If JK wants folks to firmly establish themselves among the most important members of their respective club sides, I think you can argue that Sacha and Mix fit that description...though we may not be sure where Mix will be next year. I think it's harder to argue that Benny fits that description, though. Seemed to me that most were disappointed in his season, and his club was more than willing to part ways w/ him. Kind of reminds me of Freddy's situation, where I argue that whether they played well enough or not, both did play better than they get credit for (both suffered from poor finishing by those they created chances for). Benny, of course, has found a new team, one that he may do really well at. I'm just saying that I'm not sure he's done enough, if the criteria is club play. I do think he clearly adds something to the attack (if that, rather than club play, is the criteria). Wherever any of these three guys are played by their clubs, each may be a little more attack-minded than our current lot. Sacha, I know, would like to play more like a CAM, but that role is currently filled for his club side. Clint Eastwood noted that Benny and Mix were at camp cupcake, but were apparently deemed lacking by JK (at least they got a look). Personally, of guys JK seems willing to look at, I'd have Benny in my 18 and maybe even my 11. He's the only guy in the past few games whose passes had me saying, "this guy's got vision and may just be able to unlock defenses". I'd be fine seeing what Joe Benny can do too (or even JFT). When I have watched him, I haven't been as impressed as I expected to be, given what I'd heard. But my sample size is small, and I think we're all for at least *trying* to inject a little more creativity into our attack. Give it a shot and see if it works... (Though I do wish we'd experimented before qualifiers.)
This might work. Even if some think Clint is better up top. Remove Williams. Clint's in the hole. Add Herc up top. Sounds better to me.
I watch all of the national team games, and I have not seen much proof of this. I know he had one great pass for an assist vs Honduras, but the only other time I remember being impressed by a creative play from Jones was a bombed ball to Jozy on his debut. I must admit I haven't watched many Schalke matches lately, but isn't there usually a CAM playing in front of him? I'd be fine with Jones on the field, I just want someone more creative as the forward most midfielder. If I had it my way, Dempsey would be playing in front of Bradley and Jones. I think we need someone playing in front of Bradley and Jones. Probably Dempsey. The problem is we have Williams behind Jones and Bradley instead of a creator in front of them. I would have Dempsey in the midfield too, but I'd probably start the match with Bradley and Jones behind him rather than playing with 2 strikers. I'd want Dempsey at striker if we are going to put two strikers on the field.
He also had a 1-touch 30yd switch field that freed EJ for the cross that Jozy almost scored on 3 minutes before the sublime assist to Deuce. What did Sacha do in his stint v Honduras besides losing every 1v1 duel he was involved in?
Jones has 2 goals and 5 assists in 22 games worth of minutes for the US. Very productive especially considering the surrounding players. The general idea with Dempsey in midfield would be: ------------Altidore----Herc -------Dempesey--------------F-Johnson -------------Bradley---Edu 442 with Dempsey cutting inside, Herc playing the all action Andy Johnson role and Fabian Johnson providing the width both ways, and the deep mids shifting left to provide cover for Dempsey. A variation would be pulling one of the forwards and having Jones in the 10 spot.
Kljestan has been productive for the US when played centrally. It's just a numbers game really. And JK needs stop trying to fit square pegs into round holes.
Adu, Feilhaber, Shea, Mix have all shown they can bring something off the bench. Not all need be called in at once but one or two of these types of players need to on the bench.
We have at least 30 players in our pool that can be "productive" that is not the question. The question is which players are going to help us create scoring chances. Sacha last played centrally at GC2011. How many scoring chances and assists did he create?
No. Productive as in creating goals when played in central midfield at international level. Kljestan demonstrated last cycle he could do this.
To me, Twellman was a horrible finisher with a great sense for the goal, a very, very poor version of Gerd Müller or Pippo Inzhagi. On the international scene, he was not going to get as many chances to score because the marking is a lot better than in MLS - not necessarily as physical at times but more alert (as we had found with Omar Gonzalez, who chose the wrong time to take a lunch break). In MLS, for all his scoring, TT probably converted no more than one in five clear cut chances. As to the lower level "8" vs. a higher tier "6 1/2", the idea is that you get a better rounded performance from a more rounded player, so even if Freddy or Benny F. is better than JJ in the attacking third - and they may not be that either - they don't offer the overall contribution that JJ does. FWIW, Klinsmann played the same Williams, Bradley, Jones midfield vs. Russia and it worked pretty well. Of course, he then also had speed on top with Gatt and Gomez. In which case, the problem isn't Bradley-Williams-Jones but he without speed. And "he without speed" scored the only goal for the US vs. Honduras.
