And the US just keeps on rolling. Jozy with a monster game. Class run and touch pass to set up EJ's goal. Class finish on his first strike. Golazo for his second. Just being a striker for his third goal. This Johannson kid doesn't look too bad either.
I'm going out on a limb and predicting that Bradley and Altidore will be in our starting-XI next summer in Brazil....
Thought Brooks was good and solid overall. I would have to say that Cameron was the weaker of the two. Geoff belongs in the D-mid role. Wasn't impressed with Jones' play at all today. As usual, errant passes, too many touches, trying to cut through a few guys instead of making the simple pass.
What a pleasant second half. Jozy probably caught some of LD's mojo and is making a comeback statement with his performance and goals. Lovely stuff! And it is me or does Johannson look a little like Kevin Bacon? I liked the energy and moves in the box. And dittos on kudos for Brooks, despite the last Bosnian goal.
Jozy turned it up a notch and all of his finishes were quality. He also set up Eddie's goal with a nice touch. Bradley came on well in the second half, was nice seeing him combine with Fabian Johnson who looked a lot better in midfield. Brad Evans played a surprisingly good first half. Rare bright spot. Jones was pretty terrible in the first half, and even Bradley had some bad giveaways although the booby prize definitely went to Eddie Johnson for getting his pocket picked on the edge of the box. Johannson looks good. A bit young, and his shots were pretty tame, but I like his runs and how he creates space, he seems confideent and aggresive, looks to combine.....I think he could be something special in a couple of years. Gonna add some great competition for the forward spots. Mixx bothered me. He didn't follow up runs and we lost a couple of good chances because he failed to show for the ball in the box. He's skilled, but his work rate killed a couple of chances.
Altidore had an outstanding game. Not just the goals - which were great - but his physicality and hold-up play. He has grown by leaps and bounds; astonishing, really. Eddie Johnson is NOT a LM. Not in any formation, not in any way. He, for me, is a sub only to be used at striker. Aside of his goal - which was because of a fantastic play by Jozy - he had a poor game. This has to be by design, don't y'all think, that Klinsi sends out a starting lineup, usually with 1 forward, and we just kind of feel 'em out, see how it is, and then make major adjustments at halftime? It seems to be how he has operated this summer, but that won't cut it in the WC. I'm assuming he's using these friendlies for learning, and he's learning a lot I think. Johannsson looks like a fantastic prospect for us. And Rokstedy, you are right. In fact, his nickname is Bacon. And I must say, Brad Evans is turning me into a believer. He seems to step up when asked to play. Good for him.
Have to say I wasn't that impressed with Brooks. He has a lot of potential, to be sure, but he made some major errors in this game that ended up in the back of the net. Pretty sure if Omar played the identical game as Brooks today the pichforks would be out in the USA forum. Still, he looks like he has bags of potential and if he gets regular Bundesliga appearances he should reach that potential quickly. Aaron J. on the other hand. WOW. What a great and smart looking player. Our attack with Jozy, Dempsey, Donovan and Aaron J all playing could be phenomenal. Especially with Bradley and Jones playing as well.
That was actually a close call, in my opinion. Not a great call, but nothing crazy. Worse, I thought, was the push in Mix's back that they let slide. The announcers were saying that the defender, after the initial foul outside the box was "playing the ball" but I dunno how that justifies a push in the back and a high elbow. Looked like a penalty to me.
Oh yeah, forgot about that play; that had to be a push on Mix and surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) there was no call. But whatever, the US won so it's good.
Brooks looked really very promising, and way too raw to be a starter right now. I will look forward to seeing him progress. Johansson is the kind of player I could watch all day long. Fantastic movement off the ball, unselfish, smart, loved his skills and creativity. Can't wait to see more. Jones looks like he's playing himself off the team. He's showing his age, I think. Great player, but not for the US so far. I would like to see another option float to the top of the pool - Cameron looked great, Kljestan had a terrific game in his ancestral home, maybe Mix or some other CM will work for us. I don't care for Jones' style somehow. A day of breakout and celebration for Jozy!!!!!!! Whee!!! I hope he scores buckets of goals in the EPL and in Brazil.
