Armas, Hejduk what?

[papa surf]

No really, after Arjen Robbin turned Frankie inside and out and after that goal from his side on him, what do you think will happen against the Mexicans. Is Armas Arena's next Agoos? Is he hanging with a guy too long to give him a World Cup spot out of appreciation. And Jovan has shown me ZERO, Aleko Eskadarian deserves a shot over mister overated Jovan. Even though they are different positions it still needs to be so.

[onefineesq]

I don't want to disrespect the hustle of either of those players. I appreciate that they are great Americans and I give them all the credit for doing their absolute best. However, if they are starters in 2006, we're dead.

[papa surf]

Yes your right, I also dont want to disrespect them. frankie was the man in the Cup for me, meaning his heart and attitude were" Forget getting the euro's respect we come to take it from them". I was upset for Chris not able to go. BUT my thoughts are directed towards Arena, what is in his head? Frankie and Chris are beter than me so ...

[sch2383]

No really, after Arjen Robbin turned Frankie inside and out and after that goal from his side on him, what do you think will happen against the Mexicans. Is Armas Arena's next Agoos? Is he hanging with a guy too long to give him a World Cup spot out of appreciation. And Jovan has shown me ZERO, Aleko Eskadarian deserves a shot over mister overated Jovan. Even though they are different positions it still needs to be so.
To Heydude's defense, Robben makes a lot of people look like idiots and that is why Chelsea is going to play a very large sum of money for him.

As for Kirvoski, I agree. When he is with the Nats, he is just an empty uniform who has no real role in any formation Bruce uses.

[papa surf]

right i geuss i am a little hard on Frankie, robben is sick, After that game I was in shock, hope is can carry it through, be level headed and all. I just dont know what goes through the head of Bruce. Jovan in the MLS looks out of sorts at times.

[TAKK]

Bruce is the coach. Frankie is actually understandable given his heart and experience. Jovan is getting what probably is his last real chance. Bruce has definitely not catered to him over the years, but....
ARMAS IS A F'N JOKE. ANYONE WHO FOLLOWS THESE THREADS KNOW THAT PAGES CAN BE WRITTEN ABOUT HIS COMPLETE INABILITY TO PLAY AT THE NATS LEVEL. IT IS OBVIOUS TO ANYONE WHO KNOWS THE GAME. I WILL NOT GO OVER OLD OBVIOUS GARBAGE. BRUCE LUCKED OUT ON THE INJURY BEFORE THE CUP AND WE STILL HAVE OUR "GOOSE". DIFFERENCE IS THAT GOOSE COULD ACTUALLY PLAY WELL AGAINST MOST OF CONCACAF. It was just versus top clubs where he was a liability.

ARMAS SUCKS B*LLS! I have never called for your head Bruce, but the first time one of our midfielders gets crushed and injured because of one of his hospital balls, or the first time one of defensive guys get's hurt or looks stupid because of one of his two dozen give aways per game in a qualifier... I say enough of you.
You have done so much for our program, but have shown a couple of China Wall size blind spots. It does not get bigger than Armas. A shame, a joke, an embarrassment. An actual reason to call for your head. Yes Bruce, it's that obvious and bad. Maybe you have taken it as far as you can. Maybe injuries have made you a personnel "genius" by accident. Time to start seriously doubting. Ridiculous.

[Martin Fischer]

Bruce is the coach. Frankie is actually understandable given his heart and experience. Jovan is getting what probably is his last real chance. Bruce has definitely not catered to him over the years, but....
ARMAS IS A F'N JOKE. ANYONE WHO FOLLOWS THESE THREADS KNOW THAT PAGES CAN BE WRITTEN ABOUT HIS COMPLETE INABILITY TO PLAY AT THE NATS LEVEL. IT IS OBVIOUS TO ANYONE WHO KNOWS THE GAME. I WILL NOT GO OVER OLD OBVIOUS GARBAGE. BRUCE LUCKED OUT ON THE INJURY BEFORE THE CUP AND WE STILL HAVE OUR "GOOSE". DIFFERENCE IS THAT GOOSE COULD ACTUALLY PLAY WELL AGAINST MOST OF CONCACAF. It was just versus top clubs where he was a liability.

