Guatemala -- The Subs [R]

[geordienation]

Sometimes subs mean something, sometimes they don't.

Arena used all 3 subs on the offense trying to spur something. All three of them meant something.

Johnson for Cunningham (57th minute). Jeff Cunningham, thank you for your time with the National team. Couldn't beat anyone off the dribble. Still has a lead touch. I'm sure Johnson would have gotten the start if he was match fit, but Cunningham missed a GOLDEN opportunity to show that he was better than MLS caliber and didn't. When you're subbed 10 minutes into the half, you should take it personally.


Donovan for Quaranta (64th minute) Donovan was coming in to spark something and the least seasoned guy on the field gets it. Not as bad a game for Quaranta as Cunningham, but he didn't walk through the wide open door left by Ralston. Never really looked dangerous. So Donovan moves to the middle and Dempsey gets a chance to play the "versatility" card to get on the squad, leading to . . .

Ralston for Dempsey (89th minute) Wow. Maybe the slowest guy on the field comes on for the kid a lot of people have penciled onto their rosters for Germany. Dempsey can't play the right wing (ask Albright if he liked having Dempsey in front of him -- I'm guessing the answer has a few 4-letter words) and doesn't fit well into the system in the central midfield.


All offensive subs. All to spark a side that wasn't clicking.

None of the 3 of these guys should feel comfortable about their spots right now.

[crusio]

Cunningham is too dangerous a player to cast aside to quickly. I would like to see him get a couple more cracks. He really didn't have a ton of chances to do alot in this garbage game of mostly kickball.

[Li mu bei]

Johnson for Cunningham (57th minute). Jeff Cunningham, thank you for your time with the National team. Couldn't beat anyone off the dribble.
Are you kidding? Did you watch the game?

Still has a lead touch.
What? Are you talking about Twellman, but forgot that he was the white guy?

I'm sure Johnson would have gotten the start if he was match fit,
Possibly.

but Cunningham missed a GOLDEN opportunity to show that he was better than MLS caliber and didn't.
What? Are you still talking about Twellmam?

[UxSxAxfooty]

Li mu bei is right on. In the first 57 minutes, Cunningham showed a whole lot better than Twellman.

[LittleMaradona]

When you're subbed 10 minutes into the half, you should take it personally.
I wouldn't read too much into that substitution. I'm sure that was pre-planned even before the game because Arena wanted to get EJ some extended time on the field (as opposed 10-15 minutes).

[Indiana Jones]

Sometimes subs mean something, sometimes they don't.

Arena used all 3 subs on the offense trying to spur something. All three of them meant something.

Johnson for Cunningham (57th minute). Jeff Cunningham, thank you for your time with the National team. Couldn't beat anyone off the dribble. Still has a lead touch. I'm sure Johnson would have gotten the start if he was match fit, but Cunningham missed a GOLDEN opportunity to show that he was better than MLS caliber and didn't. When you're subbed 10 minutes into the half, you should take it personally.


Donovan for Quaranta (64th minute) Donovan was coming in to spark something and the least seasoned guy on the field gets it. Not as bad a game for Quaranta as Cunningham, but he didn't walk through the wide open door left by Ralston. Never really looked dangerous. So Donovan moves to the middle and Dempsey gets a chance to play the "versatility" card to get on the squad, leading to . . .

Ralston for Dempsey (89th minute) Wow. Maybe the slowest guy on the field comes on for the kid a lot of people have penciled onto their rosters for Germany. Dempsey can't play the right wing (ask Albright if he liked having Dempsey in front of him -- I'm guessing the answer has a few 4-letter words) and doesn't fit well into the system in the central midfield.


All offensive subs. All to spark a side that wasn't clicking.

None of the 3 of these guys should feel comfortable about their spots right now.

Cunningham needs to play with the full team in order to fully assess him. Judging him on this game is a mistake as he got little service from what was a C team essemtially. The substitute EJ missed the easiest chance of the day, and he had the benefit of Donovan in there which Cunningham did not,

Sunstituting in Donoivan said volumes about the way the team was playing - it should not have been a necessary substitution.

Dempsey was subbed out as he didnt get the job done.......

[Ray Luca]

[QUOTE=geordienation]Sometimes subs mean something, sometimes they don't.

Arena used all 3 subs on the offense trying to spur something. All three of them meant something.

Johnson for Cunningham (57th minute). Jeff Cunningham, thank you for your time with the National team. Couldn't beat anyone off the dribble. Still has a lead touch. I'm sure Johnson would have gotten the start if he was match fit, but Cunningham missed a GOLDEN opportunity to show that he was better than MLS caliber and didn't. When you're subbed 10 minutes into the half, you should take it personally."

