U.S. Copa victim wins spot with Bundesliga club

The good people at Yanks Abroad are reporting that 22-year-old defender Heath Pearce has signed a till 2009 for newly promoted Bundesliga club Hansa Rostock.

Pearce, a left back, was selected to Bradley's ill-fated 0-3 Copa America squad and started the final match against Colombia, a 1-0 loss and their most respectable scoreline of the tournament. He didn't factor much in the match, but few players distinguished themselves in Venezuela. He has a total of seven caps for the national team.

During Bruce Arena's time as coach of the national team, Pearce was considered behind both Frankie Hejduk and Todd Dunivant on the depth chart. He doesn't seem to be making much progress under Bradley, who clearly brought mainly bubble players to Copa America to determine U.S. depth.

Left back has been a troublesome position for the U.S. Arena used Bobby Convey, Eddie Lewis and John O'Brien, none of which were traditional left backs (except maybe O'Brien who didn't start his career there but played in that spot for Ajax often).

Click here for Yanks Abroad story.

Argentina cancels Copa guest worker program

Argentina trounced Mexico in Copa America semis 3-0. Hey, at least we have the excuse that we brought our C-team.

Here's all the action, courtesy of YouTube. Check out Messi's goal; it's sick.

Culpa America: Who is to blame?

Ok, so we didn’t embarrass ourselves, but we certainly didn’t bring our A-game, or our B-game. Actually, I’d say it was closer to C-/D+. And even Bradley admitted that the team he brought wasn’t up to the task.

As we have said over the last few weeks, it is a great challenge to play in back-to-back tournaments. You run into situations with the various clubs, and as a result we brought a younger team here.”

Is he suggesting that there were external pressures that forced him to avoid selecting a more experienced line-up? Certainly, a statement like that is meant to deflect criticism for the choices he made. They made me do it, he seems to say. But who are these “various clubs” that forced him to swim down to the bottom of the national team pool to pull out players like Eddie Gaven and Danny Califf?

Was it European clubs? European club pressure doesn’t make a slot of sense. With their season over and clubs re-shuffling rosters, I think most Euro teams are too preoccupied with the summer transfer market to care how their American players are spending their summer vacations. As for the Euro-based players themselves opting out, you would think that they would want to showcase their talent for their current or future squads. For example, despite Freddy Adu’s poor performance with Real Salt Lake this season, he has seen his international stock rise exponentially thanks to his performance during the first round of the U-20 World Cup. Teams from all over Europe send scouts to Copa America. It is a first class tournament, a place where you can see South American stars go head-to-head, test them in real-game situations. Any agent worth his salt would want his client to participate in that kind of tournament. Finally and most importantly, national teams do not have to listen to club concerns anyway, as the Galaxy will learn when Beckham is pulled out of crucial late-season matches for Euro 2008 qualifying with England.

So, if we can’t blame European clubs, the “various clubs” must be from Major League Soccer. For the sake of argument, let’s say that our Gold Cup roster was our A-team, the team that Bradley would have preferred to bring if not for “situations.” Twelve of the 23 players on the Gold Cup roster were MLS players. Who were the MLS players left behind when Bradley named the Copa America roster? Frankie Hejduk, Pablo Mastroeni, Landon Donovan, Brian Ching, Steve Ralston, and Michael Parkhurst. Certainly, each of these players is important to the success of their respective clubs. So, was Bradley trying to implicate Los Angeles, Columbus, Colorado, Houston and New England when he said, “various clubs”? Was there pressure from on the USSF by MLS bosses to return key players like Landon Donovan to their teams? It would make sense for Los Angeles, especially, since their poor performance in the first half of the season may make their big name’s late arrival moot (in terms of the MLS Cup anyway). Colorado is struggling as well and certainly needed Mastroeni. Houston boasts the lowest “goals for” total of any team over .500, so they definitely would want Ching back in their line-up.

