Which team is better?

[lawrenceterp]

Team 1
Howard
Cherundolo
Bocanegra
Onyewu
Pearce
Bradley
Beasley
Lewis
Adu
Dempsey
Altidore

Hahnemann
Califf
Demerit
Simek
Spector
Szetela
Johnson
Wolff

Friedel
Gibbs
Subotic
Feilhaber
Hill



Team 2
Guzan
Hejduk
Parkhurst
Robinson
Bornstien
Clark
Edu
Kljestan
Rogers
Donovan
Cooper

Reis
Wynne
Marshall
Soumare
Mastroeni
Holden
Barrett
Ching

Busch
Conrad
Moor
Alvarez
Twellman

[fire428]

is that serious? team one would win by 2-3 goals. no question

[ugaaccountant]

Team 1 in every conceivable way.

[Craig P]

The only reason I even have to think about this is the presence of Donovan on team 2. Otherwise, it's team 1 by a landslide.

[FnordUnitedFC]

Team 1 would win 8 out of 10 matchups. Donovan as an X-factor would steal a game here or there for team 2.

[Beazley17]

What's the purpose of this? Anyways, team 1 is clearly the better side.

[Gonzalez]

Wow. Are you implying that Donovan is so great that he could essentially lead a team full of reserves to a victory over a superior team? Or do you just hate Donovan?

[oldguyfc]

Well I guess one could say that, given the cries after the first two friendlies in the latest triad. "Without Donovan the US has no offense" crab thrown all over the boards by folks whom evidently felt sorry for the coaches that were "hamstrung":rolleyes: by his absence.
( Nothing meant toward Donovan, the player)

[ElJustin]

What if we took the best players from team 1 and the best from team 2, namely Donovan and Edu and put them on the same team! that would be cool wouldn't it?! ahh too bad, in a perfect world i guess....

[russ]

Team 2 has Donovan plus many of new the players being screamed for as must plays,specifically Parkhurst,Edu,and Rogers.

So I'd like to see what a lot of the champions of those players think.

Well played.

BTW,who are the coaches :)?

[giffenbone]

Team 1 is YAs

Team 2 is MLS


YAs win 7, lose 1, tie 2. Or maybe go 6-2-2

[russ]

but what if Team 1 plays an empty Bucket,and Team 2 plays a christmas tree?

[cc-atl]

Team 1 is YAs

Team 2 is MLS


YAs win 7, lose 1, tie 2. Or maybe go 6-2-2

That would be a fun idea for an MLS all-star game. Of course the MLS team would not be just US borm players - Beckham, De Rosario, etc would be included. But I like the idea having them play a Yanks Abroad team that would bring back Freddy, Jozy, Dempsey, etc instead of the typical EPL team match up we have seen recently.

[jonspider]

That would be a fun idea for an MLS all-star game. Of course the MLS team would not be just US borm players - Beckham, De Rosario, etc would be included. But I like the idea having them play a Yanks Abroad team that would bring back Freddy, Jozy, Dempsey, etc instead of the typical EPL team match up we have seen recently.

Best of the MLS vs. Best of the Americans Abroad!

I love that idea!

[ugaaccountant]

but what if Team 1 plays an empty Bucket,and Team 2 plays a christmas tree?

Fortunately Team 1 wouldn't play an empty bucket. Szetela/Bradley as a bucket wouldn't be empty. Also, Bob Bradley's an MLS team 2 guy. It's funny, all but 1 of our best players is team 1 and yet for the last decade we've gone team 2 for coaches.

[TimB4Last]

Fortunately Team 1 wouldn't play an empty bucket. Szetela/Bradley as a bucket wouldn't be empty. Also, Bob Bradley's an MLS team 2 guy. It's funny, all but 1 of our best players is team 1 and yet for the last decade we've gone team 2 for coaches.

Funny how? What's funny about it?

[Marko72]

You know, for about 30 seconds, I actually took them at face value and compared them just on talent and strengths/weaknesses... and then I realized the YA vs MLS-ness of it.

And for the record, the YA's win, but they really want Donovan (who could steal a game from them), and could use a few others. Which isn't so surprising an conclusion. If the YA's could manage to land Donovan, the gap widens considerably, even with Edu et al on the MLS roster.

[JohnR]

Good post.

To me, it's Team 1 only because Freddy and Jozy bailed from MLS over the past year. If they were on the Team 2 squad, it would be at least even, if not a modest (and growing over time) advantage for Team 2.

Because I ain't all that impressed with names like Boca, Beasley, Pearce, and Bradley -- they are easy enough to duplicate with MLS talent like Parkhurst, Rogers, Bornstein, and Edu.

[Adam Zebrowski]

play the mls all star game on august 16, before the august 20 wcq qualifier in guatemala....

[mcontento]

If given the lineups this is what I think each team has some advantages. Team two would be better at attacking while team one would have the much better defense.

I'd take Donovan/Cooper over Dempsey/Altidore up top. I'd rather have Cooper up top than Dempsey because someone like Donovan works best with a holding forward in the McBride model than with a Dempsey type player. Dempsey for all his skill isn't a super star forward internationally, I always thought he performed better in the midfield. At this point Donovan is a better forward than Altidore but he's probably better in that A-mid position for us.

In an ideal combined team both Donovan and Dempsey move to the midfield with Cooper/Altidore up top.

To get our best players on the field we'd almost need to move to a 3-5-2


-----------------Howard------------------
---Cher--Boca/Onyewu/Spector--Pearce---
-------------------Edu--------------------
------Adu------Dempsey------Beasley-----
----------------Donovan------------------
----------Cooper---------Altidore---------

I am tempted to flip Adu and Donovan.

In any scenario I think the MLS team is underrated vs. the "named" players in Europe and wouldn't get absolutely torched in most games would be even on score most of the time and could sneak a few wins.

Team 1 wins more but a lot of close games.