U.S. Men’s National Team v. Brazil in Landover, MD, 5.30.12

It’s almost axiomatic that U.S. soccer fans overestimate our hardworking, sometimes charismatic, but (let’s face it) by-world-standards mostly mid-level players. We especially overestimate them in the run-up to games against quality opponents. We’re very strong, we think, rubbing our hands and grinning, secure in our knowledge of the game, we can beat these guys! We chant out the players’ names in Yeatsian fashion, Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley and Howard! That’s quality!

And it is, they are quality players. But it’s easy to forget that even someone like Clint Dempsey—who many experts feel is coming off the best season ever for an American soccer player—is ranked only 42 in last week’s Guardian list of Europe’s top 50 transfer targets for summer 2012. It is pleasant and unaccustomed news that a U.S. player should infiltrate such a list, but that just shows how far we have to go in the world of soccer. In what other sport would U.S. writers and commentators get excited because one of our guys was slotted at number 42 on a list of players that might be targeted by good teams? It is true that Dempsey was recently voted the fourth best player in the English Premier League, but there seems to be no hard evidence that teams like Arsenal and Manchester United are breaking down the door to get him, or that Dempsey would necessarily start for those teams even if they do sign him.

All of which is to say that we should have foreseen the U.S.’s 4-1 loss tonight to soccer powerhouse Brazil. Incidentally, there are seven Brazilian players on that Guardian top-50 list, though only three of them (Thiago Silva, Hulk, and Neymar) played tonight. Another who was not on the list—Real Madrid defender Marcelo Vieira—was perhaps the strongest player on the field, dispossessing U.S. attackers a number of times, pressing forward and scoring in the 57^th minute, and sending a pinpoint lofted pass to Alexandre Pato at the back post in the 87^th to get an assist on the final goal of the night.

That last goal probably best showed the difference in quality between the two teams. The goal came off a counter, after a string of good chances created, but not finished, by the U.S. The U.S. defense looked rigid and disorganized on the play. Pato calmly took Marcello’s pass down with his chest and, from a tough angle, slotted the goal past Tim Howard. Brazil made the difficult look way too easy, which only the very best teams can do.

But why dwell on the quality gap? If it’s almost axiomatic that U.S. fans are too hopeful before matches against very good teams, we are also tiresomely predictable about lamenting the sorry state of U.S. soccer after losing. While the U.S. deserved to lose tonight, and I’d argue that the 4-1 score line was indicative of the run of play (despite a penalty kick awarded to Brazil on a dubious hand-ball call on Oguchi Onyewu), the U.S. played well in stretches, especially at the end of the second half, when they routinely threatened.

Former MLS and current Mexico first division player Herculez Gomez scored on a quality goal at the end of the first half, nearly scored again in the 76^th minute on a killer strike, and worked hard to win the ball back when Brazil had it (and they had it a lot). He was tracking back to win the ball in the U.S. half even in the closing minutes. Michael Bradley had another strong game, both in his passing and his defensive positioning, as did left back Fabian Johnson, who attacked from his left back position when he could. (Bradley and Johnson set up Gomez’s goal on an overlapping run by Johnson.) Landon Donovan did not have a stellar game—he gave away too many passes—but he did see a lot of the ball and made some good passes along with the ones that got away, including a good through ball to Bradley in the 79^th minute that created a solid chance for the U.S. Donovan also took what seemed like a dozen free kicks, all of them dangerously placed. 

Lastly, Donovan was joined on the playing field by Clint Dempsey, who came on in the 56^th minute for Jose Torres. It was the first time Dempsey and Donovan have played together under Jurgen Klinsmann. And while that duo may not be Neymar and Hulk, they are dangerous and worth watching. Dempsey nearly scored in the 87^th minute, and his ball in to Gomez in the 76^th minute was a beauty. I’m not at this moment deluded enough to think U.S. soccer is on a level with Brazil’s, but still-young and impressive U.S. veterans like Dempsey et al., along with skillful, hustling newcomers like Johnson, Gomez, and Torres, give us hope that the team will play at a consistently high level during the upcoming World Cup qualifying run, and that we'll all be rubbing our hands and grinning at the possibilities in 2014.

