Matrim55
02 Nov 2006, 10:59 AM
A friend asked me "what's the US going to look like in 2010?" Here's my answer:
GK: Howard and Hahnemann will be the top two. After them it's wide open, though I think Keller could figure next summer. Troy Perkins and Matt Pickens have been the most impressive MLS keepers. Brad Guzan has the most potential, but had a lousy year.
Central defense: Onyewu and Bocanegra are veteran contributors to both the national team and their club teams, and Onyewu, incidently, may soon be joining Boca at Fulham. Gibbs, if he gets healthy, will join them in the top 3. Jonathan Spector and Jay Demerit, who play regularly for West Ham and Watford in the Premiership, will also be in the mix, though it's worth noting that each plays as much as a fullback as they do as a central defender.
From MLS the top 3 young defenders are Bobby Boswell, Chad Marshall and Ugo Ihemelu, though I think the last two have distinct flaws.
Fullbacks: The right side is set for the next four years with Cherundolo, Albright and the developing Marvel Wynne.
The left side is a bit more up in the air. Heath Pearce, who plays in Denmark and had a cup of coffee with the nats this winter, is one of the frontrunners. He's a great athlete, good on the ball, but a suspect crosser. The other name is RBNY's Todd Dunivant, who's an improved version of Jeff Agoos/Greg Vanney. Great crosser, good on the ball, but not a good enough athlete to excel at international level. Tim Ward, an 18 year old with Columbus, is another to keep an eye on and has the most talent of the three, but looks years away to me.
EDIT: I forgot to mention Nathan Sturgis, who's smarter and more skillful than any of them. He's not a great athlete, though, and actually played most of his season at d-mid for LA. As a D-mid I rank him behind Clark and Carroll.
D-Mid: Mastroeni hits 30 this year, and he'll be the incumbent, but I expect Rico Clark and Brian Carroll to pass him by 2009. It's also worth noting that Benny Feilhaber is now a starter at d-mid for Hamburg, and has more talent than just about anyone in the US player pool. I love him, but I don't think he's a d-mid.
Another talented youngster, Michael Bradley, played d-mid for the Metrostars in 2005 but has switched to a more attacking role for his Dutch team, Heerenveen. Like Feilhaber I don't consider him a "pure" d-mid, and I believe one of Clark, Mastroeni or Carroll will have to start for us to be effective.
Right Mid: It's Dempsey's spot to lose. I'd expect Feilhaber, Bradley, even Clark occasionally, to play here as well. Eddie Gaven could squeak back into contention, but he spent more time as a forward than a midfielder this year. Justin Mapp can play here as well though he's a natural left-footer.
Left Mid: Even with Lewis's advanced age we're still stocked. Beasley of Man City and Convey of Reading are the incumbents. Mapp of Chicago will push them, and Lee Nguyen of PSV might be more talented than any of them.
There's also a fellow by the name of Freddy Adu who's suited for this role in a 4-4-2.
Attacking mid: Donovan's got to be the man here, and likely will be if Klinsmann's the coach. Adu will get looks here as well, and Feilhaber if we go with a more conservative set-up. Sacha Kleistjan, a talented rookie for Chivas, could also work his way into the pool, but he's fairly low on the depth chart at this point.
Forward: Ugh. Nate Jaqua, a big target forward for Chicago, has a nice touch, toughness, plays well with back-to-goal, has good passing and decent finishing instincts. But for some reason he's playing right midfield for the past month and a half. Another Chicago forward, Chris Rolfe, is fantastic with the ball on his foot, lightning quick, and in the words of Steven Nicol "Has a striker's brain." Problem is he's slight, and injured all the time, and hasn't scored double-digit goals in either of his two MLS seasons.
Fire fans and executives will swear up and down that Chad Barrett, just 20, is actually more talented than either Jaqua or Rolfe. But he's been even less productive and more injury prone than either, which is saying something.
