- The jury is out in our house on the new uniforms. I personally think the pinstripes are nice.
- Great hit by Donovan off a bad clearance. Wynalda must cringe every time Donovan nets another one and has to note the statistic box.
- The defensive communication looks miserable. A couple miscues between Howard and his defenders. The defense, which is the same lineup we saw in the World Cup, looks leaky and it's supposed cornerstone Onyewu was exposed badly and beaten twice on Ecuador's goal.
- Movement up top is miserable, with Ching trying to play like a target forward without a complimentary player. Johnson is invisible and lazy; one wonders how many more chances he can really get.
- Benny Feilhaber looks good at times and like a first cap player at others. A nice through ball with the outside of his foot in between several bad giveaways.
- Donovan was by far the best player for the US in the first half. Hopefully he inspires more in the second half, and we'll see if Michael Bradley can come in and prove he belongs as a player and not just given the benefit of the doubt by his dad.
Second Half
- Wynalda is a trip in the commentator's booth. Him and Arena often take little jabs at each other and I'm sure Dave O'Brien has to give them a couple quick kicks under the desk.
- The movement to start the half is much better, Donovan looks to be an upgrade at least in terms of his movement and his commitment to the game.
- My roommate just farted and yawned at the same time.
- Donovan produces two brilliant goals after Dempsey whiffed on a sitter from inside six yards. The first off a nice turn and slotted through ball, and with the ball bouncing up and down on the turf Donovan calmly slowed down and placed the ball to the far post. His second came just two minutes later as the Ecuadorian defense looks in shambles and it's about as un-Donovan a finish as I've seen, blasting an unstoppable drive into the top corner from Beasley's well weighted pass.
- Looks like the DC United representative is going to be the lonely one on the bench with Kasey Keller not too get into this game. Maybe Carroll get his chance on Wednesday because as decent as Feilhaber played, and I think decent is the best description, he went unnoticed through most of the second half. Little correction, Carroll shows up in the 90th minute, turns out Kyle Beckerman is Keller's buddy over there.
- The defense never really seemed to mesh, hopefully that's sorted out before we start playing the likes of Argentina this summer. Pace proved to be a serious issue, especially for Gooch and Bocanegra on the left who was left chasing several times. Not a bad performance in the end, made a little bit better by the killer game that Donovan produced. Wouldn't the US be better off if he could produce this energy and determination every game, or maybe donate some to Eddie Johnson.
- A nice save from the Ecuadorian goalkeeper, a questionable call on what looked like a penalty and a bad miss from Dempsey kept the score from being more lopsided. Nice crowd for the victory, announced at 31,000.
Player of the Game - Obviously the hat trick man Donovan who provided inspiration to a team that otherwise looked sluggish; even typical firebrand Dempsey looked a step behind.
Surprise - Aside from Donovan's work rate and decision to display all that he could be, the center midfield, especially in the second half with Bradley and Feilhaber was nice. While not flashy, they moved the ball and kept possession that was lacking in the first half, although again some of this might be attributed to getting a second player in front of them once Johnson was subbed.
Disappointment - Every game things seem to slip farther away from Eddie Johnson, who for a couple months was going to be the savior of US soccer and expected to score at feverish pace. Now he looks out of sorts, making bad runs, if he makes any, doing his best play going backwards and missing poorly on the chances presented to him such as the one that both Arena and Wynalda deemed a cross, but upon closer inspection was surely a shot.
Oh what to do with Mr. Bradley, who is now 3 and 0 as "interim" coach, and seems to be quietly showing that he may be capable of getting the job done. I wouldn't expect a worse performance against much weaker Guatemala on Wednesday.
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