Stewart's Role

[rollo]

I've noted a few slams on Earnie and I am a little puzzled. There is no doubt that Stewart's game seemed to be off from before and through the WC. But from the Brazil game he was the only calming midfield influence. For those who say they do not want to see Earnie again, I would counter that we would be very very grateful for that calming possesion and influence on our mid-field depleted roster during WC qualifiers.

[michael greene]

He "calmed" us all the way to 0 goals. He might own Montserrat, but he can't play at the highest level anymore.

Judging by the DCU season so far, he can't even play in MLS anymore.

Please, no more Earnie. Ever.

[Martin Fischer]

I have never been a supporter of Stewart, but his play against Brazil was as good as any US attacker at the Confed Cup showed (admittedly not a challenging scale). He sent Klein running down the wing on a two on one [which Klein "finished" by dropping a cross into the stands] and made a brilliant run after a ball from Mathis and centered the ball to Donovan who went down in the box after contact from behind (but no call). His touches and passing were consistently good. I didn't see the Cameroon game, so maybe Martino was better, but Stewart is still better than Klein and Convey and if we have injuries, he plays in Word Cup qualifiers at this point.

[Red&Black]

i think it would be a mistake to sleep on stewart (though i am admittedly biased), i thought he was rather tasty in the 1st half against brazil (and was really nice against Portugal last summer until hurt) not only that beautiful run where he flicked the ball with his head, but he made a brilliant pass early in the game to lead to a real nice chance.

i also think the dcu results are an abberation. i saw his last couple of games at NAC in the fall and he ran the midfield one game and ran wild on the wing in another. both very high caliber play.

he certainly hasn't played up to his standards at dcu for a variety of reasons--new league, weird relationship with some players, out of postion, etc. but i don't think it is sign he is that far down hill.

will he be on the team in 06, probably not? might he make a desparate return in qualifying like tab did this last cycle? maybe--our quality mids like job and reyna are pretty fragile. and while martino and convey et. al. are improving, we still have some depth problems, one or two injuries and we might need the "old hand".