An unpretty night in Houston doesn’t mean the end of US Soccer, which you might have thought was the case based on Twitter’s response to the first half. (via houstondynamo.com)
Look, the United States game against Canada on Tuesday night wasn’t all that fun to watch. But what were you expecting? Seriously. My Twitter feed was stuffed full of soccer knowledgeable people unsatisfied by the US’s efforts against Canada after 10, then 20, then 30, then 45 minutes. Have you people never sat through a 0-0 soccer game before? YOU WERE every annoying non-soccer fan I’ve met for 45 minutes there. I hope you’re happy with yourself.
This was not the A-Team. This was barely the B-Team. Were you seriously expecting a Champion’s League final?
I’m not going to sit here and say I was entertained, but I spent some time looking for things to be impressed with – not grumbling every 45 seconds about a lack of progress.
It felt like Evans was barely around or on the ball. Eddie Johnson and Chris Wondolowski had some touches in the attacking third. Canada packed it in. Omar Gonzalez was…well…he was a part of a clean sheet against a team that countered a few times with a talented striker. The first 8-10 minutes were clearly nervous times for the American group of second- and third-stringers.
Here’s two things I would have preferred to see more of:
1. Some shorter range passing. I’m not asking you to be Barcelona, just be less of a high school varsity team with two good players running up top.
2. Set pieces that looked set. Just get me to believe that something good could happen every time. There were Canada fouls early. No US goals, though. And by the way, they had three weeks to prepare some on the training field and execute them.
While I don’t always agree with Alexi Lalas (I’ll admit that sometimes I do), a part of his halftime discussion with Taylor Twellman is one that needs to be had, and I still haven’t heard Klinsmann and US Soccer clarify.
It started with a (stupid) question about an ‘American Messi’ and evolved into the curiosity of how to identify a national team player when you see one in a country as geographically large and as populated as ours. There was a mention of ‘regional soccer’ – whatever that might turn out to be. There was no mention of what Klinsmann SPECIFICALLY wants to see from players he’s considering – or a manifesto from the US Soccer office on what they believe – beyond the curriculum they put out a couple years ago.
Sometimes it’s not just the players who make you feel like you’re watching grass grow. When discussions like this break out and there’s no mention of the national team’s manager’s preferences or the Federation’s stance, it feels like I’m watching the national team grow at a grass-like rate.
Ultimately, the team is no further from qualifying for Brazil 2014 now than they were this morning. And Klinsmann was clear this was going to be a chance for game minutes and a test for many who were in camp all month.
If you watched some Houston grass grow on your couch on a Tuesday night with a beer in your hand – let’s not act like you didn’t have the power walk away from it. If the end product after watching this grass grow is a ‘beautifully manicured lawn’ in the summer of 2014, you’ll be more than fine.
I’m definitely looking forward to February 6. Honduras should offer something to keep Twitter quiet. And Klinsmann will give us a lineup with actual expectations.
I hope he got what he wanted out of January in California. Not doing that would be the crime of this month with the Men’s National Team. Not what we saw tonight.
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