Will the same "core" get a runout on Tuesday?
First, some perspective.
The United States played a decidedly weak Honduran side on Saturday. Yes, Clint Dempsey was great, even Brek Shea and Jozy Altidore.
A big step-up is still needed from those three and the US as a whole when they face off Tuesday with CONMEBOL’s Ecuador, despite a terrible run of form by La Tri over the past few years.
Ecuador may be short population, only 15 million inhabit the equator hot spot, but it’s not short on turtles, attacking football players rather and the US should play a game of field position against their foes at Red Bull Arena.
Let’s just get going with the TSG preview:
TSG What Are We Looking At
• The Ecuadorian Charlie Davies
This is not a face that US fans will want to see on the Little Mutt on Tuesday.
Christian “Chucho” (“Little Mutt”) Benitez became a TSG favorite when he was mixing it up at Birmingham a few years ago. The diminutive striker may not be the most lethal when lashing a shot, but he has pace, he’s shifty and, given the range of US centerbacks being closer to “plodding” on the agility scale than “zippy,” he’ll be handful.
He’s second on the top scorer chart down in Mexico with seven goals for Club America this campaign.
Thankfully he’s likely start out on the right where Carlos Bocanegra at least knows how to contain speedy strikers.
That said, what does Klinsmann do in this one? Does he go back to Orozco-Fiscalstein who may or may not have a knock but has some trackability. His other options are either Tim Ream (not likely to push Bocanegra to the right and less a candidate to go there himself) or Oguchi Onyewu.
Klinsmann will have to have some thick skin if he runs out Orozco-Fiscal here and the Mexican league back has difficulties again.
And, by the way, no slouch at the other striker position for La Tri. More on that in a minute.
———-
AV: At or near world class...
• Can’t Flunk The Flank
Mel Brooks handling the intro for us there expertly.
An absolutely fascinating match-up to watch here is on the aforementioned left side.
The States will face Benitez pinballing around and dragging the US backline towards Tim Howard and then they’ll face the hottest player from Ecuador in Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia.
Lining up on that flank for the States, the dawning of a new US generation, Brek Shea and Timmy Chandler.
Will Shea and Chandler continue to step up their game or will Valencia and Benitez clean their clocks?
• Who Loses in Central Midfield Musical Chairs?
Another interesting conundrum for Klinsmann here. Does he let Beckerman continue in the holding role or does he perhaps trot out newcomer Danny Williams who plays there for club and whom Klinsmann described as having “nastiness” in the tackle Saturday?
Will Michael Bradley get a run out somewhere, anywhere after taking care of the ball against Honduras?
Might we see DaMarcus Beasley in-cutting from the left and allowing Steve Cherundolo to get forward? That hasn’t of course been Klinsmann’s modus operandi to date.
———-
11 At The Whistle
A possible depoyment...
G: Tim Howard
The skinny: Any hopes of Nick Rimando or Bill Hamid getting playing time were likely doused with an uneven backline performance against La H and the need for Howard to come up with some key saves.
DEF: Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Tim Chandler
The skinny: Standard backline. Onyewu steps in if Orozco-Fiscal has a knock. Kind of hard for a coach watching a player have a difficult game to: a) pull him b) lament that an injury forced the sacrifice and then c) trot him out against higher quality opponent a few days later.
That would be interesting.
CDM: Kyle Beckerman
The skinny: Klinsmann likes him there and he seems destined to get another runout here on a better surface.
CM/CAM: Daniel Williams
The skinny: Not really enough observations, but you might want to throw the kid out here, you know, see what he’s made of after a good opener.
And that brings up an interesting story. USMNT fan favorite Jay DeMerit. How’d he get his start? How about going from playing in the English 7th division to 14 days later playing in a friendly against Real Zaragoza. It happened for Jay getting his start at Watford.
RM: DaMarcus Beasley
The skinny: A hard call to put the off-footed Beasley on the right. And it probably doesn’t go down like this. However, I look at the roster and the competition and I think two things:
a) Who else knows how to play the wing
and
b) What if Shea’s having an awful time on the left versus Valencia. Klinsmann won’t want to sub him out, will he?
