Tonight soccer (USMNT Vs. Trinidad & Tobago) is the discussion. The first issue tonight- it's not really on TV. So this requires trying sync a stream from NBC Universo with a Rabble TV audio feed since I don’t speak Spanish. Turns out you can’t delay the feed on Rabble TV, so it is impossible to sync the audio with the video if the video is what is behind. By halftime, I had given up on the notion of watching the video feed through the desktop since I would already know what had happened from the audio feed, and the stream was not, umm, fluid. Fortunately, it enabled me to put a clear coat on my end table while listening to the second half.
Now that we have gotten past my adventures in cord cutting, we can now begin to annoy the true soccer fans. I am literally that guy that only really watches the national teams. Last week’s game gave some reason for optimism as the men’s team poured in six goals after falling behind by a goal early. So, spoiler alert, the US came away tonight with a, ahem, nil nil draw. In regular person talk, it means that nobody scored at all. Ironically, not scoring, means the US earns a point in the group leaving them a top the group by virtue of the six goals they scored in their first game.
I will admit I have the unpopular opinion that like US coach Jurgen Klinsmann. He has made no bones about his focus being on the 2018 World Cup. After last summer’s good showing at the World Cup, am pretty fine with the US having a down cycle this past summer. I don’t think a team can play at a consistently high level for four years while going through a transition. Jurgen chose to leave Landon Donovan off last summer’s squad, since he would not be able to play on Russia in 2018. I think he believes that by that time, Clint Dempsey will be a super sub for late in games. Which leaves the team looking for the next American goal scorer. To have any chance, the USMNT needs a finisher in the final third. I have no idea if Bobby Wood can actually be that guy, but I was disappointed to not see him get the start this evening after he had played so well in his first start last week. Instead, he was reverted back to his former role of being a goal scorer off the bench.
Klinsmann will take some criticism tomorrow for not getting a result tonight (Yeah- more soccer terms) and some it will most likely have to do with Wood not getting another start. However, given how leaky the defense has been recently, getting a shutout on the road is actually fairly impressive (welcome back secretary of defense, Tim Howard). So the consistent pairing of Besler and Cameron in the center back positions has maybe started to pay off. So in a very “the results are the only thing that matter” analysis, the US finally was able to hold up the back end for a full game.
The next game is not until March (I bet Dempsey returns to the roster for those games) so we unfortunately will not get to see any more action that counts to further the analysis. However, I will continue hope we can find the next American goal scorer to combine with a hopefully continuing to be stout defense in the meantime.
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