Pre-match: USA vs Costa Rica, September 6th 2013

First, you want your replacements in camp as soon as you need them in case of injury or suspension. Second, this is a two game block over a weekend so JK will get most of a week to work with the team. Even without the three new players to integrate (Landon, Brooks, AJ) getting that much time with your full national A team is coaching gold. I think he will call in 25+ players before the CR match and keep them till after the Mexico match.

 

You have to think so. With 10 players on a yellow, you don't want to find yourself down a number of players without being prepared.

 

I see many (most?) people's 23s not including Kljestan. I know he's not Mr. Popularity around here but with Jones and Bradley both a yellow card away from missing the Mexico game I see no way he's not called in.

 

Question for @ Excellency and @ckl26 do you guys watch Mix at Rosenborg at all? I have watched three Rosenborg games this year and I swear it looks as if Mix is playing a 6 for them. While there was a time when a person could rightfully say that he never saw a tackle he would not shy away from he has worked hard on that aspect of his game. He will never be a bone crunching tackler but he has picked up his defense considerably.

The meme that 'he plays soft ' is outdated, sure he gets knocked off the ball some but he also draws fouls and Jones gets knocked off the ball and if he does not get a foul, he is going to just lay there for a bit. At least mix bounces up maybe raises his hand in a WTF gesture or not and keeps on playing. Not saying he is a better CM than JJ but he is not as soft as people are implying.

Maybe you should change the word 'professional" to top flight, since he does have more than just two games of professional soccer. The BL2 is not big four, but it is not a pub league either. There are probably a number of first division Euro leagues, as well as MLS, that are not much if any better than the BL2. I am pretty certain the BL2 does not have to promote ball watching CBs. I can live with OG if we have to, just like GC, but with Brooks it is beginning to look like we will not have to.

Since OG took the DP designation at LA I do not look for him to improve much on his poor habits since he will not be challenged like JAB will. I mean you think guys like Wondo or EJ would even make the 18 in the BL? JAB will regularly play against some of the best strikers in the world. The WC will be a step up for an MLSer but it will be just another day at the office for a BL player. They face that kind of player every week.

 

You're wildly, wildly overrating the BL2 and somewhat overstating OG's defensive issues. And until JAB actually starts playing a bunch in the BL, your point about regularly playing against the best strikers in the world is moot.

Nobody is saying JAB isn't an excellent prospect, because he is, but the idea that we should just start him nownownow is off.

 

I always take these "my future is with X" lines with a grain of salt. We have one or two players now on the US team who said the same about Mexico. That said, I agree with you that at this point, his incentives mostly line up with committing quickly to the US and getting as much playing time as possible rather than playing both sides while the clock winds down on his chance to play for either team in Brazil. If nothing else, Germany's depth so far exceeds the US's that it's a lot easier to play a friendly with Germany and switch to the US than it is to play a friendly with the US and switch to Germany.

 

I never said we should start him now. I do not find it totally unreasonable though. I may over rate the BL2, but I do think they are better than Norway, Denmark, or Austria. Those are all leagues where we have players who have regularly started for us.

JAB may flop in the BL, but it is not likely, and he will get that chance for certain. We have no other CB you can say that about. Maybe it was true about OG once upon a time, but those days appear to be gone. I do not see a Dp on the best team in a mediocre league being forced to up his game to keep his minutes.

If he had already resolved those issues then his DP status would not cause me such concerns, but lets be honest, there are very very few strikers if any in MLS that would even sniff the gameday 18 in the BL. I can't see how that is going to help OG improve. I think at this point his ball watching is a chronic problem that is unlikely to get resolved. If GC does not play CB any for Stoke I would say the same about him too.

 

let me add an ethnic perspective: the fact that all of these joint German/American players are half black is highly relevant. There is not a lot of black culture in Germany whereas it is a very strong part of USA history and culture. That guys who are half black are especially interested in the USA and might want to play for the USA is not at all strange. Germany has changed a LOT and it is a very tolerant society now, but there is essentially no black history or culture in Germany.

 

While it is true we have more diverse racial heritage, a great deal of that heritage is nothing to be proud. If that is a draw then Germany must not teach much on the struggles of Afro- Americans in the US.

 

Better to have bad history than no history at all.

 

I disagree completely. The point is we have a very rich Afro-American culture. Germany simply has none.

 

and it is not just about history, it is more about culture.

 

That heritage has much to be proud of.

 

I would say this is the truth with many coaches. I think Zusi will be called in, but I do not think that JK will hesitate putting LD in the starting position. He may want to be loyal to certain players who helped him out in a pinch and did reasonably well, but I doubt that is going to influence his desire to win.

 

Fair enough, I think our history in that area is wanting, but I do believe there may be something to that theory. You use the word rich I would use the word sordid. I also think you fail to factor the fact that most of these guys chose us secondn when the German option was no longer available. Brooks might be the only one in fact that still had a chance to play for DFB when he chose USA and he is still not cap tied although I think it is likely to happen in CR.

 

it is partly sordid, partly wonderful. I don't dispute that. But there IS a history and a culture to which these guys can belong.

 

The answer to your question is no.

However, I have noted, in the GC, that he is taking steps to compensate for whatever deficiency he had that tagged him with the soft label. These steps will come to fruition at some point and we will see what we have. In the meantime I would continue calling him up.

 

not all sordid: going from slave to an African American President is impressive. Rich culture of music and the arts is not sordid. If you know your history, African Americans fought in the Revolution, fought HARD in the Civil War. It is a wonderful and complex history.

 

Ok then but who has chosen us when they still had a chance to play for Germany? I think Brooks is the onlyy one and his prospects were merely good with little or no chance to make Brazil whereas we offer him the chance to nott only make Brazil but to possibly start. all that measn to me is they chose their best chance to make a WC team not out of any allegiance to the USA, but out of a love and desire to play football at the highest level.

I really think it boils down to as simple as littel or no chance for Germany and a very good chance for the USA. It has very little to do with race relations except that German women seem to like men with a deep hue to their skin.

 

Brooks and Johnson. I think it VERY likely that Johnson could make the cut for Germany. He is a freakin good player.

 

Ok you win I am not going any more OT posts on racial relations in this thread.

 

Fab is great but he's not an A/A- player for Germany. He likely would've been one of those guys who would've played against us at RFK for Germany had he not chose to play for us. That team was mostly Bundesliga standout which is where Johnson is.

 

we can never know, but I think he would have gotten a lot of caps for Germany.

 

Yup. Fab could have gotten a cap or two for Germany. If Jones hadn't had the extended injury problems, perhaps he could have gotten a few more too?

Brooks? There's a reason he wasn't selected to their recent Euro U21 team. They have other really good young players. Can Brooks progress to the point of being a Germany-caliber player. Maybe, we'll see. But I don't think anybody in Germany is crying into their bratwurst because they lost Brooks.....................................