But couldn’t Sunil Gulati and the USSF tell MLS to suck it up for a couple of weeks in order to give some of our best MLS players international exposure? And what about the non-MLS players that were dropped from the line-up: Tom Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, DaMarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey, Frank Simek, Jonathan Spector, and Oguchi Onyewu.

Bradley’s statement doesn’t mention fatigue as a factor, an excuse I have heard from many Bradley apologists. The conventional wisdom was that they had to choose one tournament for the U.S. stars to play in, so they chose the Gold Cup because we had a better chance to win that tournament and therefore, a better chance to qualify for the important Confederations Cup.

Ok, I’ll buy that we had a better chance against Panama than Argentina, but why couldn’t all these players that I mentioned play in both tournaments. Fatigue didn’t seem to bother Mexico to play in back-to-back tournaments. They won their group and in the process upset both Brazil and Ecuador. And most of the names I listed are players in their early to mid-20s. They are at peak physical condition. The fatigue factor seems like a lame excuse, made posthumously (that is after are team’s chances died).

In addition, the argument that we only have a shot in one tournament so we should dog it in the other one speaks volumes about the belief (or lack of belief) in the U.S. national team and project 2010. If the USSF really thought we were capable of competing for a World Cup by 2010, they wouldn’t be scared of testing our best against the World a couple of years early. It’s time we stop playing down to the expectations of the U.S. soccer leadership in this country. Why did we even accept the invitation to Copa America if we were planning on sacrificing our bottom-rung players to the gods of South American soccer?

When Bradley first named the roster, he defended the selections, saying that many of the players featured could end up on the World Cup qualifying squad.

“Copa America is going to be a great opportunity for our younger players to gain invaluable experience at the highest international level … This group has many of the faces that could play a role in 2008 and 2009 when our focus turns to our ultimate goal of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.”

Exactly what experience did they gain in having the crap kicked out of them in three games? How to lose gracefully? And as for the “faces that could play a role,” I could count them on one hand. Or maybe one finger, the middle one.

Why did we go? USA finishes 0-3 at Copa

The U.S. C-team lost their third and final match 1-0 to Colombia in the 2007 Copa America, going 0-3 and finishing dead last in Group C. Think they'll invite us back? Not likely.

Columbia's Jaime Castrillon scored the only goal of the game in the 16th minute. The only highlight for the U.S. was Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan's save on a Colombia PK in the 36th minute.

BTW, Mexico, who took both the Gold Cup and Copa America seriously, beat both Brazil and Ecuador to finish atop of their group. Stay tuned for TYH's commentary of the tournament.

Scoring Summary:
COL – Jaime Castrillón 14

Lineups:
USA: 23-Brad Guzan; 15-Drew Moor, 4-Bobby Boswell, 7-Dan Califf (capt.), 6-Heath Pearce; 16-Sacha Kljestan, 17-Kyle Beckerman, 19-Ricardo Clark, 21-Justin Mapp (10-Charlie Davies, 64); 9-Eddie Johnson (25-Lee Nguyen, 72), 8-Herculez Gomez (11-Eddie Gaven, 46)

COL: 12-Robinson Zapata, 22-Camilo Zuñiga, 14-Luis Perea, 3-Mario Yépez, 5-Javier Arizala; 17-Jaime Castrillón, 21-Jorge Banguero, 15-John Viáfara (13-Vladimir Marín, 55), 20-Macnelly Torres (8-David Ferreira, 85); 19-César Valoyes (10-Andrés Chitiva, 78), 11-Hugo Rodallega

Patriot of the Pitch© : Brad Guzan

60-minute men: U.S. lose again

The U.S. national team lost their second match of the Copa America, as Bradley's cast of not-ready-for-primetime players were beaten 3-1 by Paraguay. The U.S.'s lone goal came from the boot of Ricardo Clark in the 42nd minute.

