MattMatros.com - Poker Strategy from Experience

Reader Comments:

Hi Matt:

I'm suprised you didn't mention Arena's failure to pull Pope. I feel like he got obviously outcoached there. As soon as Mastreoni gets that red card, Pople should have been pulled: he was playing like a cowboy the whole game, and it was obvious he was an excellent candidate for a second yellow. The Italians pulled Totti as soon as they got their red card, no?

The sad thing is that 10 on 10 we win that game easily in the second half.

matt

- posted by Matt : 6/19/2006 7:30 AM

Good comments Matt - USA really showed some heart in this game, Donavan was huge. Some of my thoughts:

Arena not using the final sub, nor changing things up when the US went down to 10 men was beyond me. How EJ didn't get a run out in this game (even for the last 10 minutes) baffled me. McBride was a spectator for the last 10 minutes. Thought that was a little naive on Arenas behalf.

Team USA's fitness really came into play in this game - they ran the Italians dogged on the pitch and executed their gameplan almost to perfection.

Eddie Pope.....Eddie Pope.....what can I say? One of your most experienced players making schoolboy mistakes at this level is hard to swallow - playing offside for the Italian goal was unforgivable as was his clumsy tackling. I honestly believe that if the US team had a different Center back playing this game USA comes away with 3 points.

The Officials: Referee was bad - no doubt. The Mastroeni red card was legitimate IMO - he had his studs showing AND made full contact with the players ankle. Unfortunately the ref bought into Italys diving tactics for 70+ minutes of the match, once he had dismissed 3 players he was forced to referee the final 20 minutes properly and let the game flow.

Still, a great result for the US and probably the best game so far in Germany from a battling/competitive POV. Your 2 absentees from the Ghana game will not detract from the squad whereas the 2 Ghana players will significantly weaken theirs.

Time to get the attacking side out on the pitch and show Ghana what you are made of. One thing we now know about the US is that their players will leave it out on the pitch...best of luck guys!

Tum

- posted by Anonymous : 6/19/2006 9:30 AM

Matt--

As always great, but a couple more questions:

>> Beas: what is the deal, and do you play him?
>> Keller: would we be better off with Howard or Friedel (he cannot kick the ball to anyone on our team it seems)?
>> Arena: grade so far after two games as well as buildup (I'll say D, but maybe I'm being harsh and lack enough knowledge)

- posted by cc : 6/19/2006 10:23 AM

Arena was just shocking. How he ends that game with an unused sub is absolutely inexcusable. Even being cautious, he's GOT to sub for McBride in the last 10. And what the fuck was that starting line-up? How does JOB not make it into the game? Watching Beasley's corpse run around for 20 minutes was also nice, as was hearing the announcers act like he somehow redeemed his embarrassing performance in the Czech game. The Jimmy Conrad sub was hardly better (though he at least tried). Arena was strategically embarrassed this game, and it doesn't seem like anyone's discussing it.

All that said, the boys tried their asses off, and the difference between that effort and the effort in the first game is huge. Very unlucky red for PM, I've watched the replay probably 10 times, and I can't see Tum's argument. As Matt said, if he's coming off for that, there should be multiple ejections every game. To even compare it to the Italians red card is a laugh.

I'd really really like to see EJ and JOB start against Ghana, and I truly hope we've seen the last of Beas. I'm pretty sure we can take it to Ghana, though I'm far less sure about Italy's ability to beat the Czechs, given that they do not need 3.

- posted by Drew : 6/19/2006 10:31 AM

Hey Matt - Love the report but I disagree with you when you claim, "On that note, I will consider this a successful World Cup if we beat Ghana. We got a tie against Italy in a World Cup match on European soil, while playing most of the match with a man down"

Unless, I fell asleep or am thinking of a different match, didn't we have long period when we had 11 vs their 10. A long period of 10-10 and short period of 10-9 making the game pretty much a wash. I am not sure on this as I have watched 3 games a day for 2 weeks and am starting to bleed from my eyes.

- posted by Anonymous : 6/19/2006 1:39 PM

For what it's worth, we were up a man for 20 minutes of the first half, 10-10 for 2 minutes, and down a man 10-9 for 43 minutes (maybe Matt should have said much of the match rather than most of the match). Of course, we also were down a man the entire match vs. Czech Republic (MIA: Beasley).

- posted by cc : 6/19/2006 2:09 PM

You were either asleep or watching a different match. VERY short period of being up one (less than 5 minutes). Very short period of being even (around 5 minutes) and a 40+ minute stretch of being down a man.
-Drew

- posted by Drew : 6/19/2006 2:09 PM

I was wrong. Looks like we were a man up for 15 minutes or so.

- posted by Drew : 6/19/2006 3:06 PM

Enjoy reading your posts, and I came here to see what you had to say about the great game.

I am with you on a lot of your comments. I would also like to point out how the US won't improve their performances if they keep acting naive or when they miss oportunities for lack of understanding of the big picture.

1. The US team was superior from the beginning. They had more chances even when they had a player down. I would go further to say that they were with 2 players down, if you account for the lifeless Beasley.

2. They lack skills in adjusting to the game as it moves along. What do I mean? I am sure pre-game they were told that they needed to be more physical and show more pationate as they displayed in the first 25 minutes. Even after Italy scored, they didn't seem like they were going to let us down. As soon as the Italy team was with a man down, they should have won that game. The tackle from Mastreoni to me was a brain fart on his part and a display of inability of the team to adjust.

3. Management is really bad. Arena's failure to pull McBride is an sign of that. Soccer is a game of posession, why would you kick the ball 80yds to the other goalie when everyone is damn tired??? You have to tell Keller to get the ball to their defenders and build from that... The fact that he can't get Beasley involved in the game is another big mistake. The players in one way or another have to follow instructions from the coach. The coach has to see these things and adjust their players accordingly.

