On Mathis [R]

[joe]

couple o thoughts

mathis' vision is by far the best on the team, he puts the ball places you don't expect, something the rest of the team hardly does, and his shooting skills are impeccable

yet, i've heard people gripe about mathis' loss of ability to take people on, now i've seen it, this is not the same player who made a 65 yard scoring run for the metros not too long ago-- i'll tell you what though, one point he got bumped from behind, retained the ball and proceded to do something dangerous on the move, it's like somebody had to put it in gear for him

maybe this is a psycholgocial thing with him, 2 torn up knees hasta do something to your mental wiring, not once did i see him charge a defender full blast in hopes of winning a tackle, i don't think this is a sign of laziness

for the teams sake lets hope he can put it all together again and become the dynamo we all know he has the capability to be


by the way, jeff cunnigham should've been forced to run sprints after the game was over-- when time is running out do not repeatedly foul the other team, this gives them the oppurtunity to run the clock out to their hearts content, if you pressure them cleanly maybe they just boot it up field to our players who can then bring it back down the field quickly-- i swear jeff wasted 1/3 of stoppage time

[RevsRule]

How bad does Mathis have to play to be pulled from a game? I think he was testing the limits yesterday and I guess that as long as he as a pulse, he'll stay in. Clint STUNK yesterday and I thought that he should have been pulled at halftime. Two of his biggest problems were:
1) First tough - doesn't exist. Loses the ball to himself way too much to play on the international level

2) Poor passing - way too many poor passses yesterday

If this continues, I'm going to start calling him "the Terminator" - because he's the player that terminates any offensive chances that we might get. I still think he must have pictures of the coach stashed somewhere. He's earned some serious pine time

[evtasch]

But who's responsible for terminating your lease (assuming you ever had one) on soccer sense? Clint had a poor game....period. His record against any and all competition speaks for itself.

[The Wanderer]

Originally posted by joe
yet, i've heard people gripe about mathis' loss of ability to take people on, now i've seen it, this is not the same player who made a 65 yard scoring run for the metros not too long ago-- i'll tell you what though, one point he got bumped from behind, retained the ball and proceded to do something dangerous on the move, it's like somebody had to put it in gear for him

With Mathis' so-so work ethic, I think we've seen the last of his 65 yard scoring runs in MLS. That explosion he had once can be regained, but it requires LOTS of hard work training. So far we haven't seen that from Clint and it's a little puzzling. The guy has the 2006 WC to look forward to and that's it internationally. He'll be done after that. Maybe Europe will be the change of pace that he needs to kick it in gear.

[thacharger]

Clint had one sweet turn that showed a flash of brilliance. He still has the wicked shot. Lets hope with the 'new' Metrostars he will get the work ethic back.

[CbR]

clint+midfield help=a sh!t load of goals

[Metrogo]

For chrissake, Revs, Mathis had a bad game, to make generalizations like "he loses the ball way too much..." is supported by one game and contradicted by dozens of games. I'm sure you're thrilled he had a bad game, but that's all it was, no more no less. Your two by four out there, Twellman, won't be replacing Clint any time soon.

[highlander]

Who know's what goes on inside anyone's head?

My experience has been that the more individually brilliant a player is, the more work you generally have to put into getting that person playing in a positive frame of mind. Mathis obviously has a huge upside, but there is something that is not clicking inside of him right now that Bradley and Arena are going to need to work very hard to help him get right. You have to spend a dispreportioniate amount of time sometimes with this sort of player, but the payoff can be astounding.

Arena has made him captain and not only continued to play him in spite of his obvious lack of fitness, he has kept him captain. I don't know at what point that you count your losses and move on, but I agree that every possible effort should be made to help a player of Clint's ability.

I know that nobody can know what is going inside anyone's head (although some people think they do), but it is even harder to know what to do with a guy like Clint. Does he need a change of scenery? to be benched? to be left alone to work it out himself? given public support? Who knows?

The only thing I do know is that I hope that Clint is able to work out whatever is bothering him. He is not the same player right now that he was.

[Eliezar]

Mathis was very disappointing yesterday.

Then again he has been very good against Germany, Mexico, Korea, Brazil...

[Ghost]

It was painful to watch the montage of Clint that ESPN put together. He went fro mbeing a pretty skinny midfielder for the Galaxy to being the bloatfish Travis Bickle of the world cup side. Depressing. Clint is trying to live off his talent. He looks a little more in shape, but he could stand to get a ton better. Until he does that, he'll make his living off of mediocre competition and play like he did yesterday against the best.

[Tejas]

Interestingly enough I think Clint has actually become better with his ballhandling than he once was. In particular he has really started to rely on that little fake pass move where he will juke for a pass in one direction and then pass in the other. It strikes me that he is developing the Magic Johnson side of his game as compensation for a lack of speed.

I don't think we can criticize his game yesterday too much. Both he and Donovan were stranded up top in the 1st half and did very little. In the second half I think he had a series of plays dropping back where he did very well with the ball in traffic, however there were some touches and passes yesterday where he did look like he had lost all of his energy.

If he can be criticized for anything I think it is still his lack of fitness and ability to maintain a high workrate.

[Go2NY]

1- I noticed, Clint was often 'marked' by two players - the #2 Burdisso and the #3 Guinazu, or the #6 Milito - would it be an overstatement to say they could eat our defenders for breakfast?

2 - Some of Clints passes, usually dramatically accurate, seemed to get into the oppsitions possession quite often. Perhaps you noticed, Argentina 'charged' at every single ball, and had the speed and motivation to win most of them.

