Callups: Goalies (3): Howard, Guzan, Hamid Defenders (9): Johnson, Boca, Goodson, Cherundolo, Castillo, Spector, Gooch, Ream, Whitbread Mids (11): Bradley, Edu, Torres, Williams, Jones, Beckerman, Mix, Donovan, Chandler, Adu, Shea Forwards (7): Dempsey, Altidore, Gomez, Buddle, Boyd, Wondo, Wooten Themes: 1) Main idea is to use the Scotland, Brazil, Canada friendlies to get the team ready for the qualifiers. Spread out the playing time some to get an idea of who is in form. 2) Use Scotland and Canada matches to test the second team. Brazil is the marquee match and that one is for the first team. 3) Invite a couple of the U23 Euro based players purely for a getting their feet wet experience. Mix and Wooten in particular. 4) Bring in Whitbread to see what he's got. If Gooch has resumed playing with his club bring him in too. If not bring in another centerback such as Parkhurst or Cameron. 5) Have a look at Chandler both at right back and right mid. 6) Look at Danny Williams at his natural center mid position. 7) Look at Jones both at the 6 and the 8. Playing time Against Scotland: Goalie: Howard Left back: Johnson (half) Castillo (half) Right back: Spector Centerback: Ream Onyewu Defensive mid: Beckerman (half) Williams (half) Center mid: Jones (half) Torres (half) Right mid: Chandler Left mid: Donovan (half) Adu (half) Forward: Boyd Second Forward: Dempsey (half) Gomez (half) Playing Time Against Brazil: We should not treat this one as a friendly. Play hard. Start the first team. Make subs as the game situation requires. I only post the starting lineup for this one: Goalie: Howard Defense: Johnson, Boca, Goodson, Cherundolo Mids: Edu, Bradley, Chandler, Donovan Forward: Altidore Second Forward/Attacking mid: Dempsey Playing Time Against Canada: Goalie: Guzan (half), Hamid (half) Left back: Castillo Right back: Chandler Centerbacks: Whitbread Onyewu Defensive mid: Jones Center mid: Torres Right mid: Donovan (half) Adu (half) Left mid: Dempsey (half) Shea (half) Forward: Buddle (half) Boyd (half) Second forward: Gomez (half) Wondo (half) Although the starters against Brazil are the presumptive starters in the qualifiers, JK should finetune the lineup for the qualifiers based upon what he sees in the three friendlies.
to be honest, i really don't see klinsmann going with two strikers if he can help it.. he seems to have a preference to 1 striker formations
Just curious, but if you watched our recent matches, how many forwards would you say he was using against Italy. How many against Slovenia? How many against France? How many against Panama?
he used two against slovenia, and 1 against italy. To be honest i think he used 1 against france, but we got so bunkered down it might as well have been 10 defenders out there
oh and i guess im going to assume u meant venezuela rather than panama, and we used two.. once again never said he wouldn't use 2 strikers, but based on history and about 70% of his friendly matches thus far it probably is an indication that he will go with a 4-3-3 unless he thinks two strikers would be better suited against a particular opponent.
Ok fair enough. If you think the position Clint Dempsey played against France and Italy should be given a different name than second forward (maybe attacking mid), that's fine with me. In the lineups I proposed we can rename that position attacking mid when it is occupied by Clint.
MLS plays the same day as the Scotland match before the league starts a semi-dark couple weeks. As such, don't expect Donovan for Scotland as LA has a game that day and this is a non-FIFA date.
Given his play v Mexico in the U23 friendlies and the fact that he was the likely #6 starter for the U23 Q team I would add A Morales to your callup list. Speed on the wings is critical for the 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 so I suspect we will see Beasley instead of one of {Wondo, Gomez} I think either Cameron or Parkhurst is just as likely as Whitbread.
Given Landon's recent attendance record for nats game, I think he and Klinsmann will both be eager to have him available for these matches.
I think the case for Beasley's inclusion partly turns on the amount of PT JK plans on giving Chandler in an attacking role. I watched Chandler's last match with Nuremberg. He is a pretty good attacking player. If JK plans to look at Chandler playing a wide attacking role, there is less need for Beaz. I think it is a close call whether he gets called up or not.