In all I think they played a great game, filled with heart. I think the ref made a bigger mistake on the second yellow card to Pope than in the first red card. The game alone should allow us to be happy with most of the players as they showed tremedous heart.

- posted by Michel : 6/19/2006 3:40 PM

Thanks for all the comments, everyone. I'll try to answer all of them.

Why Pope wasn't pulled: Because Bruce is intensely loyal, to a fault. To be fair to Bruce, he probably would've been more eager to pull Pope if he had Cory Gibbs to go to. Jimmy Conrad is definitely a level below Pope defensively, at least when both have fresh legs. But when players work hard for Bruce for years, he ends up rewarding them with many minutes, and sometimes that ends up being more than they deserve.

Why McBride wasn't pulled: Again, loyalty. Bruce didn't trust anyone else to play defense well enough to secure the tie. I don't agree with this decision or the Pope decision.

On Bruce in general: Honestly, he's never had to prove himself as an in-game tactician, and I think it's a weakness of his. He's a great motivator (in theory), and he's not afraid to take chances, but he's not great at managing a game. Also, he hasn't had to consistenly manage a game in a competitive environment in many years now. Maybe he's losing whatever edge he had in that department.

On our fitness: Yes, our fitness was huge. We found the spaces even down a man.

On Beasley: He's still lousy. It's so amazing, and so sad. He was supposed to be our best player, instead he's our worst. It's easy to understand why Bruce keeps trying him, though. The guy was the best player on the field for PSV in a Champions League match for god's sakes. But since his injury, he just hasn't got it back. I think it's more mental than anything else. He's very fit, and yet he still refused to run at the exhausted Italians Saturday. That's all in his head. If only his goal hadn't been called back. Obviously it would've been great to get the goal, but it would've done wonders for Beasley's confidence as well.

Keller: Has been OK, but not great. We might've been better with Friedel, sure, but he retired on us a while back. Howard and Hanehmann, would've been hard to expect better from them.

Mastro's card: At this point I've heard enough people who know what they're talking about say the red card was defensible. I'll concede that, but I still say that 95% of the time, the ref gives a yellow for that challenge and no more.

- posted by Matt Matros : 6/19/2006 4:18 PM

i would disagree that the refs did a fine job. the red card for Mastroeni notwithstanding, i'd say italy got the short end of the stick with 3 wrong offsides called that could all have been goals (one of them ended up with the ball in the net but was waived off). since our only idea of backfield defense is the offside trap, if those weren't called italy would have gotten 1v1s with the goalie and chances are good this game could have been 3 or 4 to 1. there was also the flagrant jersey grab in the box that could very easily have been a penalty kick for the italians. they have way more reason to gripe at the officiating than we do.

- posted by Semtex : 6/19/2006 4:46 PM

A few comments...

-I am surprised with the comments on Arena. For one, the boys could not have been more prepared or jacked for the game. They came out and immediately let it known that they would not go down without a fight.

-I watched the game again this evening on Tivo, and McBride does a better job than he is being given credit for. He did a good job holding up the ball when he got it and was able to track down a lot of Keller's erratic punts. He also defended exceptionally well. Putting Eddie Johnson in cold with 10 minutes to play is not my idea of a good time.

-Beasley was much improved. I understand the frustration with his overall play, but he looked dangerous in the few chances he had and put in a good effort.

-Pope has certainly lost his fastball. However, I don't know what Arena could have done. Conrad looks like he plays in a beer league. He could slide Boca in there, but it leaves us thin in the back. I'd expect a 3-5-2 with Boca, Gooch, and Dolo manning the back. JOB likely will play a very defensive midfield to compensate.

- posted by Chris McHugh : 6/19/2006 10:01 PM

The refs decision in the sending off was easy, they have been told to clamp down on two footed-stud showing tackles and he'd already given one red for violent play, he just couldn't ignore it (Gerrard got booked for England for a two footed tackle and he didn't even touch the player, the ref obviously knew this as he didn't give a free kick)

- posted by Chris Melia : 6/20/2006 5:05 AM

It's amazing at this level that we still see managers making seemingly obvious mistakes a crucial points in the game - as Matt pointed out Arena seems to be loyal to a fault but if these are the players that brought you this far it's a tough decision.

Make no mistake - Arena is not alone. Sven Goran Erikkson (who it now seems may get the Real Madrid job) is still haunted by his tactical naivity in the last WC when England let Brazil off the hook - and it seems that he has done it again this WC, not only with his squad selection pre-tournament (bringing ONE fully fit striker) but with his continuing inability to play his best players in their best positions, or get the best out of a squad brimming with talent.

I think now that the excitment has calmed a little Team USA & their supporters have to be delighted with where the team is at in the competition - playing an understrength Ghana team for a spot in the next round.

Have to say that Beasley was a major dissapointment on the day. He looks like a shadow of the player he was in Korea and that inevitably hurts the team. McBridge I thought had a great game but needed to be subbed for those last 10 minutes.

The goalkeeper argument is mute - Keller had no chance for the goal and made a couple of decent saves. Howard is not up to the challenge of the premiership at the moment and his confidence seems low. Friedel is a better keeper than Keller IMO but on a team where loyalty and unity are key he has no chance of playing.

It comes down to one game now - destiny is more or less in your own hands and in such a tough group I think USA are in a great position. I think they beat Ghana 2-0.

On another note from a European perspective - Team USA have come on leaps & bounds in the last 10-12 years. They have begrugingly earned a respect for themselves from the Europeans (& rest of the world) with hard work and a no nonsense approach to the game. In the fullness of time as more of your players make a success of themselves in Europe, Team USA will truly become a powerhouse on the world stage.

- posted by Tum : 6/20/2006 7:44 PM