Sep 06
USA VS. Cuba Match-day: Your Running Commentary
Hello everybody, it’s Saturday afternoon and I’m getting my house ready for another World Cup Qualifier, and so should you. I’ve bought chips, hot dogs, burgers, and beverages, so casa YS is ready to go. If you’re just getting in gear for tonight, I have some videos to get you ready. If you’re interested in discussing the game, this is your place, also, once the lineup becomes available, I will have it up.
Do you remember?… The last time Cuba played the USA in a full National game was in 2005. A 4-1 win for the US was convincing enough, and the highlights are right here.
Here are some pre-game comments from Beasley, Donovan, and Bocanegra. I should have the lineup within the hour.
Here’s today’s lineup:
USA LINEUP (4-4-2): Howard; Hejduk, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Pearce; Dempsey, Edu, Bradley, Beasley; Donovan, Ching.
Cherundolo (suspension) and Orozco (coach’s decision) are not in uniform.
What do you guys think? Will it get us 3 points? Who would you like to see off the bench? Your thoughts below.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
wow, i’m glad you put that up. it actually looked like Dempsey, Donovan, and Beasley were having fun, and they looked like they actually had some chemistry. maybe they will do that again tonight. I think we will be able to score on them but I hope we looked pretty flawless as well. It will restore some of my confidence in my beloved team.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
all four of those goals were quality, and why can’t we do that now with those same players? I don’t know. Dempsey looked great, and donavan-beasley were on fire as well. We need to get back to that.
September 6th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
that sucks about orozco, but everything else seems to be right.
September 6th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
i’m really wondering how long it is until hejduk stops getting calls because he looks dead to me. He’s too old to be playing at this level. Wynne should at least be the backup rb, if not the starter.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
I feel the need to point out that when they were showing the standings of the group, they had the flag of brazil for trinidad tobago.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
yeah I like Hejduk, just because he has such speed, but he is getting to old for the USMNT. I really like him as a late sub that can push the ball forward. He is slightly reckless with the ball though. I agree that Wynne should be starting. Hopefully, Hejduk will only play for about a half.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
the feeds that ESPN gets are just horrendous. Guatemala was bad and so is this Cuba game.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
a good goal by Dempsey, although the US doesn’t look all that great.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Have you noticed that there is not advertisement boards?
September 6th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
yeah, because in communist cuba, there is no need because no company’s really exist there or want to advertise there. Even if they did the Cubans wouldn’t let them.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Well, US SOCCER and ESPN usually provide the ads for their TV feed, and that would be making business in Cuban soil… which is not allowed. Also, Cubans would usually put boards with political slogans but I’m sure FIFA didn’t allow them.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
yeah, that makes sense
September 6th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
frankie Hejduk needs to leave the game, his service is absolutely atrocious.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I have to say, after sleeping on it though, Frankie sure did look good in some of his combinations with Landon and Clint.
But, yeah he’s past his prime.
Another thought I had was this: Sure, he doesn’t look completely sharp and still probably feeling all that time he missed last season, but I sure do like DaMarcus Beasley’s ability to slow the game down. A lot of the time, when the team started looking like they were in some huge hurry to hoof the ball up to the front, if it came to Beas I knew I could relax- the ball would stay on the ground a little longer.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Besides Howard with that one save off of the Boca deflection, Beasley was my man of the match. He’s so dangerous, and he got in behind the defense about 3 or 4 times, he was very impressive.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Beasley and Dempsey looked weak and gave the ball up quite a bit. Dempsey really dissapointed. Beasley rarely completed his passes. I taped the game and counted numerous turnovers. We greatly need to improve and should try calling in European players and Kenny Cooper. Ching was woeful and we need to look at some other players. Hopefully they will be tired and Bradley will be forced to change his lineup. We won’t go far playing so poorly.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:49 am
woah, Jim did we watch the same game?
I’m usually no big Brian Ching fan, but he may have been the best player on the field. His hold up play was superb. Beasley did have a lot of turnovers, but again he held the ball up well, and he’s got to make up a lot of missed time. As for Dempsey, he could play better but given (a) his recent performances and (b) the awful field conditions, I’d say he had an improved showing. Oh yeah, and he scored.
September 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
i agree with both of you in some respects. It was a much better performance than Gutemala, but there is room for improvement. I thought Beasley was very dangerous, and Ching did his job to hold up the ball. If anybody didn’t show up, it was Donovan, he was non-existent.
September 7th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I’d like to see him be a bit more dangerous, but I think Doug McIntyre pointed out in his post’s player ratings on soccernet that Donovan did a lot of really subtle things extremely well, with a lot of clever combinations and passes.
September 8th, 2008 at 6:03 am
If you can (via tape maybe) re-watch the game. Beasley and Dempsey turned the ball over far too much. I like them both, but they both did not play well. Ching did do better holdng the ball up with no support present (hello midfield) but was ineffective in front of goal. Beasley even passed back from midfield to the defense only to find a Cuban player who nearly went in on goal. The bright spot for me was Edu. He looked sharp. We are trying to qualify to play in the WC, yet can barely beat weak teams fielding 17 year old kids (and not superstar ones at that.)
September 8th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
yeah, there is cause for concern, but right now, we don’t have to worry much because the team’s we’re playing are not very good. We’ve gotten rid of our two most challenging games on the road, and now we can cruise to qualification which doesn’t start up again until next year which is more than enough time to work in the likes of Altidore, Cooper, Adu, Wynne, Kljestan and company.
September 8th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Lets hope the federation does us the favor of scheduling as many friendlies as possible between now and then.
September 8th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
yeah, we need to see at least 10-15 players against decent competition before the next round of qualifying for sure.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
how many more games do we have in this qualifier and can we after we play TT bring in different guys? because if we win that one too, which we should, we are practically assured a spot out of this qualifier, and can get some of those other guys in that aren’t on the team now to see if they are ready. i can’t wait for some friendly action, so that we can see some young guys play in the good ol red white and blue.