re: United States of F#ck Yeah v. Banana Republic | Gold Cup | 8:30 p.m. CDT (FS1)

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I think that this game needed "don't get caught with your pants down and see it out" and all three subs were that (and probably nothing more). Everybody has a role, right?

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Like I said, I agree with that, but I think the guys I outlined above qualify as able to give you that with other qualities that lessen the pressure you put your team under. We won though, so it worked on some level, even if it probably wasn't the BEST possible decision.

Given our recent performances against Mexico I'm not worried at all. It's ours to lose.

Honduras was very disciplined with Pinto coaching them. Why Costa Rica let this guy walk is beyond me. They came out and set the tempo. It was that obvious at the game. However, they just don't have enough good players to make it all the way. U.S. looked lackadaisical out there, but will take the 3 points and move on. Hopefully the kinks will get sorted out in due time.

A lot of melt in this thread.

Other than the first part of the first half, where we kept bombing long balls - we did okay. It was a chippy, ugly, shitty Central American.

And contrary to what was posted here, the crowd was very pro-American - probably 80/20 or so. Pretty good atmosphere, except for the fricking trombone guy playing "Deep In The Heart of Texas" over and fricking over.

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But frick I wish Andy Najar would have decided to play for the US.

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No shite. Can't win them all.

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More worried about Costa Rica or Honduras in the knockouts than Mexico.

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Same.

Honduras is likely the 3rd best team in this tourney behind us and Costa Rica.

Very impressed with Honduras last night.

I wish we could find an explosive player or two to put up top. Both Dempsey and altidore have some strong skills, but they just don't seem to work well together and neither one is an x-factor. Dempsey did a good job with the headers, but him an altidore seemed to just kind of mope around up there for most of the game. Altidore especially.

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Altidore really needs a speed guy running off of him

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AJ

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And Jozy was fine. He had no one to play off him

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He also refused to make runs to draw defenders.

Here's my review of the game:

Tailgate was a good atmosphere. Free beer provided by Peticolas was excellent. Thanks to AO for providing the food!

AO section crowd was pretty good, except for the confusion caused when people thought they had assigned seats and others thought it was general admission. There were lots of passive aggressive complainers (mostly older women and some men) and some even had event staff try to remove people from their seats. It kind of put a damper on the mood because we were all trying to enjoy the game while this was going on.

Overall, I thought we played below average. I felt lucky that we came away with that win, as Honduras had far better and far more chances to score. We started off the game very sloppy, not possessing the ball and wearing out our players by playing long ball, which wasn't working at all. Once we settled down after the first 10-15 minutes, we played pretty well the rest of the half. The 2nd half seemed to start out ok, but our performance grew worse as time went on. We weren't possessing the ball very well and making poor passes. Luckily, Dempsey was able to knock that 2nd goal in, among one of our few decent chances that half. Defense (especially the left side) played awful the last 20 minutes. It was like watching a typical Les Miles coached LSU game. It was tough to watch and very stressful.

Zardes touch was terrible. I don't understand how a professional can be so bad at something so fundamental. He lost the ball or set himself up in a bad spot many times because of his poor first touch.

Bradley played ok but didn't seem to have much of a presence in the game as he has had in the past few.

Yedlin played pretty good, but it seems like we couldn't get him in position to do what he does best. I love watching this kid. And I loved when he nailed that guy on the 50/50 ball toward the end of the game. I wish we had a few more players like him.

Overall, I'm happy we came away with the win, and the other two teams should be a much easier test. Hopefully we can get our heads on straight and build some chemistry before knockout.