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Davies...slick

8:30pm (Pacific): Post has been updated with player ratings

“You measure this game by the next.”

Again…

“You measure this game by the next.”

While the U.S. lost a heart-breaking and hard-fought game in Mexico this afternoon, how successful you judge their play, and their coaching I might add, will be the quality of their play–and coaching–come September 5th against El Salvador.

If you didn’t watch the game, I’ll sum up the first half by a play in the 2nd half at the 3:05 mark. Landon Donovan is peeling down the right flank.

He outpaces everyone, throws his hands up (as is to say, “Where are you guys?), flips, to his dismay, a square/back pass to Michael Bradley, Bradley squares it to Clark, who has an errant touch to Boca coming up the left flank. Ball out of bounds.

Offensive chance closed, first half encapsulated.

The story of the first half is a familiar story for the U.S., tucked in their defensive third, absorbing combination after combination, and shot attempt after shot attempt, from the Mexicans in the hopes of preserving a clean sheet.

Once a possession was gained by the US defense, they’d launch an 80/20 ball (that’s 80 Mexico, 20 US) halfway up the pitch just to get it out of their end. Four out of five times, the ballstarted coming right back their way with the Mexicans on the attack

Why was this the case? Two defensive central midfielders.

Unable to maintain possession and waiting on Donovan and Dempsey to leave their rear guards (or unable to work the ball up the central field space), the U.S. had to relieve pressure with the longball.

Much was the same at the 3:10 mark of the 2nd half with Donovan having flashed up the line with the ball streaking out of the back instead of being worked through possession.

In fact, the next 14 minutes of the 2nd half, saw frustrated and tired defenders (Cherundolo at the 6-min mark, Gooch (or it may have been Boca) at the 8-min mark and Howard at the 17-min mark) just say forget it and punt the ball up the field to try and give them a breather.

I’m checking my watch at this point and seething, “Okay, let’s see the sideline shot of Benny….c’mon Bob.”

And then it happened, Benny up off the lumber…..and, wait, Holden right behind him. I was watching at Kell’s Pub in San Francisco, only downing ginger ales mind you, but I had to do a double take. Tie game, 1-1 in the 2nd half and we’ve got Benny AND STU coming in.

That was a moment of progression, I hope, for Bob Bradley. With a collapsed central midfield that was not helping out the pressure on the defense, Bradley stepped away from his conservative approach and said, “I’m going for it. We need it. We’re good enough.”

This was a good moment for US Soccer.

While the US went minus-one (-1) the rest of the way, that 20-min mark hopefully saw the introduction of even better things to come from US soccer in the coming year.

While Benny didn’t have his best game, he slowed the pace down. A simple back tap to Gooch found the team some working room out of the back. Then you had Holden, showing no fear, attempting some trickery in the Mexican half before literally flying down the right flank and launching perhaps the most gorgeous on-the-fly cross, I’ve seen from the Americans in awhile. A revelation and hopefully the future. (Now if only Charlie had a big head like my brother.)

If I’m Bob Bradley, here’s what else I learned today:

• Stevie Cherundolo’s going to fight Jonathan Spector for the starting nod on the right. Calm and composed all day long, consistent and solid in possession and always providing cover, Cherundolo shined today.

• I’ve got Clint Dempsey problems. Dempsey was virtually non-existent this game and whatever the opposite of crisp is (ruffled?). He was lacksadasical in possession and inconsistent in effort, maybe Holden’s entrance was a wake-up call. (More on Dempsey-Bradley in another post).

• Oguchi Oneywu is irresponsible in central defense. Coming off his play in the Brazil game, Gooch needed to show consistent awareness of offenders. I’m sorry Gooch, the 2nd goal is nearly all yours, what were you doing?

• Charlie Davies is the best I’ve got up top. He put forth an enormous effort elongating and pressuring upfield all day long. Calm and composed on the US lone goal. The best is ahead for Davies.

• And the hallmark point, two holding midfields in the center puts way too much pressure on my defense. Can’t work, won’t work. Clark had a mildly bad game (solid in defense, charitable in offense), Bradley had a horrendous game. That being said, they don’t get upfield with consistency and leave the U.S. perilously weak in attack and thus weak in defense as well.

click for Awards – Preview Follow-up – Ratings

Recapping the first 45-minutes:

• Speed kills…Davies (not “Davis” as the announcers were saying) with a great run and placement…will he succumb to fatigue in the second half?

• Poor passing…the US is not valuing every touch and is giving possession away to easy

• Good placement by Donovan on the set pieces…good work all-around

• This isn’t Go Fish…stop asking for cards…the epidemic of bookings by the US “A” team leads right to the coach

• Bradley and Dempsey are underwhelming

• Beautiful strike by El Tri for the goal…of course it came after ten straight minutes of possession in the US  defensive third

Looking for in the second 45-minutes: [post-game follow-up in green]

• How will the US come out of the locker room…questionable second halves have been the hallmark of the summer for the USMNT (see: Haiti, Mexico-Gold Cup, Brazil) – solid start to the half…broke-down late

• More quality possessions…not America’s strength, but it has to get better – marginal improvement, forwards were able to do a little more with the long balls

• When will Bradley go to the bench…don’t want to see him wait until 70 to get Benny in. – TSG homeys Feilhaber and Holden came in around the 60th for Ching and Clark. Holden was solid, Benny showed some passion, but his touch was a little off
  

• Altidore to come in for Ching…my preference, but it could depend on Davies fitness and whether Bradley decided to shift Dempsey up top. – Ching left, Dempsey moved up high, Altidore came on late for a cramping Davies…I think Davies would have played the full 90 without the fitness issue. Alitdore was a non-factor

• The fatigue factor…How the teams progress from the 18 on the change of possession – the game slowed in the second half, but the blow-by on Donovan may have been a result of fatigue…Davies was a casualty

• Bradley NOT playing for the tie. – stayed the course in the second half looking for the one magic long ball

Check back a little later today, Matthew will have the full recap and I’ll add my take in the comments. Right now I’ll just say, don’t blame the ref.