Good or Bad?

Hard to tell whether the result of yesterday's Gold Cup Quarter Final match between the US and Jamaica was the result of the US team playing particularly well or the Reggae Boyz putting in a sub-par effort. Either way, the results were the same - it wasn't even as close as the 3-1 scoreline.

First, the argument for the fact that we played well...

The Beezer - Two goals, an assist and a few more chances to boot. You can't ask for much more than that. You have to hope he can stay healthy and add a few more pounds before Germany 2006.

Renaissance Continued - John O'Brien continued his reemergence as a meaningful part of the USMNT picture. The US had a great deal of room to operate in the midfield and O'Brien was the beneficiary on a number of occasions. The offense flowed nicely through he and Beasley. The move he made to draw the penalty at the end of the game was a fantastic move and it would have been nice to see the team allow O'Brien take the spot kick (and yes, I was on record as saying that before Landon missed it). Let's hope he has turned a new leaf and his stay at Den Haag is marked by consistent health and maturity.

King Keller - Kasey wasn't tested much on the day but he made two SPECTACULAR plays. Of course, any time a keeper saves a penalty you have to be impressed (even when it's as poorly taken as that one). The second play, though, was even more remarkable - on a potentially dangerous cross that was driven hard across the box, not only did Keller break up the cross but his one hand looked like a vacuum cleaner as it stopped the ball dead and controlled it. A rebound could have been disasterous and Kasey made sure there would be none.

But, maybe the Jamaicans did us a favor and didn't show up...

Disappearing Acts - Despite the offensive outburst, neither of these guys had a fantastic game. Donovan had some moments of excellence and this certainly wasn't his worst game ever but the more we see him in the more traditional striker role, the more he looks like he's a great offensive midfielder. He seems to be more productive when he picks up the ball within 10 yards of the center circle and initiates the offense. Presumably, when Eddie Johnson and Brian McBride are involved, Donovan will be moved to that spot. As for Ralston, he just didn't have a great game. His left-footed attempt on goal showed why he's generally limited to the right wing and the rest of his performance made us all wonder why he was starting there. Absent were the precision crosses that he has been delivering at least sporadically during the Gold Cup.

The Defense? - They didn't have a lot to do but on the rare occasions where the Jamaicans mustered some offense, the defense, especially Vanney on the left didn't exactly instill confidence that he'd be up to the challenge if he were chasing Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham or whichever Brazilian ends up prowling the right wing next summer.

The good news is that we can beat a decent team easily even when we don't have our entire first team and the team on the field doesn't bring its "A" game. The bad news is that we haven't seen that "A" game in this tournament yet and it's now 4 games old.