CONCACAF 2014 World Cup Qualification - Play Resumes June 4

[Major Harris]

Got away with one for sure

[jobaga]

Got away with one for sure

As many that don't go our way, I will take what we can get...

[Destino]

Got the point, more than I expected.

[jwpanic]

guzan>howard

[jobaga]

Got the point, more than I expected.

We also potentially found our defensive pairing of the future. Besler and Gonzalez looked great!

---------- Post added March-27th-2013 at 12:30 AM ----------

guzan>howard

let's not get carried away

[jobaga]

Another great performance by a Terrapin tonight! Great game Omar Gonzalez

[boysetsfire]

Ahhhhhhh! I'm going to be so tired at work.....

[renaissance]

14 corners and no goals. LOL

[RiverboatGambler]

14 corners and no goals. LOL

This defensive performance was unreal.

We had one SHOT, WITH 40+% posession. Mexico had 15 corners and 10 shots. The invisible hand helped us get through that. No unlucky deflections. No total defensive breakdowns and we TRIED to score. Did not play 11 men our own half and park the bus. I am PROUD we went into Azteca and got a result.

[RichmondRedskin88]

And Chicharito still can't score on the US.

[MisterPinstripe]

And Chicharito still can't score on the US.

That does give me a little joy.

Was happy to see the US bringing on offensive subs, not just trying to bunker down. Even if they couldnt get much offense going. I dont know if I saw one good cross from the US.

[RichmondRedskin88]

That does give me a little joy.

Was happy to see the US bringing on offensive subs, not just trying to bunker down. Even if they couldnt get much offense going. I dont know if I saw one good cross from the US.

Sadly Zusi is just not a great crosser. He has his brillant moments but too many times he send crosses flying. I think the altitude may have affected our crosses too. Ball moves farther and faster. We kept over hitting things which is funny because Mexico kept coming up short on long balls.

[Elessar78]

I actually like Zusi, he seems to have some upside that can come with regular minutes on the MNT that the other players do not.

Mexico played well enough to beat us but they can't finish and that's how soccer goes, right? I'm happy with the performance, we did what we had to do. I don't see Panama holding the top of the table. I like the Mexico hasn't won, hopefully it plays on their psyche and they play tight and drop points in two more matches.

Guzan seems solid or at least really in form. I think we'll have one of those "nice problems" in the upcoming months.

[daveakl]

Loved this from the ESPN comments:

"you ***** people will still have to pay taxes for my free education and welfare ahahahahahhaa viva mexico"

[MisterPinstripe]

I must say.... Again, every time I see Edu play he finds some way to screw up. Too often he would try to dribble out of the back and lose the ball. And THEN you can include that HORRIBLE tackle in the box into the back of the legs of the Mexican player. He is so lucky a PK wasnt called. And Edu has at least one of those moments EVERY game. Cant stand the guy.

[renaissance]

Overall I was happy with last night except for the obvious which was our lack of a real offensive attack. Dempsey was a non-factor and it baffles me that Jozy Altidore continues to play so small at times. He should be winning almost every ball he goes for, but instead he's getting knocked around by 130lb dudes. I want so badly for him to have a great game in this tournament.

Aside from the lack of a real offensive attack, I thought we moved the ball around really well. Connecting passes and moving off the ball. It seemed like the guys were a lot more in sync last night, perhaps a product of playing two games in a row and having their backs to the wall in both. But the offense needs to be addressed.

Also I would be remiss not to mention how well Gonzalez, Besler, and Zusi played last night.

[Elessar78]

Yeah I've been impressed with Gonzalez so far.

[gbear]

A tie there was a great result for the U.S. I think the stat they showed was in the last 15 games there the U.S. had won none and tied two. So, a tie was a fantastic result. I watched the first half and part of the second before heading to bed.

The D looked better than it had in a long time. I see everyone clamoring about the forwards, but I didn't see much in the way of possession from the midfield either. We constantly looked under siege playing hot potato with the ball. The D was able to hold despite having the O run at them. I always found it a lot harder playing D when I spent so much of the game in chase mode, and our D played great to give away so little. Yes, Mexico had chances and should have put a few away, but the D did well to limit the number of chances to as few as they did.

[RichmondRedskin88]

yep loss every qualifer there except 1997 and of course yesterday. I'm not cocerned too much with lack of offense. I figured Mexico would dominate play on skill alone. Only chance we would have had to score would be maybe a lucky counter. Fact is Mexico was the favorite to win the Hex, played under tons of pressure, in a stadium they never lose basically, and played behind the encouragement(well sort of considering the booing too) of 103,000 Mexicans (There was about 600 US supporters). Draw is a amazing result.

[Popeman38]

yep loss every qualifer there except 1997 and of course yesterday. I'm not cocerned too much with lack of offense. I figured Mexico would dominate play on skill alone. Only chance we would have had to score would be maybe a lucky counter. Fact is Mexico was the favorite to win the Hex, played under tons of pressure, in a stadium they never lose basically, and played behind the encouragement(well sort of considering the booing too) of 103,000 Mexicans (There was about 600 US supporters). Draw is a amazing result.

Let's keep in mind that Mexico had their entire A side, and we rolled in there with between a B and C side. We were missing 3-4 regular starters, and had DaMarcus freaking Beasley as our starting LB. Our world-class keeper is out with a back injury.

[Kosher Ham]

I heard that field is at somewhere around 7300 feet as far as elevation.

A lot more than playing in mile high stadium.

[Elessar78]

Let's keep in mind that Mexico had their entire A side, and we rolled in there with between a B and C side. We were missing 3-4 regular starters, and had DaMarcus freaking Beasley as our starting LB. Our world-class keeper is out with a back injury.

We were missing starters, but at this point I think LD is done. Jones is a worthwhile miss. I don't know if this squad can get much better- this might be our defacto A team. I had no complaints about Guzan, I can't imagine Tim doing much better than a shut out at Azteca.

[MisterPinstripe]

We were missing starters, but at this point I think LD is done. Jones is a worthwhile miss. I don't know if this squad can get much better- this might be our defacto A team. I had no complaints about Guzan, I can't imagine Tim doing much better than a shut out at Azteca.

Personally, I think Timmy Chandler and Fabian Johnson missing at FB are huge loses. Not only on defense, but for the threat going forward. Really affects the offensive threat we can provide. I think them in there makes a huge difference for the team as a whole moving forward and pushing further up.

And there is no way Jones is a worthwhile miss when you have a guy like Edu playing in his place.

[Popeman38]

We were missing starters, but at this point I think LD is done. Jones is a worthwhile miss. I don't know if this squad can get much better- this might be our defacto A team. I had no complaints about Guzan, I can't imagine Tim doing much better than a shut out at Azteca.

Guzan made the saves he needed to. However, no way Howard allows a free kick to land square in the middle of the 6 yard box and skip to Chicharito (thankfully he failed to convert). Jones in the midfield. Beasley is not going to be our starting LB. That is 3 regular starters. I imagine that our back line will be quite different in the WC. I also imagine our midfield will change a bit as well.

[RichmondRedskin88]

I heard that field is at somewhere around 7300 feet as far as elevation.

A lot more than playing in mile high stadium.

That's nothing compared places in South America. Bolivia,Equador, and Venezuela all play at high altitude(completely on purpose). There's a reason teams don't win alot on the road in that confederation. Peru actually has the highest stadium but it doesn't host qualifiers. If they ever brought it up to FIFA regulations Peru would probably win every home qualifier because players would collapse. A club team plays in the stadium and teams fall apart playing them there. A few years ago FIFA and South America had a whole Altitude controversy thing go down. There's a High altitude football controvery wikipedia page if you want to read more about it. Training in Denver was a good idea though. We needed a place that could host a qualifer that was preferably at high altitude. Funny enough thats the reason Colorado and Real Salt Lake are usually so tough at home. High altitude stadiums.

We were missing starters, but at this point I think LD is done. Jones is a worthwhile miss. I don't know if this squad can get much better- this might be our defacto A team. I had no complaints about Guzan, I can't imagine Tim doing much better than a shut out at Azteca.

LD would may be come back late in the Hex. We had a lot of injuries from Chandler down to Howard. Good thing is we have plenty of home games on the back part of the Hex schedule so we might have some A team players back by then. Also Guzan was great. He has some strengths over Tim including making his mind up right away. Such as when he took on that attacker on the lob. I was thinking how Tim would hesitant in that situation and might have given up a goal.