It is rather curious how any time a match that would cap-tie Chandler to the US comes around, Chandler comes down with some sort of physical ailment preventing him from participating. Bimmer is right in the sense that Chandler upgrades the overall quality of our player pool. I think he's also placing hope in the wrong place, as it seems fairly obvious that his heart is not in it when it comes to the US.
The situation that comes to mind is Kevin-Prince Boateng and Ghana. KPB "retired" from international play last fall. I'm sure if Ghana qualifies for 2014 he will be back. Back in May, another poster (Clint Eastwood?) made the point that Chandler is probably interested mostly in the big tournaments. After reflection, I tend to agree with that thinking.
How many assists and goals does Tim Howard have? Jonathan Bornstein had more assists and goals than Chandler, Lichaj and Fabian Johnson combined, so I guess you're suggesting that he's the best fullback available in the US pool by a wide margin. Is that really the only measure you have to determine whether or not a player improves the overall quality of the national team pool?
His club probably thinks the GC is a joke. I have told Tony Sanneh on Twitter in May if he thinks Chandler wants to play for Germany or does he really need the rest and he replied with this "Probably a but of both which makes it easy and obvious, throw in his clubs wishes. No brainer."
I believe Bornstein had no assists for USA in WC or quali's. Friendlies? Zero there as well? How about a link to the stats you are looking at? However, please note, JK's 433 wants fullbacks who can go on the offense. Sure, defence comes first on the back line, but why all the stuff about Chandler being the back of the decade when he has no goals / assists and Johnson has 2 in two games?
What pressure? All you do is talk crap about Chandler and say that Hedges would be a better option lol. Where is your response to Unimane? Pressure gets to Excellency and the truth leaks out.
JK has played Chandler at LB a position he has never played in before, he only played RB once in the JK era his natural position and where he performs the best. Look at when Chandler played RB when Bob was the coach against Argentina and Paraguay he was a beast.
Boateng did come out and say in public that he's German and only plays for Ghana because it's better for his career (which was in decline back then) and he wants to play in a World Cup, he put his cards on the table and Ghana probably thought he might start to feel a commitment after a while. They thought wrong. Chandler said from the beginning on that he prefers the USA. He obviously still has to prove that by letting himself get capped, but I do think this discussion will be over in September when he gets on the field vs Jamaica.
I agree. I expect him to come crawling back by September as this is his only option. But if he continues to KPB and be flaky, the animosity is not going to disappear.
I can think of one goal that Bornstein scored that made him a national hero in Honduras. That right there is more than Chandler, Johnson and Lichaj combined. And while I don't really feel like going back and looking over every match report for the past 4 years, I'd be willing to bet my left nut that there are a few assists sprinkled in there as well. Which proves that either your premise is flawed, or that you think Bornstein is the best fullback in our player pool. As far as as Klinsmann playing a 4-3-3, this probably isn' the right place for this discussion, but Klinsmann says he plays a 4-3-3. In reality, it's a 4-5-1. And while I agree that Klinsmann likes to get his width from his fulbacks (Just like Bob Bradley did), goals and assists is still a lousy measurement for whether or not a fullback adds overall quality to the player pool. You don't have to be the "back of the decade" to add quality to the overall player pool. You simply have to be better than Edgar Castillo, Jonathan Spector and Bornstein. As such, any unbiased rational person has to admit that Chandler improves the overall quality of the player pool.
Chandler/Lichaj may very well be better than Cherundolo at this point. They're both good at both LB & RB. Them two occupying either fullback positions could allow FJ to play further up the field. Doing so could really help the squad. Not to mention, more depth never hurts.
What I said was that Chandler's agent would tell him in June 2014 to avoid injury at all costs to safeguard contract negotiations. You equated that with "not playing in the WC". You were reading into it something that wasn't there.
I don't know what you mean about response to Unimane. He made some analogy about holding Howard out of games to test new goalkeepers. Actually, it isn't a bad idea at all to play Guzan some games with the team so they are ready to work together in case Howard should suffer a broken arm or be otherwise unable to play. I would suspect that will happen at the appropriate time. I never said Hedges would be a better option. I said we should try him at left back. For one thing he is too green to play in front of goal where he plays for Dallas if we are talking about playing against Mexico. No goals, no assists, never called up for any youth team in Germany, plays for middling team where they are wondering about where to play him, gets tired at the end of the regular season (which is when the WC cup starts), lacks maturity according to JK, has not leadership skills......what am I missing in all this Chandler worship? What is the overwhelming evidence for pencilling him in as the "back of the decade"?
Who's worshiping Chandler? Lets try this. If your post is longer than three names, you are conceding the argument. 1) Who is better - Chandler or Bornstein? 2)Who is better - Chandler or Castillo? 3) Who is better - Chandler or Spector?
Get real! 1) Who is better - Chandler or Cherundolo 2) Who is better - Chandler or Johnson 3) Who is better - Chandler ? or Lichaj ? - maybe a toss up.
1) Cherundolo is aging so I'll pick Chandler 2) Johnson and Chandler are both really good so its even 3) I'll go with Chandler over Lichaj because Lichaj has only played half a season as a starter for Aston Villa.
But that isn't the argument. The argument is whether or not Chandler improves the overall quality of our player pool. And considering that our depth blows at fullback, guys like Spector, Castillo and Bornstein have all gotten call ups. So in order for Chandler to be a net improvement for our player pool, he only has to be better than 1 of those guys. Its cool of you to try and make a straw man argument. But it can't be denied that Chandler makes our team depth better than the other current options (Castillo, Bornstein, Spector).
It's the truth and nothing but the truth. And then there's Excellency hatred on Chandler, he is even hating on Chandler on the Lichaj YA thread smh...
While this is true we should not forget that Chandler has been very good on the offensive end for JK even in his new LB position. In the first 7 matches of the JK era Chandler was second on the team in chances created behind Shea. Chandler’s ability to get the ball to teammates in scoring positions is matched only by Johnson amongst the FB candidates. The other candidates for that position, with the possible exception of Castillo, are so far behind in that aspect of the offense that they are not even in the conversation. See below for some examples: Honduras Highlights 0:42 chip in box for Shea header 1:04 through ball to Shea in box for shot 1:26 through ball to Shea in box for cross resulting in Williams shot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axsUOdw2ZVY Slovenia Highlights 0:42 chip to Buddle at edge of box, Johnson shot 3:53 through ball to Johnson in box draws penalty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkRgCGdfRzI&feature=relmfu
cool. #3 I take Chandler for non FIFA games and Lichaj for FIFA Official games. (it also depends are we talking LB or RB?