Just Not Good Enough

Well, Italy did their part. But, the USA... what can I say? They were a big fat stinky disappointment. They lacked energy, a sense of urgency. They lacked confidence. They seemed unorganized (I guess that’s on Bruce Arena) and unfocused much of the run.

The “face of the team” (supposedly), Landon Donovan, was a non-factor the entire Cup. DaMarcus Beasley was a ghost. Bobby Convey gave more energy and created more chances in the 50-ish minutes he played over two games than Donovan and Beasley did the entire tournament combined.

Claudio Reyna looked old and slow and really showed it on the giveaway that led to the first Ghana goal. And then he faked an injury when he wasn’t even touched which to me is absolutely lame, some might even say gutless. You fucked up, stand up like a man and own up to it.

As for the backline, Eddie Pope is waaaay overrated and Oguchi Onyewu consistently showed how green he was (especially the first and last game). Kasey Keller wasn’t given much of a chance to be successful.

Eddie Lewis, Carlos Bocanegra and Brian McBride had their moments, but the only guys that really showed up for this World Cup were Convey, Eddie Johnson, Pablo Mastroeni, and more than anyone, Clint Dempsey (who should be the new “face of the team”).

You run and kick and fight and sweat for four hard years to get to this moment and this is the limp, heartless effort that you give in the end? It’s sad.

Don’t blame it on the refs (although it would be pretty easy to do that), the bad calls were on both sides of the ball. Ultimately, you just have to deal with that and overcome it by giving more effort than the other side.

Will this cost Arena his job? It probably should. He obviously didn't motivate and his tactics will come under some serious scrutiny. We’ll see.

I’m gonna mope around for a little while.