Soccer blogger Ives Galarcep responds to some of the negative press the U.S. national team received after its 2-2 draw with Mexico on Wednesday night. Galarcep says that having watched the game a second time, there’s no reason “to be in panic mode about any particular aspect of the U.S. team.”
That said, some glaring issues did arise, notably the sloppy marking of stand-in fullbacks Ramiro Corrales and Drew Moor, who was at fault on both Mexico goals. The good news, Galarcep says, is “there are at least two better options at each position,” so you shouldn’t expect either Moor or Corrales to see playing time in any of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
There was also concern about the central pairing of Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark, who definitely lost the midfield battle against Mexico’s Pavel Pardo and Gerardo Torrado. Galarcep admits that Clark was off-color, but you should keep in mind that that was only his second competitive match in the last three months. Bradley, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly as bad as some critics made him out to be, especially in the first half, when he played very well defensively. That said, he played nowhere near as well as he has been for Heerenveen in the Dutch Eredivisie. The biggest problem, according to Galarcep, was the left side of midfield. Bobby Convey’s ineffectiveness underscored just how much the U.S. misses the injured DaMarcus Beasley. Unfortunately, he isn’t likely to return from major knee surgery anytime soon.