ARMAS SUCKS B*LLS! I have never called for your head Bruce, but the first time one of our midfielders gets crushed and injured because of one of his hospital balls, or the first time one of defensive guys get's hurt or looks stupid because of one of his two dozen give aways per game in a qualifier... I say enough of you.
You have done so much for our program, but have shown a couple of China Wall size blind spots. It does not get bigger than Armas. A shame, a joke, an embarrassment. An actual reason to call for your head. Yes Bruce, it's that obvious and bad. Maybe you have taken it as far as you can. Maybe injuries have made you a personnel "genius" by accident. Time to start seriously doubting. Ridiculous.

I am sure the sheer brillance and logic of this will either convince Arena to change his ways or resign. Great job MAN!

[TAKK]

I am sure the sheer brillance and logic of this will either convince Arena to change his ways or resign. Great job MAN!

Thank you.

[m vann]

This is a damn friendly people. The result, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't matter. Just because Armas and Hejduk are on the roster now dosen't mean they'll be there come qualification, even though I think they will be marginal selections. This is a test for Hejduk and Armas. They are playing to be included in qualification and that's what it boils down to. Arena is no idiot, he knows qualification is around the corner and he's probably called in mostly MLS players to cut or trim his marginal players before WCQ starts. He's working on a plan and I feel he'll execute that plan.

[forza inter]

honestly, i think hejduk will bounce back. i think he will play well against mexico. we have all been hard on him since the holland game, and ill agree ive been there too. however i think were forgetting quite what he is capable of. i am confident with him against mexico. however, now albright is fighting for nat time as a right back. which is cool, good for him. he is showing his versatility for la and as a result helping the us find more dependable defenders(one of our more shallow areas). id like to see them both out there for quality halves at right back. they can both attack as weve seen. go get em boys. as for armas, i dont know what happened to him. his play has fallen as of late. hes not the same ballwinner i knew. maybe i was just blinded from his shortcomings before, but we need to look elsewhere for his position i think. honestly, i think reyna does a great job at the "armas spot" . ive never really liked reyna on the field as the other center mid, the offenseive one, but in the poland game he was really on top of stuff in the hole. maybe a switch is in order. then with reyna in taht spot as a holder, convey of job or whomever with real offensive vision can play the playmaker spot. not a bad idea.



forza inter

[jri]

(heydude) Bounce back? to what?

Frankie's going
D
O
W
N
H
I
L
L

[forza inter]

we'll see. he still has good socer left in him. i know it.




forza inter

[SJEarthquakes]

As for Armas, the only time he could play at the NAT level was before he tore his ACL. Every since then he hasn't really played the way he did. He came back slowly to MLS. It's too bad during the one chance het got he blew out his knee. I just feel Mastroeni was doing a better job, but since there haven't been recent games on TV that I could watch, I don't know if there's anyone else out there.

[Casper]

(heydude) Bounce back? to what?

Frankie's going
D
O
W
N
H
I
L
L
Frankie's not old, and to my eyes, hasn't lost any speed. If you want to argue against Frankie playing in WCQ matches, the argument isn't that he's going downhill - Earnie, Cobi, Joe-Max, Goos, and Llamosa were all heading downhill during the last round of qualifiers, and they were all critical to our qualifying success.

The argument against Frankie's conclusion has to be: there's someone better, and here is their name:

Make THAT list. Among MLS-based players, so that they were realistically in a position to be called up for this game. Bruce has tried Victorine and Albright on the right, and looked at Kotschau recently. One can argue that Burciaga is climbing the list of people to look at, but look at the other wing back callups for the December and January camps - Dunivant, Orlando Perez, Whitfield. I'll try to get Chris Leitch and Jay Heaps on the phone for you, maybe they'll be willing to come in for a game. Bruce calls in CJ Brown a couple times every couple of years. Waibel? Franchino? Agoos? Whom do you want to see? Ricky Lewis? Jeff Parke and Chris Wingert?

I'm not saying that none of those guys are better than Frankie, but we have to be a little bit realistic about our options, or just commit ourselves to playing a 3-5-2. We have the players for it - overloaded at defensive mid and central back, and a left midfielder who's great for that system. If Mathis got better as an a-mid in a 3-5-2 and someone fit the bill better wide right, we'd have something.

