Flattering to Deceive

If you woke up this morning and just saw the scoreline, it was probably about what you expected - the US trouncing yet another regional minnow. If you saw the game, you were horrified. First of all, you were stunned by the inclusion of Santino Quaranta in the starting line-up and then fascinated by the fact that he was playing primarily as a wing midfielder rather than in the striker role that he has been unable to prosper in at DC United. I have to say I was also stunned by the decision to start John O'Brien on the bench - wasn't this tournament very much about seeing where he is and getting him back into shape for qualifiers and ultimately 2006? Finally, I was disheartened by our play in the middle of the park. When they still had 11 men, the Cubans stormed through the center of our midfield seemingly at will and until Donovan came into the game, we seemed incapable of moving forward on the ground in the middle - we were trying to bomb the ball long to little effect (Conor Casey, I know Brian McBride, I worked with Brian McBride - OK, I didn't but you see where this is going - and Conor Casey, you're no Brian McBride), trying to sneak it up the wing which was fine until the wingers tried to move it back toward the middle where we had no idea what to do with it. The times when we actually tried to attack through the middle actually made me embarrassed that these guys were wearing the Red, White and Blue - just not worthy of the 10th ranked team in the world even if this was a second or third choice team for us.

Other notes:
1) DMB had a productive game in spurts but was invisible for long stretches and I'm still not sure where he was supposed to be playing, the interchangable positions strategy seems to work with him and Donovan in the game but I'm not sure the combination of Chris Armas, Ben Olsen and Clint Dempsey are ready for it.

2) Don't Armas and Dempsey play the same position? Why were they both on the field to start the game?

3) Can we PLEASE retire Tony Sannah? In his prime, he was an excellent player for club and country but why wouldn't we give some experience to someone with potential rather than someone who at 35 years old is definitly NOT going to be a meaningful part of a successful World Cup run in 2006? Marvell Wynne? John Wilson? Jon Spector? I'm tempted to say the same about Ben Olson but at least he's 6 years younger and theoretically in his athletic prime (if he can stay healthy).

4) I was excited for Brad Davis' debut for the MNT but the results were a bit up and down. He had flashes of useful play and put a great ball in to Beasley that led to Dempsey's first half goal. I can't help but think that he'd have been a lot better if our central midfield had been remotely dangerous and drawn more of the defense into the middle. As it was, the Cubans spent most of the game not worrying about the middle and were able to focus on stopping Davis and Quaranta.

5) Donovan - the subject of much criticism but he's been great since he came back from Germany. He completely changed the game when he entered. Still waiting for him to have a chance to shine against tougher competition again - hopefully, the knockout stages of the tournament will provide some more interesting tests.

6) How is South Africa in this tournament? I can't imagine they're here to sell extra tickets - if we were going to invite an African team, couldn't we have invited Nigeria or Senegal or someone worth seeing?