Something Great

Arsene Wenger cobbled together starting lineups with spit and duct tape and Denilson and somehow the team dragged its ass over the finish line in third or fourth.

Monday, June 9, 2008

A Report from the Front

Though taking a back seat to the Euros, yesterday's USA-Argentina clash was certainly not overlooked by the 78,000+ who sold out the Meadowlands and were able to watch the rarest of soccer oxymorons play out: an exciting nil-nil encounter. As one of those present, I'd like to give a brief rundown of the experience:

1. The atmosphere was absolutely magnificent. I'm not sure how things appeared on television, but inside the stadium, despite being 90 degrees, people were loud and proud throughout the match. It was a true futbol match. In our particular section, we were lucky to have a very vocal group of American supporters and crucially, a kid with one of those ridiculous blow horns. Fantastic.

2. As expected, Argentina brought numbers to the clash, and it's safe to say they made up a little over half of the crowd. While that's still a bit embarrassing, it's a great improvement from the 85% Mexican crowd in Chicago a few years ago, and I happen to feel that American fans need to see the Argentina supporters in their element if they ever want to learn how to party right at an international match (drums, flags, chanting, dancing, etc.). And I think we all know that South Americans know how to party. In the parking lot after the match, most Argentina fans had no intention of leaving despite the rain and thunder. They pulled out their coolers and grills, blasted their salsa music, and got right back to it.

3. Decent number of cute girls. Sporting both Messi and Donovan jerseys. That's what international friendlies are all about. And the atmosphere was extremely friendly in the crowd, with both sides giving the other a good-natured ribbing. Lots of chants, but it was done smiling, and without bitterness.

4. In the first half, there was a palpable buzz every time Messi touched the ball. The combined sound of 40,000 Argentinians holding their breath and 35,000 Americans muttering "here we go." Though Cruz was the one with all the good chances, it's really fascinating to watch Messi because he completely controls the tempo of the game when he's on the ball. Not to mention the fact that he draws every American defender towards him which allows him to pass the ball out and let someone attack the flanks. In the first half, our wingbacks were totally invisible, and as my friend Jake commented: "It feels like we've been playing a man down since kickoff."

5. Tim Howard had a great game in goal. Not only did he make some great saves, but at no point did he ever feel vulnerable, if you know what I'm saying. He did an excellent job organizing his defense, and I was totally impressed.

5. Perhaps the highlight of the game was when the people in the row directly in front of ours unleashed a massive tubular balloon into the crowd. The entire stadium watched in awe as it was slowly taken by the air currents, first hovering high above the field, and then slowly drifting down near field level, and then, completely improbably, floating into the Argentina goal to uproarious cheers and laughter.

6. At halftime, there was a requisite intruder on the field. Wearing an Argentina jersey and waving a blue and white flag wildly. He did pretty well, but got absolutely CRUSHED by a security guard who blindsided him just when he thought he had gotten away. This is the kind of stuff you miss on television.

7. The ref was extremely overzealous. I'll need to see replays, but I was shocked by the sending off of both Mastroeni and Mascherano. And though it could have just been American clumsiness, a lot of the fouls called against the USA looked pretty bogus. This doesn't excuse the fact, however, that they tend to give those up right outside the area. We just can't do that.

8. Though it pales in comparison to Lionel, Donovan is the US player who by far gets the most buzz from the crowd when he's on the ball. He's instantly recognizable, even from a distance, because of his bizarre receding hairline and the uniqueness of his gait. At this point, I have to concede that he'll never really be a great player, but he has moments, and he's exciting to watch.

9. The final ten minutes of the game were amazing. The heavens opened up and started dumping rain on us, thunder and lightning boomed across the skyline, the US started applying pressure which culminated in a series of corners, and the US fans just went plain nuts. Outnumbered though we were, this was the point at which the USA started absolutely dominating Argentina in terms of crowd noise and enthusiasm. If by some chance we had scored, I swear to God the place would have come crashing down.

10. I have no voice left whatsoever.


Another day of amazing football ahead, and I can't wait. I may have to take back what I said about the Group of Death; the Nederlanders look a little toothless at the moment with no Babel, Robben, or van Persie. Also, people are discounting Romania, but they have a rock at the back in Chivu, and a world-class striker in Mutu up top. Sometimes all you need are those two things and a little bit of luck. France needs to be very careful (or not, both Juan and myself would be ecstatic if they got taken down).


Also, I don't necessarily agree with Juan's Portugal pick, but I can't think of anything better at the moment and will thus hold my peace. At any rate, if it means we get to see these girls for the duration of the tournament, then I'm all for it.

3 comments:

Ben said...

First things first. I finally got back from NYC today at 12 30. I have my performance review in 10 minutes, but I can't believe you were there Jim. I think you were a section over. Jake and I were in section 340.

I agree with everything you said. It was fantastic. Despite it taking until 1 in the morning to get back into the city.

Perhaps more to follow, depending on outcome of performance review.

Ben said...

Ok, so that went really well. Therefore, I can slack off for another year.

So, first off, that was awesome!!! Unbelievable atmosphere, great soccer, exciting finish. I really thought we'd score because of the atmosphere and rain, and pull off something special. Even though we didn't, I'm proud of them. Well played.

A couple of thoughts. First, i had been ragging Jake for a year about how Michael Bradley sucks. Now that he also thinks so, and we both had exceedingly low expectations, he played alright. He had some moments where Jake was like, 'see, that's what I'm talking abuot.' Of course there were moments were that was me instead. Overall, he is 20, so there's still hope.

We attacked pretty well, and at times really worked the ball around.

We still foul way to much, and can't stay on our feet. That needs to stop. That's the crappy defenders way of doing things. We also ball watch and group defend. Both of those almost led to a couple of goals by the albeciste.

Finally, I actually think we were pretty well coached. By that I mean, they came out with the right team, played a good game, and, perhaps most importantly, were able to get lots of players valuable experience. Bradley has played lots of young guys over the past year in Copa America and these three friendlies. This should hopefully lay some solid groundwork moving forward.

Now let's just hope we don't shit the bed against Barbados ala Jamaica in 2004.

Anonymous said...

I was driving back to Boston, so I missed this game. I caught some of the highlights though. It's great that we got a nil-nil draw against the top ranked team according to FIFA, but it still scares me that we didn't score a single goal in these three big friendlies.

The defense closes down at the last minute and prevents goals and there's the ocassional flash of nice midfield posession and passing, but no goals. When will Bradley drop Eddie Johnson? It's absolutely pathetic the way he squanders great chances. I'd also love to have a nice rangy outside defender who can run up the field and create like Sergio Ramos or Phillip Lahm (is Eddie Lewis the best we can do?)

As positive as the Argentina game was, the team is still wanting for a lot of things. Adu was great against Spain and I hope we play him a bit more. I guess we just keep playing the waiting game.