that would be silly.
The USA probably did not deserve to win Thursday night to be honest. Even Bradley admitted afterwards the soccer wasn't very good. He was being nice. They were betrayed by their inability to kill a game off and then absolutely rescued by a blown call. And as I said, they were probably lucky not to play the last hour down a man anyway.
But this is a team that is finding ways to win, a trademark of the program since The Bruce took it over. Tough to argue with that, isn't it? So full marks to Bob Bradley once again.
I still fancy the Yanks to beat the 2-0's by the customary score line, even without Frankie and Bradley and despite the match being on the road. Yes, I know it's in Chicago, but you'll see what I mean when you flip on the telly Sunday afternoon.
But that prediction is because Mexico is damaged goods as well right now, as evidenced by their very nervous win Thursday night in the nightcap.
As exciting as U.S. front-line players like Landon and Dempsey and Eddie Johnson can be, they simply have not been producing like they should have. And it hasn't been for lack of chances: this team is making them, this team just isn't taking them. And that's a recipe for getting beat by inferior teams.
But at the end of the day, we all got the U.S.-Mexico final we wanted, and with a win the tournament becomes ideal - the USA go to the Confederations Cup and had Michael Bradley emerge as a true potential asset for this new cycle.
So it's just a matter of perspective.
During the season, The Clean Sheet runs each week on MLSnet. Views and opinions expressed in this column views and opinions are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com. Send any questions and comments to tcsresponses@yahoo.com
