Yeah I agree with Scotty, it was almost like the writer was confusing Green and Chandler. It certainly did not represent Green's story with the Nats accurately IMO. As far as that goes the whole Aggos thing wasn't accurately told either. It was like the screwing a team mates wife wasn't the main proble, rather it was including Regis that jacked up the chemistry. Poor Journalism.
Thanks @Hobo & @Scotty, this is great stuff. And thanks Clint Dempsey, that makes me love you even more.
Not only that, but half the quotes in the article read like they were either taken out of context, or had the context ignored entirely to fit the thesis. Lalas, to me, seems like he's saying a heck of a lot more was wrong than Regis replacing Agoos. And I find it immensely irritating that Agoos' play is getting whitewashed to the point where if you read it, the benching came out of nowhere. He (Agoos) also comes off as an entitled dick in this piece. That undeserved sense of entitlement that sometimes creeps out from the 1994-1998 guys is just obnoxious.
In fact, you could even call them the 1988-1998 guys; the core of that group went back that far. And for the bulk of that period they had practically zero competition for their spots. At least Lalas and Pope go so far as to point that out in the article, and it's hard to envy Sampson for having to work with so many players who felt they were 'uncuttable'.
I also think they glossed over the one major, un-ignorable difference between Julian Green and David Regis: Julian Green was born an American. There is no quickie citizenship, no hurry and get him before the World Cup. He's been eligible since birth, and further, he even already played a game for the US U-18s before this. The 1998 team had a lot going wrong with it, and putting Green on the roster may be a bad thing for chemistry (though to be honest, I truly believe that most of his competition has done absolutely nothing to earn that spot anyway), but equating the two is stretching the bounds of credulity.
Not to mention the fact that Agoos was, in my estimation, poor in '02 when he finally did get his shot (although that is another story). One thing that I think is lost in the "golden ticket" narrative is the false assumption that there is anything close to a settled roster. The U.S. team has never been this fluid going into a WC, with many starting, let alone backup roles, still undecided. None of these "bottom half" guys should feel aggrieved if Green is included- they are as likely to lose out to player x as they are to him.
Oh, I agree on the limited evidence we as fans have. But then there's a lot we haven't and won't see leading up to selection. Hopefully there will be a larger sample size before then so that, at the very least, if he is selected there will be less cause for griping.
But possibly not. It's a question of potentially high ceiling, vs. known low-medium level ceiling. The fact that "player x" has gotten lots of opportunities to increase his known level of play, yet has still not produced at a high enough level to clearly distance himself from an 18-year-old, means that it's on him, not on Green.
Yes, of course possibly not. Hard to know who player x would be and if in fact they only have a "low-medium level ceiling." Or it is also partially on the NT manager. I am sure someone could argue "The fact that 'player x' has gotten lots of opportunities" Not that I have seen all the training sessions, but if I were a NT manager taking a squad to a WC, I'd probably more likely than not (just looking at the age and experiences of the players) take a player like Benny Feilhaber in 2014 and not a player like Julian Green. (This is not to say that Feilhaber is or might be player x, but I think he may very well be representative of some more senior player who Green could be bumping from a spot in the 23, or even within the 30. Of course JK and his staff are wisely going to do what they think is best for their team, and it will be interesting for the BS types to observe and analyze those decisions/results.)
Why not just go down the list of players that Green would be competing against? Brad Davis - Really good left foot for set pieces. Not much else though. He'll be given acres of space, but he doesn't have the athleticism or speed to take advantage of them. He also doesn't cross enough from the left side imo. Brek Shea - Very fast, and willing to take players on. Poor dribbling skills, and not a very good crosser, but he has produced goals. Jose Torres - Decent skill on the ball, and can take a FK. Hasn't really been in the NT for a while now. Sacha Kljestan - Has had some decent games and some really bad ones. Doesn't score much, and I think his best days with the NT were last cycle. He's more of a D-mid, but still a bubble guy. Joe Corona - I liked him during the Gold Cup. Not a guy that really takes people on, but still pretty creative. Benny Feilhaber - Good WC 2010. Lots of skill on the ball and excellent passing. Form was dipping for a while, but he's picked it up for KC. Lots of international experience. Basically zero callups this cycle (played in 1 game back in 2012), so I don't think that he's really much of a 'snub' in the sense that JK wouldn't be replacing someone who had already 'put in their dues' so to speak. None of those players seems to have separated themselves enough to be anything more than a bubble player, imo. What's your take?