Revolution at D.C. United, 5.26.12

Who knows what best motivates professional sports teams: encouragement, threats of getting cut or of having to endure brutal workouts, inspirational speeches, bonuses. New England Revolution coach Jay Heaps hit upon something that worked during halftime of last Saturday’s game against D.C. United. The Revolution were down 2-0 after conceding two set-piece goals, one in added time. Heaps looked furious as he led his team off the field at the break, and it’s easy to imagine that he gave his squad a heated speech in the locker room. Given the start of the second half, I’d be interested to know what he said.

The Revolution charged back after halftime, scoring in the 48^th minute off a nice buildup that saw Shalrie Joseph receiving a pass from Saer Sene about thirty yards from goal. Joseph laid off a short pass to an onrushing Benny Feilhaber, whose strong shot on goal was deflected by D.C. keeper Bill Hamid. Sene slotted the rebound home near post and the lead was cut in half. The Revs equalized just a couple of minutes later off a set piece of their own. A.J. Soares ran onto Chris Tierney’s in-swinging corner kick, heading the ball back and down towards the far post, where it slipped past Hamid and into the side netting. It wasn’t Didier Drogba in the Champions League final, but it was a good, strong, fearless run by Soares in traffic and a nice finish. Soares had yet another good match, and it’s increasingly easy to imagine him becoming the face of the franchise after Joseph retires.

Having talked up Soares (not uncommon for this blogger) it’s only right to observe that he had a hand in D.C.’s first goal. That came off a free kick granted at the New England edge of the midfield circle, when Soares fouled a D.C. player on an aerial challenge in the 14^th minute. Heaps later called the foul “loose” during his sideline interview, adding that the Revs “didn’t need to foul there.” In any case, on the ensuing free kick, D.C. defender Brandon McDonald flicked the ball off the top of his dyed-blond faux-hawk, sending it over Matt Reis and into the back of the net. Soares was marking McDonald on the play, though Soares was right on McDonald’s back and it’s hard to imagine he could’ve done much more than he did within the limits of the game.

Soares and his mates on defense had a decent night during the run of play. The one exception came on the game-winning goal, when New England didn’t just look disorganized, they looked inanimate, like plastic orange discs meant to represent obstacles on a training ground. In the 61^st minute, D.C.’s Maicon Santos received the ball on the left sideline and drew four Revs’ players. Meanwhile, Dwayne De Rosario, last year’s league MVP, drew zero attention from the Revs’ defense and midfield, and made an unmarked run to the end-line. Santos found De Rosario, who in turn drew the helpless, late-to-the-party Feilhaber and Soares with him. De Rosario then played the ball back to a wide-open Santos, who was near the penalty spot when he received the pass. With zero defensive pressure, Santos side-footed the ball past Reis.

D.C. has beaten New England twice this season, is in sole possession of first place in the eastern conference, and appears to be a team destined for the playoffs. If New England hopes to make the playoffs themselves this season, they’d better tighten up on defense when the game’s on the line, or post-game stories will continue to be surmounted by some variation of the following: “Revs again come up short.”

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Scotland in Jacksonville, FL, 5.26.12: Take that, Clint!

The U.S. men’s national soccer team opened up an industrial-sized can of whup-ass on Scotland tonight, and Landon Donovan wielded the pressed-metal serving spoon. Donovan demonstrated his quality time and again in this game, scoring a hat trick, assisting on another goal, helping set up a fifth with a hockey assist, and for good measure hitting the far post on a skillful run and left-footed shot. His teammates Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley each scored a goal (the latter off a magnificent strike from distance) and had a hand in the others, but their stellar performances were but footnotes to Donovan’s game.

That game is particularly notable, coming as it did just a few days after an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl, in which Donovan talked in general terms about the subject of fading athletic desire and effectiveness. The interview included the following quote from Donovan: “I think all players reach a point in their career where it's natural to lose some of that hunger, that desire, to sort of break out or be a star. My mindset now is I want to be successful, and I realize now that as I'm getting older I'm not going to be the guy who's scoring goals every game or making a great impact all the time.” He went out against Scotland and proved to others and to himself that he needn’t yet put himself into the category of David Robinson during his final years with the Spurs or Bill Walton with the Celtics.

