re: USA 1 vs. Costa Rica 3 9pm ESPN2 "We Shall Overcome"

When I said we were going to take the 3 last night, I didn't mean up the arse.

I liked what I saw from Altidore, and Adu and Torres both had more good moments than bad. Bradley, Onyewu, and Bocanegra all played decently, as did Howard (although it would have been nice if he could've somehow pulled off the Superman act). Davies only got a few minutes, but he looked pretty good for the most part. That could have also been because the pressure was already off, though, so who knows.

Donovan and Dempsey both disappointed because they just didn't impact the game enough in a positive way. It's not that they were glaring weaknesses to the team or anything (although Donovan's free kicks were largely wasted opportunities throughout the night), but they need to be leaders in possession and make more things happen than they were able to yesterday for the USMNT to have a chance at WC success.

Wynne and Beasley looked like straight arse for much of the game. Give them credit for making the runs and trying to be mobile, but the team is in a 4-3-3... GET BACK AND DEFEND for the love of god. Mastroeni looked old, slow, and lost at times.

We need the 3 points on Saturday for sure, though. Can't really afford 0 at Coast Rica, 1 or 0 at home, and then 1 or 0 on the road at Azteca.