All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

Hooray, England finally looks like a decent team. Beckham's free kick leads to their goal, in addition to some of the other great passes he made, and I'm not going to get down on the team because they let one in late with Terry off the field.

Nicky Shorey looked very good at left back in his debut, not fazed at all by Robinho et al. running at him.

Now start Carrick in midfield instead of Lampard, and they may have something.

 

Giggsy's Wales career goes out with a whimper -- a 0-0 draw. Shame he never got to play at the highest level of international football. But it did lead to some excellent Reebok ads.

 

Any thoughts from last night's US-China match? I missed it to attend a seafood festival. Priorities, ya know?

 

A lot of fun to watch and a fairly dominant performance. U.S. looked faster to me than in year's past

 

Dealing with Lampard seems problematic. He has been horrible for England, but he's still awfully big to be demoted.

 

I thought that we looked a little shaky in the back. For the most part, it was long pass heaven for the Nats, as China's back line was a mess. We must have dropped 10 decent balls behind their back line.

 

I don't care what your name is. If you're not doing it on the field, you're not in the team. To say he shouldn't be dropped because he's Frank Lampard is doesn't work.

Gerrard has outplayed him on the field when they're been on together. Now they need a Carrick/Hargreaves to play the holding role in the middle that Lampard isn't suited for.

As far as the U.S. was concerned, they played a good game tactically. They recognized China was going to play a high back four, and took advantage with their speed. Nice job by Bradley, great tactical awareness. It was also good to bang in four goals to give the team some confidence before Thursday's Gold Cup opener.

 

I agree, I've been dying for them to make the move. I'd love to see Gerrard allowed to play a more forward role while Hargreaves or Carrick did what they do best. Lampard made me nuts at WC 2006.
Nice to see Beckham back in form.
Could we not to US Soccer to agree never to play at Spartan Stadium again? It's like watching soccer played on a balance beam.

 

I also wouldn't completely dismiss the idea of Ledley King playing the holding role for England. Of course Hargreaves or Carrick is the ideal choice, but at the very least, King gives them some versatility.

 

You're right there about King, and he can be used at centerback as well. A useful squad member to have.

 

Yes, especially since Ferdinand can't seem to stay healthy.

 

The U.S. game made for good watching. Nice one- and two-touch soccer, saw guys running at defenders and creating good opportunities. Better teams might have exploited that dip in energy at the start of the second half. Top work from El Bob, too, busting out the 4-3-3. Switch Razov out for Donovan and that could do some damage in the Gold Cup.

One of the best things about the game was taking advantage of set pieces. I can't begin to tell you how many hairs have left my head as the result of serves from Donovan, DMB or Reyna hitting the wall or not making it past the first defender. Baby Bradley and Feilhaber look like a nice central midfield pairing -- Benny can stroke the ball around, even in tight spots, and Bradley combines the techical ability of a Reyna with the ball-winning steel of an Armas or Mastroeni.

The defense does need to tighten up some. Howard still needs to be more forceful coming off his line, and both Gooch and Boca still have head-scratching moments. Bornstein and Spector didn't hurt their stock at all. Loved seeing Dempsey wriggle his way into scoring chances, but he should've had at least two goals.

Still wondering about the hype around Dong Fangzhuo. One game doesn't represent his body of work, obviously, but the kid didn't really show all that much. Shao Jiayi and Li Tie, the only other Chinese players I'd heard of, were pretty much invisible.