When I see the United States play the way they did today, it makes me mad sometimes. Why don't they play that way EVERY TIME they go out onto the field? Granted, it wasn't a perfect game. We missed a few chances, and let Jamaica get a bit too close a few times. We're still not fast enough to be able to pressure on defense the way other teams pressure us. We also still don't have wingers with enough ball-handling ability to get past their man.
However, we did win. I'm very pleased with Juan Agudelo's play, with his relative lack of experience in international play. Jermaine Jones was another standout today, despite the flagrant dive he took in the second half. Very lucky to not receive his second yellow card of the match, this German-American was a nice spark throughout most of the afternoon.
In the end, the biggest story of the game was what happened before the game. Clint Dempsey did not arrive back to the team hotel until 2 a.m. Sunday, which was exceptionally late in itself. However, it was team star player Landon Donovan, who apparently decided that he could show up whenever he wanted and did so at 7 a.m., barely 8 hours before the start of the match. Thankfully, America won, but that doesn't excuse Dempsey or Donovan, in my opinion. Coach Bradley takes some of the heat for letting them go, but ultimately it was the players' responsibility for getting themselves back to their team at a reasonable time.
No comments:
Post a Comment