Donovan also proved to Clint Dempsey that he (Donovan) is not yet ready to be put out to pasture. Dempsey, who some feel may have already surpassed Donovan as the U.S.’s greatest outfield player, watched from the stands tonight due to a groin injury. Given Dempsey’s unslaked, naked desire to be the best, I wonder if he viewed Donovan’s performance with some mixed feelings. Probably not, as the two seem to genuinely admire each other, and comparisons between them are probably just as meaningless as they are inevitable. But for the moment, let’s compare some international numbers. Donovan is the all-time leader in U.S. men’s national team goals, his three tonight giving him 49 in 139 appearances (or a goal every 2.8 games). Dempsey is fourth on the list with 25 goals in 83 appearances (or a goal every 3.3 games). Donovan is also the all-time leading U.S. assist leader with 48. No other U.S. international is even close; Cobi Jones is second with 22 assists, and Dempsey, at 10 assists, is tied for eleventh with four other players.

So those who take Donovan’s side in the Donovan v. Dempsey debate can feel some measure of satisfaction tonight. Those who are a little weary of that debate, or non-debate, are probably the mentally healthier lot, and I’d like to think I’m among them. But it would probably be naïve to think that Donovan and Dempsey aren’t aware of the legacies they’re building and of how posterity will view them viz. each other. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they have a desire to outstrip the other player while also admiring and liking him. This is what is commonly called healthy competition, which can be seen, of course, in sports, but also in business and the arts and no doubt in other areas of life.

Whenever I think of the good effects of such competition, I remember the 1980s band The Minutemen, whose album “Double Nickels on the Dime” was created in part as a response to Hüsker Dü’s album “Zen Arcade.” (The two bands liked and admired each other but were very different.) In my opinion, “Double Nickels” is a much better album than “Zen Arcade,” but then again it wouldn’t have gotten made without the impetus provided by “Zen Arcade.” Proof of this can be found in the liner notes of “Double Nickels,” where, in small letters written vertically, is the following rather flattering bit of trash talk: “take that, hüskers!”

Revolution v. Houston Dynamo, 5.19.12

In 1990, the Dallas Cowboys were coming off a 1-15 season, their first under coach Jimmy Johnson. I recall reading a mid-season article that year in The Washington Post in which a Redskins offensive lineman—I think it was Russ Grimm—was quoted about the Skins’ upcoming schedule. He said something like: First we have to go to New York and then to Philly. And then we have to go down to Dallas, and that ain’t no weak-ass Dallas team anymore. Grimm (or whoever) was right about Dallas. The Cowboys went a respectable 7-9 that year and would go on to win NFL championships in 1992 and 1993.

The New England Revolution are coming off their worst season ever, having won fewer games (five) in 2011 than any other MLS team. Their goal this year should be to have well-respected players grumbling about how they have to go up to Gillette, informing media members that New England “ain’t no weak-ass team anymore.” The Revs are not quite there yet, but they’re getting close. They tied (I was about to say “lost to,” because that’s sure how it felt) the Houston Dynamo 2-2 on Saturday, and for the most part they played hard and well. New England led 2-1 from the 57^th minute to the 87^th. Had they hung tough for just a few more minutes, the three points would have been theirs. But they suffered a letdown late, just as they did against Houston (and so many other teams) last year.

From a New England point of view, conceding that final goal on Saturday was painful, weak-ass. Houston’s center back Bobby Boswell played a long, harmless ball towards the New England box. Stephen McCarthy headed the ball towards Chris Tierney on the left. Tierney took the ball off one bounce and headed it, not towards the sidelines as he should have, but towards the center of the midfield. Ryan Guy couldn’t (or didn’t) do much more than raise a foot to try to collect Tierney’s weak clearance before it fell to Houston substitute Luiz Camargo, who quickly played the ball upfield to Brian Ching. Revolution defenders McCarthy, Kevin Alston, and A.J. Soares all collapsed on Camargo’s pass like moths on a switched-on light bulb. Meanwhile, Camargo ran unmarked towards the back post, received a lofted pass from Ching, and used the outside of his left foot to knife a pretty shot past New England keeper Matt Reis. How many times must players, coaches, and fans be reminded? If you’re going to be a strong, winning team, you have to play hard and smart on defense for the entire game.