Sub Johnson For Twellmen and leave Cunningham now you have dangerous speed to burn.
----------------------------------------------------

Donovan for Quaranta (64th minute) Donovan

More speed. Quranta did nothing

Ralston for Dempsey (89th minute) Wow. Maybe the slowest guy on the field comes on for the kid a lot of people have penciled onto their rosters for Germany. Dempsey can't play the right wing (ask Albright if he liked having Dempsey in front of him -- I'm guessing the answer has a few 4-letter words) and doesn't fit well into the system in the central midfield. "

Terrible too late left an ineffective player on the field for 89 mintues.

This wasn't a friendly game

[Fulham Fan]

Cunningham not playing with Donovan was a poor decision by Arena. Remember the tsunami tribute match? Ronaldinho messed up a through ball to Beasley and gave a gesture to him saying, "Next time." Seeing that, you immediately knew that Beasley was going to get a goal off a Ronaldinho pass. But then Ronaldinho got subbed out and the "Next time" goal never happened. Why bother playing Cunningham if he was never going to get to show his skills working off good service?

[lurking]

Cunningham needs to play with the full team in order to fully assess him. Judging him on this game is a mistake as he got little service from what was a C team essemtially. The substitute EJ missed the easiest chance of the day, and he had the benefit of Donovan in there which Cunningham did not,

What bothered me most about Cunningham this game is that he stayed consistently high, we could have used one of the two forwards at least dropping off closer to midfield to give people someone to pass to, but both of them just stayed high. He had a couple moments though.

I wont say toss him under the bus yet, but you cant just sit up there hoping to poach a goal on this team. He's a good player, and hes not Ronaldo, we cant afford that.


Sunstituting in Donoivan said volumes about the way the team was playing - it should not have been a necessary substitution.

Dempsey was subbed out as he didnt get the job done.......

Actually, if you watch the game after he moves out on the right, he was consistently dangerous out there. He seemed to find space and passes much better there. I dont think Dempsy was as bad as people think.

The big thing offensively up until Johnson comes in was how Twellman and Cunningham both seemed to think that they could just stay up high and poach goals. One of them needed to drop off a bit to give midfielders a target to pass to, and allow them to work into the attack.

[nancyb]

Here's how the subs formula looked to me:

Team - 3 Newbies + 3 Stars/Veterans = 0

[Nutmeg]

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to nancyb again."

Sorry Miss!

[kebzach]

Johnson for Cunningham (57th minute). Jeff Cunningham, thank you for your time with the National team.

Don't write him off so quick. Speed doesn't ever go out of style. He shouldn't be a starter for the MNT, but at the same time, I wouldn't throw him out with the bath water just yet.

[kebzach]

None of the 3 of these guys should feel comfortable about their spots right now.

Do you really think that they did feel comfortable before this game, and do you really think that any of them feel comfortable now? To me, your statement is akin to saying the sun rises in the east.

[sidefootsitter]

I saw the "missing portion" of the game last night and thought that the offense looked better than the defense where Albright, Conrad, Marshall and Vanney didn't always read the passing angles properly, were a step slow, gave too much space close to the goal and generally looked rather awkward. Guatemala, which created nothing against Mexico, had several very good chances on goal and forced a couple of very good saves from Hahnemann.

But at the same time, I thought the offense was a little better than the consensus. The only player I thought was worse than in the 1st viewing was Twellman, who was basically running around the penalty box, hoping that someone on the Guatemalan defense will fall asleep and allow him a ten footer for a tap-in. But he offered nothing on the high balls, which is why Quaranta never really tried beating his man to the end line and instead kept cutting toward the center of the pitch with left-footed passes.

Jeff Cunningham actually had two good plays. On one he darted toward the penalty box in traffic and fired a very hard left-footed (!!!) shot on goal that the Guats GK had to punch straight out because trying to hold the wet ball in traffic would have been very risky. The ball dropped straight to Dempsey near the top of the box, who then proceeded to hit it 3-4 feet over over the bar. It was a half-volley but Clint should have done better.

The second good play by Jeffro was that famous by now "TT in Guatemala goal" chance. Twellman really has to move out of the way on that one as he had enough time to take 2-3 quick steps to the right. With the defense reacting to C-ham's impending shot, Taylor would have actually been left all alone, should his team mate have chosen to pass. That would have been a real tap-in. Staying in a likely ball flight path (it was clear that Cunningham was aiming for the open half of the net) was either selfish or stupid. In the end, it was both.

Dempsey's play, other than the wasted half-chance, wasn't that bad. I am curious if Bruce told him to shade to center-right for Quaranta rather than Convey because Bobby seemed to want clear space on some opportunities. On others, he waited to play with Vanney, who wasn't reading him and the passing lanes well at all. Greg's touch on a rainy night wasn't there either.

From Bobby's body language, it looked like he saw what the defense was covering and what was being left available to him and was waiting for a few quick 1-2s with someone. Unfortunately, John O'Brien was back in Amsterdam. From that alone it was hard to judge the culprit, though I would probably blame Vanney, who was given a chance to go forward on the left. It didn't seem to be Clint's fault.