US-Colombia Recap

US-Meola, Agoos, Llamosa, Vanney, Pope, Armas, D. Beasley, Mathis, Jones, Alrbight, Donovan
Colombia-who cares?

• Joe-Max Moore had a solid game playing behind the strikers against Scum…I mean Manchester United this morning.
• Claudio Reyna played well on the right side of midfield in a 2-0 Rangers win over Dunfermline
• Brian McBride's Preston won 1-0 on a David Healy goal.
• This is a huge game for Clint Mathis. He needs a good showing in this one to secure a spot in the final 18
• Ty Keough is back. This is hell.
• Decent crowd in Miami about roughly the size of the Fusion's attendance in 3-5 games.

1st minute: Kickoff by US.

2nd Minute: Beasley is being championed by Edwards again. I wonder what kind of incriminating pictures he has..

3rd minute: Ty-"Colombia is a better offensive team than China." Yes, this is true, but so are the Western Mass Pioneers.

4th minute: Donovan makes a cheeky pass, and DMB just can't do anything with it.

6th minute: Edwards-"Mondragon is a world class keeper." If you count world class as a decent French 1st Division keeper, then maybe I'll agree.

7th minute: DMB still looks out of it. Maybe he forgot to wake up from last week. Mathis hits a nice wall pass, but DMB doesn't seem to understand how to go to the ball.

9th minute: Mathis can't hold onto a simple pass in midfield. It's not looking good for Clint.

10th minute: Break by the US halted by a horrible throughball by Albright. He gets lucky as the ball comes right back to him, but is fouled.

11th minute: Jack-"We do not mean to oversell Landon Donovan." I'm skeptical.

13th minute: Cobi comes halfway across the field to make a defensive stop. Impressive fight.

14th minute: DMB makes a nice run, but hits a poor pass towards Albright and Albright returns the favor. Corner to US cleared by the Colombians.

18th minute: Are we sure that this game isn't in Bogota?

21st minute: A great ball by Mathis to Donovan is tempered by his awful corner. DMB puts a good ball in, but it's cleared for a corner

23rd minute: I'd love to know what Jack thinks a turf in bad condition is.

24th minute: Ty calls a graphic with David Regis and Tony Sanneh, "These are all possible starters." Is he sober?

26th minute: Awful long ball by Jeff Agoos. Has he been hanging out with Harskie lately?

27th minute: Anyone know why they show a 25 second long picture of DMB when play has resumed on the other end? DUH

29th minute: Why exactly did Mathis hit the ball to Albright when there were 4 yellow shirts around him? DUH

31st minute: I wish DMB would go to the ball more. Loses a decent ball after a slow reaction time.

32nd minute: Ty just called Bolivia "a good soccer country". Is he really this dense?

34th minute: Decent touch on the long ball from Vanney. Hit a bit long, but DMB almost got to it. Could have won a corner if he kept up the pressure, rather than appealing to the ref.

36th minute: My recommendation for Chris Albright's international future: Go to Canada, but since he's tied to the US, he's screwed.

41st minute: Promising flank attack halted by awful Albright pass.

42nd minute: Ty-"Colombia is a South American soccer country." ESPN actually hired this guy.

43rd minute: Colombia finally shows some attack, but it was thwarted by Agoos.

Halftime

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1st Half Thoughts

• Was Cobi Jones playing offense?
• Chris Armas is the one guy I'd hate to lose
• The ball needs to go through Landon Donovan. He's doing well, but he's not getting the touches he should
• The defense looked pretty solid.
• If I'm Clint Mathis…I'm starting to worry
• Chris Albright is not National team caliber.
• Where is Chris Klein? He could help out in a game like this.
• We need Claudio.
• Colombia's offense is only slightly better than China's

46th minute: Kickoff by the Colombians. Awful backpass by Albright. He really does suck.

49th minute: Why did Cobi pass it into Albright as he was open on the top of the box? Needless to say, the chance was squandered.

53rd minute: GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLL. Colombia puts one in. Grisales scores for the Colombians. Great pass from the wing into the box. The central defense went AWOL. Good counter. Vanney should have stayed with his man.

55th minute: Horrible backpass to Meola by Llamosa. Carlos has looked a bit off today.

57th minute: Good long ball by the Colombians. Grisales looks dangerous. Meola stays with the shot and saves well. The central defense is cracked open like an egg.

62nd minute: Clint Mathis with a rocket shot off of good work from Cobi Jones. Mondragon saves spectactularly. He is then subbed out, and Wolff enters the game. Clint is visibly unhappy. LD moves into Mathis' spot

64th minute: The US breaks out…and Albright is offside.

67th minute: Good ball into the middle by Wolff, but LD cannot get to it as a sliding Colombian distracts him.

70th minute: Meola makes two good saves off of a Colombian attack.

72nd minute: Albright hits a great cross to nowhere.

73rd minute: Klein on for Beasley. Why is Albright still on the field? LD hits a rocket from 30 yards, but Mondragon has little trouble with it.

74th minute: Quote of the day-Jack: "Albright doesn't seem to know what to do with the ball."

76th minute: I like how Klein plays. He hits a nice bending cross from the right.

80th minute: Williams in for Vanney. Um…question…..We're down a goal, and we put in a defensive midfielder? Huh?

84th minute: ESPN misses a US scoring chance while reviewing the old Mathis chance. D'OH. Later in the minute, a scramble in the box gives the US half a chance, but it is cleared by Colombia. It doesn't seem to be our day.

87th minute: Klein gets the US a corner off of his deflected cross. The corner is wasted.

88th minute: The Colombians are decent actors.

90th minute: Gift call by the ref against Colombia. The free kick squirts through and Chris Albright misses from 7 yards out.

93rd minute: Great save by Meola off of a hard Colombian shot. Stupid foul by Albright.

94th minute: Game over

Ratings
Meola(7)
Agoos(6)
Pope(6)
Llamosa(5)
Vanney(5)
Armas(7)
Beasley(4)
Mathis(5)
Jones(5)
Albright(3)
Donovan(6)

Subs
Wolff(5)
Klein(6)
Williams(NR)

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• Chris Albright is not a National Team player. He was AWFUL. AWFUL.
• Clint Mathis gave away any possible starting shot against Mexico.
• Landon Donovan needs to see the ball.
• Richie Williams is not a National Team player.
• DMB is not an option for the Hexagonal
• The defense is starting to look a bit shaky
• Meola really needed this game. He played well.
• I'm not sure I'd like a choice between Vanney and Berhalter
• Colombia really attacked well on occasion, but it was a winnable game that we didn't capitalize on.
• Mexico will run us off the field easily with a performance like today's.