Its unfortunate Donovan won't be playing Tuesday. Also disappointing that there aren't more friendlies.
Elabaorate man. I think most would probably classify a player that fancies himself as an Attacking midfielder and tends to bring out the party tricks at inappropriate times as a risky player not so much Clint. Guys like Freddy Adu for most of his career and Joe Cole prior to Mourinho removing any kind of joy from his game come to mind. To me Clint is not risky, it just seemed like over the past couple of years he wasn't giving 100% everytime he suited up for the US Nats. Fatigue or something else but he didn't look completely switched on like he does with Fulham. (Granted at Fulham he's perpetually fighting for his place and trying to impress a new manager seemingly every season). I missed last nights match and just saw highlights- I would really like to know who or what Omar Gonzalez needs to do before he can get another call-up to the US Nats. No disrespect to Mike Orozco but he in my opinion is a CB you keep on for depth. He won't and shouldn't be a 1st choice starter at this level. Omar has been a stud since day one on US youth teams. He was a stud in college, a stud now in MLS and I have no reason to believe that when he eventually makes the move to Europe(be it Scandinavia, Germany, England, France, wherever, he'll be a stud at that level as well). I won't even mention the love Tim Ream has gotten from the US setup the past year or so. Boca has lost a step as one would expect but on the other hand I don't get why Klinsi won't give Oguchi a chance in the Belgium friendly. Yeah he's not a regular starter right now but at least you bring him in for that game and see what he's got.
I've got Belgium winning the match 3-1 or 3-0. Belgium has some ridiculous talent coming through. Everyone knows about Eden Hazard, Kompany, TV5, Dembele and Lukaku but Mertens is a brilliant talent and I think he'll introduce himself to US fans in that game.
Also, Klinsmann is disgusting re. his selection of certain players. At least Bradley didn't go with "his guys" right from the start. Klinsmann giving his young buddy and unofficial son Robbie Rogers two straight call-ups is just horrible. Robbie has barely been above average the last couple of MLS seasons and he is just that this season. Thankfully Stuart will be returning to 1st team action for Bolton in the next month and a half and will hopefully reclaim the right side of the pitch for the US.
The funny thing too is that Donovan is the best finisher on the US team. These are the times I empathize with US fans as they watch Giusseppe Rossi tuck in goals for Villareal and Italy.
I won't deny Donovan is our top finisher right now, but Dempsey is right there with him. Now if Dempsey would play like he has been in the Premiere league, I would definitely put him as our top finisher.
Belgium up 1-0 in the 55th. US has kind of been hanging on by a thread and haven't put up much of a fight. Likely gassed after the short turn around and LONG flight. They've had some good moments but Belgium is playing well.
just started watching on espn3 online don't know why it's not showing on ESPN as scheduled. USA down 1- 0 to Belgium.
For some reason here is a test pattern on the HD ESPN2 channel for Uverse. Didn't think to look and see if the SD channel was working. Thanks DD I found it, LOL.
I'm beyond livid at ESPN right now. A fair amount of soccer fans in the states didn't watch the match live as they set their DVR's to record the match on the channel ESPN indicated it would be shown on. Of course it gets pre-empted for Nascar and moved to ESPN 2, which all those not watching live wouldn't know about until they return home in the evening to settle in and watch Hazard, Lukaku and co. do battle against the USA and instead get an hour of Nascar followed by Sportscenter. F.U.C.KED UP ESPN! Now ESPN could also just re-broadcast the match tonight anytime from 11pm to 4 am but nooooo, guess what gets the re-broadcast treatment? BYU vs Miss and Marshall vs. WVU! Fabulous. Two games that they could just re-broadcast tomorrow while they put the US-Belgium match on ESPN or ESPN 2 or ESPN classic or ESPN U instead of "archiving it on ESPN3". F.U.C.K YOU ESPN!!!! And yes I'm mad!
Exactly what I thought, in fact they were both fading away from the play...should have been a goal. DD
You might be right about that, but I think the line judge was calling the first entry pass, not the header or rebound. I don't know, they didn't show it enough again...
Haven't watch the match yet, so I haven't seen the goal but apparently there was a hand call on Goodson according to Soccernet. "Still, the Americans had their best chance five minutes before the end. A midfield cross found its way to Edu, who headed the ball past Mignolet. But the referee disallowed the goal because Clarence Goodson was ruled to have handled the ball inside the box." http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6937528/belgium-beats-united-states-coach-jurgen-klinsmann-first-road-game For those that have seen the game - does it appear this was a legit call. Either way it is good to see some of the younger players finally getting some playing time.
