The only "surprise" for me is choosing Parkhurst over Goodson. But given the qualities that the Honduran front line bring to the table (quickness, dribbling skills, speed), I think it is the right decision.
Just starting to come back from injury, hasn't even made the bench for his club yet: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/american-exports-cherundolos-return-date-101506158--mls.html
Yea, but I think a lot of people feel that he's more dangerous if he's closer to the goal. If LD or Shea were in front of him, I can see him playing LB and being a more offensive threat. If he ends up having to pick up defensive responsibilities for a weaker LM, then he's able to bring less to the field.
All that really means is we'll be down 2 in the first 35min. The game will go like this, blah, blah, blah, Howard miracle save, blah, blah, blah, Howard miracle save, blah, red card, blah, blah, US hits crossbar in 90th minutes, rebound to Jozy is skied. FJ taps in final pass of hte match for a 1-0 victory.
Parkhurst can play CB. The Evans inclusion is odd because frankly he was awful against Canada and he's not going to play any sort of role in this match.
Parkhurst is purely an emergency CB at club level and not a CB at international level(see e.g. the Gold Cup he played in). Evans was excellent at rb and in central midfield. Where did he fail in either position?
I don't get the pathological obsession with Edu. Every mid candidate is 'better than Edu'. Edu is too old, too this too that. He's not even a pivotal player in the team.
Sure he was fine at RB but he didn't have much to do (then again, neither did the entire team) but he was a dud in midfield... obviously him being played in a creative role was basically setting him up to fail.
The only person in this thread complaining about Edu would have preferred we called up Bradley Johnson instead.
He did his job. The team rarely uses a creative player in central midfield. Chandler is the starting RB in any event.
now i understand B Johnson isn't eligible, i wasn't sure. but if you'd chose Edu over Johnson to be a CM on any team you controlled you'd be an idiot. Johnson is better than Edu as a CM and a footballer. evidenced by the fact that Johnson is a key starter for a mid table EPL club and Edu couldn't hack it at a mid table EPL club and got shipped to Bursaspor. unless of course you think your judgement on such things is better than Pulis and Houghton.
I think it's official. Lichaj shot JK's kitten. The guy can play left or right back, can provide width and is pretty pacey. Maybe he ain't the best defender, but he would provide coverage for another guy who is pretty pacey and ain't the best defender, Castillo. I am very concerned about the lack of a strong defender on the left. Hopefully JK uses a back four of TC, Gonzo, Bocanegra and Cameron as the LB. Anyone else feel that would be a pretty solid back four? Editted: My bad, scrap the whole thing. I didn't realize Fabian was back from injury. I thought our projected starter was Castillo. OK, so a back four of TC, Cameron, Boca, and FJ. Not bad at the flanks, somewhat slowish in the middle, but a solid pair positionally I would assume.
Yes, I noted the same thing as well. I'm not high on Castillo but if our offense is stalling and Honduras is bunkering late it would make sense to sub Castillo to left back and push Johnson up, or vice versa for Parkhurst and Chandler, although Chandler is not as polished as Johnson offensively IMO. I'd rather have seen Gatt as the late sub than Castillo however. And of course none of these wingbacks were produced in the US Soccer system- so the problem is likely to continue unfortunately.
Whats up with people suddenly talking about Bradley Johnson again? This was quashed by Ives way back in 09 and not only are some of you going on about it but Ian Darke mentioned it on Twitter as well. Is there some sort of new development? Or does Ian Darke go on Bigsoccer?
Davis and Evans are there as beneficiaries of a January camp as has been noted. I'm not sure how you can say Edu and Torres aren't US national team quality when both have appeared at the WC. I understand that you may not think they are top quality, but right now they are there, or thereabouts, for the US. I'm pretty sure both are on the right side of 30 as well. While I have reservations about Klinsmann's talent assessment, and more importantly, his tactical approach with the talent at hand, I wouldn't put it quite so absolutely. There are guys who can fill in out wide (Williams not being one of them) while not being natural to the position. And as I and others have said, our presumed starting wingbacks for this match will compensate for the lack of width in midfield. It's not a perfect solution but a good result is possible with this roster. Re: Torres and Edu- Torres has always used the ball quite well IMO against bunkering opponents and Edu is useful to break up play and protect a lead- both useful qualities off the bench depending on the scenario. Given the midfield four will probably consist of Bradley, Jones, Williams and one other (Klejstan?, Zusi?) I don't see too much wrong with their inclusion. One humiliating loss will not get Klinsmann fired. He's too big a fish, with a likely guaranteed salary and Gulati's credibility is tied to his success. I didn't see Johnson this weekend, but having seen him play on multiple occasions, I think you're overrating him (unless you mean Davis and Evans) and that is even assuming he is eligible and/or interested.