One of Howard or Guzan would make the squad, and take Gillets place. I don't see them both getting the nod as that would mean kicking out one of Courtois or Mignolet. Dempsey would also make the squad, but not sure if he would start, just because we have so many competition for those places. Remember, Eden Hazard only recently became an automatic starter, and I wouldn't start Dempsey ahead of De Bruyne either. Not sure if Altidore would make the squad. Wilmots likes to select his players on "type", and there are already two players on the squad who are similar (but better imho) to Jozy: Lukaku and Benteke. Wilmots likes to select a mobile poacher à la Jelle Vossen as his third CF option so he has something else (stylistically) to bring off the bench. Chandler would definitely make the squad and would have a very good chance at starting seeing as RB is our weakest position by far. Bradley might make the squad, though I say that with the caveat that Wilmots does not seem to rate Serie A players particularly high. He has completely ignored Cavanda (who plays a position we are very thin at) and not selected Nainggolan (who is coveted by Milan) the last couple of games. Add to that the fact that Bradley plays a position where we are pretty stacked as it is (Fellaini, Witsel, Defour, Dembele, ...) and I would say he would be on the fringe and in and out of the squad depending on the availability of his rivals.
Gooch hardly played for Malaga this year. He hasn't looked good the last couple times he has been called. FWIW, he was on the 35 man provisional roster for this year CONCACAF Gold Cup (our continental championship which is played every 2 years, and this year is the B Team year, with WCQ also going on this summer).
He got a few chances but never really convinced either Wilmots or the supporters of his quality. I still think he should at least be on the squad, though I can understand why Wilmots might leave him out.
Yeah, and then they made the semis at the WC, which was the point I was trying to make, but obviously escaped you b/c you are only looking at things in a certain (biased) way. Don't take this the wrong way, but I usually find your posts pretty poor. Like ranking Serbia ahead of Belgium? Greece & Switzerland even? Belgium's roster, on paper, is FAR superior to Greece's. That's laughable. What's even sadder is that Belgium, on paper, is even better than their results. They've been underachieving for the last cycle or so, not overachieving like you seem to think. On paper, they're as good as England. For me, I'd put Belgium in the Top 15 in the world, on paper. Top shelf = 2. Spain, Germany Almost there = 6. Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Netherlands, France, England. These are probably your WC 8 seeds. Still Dangerous = 7. Portugal, Croatia, Belgium, Mexico, Uruguay, Ghana, Russia. If they all make it (Uruguay struggling, Croatian/Belgium in same group). These are the teams you don't want to see at the WC in your group. Next level down: Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Ivory Coast, South Korea, Japan, USA, Greece, Switzerand, Denmark, Bosnia, Sweden. Still good teams, and can make some noise, but a step down in overall quality from the top 15 or so above. I'm sure someone can correctly point to some team I've overrated (England, perhaps) or underrated or not even listed, but I think you are doing Belgium a disservice. Still, that was hardly their best effort the other night, and some of their best offensive players didn't play or didn't start. But then again, we were without Donovan, Bradley, Fabian Johnson, and Cherundolo.
FWIW, lets take a look at the Belgium roster (either for this friendly or some of the players left off) GK: Courtois (Atletico Madrid), Mignolet (Sunderland), Gillet (Torino), Kaminiski (Anderlecht) D: Kompany (C-Manchester City), Van Buyten (ViceC: Bayern Munich), Vermaelen (Vice C: Arsenal); Vertonghen (Tottenham), Alderweirald (Ajax), Lombaerts (Zenit St. Petersburg), Gillet (Anderlecht), Pocognoli (Hannover 96), Simon (Standard Liege) M: Hazard (Chelsea), Fellaini (Everton), Witzel (Zenit St. Petersburg), Dembele (Tottenham), Simons (Nuremburg), Defour (Porto), Chadli (FC Twente). F. Benteke (Aston Villa), Lukaku (Chelsea), Mirallas (Everton), Mertens (PSV), De Bruyne (Werder Bremen), Vossen (Racing Genk). ======================= Courtois is the #1 goalie, not a bad gig at Atletico. In central defense, some combination of Kompany (Man City), Van Buyten (Bayern Munich), and Vermaelen (Arsenal). Obviously, a strength of any team there. One of the better 3 man CB rotations in the world, I'd say. No wonder they've only been scored on once. At FB , a bit weaker, particularly at RB. Still, Vertonghen (Tottenham) at LB and they've been going with Alderweirald (Ajax) lately. In midfield and attack. Lots of good options. Hazard (Chelsea), Benteke (Aston Villa), and De Bruyne (Werder Bremen) usually start. And pick three from Fellaini (Everton), Witsel (Zenit), Dembele (Tottenham), and Mertens (PSV) rounding out the MF and attack. Players like Lukaku (Chelsea), Mirallas (Everton), and Chadli (PSV) are attacking options off the bench. Again, save for RB, the Belgians are loaded.
well, with a depleted team (davis , goodson, even DMB, klaejestain, perhaps even zusi are not our best options as a first team)we managed to have a good result in the first half against the first beigium team (only without hazzard). for what i saw, a team of Guzan/howard, chandler/dolo, gonzo/besler, cameron, johnson/castillo then jones/edu, bradley, dempsey, donovan boyd , altidore is a much stronger team to deal in every point, with a proper management, of course. not talking of other players (besler, a proper developed shea, perhaos george john, mcarty, bruin,etc, etc ) . The differenve yesterday was the concentration and relative experience of the belgium team: at least 3 of the belgium goals could and should be avoided. what we need the most is not the players anymore:we have plenty of numbers, talent, athleticism and size already but we do not hire experienced coaches to fully develop our players mainly in our internal competitions(MLS, NASL) in tactical aspects.
We were missing three guys that always start (Hazard, Courtois and Witsel) as well as one guy who is one of Wilmots favorites (Chadli). There is a good chance all four would have played had they been available.
yeah, if you guys werent aware, your squad is scary. There are so many household names there. No joke a WC dark horse for me.
One thing is certain: that Belgium almost-A team was stronger than the German B/C side coming next. And tomorrow the USA will have more A teamers. It must be a tighter game. 2-1 for the Germans, maybe even a tie.
I checked the analysis in most of the papers and the consensus opinion seems to be that Belgium didn't play a particularly good game, certainly not in the first half. What they did do well according to the reporters was fully take advantage of the opportunities they were gifted.
I was broadly satisfied with the team's performance during the first half and change especially considering the tactics and some of the players used---Davis, Goodson, Zusi, Altidore at lone forward, etc. The 90 min run of play stats were good as well. It's unfortunate for Cameron he practiced at centerback and then played at right-back. I hope Klinsmann isn't doing this sort of thing come the Qualifiers. Obviously some changes need to be made on the backline and perhaps at goalkeeper.
There is a Danish soccer expression saying that 'a team is never stronger than its weakest link', which becomes even more obvious when a team is struck by injuries .... and the problem with this kind of ranking is that it reflect the value of a few top players but says absolutely nothing about depth... I mean, just look at how much Scotland seem to be worth in compare with teams that are obviously much more talented and have much more depth... .
1-1 against Belgium with 2-0 against Germany. It was good showing considering the unsettled roster and the missing players.