Once Again Not Enough

It's been four years since the heartbreaking elimination in the group stages of World Cup 2006 in Germany, and yet again the USA are sent home packing. Every four years, you hear American announcers and analysts talking about how "this is the team, this is the year." Well yet again they've come up short. It's yet another early exit and another disappointment at the hands of Ghana. Though their poor play was more to blame for their elimination in 2006 than Ghana, this year, they were taken down in a straight elimination game.

"They put up a valiant effort," "Bob Bradley rallied his guys, made the right subs," are just a few of the statements that keep coming from the mouths of announcers, but there has to be nothing but disappointment in the US camp right now. What do you take away from this? You take away that your coach didn't one time put the correct starting eleven on the field throughout their tournament, their center defense was shaky for the most part, and they have proven strikeforce.

Is this too harsh? Not in my estimation, just due to the fact that time and time again Bradley changed his midfield and his striking duo, and never aloud any sort of continuity to take hold on his team. Despite Clark's absolute disaster against England in the first game, Bradley insisted on starting him over Maurice Edu, who had proven to be a good holding partner alongside Michael Bradley. What happened? Ghana came out early, Clark had a poor deflection/clearance and the German, Kevin-Prince Boateng, took advantage and slotted one home.

What happened as soon as Bradley took Clark out for Edu? The shaky nature of the midfield play dissolved, and the team started to have more of a flow to their play, especially when Robbie Findley was pulled off in favor of Brazilian born Benny Feilhaber. That was the starting eleven that should have taken the field to begin with. The American Football Federation needs to look at Bob Bradley's decision making, both pregame and postgame.

If I am coming off harsh, it's not intended. I'm not saying at all that I'm not proud of the way the United States fought, but I'm just disappointed at the results yet again.

With all of that said, the Ghanaian team showed a lot of flair, and a lot of it for the dramatic, especially toward the end. As an American fan I was livid at the time when they were wasting time, but it is completely understandable within the context of the game. We would probably do the same thing given a role reversal. Kudos to Ghana, especially for Asamoah Gyan's beautiful volley that came from nothing. They will be squaring off with one of the most impressive teams in the tournament thus far, La Celeste--Uruguay.