I remember a little back and forth where I defended Jozy a few months ago....never so glad to be right. He plays with so much more confidence and physicality than he EVER has. That's a huge part of it, but not putting him on an island is another. First half: Altidore . . . . . Diskerud . Everybody else Second half: Jozy has a partner be it EJ or Johannson I loved the turnaround in this game, but I think Stillkickin has a point. Jurgen goes back to starting with the 4-5-1, which pays us no dividends, and then we switch to the 4-4-2 and look like world beaters. He keeps trying that 4-5-1...and it just hasn't consistently worked for us. We look so much better moving the ball in a 4-4-2. Can we try that against decent competition just once to start the game???? But I have faith in JK to work that out now - whereas previously the zero shots on goal while playing a 4-5-1 would have made me rail. Jozy (10) - fantastic game. A complete game. I thought about a 9.5, but honestly, don't know what else the guy could have done. 1 assist, 3 goals, involved in every goal and several free kicks. Tracked back as well. Diskerud (5.5) - earned a PK, but overall looked overwhelmed, got muscled and stripped off the ball, and not sure CAM is the right role for him. Liked him better playing under LD. EJ (6) - responsible for the first goal, and frankly, even though he got a goal (that Jozy basically earned), was poor. Bad touches and bad decisions, and didn't help Fabian out defensively at times. Bedoya (6.5) - challenged a few times, then faded in the 2nd half. Bradley (8) - Involved in attacking plays, calm on the ball, tracked back, aka, the usual. Jones (4) - Turnover machine. Not a surprise we looked better when he was gone. FJ (6.5) - Not much to say to be honest. Got burned a few times at LB and was culpable on one of the goals. Brooks (6.5) - Has promise. Pulled an Omar at the end of the game. Therefore, has not wrested control of the backline spot, but still...promising. Liked his manhandling of Dzeko - didn't look intimidated or panicked. Cameron (6.5) - made some mistakes like Brooks. But still not bad for someone who doesn't play CB at his club. Evans (7) - much to my surprise. Howard (7) - couple of great saves, nothing he could do on the goals Castillo (7) - Again much to my surprise. Johansson (7) - hello spark plug! Parkhurst/Kljestan/Corona - too little time...though Sacha looked decent.
I still have doubts over Jozy becoming a player good enough for a Top 6 club in England. I do think whilst his supply is definitely improving he is playing better which has impressed me the most. I mean free kicks! What the hell! I think a lot of it's down to confidence, he's much more involved then he was this time last year and he's actually breaking a sweat out there. Still the real test for Jozy with me is next season at Sunderland. I was dead set against him going to a Top 6 club which many on the USMNT board suggested he could/should do, in the end he proved to be very aware and took the opportunity at a club whilst terrible the past few years has been ever ambitious. Sunderland's state wasn't down to a lack of commitment so he found the perfect club for him to grow and they've seemingly bought well. I can see them finishing comfortably mid table and maybe building a platform to grow. Sunderland are building infinitely better than Stoke under Pulis at least there's hope for progress while Stoke topped out.
I like our team a little better for Brazil than last year when I wasn't sure we'd qualify or we'd scrape it. I don't think we'll do anything special in 2014. Getting out of the groups will be good enough for me, getting to the quarters will be a very good job. Our defensive depth just isn't there and time and time again that proves to be vital. To be fair all international sides have fallen off with producing defenders. Italy used to be the benchmark and the quality has dropped off massively. Not many of the current pool of defenders would get a sniff in previous sides. Most top nations have one superb defender and everyone else is a class or two down. Our issue is we don't have that top defender who can erase many mistakes of his partner. I mean even Germany there's a quality gap between Hummels and his partners Boateng, Mertesacker, Howedes, etc. Still having that one class defender makes the partnership overall strong and none of those players are mugs. I'd kill for Howedes, which is the problem we don't have that real commanding CB and ultimately whatever goes on up top I think that will be our downfall. Side note - I can only think of a couple nations with a world class center back pairing. Spain the past few years to could claim to have a one. Brazil maybe but that’s mostly me rating Luiz highly (who is underrated by so many football fans). With the players coming through I think they look the best going forward. If not for poor luck King and Woodgate would have been one of the best partnerships ever imo.
