YOU ALMOST HAVE TO WONDER...:

U.S. hopes to maintain control (Luke Cyphers, 6/14/10, ESPN)

The most surprising statistic from the U.S.-England match? This one: The Yanks possessed the ball 53 percent of the time in the first half.

It's almost an article of faith, a faith based on history, that against the top teams in the world, the U.S. won't hold the ball more than its opponent for any length of time. And indeed, the Americans reverted to form in the second half, so that by the end of the match England enjoyed a 54-46 possession advantage.

Who's doing what and what does it mean to his team's chances? Insider's Rumor Central has the answers.

But the Americans' patience and control in the first half was a huge factor in the 1-1 draw in Rustenburg on Saturday. Rather than panic after Steven Gerrard's goal in the fourth minute, the U.S. kept the ball for long stretches, giving itself scoring opportunities on set pieces before Clint Dempsey's "Blunder Strike" on Robert Green in the 40th minute. "I thought especially in that period after the goal, our ball movement to get to certain spots on the field was quite good," said U.S. coach Bob Bradley.

Said Dempsey, "We kept possession well, we created chances and we put them under a lot of pressure. When we do keep the ball, we create chances. We've just got to be confident and calm on the ball. When we do that, good things can happen."

...if Bob Bradley understands that the ability to maintain possession of the ball is a defensive skill and that, therefore, three of his ostensibly offensive subs--Stuart Holden, Maurice Edu and Jose Francisco Torres--might actually be preferable to the supposedly more defense-oriented guys ahead of them--Ricardo Clark and Carlos Bocanegra--and should be playing more even if he's determined to be negative. It is unforgivable that he decided not to just put a prostrate England away on Saturday and settled for a draw instead. This back page from the Post shows exactly what's wrong with such a mindset:

The tie was a defeat against a team we had beat.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 14, 2010 4:18 PM