Balotelli = Bad

photo by wsilver	via PhotoRee

Columnist Ed is still grieving -- he's clearly in the denial phase right now:

o Mario Balotelli is a terrific player and a gifted athlete. But his attack on Scott Parker – a cleat to the head – was appalling.  This was not Bolotelli’s first dirty shot this year, and as a result he has been handed a four game suspension upon postgame review.  Such a suspension isn’t nearly enough.  Had Parker been someone who fouled him consistently throughout the game, perhaps there would have been some justification.  Or as Gary Neville put it, had it been someone like Gary Neville, it would be easier to understand.  But Balotelli had no reason to be angry at Parker, which suggest some minor sociopathy.  Balotelli’s agent is now stating that England isn’t being fair to him.  Clearly for the right price you can get always get someone to agree with you. 

o Despite the Balotelli incident, City v. Spurs game was among the most exciting of the season.  Both teams began nervously before exploding to life in the second half.  Good for Spurs to come back from two goals down, and good for Jermaine Defoe for finishing that first long ball with ease – I have seen many EPL players blow easier passes than that.  But losing like they did couldn’t be more devastating, especially in light of the fact that Balotelli should not have been in the game.  Let’s take Howard Webb’s explanation at his word – he missed it.  That said, ever since a poor World Cup game Webb’s performances have been poor and sometimes poorer.  He’s getting to the point where I think he’s still a ref because he looked like he’d be a good ref.  It’s time for Webb to shape up his game, and it’s time for more video tape reviews.

o The loss by Spurs was obviously devastating.  The only fiber of silver lining that can be pulled from the contest would be that Spurs ought to finally understand that they can be a top team.  Accepting this mentally is the first step to becoming a top team, though that got a lot tougher after that loss to City.

o I thought you weren’t allowed to slow down on penalty kicks.  Isn’t that a rule?  Isn’t that what Balotelli did.

o Don’t be fooled by the United win at Arsenal.  The Gunners are in full injury mode, yet that game could’ve gone either way and in the second half the Gunners had more chances.  United are still – still – relying on Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in the middle.  I suspect their confidence is somewhat hollow, and wouldn’t be shocked to see them get beat up by a random second tier team sometime soon.   

A Step Behind

photo by eeekkgirl	via PhotoRee

Correspondent Mark, fresh from scouting the US Mens' National Team, returns to our pages with his thoughts on the Gold Cup:

The first round of the Gold Cup has been put to rest and there is enough data in to make a few observations on the latest iteration of the US national team. In today’s blog we’ll start with the defense.

The performance against Guadeloupe represented a shoring up of a defense that has been shaky at best in its previous three games. What we learned in the early cup games is that Tim Ream is not ready for prime time, and Clarence Goodson may not be either. As gifted as Ream is with the ball at his feet, he’s been manhandled by stronger forwards and had an equally difficult time staying with quicker forwards. Everything that comes his way in the air is an adventure, and there have to be some questions on whether the young defender will ever have the physical tools to play against top international competition.

Last cup Oguchi Onyewu and Jay Demeritt gave the U.S. a back line that was a step slow but had a nasty temperament. Nobody pushed the U.S around in the back. The word that best describes the current U.S. back line is probably soft. Goodson does well in the air but he has been frequently been caught a step behind streaking forwards. He has done some nice things on set plays, which is encouraging, but he looks like a stop gap measure until more talented U.S. defenders come of age. The best of the up and comers is probably Omar Gonzalez. At 6’5 the 23 year old Gonzalez is the center of the MLS’s best defense and a former rookie of the year and MLS all star. It’s somewhat of a surprise that Ream got the nod over Gonzalez to begin with, but look for the pecking order of young defenders to swap after the Gold Cup.

Bob Must Go

photo by MattGerlachPhotography	via PhotoRee

So, last night's loss against Panama may not lead to the US exiting the Gold Cup tournament, and I still expect them to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition -- barring an upset of catastrophic proportions by Guadaloupe -- but the fact the Americans lost to Panama on home soil has to go down as a black mark on Bob Bradley's head coaching resume. Actually, the fact that we're even forced to write an article contemplating whether or not the Americans can advance in a tourney against a bunch of CONCACAF minnows is shocking in and of itself....

Continuing where I left off last week, the combination of Sunil Gulati and Bob Bradley is not what is going to help US soccer succeed now or in the future. I include Gulati this time in my increasingly vocal criticism, because he's the man in charge, the one who re-hired Bradley after the 2010 World Cup, and he's also the one who vetoed the hiring -- that's twice now -- of a more offensive-minded head coach such as Jurgen Klinsmann.

To put it simply, US soccer has taken a step backward over the past 12-18 months. Not only does the coach not appear to know who his best 11 are, he doesn't appear capable of putting a strong 11 on the pitch, and the US appears particularly suspect on defense.  Which is a perfect jumping off point to begin our analysis of Saturday night's dismal 90 minutes: