrong with him.


However, our injured players definitely hurt us. Dempsey and Davies bring A LOT to the table for our team. Davies has the speed of Findley, but is a much better finisher, and Dempsey brings creativity with solid play. Davies also works well with Altidore, which is essential. Our creative midfielders (Feilhaber, Jermaine Jones if we ever call him up, Holden, Torres, Donovan, Dempsey) were for the most part subdued or absent, and Holden looked good until De Jong pulled the dick move of the game. Torres and Donovan however, looked lost.

I do think that Beasley showed creativity though, and consistently beat defenders (including that beautiful meg' to beat a 2 on 1), and Michael Bradley fought for everything and won a lot of balls.


We have good players, we lack good coaching. We wont sync up until Bob Bradley is out.

Also, it was the Netherlands. They are the Number 3 team in the world and playing in their back yard, you got to cut them some slack.

I will agree I do like the way Davies plays but I can only agree about Dempsey less the 40% of the time. He is infamous for not showing up for multiple games at a time. Can't have that in the world cup. He is also injury prone and gives the ball up easy way to often. Your Center mid needs to be a rock like Snider was today. Not what the US has to offer. Landon needs to play in the middle thats our best chance at creating attacking chances.

No matter who you play...Netherlands, Spain, Italy or England we have to win games to win the World Cup. Especially the close games. Thats the difference between the good teams and great teams.

And Beasley didn't meg anyone...that was Altidore. He did add a slight spark though.

Dempsey's absence is in large part Bob Bradley's fault. When he is more contained, as he was late in qualifying, he isn't as effective. He has to be allowed to roam freely through the midfield, as he was in the Confederations. Bradley didn't let him do this as much late in qualifying. Agreed that Donovan needs to be in the middle, he is a good possession player and has the ability to crash into the box with incredible speed at a moment notice.

I would love to see play like the Netherlands has, but we just don't have the Talent for that yet. We don't have enough players at the highest level. Their Midfield Included stars for Inter and AC Milan, and Liverpool, Strikers from Munich and Liverpool, Defenders from Everton, and Manchester City.

The only big club player we have is Gooch, and he rides the bench. Until we get players surrounded by top talent, we cant expect our National team to be top ten.


You're right, that was Altidore. Beasley still did show confidence and good play though.

Well, Stuart Holden has a broken leg and will be out 6 weeks. Stay classy De Jong

^ No ****, I hope the meet again in the World Cup and karma gets him a broken leg, face, and arm.