I looked at the clip again (thanks for posting it, 3rd Degree) and I see your point about Pablo having gone over to cover for Drew. Of course, that means we were essentially playing with 3 at the back (in that moment), which really should not happen at that point in the game. And Davies should probably not have stepped up then, but perhaps just jockeyed and invited the long-range shot. In any event, what your comment really reinforced for me is that defending is a collective exercise. If one guy is out of position or makes a mistake, it can throw things off for everyone else. When a defense is on the same page and playing together, the system will inherently provide cover for individual mistakes and the other defenders can step in. But when folks are not together, then things happen like we see on the tape. Players out of position, not in synch, and not spaced properly, which means they can’t help each other out.

If you watch the US team from the Spain game, for instance, you can see a wonderful example of how to defend a lead late in the game. Even against Brazil, the US team kept their shape pretty well (for the most part). You certainly never see them defending with only 3 or 4 players behind the ball deep in their own territory…

Nice report, but I think you’re too harsh on Wallace. I do agree, however, that at times we look like a team with less than 11 fully committed guys…

My view on the goal: The play leading to the goal started on a throw-in, deep in our territory, to a wide open Ballouchy. Mistake #1: unmarked player on a restart.

Ballouchy had way too much time to collect the ball and make a pass to Cummings’ feet. Credit to Davies for stepping out of the defense to apply pressure, but he didn’t manage to get Balloughy to put his head down… And where was the midfield? Mistake #2: Lack of pressure on the ball in our midfield, deep in our defensive territory.

Based on the amount of time Ballouchy had, Pablo and Wallace were too far apart from one another after Davies stepped out of the back line. Also, Pablo was to the right of Davies (and very deep); Pablo should not have been so far away from Davies and perhaps Pablo, not Davies, should have stepped to pressure the ball. Bad things happen when the center backs go in across one another. Anyway, once Davies stepped up the other three backs needed to pinch in and close the space created by Davies’ departure; they didn’t do that quickly enough. And Wallace was too close to Cummings’ back (and not between him and the goal), which allowed Cummings to make a really nice turn into the space vacated by Davies. Mistake #3: Lack of discipline in the back, with players out of defensive shape in the closing minutes of the game.

Team fitness looks like it is a problem; we are consistently more tired than our opposition in the closing minutes of games. Why aren’t we the fittest team in the league? If we are going to do so much defending, we need to be in much better shape. It is a lot of work to chase the ball for 90 minutes….Mistake #4: Bad physical preparation, which leads to mistakes and injuries.

Then, Cummings got in behind the defense but was only running to the end-line, with not much of an angle on goal. Burse, it looked to me, made Cummings’ job easier by coming off his line too aggressively. If Burse closes more slowly and stands up, making Cummings beat him with a quality shot, I think Burse makes the save. Mistake #5: Arguably bad decision by the keeper. (I could be wrong here: it’s tough to tell all the angles, etc on the tv…)

Wallace doesn’t challenge the shot with a slide. Likely he was too tired, thought Burse would hold his line and make the save, was scared to commit a foul, or all three. Mistake #6: Wallace needed to make a challenge there, if possible without committing a foul.

Like most goals, it was the result of a chain of mistakes, and I think putting it all on one guy is a tad harsh.