Wow. I suppose you think the other Concacaf countries have more material. We won the Olympics. Two straight Gold Cups before the debacle of 2013. 2 U17 WCs. 3rd place at U20. Notbadman.jpg. With those accomplishments, we should be doing better than 4th in the Hex with help from the Nads. As Otaku pointed out, we have some holes but overall, our talent situation is better than probably all of our immediate rivals who are accustomed to doing more with less. We lack a strong coach with tactical acumen. We have too many coaches with temperament but none who are cerebral. We probably won't get one anytime soon since Mexico doesn't produce them and the FMF won't relinquish full control to a foreign coach with such credentials. As far as our lack of RB/LB, I would suggest tinkering with a 3-4-3 or a 3-3-1-3 IF we had a coach with some tactical understanding...
All those youth accomplishments are fairly recent. Not to mention that it doesn't always translate to success. Otherwise Nigeria would have won a world cup already. You can't put the pressure of the senior team on a bunch of mocosos or you end up like Chivas. Get it through your skull already. Yeah those Olympians are so ready that they barely sniff the first team bench in Portugal. The playmakers like Davila? Where is that guy? Tecatiwho? No mames Kanye. I warned you all. You reap what you sow.
The width on the pitch is either going to come from your wingers or your outside backs. If you have wingers who keep cutting in crowding the middle then your outside backs will have to overlap to provide that width. Salcido and Osorio were better in a line of 3, the width was provided by other players.
I understand people want a reinforced America, but that's small mentality IMO. We need to work with the most talented.
@Otaku Check out Jonathan Wilson and Michael Cox for their takes on the positions of outside backs. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2009/mar/25/the-question-full-backs-football http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/01/19/twtc-the-advent-of-attacking-full-backs/
You warned us? No mames. No one said those other accomplishments automatically translates to success. I mentioned those successes to illustrate the point about having talent to work with. Don't twist words. Do you think that the other teams in the Hex that finished ahead of us have more to work with or are more talented? That's all I want to know...
Mexico has more potential. That potential is not ready to carry the torch. Potential/talent does not equal results unless it is realized. When you have players with immense potential and they are more concerned with giving their all at the night club then you are in for trouble. If you depend on your physical abilities to make a living, anything that detrimentally affects your health will affect your abilities and performance. Excessive use of alcohol is probably the biggest threat to youth players not realizing their potential. We have a big age gap in the player pool. These talented youth players have not yet entered their playing primes. They are relatively young and don't have the experience more senior players have. Its a travesty really that the youth program was not changed much sooner. When you look at your backline and you have a 35 year old Rafa Marquez who in his prime wouldn't beat a snail in a footrace you're going to have a bad time.
I agree with all of this but I still think some of the inexperienced players are not quite as bad as some of the older players past their prime. An example would be Reyes over Maza. The question is that while some of these younger players are 'not ready,' do you play them anyway if they are better than the experienced player past their prime? I know players, especially younger ones can burn out too soon or have their confidence destroyed if they are brought up too quickly but when the older player isn't cutting it, do you risk the burn-out/confidence of a younger player? Personally, I would look at it case by case but I would probably risk it.
Good read. With Piojo as the coach now we can pretty much guess we are going to see a 5-3-2. Our LWBs and RWBs will have a huge roll to play. Does anyone know how Piojo's America actually looks on the field?
This is everyone in their best form -------------------Ochoa----------------- Mier-------Reyes-------Moreno---Layun ------------------Marquez----------------- -------Herrera--------------Pena--------- --Giovani--------------------------Vela--- ------------------Peralta------------------
Bump I think Piojo has done a good job phasing out players like Salcido and Torrado. We just need a good amount of back ups and a few positions locked down. Our current depth IMO ---------------------------------Oribe/Pulido--------------------------Cheech/Gio/Jimenez------------------------ ---------------Gullit/Fabian---------------------------------------------------------Herrera/Brizuela/Montes------ -------------------------------------------------------Medina-------------------------------------------------------------- Layun/Guardado-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Aguilar/Aquino ---------------------Moreno/Maza----------------------Rafa------------------------Reyes/Topo------------------------ --------------------------------------------------Memo/Corona/Talavera------------------------------------------------- I think Gio os going to have to play in the mid or a free role. We need back ups for that DM position and a solid option at RWB or Aguilar is going to be the starter.
yes but the question is who? No one else has stepped up to replace them. Mier would be a good option as a back up or RWB but he has been injured and we haven't seen him play with this team. Other than that I can't think of any CBs that can replace them.
The ones who Piojo phased out were starting. Maza and Topo won't start. They're pretty bad but it's not like he's taking a Chiquis Garcia tier player either. Limited depth at cb right now. We're really not giving enough credit for not calling up the Salcidos or Torrados anymore. Salcido has and still gets all the love from coaches, media pundits, etc despite his obvious decline. Looked like one of the untouchables and he is done.
Do you think he is an upgrade from Topo and Maza though? I loved Salcido back in 06-10sh, he was great, but I'm not sure if he is better than them now.