Good Old Fashioned Criticism Pays Off!

Ah. Yes. Well. I see. I'll be off, then.

Two clean sheet victories, five goals--that sounds OK, doesn't it? Sounds fine.

You know all the numbers, don't you? USA: Only 1 victory ever against a top-ranked team. 0 for the previous 6. Spain: 35 match unbeaten run. 25 clean sheets in that time. 15 consecutive victories. No goals conceded at this tournament. Blah blah blah. Reigning Uefa Champions.

The USA just did something that cannot be described any way but in terms like "shocking," "stunning," "unbelievable." How shocking?

The winning goal was scored by a 19-year old who barely played for his club last season. Think about that for a moment. Big game? Big stage? Bright lights? I supposed Altidore didn't know to be intimidated, at least not by Capdevila. Capdevila is ostensibly Jozy's team mate at Villarreal, although Jozy only got into what, 6 matches or something silly like that?

Ricardo Clark morphed in Claude Makelele, snapping at the Spanish midfielders and breaking up everything that came his way. Landon Donovan drove the team forward like Andrei Arshavin, dominating the midfield play, keeping possession, tracking back and defending (at one point, he HEADED THE BALL OUT OF THE BOX AND I AM NOT MAKING THAT UP). He was brilliant. Yes, Landon Donovan was brilliant in a big game.

The centrebacks--I cannot say enough about them. While Tim Howard kept hauling the team out of the fire with brilliant saves, in general the tandem of Onyewu and DeMerit made his job much easier than it could have been, considering the opposition. Onyewu never put a foot wrong, never, not once in this match. I realised just now that by the end I was actually spoilt by his effort. DeMerit worked just as hard and even pulled out a few Italian-style dirty tricks--his arm-pull on Ramos prompted him to laugh and pat the Spaniard on the head. Was this an AMERICAN defender? Goodness. He and Gooch could be good for years to come if IF yesterday was any example of how they work together. Meanwhile, Howard's save from a David Villa scramble might have been the play of the match. It was classic Tim, cat-like reflexes in full effect. Yet for this match, it was just as much about his positioning and distribution as his athleticism.

Bocanegra and Spector certainly did their part. Spector isn't going to stun anybody with his overlapping runs or on-the-ball wizardry, but he is going to defend and kick the ball into row X when necessary. He's matured considerably since his ManU days and should be a fixture at fullback. As for the Captain--it was good to have him in there. He is a leader, he is a bit of a jerk, he's combative, and he'll get stuck in whenever needed. I saw him constantly working to organise the defence and talk to the rest of the squad. This is the difference between Charlie and Donovan as captains--BlackMouth is a man. Not knocking Landon, but what we saw yesterday was the value of an experienced leader wearing the armband.

Clint Dempsey looked spent much of the time, but he did work much harder than in previous matches to help out in defence. I'm not a big fan of his drifting inside when the team so obviously lacks width in attack--BUT I won't slag him since he assisted on Jozy's goal and took his chance late like a real poacher. Bradley seems to want to play him up front late--but if you think he's better in attack than in midfield, why wait? Feilhaber can do the business wide left. Or put speed merchant Charlie Davies on the wing and let Dempsey start up front. I love the pressure Davies provides--he can fly and he looks like more of a footballer than Cobi Jones ever was.

Davies' early overhead kick definitely set the tone for the USA. They were SO MUCH more aggressive than they had been in any of their recent matches. They were quick and decisive and took their chances rather than the hopeless dithering that seemed to have become a trademark.

OK--so this was great and damned-near perfect. I don't want to pick a nit, but some of the flaws in this team persisted. The biggest thing is that Bradley chases far too much. Our players don't defend an area and then hand their man off to the next person, which causes far too much open space and gives the opposing team big lanes in which to either run or pass. Maybe if Iniesta was in this match, the score would have been different because he would have taken better advantage of the headless chicken running and collapsing lines. The USA desperately needs to stay organised in defence and hold their shape along both the midfield and the back line. Don't chase the play so much, boys. That leads to cards and dumb fouls outside the area. (Although, to be fair, it looks as though they're getting a red card no matter what they do, so I suppose they should get their money's worth.)

A little sensible time-killing late in matches would help, as would taking the ball to the flag and earning a corner kick. That kind of stuff is what professionals do without really thinking about it. Our boys are just a little too sincere to do that, I guess.

I would like to give respect to Bradley for going to a 442 and using Davies in the last two matches. This needs to continue. Playing that diamond-type midfield with Donovan at the top and Clark at the bottom does everything it should--Donovan can be a playmaker and nuisance, Clark can break up the opposition's passes and provide cover for the back line. When you have enough goal scorers (Altidore, Davies, Dempsey, Donovan, Bradley), you can afford to play a guy like Clark, and credit to Bob for recognising that and sticking with it.

I was worried that he waited a bit too long to use his subs, and the team started to look tired, dead legged, in fact. This was when Howard and Gooch were having everything in the world thrown at them by the Spanish attack. I was really scared that Mata was going to skin somebody alive in the last 15 minutes.

And that is ALL I have to criticise after this win. This win. They do need to build off this. If they don't, the win becomes less important, though not any less signifcant. The USA just did something that 35 previous sides could not do, and that's beat the most gifted international side of a generation. That they did it in a major tournament, on foreign soil, makes it even more impressive--and shocking, and stunning, and unbelievable.