Edgar Barreto put Paraguay on top in the 31st minute. As they did against Argentina, the U.S. entered halftime tied 1-1, but Paraguay went ahead in the 58th minute thanks to Oscar Cardoza. The U.S. had several chances to equalize. In the 77nd minute, Justin Mapp found himself closing in on goal up the left side, but chose, inexpicably to shoot on goal instead of crossing to a poorly marked Eddie Johnson at the far post. Ricardo Clark nearly got his second of the night from distance, but Paraguay keeper Aldo Bobadilla did well to push Clark's shot over the bar with a diving save.

The U.S. was later eliminated from the competition, as Argentina beat Columbia, 4-2. Argentina and Paraguay will advance, no matter result of the USA's final match of the group phase versus Columbia on July 5.

Scoring Summary
PAR – Edgar Barreto (Oscar Cardozo) 30.
USA – Ricardo Clark (Taylor Twellman) 40.
PAR – Oscar Cardozo (unassisted) 56.
PAR – Salvador Cabanas (unassisted) 92+.

Lineups:
USA: 18-Kasey Keller (capt.); 15-Drew Moor, 3-Jay DeMerit (7-Dan Califf, 65), 12-Jimmy Conrad, 13-Jonathan Bornstein; 5-Benny Feilhaber, 19-Ricardo Clark, 14-Ben Olsen (21-Justin Mapp, 71), 16-Sacha Kljestan (25-Lee Nguyen, 80); 20-Taylor Twellm an, 9-Eddie Johnson

Subs not used: 2-Marvell Wynne, 4-Bobby Boswell, 6-Heath Pearce, 8-Herculez Gomez, 10-Charlie Davies, 11-Eddie Gaven, 17-Kyle Beckerman, 23-Brad Guzan

PAR: 1-Justo Villar (capt.) (22-Aldo Bobadilla-56); 2-Darío Veron, 5-Julio César Caceres, 14-Paulo da Silva, 3-Claudio Morel Rodriguez; 6-Carlos Bonet, 8-Edgar Barreto, 16-Cristian Riveros, 19-Jonathan Santana (20-Enrique Vera, 77); 18-Oscar Cardozo (7-Salvador Cabanas, 73), 9-Roque Santa Cruz

Subs not used: 4-Julio Manzur, 10-Julio dos Santos, 11-Aureliano Torres, 12-Joel Zayas, 13-Jose Salcedo, 15-Edgar Gonzalez, 17-Dante Lopez, 21-Nelson Cuevas

Misconduct Summary:
USA – Benny Feilhaber (caution) 62.
PAR – Cristian Riveros (caution) 77.

Patriot of the Pitch© : Ricardo Clark.

Ouch! Argentina 4, USA 1

Bob Bradley's side of C-listers fought the good fight until halftime, actually scoring first from the penalty spot after Ed Johnson was mowed over in the box. Two minutes later there was a quick response from Argentina from a well-designed set piece. So, it was 1-1 at halftime and I even allowed myself to dream of the USA taking a point from the tournament favorites. But then came the Lionel Messi avalanche in the second half, not so coincidentally it came following the insertion of Eddie Gaven into the line-up.

In the first half, the U.S. played a spirited match and I think caught Argentina off guard with their speed. Eddie Johnson was able to get in behind the defense for a beautifully slotted pass from Gold Cup final Patriot of the Pitch© Benny Feilhaber. Eddie went in one-v-one with the keeper and inexplicably stopped in the area, after which he was mowed down by a couple of Argentine defenders tracking back. Good thing the PK was called because Johnson's run and stall didn't give me the feeling that he could have beaten the keeper. The American splendor lasted about two minutes (during which I imagined a 1-0 win and the letter of apology I would have to write to Bob Bradley), and then Argentina responded. With everyone in the world thinking that Juan Roman Riquelme was lining up the 25-yard free kick for a crack at goal, he expertly dropped it in behind the wall where Gabriel Heinze got to it before Kasey Keller and it fell to Hernan Crespo who volleyed it past the only World Cup veteran Bradley chose to bring. 1-1.

