Wow - I *completely* forgot about that. Erased that from my memory now that he's a starter. Funny that I remember the own goal against Scotland more. Probably because it was with the senior team.
If Gonzo has a very good January camp Jurgen should start him over Goodson and Bocanegra who haven't been playing well lately for the USMNT and are on the decline. One of the reasons I wouldn't be nervous if Omar starts in Honduras is that he has experience playing CCL in Central American countries.
Okugo is excellent at reading the play, positioning, cutting off passing lanes and dispossessing his attacker. He's downright excellent at it. His kryptonite is balls in the air, and boy is it ever a kryptonite. He needs to work on that, a lot.
He won't be starting in the Honduras game no matter how good he looks this month. Only way that happens is if Bocanegra and Cameron both go down because of injury.
What about Perry Kitchen as a CB option? I know he's a CDM, but he can pass well and help us play out of the back.
Sure. But how many Henry-like players were on the field with Cooper when he scored his 4 goals for the national team? And an average of a goal every 85 minutes doesn't demonstrate an ability to put away chances? I'm not arguing that Cooper should be a starter. But when a forward is given limited action with the national team, yet still manages to regularly find the net, then he deserves to be kept in consideration (especially when coming off such a productive league season). We're just not in a position yet where we can afford to discard strikers who show a knack for finishing at the international level. Makes no sense.
It seems multiple national team coaches now just don't like his game. On the field, he was significantly better than Buddle last season. And Kenny Cooper is 28............in his prime. I don't think Kenny is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but he deserves another look with the USMNT (in my opinion anyway).
By the way.............in case people didn't see this: http://www.noshortcorners.com/2013/01/a-goodie-morsel.html Graham Zusi's stint at West Ham is a full-fledged trial. It's not a simple training session. If West Ham really likes what they see (and make a transfer bid), it's possible he won't be available for the camp/friendly.
I hope he gets signed. Zusi has pretty much proven himself to Klinsmann and now needs to focus on playing at a higher level.
He blew the offside trap against D.C. He didn't score an own goal (Miller) and didn't generally play like $hit, argue with the head coach and get red carded (Rafa). He made one mental mistake in his first playoffs of a rookie season playing out of position on his weak foot. Give the kid a break. Jeez.
I'm not arguing that he got a bit of a snub. He had a great season and is a very good MLS forward. However, there have been multiple coaches willing to part with him over the years (including a national team coach) and that should tell you something. I've watched him all season. He is an excellent finisher, but there are aspects to his game that simply aren't MLS caliber nevermind international caliber. He is not very good at the MLS level at holding the ball and linking up play. And if I have the choice to play 2 forwards with a list like Dempsey, Altidore, Wondo, Donovan, and/or Gomez, then I'm sorry but Cooper doesn't find himself on the roster. Heck, I might even play one of the youngsters like Boyd. I certainly would call Boyd, Agudelo, etc. into camp ahead of Cooper. Again: We know who Kenny Cooper is and he isn't going to get any better or learn anything from being in National Team camp. We have our set stabble of forwards (more or less) and young guys that need to be involved in that environment more than he does.
"I'm not arguing that he got a bit of a snub. He had a great season and is a very good MLS forward. However, there have been multiple coaches willing to part with him over the years (including a national team coach) and that should tell you something. " This is a shot in the dark, but could it be that part of Kenny Cooper Jr's "problems" lie with the fact that he's Kenny Cooper Sr.'s son? I know very little about Cooper Sr.'s soccer past, other than he was a GK in the NASL and a long time indoor coach. Could it be he was a big enough ass#### that his son is seen as tainted goods? Again just a total guess on my part and apologies to Cooper Sr. if he happens to be the best guy on the face of the earth.
It hasn't worked. He played there for the U20s, the U23s and even for DC United. He has not been good there. As soon as he was moved to the midfield he went from a below average MLS player to a very good MLS player instantly. In much the same way that Morales is not a good fullback, Kitchen isn't a good player for the back line. I am just hoping that Morales listed as a defender is just a typo.
IMO you're exaggerating this. Also, like I've already said, he was played out of position most of the year at RB. The guy is left footed. He should be playing LB or, as has been suggested, LM. Also, what was the result of that first game? With the rest of our terrible defense it seems that if he was getting torched all day by Pontius then DC should have won by 3. I've already stated that. It's his one weakness. Soccer IQ. The fact remains that he has all the intagibles to be a very good player in the future. The rest is on him.
You're way off base here. Ken Cooper Sr. was an admired and respected player and coach. To a certain extent, his son started out at Man United because of this. I think, as others have pointed out, that Cooper's skillset does not translate particularly well to the higher levels of the international game. And props to him, for making a meal of it in the MLS and attempting the next level overseas. Respect . . .
Cooper has had multiple outstanding seasons in MLS and with different teams. He's already demonstrated he can score at international level. It's one thing to argue the cut of his jib or whether he fits the US' tactics but gainsaying his quality is insipid hand-waving devoid of anything to back it up. It's no big deal he's not in camp, but the tendentious commentary is unnecessary.
The forum went through the same nonsense when EJ was brought back in as if he had never done anything in Concacaf.
Agreed, Kitchen and Morales are CDMs. I wouldn't worry about Morales until we hear how he's lining up in camp scrimmages. Where a player is listed on the US roster release often has very little correlation with where the coach ends up playing him.