Kenny Cooper - Nate Jaqua

[Jonny Bishop]

Do people think Jaqua has a future on the team with the arrival of Kenny Cooper?

Jaqua fans usually cite his size, strength, and foot skills as the primary reasons he is destined to make an impact for the Nats. Cooper, however, is just as tall, bigger, and from everything I've seen possesses better technical skills than his counterpart in LA. He's three years younger than Nate and in one season in MLS has scored more than half the number of goals NJ has in his whole career. He also doesn't give away fouls the way Nate does (one of the few forwards I've seen whose fouls committed count far outstrips his fouls suffered).

My gut feeling is that Cooper is going to put an end to the Jaqua campaign, but I'm curious as to how others see this playing out.

[Chicago1871]

J-a-q-u-a.

[JohnR]

My gut feeling is that Cooper is going to put an end to the Jacqua campaign, but I'm curious as to how others see this playing out.

I agree that Cooper is better. But who knows? McBride is exiting the international stage, Ching's knee is sore, Bradley might wish to have two target forwards on the squad, voila a shot for Nate.

There aren't many 6' 4" type players in the U.S. or indeed worldwide who can credibly play forward. Those who do, tend to get their looks.

[IndividualEleven]

Do people think Jaqua has a future on the team with the arrival of Kenny Cooper?

Jaqua fans usually cite his size, strength, and foot skills as the primary reasons he is destined to make an impact for the Nats. Cooper, however, is just as tall, bigger, and from everything I've seen possesses better technical skills than his counterpart in LA. He's three years younger than Nate and in one season in MLS has scored more than half the number of goals NJ has in his whole career. He also doesn't give away fouls the way Nate does (one of the few forwards I've seen whose fouls committed count far outstrips his fouls suffered).

My gut feeling is that Cooper is going to put an end to the Jaqua campaign, but I'm curious as to how others see this playing out.

Jaqua will be playing target forward full time in LA up top with Donovan. He may yet develop into a something beyond camp fodder.

Right now my forward list for 2010 is: Cooper, Donovan, Altidore, Davies, Rolfe.

Top forwards right now(who won't be too old in 2010):

Donovan
Cooper
Rolfe
Ching
Twellman

Davies isn't a pro yet and Altidore only has a few games under his so I'm leaving them out for now.

Realistically I don't see Jaqua surpassing these guys.

[The Big Ticket]

It's hard to compare the two after watching Cooper for only one season. However, from my observations Cooper can do anything Jaqua can do slightly better:

- Cooper heads the ball more accurately than Jaqua
- he's a better finisher (head or feet) than Jaqua
- has a better touch than Jaqua
- better agility than Jaqua
- better tactical awareness than Jaqua
- is capable of creating goals for himself

The only advantage Jaqua has over Cooper is speed. Not quickness though - they're both equally sluggish. Once he gets to full speed, Jaqua can really cover some ground. However, in soccer it's more important to have quickness than speed.

Now, I'm not writing Jaqua off, nor am I endorsing Cooper. I'm curious to see how Jaqua does in his new surroundings, and whether Cooper can turn in another solid season. Neither of these guys is a natural target forward. They're both wingers trapped in a striker's body. But I think between the two, Cooper uses his height more effectively, and even when he doesn't he brings other good attributes to the game. The lack of pace could be a problem at the international level, however.

And I'm a Jaqua fan, btw. Even though he's in LA now, I still wish him all the success in the world.

[lurking]

Add me to the column who think that Cooper is a better player right now, and likely to stay the better player. That said, I think Jaqua still has a good bit of untapped potential, and could improve quite a bit. Im glad he got linked up with Yallop and out of Chicago, as I think hell benefit from the stability Yallop will encourage in LA vs the revolving door that seems to occur in Chicago.

I like having both players available. Right now I see them both having very good shots in 2010.

[rgli13]

putting aside our clearly endless supply of proven international forwards- with two tournaments coming up literally back to back i dont see the point in putting one aside when we havent seen either at this level just yet.

if bradleys going to go with a huge target forward to spray balls in to system then we can use both, for at least the immediate future.

[DaMa]

The problem with Jaqua is he doesn't really seem to play his height. I am not saying he is bad, mind you. Merely pointing out that Cooper has similar ball skills, is a better finisher and plays big. I am not saying that the future lies with Cooper (though I like him) I just think Jaqua is going to have a relatively small window to make a serious impact before he gets pushed behind Josy etc.

[superdave]

Do people think Jaqua has a future on the team with the arrival of Kenny Cooper?
No. Cooper is younger and better.

[superdave]

The only advantage Jaqua has over Cooper is speed. Not quickness though - they're both equally sluggish.
Actually, IMO Cooper has very quick feet, when it comes to shielding and so forth. But in a dead run, good Lord, he's slow. I think I once described him as the oddest combination of skills I've ever seen, a cross between Carlos Valderrama and Jan Koller.

[eplkewell]

Jaqua is at least as good as Cooper when he plays up top, but he's played a lot on the right wing hiw entire career in Chicago.

[Adam Zebrowski]

saw where the fire dropped jaqua into midfield at times, and his game surpised me somewhat...

he and cooper can BOTH do it...

individualeleven's list of:
Cooper, Donovan, Altidore, Davies, Rolfe

is a list i think has great upside...

davies is such a pure scorer, and i think altidore will be too

[DaMa]

Jaqua is at least as good as Cooper when he plays up top, but he's played a lot on the right wing hiw entire career in Chicago.


Cooper got dropped back down plenty too... and I thought he faired better than Jaqua. I think both players are clever with their feet, but I think Cooper is MUCH harder to move off the ball and plays MUCH better in the air. I think this guy has a future with the USMNT... I do not see much of one for Jaqua.