Despite the score at halftime, it was obvious to anyone watching that it was only a matter of time before our defense was carved up like Christmas ham. Our midfield couldn't hold the ball and we could barely string more than four passes together, and the defense was relying mostly on some tightly called officiating to get out of difficult situations. It was like the beginning of 300 when you think, hey, the Spartans doing all right, after wave upon wave of Persian attack is thwarted. But then you see the wide shot and the Persians sheer numbers. Or in this case, then you see the wide shot of Columbus Crew benchwarmer Eddie Gaven entering the match.

I'm not pinning it only on Gaven (although I still think he is a ridiculous selection) because the second half saw the U.S. just run out of gas. A group of young, inexperienced players with few-to-no caps going up against one of the best sides in the world. As a point of comparison, our first two subs were Gaven and Herculez Gomez; Argentina's first two subs were Juan Pablo Aimar and Carlos Tevez. (sigh)

I don't think I need to describe each Argentine goal that came after that. They were all world class. You can read about them elsewhere. Suffice it to say, Messi had a field day on the left against Gaven and a very tired Marvell Wynne. There were few standout performances in the second half for the U.S., as Argentina’s high level of play and the team's inexperience caught up with them. It is difficult to pick a Patriot of the Pitch© in this one, but I'm going to have to go with Feilhaber in the second consecutive game because he was asked to do so much -- to hold the ball in midfield and to orchestrate – and he did a pretty good job considering. He showed flashes of creativity and ran at Argentina unafraid. It was just too much for one player to contend with, especially when most of his help had been running on empty since minute 40.

Bradley had this to say after the match (ussocer.com): "We put a lot of effort into the first 60 minutes, and I think when Argentina raised the level over the last 30 minutes we were unable to match that ... When you play in tournaments like this, you have to understand the level of competition. We certainly started this tournament playing against one of the favorites. This is the first game. We understand that the first round is three games, so it is critical that we pull ourselves together for the match against Paraguay. Argentina is a good team. We all know they have great players."

Funny, that Bradley should mention understanding "the level of competition" because judging by his roster selection he did not. And it will not get any easier in game two judging by Paraguay's complete dismantling of Colombia (5-0). Jimmy Conrad meet Roque Santa Cruz. (sigh)

Goals
USA – Eddie Johnson (penalty kick) 9.
ARG – Hernan Crespo (Gabriel Heinze) 11.
ARG – Hernan Crespo (Lionel Messi) 64.
ARG – Pablo Aimar (Gabriel Heinze) 78.
ARG – Carlos Tevez (Juan Ramon Riquelme) 85.

Lineups:
USA: 18-Kasey Keller (c) 2-Marvell Wynne, 3-Jay DeMerit, 12-Jimmy Conrad, 13-Jonathan Bornstein; 5-Benny Feilhaber, 19-Ricardo Clark (17-Kyle Beckerman, 79), 14-Ben Olsen (11-Eddie Gaven, 62), 21-Justin Mapp; 20-Taylor Twellman (8-Herculez Gomez, 69), 9-Eddie Johnson

Subs not used: 4-Bobby Boswell, 6-Heath Pearce, 7-Dan Califf, 10-Charlie Davies, 15-Drew Moor, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 23-Brad Guzan, 25-Lee Nguyen

ARG: 1-Robert Abbondanzieri; 8-Javier Zanetti, 2-Robert Ayala (c), 15-Gabriel Milito, 6-Gabriel Heinze; 14-Javier Mascherano, 20-Juan Sebastian Veron, 19-Esteban Cambiasso (16-Pablo Aimar, 58), 10-Juan Roman Riquelme; 18-Lionel Messi (11-Carlos Tevez, 79), 9-Hernan Crespo

Subs not used: 3-Daniel Diaz, 4-Hugo Ibarra, 5-Fernando Gago, 7-Rodrigo Palacio, 12-Juan Pablo Carrizo, 13-Luis Gonzalez, 17-Nicolas Burdisso, 21-Diego Milito, 22-Gustavo Orion

Misconduct Summary:
ARG – Gabriel Milito (caution) 58.
USA – Jonathan Bornstein (caution) 73.

