Closing the book on U.S.-Canada
by Steve Davis on Jun 8, 2011 9:57 AM EDT
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PrintSometimes SI.com does the appetizer portion of player ratings. For a huge tournament like Copa de Oro, we’ll pull out the heavy weapons, the dinner sized portion of player evaluations. You can find them here, written by little ol’ me.
Beyond the match, here are two quick points about the United States’ 2-0 win over Canada.
- Michael Bradley got the highest game rating (along with Tim Howard). I thought he had a tremendous match, full of industry and leadership to go with the passing and committed ability to get forward. But that yellow card was foolish. It’s still an area of his game that needs polish. Save the yellow cards for that 70th minute instance when you need it, when stopping a counter attack or yanking down a hell-bent attacker just before he reaches the penalty area is worth the booking. Or, don’t get booked at all! I checked with U.S. Soccer this morning, and tournament rules do wipe out cards after the first round. Still, why takes chances on something as silly as time delay?
- Oh, Canada. Why, oh why, can’t this country be a little better? The Canadian roster isn’t going to make Argentina or Spain turn and take notice, but it’s not gawd-awful! But there’s something just not quite right about that team. Mid-level sides with a good player or two (hello … you have Dwayne De Rosario! And Atiba Hutchinson isn’t too shabby, either) find ways to exploit their strong points and mitigate their weak ones. And they have to be organized. I just don’t see much structure in the attack, and the defense wasn’t generally compact enough. Tactically, I didn’t get the point of playing a 4-3-3 and then dropping off to defend. Technically, the defending wasn’t particularly strong and the goalkeeping … well, we’re not even going to talk about that first goal. Canada hasn’t been to a World Cup since 1986. Since then, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago and Honduras have all been. (Obviously, so has the U.S. and Mexico.) You would have thought Canada might have stumbled into one of them, if only accidentally. The CSA needs to get its act together.
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Steve—I pretty much agree with your comments with just a few additions.
1. I don’t think you can criticize MB for that foul (and subsequent card). Oh, it was a cardable foul all right and it was called on MB but as I saw it on the replay, he didn’t commit the foul, it was another American player (who should have gotten the yellow). Let’s hope this “wrong card” doesn’t come back to haunt the US later.
2. Totally agree about Canada. With all the kvetching that US fans do about USSF and then the complaints about USSF’s corruption, we’re very myopic. What most US fans don’t get is that the vast majority of FA’s around the globe are corrupt and incompetent. Now, I don’t have a lot of personal experience with the Canadian FA so I doubt they’re very corrupt. But Yallop and Osieck both tore them new ones when they left, talking about the double-talk, the incompetence, the lack of direction.
The US is deeper and our starting 11 is better. But Canada should be able to match a lot of our strengths (industry, athleticism, physical play, workrate, refusal to quit). And then I actually think Canada has more skill in the middle (centerback, CAM, striker) in their starters than the US does. For instance, what if Atiba Hutchinson had been playing for the US at the WC? Or if we had DeRosario at AM (and then we’d probably be playing with the 4-2-3-1 and doing so successfully). Canada should be one of those teams that’s uniquely situated to give us a run for our money, to continually take games from us and have American fans muttering “why can’t we beat Canada?” (just like Mexico has had that issue with the US). But instead, they have a real mismatch between talent and results. There are a lot of teams in Concacaf with far less talent and less experience in Euro leagues but much better results.
Michael's yellow card
Actually, i thought his hard was for time-wasting. It looked like he kicking the ball away after the play, and the ref’s continued whistling after the play seemed to indicate that too.
Slightly Disagree about Bradley
He had the best passing game, but he kept on blowing it when he got close to the 18 yard box dropping off some short passes to non-existent to well covered forwards. I think he thought he was dropping it off for Messi, he needs to stop watching so much TV, you would think he would be on the US game plan for quick balls across the outside and inside crosses since his dad is the coach and all, but I guess its true that kids just don’t listen to their parents.
Would give Dempsey a higher grade to just because he is awesome. Howard was perfect, his yelling at the defense after a spectacular save was as good as it gets, and he made three great saves on that one spectacular defensive sequence, not two.
I couldn’t really tell the difference between the strikers, both looked a lot better getting more chances to go to goal, Altidore’s shot was exactly the kind that goes in, the one low, close, and on net, Howard might have saved it but not everyone else. Need to see more shots on goal from those break aways though and be in better position to receive passes in a tighter build up.
Donovan looked a little flat, probably not a lot of energy, hopefully he gets stronger as the tournament goes on as we will need his offense.
Overall, not bad, but, it’s Canada, its like when England play Wales, nothing to get too excited about. Don’t worry, Canada still has ice hockey . . .
Good Stuff
True, it is only Canada. but then, America has enough depth in the player pool to do what we did to Canada to the majority of teams in this region, outside of Mexico.
but you are right – they still have hockey. :-D
It is my hope that before i die i witness these two things at least once - The Titans winning a Super Bowl and Team USA winning the World Cup.
Detroit
Finally, after 17 years, I got a game in my home town! The atmosphere was great, though I felt the attendance was low considering the field is a stone’s throw from Canada (sounds like poor marketing). Anyways, almost every aspect of the team was solid, with Canada definitely helping to make us look good by giving us too much time on the ball. Actually, watching Canada play us reminded me some of when the US go into a tough game, attempting to sit back and wait for an opportunity. It never seems to work out well for us, and certainly did not for them.
Also, glad Altidore got a chance to get on the score sheet and setup a quality second goal. Bradley is more or less set on him, and he is a good strong striker. Hopefully a partner will emerge in the coming months.
