USA - El Salvador Soccer *Spoiler*

 

Good match.  The U.S. are finally starting to look like their potential.  El Salvador is a better team, by far, than T and T yet the U.S. handled them easier.  They were very crisp last night.  Buildup was extremely patient and they fired on their opportunities much better than the previous two games.

I think Bradley might be very good for this team.  His starting 11 + substitutions have been well thought out.  It helps when you have essentially two A squads available.

So far in the Gold Cup...

Donovan, Simek, Dempsey, Spector, Ching, Hejduk, Bocanegra, Feilhaber, Twellman - A
Mapp, Beasley, Onyewu - B

I know Beasley had two last night but he goes missing for stretches.  Can't figure that guy out.  Nice addition is Parkhurst.  DeMerit is always tough.  Keller and Howard haven't had to do a damn thing during group play.

Referees and ARs have ranged from decent to extremely poor.  The Cuban AR in the T and T game was useless.  Four offside calls blatently wrong (USA -3; TNT - 1) and then he called a foul nobody including players, center referee, commentators and TV viewers could figure out.  It was unclear for a minute who should be taking the FK.

Yes, Bradley has done a good job thus far.  Seems to be getting the right new players into the mix.

I am still concerned a bit with a little sloppiness from the outside backs - I think better teams would have taken more advantage of their missteps.  Most of them are young and still learning, so its not something I'm real worried about.  Too many easy balls given away in the El Salvador end in the second half by these backs - un-pressured passes to nowhere.

The team did move the ball very well though and showed great poise.  I think Ching proved he's a formidable target guy for us - he didn't get the chances Twellman got, but I think he had more of an impact with his movement and ball control.  Onyewu is going to have to improve in order to live up to his billing - he's still disappointing to me after all the build-up for him.  Beasley could be great if he would use his speed better and put on a few pounds so he could use his body just a little (or at least keep his feet in a crowd) - but he's always been this 'enigma' player instead.