[Detective40oz]

This is a damn friendly people. The result, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't matter. Just because Armas and Hejduk are on the roster now dosen't mean they'll be there come qualification, even though I think they will be marginal selections. This is a test for Hejduk and Armas. They are playing to be included in qualification and that's what it boils down to. Arena is no idiot, he knows qualification is around the corner and he's probably called in mostly MLS players to cut or trim his marginal players before WCQ starts. He's working on a plan and I feel he'll execute that plan.

Anytime you play against Mexico it isn't "just a damn friendly" there is pride and a rivalry to uphold. It would also be nice to avenge the horrible loss our U-23's took in Mexico that knocked us out of the Olympics. It's no consolation for me to post 2-0 in a thread after we got our asses handed to us by the Mexicans like it is for some other BS posters. I disagree, Bruce knows exactly what Armas and Frankie bring to the table, there is no need for him to bring them in to evaluate them, that's what he has done the past 4 years, and he can watch them every weekend on the TV.

[Martin Fischer]

Anytime you play against Mexico it isn't "just a damn friendly" there is pride and a rivalry to uphold. It would also be nice to avenge the horrible loss our U-23's took in Mexico that knocked us out of the Olympics.

Once again, BA thinks the health of his Euro-players and their continued playing time is more important than "nice."

It's no consolation for me to post 2-0 in a thread after we got our asses handed to us by the Mexicans like it is for some other BS posters.

I don't know what your issues with Mexico are, but I don't think that BA cares if it is hard for you to post after the game. I know I don't.

I disagree, Bruce knows exactly what Armas and Frankie bring to the table, there is no need for him to bring them in to evaluate them, that's what he has done the past 4 years, and he can watch them every weekend on the TV.

B.S. Armas and Frankie were players who were useful in qualifiers. Both have recently given indications that they might not be in the future. I think this is an excellent chance to test that.

[Cantankerous]

Anytime you play against Mexico it isn't "just a damn friendly" there is pride and a rivalry to uphold. It would also be nice to avenge the horrible loss our U-23's took in Mexico that knocked us out of the Olympics.
I would suggest that beating Mexico in a friendly doesn't come anywhere close to avenging a loss in a meaningful tournament. That one's going to sting for a long time.

[m vann]

My point about it being just a "damn friendly" is this: we should be less worried about the actual scoreline and most interested in how the squad played and which players blended well together. Sure I wanna beat the crap out of Mexico but there's other intanglibles that are just as or more important than the scoreline.

[purojogo]

My point about it being just a "damn friendly" is this: we should be less worried about the actual scoreline and most interested in how the squad played and which players blended well together. Sure I wanna beat the crap out of Mexico but there's other intanglibles that are just as or more important than the scoreline.
Agree, so why try old timers like Hedjuk....We know what he can (and especially what he can't give us) .....Can't some "diamond in the rough" be tried in that position? As long as it's not Albright, I'd be fine with anybody else....

[TAKK]

I disagree, Bruce knows exactly what Armas and Frankie bring to the table, there is no need for him to bring them in to evaluate them, that's what he has done the past 4 years, and he can watch them every weekend on the TV.

Through all of my insane rantings this is the simple point which needs to be dwelled on. It just does not make any sense. Bruce has "wasted" way too much time on these guys in the last 2 tears. They are what they are, and they will never change. Frankie can still play for us, but Bruce really didn't search hard to replace him. Armas was bad before the injury. He couldn't pass or make decisions at the Nats level then or now. Our expectations were too low after 98 and people accepted that he was the best we had BS. Infuriating. At Nats level he has always been a boy among men. Bye. Bye.
PS - Bringing in the "cut from the same mold average MLS guy" to try out at right back is not looking. Convey at left back was a progressive attempt. The list of average MLS'ers is not being progressive. Albright (shudder) another Bruce guy who he will try to get on this team anyway he can.
Forward = failure
Mid = failure
Now D = will fail, just doesn't have it
Gonna give him a shot a keeper next Bruce - enough already