Dispatches From South Africa: Five Thoughts On The U.S. Elimination

Bob Bradley may deserve some credit for the adjustments that helped keep things interesting against Ghana, pushing Saturday’s second round contest into 30 minutes of extra time. But if you praise his changes, then you surely must question the U.S. manager’s original lineup selections in Rustenburg. Here’s more on that, plus other thoughts on the U.S. effort in South Africa that went a "two-day old soda" on us – you know, a little flat.

1. Why Robbie Findley?: Truly, what did the young striker do in two other starts to deserve yet another one in a do-or-die contest? Once again, Bradley had to move Clint Dempsey up to forward in the second half as a tactical adjustment. We saw it in ever match here. So the obvious question is: Why not just start Dempsey at striker, as none of the other options to partner Jozy Altidore seemed up for the job? Benny Feilhaber came in at the break and was the best player on the field for the second half (although his presence diminished in the 30-minute extra time.) You really have to wonder what the match might have looked like if Feilhaber had been there all along.

2. Why Ricardo Clark?: This one is the real head-scratcher. He was nervous to begin the England game, so it can’t be called a real surprise that he was so bad in starting this one. His jayvee midfield giveaway started the early goal, which started the collective downhill tumble. Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, just a minute later he was guilty of silly and brutal tackle, collecting the yellow card and demonstrating once and for all that he didn’t have the emotional facility to handle the occasion. He came off after 31 minutes. Clearly, if a coach is forced to make a move after 31 minutes, he had it wrong to begin with.

Sure enough, Maurice Edu came in and helped change the game, turning the contest in the U.S. favor. Bradley’s choice to start Clark over Edu will haunt the U.S. manager – who may or may not get another chance. He contract expires in December.

3. Did the U.S. effort suffer due to over-reliance on certain players?: Seven U.S. starters had played almost every moment of all four matches going into the extra time Saturday. Overall, Bradley used 19 players there, which seems like pretty good distribution of the minutes. But it’s a little misleading; Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Steve Cherundolo, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan had played every minute. (Jozy Altidore had played all but four minutes going into Saturday, and he was clearly zapped after 90 minutes.) Bradley said in the post-game news conference that he chose Clark because he wanted to get "fresh legs" on the field. But Edu had played limited minutes in South Africa, so he was presumably fresh. (Although he did start Wednesday against Algeria.) Michael Bradley certainly couldn’t have had fresh legs, but he was on the field for every minute, as always. The manager’s desire to leave Michael Bradley on the field at all cost proved costly in the end.

4. The confounding slow starts: While it certainly isn’t a surprise, it’s absolutely flummoxing that the United States could never remedy its ridiculous propensity for slow starts. That’s just down to mental makeup and motivation.

The United States needed a rally to match England, needed a truly heroic and highly dramatic rally to overcome a two-goal deficit against Slovenia and then required a cardiac late goal against Algeria to move into the second round. While this never-say-die attitude made everyone so proud, questions must be asked about the frustrating consistency in falling behind.

5. The opportunity lost: In all of our lives, we have to recognize moments that come along, real "game-changers" to be exploited. The United States had one here, as the bracket had broken so fortuitously. As they woke up Saturday, only Ghana and then either Uruguay or South Korea stood between the United States and history. A berth in the World Cup semifinals was there for the taking.

We saw how much hullabaloo all this created over the last three days. Can you imagine what kind of ongoing soccer party we’d be living in if the United States hadn’t missed such an opportunity?

It would be one thing of Ghana had come out and looked like Brazil circa 1970, clearly the better side in Rustenburg. But it just didn’t unfold that way. Lineup selections that require examination, another pitiful start and an attack that (once again) lacked ideas held back the Americans on Saturday. A group that was flawed, to be sure, had an opportunity nonetheless just because of its tremendous resolve and team spirit.

Truly, there was a chance for something special missed here.