This. When we've gotten our central midfielders past the opponent's central midfielders and running at the defense, they've been deadly. I still think we can retain the defensive midfielder behind them. We just need to use our wide/attacking midfielders to play around the opponent in the midfield, similar to what occured against Scotland. As tired as that team was, Juergen got things correct tactically that game. Jose Torres played in a free role and drew pressure from the Scottish central midfield, which allowed our own central midfield to sneak past them in support of Donovan and Boyd. Why that formula hasn't been featured again is a mystery to me, but it should be, in my book. Torres could easily give us exactly what we've been missing in away matches in CONCACAF - someone who can put their foot on the ball and direct play, just like he did against Costa Rica in 2009.
I'd love to see it. And while some are afraid he's not physical enough to cope w/ European defenders at the WC, for now we're talking about Concacaf.
The key is movement. He attempts to draw pressure from opposition players in order to open up space for somebody else to move into. This worked really well against Scotland. Their central midfield would take their eye off of Bradley or Jones, and Jose would find them. He also worked really well as a pass out of pressure. The free role he had worked perfectly for him. He's a player outside of the midfield battle who can take pressure off of those who are in it. I really feel like he could help us take the game by the scruff of the neck away from home in CONCACAF.
Nothing special about Torres' role. Scotland gave him the freedom to get forward and combine. Not so much freedom in the Brazil game. I saw the first half of the Tigres however. JFT was killing it. The message from Bob Bradley and now Klinsmann may be through to him. He was getting after it and being 'proactive'--really acting as that driving force from deep midfield. Tigres are 1st on the LigaMx table. Klinsmann gave him a role as a 10 type at Azteca. He's not an attacker. Could be a peach of deep mid paired with destroyer like Edu or Williams. Jones, Kljestan, and Mix have shown something as goal creators however. One of them might be effective in that 10 spot.
JFT is another player that gets bashed because he is often played out of position. He's an amazing player, but he has Michael Bradley in front of him when it comes to deep lying playmakers.
If JFT continues improving, then he could certainly challenge for starting deep spot. The empty bucket of the previous cycle didn't shift to provide cover for Dempsey, which is one of the reasons for the comparatively shambolic defensive record. Of course the destroyer would in contrast to the previous cycle play as a destroyer.
Honduras U23s did beat Spain and really should have put Brazil away. There's certainly some quality and coaching there.
They play to their strengths: close ball control, short passing, and tricks to go around defenders when changing rhythm in attack. Obstructing the passes, man-marking and flopping to the ground as needed in defense. Smart teams play to their strengths, instead of trying to change the "culture" in order to create a different and own "style."
We also know a lot of the Honduran players have a level of quality. A lot of them have either come thru or MLS or are currently in MLS. The development of MLS has been a boon for many of the teams in the region. A player like Roger Espinoza was developed in the US system since he was 12. He played US high school soccer, JUCO soccer at Yavapai College, NPSL soccer with the Arizona Sahuaros, NCAA soccer at Ohio State, and was then in MLS for 4-5 years. A similar story can be made for Andy Najar of course. And this trend will continue. MLS has done wonders for a lot of the Jamaican players as well. You look at their forward crop with Omar Cummings, Darren Mattocks, Ryan Johnson, etc. Ryan Johnson moved to the US when he was an infant, and has been completely developed in the US. We see the quality of Jamaican MLS players all the time like JeVaughn Watson, Jermaine Taylor, Donovan Ricketts, etc...................and yet people sometimes seem surprised that they give the USMNT trouble.
Yeah, Honduras is good. Save for the flopping, I enjoy watching them play. It would have been interesting to have seen how we would have fared had we made the Olympics. I suspect we'd have had as good a shot as any. I thought we were better than Honduras and were unlucky against them, and we clearly outclassed Mexico, for one single game at least. Re: JFT. He's always reminded me a bit of a poor man's Claudio Reyna (who was also regularly criticized for not attacking enough, though that wasn't really his role, except for maybe early on at Rangers). Whoever we use, a deeper lying guy like JFT, or a more attacking fellow, I think folks just want a little more potential oomph in our lineup.
Jeez.... right when I think I am over him, and he's passed it.... I have to watch something that just pulls me bakc in! His game vs. Panama... unreal. Great touches, vision, ability to escape defenders, to open passes like the last one towards the end with a Bradley rushing the box.... magic. He really needs to fix his career... because this is the guy we need as our '10' as the third CM that JK likes to use.....
No it didn't. Williams gave up a goal with a crap back-pass and the U.S. only tied late because of a goal from Mix.
We don't Freddy Adu as a '10'. We desperately need someone like him coming of the bench for 20 or so minutes however. Could be him or Mix or Agudelo. The Graham Zusis of are not going to turn a game no matter how 'proactive' of a player they are.