I don't know where this new Altidore kid comes from but I like him! What a fantastic game from him. First time he has impressed me since he came off the bench in the 80th minute and scored as an 16 yo for the MetroStars. Confidence is oozing out his pores. And what a sweet free kick. They showed one slo-mo replay where you could see that he did indeed "bend it like Beckham." If Jozy was a 10, then Bradley was a 9.5. A fabulous game from him and without him we don't win. Simple as that. Love Aron, the Alabamian from Iceland or Icelander from Alabama. Sweet moves to create his own shots, something none of our other forwards have. May be good enough to end up on our final 23 to the WC, possibly as a starter with Jozy up top. JJones sucks as always. Keeps the ball on his feet way too long, must have been stripped of the ball 10 times in that game. And when he does finally pass it's usually a hospital ball, or hit too hard or too soft, or too far ahead or too far behind. Bad giveaway by EJ. Mixed performance overall, was the recipient of a gift from Altidore on his goal. Brooks looked good for a 20 yo getting his first playing time in the big leagues this week. But not ready for prime time. Twellman was right about one thing - Fabian Johnson looked a lot better at left mid than left back. Bosnia was schooling him when he was in back. In fact none of our current outside backs seems capable of preventing crosses from coming in with alarming frequency. Great game from Howard given how many times he was left exposed. But overall our individual and team defense still has to improve a lot if we are going to make any waves at the WC. Klinsmann certainly has a knack for finding & landing foreign player for our national team. Finally as much as I was impressed with our offense in the 2nd half I have to admit that Bosnia's defense was pretty weak at times.
Well I know this-- If Jurgen can find the right way to get Altidore, Dempsey, Donovan and Bradley all on the field at the same time, in a 4-4-2, then we can create scoring chances.... Seeing how well Altidore plays when partnered with a speedy player that helps pull open space for him, part of me would love to see this lineup at some point, just to see what it could do: ----------Altidore----Donovan Dempsey-------------------------Zusi -----------Jones*---Bradley F. Johnson--Besler--Gonzilla----Evans* ------------------Howard * or whoever ends up impressing the most over the next 10 months I know Dempsey isn't best there - but I think Donovan might help bring out the best in Altidore more, who is definitely the hot hand now. And with Johnson bombing up the left flank behind him, Dempsey would tuck inside a lot. And Jones (or any other more d-minded midfielder) stays back a bit more, giving Bradley more room to roam and create, so in the attack we look more like this: Johnson-------Altidore-----Donovan----------Zusi ------------Dempsey---------------Bradley -----------------------Jones
^I like that idea. I wonder, though, on current form if Rimando doesn't deserve to start ahead of Howard.
Nice problem to have. "Which stellar goalkeeper should we use today?" I wish the Galaxy still had that problem!
The problem with Jones is he doesn't pair with Bradley that well. When Jones is on the field Bradley tends to hang back to provide defensive cover. If Jones dedicated himself to just being an enforcer and played just above the back-line we'd be unstoppable in CONCACAF. --------------------Altidore------------------- F. Johnson-------Dempsey-------Donovan -----------Cameron-------Bradley----------- DMB----Besler----Gonzilla----Cherundolo* ---------------------Howard------------------ Don't think Dempsey plays enough defense to play him at LM. I think we forget how dangerous we looked on the left with FB and DMB. DMB bombing down the left with FB providing dangerous low crosses from the left or providing defensive cover for DMB while DMB as getting forward. * I'm not sure how injured Cherundolo is, but I can't wait for the Hannover captain to come back and lock down that position again. If he's unable to go and Klinsmann insists on starting Jones, then I'd rather see Cameron at RB consistently. EJ doesn't have the technical ability or soccer IQ to play a 4-2-3-1. Donovan, Dempsey, and FB do. If EJ is on the field then you have to play a 4-4-2. When Johannsson was out there he played more of a reserved striker which worked, the role Dempsey should be playing. Right now Johannsson looks like a deadly guy to bring off the bench, with his speed and desire to dribble at tired defenders.
I like DMB at left back against lesser opponents but I think all 135lbs of him will get chewed up & spit out by the better international forwards.
This is absolutely where my head is at. Totally agree. Think about this: the person assisting Jozy on his goals has historically been LD. And that was before this version of Jozy. The two of them together in their current form???? *faints* Johannsson could be an excellent sub for whoever out of that top 4 tires first. We absolutely need to be thinking about the XIV, not just the XI. Also agree on the two holes.
Notes on Johannsson - YES!!!!!! Great sub, and his activity would be murder on a tired backline. Would also give relief to our 30+ duo. I just think LD is a better pair for Jozy. He is more inclined to help Jozy than Clint is - the nature of the two of them as a player. I love DMB, but I don't think he's a WC starter. What does concern me is Fabian's performance at LB of late for the Nats. But it's a fair point on what to do with Clint after that. He needs to be on the pitch, so it's a question of what do you ding: the potential of a Jozy/LD combo??? Or the defense out left?? Guess Fabian's form at LB plays into that, so that's fair.