Live: USA vs. Morocco Friendly

It's about 8 minutes in and here's what I know so far:

-A lot of the top USA players are in this: Keller, Reyna, McBride, Beasley, Onyewu, etc.
-Wolff is up top with McBride
-John O'Brian went down early, but he got up which is good :)
-Morocco was the first to get booked (#18, I think his name is Ramsey, got a yellow card for kicking Wolff in the face while going up for an air ball)
-Morocco is also not letting the USA run all over them.

USA just got their first corner kick off a nice strike from Donovan (I think) from outside the box.

It's a friendly, so I hope players are just in form and no one gets hurt.

UPDATE: Of course, a few minutes later, I see Reyna favoring and rubbing his hamstring. Ugh...

UPDATE #2: Reyna out, Mastroeni in at the 16th minute. No need to push Reyna's hamstring through a friendly; I hope it's only minor.

UPDATE #3: Play is moving back and forth. Morocco looked like it had a dangerous chance, but no dice. USA has had some fortune getting the ball through, but nothing remotely close to a dead on strike save for a McBride shot. USA just tried to make something happen down in Morocco's box, but it didn't result in a shot.

Cherundolo got carded at about the 29th minute for clipping a Moroccan player from behind. A fair booking though, as clipping is generally bad; and this occured away from the ball.

UPDATE #4: USA forcing turnovers in Morocco's end, which is good. But it's not resulting in any shots. In the 37th minute, Cherundolo gets brought down, a Moroccan player gets a yellow card (Sorry, can't ID him right now)

UPDATE #5: First half ends, 0-0. USA is looking a bit better, but they need to do a much better job on offense. They are getting more possession and passing fairly well, but it's not resulting in much so far. Defense and midfield looks fine, though I wish Reyna wasn't hurt. John O'Brian is looking pretty good so far, as is Donovan. Cherundolo and Wolff could be doing better. Hopefully the US takes it to Morocco and gets a goal in the second 45.

UPDATE #6: Morocco is playing a LOT of guys behind the ball. Bobby Convey is in for John O'Brian, IIRC. Convey already has a shot, nothing shocking, easy save. Reyna is still in the locker room icing that hamstring. (Miniupdate: Convey with a strong low shot from outside the box. He's making some noise in this friendly...)

UPDATE #7: After Josh Wolff does something of value and gets a shot on net, Onyewu takes down a Moroccan player outside the box in the ensuing counter. Fortunately, the USA blocked the free kick; something I'm concerned with since I saw that Germany friendly and the USA getting owned on set plays like that. Subs (#11, #14, Madihi for Sektioui) for Morocco are made at the 60th minute approaches. Eddie "Grown *** Man" Johnson subs in for Josh Wolff.

UPDATE #8: Well, EJ nearly scored off a header off a Convey corner kick, but it was just wide and high. Onyewu out, Dempsey in at the 73th minute. Gooch played well, only 2 mistakes I can think of (foul right outside the box, not covering a man in the box). As an aside, I really hate those damn horns.

UPDATE #9: Ohhhhhh, Donovan had a VERY good shot, but EJ couldn't get the rebound. Best chance of the game for USA, so far. They're really pushing now. 82nd minute: McBride out, Brian Ching in.

UPDATE #10: USA gets a big free kick opportunity in the 88th minute, but it's blocked and Morocco responds on the counter. #14 is wide open for the pass and just takes it home. Madihi in the 90th minute. 3 minutes of stoppage time, I think.

UPDATE #11: Very late free kick attempt AND IT'S JUST WIDE OF THE NET! Right on the side netting! Convey was so close! And we're done! Morocco scores on the counter, beating Cherundolo (only one who was back there) and eventually Keller with a good shot. USA had their chances, but couldn't make the most of it; Morocco had fewer chances, but made more out of one than any other chances by either side in the game. Hence, they win. Sierre Mist man of the match goes to Mastroeni for his strong play in the backfield, replacing an injured Claudio Reyna.

Hopefully, this game "wakes up" the USA squad and forces Bruce Arena to never, EVER use a 2-6-2 formation (yes, when Dempsey went in, the formation became a 2-6-2).

This is really not a good sign for the US. I was willing to ignore a few of their previous losses because they were playing their B team, but this was a full-strength US team that just couldn't create chances against Morocco, a team that won't be going to the WC. I still don't really see why Josh Wolff is on the team, I've never really seen him do anything.

I wouldn't say it's a lost cause, but the US really needs offensive flair and they just don't have any right now.

This is really not a good sign for the US. I was willing to ignore a few of their previous losses because they were playing their B team, but this was a full-strength US team that just couldn't create chances against Morocco, a team that won't be going to the WC. I still don't really see why Josh Wolff is on the team, I've never really seen him do anything.

I wouldn't say it's a lost cause, but the US really needs offensive flair and they just don't have any right now.

In all fairness, this is one of the few times this team has played together for awhile, Bruce Arena went into the game to see what everyone could do, and it's a friendly. Yeah, I'm disappointed in the USAMNT "A" Squad losing to Morocco in the final minutes of the game; but the sky is not falling, I don't think. If the USAMNT drops the Venezuela and Latvia games as well and/or performs similarly (lots of possession, mostly good defense and passing, but
impotent on offense), then I'd worry. Next game, I'm sure we'll see more shots being taken as opposed to passes in the box (Landon Donovan, I'm looking at YOU). Then again, I'm an optimist.

Yeah, I have no idea why Josh Wolff started this game over Eddie Johnson, but my guess is that EJ hasn't performed all that well in MLS so far and Arena didn't want to use a 4-5-1, so he went with Wolff. (Brian Ching has done well in MLS so far, but he's small and has been owned in prior international games)

G and D are what this team is built around, the Morocco goal was a fluke created by a idiotic play by the last man back for the US.

They don't have enough speed for the counter-attack, and not enough flash or creativity to succeed controlling play in the other teams defensive zone. Not a good combo. I think they have the talent, but Beasley or Donovan have to start getting greedy with the ball to create opportunties for the rest of the guys up front.

Morocco is hardly a weak opponent though.
They have a lot of good players (I don't know who they dressed for this game though).
Them not going to the WC is misleading. Teams like Cameroon or Nigeria are among the best nations in the world right now and are not going either.
Some weird qualifications in Africa, where many good countries didn't qualify and some weaker ones did (Togo, Angola).

I agree with you, btn, Donovan and Beasley need to take more chances themselves instead of looking for the pass. In general, if the other team is throwing that many people behind the ball as Morocco did, they need to settle things down and either A) try to get a cross or B) try shooting the ball outside of the box instead of constantly pushing to get in. By mixing it up, the other team will surely respond to different situations by changing things up a bit; and hopefully an opportunity will present itself.

Claudio Reyna extended his hamstring in the Morocco game, but it's not a serious injury. (http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=sportsNews&storyID=2006-05-24T175152Z_01_L24601999_RTRUKOC_0_US-SOCCER-WORLD-US-REYNA.xml) That said, he won't be playing in the Venezuela friendly on Friday. But it looks like he'll be good to go ifor the WC. Well, we hope at least.