Magox Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 You can see that Jozy doesn't quite have the confidence he had. There are some instances, obviously not finishing on the called back play opportunity, or the one where he did have a brilliant cut back, but couldn't put it in the back of the net. Also, he did have another play where he was rushing at the goal keeper with the ball with a bad angle, if he had been playing with confidence, I believe he could have cut that back in, and then fired at goal. Even though he did put in a good cross to Mix in which Mix's chest trap went a little to high allowing the defender enough time to knock it away. However, other than those moments, I thought he put in a solid game, both defensively and holding the ball up top to help with setting our offense. And that is key! There is NO ONE else on the US team that can do that, the last player who had that ability for the US was McBride. And in my view, in order for us to have a shot, that unique ability he has will be key. In my view, He has to be on the field for the US team. You just gotta roll the dice and see if he can get out of his slump. I do believe he is coming close. I just hope that proverbial monkey does come off his back that leads to renewed confidence. And let's face it, in just about everything we do, confidence is key to performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeYouToTasker Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 You can see that Jozy doesn't quite have the confidence he had. There are some instances, obviously not finishing on the called back play opportunity, or the one where he did have a brilliant cut back, but couldn't put it in the back of the net. Also, he did have another play where he was rushing at the goal keeper with the ball with a bad angle, if he had been playing with confidence, I believe he could have cut that back in, and then fired at goal. Even though he did put in a good cross to Mix in which Mix's chest trap went a little to high allowing the defender enough time to knock it away. However, other than those moments, I thought he put in a solid game, both defensively and holding the ball up top to help with setting our offense. And that is key! There is NO ONE else on the US team that can do that, the last player who had that ability for the US was McBride. And in my view, in order for us to have a shot, that unique ability he has will be key. In my view, He has to be on the field for the US team. You just gotta roll the dice and see if he can get out of his slump. I do believe he is coming close. I just hope that proverbial monkey does come off his back that leads to renewed confidence. And let's face it, in just about everything we do, confidence is key to performance. I'm viewing this as more of a "Chuck Knoblauch" sort of issue. Chuck, by all standards, was at the top of his profession at 28 years old. Then something in explicable happened to his game that made him too large a liability to play. Chuck could still hit the ball to all fields, and get on base consistently: during the 1999-2000 seasons he hit a combined .288 and was on base at a .382 clip. He was stick slick fielding, boasting a Range Factor of around 5. He stole bases. He hit for power. He scored 195 runs over that two year period. What he couldn't do, was make a routine throw from first to second. The routine became the impossible, and he focused and pressed rather than reacted and performed. Once it got to that point, the boogyman was in his head, and regardless of how many All-Star Games he played in (4), or the fact that he had won a Rookie of the Year Award, and even a Gold Glove Award in 1998, he was never able to exorcize those demons and play even competent defense again. Having won his Gold Glove at the age of 28, by the age of 31 he would never play second base again, and by 33 he was out of the league. This is what Jozy now reminds me of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joey greco Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 The problem with Jozy is bigger than confidence, although that is playing a role in his struggle right now. He has never excelled against quality competition. He has feasted against the most inferior CONCACAF opponents and against the laughable defense in the Eredivisie and disappeared against quality in every instance. He's just never been as good as the hype. Sunday was one of the best games I've ever seen him play and it wasn't even close to good enough to be considered an untouchable starter for the national team. He put in a 90 minute effort, was fed relentlessly by his teammates at Klinsmann's instruction, and had defenders he could physcially dominate-in short everything was in his favor, and he still failed every single time in the final third. The offside play is a great example. He has a break away and a simple finish. He tries to bend to shape the shot and falls over. Unfortunately he has more problems keeping his feet than Eric Staal and this has been a career long issue. The cross he sent to Diskerud is another. There was no excuse for that to be a difficult chest high feed. His agility and ball skills are very weak and have shown very minimal improvement over the course of his career, I doubt they will ever improve much. As far as Bradley goes, it is clear that the diamond needs to go in favor of a flat 4 or that Beckerman needs to be the holding player. Bradley doesn't trust Jones (for very good reason, Jones consistently lost his positioning Sunday) and the team is suffering for it. Bradley continues to look awful and turn the ball over far too easily to play the central role. He did play a nice chip, but the credit goes to Johnson for a brilliant run and great volley. Any professional should be able to play a still chip accurately that distance. He would still also benefit from having a player like Diskerud out there to threaten the wings with speed to open up the middle more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Bills Fan Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Dont worry guys. Apparently Ronaldo is going to miss the entire World Cup due to a curse put on him by a Ghanaian witch doctor http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/04/cristiano-ronaldo-will-miss-the-world-cup-because-of-incurable-injury-caused-by-witch-doctor-4750307/ CBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cugalabanza Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Dont worry guys. Apparently Ronaldo is going to miss the entire World Cup due to a curse put on him by a Ghanaian witch doctor http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/04/cristiano-ronaldo-will-miss-the-world-cup-because-of-incurable-injury-caused-by-witch-doctor-4750307/ CBF I hope Ronaldo does play. If the U.S. is able to make it out of the group, I don't want there to be any excuses. This witch doctor guy needs some serious psychiatric help...and a shirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Bills Fan Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 No kidding eh? I dont know why you wish a star player to be hurt because if you do win against them you dont want to have to wonder "what if he played?" CBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LB3 Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Bradley played great tonight. I hope they keep the momentum from this game going against Ghana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cugalabanza Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Bradley played great tonight. I hope they keep the momentum from this game going against Ghana. Pretty good showing. Interesting to see the "double destroyer" formation with Jones and Beckerman. I like it. All the starters did well, but I especially loved the game from Altidore, Bradley, Jones & Cameron. I'm so excited for the WC, I can taste it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meazza Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Marco Reus has been ruled out of the world cup for Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cugalabanza Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Marco Reus has been ruled out of the world cup for Germany. I saw that. Sucks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cugalabanza Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Hey, England, welcome to CONCACAF. http://www.espnfc.us/england/story/1868060/steven-gerrard-frustrated-by-refphysical-play They have Costa Rica in their group (in addition to Italy and Uruguay). I like Gerrard, but his whining will get stale when they don't advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meazza Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Hey, England, welcome to CONCACAF. http://www.espnfc.us/england/story/1868060/steven-gerrard-frustrated-by-refphysical-play They have Costa Rica in their group (in addition to Italy and Uruguay). I like Gerrard, but his whining will get stale when they don't advance. Oufff first game next saturday. The nerves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Cubed Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Hey, England, welcome to CONCACAF. http://www.espnfc.us...efphysical-play They have Costa Rica in their group (in addition to Italy and Uruguay). I like Gerrard, but his whining will get stale when they don't advance. I watched that game, it was brutal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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