USMNT V Scotland Lineup Prediction

Our roster is 23 guys. But Altidore and Dempsey are out. Futhermore, Parkhurst and Goodson are said to not be available since they just arrived. That leaves only 19 players.

If one of the keepers is left out (Rimando or Guzan) then we know the rest of our 18.

I know Klinsmann said he'd treat this like a tournament, but personally I'd really like to see all the available field players get some playing time. I really don't care if we win, I want to test everyone out and make sure we have fresh legs for our subsequent games.

It looks like either Klinsmann's starting XI is something like this for the next 5 matches, or he has returned to seniority for assigning numbers.

--------------------Gomez--------------------
------Corona-------Donovan-------Edu------
-----------Cherundolo----Dempsey-----------
Bocanegra---Onyewu---Bradley---Parkhurst
--------------------Howard--------------------

Being Scottish, i would love to see Onyewu play - he's terrible. All he has going for him is his size...

Hmmmm...

Well he's a probable starter, I fear there is a widespread misconception concerning Onyewu in the British media due to his Newcastle stint and the 2 year period it took for him to recover from his knee injury (which hindered him in South Africa).

You'll be happier if you see Goodson, he's the size guy.

Well he rotted in the reserves at AC Milan and it took him quite some time to get back from his knee injury. He wasn't 100% during the 2010 World Cup. This season he's been Sporting Lisbon's best CB.

I'm here in the US, so i am basing my opinion on what i have seen for him in the USMNT too, not just Newcastle.

I've just never rated him. Clumsy, and error prone.

What's your prediction for the Scottish lineup?

Well maybe so but he's probably the best CB the USMNT have. Goodson is slooooow and more clumsy. Parkhurst has been converted to a fullback, just doesn't have the physical attributes to play in the center defense. Cameron is unproven at this level. Omar Gonzalez is injured, Tim Ream needs "rest" and still needs to improve some things. That and captain Bocanegra is still doing well but is slowing down.

The last friendly vs Italy, while the US played the offside trap well Giovinco torched Boca and Goodson. The clean sheet was a great accomplishment but I think it masked the glaring hole at the position.

It's still pretty thin at that position. There is a need for a young CB to step up.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/05/25/armchair-analyst-pre-scotland-us-stock-watch

Today's Armchair Analyst column suggests that JK may be off the 4-3-3 and thinking about using two strikers.

Add to that the JK praise for Wondo in a widely quoted story,
http://www.mercurynews.com/earthquakes/ci_20711672

and maybe we'll see Boyd and Wondo up top in a 4-4-2?

Alright guys, heres some interesting things I saw today at training. They could mean alot in terms of who starts tomarrow.
Before I get to things about tomarrow, I was very confused to see that Williams was still training & not only did he stay with the team unlike zusi, juan, & morales, he trained full boar. Dempsey, Goodson, & Parhurst trained seperately & the "injured" williams trained as if nothing was wrong, although he shot every single ball 15 ft over the bar. So take that as a bit of odd info. I found it interesting.
First off out of the 4 players I said i'd watch closely (Gomez, Corona, Boyd, Wondo), Gomez & Corona Impressed me. They had a good session. Gomez finished just about everything that came to him. He had a good header snapped down in the scrimmage. Rimando was good to save it though (got some spectacular reflexes if youve seen him in person). Corona scored in the scrimmage, very composed & did pretty decently. Gomez & Corona played well, yes, but something alluded to me that perhaps Boyd will be starting. I will get to this after I tell you how he did. He had a few nice moments. One play that impressed me was a set up header he put off to Corona. However, he missed a sitter (header) in scrimmage & had a few wayward passes. As ive said previously after watching him a few times. His tactical side is there already which is what makes him a valuable option, but his technical side in terms of skill & ability is still of a young player or raw if you will. What makes me think he may be the starter up top tomarrow night you ask? Torres, Donovan, & Boyd participated in crossing & shooting at the end while the rest shot on Rimando. He didnt really do that well considering he was within the 6 for most chances. I noticed something else that could mean something in terms of the line up aswell as Gomez & Wondo were in the passing drill together. Could be random choice but maybe not. Wondolowski missed 2 sitters in the scrimmage btw, lol, smh right? BUT I would say he finished better than Boyd in the finishing drills. When the team participated in the crossing/scrimmage drill, Castillo & Donovan started the game wide & then were changed out.
After tonight im at a loss as to who will start tbh. I think this might be it...
Howard
C-Lo Gooch Boca Johnson
Bradley Torres Jones
Corona Donovan
Boyd

But I liked Gomez tn, I'd like to see him start somehow.
I think thats about it. Ask some questions if you want. I was happy to go to the training session & to the game tm (floor seats son). This was the last session before we start playing so theres alot different talking points.