Patriot of the Pitch© : Benny Feilhaber.

ussoccer.com's Match Report

I can't watch anymore, but if you want to

Copa America: No to Caracas and copas of beer

English-language, Venezuelan newspaper The Daily Journal is reporting that the semi-final of Copa America on July 10 has been moved from Caracas to Maracaibo, “amid fears of protests and clashes between government opposition supporters and police.”

Apparently, people are upset that President Hugo Chavez didn’t renew the license of opposition TV channel RCTV. As part of their efforts to make the tournament more secure, the article goes on to say that the sale of alcohol “in and around the stadiums” will be banned.

The U.S. opens its Copa America campaign against Argentina June 28 in Maracaibo. Then, the Yanks will play Paraguay on July 2 and finish group play on July 5 versus Colombia.

Hopefully, we will see the emergence of some new U.S. stars and not the train wreck many are expecting.

Bradley's Copa America Squad

Goalkeepers:
Brad Guzan, Kasey Keller

Defenders:
Jonathan Bornstein, Bobby Boswell, Danny Califf,
Jimmy Conrad, Jay DeMerit, Drew Moor,
Heath Pierce, Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Kyle Beckerman, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, Eddie Gaven,
Sacha Kljestan, Justin Mapp, Lee Nguyen, Ben Olsen

Forwards:
Charlie Davies, Herculez Gomez, Eddie Johnson, Taylor Twellman

Ladies and gentleman, your Gold Cup ros…no wait…I mean, here’s your US Cup…no...um…really? Copa America? This is his line-up for Copa America? Does he know that we play Argentina, not Antigua? Is it April Fool’s Day?

A line-up like this would have made perfect sense for the Gold Cup. The Gold Cup is where you try out young unknowns like Drew Moor and Herculez Gomez against the inferior competition of CONCACAF. In the Gold Cup, we knew that our only real competition would be Mexico, yet our line-up featured some of our best available players: Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley, Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra. And, to be honest, that superior line-up hasn’t been playing all that well under Bradley’s direction (despite his spotless record).

“Copa America is going to be a great opportunity for our younger players to gain invaluable experience at the highest international level,” Bradley told ussoccer.com. “Playing two major tournaments back-to-back is both a privilege and a difficult challenge in terms of putting together rosters, and this is something we’ve known all along. This group has many of the faces that could play a role in 2008 and 2009 when our focus turns to our ultimate goal of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.”

So, you do it backwards? WTF? We are not going to have to worry about Guadeloupe in 2010. But we might have to face Argentina or Brazil. CONCACAF tournaments are the best place to test the young, uncapped players (or the USA C-team), and if they perform well enough, as is the case with DeMerit and Feilhaber, they get invites to the bigger dances.

That is not to say that there aren’t any names on this list that deserve a shot. Wynne, Beckerman, Davies, hell, I’ll even through Guzan on that list, although I think Bradley showed too much love to his former team, but when your most experienced player, after Kasey Keller, is Ben Olsen, you are throwing out the baby, the bath water and the tub. Of course, Brazil and Argentina will not be bringing their A-teams either, but we are not Brazil or Argentina, where kids play soccer in the womb. The development of our players has increased dramatically, but the reality is that soccer is not a tier 1 sport in this country (no matter how much I want to delude myself and others). So, my point is why not test our “best” against real competition, rather than run out a group of young, inexperienced and untested players like lambs to the slaughter.

I’m not saying that this group will get embarrassed because there is some talent here, but not enough to really make a run in a high-profile tournament like this. I mean, raise your hand if you think Eddie Gaven should be on this team. Ok, Mrs. Gaven, you can put your hand down. Many of these players have only an outside shot at making their way onto the US team for World Cup qualification. Plus, most of our real talented young players were already called up for the U-20 World Cup staring June 30.

The bottom line is, while I’m excited to see some these unknowns play – Moor, Nguyen, Davies, etc. – Bradley seems to be setting up our possible future for certain failure.

TYH

ussoccer.com's article
Arena had DC,
Bradley has Chivas