Man you sure parse words. Of all the bubble strikers Cooper has the best strike ratio. HOWEVER, they are still bubble striker minutes from 2009 and he has disappointed in club form since then. On the other hand Wondo has the most impressive club accomplishments when taking a look at the last two seasons. HOWEVER, 0 goals in 7 tries for the USMNT is really bad. Gomez and Edson are somewhere in the middle. Frankly, Klinsmann could call any of these guys and it wouldn't be right or wrong.
watched the LAG vs NYRB sat afternoon. Based on Cooper's performance in that match, I would be shocked if Cooper got a call up. He should have destroyed the LA back line. yet he was invisible.
With good reason. You've seen a lot of people basically hide in this debate. They'll start out by saying a guy has proven something, and when questioned/inspected, they'll come back with only that it hasn't been disproven. There's a huge difference there, and it dodges the actual debate. My opinion is not very far off from yours, that you're talking about one of the last guys on the roster, guys who, if we did put them in the 23, we'd be crossing our fingers hoping they don't actually play, and guys who don't have much to separate them. Nobody's record screams that he's being dissed if Klinsmann doesn't take him next time out.
If you watched last night's game, and think that Cooper should be called into the national team, then I think our differences are irreconcilable.
Depends on how many forwards he wants. Cooper might be the "he's in form so take him" guy. I don't think he will factor much except in training sessions. Jozy, Gomez, Wondo, 4th if there is one/whoever's hot at the moment (Cooper).
Great stuff from Coop. 8 goals in less than 9 games worth of minutes. 2 wins and 0 losses with a goal scored sans Henry. Didn't get a lot of support and fought hard to scrap the goal. Playing the best ball of the stateside centerforwards.
Thierry Henrys on New York roster: 1 Thierry Henrys on Portland roster: 0 Great work to stick with it, but he had absolutely no idea where that ball was going, he looks around like "where is it??"
Chris Wondolowski has 45 goals in MLS since 2010 (top five in MLS: Wondo 45, De Rosario 33, Le Toux 27, Saborio 25, Henry 25), how many does Cooper have? [edit: 16 in 2 years. I'm gonna have to say 45 in 3 years deserves more consideration]
What the hell does Henry have to do with Portland? The Kris Boyd reference addressed another issue. Wondo has had a great MLS career but hasn't scored in any of his international appearances and has frankly looked underwhelming. I agree his performances merit further caps however.
In a U.S. uniform, Cooper has played approximately 335 minutes and has scored 4 goals - very little of that was with the "A" team either. That's a goal every 80 - 85 minutes. In a U.S. uniform, Wondolowski has played 289 minutes and has scored 0 goals. That's a goal every..... If the only measure is MLS performance since 2010, then I'd say you're correct. If the measure is that and who puts points on the board for The U.S. when it his name is called, which it should be, then I'd say you're ignoring quite a bit when making the argument above.
Making it an either/or argument is just dumb. Both scoring goals in league play and for the national team in the past matter. It just so happens that Wondolowski's ridiculous current league form is worth a lot more than Cooper having scored goals many moons ago in a US shirt.
Wondolowski's current form is 11 goals and 2 assists in 900 minutes. Cooper's is 8 and 1 in 791 minutes. League form is a wash. MLS in general however is so far below international standard that league form is merely a recommendation. Too many to name MLS strikers have underwhelmed at international level. In terms of actual international play Wondo has not gotten the job done. Yet again he certainly deserves more opportunities.
Wondo averages out to about 3 goals per 300 minutes, or almost a goal a game for the national team. Depending on his next game, of course.
Look, I'm not advocating against anyone who's scoring. We need more strikers. I would argue your last point. Wondolowski was on ridiculous - to use your word - form prior to his last run of call ups. That didn't translate into goals at the international level. Cooper's ridiculous form prior to his call ups did. IMO, Klinsmann needs to consider all who are on good form in a given league pretty much evenly and then look at how they do or do not fit into his system. It won't matter how good a season they are having if he doesn't believe they'll be able to produce.
So....yeah, no I don't understand that at all. He did well, and didn't score goals (which isn't the only thing that matters with a forward) so from here on out regardless of how well he does it means he probably won't score goals?
Wondo has 45 goals in 2 1/2 years, Cooper has 16 goals in 1 1/2 years. Wondo has 19 goals in his last 19 games, Cooper has 16 goals since returning to MLS. If you consider THAT to be "a wash" what is the point of actually comparing them based on goals?
Is this the MLS lifer thread? The 'who should go to the MLS Hall of Fame' thread? Try using basic context. The issue is suitability for international football. This is the Kenny Cooper thread in the USA Forum. Wondo has been pants at international football thus far. He has an awesome MLS record as have other strikers who similarly failed to impress at international level. Cooper last year came into to an expansion team after a couple of injury riddled seasons abroad. What was Cooper's record in MLS before he left? 40 goals and 10 assists in 80 games worth of minutes. MLS is not the toughest league out there and isn't any kind accurate barometer of international success, so I'm not suggesting he's the savior. All one can expect is that the top performers be given an opportunity. If I had to choose one right now I'd go with Cooper as Wondo has had the recent opportunities.
Still unsure, so I'll clarify - I'm not an Earthquake fan. I'm turning into a big Wondolowski fan if you want to spin it that way.
Nope. My point was that KC made the most of his opportunities with the Nats when they came his way. Wondo didn't. I think that counts for more than you think it does. Wondo is a good, smart striker and should be considered. His form merits it. I'd argue that Cooper's does as well.
The thing about Cooper is that he's got that big body and good technique. What sucks is that he doesn't use his body as effectively as he could. However, that happens to be the one area where a player in his late twenties can get a breakthrough. So if Cooper continues with current form then he will get a call up over the other bubble strikers including Wondo and Gomez.