What a choke job by the American squad in the Confederations Cup Final. I am angrily punching these keys thinking about the second half. In fact, I'm trying not to throw up in mouth I'm so disgusted by the lack of intensity and aggressiveness by the U.S. players.
U.S. soccer could have pulled off the greatest stretch in their history by defeating the most heralded soccer nation in the world. Instead, the U.S. took a big lead (2-0) into halftime, then laid down in the second half like a bunch of drunk soriority chicks after a mix up. Horrible, unless you're the lucky frat boy!
The game was a tale of two halves. In the ninth minute, Dempsey scored his 3rd goal of the tournament by redirecting a cross by Jonathan Spector. Seventeen minutes later, Landon Donovan scored on a crisp pass from Davies and drilled a left footed beauty past Julio Cesar. At this point I started a frenzy in my house, as I screamed wildly jumping up from the couch and scaring my 130 pound dog, who started barking in unison with my cheers.
My excitement was soon trounced in the first minute of the second half when Luis Fabiano scored from the top of the box. It was an unlucky goal for the Americans as Fabiano's shot went through defender Jay Demerit's legs and into the back of the net. This started an onslought of Brazilian attacks upon the American defense.
Things got ugly quickly for the U.S. team. They stopped attacking, stopped competing, and pulled all 11 players into their own box trying to deny the Brazilians another goal. It backfired to say the least. The U.S. gave Brazil space to operate, to use their quick precise passes and impressive ball skills to penetrate the defense and create endless scoring opportunities. The U.S. played right into the Brazilian's strength, and found themselves down 3-2 as the final whistle blew.
Why did the U.S. stop doing what made them successful in the first half? Why did they pull back into the their own box and stop putting pressure on the Brazilian defense? It was a mistake the U.S. National Team will lament for the rest of their lives. They could have had back to back wins against the two best teams in the world, and taken home their first confederations cup to boot. Instead, U.S. soccer fans are scratching their heads wondering how this monumental screw up will affect them a year from now when the World Cup begins.
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Well said Chief. I blame Bradley. By the 65th time, dudes were tired, ran out of legs. We dropped people back and they still would have 3 even 4 guys wide open on the back side of the defense. Bocanegra and Demerrit were exhausted, but valiantly chased Brazilian attackers. Dempsey, done. Ricardo Clark, tired. The U.S. needs to be outworking higher-caliber opponents and they were too beat to do it yesterday. When we needed fresh legs, Bradley didn't inject them. But not attacking at all didn't help the cause. Still, Donovan's goal to make 2-nil: probably the greatest highlight in U.S. soccer history.
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