Panama

[USA4Life]

Go for three points and play the same aggressive lineup with attacking outside backs and pressuring midfield. We should play the same way regardless of who we are playing. Any time we play not to lose we always lose.

Start Gibbs for Pope
Clearly Start EJ if healthy for Wolff.
Dempsey should either start or come on sooner.

[PSsoccer123]

What's the news on Onyewu?

[reddog694]

I doubt Arena will start Convey in the outside back/wing midfield position away against Panama, where he will probably have to defend more

[reddog694]

Also, according to Grant's article:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/grant_wahl/06/04/us.costarica/index.html

Onyewu has a decent knock on his knee and couldn't play against Costa Rica, but might be available on Wednesday.

[VioletCrown]

I'm not so sure we need him. It's unreal how deep the US is. I mean, no EJ, no Gibbs OR Gooch, no Lewis, no Reyna (does he really matter anymore?), no Mastroeni, heavens to betsy, the last time we were that badly decimated (4 years ago) we limped through a series of qualifiers. This time, we just handed CR their ass (time to play that 'Kasey Keller' song), and we really should win in Panama, no matter what happened last time.

OK, so England beat us. Nevertheless, I do believe we completely deserve that #10 ranking. I'm still not sure how much it's that we're better, and the rest of Central America is worse. But it's certainly more than just them being worse.

[Peretz48]

KK saved our bacon. It was touch and go there for 10-15 minutes in the 2nd half. But I kind of figured that if we withstood the onslaught, we stood a good chance of scoring another (as it turned out, two more were added to the 1st half goal).

Panama is on a respirator right now with two points-they let T&T get back into the fray. Panama will play with intensity and desperation on Wed. Any realistic chance of even getting into the playoff with Asia's 5th-place team hinges on a win, although a tie will keep them on the respirator, whereas a loss probably spells doom.

I still don't like our LB situation. Boca is about the best we can hope for right now, even though he belongs in the middle. Vanney can't cut it anymore, and Bobby should stick to the midfield. Given what's available, I think Arena is hoping that JOB returns to form real soon-with his versatility he can slot in either at LB or DM (another position lacking depth right now). But JOB is probably not ready for Wed.

Yeah, I had heard about Gooch's knee knock, but what happened to Gibbs? At Pope's age, I'm not sure he's ready to do double duty, although he was much steadier against the Ticos than against England.

Someone should have a pool to guess the starting U.S. eleven AND formation. Given the day-to day status of several players and the recuperative (or lack of) powers of those who played against CR, I think it would be extremely difficult to nail our lineup. I mean Arena probably won't know who can go among the question marks until game day.

[Karl]

I agree about our newfound depth, remembering vividly a 0-0 home 'result' versus Costa Rica in the 2002 pre-Hex when we were missing several starters. For that match, Bruce was said to be desperately hoping that Diego Gutierrez' naturalization papers could be hurried through a la David Regis.

Times have changed.

[igot5onit]

i think wolff sucks, if johnson aint healthy lets put up Noonan up front hes a better passer and striker in my opinion., i havent been impresses with wolff at all, he misses to mutch..

[scaryice]

I would guess that Berhalter comes in for Convey, and we go to four defenders. I would say Onyewu or Gibbs but it appears that they're banged up. That's the only change that really comes to mind. Maybe Noonan for Ralston. Ralston seems like the guy most likely to be replaced other than Convey.

[grandinquisitor28]

Let's see if we deserve it. Here's a list of the teams I definitely think would beat us on a neutral site:

CONMEBOL:
Brazil
Argentina

thats it really

Asia:
None

Africa:
I can't really make an accurate estimate of this as I haven't seen us play anyone other than Cameroon when it comes to teams from Africa. I think Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast would all be difficult, not sure who'd beat us and who wouldn't as they're so bloody inconsistent.

UEFA:
England
Netherlands
Czech Republic
Italy
Germany (probably but not positive)
Portugal (Younger and better)
Spain (never play up to their talent level but they should win).

So this puts us right around 10, w/o including Africa or the teams in europe that have a solid chance of beating us (Ukraine, France (in such bad form I couldn't list them as a team that could definitively beat us, Ireland tied them in France, Israel drew with them as well), Sweden, Turkey, Greece etc).

Anyway, what's important as that I really do think that in any given world cup, we should be one of the top 16 or so teams in it, and going in, should have a 50/50 shot of advancing out of group play, pending the draw (where the odds could go up and down). And inspite of all my negativity and my great distaste for the lineup used, it's pretty impressive that with only five field players I'd be comfortable starting in the World Cup, we still essentially rolled Costa Rica. Not bad at all.

[PSsoccer123]

Thanks for the Onyewu news. Assuming he's healthy:
Keller
Dolo Gibbs Onyewu Convey
Ralston Dempsey Donovan Beasely
Noonan McBride

Hejduk comes in for Beasely at around the 60th with Convey moving up to midfield, unless Beasely is fully healed. This should be an easy win, so we shouldn't risk GAM's health...We should be able to beat Panama without him. Noonan is more effective than Wolff... this is a game where Mathis could have been useful. McBride might be tired so we might have to start or sub in Casey. I think Ralston would be more effective against Panama as he seems to play better against weaker teams.
I predict 2-0 with goals from Dempsey and Beasely.

[Heathens '87]

Let's see if we deserve it. Here's a list of the teams I definitely think would beat us on a neutral site:

Brazil , Argentina, England, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain

That's pretty much straight from the FIFA rankings, and until you start getting into friendlies, with full rosters, over the next 12 months, it's hard to know how CONCACAF will stack up against Africa, or second-tier UEFA teams. The rankings are quite unreliable at this point as everyone is playing within their regions.

If we're looking for "definetely," I think you're right, but we're likely in a stack of about 10 teams who might be able to make a run to the quarter-finals, but we're highly unlikely to make it to the semis. While I agree with your list, we have little insight into how we stack up against an Ireland, Denmark, Nigeria, Korea, Columbia, or Japan. Tough calls there.....

As for Panama, this game could be huge for the US. You look for a point on the road, and wins at home. So far, we've already gotten 3 points on the road against T&T, so another 3 here would already give us more than hoped for in the entire round.

Panama was fortunate to advance, and this game will be a big deal there, but for practical purposes, they have no hope to advance. They can play loose, but as this isn't a must-win for the US, so can we.

I hope we come out with speed and aggressiveness, and force the pace of the game right off the bat. Our next two qualifiers (T&T, Mexico) will be at home, so we've got a stunning opportunity to put some huge points on the board through six games.

Cobi saved our rear-ends last year on a swampy pitch, and we played poorly. Setting the pace early will be key, and I hope the Costa Rica match gives the a great deal of confidence. They let up a bit after the break, which you can't do on the road, but otherwise, it was an overwhelming performance.

Maybe not a big game, but certainly a big opportunity......

[VioletCrown]

Cobi saved our rear-ends last year on a swampy pitch, and we played poorly. Setting the pace early will be key, and I hope the Costa Rica match gives the a great deal of confidence. They let up a bit after the break, which you can't do on the road, but otherwise, it was an overwhelming performance.

Maybe not a big game, but certainly a big opportunity......

Looks like the weather's going to be the same (http://espanol.weather.com/weather/local/PMXX0004?letter=P) as the last time.

[Heathens '87]

Looks like the weather's going to be the same (http://espanol.weather.com/weather/local/PMXX0004?letter=P) as the last time.


Egads.....the pitch, at least at one end, was pretty much unplayable last year. Let's hope it doesn't distract the team like it did last time.......

[MikeLastort2]

Go for three points and play the same aggressive lineup with attacking outside backs and pressuring midfield. We should play the same way regardless of who we are playing. Any time we play not to lose we always lose.

Start Gibbs for Pope
Clearly Start EJ if healthy for Wolff.
Dempsey should either start or come on sooner.

Pope had a good game last night. After the England friendly, I thought it was time for him to retire, but he redeemed himself against Costa Rica.

Why would we start Gibbs in his place?

[BlackLotus]

I'm not so sure we need him. It's unreal how deep the US is. I mean, no EJ, no Gibbs OR Gooch, no Lewis, no Reyna (does he really matter anymore?), no Mastroeni, heavens to betsy, the last time we were that badly decimated (4 years ago) we limped through a series of qualifiers. This time, we just handed CR their ass (time to play that 'Kasey Keller' song), and we really should win in Panama, no matter what happened last time.

OK, so England beat us. Nevertheless, I do believe we completely deserve that #10 ranking. I'm still not sure how much it's that we're better, and the rest of Central America is worse. But it's certainly more than just them being worse.
"Reyna - does he even matter anymore" (even though Reyna is the captain and important for the team... man, i was waiting for someone to ask that question :)

i also am pretty surprised at our situation when you step back and look at it as you helped me to do - the fact that if we had been missing so many players in the past, we would have been screwed. now we have so many players who are at the caliber of playing in an important USMNT game. it's awesome.

and think about it; if only our starting lineup and a few other guys were the only ones fit to play in meaningful competition, how boring would this site be to discuss the team? :D Arena deserves a lot of credit for building our nation's soccer for WC '06 and beyond.

[GOOOOOLZ]

I'm not so sure we need him. It's unreal how deep the US is. I mean, no EJ, no Gibbs OR Gooch, no Lewis, no Reyna (does he really matter anymore?), no Mastroeni, heavens to betsy, the last time we were that badly decimated (4 years ago) we limped through a series of qualifiers. This time, we just handed CR their ass (time to play that 'Kasey Keller' song), and we really should win in Panama, no matter what happened last time.

OK, so England beat us. Nevertheless, I do believe we completely deserve that #10 ranking. I'm still not sure how much it's that we're better, and the rest of Central America is worse. But it's certainly more than just them being worse.

so those " starters " will likely be losing their starting spots now....

[United20]

Starting line-up speculation
...................Keller...................
Dolo.............Gibbs.............Boca
.....Simms...........O'Brien...........
Dempsey.........................Noonan
..................Donovan..................
........EJ.......................McBride....

I wish Beasley would start but he got rocked. No reason to him under anymore abuse till he is 100%. I have a feeling Arena wants O'Brien for lighter competition against Panama (no disrespect). Noonan deserves a shot with his teammate Dempsey.

[Flyin Ryan]

Does anyone else think Panama's gonna be going balls to the wall for this game? The defenders better be on top of their game.

[Cweedchop]

I think one thing that has to be considered right now is that Arena obviously doesn't have a set starting X1.

With two games in such short span of time, it's essential that he rotate players so as they don't crap out at the end of the Panama match. Gibbs not playing yesterday only tells me that he will most likely be in the lineup on Wednesday with perhaps Pope sitting that match out. That my friends, is the beauty of quality depth.

Just because this lineup more or less took care of CR, it doesn't mean that it will be the same X1 against Panama.