FW: Clint Dempsey
The skinny: When formation talk attacks. Dempsey might have been listed as a striker on the team sheet Saturday, but he played much more of a false nine role, receiving a lot of balls at the top of the midfield and dragging defenders off the backline with him.
STR: Jozy Altidore
The skinny: Altidore, consistency, we’ve been here before. He’s playing with confidence at least.
——
Ecuador comes to New Jersey ranked 69th by FIFA in their latest rankings behind such powerhouses as Gabon and Sierra Leone. This is near their lowest ranking ever as a nation (76th) and team is stumbling over the past year, failing to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and heading out in Round 1 of the most recent Copa America. The team is stumbling–however note that they disposed of Costa Rica 2-0 in a friendly in August.
The Ecuadorians play in CONMEBOL and face a difficult and talented opponent nearly every time out.
Perhaps their biggest claim to fame of the national program is that they play their home games in the city of Quito which is almost 10,000 feet above sea level. Many a CONMEBOL club has waltzed up into the highland thinking that Ecuador is an easy beat (or frankly not caring about a loss altogether) and come out with a shellacking by La-Tri.
As for on the pitch, the Ecuadorians typically deploy in a 4-4-2, thrusting attacks up the flanks through the feet of the aforementioned Valencia and Santos Laguna’s Christian Saurez. Valencia is obviously one of the best players in the EPL while Saurez is no slouch.
Oh and Saurez has one or two calls go his way on Tuesday, let them be. He had a rough go of it earlier this year on a “foul” if you remember.
Up top, the States will face a more in-form striker pair than they did against Honduras. The aforementioned Chucho Benitez and another Mexican league star in Jaime Javier Ayoví who got four in the replacement role for Herculez Gomez at Pachuca.
Dropping back to the core of the midfield and the backline, CM Luis Saritama is a career player in the Ecuadorian league, has captained the team on various occasions, and will be more complementary than primary on the pitch. The very talented Christian Noboa plays the primary and hub role in the center midfield–note, he’d be perfect for the US set-up with Torres and Holden out. Noboa plays his club ball at Russian powerhouse Rubin Kazan and–if you watch the Champions League–always seems to step-up against better competition.
Not much is known about the defenders (by TSG). The 32-year-old captain, Walter Ayovi, came up as a left midfielder before moving back. Standing just 5’7”, you might see the US try to swing in some crosses from the left flank.
The centerback pairing is Jairo Campos and Frickson Erazo. The polish on that pairing belongs to Campos who’s just moved to the Brazilian league and who locals have tabbed as a future captain. Right back goes to Juan Paredes. I can safely say that’s the first time (and probably last time) I’ll write that name on TSG.
The keeper, Máximo Banguera
Much like with Belgium, the sum of the parts is not nearly as great as the talent is. Much like the game against Belgium, the US will need to be cleaner on the ball and be consistent with their backline to take this one in New Jersey.
Just judging by the Ecuadorian line-up you get the sense the US should keep the pressure up the field and not allow the more talented attackers of Ecuador to work their magic.
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Posted by Antonio H. on 2011/10/10 at 12:15 PM
Hasnt Felipe Caicedi been the mainstay for Ecuador alongside Benitez of late? I ask because Orozco and Boca wont be able to handle his size. Reminds me alot of Ade’.
Posted by Andy Karas on 2011/10/10 at 1:05 PM
I wouldn’t say for sure Boca (who is 6ft) can’t handle a guy who’s 6’1″
Those numbers are courtesy of wiki, though.
Posted by Jared on 2011/10/10 at 1:13 PM
I thought both Boca and Orozco-Fiscal struggled in aerial challenges against Honduras. In the first half it seemed that Honduras won virtually every aerial challenge. Caicedo is a big dude not just in terms of height but in bulk or at least he was when I last saw him play for City. If you take a look at the pic of him on wikipedia, he’s definitely still a beast. His scoring rate since 2010 is 1 goal in every 2 games for his club, very good rate. Levante only scored 41 goals total and he had 13 of them last year.