3 - Often when Clint had the ball, he had no one to pass to. It looked like we were 'not' making runs off the ball, and the Argentines were aggressively going for every ball, as you may have noticed.

4 - To be fair, the 20 superb young Argentine superstars we witnessed putting on a 'highly motivating' clinic, have played under professional supervision since the age of four, played 6 hours a day for life and been on elite teams sonce they were 10 years old.

Let's hope the U.S. noticed. With the same effort we'd be just as good.

We certainly have the raw talent.

I'm guessing, Mr.Arena may have been secretly smiling, when he saw that 'we', the United States soccer community, were receiving a very painful and appropriate wakeup call.

Let's support American soccer by rising above gratuitous and shallow criticism of our hard working players

[rymannryan]

I'm much more critical of Clint with the way he is off the ball than the way he is with it. Even if he isn't as fast or as fit or as explosive, he could still make many many more runs and pressure the other team. People will criticize Donovan but at least he was moving around and applying pressure. More than anything else, its disappointing to see Clint's lack of involvement in games. He used to be very involved and that was the Clint I loved watching. Not the one who isn't willing to put in the work.

[Brownswan]

Originally posted by highlander
Who know's what goes on inside anyone's head?

The only thing I do know is that I hope that Clint is able to work out whatever is bothering him. He is not the same player right now that he was.

Frankly, I'd say the same for the entire team. No one looked particularly good against Argentina, compared with Clint, Landon and a few others (but not all) looking very good against Canada.

I think they will all look pretty good vs. Jamaica, so I think you get my drift.

Our entire team now in camp doesn't quite match up against the best, and the young Argies were making their own case to their coach to be counted among the best -- which Argentina continues to be, regardless of their showing in WC'02.

Aside from Timmy, name anyone who looked stellar on our team. This lot must improve or we need to find better players -- and unless some pop up in the next two years, we don't have any.

[spike]

Originally posted by Go2NY

Let's support American soccer by rising above gratuitous and shallow criticism of our hard working players

That's gotta be worth a red card on BS. What is this guy thinking?

[mscheffel]

Man, I had a horrible day at work on Friday. Think my boss should drop me immediately. Certainly overshadows everything else I have done. Actually, that does sound like my job. damn. never mind.

Look, I am a Metro's fan. I was pissed at him the end of last season. What I have seen after that, though, is a player that is working back into shape and maturing as a player.

He had no service yesterday. In the MLS, he can move back and take the ball up. Against Argentina (even a youthful one), not may players in the world have that kind of game, even when they are peaking.

Arena has commented that he is on his way back with fitness. He is consistently our captain, which indicates to me that he is getting his head screwed on. His new coach is Bob Bradley.

I, for one, am wating to see what's next.

[Bruce S]

Clint looked fat and slow. Every body can have a bad day, but fat and slow is not a good thing at 25 or 26.

[CuriousGeorge]

Originally posted by mscheffel
Man, I had a horrible day at work on Friday. Think my boss should drop me immediately. Certainly overshadows everything else I have done. Actually, that does sound like my job. damn. never mind.

Look, I am a Metro's fan. I was pissed at him the end of last season. What I have seen after that, though, is a player that is working back into shape and maturing as a player.

He had no service yesterday. In the MLS, he can move back and take the ball up. Against Argentina (even a youthful one), not may players in the world have that kind of game, even when they are peaking.

Arena has commented that he is on his way back with fitness. He is consistently our captain, which indicates to me that he is getting his head screwed on. His new coach is Bob Bradley.

I, for one, am wating to see what's next.

I'd like to agree with you, that Mathis is on his way back. Arena making him captain certainly was a vote of confidence (though it did raise eyebrows everywhere). While I'd like to hope the the best in this case I fear for the worst. My prediction is that Mathis' future with the MNT will be similar to that of Jeff Agoos, Arena will stubbornly hang on to him through seemingly endless poor performances until he totally craps out.
(The difference between the two is that Mathis is a head-case as he has amply demonstrated. Agoos simply lacked the talent to play at a high level.)

[passtheblizz]

If he busts his ass for a month he can get back to where he was physically, but he looks worse now than he did eight months ago... He seriously needs a personal trainer who will just get on him constantly. Maybe he could fly out and stay with Jerry Rice for a few weeks... get Clint running those hills with him. The Doritos would be flying after about two minutes I would guess. There is clearly something wrong with Mathis if he is willing to let himself go so like he has. Someone his age should never gain that much weight in a few years, especially a soccer player. The injury had something to do with it, but it is not an excuse at this point. He needs to become a man on a mission if he is going to last until 2006. I am not saying that he is totally useless, but there is no question that he is much less effective at a higher weight. He isn't as fast, and lost the hustle(!) that made him so dangerous before.

[flanoverseas]

Originally posted by passtheblizz
If he busts his ass for a month he can get back to where he was physically, but he looks worse now than he did eight months ago... He seriously needs a personal trainer who will just get on him constantly. Maybe he could fly out and stay with Jerry Rice for a few weeks... get Clint running those hills with him. The Doritos would be flying after about two minutes I would guess. There is clearly something wrong with Mathis if he is willing to let himself go so like he has. Someone his age should never gain that much weight in a few years, especially a soccer player. The injury had something to do with it, but it is not an excuse at this point. He needs to become a man on a mission if he is going to last until 2006. I am not saying that he is totally useless, but there is no question that he is much less effective at a higher weight. He isn't as fast, and lost the hustle(!) that made him so dangerous before.
When is Arena going to notice this and stop making him captain, dammint!