The latest installment in the USA versus Mexico rivalry did not dissapoint. Although USA did not pull out the win, they were able to draw with a Mexican side that seemed to have more quality throughout the match. Here are a couple of my thoughts on the match:
- First of all the atmosphere at Reliant Stadium seemed great. A huge crowd of 70,000+ really added to a game that already had a lot of buzz about it due to the history of the two teams.
- Harkes and JP Delacamara (spelling?) did pretty good in the booth together. I like Harkes a lot more than Wynalda. I am glad he got the boot. I just wish that some commentators would realize that they don't have to be talking the entire game. Just let them play and make comments when necessary. Don't fill dead air with stupid banter. Also, stop referring to Michael Bradley as "the coach's son." That is not fair to him at all and really detracts from some people's view of him as a player (although he really didn't play that well).
- Can we not mark on set pieces?? Moor had a nightmare of a game in regards to his marking. He let his man get free on two occassions and two goals resulted. I don't see how you can let your man get free on the back post like that (especially with no one on the post) at such a high level of play.
- With a new group of players coming into the national team fold, Bradley is going to have to find the proper positions for several players, namely Landon Donovan. He was not effective playing out wide and he is too good of a player to waste by putting him in the wrong position.
- Our midfield got run over throughout the game. I am surprised that we actually tied 2-2. I thought Mexico had the better portion of play.
- For both teams I think it was exciting to see some of the young talent emerging onto the national team level. Adu, Edu, Altidore (who had a brilliant goal), Bradley, Dos Santos, Vela; they all got some minutes and gave us a glimpse of the future of US and Mexican soccer.
1 comment:
I thought Harkes did a pretty good job as well.
Some of the technical additions by ESPN to the production of the game were pretty cool. the matrix style slow motion replay that switched the angle of view was awesome. and so was the moving offside "yellow" line.
Post a Comment