As Good As Bueno.

Every country has the next big thing. While Uruguay enjoys the fruits or lack of, of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, one thing is consistent. Uruguay has the next big thing.  His name is Gonzalo Bueno. 

Born in Maldonado, Uruguay Bueno is the son of former Nacional of Uruguay player "el Zorro" Gustavo Bueno.  He began is youth career in Nacional eventually being coached by his father at the youth level. Bueno is the latest of a long line of top footballers to come out of Nacional. In recent memory Nacional has produced players like Luis Suarez, Diego Lugano, Alvaro Gonzalez, Gonzalo Castro, Mauricio Pereyra, Nicolás Lodeiro, and Sebastián Coates to name a few of Uruguay’s current National Team pool. Not to mention the stepping stone Nacional provided for players not from the clubs youth ranks like Diego Godin and former Sounder’s midfielder Alvaro Fernandez.

Nacional has a long history of forming great footballers and Bueno is no exception. At 5ft 9 and his lanky frame Bueno looks hardly like a world beater. Although when he puts his cleats on and dribbles through defenses in Uruguay and internationally in Copa Libertadores games he looks like yet another promising product.  

The difference of Bueno and the rest is the same one many had when they saw Suarez. They see a kid who wants to get better a kid who wants to do well, a kid who wants to be a star. Much like Suarez, Bueno is a fighter he will fight for a ball to death, unlike Suarez, and thank the lord, Bueno is not a complainer. He falls dust himself off and continues. At 20 and after over 40 games for Nacional he has started to become a consistent threat and scorer for Nacional.

This season one of Bueno’s best performances came in Buenos Aires against Boca Juniors for a Libertadores match. He did not score and although Nacional won the game 1-0, Nacional hardly attacked. But every time Bueno got the ball he looked extremely dangerous, it was his first true MAN’s game. For once he looked like a man in a man’s game and not a kid learning the ropes.

Since 2010 Nacional fans and Uruguay fans have watched a boy become a man.  In July Bueno who is already sold will move to Europe and hopefully a man will become a star. Bueno has the talent, he has the skill, and has the drive. Now he needs the luck.

If he’s lucky he might be Uruguay’s next best thing. And that is always Bueno.

http://youtu.be/lQKaE5Y8mEs 

No Contest! The United States opens WCQ with a woeful loss to Honduras.

It was virtually one way traffic in San Pedro Sula on Wednesday.  The United States showed little in way of attack but showed a lot in lack of preparation at the back. The US is now in a virtually must win situation against Costa Rica on March 22^nd.

The breakdown is pretty simple the US just let Honduras come at them all game long. The US continued its long line of non-attack under Jurgen Klinsmann, with Jozy Altidore all alone at top and a strange choice to put Eddie Johnson on the wing.

The game could not have been worse for the US who got lucky with an opening goal from Clint Dempsey after a lovely pass from Jones. After that it was all downhill as Honduras scored a goal of the year candidate to tie the game and deservingly beat the Americans in the end 2-1, but it could have been 4-1 if not for Tim Howard.

So where does this leave the US now? In a must win situation, was a loss feasible? Considering this Honduras side and the consistent poor play the Americans have had under Jurgen Klinsmann, it was a high possibility. The most damning thing was the poor play. Jurgen Klinsmann is hardly a defensive master, his German and Bayern Munich sides prove that, this time Jurgen Klinsmann once again makes a strange decision to put Omar Gonzalez and Geoff Cameron together and they struggled all day long with Honduras quick speed.  The US once known for their speed as become a slower team under Klinsmann and virtually a sloppy team under Klinsmann.

Have the alarm bells rang? Well last round of WCQ was an indicator of what was going to come, and while Honduras is hardly a world beater, the US is known for its tame attitude when playing in “hostile” environments. Is Klinsmann’s message getting across? Looks like it’s not.

March 22nd will be D-Day for the UMSNT, a negative result against Costa Rica and the US may be in a hole they might not be able to get up from.

Notes:

The German clan: Timothy Chandler, Fabian Johnson, and Daniel Williams are starters for the UMNT? Really.

The Lack of a number 10: With Donovan getting older and no real dribbling (Tab Ramos like) player in the near future the US has a huge concern for who can create on this team.

Defense: Klinsmann has never been a good defensive coach; problem is when you have world class defenders (Germany and Bayern Munich) it might not show as much. On the US the lack of defense is abundant in every game.

Around the World:

Chile- Egypt: Former US national team coach Bob Bradley’s Egypt had a pretty even game against Chile who are getting better with their new head coach.

Spain – Uruguay: What a difference a passing game and patience can do.  3-1 may be a bit harsh but Spain was patient and never buckled. Uruguay while trying to press was out classed by Spain’s cool.

Argentina- Sweden: Argentina keeps getting better and better.

@Kelvin-Loyola (Twitter)