Edson Buddle played as poorly as is imaginable for RBNY this season. Eddie Johnson was even worse for Kansas City. And Conor Casey hasn't played for Mainz in like 16 months or something ridiculous.
Giuseppe Rossi.... oh yeah.
After scoring double-digit goals in 2005, Herculez Gomez couldn't nail down a starting spot for his club in 2006. Razov and Cunningham are on the wrong side of 30 and weren't that good to begin with. Brian Ching continues to produce in MLS, but his touch is simply not good enough for international competition. He'll be in the pool, but if he's a starter we're in trouble.
Kenny Cooper showed flashes with Dallas this season and he has a real nice combination of size, skill and finishing instincts. If Football Club get an actual coach in there next year, he could force his way to the top of the pecking order.
Twellman and Noonan of New England fall into the Ching category, though I think Noonan could be much more if he stays healthy. He's so good in 1v1 situations, the best in the player pool IMHO. He's a subpar athlete though.
Eskandarian is in that group as well, though credit where it's due: he keeps adding dimensions to his game. Nice to see that.
And finally, the new star on the horizon is RBNY's Josmer Altidore. He's just 16, but he scored a handful of important goals this year in a variety of ways, including a beautiful header against DC United last weekend. He has a man's body and a sprinter's speed, and is prone to turning defenders inside out on the dribble. Yes, I'm high on him, as is everyone else. If he reaches his potential - a humongous if - he'll be the starter in 2010. If he doesn't, we may be totally boned.
My concerns over the next four years, in order:
1) Striker - Covered above
2) Cohesion - There's more talent in the player pool than there's ever been before, but there are also more new faces, young faces, players who are "hybrids", players who play in different leagues. The new coach will have to sort that out really, really well for the US to match what they did under Arena.
3) Left back - I'm not sold on either Pearce or Dunivant and Ward is too young. Sturgis could develop, but that'll be hard if he's playing a different position for his club team.
A wild, speculative guess at our 2010 lineup:
Howard
Cherundolo - Onyewu - Spector - Dunivant
Clark
Feilhaber - Donovan - Dempsey
Altidore - Jaqua
GK: Howard and Hahnemann will be the top two. After them it's wide open, though I think Keller could figure next summer. Troy Perkins and Matt Pickens have been the most impressive MLS keepers. Brad Guzan has the most potential, but had a lousy year.
Central defense: Onyewu and Bocanegra are veteran contributors to both the national team and their club teams, and Onyewu, incidently, may soon be joining Boca at Fulham. Gibbs, if he gets healthy, will join them in the top 3. Jonathan Spector and Jay Demerit, who play regularly for West Ham and Watford in the Premiership, will also be in the mix, though it's worth noting that each plays as much as a fullback as they do as a central defender.
From MLS the top 3 young defenders are Bobby Boswell, Chad Marshall and Ugo Ihemelu, though I think the last two have distinct flaws.
Fullbacks: The right side is set for the next four years with Cherundolo, Albright and the developing Marvel Wynne.
The left side is a bit more up in the air. Heath Pearce, who plays in Denmark and had a cup of coffee with the nats this winter, is one of the frontrunners. He's a great athlete, good on the ball, but a suspect crosser. The other name is RBNY's Todd Dunivant, who's an improved version of Jeff Agoos/Greg Vanney. Great crosser, good on the ball, but not a good enough athlete to excel at international level. Tim Ward, an 18 year old with Columbus, is another to keep an eye on and has the most talent of the three, but looks years away to me.
EDIT: I forgot to mention Nathan Sturgis, who's smarter and more skillful than any of them. He's not a great athlete, though, and actually played most of his season at d-mid for LA. As a D-mid I rank him behind Clark and Carroll.
D-Mid: Mastroeni hits 30 this year, and he'll be the incumbent, but I expect Rico Clark and Brian Carroll to pass him by 2009. It's also worth noting that Benny Feilhaber is now a starter at d-mid for Hamburg, and has more talent than just about anyone in the US player pool. I love him, but I don't think he's a d-mid.
