re: US (1) v. Jonathan Bornstein (2) - Final

Skip Bayless/Alexi Lalas


Stuart Scott





Everyone else

I still don't see Edu as a midfielder, he just ruins so many possessions. I honestly can't see him as even a holding midfielder. I think he knows to go back to Center back like he started his US career.

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he was great defensively, but left a lot to be desired going forward.

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We shouldn't even demand much of him going forward, square passes and balls to someone with some distribution capability should suffice. He can occasionally thread a through ball, but I don't think he found the kind of space he needs to pick a pass.

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anyone who is disappointed with the outcome today should take a step back and think about what happened

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No shite. We lost 2-1 in Amsterdam against a Dutch side missing one starter. No Gooch, Dempsey or Davies. I call that a pretty good result. Bradley, Edu, Jozy and Demerit all looked very good to me.

This is what i don't understand, i see list like ESPN puts out with the 50 best players in the world cup and we have one at 50, which people were saying was too high. Yet we compete very well, it seems like teams should be blowing us out the water if there talent is that much better.

International competition is always closer than you would think. Look at Canada in hockey, Brazil in soccer, or even the US in basketball to a lesser extent.

Guys like Deco, Pepe, Aurelio, and Liedson would never make the Brazilian team yet all have featured for European countries with lots of recent success.

The US was definitely not the better team tonight, but they were still able to compete with the Dutch. It's kind of like Argentina losing by 20 or whatever to the Dream Team.

Other than Beasley, Donovan, a healthy Deuce, and Davies, I don't think we have too many really fast guys with skill (thus taking out EJ and Findley). Countries like Holland, France, England, and Spain have way more than that.

Holland has a bunch of dangerous guys. Players like Afellay would start for the US, especially right now, and are just getting cursory looks there. van der Vaart and Sneijder are also at least up there with Donovan. I like all three of those guys. Obviously Robben is a hell of a player, but too injury prone.

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france has a bunch of islanders

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They're still on the French team, instead of Guadaloupe or whatever It's not too different from us getting Jozy and Freddy Adu.

Good thing is, if everyone is healthy for our defense, Bornstein is likely 3rd option at LB. #1 would be Spector, #2 Boca, #3 Bornstein...probably actualyl #4 behind Heath Pearce or Goodsen. Atleast they can push forward.

I like the idea of Bradley and Edu in the middle. Bradley's propensity to push up fits well with Edu's propensity to stay back. Plus, I'm more comfortable with Bradley given to freedom to play as a box to box midfielder without having as much defensive responsibility, especially because he gets caught out of position on occasion.

Not sure where I would slot Donovan honestly. He didn't look very comfortable today. Seems like he feels most comfortable right wing, and a bit tucked in to be able to run at goal. Similar to his role on Everton, but a little more central.

I thought Beasley was outstanding. It took him a while to get a feel for the game, but excelled at the end. It'll be interesting to see how Bradley uses him going forward.

We NEEEEED Davies back. No other forward we have can do what he does. If he was on the receiving end of some of those balls sent in to Findley, he would have definitely made more of those chances. Other guys going down like Dempsey and Gooch going down have replacements that can step in (Holden for example or Demerit/Boca).