Posted by: currenthoo31 on Thu Aug 7 2008 8:59:41 AM
Message:
We did get lucky on a few occasions but over the course of 90 mins, we
outplayed Japan. They had a few glaring misses, but that's what Japan
is known for.
I think everyone's being a little hard on Kljestan. He did have some
pretty poor passes but I felt his overall performance was solid.
There is absolutely no reason for Nowak to replace him in the starting
lineup with Feilhaber or Szetela, who are both in preseason form.
Even in midseason form, Szetela's work rate is subpar and, because of
this, I dont see him playing much of a role in the Senior team's
future. The only option that is better than Kljestan is moving Edu to
CM but that's not going to happen due to the lack of depth at CB.
Rogers was dangerous at times and Holden took his chance well. I'm
looking forward to seeing more out of those two. McBride simply got
hacked every time he touched the ball which was a little frustrating
(should have been an earlier card for accumulation).
Adu wasnt great but I thought Balboa was awfully rough on him. He
deserved the yellow but also deserved a few calls at other times.
Balboa was simply awful. I'm guessing NBC told him to remain neutral
but that doesnt mean lobbying for two penalties for Japan when neither
were blatantly obvious. The first was nothing, and the second
deserved a look but it was a dive after a bit of contact. Its
unfortunate that we have to listen to this guy for the remaining games....
