Boy did I miss the feelings of 2008. Poor motivation in international tournaments, decent possession but few shots on target, costly individual mistakes... This is deja vu all over again.


1. In his first bit of extended time, Danny Szetela stood out in an otherwise mediocre midfield. He looked like the best player on the field for the first quarter, with some nice passing. Center attacking midfield was a good position for him, although the coaching staff apparently did not agree.


1. I liked the constant energy and pressure from Rodney Wallace. I don't like when he tries to take impossible long range shots.

2. Jaime Moreno did not look like his usual self for the first half, other than his penalty kick goal.

3. It's kind of frustrating watching Milos Kocic. He doesn't miss any saves - that's very positive. But he still struggles to hold onto balls or come out at the right times.


1. Greg Janicki was undoubtedly the worst player on the field. Maybe he's been watching Jakovic too much. Jakovic has the ball skills to dribble calmly out of the back. Janicki doesn't. His mistake early in the match might cost us a spot in the next round.

I've very curious to see what kind of lineup Soehn will use in the away match in this series. The same roster likely won't get much of a better result, because this team has historically underperformed on the road in international tournaments. But to put it in a different perspective, we would have won this match were it not for one individual mistake by Janicki. If we can limit mistakes and play our possession game, we've still got a chance to advance.