USA vs Ghana

[RjRobb2]

I dont think fitness is the issue. If anything, endurance is a strength of the US team. They played hard for the entire portion of all of their games. Just look at the way they kept fighting against both Algeria and Slovenia. If it wasnt for endurance, the US would not have made it out of the group.

It is the core strength of Altidore that concerns me. World Class defenders push him off the ball with ease and that is why he couldnt maintain possession long enough to score.

I hope Altidore gets transferred somewhere where he can get minutes. Apparently, he did gain some interest during the WC.

[kinkytoes]

Originally Posted by RjRobb2

I dont think fitness is the issue. If anything, endurance is a strength of the US team. They played hard for the entire portion of all of their games. Just look at the way they kept fighting against both Algeria and Slovenia. If it wasnt for endurance, the US would not have made it out of the group.

It is the core strength of Altidore that concerns me. World Class defenders push him off the ball with ease and that is why he couldnt maintain possession long enough to score.

I hope Altidore gets transferred somewhere where he can get minutes. Apparently, he did gain some interest during the WC.

I disagree. The team has enough energy to run around the field for 90 minutes for days on end, but they should be able to play properly, not just run. Playing well requires making good split-second decisions, communicating at lightening speed etc. All of which you need strength and energy. Not just Altidore, but the entire squad.

So, just because the guys were running around the field, that doesn't mean they're fit enough to compete with players at a level of fitness of say...Cristiano Ronaldo. LOL even though Portugal is out, he is REALLY fit. sigh.

I understand Altidore was pretty much trying to defend by himself during that game, and IMO the entire team's to blame. Altidore was the youngest player to score a goal for Team USA and he led Team USA in scoring during World Cup qualifying. Doing badly in the game against Ghana does not mean he's a bad player. Jozy's great player, but he can't play alone.

From LA times regarding the Algeria game:
As the main U.S. target man up front, Altidore was constantly hacked and kicked and tripped and shoved and generally roughed up during the 1-0 win.

Altidore was probably exhausted, and he definitely looked frustrated. I am really surprised you're criticizing him, since he's arguably the #1 reason the team was able to qualify in the first place!

Other than the goal against England, which looked like an accident, he's the reason we had chances to score goals in the other games. Anyway, he's my favorite on the USA team, and I look forward to him in 2014!

[Jaggy001]

Altidore was not the problem but he was the symptom of the problem.

If you are going to play with one man up front then that person has to have electric pace and a great first touch. Altidore does not have that. So you need to play someone alongside him but the USA does not have that player. That much was patently obvious.

Now, we have a decent midfield. Edu, Bradley and Donovan. But none of them are really the playmaker who can dominate the midfield and make the telling passes. So we are also missing the player who can dictate the pace of the game. That means we risk surrendering midfield to teams that can do that. Against Ghana we were lucky that Michael Essien was injured. I hate to think what might have happened had he been fit.