Finally got a chance to watch the game this AM.
Some thoughts in addition to your points:
Slow start that yielded a goal. Can not do that against Mexico in Azteca or it will be a very long night.
Altitude played a factor HOWEVER another week of practicing and playing in it (Colorado) should pay big dividends before heading to Mexico City
Arena nailed it possession does not mean jack
Nice to have a coach again who tells it like it is(i.e. set pieces sucked all night long)
Second half is what I was expecting to see on the evening
Yedlin is a defensive liability as we all know all to well. Would be better at wing and Johnson move back to
back
Bradley has never been a speed guy overall his game is more suited for where Arena has him (where he plays at club level). I agree he seemed to not have that extra gear going last night. Got picked a couple of time in bad places on the field. He always shows up for the big games (if he is playing in the right position) though so I am not to concerned.
Pulisic is very good but still very young. We all need to keep that in mind. Reminds me a lot of Donovan at that age. Potential to be one of the greats. He is just scratching the surface right now. Need to keep him injury free as the CONCACAF thugs will go after him with a vengeance.
Nagbe should have been with the national team before Arena came along.
Brooks and Cameron seem to have jelled in the middle and we may have finally solidified that area of concern.
Viilifiana appears to be the real deal too and we may just have solidified left back finally
Wood I agree has reverted to his old form and that is not good. Stu Holden thought we would see Altidore and Dempsey in Azteca because of that.
I am starting to feel cautiously good about the back four for the first time since the Bradley era.
Howard is the starter again. Which is both good and bad. Good in that he still can make the plays at 38 but bad because we need a youngster to step up and take the reigns as Guzan is not the answer (never really has been) and not a youngster anymore himself.
We have to get 3 points against T&T and there is no reason to think we will not in Colorado.
Azteca is another world unto itself. If we get a point their I will be ecstatic. A win....WOW. A point is a possibility but we are going to have to bring our A+ game as El Tri is firing on all cylinders right now and Aztec as we all know is a fortress for FIFA sanctioned official games. The refs lets face it will be calling everything Mexico's way as the fans will intimidate the hell out of them as they always do.
Expect us to come out attacking against Mexico because if we sit back they will pick us apart.
Oh and we need to Win the Gold Cup this summer. No reason we should not with Mexico sending their A squad to the Confederations Cup
Well, it was a friendly and played by both sides as one.
A couple of player notes.
1. Pulisic - easily our best player. Not really a surprise to anyone. Will go down as the greatest American product if not darn close already. Is he the best 18 year old in world soccer?
2. Nagbe. Impressive. Attacking minding focus. Created problems all night. Would have been more if Wood could play off him in the slightest.
3. Wood. Poor game. Honestly, he's not looked all that great this year in the 3-4 Hamburg games I've watched where he's played.
4. Fabian. Great positioning all night. But on/off with first touches. Whiffed on two balls about 10 yards from goal. He's better than he showed. I'll attribute it to the friendly.
5. Yedlin. Other than speed, he offers little. Gets caught ball watching defensively. He's one of those guys that if he could put it all together, we'd have something. Seems like I've thought that for 3 years now, though. But he's young. With age will come patience and awareness. Two things that will greatly help his game.
6. Bradley. A couple things here as he has me completely questioning his game. He plays SLOW. Too slow. I like his command in MF, but he just kills forward momentum. For as good as he is at seeing the field, he rarely can find a deep run and put the ball where it needs to be. Don't get me wrong, he's the best we have there. But his defense is especially poor. More guys turn and run on him than I thought possible, thus putting our back four in danger far too often. He'll hurt us dearly against players with class. Hopefully, he brought his "friendly" game and we'll see better when it counts. And I think that's the case. When he's into it, the guy is picking fights and fouling. Didn't see much of that tonight.
One other note: Our set piece defense has been atrocious for years now. We leave more guys unmarked than about anyone we play. That's an effort issue. Simply, we relax on set pieces rather than bring more intensity.
Otherwise, I thought we did fine. Can't believe I'm saying this, but having Altidore up top should help us if Wood doesn't show more. All those wonderful runs by Nagbe and Pulisic should have caused several very good scoring chances but ended up with little. Passing in confined space was better. Not pushing bad opportunities was better.