[MarioKempes]

Jaqua is 25. Normally, I'd say it's too late for a player this age who has been eligible but essentially uncapped. However, Jaqua only has 1 cap and may have deserved more.

Players don't generally get much better after 25. I'd bet against him making any sort of impact on the national team, however, I can't write him off. In mybook he's a good player, but not good enough. But Bradley is the decider.

[Nutmeg]

Nate is untapped potential, in my book. For both Kenny and Nate (and any other player who wants to play target forward), they should look to Brian McBride to see the level of work involved in playing the position. Brian overcomes a lot of deficiences - or maybe better put mediocrities - by playing his heart out all the time, every time.

The odd thing about both these guys is that neither is particularly dominant in the air. Nate needs to work on strength, assertiveness, and timing. Kenny needs to develop a target forward's mentality.

Both could be very useful players for the US, but both will actually have to work - very hard - to do so.

[Red Card]

Add Conor Casey and play a 4-3-3.

[Eleven Bravo]

I think it'll be interesting to see how Jaqua does under Yallop with Donovan. If him and Donovan find a good partnership you never know. however, right now the race is favoring Cooper by a country mile. But they both have work to do.

this cycle i think we're going to have less of the big & tall target forward with a withdrawn, supporting forward like we have had (or wanted) in the past...and go with the fighter, strong forward with a pure speed forward. I just think it'd be better to try and work with what we got and stop pretending we have an arsenal of Jan Kollers.

Take a look at our player pool for forward for 2010 (includes a few guys that might be too young and a few that are still unproven.):

-(True) Target Forwards: Ching, Casey, O. Gonzalez (isn't he a defender now?)...obviously, we are thin here. Hopefully, Cooper and Jaqua can learn how to play the role because they have the size for it.

-Fighters/Strong Forward: Zimmermann, Cooper, Jaqua, Twellman, Barrett, McLoughlin...these are the guys who are going to bust their butts to either score or set up someone else.

-Withdrawn/Supporting Forward: Donovan, Adu, Quaranta, Noonan, Gaven, Mapp, Rogers, Convey (i'm confident he'll stay at LM, but with all our depth on that side he MAY push more to the center.)...I think we'd rather keep these guys in the midfield, but if we need a forward we'll have to start moving some of them up top.

-Speed/Power Forward: Davies, Altidore, E. Johnson, J. Johnson (i've just heard he plays like Eddie), Buddle, Cunningham, Smith, Kamara (if he can start playing like he did at the beginning of the season)...What i like about all these guys is that most are pretty strong too. I think they'd mix well with the guys i named in the strong forward category.

-Small/Technique Forward: Rolfe, Beasley, Gomez, Arvizu, Nguyen, Alvarez, Carr, Ochoa...we're a little bit weaker and more inexperienced in this area. Out of all of them, i see Rolfe making the biggest impact.

-Shooters/Poachers/Whatever: Eskandarian and Garey...I don't think either fit into a specific category, but as long as they score who cares.

-??? (let me know what you'd classify them as)=
Hill: i've never watched this guy play so i don't know where he fits in.
Zizzo: I'm guessing he's a WF since he goes back and forth between MF and FW.
LaPira: no one is mentioning this guy! but winning the hermann as a junior with a hurt knee is something to take notice.
Loftus: this guy is like 6'5? so i'd figure he's more of a TF than anything, but last i checked he was a MF too.
Sambursky, Ashe, Patterson: I'm looking forward to watch next season to
see how they fit.

***As you can see from our player pool, it'd probably better suit us to go with a strong/speed forward tandem over the typical big and little forwards.

***also, this is going off that i figure we'll play with 2 forwards and not 3. thus, no wing forwards on the list.

[Ghost]

Nate is untapped potential, in my book. For both Kenny and Nate (and any other player who wants to play target forward), they should look to Brian McBride to see the level of work involved in playing the position. Brian overcomes a lot of deficiences - or maybe better put mediocrities - by playing his heart out all the time, every time.

The odd thing about both these guys is that neither is particularly dominant in the air. Nate needs to work on strength, assertiveness, and timing. Kenny needs to develop a target forward's mentality.
.

Kenny is effective in the air on crosses, but not so much on goal kicks and long balls. His work rate is simply outstanding.

[Ghost]

You know, didn't Nowak select jaqua over Cooper as a replacement for the All-Star Game? Oh, great.

[sidefootsitter]

... this cycle i think we're going to have less of the big & tall target forward with a withdrawn, supporting forward like we have had (or wanted) in the past...and go with the fighter, strong forward with a pure speed forward. I just think it'd be better to try and work with what we got and stop pretending we have an arsenal of Jan Kollers.. If you leave out a target striker, you have to play the ball on the ground and that's the weakest part of the American game - dribbling, shielding, passing into space.

Maybe once the entire midfield is filled with the experienced high level Euro based pros, it can be done but it still leaves you to speculate on the system that will be put forth by the new permanent coach.

While I am not fond of Arena's tactics, he sort of understood that if you can't keep possession in midfield without risking turnovers, you may as well boot it forward. It wasn't pretty or creative - which is why the US was poor offensively under him - but at the same time, it kept the Jeff Agoos/Claudio Reyna type turnovers to a minimum also.

As to Nate, I was surprised at him not getting a decent Euro offer but coming to LA might benefit him. Frank Yallop played in England, he knows what it's like to play off and against a big target striker, so Nate may have gotten himself a decent teacher for a change.

And despite his awkwardness, the guy does manage to score on a regular basis. That's always a good sign.