Sounds reasonable. I agree that Chandler is a good atacking player. I know I am swimming against the tide on this but I would keep Chandler at LB until there is a need to replace Dolo at RB for 2 reasons: 1) Chandler is a much better defender than Johnson and has a much higher work rate. Chandler, like Shea, is a horse and will run all day and most of the night. Johnson tends to tire late in matches. 2)Johnson is much smoother and slick on offense. His movement, creativity, and ability to get into and exploit space is desperately needed on the MNT. Chandler is more of a power winger.
I think cranky Bruce gets a say in the matter. As I said, MLS is basically shutting down after this game for a couple weeks. That is your compromise. He will be there for Brazil.
Until he gets sick, or feels like he may have pulled a muscle... Matter of fact is Landon should not play in that MLS game with qualifiers right around the corner. LAG will be fine with out him and it would be better if he was rested with less chance of injury. Just a thought.
Seeing Klinsmann's callup patterns, this is what I would expect the final group for Antigua and Guatemala to be: Howard, Guzan Bocanegra, Goodson, Onyewu, Ream Cherundolo, Chandler, Castillo, Spector Beckerman, Edu, Williams, Torres, Bradley, Jones Donovan, Dempsey, F Johnson, Shea, Beasley Altidore, Buddle I wouldn't be surprised if Klinsmann calls 6-7 more players in May, and then drops them before WCQs.
I agree that he'll start with a bigger group and whittle it down. I think a couple younger players not on your list have a chance to play in the qualifiers if they show well in the friendlies. Boyd and Adu to be specific. I also think Gomez has a good chance to appear in the qualifiers.
Yeah I have no major problem with your list, as I posted a similar list in another thread after Monday. My big hesitation is picking new players to supplant somebody else Klinsmann prefers, as nearly every time I've predicted Klinsmann would do so I've been wrong. So, for example, whether Adu can reenter the squad or Boyd maintains his spot with the full squad available; I'm not projecting something like that until injuries force me to.
I know what you mean. He seems to have his ranking of players and it takes something really compelling to get him to change things up. Although he seems to shuffle the guys on the "second team" more. The "first team" seems pretty set. When everyone is healthy I think it is: Howard in goal; Johnson, Boca, Gooch, Cherundolo on defense; Bradley and Edu in central midfield; Altidore, Donovan, Dempsey and one other the attacking foursome. One area of uncertainty at this point is the fourth attacker. I suspect he will give Chandler the first chance to take the job. Or maybe he will send him back to left back and make Johnson the fourth attacker. The second area of uncertainty is central midfield. I think the performance against Italy probably makes Bradley and Edu the incumbents. But JK likes Beckerman and Torres a lot. And Jones has been in great club form. To me the central midfield situation will be the most interesting sub-plot over the course of these five matches.
i would like to see a couple of our failed u23 in these matches, to lift there morale. corona, mix, morales, boyd amd shea
Don't forget about Lichaj. He's probably going to start against Chelsea this weekend. Depending on how the rest of his season goes, he could definitely play his way back into the picture. Remember Lichaj, like Chandler, can also play left back in a pinch. In fact, he was actually the starting left back for this team just last summer.
Here is my starting lineup for qualification, and really the only player who won't be available for qualification is Stuart Holden: ---------Altidore---------- Donovan------Dempsey------Chandler -------Jones--------Bradley---------- Johnson---Bocanegra--onyewu----cherundolo -------------Howard------------------ MF: Williams Beasley Shea Edu Beckerman Torres Corona Kjlestan Adu FB: Lichaj Castillo Spector CB: Ream Goodson Parkhurst Cameron FW: Gomez Boyd Agudelo Buddle GK: Guzan Rimando
It's qualifying. LA Galaxy fans don't expect Landon to be around for the game on the 26th. One would think Bruce would understand that.
Parkhurst is not really good enough to be a regular starter as centre back for his club team, so I would hardly think he should be considered for this position for the NT... He has on the other hand been quite excellent all season as attacking right back for a team that quite clearly is looking better than FC København in the fight for the Danish Championship. If FCN and Parkhurst manage to win the Danish Championship, then Parkhurst is also going to play as right back in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2012... .
Unfortunately for Parkhurst, he's a lot more likely to make the US squad as a center back than as a right back. The good news is that Klinsmann likes him as a center back.