I'd take Feilhaber in the 23 (if I could only take one of that group you listed). But I am not the coach.
C'mon Tab, you can't say this when the kid is 18 and just got his switch approved. He wasn't impressive in the Mexico match but it was such a small sample size you have to reserve judgment on whether his inclusion is justified, should it come to that. His usefulness in this tournament will almost certainly be restricted to spot/situational duty. If we're talking Shea, Davis, Green, EJ, then I'd say I wouldn't be disappointed either way if Green is or isn't selected. But then he may blow the doors off in the next few friendlies and that would change the equation.
Wasn't talking about Green. (Was talking about some player x who may not have been given "enough" or "the right" opportunities. Personally, I think JK has under-utilized Feilhaber this cycle, and any "time" spent on Green through July could probably be better spent as time on Feilhaber -- or not such a young/untested player.)
The speed of Green is needed on the WC roster despite his inexperience. As a sub he can be the ace up our sleeve that will confuse teams if the scoreline demands action. We have nobody who can tear down the wings and confuse the well structured D of Portugal and Germany. Shea is looking doubtful and Donovan is slowing down. Without Gatt, Shea, Green, we have only the slower players like Zusi, Bedoya, Donovan on the wing and that scares me. Without pace they will easily deal with our slower possession-based attack especially since the long ariel game is not suited to Altidore's strength. Let's be realistic, we don't have the horses to play a possession game against the top teams and we will need to use bunker/counter-attack to make sure we aren't shredded alive by Ronaldo and his cronies who will come at our MLS level defenders with wave after wave of blitz attacks. Without pure speed, our counter is looking very pitiful right now. That is why I advocate the inclusion of fast players like Shea, Green, and perhaps moving FJ to the wing.
I'm not saying that I'm 100% behind this line of thinking, but it's a very valid point: our team speed is dubious. (Although I think people underrate Bedoya's straight line speed.) Aaron/Bacon I believe also provides a similar threat. Honestly, I think EJ does also to a certain point, although I don't like his usage on the left as we have seen thus far under JK.
I didn't see any exceptional speed from Green against Mexico. Did I blink at the wrong time, or are we confusing quickness with speed? He did look quick.
I also wondered as well. But isn't this one of those conversations where the value of speed/pace/quickness depends on the player's role? I.e., burst of pace to beat someone while dribbling, pure running speed of a full back to recover to a goal side position, having quick feet (and speed of thought) to survive the melee in the middle of the pitch, or some combination of these attributes. Green may be the first type, Aron appears to have the quick counter attacker speed of someone like Schurrle. Haven't seen whether Green has that type of pace, yet.
Right. This is not a slight to Julian -- if anything quickness is probably more valuable overall. But I am not sure he gives the "get in behind" track speed that folks are thinking about.
Did he have the opportunity to go all out? He is not Shea that would try to out run anyone even when there is no chance.
Truth is, were he not with the Bayern reserves, but with some MLS team, after the Mexico showing, no one would be mentioning him.
Maybe not. I don't know that he doesn't have excellent speed. I just don't remember seeing it, and I wondered why others were assuming it. I don't get to see the Regionaliga games.
They are going by club reports that he has excellent speed but I don't think anyone outside of Germany have seen it in a game. We all want to know how fast he really is, maybe BM is a slow team and he is fast to their standards. I don't know.