Posted by justin on 2011/10/10 at 2:55 PM
There was defiantly a change in aerial superiority once gooch came in. I know he’s not a speedster but it will be nice to see him start and to have to really stretch his legs, and see how much his quickness is back after all his injuries.
Posted by Sway on 2011/10/11 at 8:49 AM
Caicedo was not call up for this match
Posted by Antonio H. on 2011/10/10 at 1:52 PM
He’scloser to 6’3″ going on 6’4″.
Posted by Jared on 2011/10/10 at 1:03 PM
Beckerman needs to go away now. Here are his Opta stats against Honduras per Pete Brownell of Opta given to the Total Soccer show: 2/6 on tackles, 3 fouls, got tackled 4 times. Not so good. He gave away fouls half the time he attempted a tackle.
Orozco-Fiscal’s stats per Opta: 14/17 passes, 0 tackles, tackled 3 times, 1 foul, 1 interception, 3 headers, 0 headed clearances and 2 foot clearances. How do you not make 1 tackle in 45 minutes as a central defender? We weren’t exactly dominant the whole game.
Those 2 can go away and not come back. If they continue to play then those two are starting to be come the Bornsteins of this regime. I can’t take anymore of Orozco-Fiscal especially, he’s just not good enough.
I would like to see MB90 in the deeper midfield role with Williams ahead of him. MB90 isn’t going to make the killer passes higher up the field as he’s shown repeatedly with his square balls but we need to see if he can make the passes that can move the ball to the guys that can in the way Beckerman seems to do well.
Posted by BernieBernier on 2011/10/10 at 1:13 PM
Really good karma and potentially more intelligent posts would be the reward for anyone that can point me to how I can see the Opta stats that are frequently discussed.
Posted by matthewsf on 2011/10/10 at 1:27 PM
MLSSoccer.com covers most US games and all MLS games. Go to the chalkboards.
Posted by matthewsf on 2011/10/10 at 1:28 PM
I caution that I think there is a high degree of variability by analyst in their data and I don’t think all the “metrics” are the best ones for evaluation.
But it’s a start.
Posted by BernieBernier on 2011/10/10 at 2:01 PM
Thank you very much. Now I have something to look forward to after work today.
Posted by Mr. Tuesday on 2011/10/11 at 1:09 PM
Yes, but Bocanegra also had no tackles. Orozco’s “tackled 3 times” = his 3 incomplete passes, This doesn’t mean he was caught in possession. Boca had 5 in the first 45, 2 clearances and one blocked cross, according to Opta.
It’s interesting where each of these occured. Orozco’s clearances were in deep areas behind Boca, where speed matters. Boca’s clearances were in central area much further up the pitch.
Speed equals more freedom to defend further up the pitch. Honduras had far penetrative passing in the 2nd 45 when we had to defend deeper even if there were further long balls into the inside right channel.
And I’d seriously caution against the interpretation that more of any of these numbers equals better defending.
Posted by Mr. Tuesday on 2011/10/11 at 1:10 PM
fewer, not further.
Posted by Antonio H. on 2011/10/10 at 1:59 PM
Everyone uses the term “Bornstein” way too lightly. Realize Bornstein has been around for the better part of 5 years. Was never impressive and mor ga’bage than not. Yet he still was called up. Becks and Orozco have under 10 caps and are new additions to the “core”. Klinnsman isnt blind. If theyre as bad and iseless as everyone says, then theyd be gone lik Rogers and Castillo.
Posted by Jared on 2011/10/10 at 2:13 PM
True, but these guys also play at positions with much more depth than left back. Orozco-Fiscal shouldn’t have been called into this camp let alone get another start. At least though he is fairly young as opposed to Beckerman who is 29 and at a position where we don’t need to be developing a 29 year old because we are about 37 deep there.
Posted by John on 2011/10/10 at 3:10 PM
If I think back to the Ghana v USA World Cup 2010 game, it isn’t Bornstein that gives up the two goals in that game. Let’s be careful using the expression “more garbage than not” when we describe someone who was often far better (not that he was great mind you) than most people gave him credit.
