Watching the replay of this game last night, I felt like a Tech fan watching us play Texas. It's was damn good first half played by a team against superior talent across the board. They worked their ass off to get the lead and it was well deserved, but you just knew that the better team's depth and class would show up at some point. It was like watching Tech jump out to a 21-0 lead on Texas only to watch them inevitably come back and steal the win.
Depth was the key to the game I think. When the US had to go to the bench for fresh players to finish off the game, there was a huge dropoff from the first 11 he had on the field. Without Michael Bradley, there was nobody in the midfield with any gas in the tank that could hold possession and relieve the pressure off the back line. Klesjtan and Adu are offensive guys, not defensively responsible. Having a healthy Brian Ching to hold the ball up top would've helped. Late in the game, the midfield just couldn't hang onto the ball while Brazil kept subbing in guys off their bench that are elite players. Basically our team got worse as the game went on while Brazil got better.
The negatives of the tournament are just that, it showed that the US still lacks overall depth needed to make a deep run in the World Cup (that is twice as long as this tournament) and the overall quality of midfield players. The positives are that we finally saw the US show some heart and passion. If we can keep playing with that edge, we can be a dangerous team at the World Cup. I finally started liking Landon Donovan during this tournament, he finally acted like a captain. His quote after the game was great, "As a team, we're passed the point of wanting respect, we want to win". We also showed that our top line talent can compete with the best teams, let's just hope that they all stay healthy and in top game shape over the next year. Lastly, you see in all the time in sports, upstart teams who get to the finals for the first time usually wet their pants with the world watching, we couldn't stand the pressure against a team that had been their before, that experience along makes the entire tournament worth while. If this team can go toe to toe with Brazil in a major tournament final, then playing at Mexico City in the Azteca in a World Cup qualifier shouldn't be as difficult.
