3 Questions

[Walter3000]

1.when the USMNT plays what are the usual formations, and SPECIFIC positions used, I can tell you who is likely to play and what their usual position is, but i think sometimes im not focused well on what they are actually playing for the USMNT. For example, what kind of midfield do we use, and so forth.

2. what the hell does a sweeper do. I always thought i knew, but i saw someone suggest mcbride as a sweeper, which totally confused the hell out of me.

3.who do people think are some young guys out there with prospects of being our next DM, in an armas type role.

[MJ 19]

I'll take a stab...

1. In regards to the midfield it really depends on the personnel. For the most part we have played with 4 midfielders (in a 4-4-2) in a diamond formation with flank midfielders on each side, a defensive midfielder, and an attacking midfielder. In WCQ for 2002, we also often used a box midfield meaning that we had four players more centrally without any wing or flank players. This was due to our lack of apparent talent on the flanks. It is likely we are going to stick with the diamond during this set of qualifiers with players like Beasley and Convey able to play wide left. The Right Midfield and outside back positions appear to be our weakest at this point.

2. A sweeper is usually the last defender. In the professional and international game, a sweeper is usually only utilized in a 3 man backline where the other two defenders are marking backs and usually play defense on each of the opposing strikers. No idea why you heard McBride was a sweeper, unless Fulham decided to do something drastic with him.

3. Prospects for DM - The ones that keep coming up are Ricardo Clark of the Metrostars and Danny Szetela of the U-17 residency camp. Szetela is supposedly getting a ton of offers in England. He has a polish passport via his mother and thus can get an EU work permit. I have watched him play in the U-17 world cup and besides Freddy, he was the other player scouts were drooling over. Some also say that Szetela is more of a Reyna type player than an Armas type.

Other names floated around include Beckerman of Colorado and the U-23 team, Logan Pause of Chicago, and that is all I can think of right now.

[Walter3000]

thanks for the reply. someone on one of these boards mentioned the mcbride thing, confused me, i knew better. who are the usual guys that play the right midfield for us? i know in the 3-5-2 arena likes hejduk on the wing, but im not too sure about the 4-4-2. in the box midfield is it actually like a square(2 up and 2 back), or is it a flat 4 across?

[appoo]

1.when the USMNT plays what are the usual formations, and SPECIFIC positions used, I can tell you who is likely to play and what their usual position is, but i think sometimes im not focused well on what they are actually playing for the USMNT. For example, what kind of midfield do we use, and so forth.

2. what the hell does a sweeper do. I always thought i knew, but i saw someone suggest mcbride as a sweeper, which totally confused the hell out of me.

3.who do people think are some young guys out there with prospects of being our next DM, in an armas type role.
I'll also attempt to answer......

1. I think our midfield is something of a 1 - 3 formation with no real pure attacking midfielders. the 1 would be a defensive midfielder, then you have lined up straight but the out side two tend to push forward a bit more than the guy in the middle. Unless Convey is the middle guy then our midfield looks like a Diamond with the A-Mid basically a withdrawn forward.

2. I would say the same thing as MJ 19. Havent' the faintest clue why someone would suggest McBride for sweeper as a sweeper has to do more than simply knock balls out of the air

3. Mulroony, Ricardo Clark, Danny Szetela, Memo Gonzalez could be an intriguing choice there if he ever gets PT, Kyle Beckerman was in the same Bradenton class as Landon and played that position for our U23s along with Logan Pause, Ned Grabavoy played the position for our U20s (but I don't think he did all that well, just my opinion though), Seth Trembley once upon a time started for Colorado in this role. Kelly Gray played there in his rookie year when Armas was out with a ACL, and almost won a rookie of the year award for his efforts

[appoo]

thanks for the reply. someone on one of these boards mentioned the mcbride thing, confused me, i knew better. who are the usual guys that play the right midfield for us? i know in the 3-5-2 arena likes hejduk on the wing, but im not too sure about the 4-4-2. in the box midfield is it actually like a square(2 up and 2 back), or is it a flat 4 across?
442

--------------Reyna------------
--RM---------JOB-------DMB---
------------------------------

Thats just a sample. Like I said before the we use two central mids, no true A-Mid, the RM and the LM are supposed to get up ther wings and create. the CM tries to intiate the attack with through balls. I don't think we've ever used 4 across.

RM is open. We;ve used Klein, Ralston, and Hejduk. I don't like any of them personally. I'd much rather see Donovan there. Or even Convey.

[Martin Fischer]

I'll also attempt to answer......

...3. Mulroony, Ricardo Clark, Danny Szetela, Memo Gonzalez could be an intriguing choice there if he ever gets PT, Kyle Beckerman was in the same Bradenton class as Landon and played that position for our U23s along with Logan Pause, Ned Grabavoy played the position for our U20s (but I don't think he did all that well, just my opinion though), Seth Trembley once upon a time started for Colorado in this role. Kelly Gray played there in his rookie year when Armas was out with a ACL, and almost won a rookie of the year award for his efforts

Memo Gonzalez can in no way or shape be a dmid. At best, he can combine in central midfield with a much tougher midfielder. He lacks the workrate to have any significant defensive responsibilities.

On the other hand, Clark and Szetela would be an amazing central midfield combination.

[CUS]

Once upon a time, when teams would play a 4 man backfield, one central defender would drop back 10-15 yds from the other three and play the position called a 'sweeper'. The other central defender--because he was man-marking the central forward--was called the 'stopper'. The advantage to this set up was if you get a guy (like, oh say, Franz Beckenbauer) who can read the game really well would 'sweep' any passes that got through the defense. He would also be available to pick up any man with the ball that got through as well as being the only guy responsible for the offside trap.

This formation has gone the way of the Dodo bird as most teams with a 4 man backline use a flat-back 4 (or zonal) scheme. The big disadvantage to the sweeper/stopper is that now the offside line is moved 10-15 yds closer to the keeper, therefore making it more difficult for the defense to keep any outside attackers offside, and easier to attack the back of the defense on the wings. Mostly though, it opens up a pocket between the sweeper and the defensive line that diagonal runs in front of the sweeper can be used to send attacker through.

I see a lot of this in youth games as it can be VERY effective. Most kids haven't learned to exploit the space yet, and the sweeper doesn't really have to be that fast. He just needs to be first to space.