Bornstein (a good enough club player) was asked to do a job against world class opposition because people like Lichaj and Chandler weren’t available for almost the entirety of his tenure at LB. Even now Lichaj and Chandler are Right-footed Right Fullbacks because that is how thin our defense is…
With the amount of vitriol that his name generates you would have thought that Bornstein single handedly eliminated the USA from the World Cup, kicked a baby and played for the Soviet Union. In reality he was a decent defender who lacked the forward oomph people wanted, in a position that in which (for the USA) we have almost zero depth. We are talking about the golden age of Heath Pearce, Bobby Convey, Bornstein, Edgar Castillo, and Bocanegra here.
All of whom have had a run out at one point or another and none of whom were really that much better than each other.
I mean FFS Bornstein has had LESS caps for the USA than Convey has in his career. Even Heath Pearce has only 6 caps less than Bornstein does.
Posted by Jared on 2011/10/10 at 3:34 PM
Actually, I didn’t think he provided enough defensively. I would’ve taken Boca out there over Bornstein every match. Just watch the Gold Cup Final to see how poor Bornstein is defensively. He’s beaten repeatedly.
Convey should still be getting capped over Bornstein and should’ve been under Bob in the last couple of years.
Posted by dth on 2011/10/10 at 3:58 PM
No, Convey is worse than Bornstein. Don’t let his self-promotion fool you.
I wonder, what excuse is Bobby Convey telling himself every time Klinsmann comes out with a roster that–oops!–omits Bobby Convey?
Posted by Martin on 2011/10/10 at 5:54 PM
Jared,
I’m not sure why you rate Convey so highly. He’s mediocre.
I saw him play left back for the US and he was lame. Maybe not Ramiro Corrales, who was worse than Jonny B but lame nonetheless. He looked like a left midfielder forced to play left back.
If you are Bradley, why would you want to bring in an openly hostile player when the evidence is that he is maybe a millimeter better than what you’ve got, at best?
Convey is a guy who had a good season and a half at Reading got hurt and has come back enough to do well at San Jose. But he is not proven to be better than, for example Heath Pearce.
And frankly, If I’m BB and you aren’t that good to begin with and you run your mouth in the press, well if you don’t want to play for me , who you hate, at a position you clearly don’t like then you probably won’t do that well so don’t.
Now if Convey was the American Ashley Cole or Patrice Evra or Phillip Lamm sure then I’d expect BB to bend over and assume the position to get Mr.C to come in.
But for Convey? Let him be someone’s spouse in the prison.
Posted by dth on 2011/10/10 at 7:01 PM
Surprised you and I agree.
If there’s one thing I find really distasteful, though, it’s prison rape jokes. I don’t want to be a scold, but prison rape is a big problem! No one considers jokes about rape of people who aren’t in prison to be particularly tasteful, so I don’t think think it should be tasteful to make jokes about rape of people in prison.
Now, there are many untasteful funny jokes, but the vast majority of prison jokes are just untasteful and not particularly funny either.
Posted by matthewsf on 2011/10/10 at 7:06 PM
No need to scold DTH and the way the metaphor was used it was tongue-in-cheek.
That it’s offends you–which if fair and let that be noted here–there are other ways to do it then to lecture.
Don’t mean to scold you either, but I’m willing to bet if Martin knew it offended you he wouldn’t have wrote it.
Posted by dth on 2011/10/10 at 7:59 PM
I mean, I don’t want this to seem as if I’m freaking out or anything of the sort. I’m not, and I’m sorry if my post came off that way.
Just saying I think people (meant generally) don’t have an awareness of the issue.
Posted by Martin on 2011/10/10 at 8:46 PM
dth,
You’re right, I’ll use better judgement next time.
One more thing about Convey. The shame about him is he has the talent and he
could be an international left back but he seems to let his immaturity get in the way. I doubt all those USMNT players loved BB but there is something called a pro attitude and Convey doesn’t seem to have it.
