Benni will be so happy to see this team he's joined Hopefully the boys step it up before the start of the season... at least they're running more now than in the first half

Is that Roberts I spy? I think it is..

I think Gallagher just came on

4-0/

McEveley caught trying to mark two guys.

who's #16? We have too many shaven players

Pedersen is on by the way.. Bentley too

a BICYCLE KICK!? this is getting embarassing.

3-0 down now ..

I see Jay McEveley on for Gray.. and other new faces too

Douglas is on..

hahah nooo not that one

quite

... what are we watching right now :| It's bizarre.

I would kill to see Tugay right now. We're quite painful to watch.

he looked way offsides to me

We are being contained very well. How good are Olympiakos? I know they won the Greek league, but what level are they at?

Looked like Friedel got caught off his line..

Mokoena, Sav, Kuqi and Jeffers. Not looking like a free scoring line up

Thanks for the link, been watching it now, the quality is poor but watchable. Btw whats with our shorts?

I agree, shirts look huge, shorts look tiny

Could be, might've mistaken Mokoena for Roberts

yep you're right

Someone post the lineup when they can figure it out..

So far I've seen Sav is the captain and Reid is on the field

Matteo, Jeffers, Gray, Roberts, Agathe, Friedel, Zurab, Peter

Sweet! Its working, this is awesome! Thanks a lot pleasure

I wish Friedel still played for the US. I don't like Keller.

I think that Arena got it wrong today. Donovan doesn't work well as a forward unless there's someone on the pitch who can spring him through. He needs to be the springer, with Eddie Johnson being the springee. Lewis and Convey on one side was bound to be defensively frail. DMB sucks more on the right than he does on the left. He defends well, but does not add to the attack at all.

Players that didn't work: Convey, Beasley

Players that failed to impress: Lewis, Mastroeni, Cherundolo, Onyewu, O'Brien, Pope, Keller

Players that failed to impress but not their fault: Donovan, McBride, Wolff

Players I thought did well: Johnson, Reyna (maybe)

The changes I would make: We need Donovan in midfield and Johnson up top. This means dropping either Mastro or Reyna. I would like to see Beasley or Convey dropped for Dempsey. I would then give either Beasley or Convey one more chance on the left, but replace Lewis with Bocanegra. Unfortunately, I think Bruce Arena has too many favorites, and won't change things up too much.

Yeah I read those quotes too. Either he didn't get much sleep on the flight and he was really grumpy or his words look worse in text than they were in real life. I can imagine the "mocking" part about training being said with a huge smile, so who knows.

I don't think he's usually grumpy though...

I agree with everything you've said Philly, and I really like your suggested line up. Except... I don't know why Beasley starts... I'll admit that I've only really started watching the US this year (Asia doesn't really have decent coverage of the US team), but I've watched him four or five times now, and he never impresses me as an offensive player. He does a decent job defending, but as a wide man I expected him to make use of his pace (isn't he supposed to be lightning quick?) to attempt to beat a man every now and then. He doesn't seem to have the same technical ability/confidence as Convey, Donovan, Dempsey etc. So I'm still undecided about him.

Johnson must have been so frustrated last night, he deserved a goal for the work he did up front, just wasn't to be. And DANG did you see that lump on McBride's head?!

The Latvians played pretty rough, glad no one got injured...

I watched it.. much better game, better to watch for sure.

Starting lineup

Howard

Albright Onyewu Conrad Bocanegra

Dempsey Olsen Convey

Wolff

Ching Johnson

Much younger side than previously, but I hope Arena chooses youth over experience this summer, at least for some positions. The younger players are much more talented..

Howard had a solid game, made one terrific save from a free kick and came out to collect a couple of crosses. Although I thought he could have dealt with a long range shot better.. he didn't tip it over or catch it, but knocked it to the side, still in play. Luckily we were there to clear.

Our backline seemed solid, but Albright and Bocanegra seemed to get burned a few times on the sides. Bocanegra is slow, and he kind of sucks at going forward, definitely not a natural left back. His sending off was not derserved.. the ref was cardhappy all game. Albright did better going forward.

Olsen had an okay game.. I guess for his job (break up plays) he did well, but didn't make himself stand out compared to Mastroeni. Dempsey was a little quieter than I expected, but was still a threat, and of course scored a very nice diving header. Convey was the deserved man of the match, terrorized the Venezuelans with his running, and had excellent crosses and corners. Should start for Beasley every time. My only worry is that better defenses will find him out...

Wolff is frustrating. He shows flashes of brilliance, but can never pull anything all the way off. He got put through on goal at one point, and then hit the weakest left foot shot ever. He's in no place to displace Landon or to start as a striker.

I was yelling at Ching at the beginning because I thought he was awful. I think of Ching like I think of Kuqi or Heskey. I have to say though.. although his overall play was rather crappy, he was in the right place at the right time on two different occasions (one was a goal, one went over the bar), and thats what makes a decent striker. I don't like him, but he scored. Johnson was good, didn't really have any scoring oppurtunities, but crossed for Dempsey to score after Landon put him through. Start him with McBride please.

Landon did well when he came on, Beasley and Lewis did not have any oppurtunities to impress. Then they gave Bradley his first cap in the last two minutes.

Overall, decent game, good support. Venezuela were kind of crap though, so don't think we're world beaters yet..

Nothing special. Very tiny compared to the US players...

Not noticeable except for one move where he got a cross in past Gibbs (cross hit the first man though). I don't think he'd do well in the Prem.

Ugh. A loss to Morocco is not an inspiring result.

We've been rather crap lately... losing to Germany, drawing with Jamaica and losing to Morocco?

In this particular game, I was disappointed with McBride...he was awful. And I would put Convey and/or Dempsey on the field before Beasley any time.

Yawn. What a boring first half.

although seeing our supposed target "Boussoufa" next to Onyewu was funny.

I agree completely. I can't wait to see Dempsey in the WC, I think he will do very well. Like you said, he does seem like the only player with energy and outright fearlessness, willing to make things happen. I just wish we had a deeper, more talented forward department