During the post game press conference yesterday, the usually reserved Bruce Arena had little positive to say, and he even called out some of his star players:
Against the Czechs, Arena said only three of his starters had good games. "I think our best players on the night were certainly Claudio (Reyna), I think Gooch (Oguchi Onyewu) had a pretty solid game. I thought Bobby Convey at least had the courage to attack. Everybody else, the performances were not good."He later added that second-half substitutions Eddie Johnson, John O'Brien and Josh Wolff played OK.
As for the team's best young players, Donovan and Beasley, Arena said, "Landon showed no aggressiveness tonight. ... We got nothing out of Beasley."
Beasley's take?
Beasley, who played 90 minutes at right midfield, pointedly criticized Arena's decision in the second half to put only three defenders in the back, five players in the midfield and two forward to help bolster the attack. The team usually plays with four defenders."I couldn't get forward. I needed to cover on the backside. I don't understand what he wants me to do. If he changes it to 3-5-2, I have to worry about the right back. It's not my fault that I couldn't get forward," Beasley said. "We just have different views."
Beasley would have preferred to go to a 4-3-3 instead of a 3-5-2 to limit the freedom that Pavel Nedved and Tomas Rosicky had on the attack. "We should have had guys running with them. That's what happened with the third goal," Beasley said. Rosicky scored his second goal in the 76th minute.
Arena has been regarded as the U.S. genius since '02. He'll have to do some to salvage his reputation this time around.
Posted by Walter at June 13, 2006 06:27 AM