Face, it unless you are a C Ronaldo or a Messi it is more important the manager like you than vice versa. The fact that Convey doesn’t seem to get that makes one question his basic judgement. It’s a waste.
Posted by dth on 2011/10/10 at 9:28 PM
I don’t know, I’m not sure mentality is Convey’s biggest flaw. For me I doubt his lateral quickness and his technical ability leaves something to be desired.
For me US Soccer’s list of biggest disappointments (but for a fatal flaw/bad fortune): Robbie Rogers, Justin Mapp, Eddie Gaven, Clint Mathis….I’m sure I can think of more with time.
Posted by Gregorio on 2011/10/11 at 6:07 AM
I just want to add that you guys eptomize why this site is so good (Ok Great but I’m prone to hyperbole when I like something) You guys had a difference in opinion and something said in jest that can cause friction was quickly defused with maturity & eland. Thank you gentlemen for Role Modeling to all of us how mature men act
*Disclaimer= Despite my PC & accepting attitude, I love a good baudy politically incorrect joke from time to time so if in the near future I offend, oh well I don’t mean to be a Tricky Dick Nixon.
Posted by Martin on 2011/10/11 at 7:55 AM
dth,
You’re probably right. That knee injury finished Convey at Reading , where it seemed to me he was poised to do bigger and better things. and it may have robbed him of the things you spoke of.
But his less than warm and fuzzy attitude doesn’t help
Which is why I’m very cautious about guys like Holden coming back, in my view, way too soon.
People forget how long Edu was out and we’ve seen what Gooch went through and is still going through. And of course there was the ultimate delusional ride with Charlie Davies..
I always thought that had Mo Edu not blown out his knee he might have seriouly challenged MB and it might have been ME90 instead of MB90.
Obviously, everyone is different but from what I’ve seen people rarely come back to full form in less than a year and a half to two years and maybe never.
Posted by Jeff on 2011/10/11 at 1:39 AM
Well said, I’d like to second everything here.
Orozco Fiscal needs to be gone altogether. Beckerman needs to go back to being a solid but unspectacular B-teamer.
MB90 is just starting to get back into the swing of things, I hope he gets the start as the defensive midfielder.
Posted by Mr. Tuesday on 2011/10/11 at 12:11 PM
Yeah, except those number compare favorably to Boca and Gooch.
Posted by Dinho on 2011/10/10 at 1:15 PM
I don’t mind your potential lineup. I agree, there is no true right winger on this roster. I’ll take Beasley.
I’d like to see what Williams has to offer in the middle (maybe he’s an uber Jermaine Jones?)
I agree with the majority – Orozco-Fiscal is simply not good enough. I knew we were in trouble from the early stages, when Costly rounded him and Orozco was whistled for the blatant shirt tug. He is simply not good enough. I wish I had a better option (maybe Geoff Cameron), but for now, let’s give Gooch the start and see how it pans out?
Posted by Alex on 2011/10/10 at 1:32 PM
I like the line-up, would consider swapping Beckerman with Bradley, and flip flopping Beasley and Shea. I think Beasley’s defensive cover abilities would be better served on our left flank to help Chandler out with Valencia. And, Shea can be effective on the right. And it would be HIGHlarious to see the 6’3″ Shea match up against a 5’7″ LB, but I digress.
Posted by chazcar2 on 2011/10/10 at 1:44 PM
I have a similar thought with flipping Shea and Beasley, but keep Shea left could be good for his development. Although he was definately gassed after 55 minutes last game and could use a rest. Now that Klinnsman has his win, I could see a little bit of rest for some players and some different thoughts.
4-1-3-2
—–Agudelo-Buddle—–
Beasley-Williams-Spector
———Bradley————–
Chandler-Ream-Gooch-Dolo
While not really our best team. This is a team of in form players and club team starters (except for Agudelo).
Posted by chazcar2 on 2011/10/10 at 1:51 PM
on a personal note, bottom to top of the screen for a formation just makes sense to me.
forwards
mids
defense
Keeper
It makes it as if I was standing in the formation looking forward. Top down, all the left players are on the “right side” of the screen.
