You're absolutely right. We are not good enough at possessing the ball, period. I think part of that is that we are a very good counter-attacking team, so whenever we win the ball in midfield the first reaction is "attack! attack!" which leads to the poor passing and ill-advised long balls. In the second half of the Brazil match, there were several opportunities for the US to hold on to the ball for 30-40 seconds more at a time before attempting to get the ball in on goal, and every time, the second pressure came, especially in midfield, they would panic and send an ill-advised long ball at a poor run, presumably because they were afraid of being dispossessed. That absolutely has to be improved before the end of WC qualifying, or it's going to be a very short cup for the US, especially considering how much FIFA dislikes us. You know we're going to be in either the Group of Death or the other one that's just as strong. Really the only thing we've got going for us as far as some love for the draw goes is that we currently lead the world in ticket sales.
But that's neither here nor there. What is really troubling to me is the way that our players seem to drift in and out of the game. feilhaber and altidore were two prime examples of players that played well against spain (altidore was in and out, but that's what you get from a 19 year old who doesn't get any club minutes), but neither of them made a mark against brazil.
Also, does landon donovan bother the crap out of anyone else? He's a talented player, sure, but he's nearly crumbled under the expectations of greatness, as evidenced by that ill-advised low cross in the spain match. He's afraid to make mistakes, though that's not entirely his fault. What bothered me most about him vs. brazil was his celebration after his goal. Running around the field shouting "me! me! me!" really? If it wasn't for the perfect ball you got, you wouldn't have even had a shot on goal in the first place. Congratulations on taking the shot when you literally didn't have any other options. I don't know, maybe I'm being hard on him, but when you're the face of a team that's been mired in mediocrity the way the US squad has, it just seems like a little more "we" than "me" could go a long way. Some of our players looked a little put off by his celebration. They just looked a whole heck of a lot happier for Dempsey than they did for Donovan. Maybe that's just me not liking him, but that's what I saw. Thoughts?
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