If you weren't depressed about the USMNT already, this article will make you so

quote:

---

• In the last 210 minutes of this tournament, against Jamaica and Panama, the US scored two goals. Both were off goalkeeper errors.

• Take out the Cuba win, and the US were out-shot 85-47 in this Gold Cup. While many point to the the second half against Jamaica as a bright spot, with the US out-shooting the Reggae Boyz 15-4 over that 45-minute stretch, two things need to be noted.

First: Jamaica outshot us 6-5 in the first half, and headed into the break up 2-0.

Second: Because they were up 2-0, they bunkered in the second half, inviting us forward and trying to limit not our shooting attempts, but rather the quality of our shooting attempts. It largely worked, with the bulk of the best US chances in that second half coming off of rebounds rather than manufactured attempts.

This is the "game states" conundrum that also killed the US last summer.

• We were outshot 92-44 in four games in Brazil. That is by far the worst ratio for the USMNT in any of the last seven World Cups, including 1990 when we sent what was essentially a team of amateurs.

• The argument that "He needs more time to implement his system!"is invalid. Bruce Arena took the team that finished dead last at France '98, turned 'em around in 10 months and led them to a third-place finish in the 1999 Confederations Cup, which included a 2-0 win over Germany. Bob Bradley coached his first USMNT game in January of 2007, and led his team to a Gold Cup win in July of that year.

Klinsmann has had four years, and his team is performing worse now than they ever have under him, under Bradley, or under Arena. Even though Bradley and Arena had shallower and less dynamic player talent pools to draw from.

---

quote:

---

• Bradley was sloppy and poor in this tournament, as was most everybody else. In general, the longer Klinsmann's camps are, the more sapped and sloppy all the players -- but Bradley especially -- tend to look. With shorter camps, like those we see in World Cup qualifying or most friendlies, the US tend to perform with more energy.

I believe this is because "fitness training", unlike honing individual skills or tactical concepts, has diminishing returns.

• In addition to an unfortunate over-emphasis on fitness (and subsequent reduction in the desired commodity), the lack of squad rotation hurt this team. The roster as a whole was poorly chosen, with no natural back-up for Jozy Altidore, no secondary creator to ease Bradley's burden, no back-up defensive midfielder for Kyle Beckerman, and an over-reliance upon Clint Dempsey to provide all the finishing.

This was compounded by poor substitution patterns. The US were up 4-0 at the half against Cuba last week, yet Klinsmann didn't sub Bradley and Dempsey -- his two most important players -- to get them some rest.

---