So the Revolution have work to do, and you can be sure coach Jay Heaps told them so after the game. But after Heaps’s rage settles, he’ll probably be happy with many of his players’ performances, particularly Saer Sene, who scored both New England goals, and Lee Nguyen, who saw a lot of the ball and looked good with it at his feet. Nguyen juked and blew by Jermaine Taylor in the 5^th minute to nearly set up a goal by Sene (Nguyen’s relatively slow-moving cross unaccountably went right under Sene’s lifted right foot). Nguyen undressed Calen Carr in a similar fashion in the 61^st minute to draw a foul. Maybe I’m looking back through compost-smeared glasses, but I don’t remember many Revolution players last season blowing by opponents with the ball at their feet.

Guys like Nguyen and Sene are slowly lifting the Revs from weak-ass to respectability. Veteran defensive midfielder Clyde Simms, who has also made contributions so far this year, is another cause for hope, though maybe only in the short term. This is Simms’s eighth year in the league, and he didn’t play on Saturday due to ankle tendonitis. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wondered if that final Houston goal might’ve been prevented had the tough and cagey Simms been on the field.

Revolution v. Vancouver Whitecaps, 5.12.12: Is Scoring Early a Good Thing?

It is common, or seems common, for an NFL team that returns an opening kickoff for a touchdown to go on and lose the game. The announcers often call this “suffering a letdown.” After the Vancouver Whitecaps scored in the 5^th minute of last Saturday’s game against the New England Revolution in Foxboro, the Whitecaps suffered a letdown of their own, ultimately losing to New England 4-1. This reminded me that last month, New England went up 1-0 in the 6^th minute against D.C. United, but lost 2-1. I wondered: Do MLS teams that score within the first six minutes of a game typically “suffer a letdown” in the manner of NFL teams that score touchdowns off the opening kick?

I decided to look at all the MLS regular-season games that have been played so far this season to see if any pattern emerged. Here’s what I found. (As I wrote in a similar statistics-related post last year, I wouldn’t swear in a court of law that these numbers are accurate, but I’m reasonably sure they are.)

·      Of the 96 games played so far this season, nine have involved a team scoring at the six-minute mark or earlier, about 9% of games played.

·      The record of the teams that scored first in these games is 5-2-2; in other words, teams that score very early do not typically “suffer a letdown,” in fact they usually go on to win.

·      The Revolution played in the only two games of the nine in which the team that scored first lost. As I already mentioned, the Revs won one of those games (against Vancouver) and lost the other (against D.C.).

·      New York has scored early more than any other MLS team this season, twice scoring at the three-minute mark (both wins) and once scoring at the five-minute mark (a tie). Though I only counted games in which a team scored in six minutes or less, I noted that New York has twice scored at the seven-minute mark. Both of those games ended in 1-0 New York victories, one coming against New England on April 28. If you count those games, the record of teams that score early is 7-2-2.

That’s enough of that. The big story of this game was not its capacity to summon dry, meaningless statistics, but the play of Vancouver castoff and current Revolution midfielder Lee Nguyen, who scored two goals and assisted on another. The 79-minute performance was good enough to earn Nguyen MLS Player of the Week honors. He’ll probably also get Goal of the Week for his second strike, a wicked long-range volley that you can check out below, courtesy of mlssoccer.com.

Nguyen’s assist was also high-quality stuff. In the 24^th minute, he received a pass from Chris Tierney on the left, ran at and through two Vancouver players and sent a perfect ball between two defenders and onto the outside foot of Saer Sene. Sene turned and scored off a clinical strike, low and to the far post. Sene had another good and varied game. He’s a fun player to watch, combining as he does great size and good foot skills, but also a knack for scoring and creativity, often flicking passes to himself and others with the back and outsides of his feet and sometimes putting me in mind of former NBA player Jason “White Chocolate” Williams. Sene also loves to get wide and cross the ball, as he did in the 33^rd minute of this game. That pass led to the Revolution’s third goal, this one by Shalrie Joseph.

