But for who? OK- Landon for Gatt is obvious, but then who do you sit for Dempsey- Jozy or Herc? Jozy's got more upside and can play the hold-up game that Herc can't, but Herc has been scoring goals like mad for us. Do you try Dempsey in the central midfield? But he's better closer to goal. I still don't think we know how the pieces best fit together, and that's a problem since we don't have much time left to figure it out. That qualifier in February is more important that usual- if we get three points there, we take off a lot of pressure from the next three games. If we don't, we may be looking up from a fairly deep (but not insurmountable) hold after 4 matches.
Howard made 4 or 5 excellent saves that probably would have been goals if we were playing a keeper who is 2nd string for his club like Russia was.
Another takeaway. I was hoping Gatt was Beasley part deux. Gatt's touch is way, way too loose for this level. Beasley's was better. And that is a low standard. And Gatt waits for the ball when he has his back to the goal and loses it. Beasley typically could get the first touch and draw a foul in those situations. Gatt needs to show something more at a lower level before I want to see him again.
Well we already knew we needed CB's. Good to see that the U23's showed well mostly. Gatt, Agudelo, Boyd, and Diskeruud can hold their heads high. Looks like Altidore is in a funk. I have no idea why Altidore couldn't pull off the layoffs Agudelo and Boyd did. Agudelo showed a great range of passing in particular. Williams still has much to learn about playing as a solid DM, but I'll take this game as an anomaly. Bradley is becoming a midfield general.
Gotta give props to Jermaine Jones. Had some struggles early, but the dude was a boss at the end of the game.
Yes. He's not good enough anymore. Geoff is worse, but go back and look at the last qualifiers- Boca isn't good enough anymore. We need to get better than him at CB. Our trouble there isn't just depth, it's also quality at starter. We need Boca to be our depth.
He needs to move on to a different league. He can dominate the Norwegian league because it's extremely weak. Some of the lower teams are near semi pro. Until he takes the next step he won't be able to compete with players like Russia has that are four or five levels above him.
I was stunned when Diskerud tied it up... Not a great game (what the hell, backs?), but a tie against Russia? I'm not going to complain.
I'm not really sure either, simply because every time a news article comes out on Donovan there is a change in status.
Hate to say this, but we need Onyewu instead of Goodson. And Whitbread needs to get his chance on the field for the Nats - unfortunately we don't have any more friendlies to test him in before the Hex.
I'm looking at the back up options and thinking a healthy Bocanegra might be our only hope. Basically we are serious trouble anyway, but we desperately need three friendlies in January where we can get Gonzalez, Besler and Okugo some playing time.
for those who didn't hear, Darke and Twellman said towards the end of the game that Jurgen confirmed Omar would have been on the roster had LA not advanced in the playoffs. The good thing about the CB depth problem, is there are options waiting in the wings they just have to be given a chance. Oh and I don't know how I felt about Jones today. I said earlier we looked sloppy with him starting the attack (which we did), but he did look solid in the first half. I guess my feelings towards him would be that he should be a bench player. He doesn't stay at home enough and is too wreckless to be a 6, he's not as good of a passer as Mikey is, and he really doesn't do well starting the attack.
Let the kids play. Mix, Agudelo, Gatt, all pretty impressive. Defense was bad but we just don't know how things would have gone if Bocanegra would have stayed healthy.
Gritty fight back. Some good (Bradley, Howard, battling spirit). Some bad (central backs, poor touches, lacking a true creator). None of which are surprises. It was a useful game to have played.
Holy crap, do you remember Shea's first cap? Often wingers don't look as skilled as they are during their first cap. Goetze was more ineffective against a Sweden side than Gatt was tonight. Please, make assumptions after we have seen a player play more than one game at this level.
Well the only good news is that Omar likely has some experience playing in Central America thanks to the Concacaf champions league but getting your first cap in several years away at Honduras in a qualifier? Ouch
Anyone saying Geoff wasn't pretty good tonight is off their rocker. Not his fault he gets completely ********ed by Williams' inept passing or the fact that Boca had to come out for Goodson, who was simply awful. I still think Cameron belongs at CB, but the players around him are making him look bad. Cameron-Gonzo please.
1. Michael Bradley is a boss. 2. I really hope OG/John/Brooks/CB of the week come good. 3. It's clear Cameron is playing RB at his club. 4. I think it's safe to say this is the first senior team goal by a BigSoccer member.
Onyewu had a really poor game last weekend for Malaga. There was some critical errors being made by him. Haven't seen Whitbread play for Leicester yet.
Gatt has been over-hyped on this site so he obviously did not live up to it. That said, I had low expectations for him due to the reoccurring theme that this site hypes up guys for no reason so he actually looked pretty good to me.