There Are No Minnows

Bradley delivers us from our own stupidity.

Paraguay draws with Italy.
Mexico manhandles France.
Germany goes down to Serbia.
Spain goes down to Switzerland.
Slovenia goes 2 up on the US before we rally to a tie.
And Algeria hold England to a scoreless draw.

After the cheering for the valiant comeback of the US fades, we will be left with the sad reality that for the bulk of the game we played like total crap.

"Early goals" will once again be offered as an explanation - and a lot of teeth will be gnashed over the fact we had a goal disallowed.

But early goals come from the same source that late goals do: poor defense, inspired offense or a combination of the two.

Our back line were terrible and our midfield... seriously, where they hell did they go? Vs. England they were at least a reason to smile. They showed real aggression and prevented more than a few breakouts by the English.

But vs. Slovenia?

We didn't build through the midfield - we didn't build. We just booted the ball long and desperate and more often than not - lost possession.

Watching a team like Barcelona - it is uncanny how a desperate defensive boot finds its way to a teammate who not only keeps possession - but has passing options for building an attack.

With the US, the ball goes off into green space where it is swiftly gobbled up by another attacker - and the US turns to defend again.

Worse, the same result happens when we have a goal kick. Total freedom to build from the back and Howard makes what is arguably the world's longest turnover.

Again and again.

I get that we were down and had to rush, but our attack has not been built on big-man-nods-the-long-ball-down play.

Altidore got it done with Bradley for the second goal, and good on both of them, but let's remember how many times Jozy came up empty - and how many possessions came to nothing before the 82nd freaking minute payoff.

I don't doubt Jozy's commitment or workrate - but I'd argue he's better when he's part of a coordinated group of attackers. Not that piss poor long ball crap we bet the farm on today.

The other big takeway from today? Landon Donovan: Stud. That picture perfect goal to open the 2nd half was the mark of a man who knows his business. Took the ball, stepped up, saw daylight and buried it.

Rock on. That was the future of the US World Cup right there. He lays that off like a traditional US player, we're nowhere and desperate for a lot longer.

Forget the whining about the bad call - forget our comeback, even. If we'd played worth a crap we'd have never gone down 2 in the first place.

I still don't get why the US needs to be terrified and desperate before they realize they are a professional soccer team. It's such madness to talk about how they've matured.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers 2002 - how a playing-for-pride-Poland almost sent us home with three goals in our backside. How we had to have South Korea gift us a ticket to the round of 16.

We keep screwing up the basics and we have no guarantees that we'll be able to beat an Algeria squad that managed something we couldn't: keep a clean sheet against England.

The boosters like Lalas "We should win 2-0" need to start viewing every opponent like demons from hell. This is the World freaking Cup - there are no easy points and the sooner we realize that, the sooner we might become a serious team.

Go USA.