So the new guys are producing, the back line continues to play well, and Joseph and Clyde Simms look strong in the midfield. About the only downside of the match for the Revs was the performance of Blake Brettschneider; he didn’t see a lot of the ball after his strong performance against Salt Lake. Of course, the Revs played quite well enough to win, whether or not every player shined. It’s great to see New England paste an opponent, and their fans will no doubt be eager to see if they can string together a couple of good games and not “suffer a letdown” as they did after beating L.A. in March.

Revolution at Real Salt Lake, 5.5.12

Bill Parcells once famously said, “You are what your record says you are.” The statement has the ring of truth, and on at least one level it’s inarguable: you’re not going to make the playoffs if your record isn’t good enough. Looked at another way, it’s b.s. Sometimes a good team suffers bad breaks and its record doesn’t reflect its quality. Sometimes a bad team goes on a lucky run, like a newcomer at a craps table, and its record doesn’t reflect its deficiencies.

I think back on some Washington Redskins teams over the years whenever I come across Parcells’s reductive dictum. Joe Gibbs’s first Redskins team started 0-5, but fans just knew the team was tough, that other teams didn’t want to play them, that things would come around eventually. That team ultimately finished 8-8, which is a mediocre final record. But we all knew that was no mediocre team. And the next year, the Skins won their first Super Bowl.

 By contrast, Norv Turner’s Redskins teams sometimes shot out of the gates and won a string of games early in the season. But those of us who actually watched every game just knew those teams were soft, that they’d eventually fold. The 1996 Skins under Turner, for example, started 7-1. In week eight, by Parcells’s logic of “You are what your record says you are,” that team was up there with the ’78 Steelers. Which was, even at the time, quite obviously not the case to anyone paying attention. Those ’96 Skins finished 9-7 and out of the playoffs.

This same kind of logic can apply to individual games. Sometimes teams get lucky and win or tie when they should lose. Last year, for example, New England went to Salt Lake and got thoroughly dominated by an undermanned RSL side, yet the Revolution still managed to come away with a 3-3 result and go home with a point. Yesterday, by contrast, the Revolution went to Salt Lake and lost 2-1. However, the Revolution played well and almost certainly should have come out of the game with a tie.

Salt Lake can credit their win to a red-hot Alvaro Saborio, who scored both of their goals, and to the consistently excellent Nick Rimando, who made two wonderfully quick reaction-saves within a minute of each other, first to deny a Fernando Cardenas shot reminiscent of the one that led to a goal against Colorado a few days ago, then to deny a powerful Blake Brettshneider header off the ensuing corner kick. I should add here that Rimando’s counterpart on the Revs, Matt Reis, had some stunning saves himself, and it’s remarkable that Saborio didn’t score a hat trick. The fearless Reis took one point-blank shot from Saborio off the face.

By far the most frustrating moment of this game for New England fans came about ten minutes into the second half. A. J. Soares was called for a foul about twenty-five yards from goal for making contact with Fabian Espindola, who, replays showed, sold the non-foul to the ref and then unaccountably paid the ref back by giving him a harangue during the free-kick set-up. The kick was eventually played to the back post and found Saborio, who’d lost his marker (John Lozano, in for Stephen McCarthy) by pushing him away from the goal as the ball was kicked. The ball skimmed inches from Shalrie Joseph’s dreadlocks before finding Saborio.

Along with some memorable saves, the game also feature two straight red cards, one (on Salt Lake’s Will Johnson) deserved, one (on Cardenas) not. Brettschneider scored a quality goal early, taking a Joseph pass, driving to the end-line before cutting the ball back to his right foot and curling a shot into the side netting of the far post. Soares had another good game, unfortunately cut short by a clearly unintentional poke in the eye by Saborio around the 80^th minute. Due to his ejection and the fact that he came on as a sub, Cardenas played only about twenty minutes, but I thought he had another very good game, including that shot I mentioned earlier that so easily could have found the back of the net. Clyde Simms continues his solid, unspectacular play in the defensive midfield, and Kevin Alston was his usual solid self on defense.