Thanks for the report.

1. What made you decide there might be only one forward?
2. What other evidence are you able to offer that this might be the lineup and
formation?
3. This is a very defensive oriented lineup. It's a bit like the one Ives suggested.
Any additional thoughts?

Well, with Donovan & Boyd working together while Torres served in balls, I get the feeling that drill is probably more telling than most things I saw. Torres & Donovan are expected to be pretty key. For the youngster, Boyd to be in there, well it says alot. Donovan could start up top with Boyd but Corona being the only attacking mid seems to be a little to big of a role for a player in his first time in camp. Unfortunately, I could very well see an Ives-esque line-up.
Why? Perhaps Torres in a drill with LD & Boyd is a hint that he could be played in an attacking role & a player like Edu or Beckerman could slot in... That was another way I looked at it earlier but thought, Ives couldnt be right with that assertion. Maybe he gets lucky. I certainly would not want to see that though. Not real good signs if you look at it that way huh?

really hard to project without injured/late arriving players and having no idea how klinsmann plans on lining up.

with torres back healthy, and his quote about every pass running through him, i think he's likely to be used as the 8, or linking mid. the first few matches after klinsmann took over, we played a 4-1-3-1-1 with 1 clearly defined d-mid (#6) shielding the two cb's, 1 clearly defined linking mid (#8) coordinating play through the middle 1/3 and advancing the ball to the attacking 1/3, and 1 clearly defined attacking mid (#10). torres probably has the best skill set in the player pool to play that #8 (an argument could be made for holden, but who knows) and with him back, i think klinsmann probably wants to return to that system.

so perhaps something like:
------------------boyd/gomez/wondo
-----------------------donovan
castillo----------------torres----bradley
------------------------jones
johnson--------boca--------onyewu--------dolo

i have no idea though, its pretty hard to project for this upcoming match, and even harder once everyone is back and healthy. the christmas tree that they used in the scrimmage earlier in the week is certainly intriguing...
-------------------altidore
----------dempsey--------donovan
------jones---------torres--------bradley
johnson-------boca------onyewu--------dolo
with jones and bradley nominally behind and protecting torres, allowing him to get forward and facilitate play. or perhaps edu as the d-mid in the middle staying at home and allowing jones and bradley to get forward.

I hope we seriously don't consider going defensive at home, against a-not-so-great-but-okay Scotland side.

You know, Klinsmann's a hard one to follow (for better and worse). The only two things with him that I'm sure of at this point is that he loves his defensive midfielders and he loves his quotes.

Yes, a world class striker-turned-coach just loves DMs on this squad. Can never get enough of them, either on the field or on the roster.

Bradley > Edu

Bradley > Beckerman

Bradley > Jones

Their professional records would say otherwise. This is the first year it's actually debatable imho. Either way, I definitely want them both starting during important games.

I think we're going to see a 4-1-3-2.

------Boyd----Wondo------
Jones---Torres---Donovan
----------Bradley-----------
Johnson-Boca-Gooch-Cherlo
----------Howard------------

Maybe some variation in there, like Corona for Jones or Gomez for Wondo, but I hope JK goes with a pair of forwards up top.

Not so sure about that.

You could be right. And I am so in hate with that idea.

Love it, but the last one is up for debate. But I would say that Bradley has generally out shown Jones in international play.

1-0 victory or 0-1 defeat coming your way baby! *reverse jinx*

I'd imagine that personnel lining up more like this:

4-4-2 diamond

-------Boyd----Wondo------
----------Donovan-----------
---Torres------Bradley------
------------Jones------------
Johnson-Boca-Gooch-Cherlo
----------Howard------------

I'm of the opinion that if Jones and Bradley are playing together, Jones is the #6 and Bradley is a 2-way mid like he often plays for club. Jones is out of position at LM, as well as Torres right behind the strikers.