MSU Red Cedar Message Board

Not over the result, but over what we showed. You may recall my excitement over a 4:2 loss to Brazil in a 2007 friendly, but it was because then-coach Bob Bradley actually tried to go toe-to-toe offensively rather than playing the conservative empty-bucket "go for the draw" mentality. Otherwise, the only friendly that the US should celebrate a victory in is when we play Mexico, as that game is never truly a friendly. I do get why people want to note and celebrate the win, but to me, what's more important is that we're solving our outside back questions with Johnson and Chandler; Edu and Bradley look to be the starting midfield we need to control the tempo; Altidore is settling in at forward; Klinsmann is getting this team to try to take the game to the opponent, regardless of their class or talent; and we're not playing a more bunkerish-mentality with only the counter for an attacking option. I'm very happy with that, and if that results in 1:0 road win over the class of Italy, even better........

Ok, so you think professionals and their coach that are working on certain tactics, formation, development to prepare for a big tournament are going to set that aside and try to destroy the US because they want to show us up as a country due to our geo-political position?

I've just had my U7 team play up at U9 for an entire indoor season - and watched them get the shit beat out of them in most games! They'll kick ass when the outdoor season starts though .

Having attended friendlies and Gold Cup games against Mexico, there is no such thing as "home turf" for the US. The only time we gain a home-field advantage is when we play a small venue like Crew Stadium for a World Cup qualifier where they can put in place ticketing rules that put tickets in the hands of US supporters while spreading out the Mexican fans to keep them from having a supporter's section. Mexico plays most of their friendly slate in the US for many reasons....outstanding support and money are at the top of that list.

A friendly is a friendly, but comparing how Italy would approach a game against the US with how MSU would approach GVSU in the preseason is assinine. Are they going to push as hard as they would in a cup competition. No. However, I guarantee that Italy wanted to win, expected to win, and played to win. In addition, I will tell you that we are not popular on the continent and I would bet that Italy played harder against us than they would have against say Columbia or South Korea (who are similarly ranked) and yes it does have to do with their perception of the US.

True....it's a matter of comparing a crowd that is supporting one side to a place where bags of urine are thrown at our players. Add in the continued threat of kidnapping and even the Mexican NT won't play there unless they have to during qualifying......

And here I am with no down-votes left.

So you don't think MSU wanted to win, expected to win, and played to win against GVSU? In both cases, you had a "blue blood" team who was primarily using the game as a tune up for more important games (which means putting a priority on working on various formations, lineups, etc. over how to best exploit and defend the opposition). Meanwhile, you have the lesser of the two teams in each case trying to prove something. I had said that the gap is not as big between the US and Italy. I would use a mid-major for the analogy, but we typically play them in regular season games that impact our tournament seeding.

And sorry, but I don't believe that Italy would try any harder against the US than against Colombia or South Korea. They might even respect them more due to a couple of players on each of those teams. If anything, it would be because they do perceive the US to be better than those countries, not because of some geo-political hatred. That's just absurd. They're professionals and they see players as fellow professionals, especially ones that they have played against in person or seen on film against top competition in European leagues.

I take it this win was more significant than the recent losses to Belgium and Costa Rica? Up to 31 in World Rankings now though, which is good.

In that we played well and seem to be understanding what Klinsmann is asking of the team....it is. I think I'm fairly representative of the supporters of the USMNT when I say I was struggling to see the path where our player pool could do what Jurgen was asking of them....and the friendlies against Belgium and Costa Rica last September were good examples of those doubts. The friendly against Slovakia in November showed me that there was growth and understanding, which I continue to see. Yesterday was another step in that process.

You know enough about soccer to know that our defensive issues are really a matter of player selection and settling the defensive midfield. We're finding answers there. For the US to take another step to winning games past the group stage (Mexico '02 was an exception as we knew them well and we were better) is an issue of finding a new approach to creating offense. For the Arena and Bob Bradley years, our approach against good teams was to counter and push for set-pieces. We're playing with more creativity now...one-touch passing, movement, ball control, etc. And we're actually seeing players growing in their comfort with that approach. And that some of those players aren't just named Dempsey and Donovan, well, that's exciting........

Post of the thread so far..great synopsis Heathens.

...If only we could have had weeks of endless handwringing over who the US captain would be for the Italy match...

Are you serious dude? You are bat shit crazy...