There were some negatives to this game for New England that went beyond the final score. Kelyn Rowe had his second unmemorable match (he came off for Cardenas in the 59^th minute), Lazono didn’t impress, Benny Feilhaber gave away too many balls trying to force passes into tight spaces, and Alston punctuated a good run up the right sideline with a poor cross, squandering a promising opportunity.

But the Revs did come on late and gave a very good Salt Lake team playing at home all they could handle. And this was, we should remember, the third game in eight days for New England. So while New England’s record now stands at a poor 3-6, I think that, pace Bill Parcells, they are actually better than that. Newcomers Saer Sene, Lee Nguyen, Cardenas, Brettschneider, Simms, and Rowe have all showed promise this year, as have New England’s veteran starters. If they all stay healthy, this revamped team should improve with more time playing together, and might even make a run at the playoffs this fall.

Revolution v. Colorado Rapids, 5.2.12

It’s a shame there aren’t more midweek MLS games. Watching sports on a weeknight—tapping a box of plonk after a day’s work while the kids go to sleep—is almost always a more enjoyable, less angst-ridden experience than wasting a Saturday afternoon or night in front of the TV. It seems to me that regularly scheduling a few MLS teams to play on a Monday and/or Thursday night in lieu of the weekend, as they do in the NFL, would potentially increase MLS TV ratings. Why, I even have the LA-Seattle match on as I type this. (Incidentally, did the new Seattle announcer Ross Fletcher grow up on the same street as the former Seattle announcer Arlo White? Their accents suggest yes).

My enjoyment of tonight’s New England-Colorado game was no doubt enhanced by the result, a 2-1 New England victory. While it wasn’t a memorable match, Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis did notch his 100^th victory. Yes, he got caught in no-man’s land on the lone Colorado goal, but Reis made a couple of good saves and definitely earned the win along with his paycheck.

Speaking of earning paychecks, New England forward Saer Sene keeps getting better. He scored on a quality half-volley to bring the Revolution level in the 27^th minute, and then assisted on the second goal shortly before halftime. For a guy that goes 6’3”, 185, Sene has soft feet, and he repeatedly took down long passes with deft touches. In the 45^th minute he settled a long ball on the run and flicked the ball to himself with the side of his heel, blowing by Colorado defender Tyrone Marshall as he did so. (Marshall was forced to bring Sene down with a tactical foul and was given a yellow card.) Sene is sometimes careless with the ball, but in the last couple of games his positive contributions have far outweighed the negative. He seems to be hustling more, too.

To move from a physically large player to a small one, 5’5” Fernando Cardenas started at midfield tonight for the Revolution and had killer game, maybe even better than Sene’s. Cardenas scored that second goal, and while Sene was credited with the assist, Cardenas pretty much created it by himself, receiving Sene’s pass on the right side of the penalty box, cutting the ball back onto his left foot, and sending a perfectly arced left-footed shot over Colorado keeper Matt Pickens. Cardenas punctuated his classy goal with an equally classy celebration, running to the sideline and hugging fellow midfielder Kelyn Rowe, who was benched for this game.

In spite of a few bad stretches that included leaving Jaime Castrillon alone at the near post on Colorado’s only goal (off a corner kick), New England’s back line was again solid. We should remember that during New England’s recent three-game losing streak, Reis and the defense conceded only four goals. And over the course of eight games this year, they’ve conceded only ten. A.J. Soares is clearly the class of the bunch, and he had another good match today. He rarely makes a mistake, is extremely composed on the ball but also plays a physical type of soccer and rarely loses a fifty-fifty ball. Chris Tierney and Stephen McCarthy are liable to get beat occasionally, as they both did tonight (McCarthy badly by substitute Andre Akpan in the 85^th minute—why doesn’t Akpan play more?—and Tierney by Brian Mullan in the 41^st), but that can be said of most defenders, actually all of them. Tierney and McCarthy are both converted midfielders, and I for one hope they stay converted.

Right back Kevin Alston’s night was cut short in the 38^th minute due to reported “sickness,” and unfortunately the cameras caught him at close range getting visibly sick on Foxboro’s synthetic green turf. I feel the same way about the stuff myself, Kevin, and I don’t have to play on it.