1-1 against Jamaica

It is possible that everyone on the U.S. squad played poorly against Jamaica, as the discussion on WorldCupBlog shows. And though the score said 1-1 at the end, you could say that both teams deserved to lose.

Worst player for Jamaica: Goalkeeper Ricketts (except of course, whenever Albright headed the ball toward goal.)

Worst player for U.S.: A lot of names in the pool for this one, but Hejduk stank up the joint pretty bad.

Bruce started Mastroeni in the back four as a change and swapped Albright and Hejduk at left and right after halftime. Ben Olsen played well and honestly, Ricketts should’ve stopped his shot. But it was nice to see him do well and his chances of making the trip to Germany have improved.

Can you picture a corner kick in the near future from Landon Donovan, where Albright (6’1”), Onyewu (6’4”), Pope (6’1”), McBride (6’1”), Noonan (6’), Gibbs (6’3”) and Dempsey (6’1”) are waiting for it? It won’t happen and if it did the universe would probably collapse on itself, but you can bet there’d be a goal at the end of it.

On the goal by Jamaica, there’s nowhere to hide, Frankie. You blew coverage and left an aging Meola to swipe at the air. Here’s some advice. When you get beat and your keeper comes out, haul ass toward your own net to clear the ball off the line. And by the way, that was a terrible two-footed, studs-up lunge (over the top of the ball even.). You were very lucky not to get thrown out of the game. Too many fouls in general, dude. When was that part of your game?

There was the obligatory halftime “MLS is great” propaganda. I would’ve loved to have heard what the players were saying – the MLS is producing great players – but shitty guitar rock was drowning out almost all the interviews. It’s all marketing – soccer’s cool, hip, full of action and bitchin’ guitar licks.

That said, why did an all-MLS squad play so poorly?

I’m sorry that Ralston was injured. That’s a bummer and probably hurts his chances for going to Germany.

As I said, Olsen looked good. As did Dempsey. He had a few nice touches and good speed. Get your passport in order, my friend.

Everyone else? Well, you’ve got two months to get your act together.