USA have a World Class keeper in Tim Howard but one of the worst backlines in the tournament. Howard has injured ribs which might explain his approach in losing the 2nd goal against Slovenia. DeMerit and Onyewu are poor distributors such that whenever they had the ball, one of our 2 central midfielders had to come back and help distribute which meant we had one less player in midfield.The lack of a good and reliable holding midfielder is our Achilles heel. Clark's defensive lapse gave England their only goal so far, plus he was not a good passer. When we tried pairing Bradley and Torres in the 1st half of our 2nd game, Bradley mistakenly moved up too much and left José for defensive duties. That was surprising considering it was known that Torres is a good creator but a poor defender. Either Coach Bradley designed the wrong plan or son Bradley did not follow order. Edu in the 2nd half, to me, provided the best pairing with Michael.
Donovan is our best player but we need more urgency from him. His lapse cost us Slovenia's 1st goal. As Birsa moved in from the left trying to receive a pass, Landon somehow decided to run upfield instead of marking his man, which left Birsa unchallenged to place a beautiful shot. Donovan's urgency in the 2nd half of that game is what we need from him for 90 minutes.
Dempsey is better as a 2nd forward than as a midfielder. His bravery and surprise shots scored him a lot of half chances. He is willing to work hard defensively while being assigned to midfield, but his lesser ball skills limits our creativity from midfield.
Up front, Findley should never be a starter. I known coach wanted to have somebody like our injured Charlie Davis, who was quick and deadly, but Robbie is not the answer. Coach should have experimented more with Gomez or Buddle as Altidore's strike partner.
With all our limitations, we should still be slightly better than the Algerians. If our key players deliver, we should end up at the top of Group C.
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