Posted by justin on 2011/10/10 at 2:43 PM
At the first sign of team chemistry, I don’t know if the first thing we want to do is change it all up for this game.
I can see Jurgie changing things up at half time alittle sooner especially if we’re ahead. But his MO is to keep things pretty uniforom from game to game and not make any gross changes.
Posted by justin on 2011/10/10 at 2:50 PM
I think shea and chandler need to stay on the same side. They got some good stuff going on there and I’d like to see that chemstry grow, especially since there is not alot of positive things coming out of the center mids. However I like how both Beasley and Shea are both really good at helping out on defense on the left flank.
Posted by Alex on 2011/10/10 at 4:57 PM
I did consider the continuity of the Chandler/Shea partnership (which looks really promising). I was just thinking for a match against such a world class winger we’d need that defensive help. Plus, the final 30 minutes of this match saw Beasley on at LW and Shea RW. But you make valid points. Plus, Beasley spent a fair amount of time at RW during his golden years at PSV with fair amounts of success, so there’s that arguement too.
Posted by justin on 2011/10/10 at 8:09 PM
Yeah…I think the great thing about both Shea and Beasley is they are both good a providing cover to whoever is playing LB. So I agree with you that if DMB is on the left it’s nice we don’t have to sacrifice that defensive support and possibly even have an added addition of such compared to Shea.
It would be fun to see the two of them go one on one against each other and see who has an edge defensively and offensively.
Posted by justin on 2011/10/10 at 2:41 PM
3 things I’m looking forward to in the ecudador game:
1) I want to see if CHANDLER can contain Valencia like he was able to do against eden hazard during the belgium game. If he does I think we can start to consider him the darrelle revis of the USMNT.
2) The DEMPSEY/ALTIDORE duo in the attacking third. They both played well. But i don’t know if i’d say they played well together. They both have some swagger, but it’s not on the same wavelength.
3) To see if our CENTER MIDFIELD can actually control the midfield. I never felt during honduras game that we controlled the middle of the field and really contained the possession in the middle of the field with alot of incisive passes. Once we got it to dempsey in the attacking third things went well, but i want to see good things just behind him. I think putting WILLIAMS in the center will help with that.
(PS if things keep going in this direction, in 6 months we could have a complete afrogermerican centermidfield controlled by Johnson and WIlliams, who both might syncing up together at Hoffenheim)- that sounds good
Posted by Antonio H. on 2011/10/10 at 8:41 PM
Afrogermerican? Brinf back the TSG Hall of Fame induction ceremony preez.
Posted by justin on 2011/10/10 at 9:14 PM
I cant take credit for that. I got it from The Best Soccer show guys and I’m pretty sure they got it from someone else. Sorry I should have wrote my works cited post after my post
But it should become an official saying.
Posted by cpjuengel on 2011/10/11 at 6:37 AM
dont forget jermaine Jones and Timmy CHandler
Posted by Excellency on 2011/10/10 at 3:35 PM
I think JK stays mainly with the scheme he used against Honduras and evaluates if it is improving or not.
Posted by Charlie G on 2011/10/10 at 4:06 PM
Sorry, all this talk about CB’s and size makes me wish that Vernon Davis had taken up soccer – we can only dream: 6′-3″, 250 lbs, 4.38 40 yard dash, bench press 465#, high jump 6′-5″ (Wiki).
Posted by Jared on 2011/10/10 at 4:45 PM
I just think about the guys that actually played and liked soccer like Kobe and Ochocinco. Just think what a great target forward Kobe could’ve been.
Posted by Antonio H. on 2011/10/10 at 8:43 PM
Kobe’s post up game is ridiculous.
Posted by http://totalsoccershow.com on 2011/10/10 at 5:57 PM
I’m on board with the idea of seeing what Danny Williams has to offer centrally, if only because I like Dinho’s idea that he might be the uber-Jermaine Jones. I’m also OK with Beckerman getting another chance. I remember him being decent against Mexico and OK against Belgium, so one stinker vs. Honduras shouldn’t mean closing the door on him.
