5.28.14
ASN Morning Read: Much Ado About Nothing
In the Most Important Pre-World Cup Tuesday Night Friendly at Candlestick Park of All Time (trademark pending), goals from Mix Diskerud and Aron Johannsson saved the evening.
BY
Noah Davis
Posted
May 28, 2014
8:10 AM
This paragraph about sums it up: Tuesday’s showing belied the fact that the team is still progressing. There were long stretches during which the United States gave the ball away too easily and struggled to find cohesion. Bradley gave the ball away more often than usual - which is to say he gave the ball away a crooked number of times - but also wasn’t able to operate in space like he did against Mexico.
According to the ASN community, Michael Bradley was the worst player on the field. He had an off night but c'mon gang. Talk about being a victim of your own success. ASN's Blake Thomsen had him somewhere in the middle of the pack, which feels about right. Why don't you, yes you, go make your own ratings?
Clint Dempsey missed the match as a precaution against his injured groin but not before The Wall Street Journal profiled him. This Bruce Arena quote sums the captain up perfectly: "He's not someone you marvel at for 90 minutes. You don't ever know exactly what Clint you're going to get when you take the field, but that's the beauty of him."
In which one long-time reporter parts ways with the United States team over the Landon Donovan "controversy": "This is the guy who could leave behind the greatest player in U.S. soccer history for reasons almost entirely personal (and apparently irrational). And if we had any doubt about how it was personal, that doubt was erased when Klinsmann’s son tweeted out a mocking message, after Landon was dismissed. Where did the kid get that opinion … other than from his father, the coach? The coach who said it was purely about soccer."
This is pretty freaking cool: After Sporting Kansas City tied the New York Red Bull, hundreds of families stayed behind to watch the U.S. game from the field. That's gotta be a groundskeeper's nightmare, though huh?:
Jurgen!
(Also, Klinsmann and bakeries)
Random American time:
