Getting our best 11 on the field for WC 06

[Murray]

This is probably too early, but every world cup I go down the player roster and write down on a piece of paper our best 11 men.

Right now it would be, in alphabetical order:

Beasley, Dempsey, Donovan, Gibbs, Johnson, Keller, Mastroeni, McBride, O'Brian, Pope, Reyna

OK, so how do you get our best 11 on the field?

Keller

Reyna Pope Gibbs O'Brian

Dempsey Mastoeni Donovan Beasley

Johnson McBride



Simple isn't it?

[Red Card]

Our best XI men may not be the best TEAM.

Anyway, there are enough threads on who should be on the WC 2006 team.

[sokol]

If we were to truly get our best 11 on the field, we'd have three or four keepers. But my realistic version would be:

Keller
Pope Gooch Boca/Gibbs (whoever's in better form)
Cherundolo Mastroeni JOB Lewis
LD EJ DMB

[Steel Keeper]

This is probably too early, but every world cup I go down the player roster and write down on a piece of paper our best 11 men.

Right now it would be, in alphabetical order:

Beasley, Dempsey, Donovan, Gibbs, Johnson, Keller, Mastroeni, McBride, O'Brian, Pope, Reyna

OK, so how do you get our best 11 on the field?

Keller

Reyna Pope Gibbs O'Brian

Dempsey Mastoeni Donovan Beasley

Johnson McBride



Simple isn't it?

-Cherundolo and Gooch have to be on that list. In my opinion that would take out Pope and McBride.

-We won't have the same line-up for every game, even every knockout game at the World Cup so this point is somewhat moot.

-Someone else had a point that I very much liked. If you are to put our best XI on the field at the same time, then you would have several keepers on the pitch. The fact is we need the best team. It's pointless to bench a guy who is marginally worse as an overall footballer for a guy who will either play out of position or move his teammates out of position. If I can quote Herb Brooks from Miracle "I'm not looking for the best players, I'm looking for the right ones." Obviously, we don't have the access to the team and to the Bruce that would allow us to make this assessment so we at BS go by what we do see, on field performance.

-I'm not going to make a definitive statement here, but let's assume Donovan is the best player on our team when he plays AM but when he's moved elsewhere he becomes just "a guy." Why throw in someone like Dempsey who is 11th on the depth chart over a Bocanegra who let's say for the sake of arguement is 12th if it throws off the line-up. Making a line-up is much more complicated than taking the 10 best field players then fitting them into positions.

[ChelseaMatt]

I think our best attacking formation might be a diamond.

One lineup I'd like to see in WC 06 is:

Keller

Cherundolo Onweyu Bocanegra Hejduk

Mastroeni

Reyna Lewis

Donovan

EJ DMB

There are so many possibilities: You could 1) drop DMB back, take Lewis out and put in McBride. 2) Take Mastroeni out, drop Reyna back and put on Ralston 3) Put in Dempsey straight up for DMB 4) Sub in O'Brien for Mastroeni, Reyna, or Lewis

I think we have lots of offensive options-- and all will see PT in the World Cup.

I'm more worried about our central defense: we can't have Onweyu play like he did against Mexico, and we can't have Pope play like he did against England-- as much as I've liked Pope over the years, I think he's past his prime, and Gooch will have that spot. I also think that Boca should be central and not on the wing.

I'm hearing a lot of agreement over all of this, but I'm sure there will be some dissent. Lay it one me.

[Heathens '87]

I'm more worried about our central defense: we can't have Onweyu play like he did against Mexico, and we can't have Pope play like he did against England-- as much as I've liked Pope over the years, I think he's past his prime, and Gooch will have that spot.

Gooch is quite young and inexperienced at the international level. Mexico was his third cap. Think about that for a moment - who else in the USMNT player pool started in the Azteca in their third cap?! Also realize that that game was his second national team start!

Oguchi needs to play to gain experience if he's going to be ready for Germany. Expect mistakes, expect the inexperience to show, and expect improvement. I see it already, but I will continue to question the line-up Arena put out there against Mexico. Onyewu shouldn't have started, and certainly not in a central pairing with Berhalter.

Flip this for Eddie. Pope is old and experienced. He will not make positional errors, but he is subject to being beat athletically. Expect it to happen, but don't look for improvement as it just isn't going to happen at his age. He's lost a step, and must continue to use his intelligence to adjust his positioning to cover for this, which is harder against quick teams such as England. In the right role, he is still useful, but I'm having a hard time seeing him starting against WC-class teams next summer.

It may be a bit premature to worry about Onyewu, given that the Canada game was his fifth cap. If Eddie goes to Germany, it's because of what he can bring in terms of veteran influence on guys like Gooch....

[blech]

***
If Eddie goes to Germany, it's because of what he can bring in terms of veteran influence on guys like Gooch....

if he goes, it will be for more than just veteran influence. i'm not thrilled about it, and hope it would only be in an emergency situation, but the reality is that injuries and cards can result in a player having to sit a game. if we're going to focus on getting gooch and gibbs and perhaps boca more experience in upcoming games (correctly in my opinion), it stands to reason that we won't be able to "season" a backup as well. having someone with experience who you can count on positionally for a single game may make some sense under these circumstances...

[fusion101]

Keller
Cherundolo, Gibbs, Gooch, Boca
DMB, Renya, Mastroeni, O'Brien
Johnson, Donovan

*Note- Renya and O'Brien haven't played defense for the national team and probably won't. We have such better defending abled players then the likes of Renya and O'Brien, who not to mention, would probably get pushed off the ball to easy and wouldn't be aggressive enough.

[asdf2]

This is probably too early, but every world cup I go down the player roster and write down on a piece of paper our best 11 men.

Right now it would be, in alphabetical order:

Beasley, Dempsey, Donovan, Gibbs, Johnson, Keller, Mastroeni, McBride, O'Brian, Pope, Reyna

OK, so how do you get our best 11 on the field?

Keller

Reyna Pope Gibbs O'Brian

Dempsey Mastoeni Donovan Beasley

Johnson McBride



Simple isn't it?

Nifty, but this ignores:

a) that likely 2-3 of these guys will be injured, and you don't know which ones.
b) yellow card suspensions.
c) substitutions, and those are likely to be different depending on the situation.
d) we'll play with few rest days in a tournament format therefore need to use even more fresh legs.
e) that this is not even the best TEAM as someone says above.

You need more like 18 partially interchangable players to do well in a World Cup.

[Heathens '87]

if he goes, it will be for more than just veteran influence. i'm not thrilled about it, and hope it would only be in an emergency situation, but the reality is that injuries and cards can result in a player having to sit a game. if we're going to focus on getting gooch and gibbs and perhaps boca more experience in upcoming games (correctly in my opinion), it stands to reason that we won't be able to "season" a backup as well. having someone with experience who you can count on positionally for a single game may make some sense under these circumstances...


I agree, and think that Pope is essentially in competition with Berhalter for this role.......

[Beast_Ed]

Picture this lineup for Germany:

-------------EJ--------------
----Beasley-----Donovan----Reyna
------JOB---------Mastro---------
Boca---Gooch----Gibbs-------Dolo
-------------Keller-------------

Subs:
Wolff
Dempsey
McBride

I'll bet money we see this lineup.

Beastie Eddy

--
*Complete the SOCCER SURVEY*
https://www.quickbase.com/db/baqwa3ay6?a=nwr

[SamsArmySam]

Picture this lineup for Germany:

-------------EJ--------------
----Beasley-----Donovan----Reyna
------JOB---------Mastro---------
Boca---Gooch----Gibbs-------Dolo
-------------Keller-------------

Subs:
Wolff
Dempsey
McBride

I'll bet money we see this lineup.

Beastie Eddy

--
*Complete the SOCCER SURVEY*
https://www.quickbase.com/db/baqwa3ay6?a=nwr

You'd bet money 11+ months in advance that we'll field a 4-2-3-1 with Reyna as one of the attacking wingers? Impressive.

You sure you're not "Crazy Eddy"? (insert stupid smiley here)

[BigKris]

Dear US passport-carrying soccer players: welcome to the big-leagues. our best 11 has about 16 members. Man, it's nice to have this kind of problem for a change -- not like where we were in France '98. Just like with most other soccer-playing nations, there's going to be some very good soccer players left on the sidelines and/or left at home when Germany '06 rolls around. Consider yourselves warned, and compete NOW. Sincerely, Bruce.

[K.P.]

*Note- Renya and O'Brien haven't played defense for the national team and probably won't. We have such better defending abled players then the likes of Renya and O'Brien, who not to mention, would probably get pushed off the ball to easy and wouldn't be aggressive enough.

I disagree with that last assertion, at least in regards to Reyna. Not only is he very strong on the ball, he also has played right back in Scotland. If Reyna has to play right back (most likely because of an injury or suspension to Cherundolo), I wouldn't worry about him getting pushed around.