Posted by totalsoccershow - daryl on 2011/10/10 at 5:58 PM
I’m on board with the idea of seeing what Danny Williams has to offer centrally, if only because I like Dinho’s idea that he might be the uber-Jermaine Jones. I’m also OK with Beckerman getting another chance. I remember him being decent against Mexico and OK against Belgium, so one stinker vs. Honduras shouldn’t mean closing the door on him.
Posted by Paul on 2011/10/10 at 6:30 PM
On Wednesday, remember to cheer on Armenia and Yura Movsisyan against Ireland. (Hey, as a System of a Down fan and cheerleader of US players, I can gladly cheer against the Irish. At least Yura had good reason to turn down the Yanks, and has had a pretty good campaign for Armenia.)
Posted by Gregorio on 2011/10/10 at 8:23 PM
How about we cheer for Yura, he gets 2 goals but Ireland still wins.
Erin Go Bragh
Posted by Russell on 2011/10/10 at 8:58 PM
Dempsey’s goal was class. He also had several captivating moments. But am I the only one, who wishes he looked around a little more? In the first minute and 3 other times he could have laid the ball off perfectly to Williams on the right, but instead he chose a wild long range shot or a forced dribble. Even when Dempsey is real good he’s frustrating.
Our Center Midfield really isn’t that deep. Only Holden who was still emerging and Bradley sometimes are real quality. For that reason we should give Williams reps in CM to see what he has.
Orozco’s trial has to be over for now. However, I do see why Klinsmann ran him out there. For all his faults, he does have the knack for getting in the way and being at the right place at the right time.. alas that is not enough.
Posted by justin on 2011/10/10 at 9:16 PM
Let’s not forget fabian johnson was also going 90 min in Hoffenheim’s midfield before Williams even started coming on.
In about 6-8 months, things could become a little more crowded if everyone is healthy.
Posted by justin on 2011/10/10 at 9:24 PM
Here are people who could legitimately play in qualification next summer, who are playing in major leagues, who play centrally on a regular basis.
Torres, Holden, J. Jones, D. Williams, F. Johnson, Mo Edu, M. Bradley, K. Beckerman.
Opinions of who is now in best form aside, all of these guys have the potential to play together in the midfield. I would say that is alittle bit of depth. And all of these guys play CM/CDM as their main position for their club teams.
Posted by John on 2011/10/11 at 8:10 AM
Worth noting…
Holden
“who are playing in major leagues, who play centrally on a regular basis.”
Does not fit either of those categories right now, and it remains to be seen if he is the same player after he comes back from essentially not playing for over a year and two surgeries.
I love Holden, but the injuries, layoff and issues that he has had could be career redifining.
Posted by Alex on 2011/10/10 at 10:24 PM
I’m pretty sure F. Johnson is more of an A Mid than D Mid. He usually plays as a RAM, LAM, or CAM. Plus there’s still that little hope that he’ll be our savior at LB but that’s looking less and less likely.
Posted by Kay20 on 2011/10/10 at 11:03 PM
Bless you for noticing that about Dempsey. He had a solid game, but yet again, he created for *himself* and less for others. Last I checked, a #10s job is to do exactly that. His first half was actually relatively quiet until he scored, but then he went on about a 20-30 minute brilliant tear. His last 10 minutes drove me nuts: backed heeled ill advised passes, and ill advised juking. Clint. There are 9 guys standing around waiting for you to deliver a simple ball, not an art project.
With that said, unless Shea buries that sitter, Clint was the best field player last night. Hands down.
He is a withdrawn forward, not a #10. He’s stellar at being a withdrawn forward. But he does not provide the major assist outlet that LD, JFT and Freddy Adu do. His stats for both Fulham and the national team show that.
Posted by Soccernst on 2011/10/10 at 9:46 PM
again, edu at centerback should be tried under the new system. Better distribution and pace. I think a pairing with Gooch could work. I’d love to see it even if for a short time in a Bob-esque sub and move back from midfield.