I agree, it is a reason to distrust his judgment. And a polite excuse does make sense, though calling players out hasn't been a problem previously for Klinsmann. And actually, I feel like I'm being soft on Klinsmann, because I noticed when I followed the link that he made the same flat-out lie on Jose Torres being supposedly injured in October. Torres went 90 for Pachuca the same weekend as the Antigua/Guatemala matches. It was a medical miracle!
If JK sits our player in the best form, he is a complete idiot. Jozy needs to start, and it would be just stupid to sit him. Either way, I really don't think Klinsmann understands personnel. Its fine if he wants to play without a conventional winger in your starting lineup, but this is beyond that. He didn't call in a single winger, called in 3 RB's, called in 4 AM's, called in 3 DM's and called in 4 strikers, three of which I expect to start. Its personnel suicide, thats all.
Many years ago, Evans got a run out from Bradley. But, it was at left back wasn't it? Maybe it was for more than one match? It's been a while & my memory of it is fuzzy at best.
Klinsmann is delusional when it comes to Torres. He simply isn't good enough for the USMNT. He has proved that multiple times, and has gotten more chances than any player that has been on the National Team radar that I can remember. He isn't good enough, how long is it going to take Klinsmann to realize this?
To answer this one, Davis didn't play poorly against Canada but nothing really came off for him either. But if you watch him week in and week out for Houston, you wonder why he hadn't been called up sooner. Fortunately, in this case, Klinsmann didn't base his evaluation of Brad Davis on just one match.
I agree, striker is the closest battle for position that we have. We have Jozy who is probably the most on form American now for his club besides Bradley, but has looked really bad for the U.S. recently, and we have Gomez who has been doing fine for his club and fine for the U.S. recently. The two main reasons I give the start to Gomez is because 1) He has been doing a really good job at opening up spaces and creating chances for other players recently, especially Dempsey, and 2) I feel like Gomez would be more comfortable and play better in a country like Honduras. Depending on how things go in Honduras, Jozy might deserve the start vs Costa Rica.
Though he may not be in my personal 23 since there are a lot of options, I feel like Torres has something to offer as a CM, especially in a 3-man pairing. Since I don't attribute malicious intent to Klinsmann, my theory on Torres and October is that Klinsmann didn't realize Mexico, like MLS, sometimes schedules league matches during an international break. So he didn't realize he would be caught in a lie, and one which was probably devastating to Torres if he heard about it.
JK Quotes on Jozy On Monday, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann praised the player he's challenged in the past. "The way he managed that situation last week was awesome," Klinsmann said in advance of the United States' road game against Honduras Wednesday, "He deserves a big compliment but he is still going through a maturing curve, on the field and off the field and our job is to get him to an international consistent level." We are pleased with Jozy's development," Klinsmann said, specifically praising his club performance. "We don't expect him to be perfect. He's still a very young player in his development. … As a striker, we would like to work with him where he scores consistently for us."
And my original post that you commented on which started this aside never mentioned counter-attacking. I specifically addressed bunkering. But yet you replied by saying "that's what they do". And that's clearly not what they do. So my comment stands, whatever side of the fence you are now taking ... Honduras will not be bunkering against us. Period.
Gatt should be there and one of Mix/Feilhaber. No width and we'll struggle to score more than 1 goal IMO. In other words 1-1 draw is likely. With our defense lately I expect Honduras to put at least 1 past us. This team needs width, cannot gamble with fullbacks providing that every game, especially on the road when more defending will be necessary.
Very true. But I'm also happy (or at least content) with shut-out wins consistently (with perhaps a few 0-0 draws thrown in there). JK might be realizing that he's not going to "Germany beat" most opponents (3-1 or 2-0) with the current crop of US players, and he may have to settle on the "Italian approach" of apparently attempting to win most games 1-0 (as has been done a few times in the 2012 friendlies). That being said, an away qualifier at a place like Honduras is more than likely going to look like 2009 (when it finished 3-2) than a tight a low-scoring affair for which JK "might" be hoping/settling (and as was seen in the friendlies v Mexico and v Italy last year).
This. He's totally locked in with no wiggle room. Basically painting himself into a corner if he goes down a goal early.
Klinsmann doesn't understand personnel, but you do? I don't think Jozy is going to start because he is not better than Herculez at this time. Don't matter how many goals he has scored in his league. As far as Torres goes, I go with what Klinsmann and Ferreti think, not by what you think. Is he a finished product, nope, same for every young player in the team, alot to work on and a lot to learn, but he is not stopping the development of another player either by being called in. This might be his last opportunity for Klinsmann to see him too, but i doubt it. Listen to this, Torres will always be creeping in for the next ten years, get use to it.
surprised Brad Davis is there, good surprised. Bad surprised with Brad Evans, especially as a defender. Hopefully it doesnt come to that, we did bring a ton of defenders. And damn the fluff Feilhaber should have brought in over a few players. I hope to christ we start either Gonzo or Besler ahead of Bocanegra, thats gonna go alllllll bad if we start Bocanegra. Even Parkhurst in the middle over Bocanegra at this point. tears will fall frm my eyes if Danny Williams lines up at right midfield again......but im getting that feeling. front 3 i actually love the idea of Dempsey------Jozy---------EJ i hope we can make that happen. I hope our 11 best can get a tie here......nervous for this one for sure. moreso than usual this time of qualifying season. we get even a point i will be giddy.
We used to be great, now we are just hoping for a tie. Hopefully JK surprises us and gets one of his patented bunker victories. I will be happy.
all i am hoping for is a few things things: 1) the honduran soccer federation cuts the grass the day before match 2) the roof panels in the us locker room arent asbestos 3) the thermostat in the us locker room is not set at 100 F.
good roster, lets hope klinsmann chooses the right formation. a 4-2-3-1 is ideal imho for this game and this roster.
Right Back, and he played pretty poorly and then when he came back to the Sounders they slotted him in at Right back due to injuries and he really never got his form back even when he was finally able to play in midfield again. Evans at one time or another has played CB, RB, RM, Either CM position, and forward for the Sounders. But that one call up really ********ed with his head or something.
While you are not "assigning malicious intent", realize that when a NT staff sends the official notification to a club that a player could be called the club may respond that said player is on IR and is doubtful for the date in question. The NT may chose not to call that player and the player may "recover" and play for club. That has happened with Torres and with Chandler. Note also that a club may release a player as fit and gets to camp. The NT medical staff determines that the play has an injury and sends the player back to his club. The club determines that the player is fit and plays him on the date. That scenario also occurred with Castillo in the "no LB" October camp for A&B and Guatemala.
Whether this is true or not is unclear to me- Torres suffers for playing a position the U.S. is very deep in (CM). The more interesting consideration is Klinsmann's championing of the notion that finding talented Mexican Americans and integrating them into the U.S. team would provide a marked improvement in play. This goes back to his initial lobbying for the U.S. job. His credibility takes a hit if he completely throws in the towel on this notion. And this seems like the only reasonable argument for giving multiple call-ups to Orozco-Fiscal and to a lesser extent Castillo (who gets a pass because we are traditionally so weak at outside back). Corona and Torres may have something to offer. But the best Mexicans are playing for Mexico, Mexican American or otherwise. And it's not controversial to say those who have "chosen" to play for the U.S. would be playing for Mexico if the latter had shown anything like the interest in them that we did. Which by twisted logic must mean that Klinsmann thinks the Mexican team is much more talented than the U.S. ...