[superdave]

This is probably too early, but every world cup I go down the player roster and write down on a piece of paper our best 11 men.

Right now it would be, in alphabetical order:

Beasley, Dempsey, Donovan, Gibbs, Johnson, Keller, Mastroeni, McBride, O'Brian, Pope, Reyna

OK, so how do you get our best 11 on the field?

Keller

Reyna Pope Gibbs O'Brian

Dempsey Mastoeni Donovan Beasley

Johnson McBride



Simple isn't it?
No right wing. I think opponents are figuring out our one-winged formations, and jamming the other 2/3 of the field. That overcrowding accounts for our difficulty creating chances in the final 1/3. And I think we won't be underscouted in 2006 like we were in 2002.

I won't get into your dubious selection of Pope. ;) But I will note that Cherundolo is, right now, clearly one of our best X1. You could put him at fullback, and Reyna at the wing (understanding that he's a 70 minute player), and drop, as painful as it is, Dempsey.

[Jay510]

all this talk about our best 11 has me flashing back to the glory days of Chad Deering and Mike "uh, which post do I protect?" Burns.

[FirstStar]

To get our best players out there, we have to play a three-man back line. The situation and opponent will dictate how often we get to use this formation, but I think it now best suits the US' prefered style of play. I've put this down as a 3-5-2, since that keeps LD in the middle of the field behind the forwards, but it could be a 3-4-3 with Lando moving up and more of the offense flowing through JOB and Claudio.

---------KK---------

--Dolo-Gooch-Gibbs--

---Mastro----JOB----

--Reyna-------DMB--
--------LanDo-------

----GAM-----BMB----

It pains me to keep Lewis off the field, but I think the US and GAM are better with a target forward. Otherwise, move DMB up front for BMB and insert Eddie in the midfield (and move LD up to a 3-4-3). I don't see Dempsey as cracking into this XI right now, but he'd be an ideal sub for Claudio if we needed more offense. The converse is true if Dempsey starts - Claudio can come in to help hold the ball and kill time - which helps keep this formation intact.

Our right side would be more withdrawn than our left in this formation, which would give 'Dolo the opportunity to go forward more often with Mastro and Claudio in better position to track back. JOB can come forward more from his left DM spot, since DMB has the speed to track back to cover. I'd expect BMB and GAM to switch sides a lot, based on the run of play.

We have the necessary depth at CB (with Boca and Pope and, perhaps, Spector) to play a 3 man backline. I put Gooch in the middle of the backline because I think the left CB is the most essential position for a 3 man backline and Gibbs is (IMO) our best CB now. I don't know, however, if Gooch would be up to the task of organizing the line or if Gibbs could do that from the left side.

[Palermo10]

Ok nevermind that Pope made the MLS all-star roster, whoopeedeedoo.
He´s old and I think he´s done at the intl level.
Take the England friendly if you want video footage...

Imagine Eddie Pope going up against Ronaldo?

But I digress...

Keller
Cherundolo Gooch Gibbs Bocanegra
Beasley Mastroeni or Reyna O´Brien
Donovan
Johnson McBride

Donovan has to play off those two. They are both pretty much target forwards (more so mcbride) and so in order to have some semblance of attack LD has to play a supporting role for them.
Reyna or Mastroeni can play behind LD as a stalwart in the middle. Beasley and OBrien on the wings and we have super speed and passing.

Dempsey, Wolff, much needed supersubs.

[puddleduck]

---------KK---------

--Dolo-Gooch-Gibbs--

---Mastro----JOB----

--Reyna-------DMB--
--------LanDo-------

----GAM-----BMB----



I like this line up, except that I don't know if Cherundolo is up to playing in a 3-man backline ... you really need CDs and while I'm a huge Dolo fan and I think he is one of the best defenders the US has ever produced ... he is an attacking fullback, not a central defender.

Gooch - Boca - Gibbs would be a better backline for this formation, IMHO.

You can then save Dolo to bring on as a defensive sub and switch to

dolo - gooch - gibbs - Boca

I like your midfield though ... I only wish Renya was better on the wing. He's going to play centrally .. he just is, that's the kind of player he is ... and we give up the rightside of the fields a bit too much in this formation. As others have stated I think teams will learn to shut us down when we try and send everything up the left.

[BigKris]

I truly believe by the time we get to Germany, Dempsey has to be in our "best" starting XI. I think the guy who gets forced out is either: BMB (and shift Donovan up top) or Mastro (and shift Rena back).