Another talented youngster, Michael Bradley, played d-mid for the Metrostars in 2005 but has switched to a more attacking role for his Dutch team, Heerenveen. Like Feilhaber I don't consider him a "pure" d-mid, and I believe one of Clark, Mastroeni or Carroll will have to start for us to be effective.
Right Mid: It's Dempsey's spot to lose. I'd expect Feilhaber, Bradley, even Clark occasionally, to play here as well. Eddie Gaven could squeak back into contention, but he spent more time as a forward than a midfielder this year. Justin Mapp can play here as well though he's a natural left-footer.
Left Mid: Even with Lewis's advanced age we're still stocked. Beasley of Man City and Convey of Reading are the incumbents. Mapp of Chicago will push them, and Lee Nguyen of PSV might be more talented than any of them.
There's also a fellow by the name of Freddy Adu who's suited for this role in a 4-4-2.
Attacking mid: Donovan's got to be the man here, and likely will be if Klinsmann's the coach. Adu will get looks here as well, and Feilhaber if we go with a more conservative set-up. Sacha Kleistjan, a talented rookie for Chivas, could also work his way into the pool, but he's fairly low on the depth chart at this point.
Forward: Ugh. Nate Jaqua, a big target forward for Chicago, has a nice touch, toughness, plays well with back-to-goal, has good passing and decent finishing instincts. But for some reason he's playing right midfield for the past month and a half. Another Chicago forward, Chris Rolfe, is fantastic with the ball on his foot, lightning quick, and in the words of Steven Nicol "Has a striker's brain." Problem is he's slight, and injured all the time, and hasn't scored double-digit goals in either of his two MLS seasons.
Fire fans and executives will swear up and down that Chad Barrett, just 20, is actually more talented than either Jaqua or Rolfe. But he's been even less productive and more injury prone than either, which is saying something.
Edson Buddle played as poorly as is imaginable for RBNY this season. Eddie Johnson was even worse for Kansas City. And Conor Casey hasn't played for Mainz in like 16 months or something ridiculous.
Giuseppe Rossi.... oh yeah.
After scoring double-digit goals in 2005, Herculez Gomez couldn't nail down a starting spot for his club in 2006. Razov and Cunningham are on the wrong side of 30 and weren't that good to begin with. Brian Ching continues to produce in MLS, but his touch is simply not good enough for international competition. He'll be in the pool, but if he's a starter we're in trouble.
Kenny Cooper showed flashes with Dallas this season and he has a real nice combination of size, skill and finishing instincts. If Football Club get an actual coach in there next year, he could force his way to the top of the pecking order.
Twellman and Noonan of New England fall into the Ching category, though I think Noonan could be much more if he stays healthy. He's so good in 1v1 situations, the best in the player pool IMHO. He's a subpar athlete though.
Eskandarian is in that group as well, though credit where it's due: he keeps adding dimensions to his game. Nice to see that.
And finally, the new star on the horizon is RBNY's Josmer Altidore. He's just 16, but he scored a handful of important goals this year in a variety of ways, including a beautiful header against DC United last weekend. He has a man's body and a sprinter's speed, and is prone to turning defenders inside out on the dribble. Yes, I'm high on him, as is everyone else. If he reaches his potential - a humongous if - he'll be the starter in 2010. If he doesn't, we may be totally boned.
My concerns over the next four years, in order:
1) Striker - Covered above
2) Cohesion - There's more talent in the player pool than there's ever been before, but there are also more new faces, young faces, players who are "hybrids", players who play in different leagues. The new coach will have to sort that out really, really well for the US to match what they did under Arena.
3) Left back - I'm not sold on either Pearce or Dunivant and Ward is too young. Sturgis could develop, but that'll be hard if he's playing a different position for his club team.
A wild, speculative guess at our 2010 lineup:
Howard
Cherundolo - Onyewu - Spector - Dunivant
Clark
Feilhaber - Donovan - Dempsey
Altidore - Jaqua