Soca Lines

I'm not terribly concerned that a glorified U.S. Olympic squad gave Trinidad & Tobago their first win against the U.S. in 11 years, or whatever that stat was. We're already in the next round. This was about getting younger guys on the field, and did anyone really expect Jose Francisco Torres and Michael Orozco and company to just walk in and dominate? Maybe in the fantasy world of message board posters, where every player you've never seen is so clearly better than those that you have, but the real world isn't anything like that.

Goff goes so far as to say that a T&T win is ultimately a good thing for the U.S. team, and I see his point.

If I have one concern out of last night, it's that Maurice Edu just isn't there yet. That said, this may be the best time to get him more minutes so he can develop. Okay, two concerns, the second being that Danny Califf is still in the pool. I usually have nothing but respect for Bob Bradley's decisions, but I still think he's is a poor defender, and would call up C.J. Brown before touching him.

On the plus side, Charlie Davies looked really good coming in and getting the lone U.S. goal, while Fire forward-slash-midfielder Chris Rolfe had a pretty sublime touch the first (and maybe only?) time he saw the ball.

Meanwhile, the win from the Soca Warriors was not the most surprising result in CONCACAF yesterday by a long shot. I caught the last fifteen minutes of the 2-2 draw between Canada and Mexico, and it was just some brilliant soccer. Where was this Canadian team during the rest of this qualifying round?