Please not Pineda! I would go with this... Johnson palmer hurtado soumare cochrane big red nyarko joya duka shipp magee I am not completely opposed to giving a healthy (if he is) Barrouch a start up top beside Magee and take out joya.
Clint looks like he ate the old Clint. Duka is probably fed gourmet meals by Gordon Ramsey, I mean Frank Yallop.
Unfit might mean "not yet healthy" or "injured". If it means he can't run for long enough because he's not working hard, then that's something that's an issue. It wasn't a problem for him playing long minutes last year.
I saw last week that Yallop said Jumper was going to miss some game (i don't know if it was the Revs or the reserve game) because of personal issues. It was't clear from the tweet if that was the reason he's been missing all season or if it was something new
With Magee, I'd like to see him get as much of a look as a Wondolowski did before I make that determination. With Johnson, look at the GK ahead of him in the depth chart: Howard and Rimando are on the wrong side of 30, and Guzan will be 30 later this year. One would anticipate that the 3rd GK should be a player that has a chance of being in his prime for the next world cup cycle. Most likely, neither Howard nor Rimando will be in the national team photo, given their ages, and Guzan may not be, either. I maintain that Johnson pissed away a clear-cut national team slot/free trip to Brazil this summer. He's a great shot-stopper, and a great athlete at the GK position. But his distribution still sucks, and he loses focus in matches, leading to David James-style blunders.
That basically never happens. A current coach doesn't give a crap about the next World Cup. They need experience and a player they can rely on in an emergency. They're not at all interested in advancing the soccer program for any given country. Anyone remember the 2002 World Cup when old and fat Tony Meola got the call when Friedel and Keller were battling for the number one spot? Tim Howard was a year away from a $4 million transfer to Manchester United and he didn't get the call. Would it have been better for Howard and the US program? Probably, but that doesn't get added to the equation. I've said this before but fans tend to think of these real games as if they're playing a video game like Championship Manager or FIFA when there are no real consequences for failing.
Yes, it is all about this World Cup right now. Worrying about the next World Cup and what happens in 2018 starts the day after the 2014 World Cup ends.
True. It's slightly different this time around since Klinsmann already has been extended through the 2018 World Cup. So, he might have some thought about the future. But even then, he will likely be looking for a 3rd goalie that he would be comfortable with if called on in Brazil. My money is on Rimando.
The 3rd GK rarely plays, outside of an injury. In a roster with two older GKs, the third should be younger, for the benefit of being somewhat sure to have a GK with some WC experience in the next go around. I will agree, that [right now] Rimando is the better GK than Johnson, because Johnson seemingly can't pay attention for 90 minutes every game, and can't distribute the ball. However, Rimando is not better than Guzan and Howard, and never will be. But in 2018, a 27 or 28 year old Johnson or Hamid might be better than a 33 year old Guzan.
This is the second head coach now that it seems that it is not a priority to work on ball distribution. Frank 1.0 tried hiding the deficiency by going short to Berry or Friedrich. It is something that he needs to work on.
Our last four results against RSL are WTTT. I also think Kreis was a big part of their success. I have hopes for at least a draw
For perspective, Howard is 35 now and a 100% lock to start every game in Brazil. Barring something spectacularly bad happening to Guzan or the sudden discovery of an American goalkeeping phenom, the starting job in Russia is his.