a quick post-mortem


so, did you watch?...

what did you think?...

brazil was just better, right?

color me just as surprised as any fan rooting for the huge upset with the us' first-half performance. not only were both goals completely legitimate and not fluky, but they were, in fact, wonderful pieces of soccer. as i mentioned last post, clint dempsey has tons of talent, and it took every bit of it to put the deft touch on spector's cross and redirect it towards the back of the net. even more impressive was the back and forth between landon and davies, ending with a money finish by landon, often criticized for padding his "goals scored" with penalty kicks and infrequently scoring during run of play. seriously, the second goal was just magnificent, and with those goals accompanying the truth that was every touch by benny feilhaber, i could feel the upset in my toes. i even did a lap around the kitchen with both my hands raised after going up 2-0.

and then brazil woke up.

the difference between the spain match and today's was the early us advantage was a genuine product of them outplaying the more talented brazilians. i didn't get the feeling that brazil was coasting. but one could totally understand the thought (if it was there) that they might not need an a-plus effort against a squad they torched just over a week ago.

i can imagine being in the brazil locker room at halftime. i can visualize the coach of brazil calmly addressing his team and telling them to attack. and they did. just over a minute into the second half, brazil scored. and they took off from there. not a moment played out in the last forty-five where the us felt like the better side. the talent from brazil just screamed out of the television. kaka and robinho and luis fabiano were dominant. and try as they may, and they did try, the us was no match.

my only complaint may be an ignorant one, but i only hope, that after being used off the bench for the first four games of the tournament, benny had run out of gas when he was taken out of the game with fifteen minutes to play. he (and landon in spots) was the most composed us player on the ball all day. sharp with the ball, i only remember him turning the ball over once. and to my surprise, he was pretty tough on defense. taking one of only two true playmakers off the field with the balance still up for debate made little sense. again, i'll just hope that he didn't have anything left in the tank.

i wished for a competitive match to watch, and it was that. moving forward and back into qualifying for a return trip to south africa next year will provide bob bradley with too many tough decisions. is right back now spector's position to lose, or will cherundolo be the guy now that he's getting healthy? is charlie davies in the long term plans? how does benny not play all game every game from this point out? have we really seen the last of demarcus beasley?

the team that showed up for the last three games of this tournament should, theoretically, mow through every qualifying opponent and clinch their spot in next year's world cup sooner rather than later. will they?

i hope so. if nothing else, the last couple of matches have gotten me excited again about us soccer. i couldn't have said that this time eight days ago.

tough loss, but a deserved one. keep moving forward.