While there is still some debates about who will get the last few spots on the US roster, I think the players who will be contending for starting roles At the WC are pretty well known. I believe the WC camp and send-off games will be intriguing this year because there are several position battles I see shaping up. Here is my rundown by position. 1) Goalkeeper -- Howard vs. Hahnemann for Backup KK starts. This battle will probably be waged in camp primarily, as KK will get most of time in net during send off games to build chemistry with defense. Winner of this battle gets to dress for Italy and Czech Republic and possible playing time against Ghana depending on Group standings in Game 3. 2) Right Back -- No battle Dolo Starts. Backed up by Hejdude/Spector/Albright selection by Arena. 3) Center Defense -- Who is 2nd Central Defender -- Gibbs/Pope/Other?? Gooch Starts. Will Gibbs, Pope or Other (Boca/Conrad/Berhalter) be in support? Depending on lineup I can see several options. Pope reads game well, but not as fast anymore. Gibbs is fast and big, but may be used elsewhere by BA. Boca/Berhalter/COnrad bring in the injury, quickness and experience questions. My thoughts: Gibbs starts against Czechs to utilize his size speed in middle. Pope starts against Italy to utlize his reading of the game and becuase Gibbs will be at LB to make overall defense stronger. Ghana will depend on results needed and cards accumulated. 4) Left Back -- Lewis vs Gibbs Lewis Starts, however, I can see BA utilizing Gibbs at LB to be more defensive minded. Lewis will be serviceably playing defense and great in getting forward in the attack, which will serve BA tactically well against Czech and Ghana. Against Italy, BA may elect to be more solid in the back and go with Gibbs at LB. This will decrease the offensive support from this position, but most assuredly would help secure the flanks. Thinking about how Gibbs contained Asamoah in the Germany game. 5) Defensive Midfield -- No Battle. Pablo Starts. People talk about JOB and Reyna combining as CMids, but health and form I believe will limit the option of using both simultaneously due to their general liability. I think the backup role is a roster decision (Olsen vs KZ) combined with the health of JOB. 6) ***Left Midfield -- Convey vs DMB*** This is one of the major battles. DO NOT WANT TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THIS POSITION WAS DMB IN 2002 WC, SO IT WILL BE AGAIN AUTOMATICALLY. BA will put best player on field and postion is not defaulted by past performance. Two very good left footed wingers. Both will start at least 1 game....question is who gets second. This may come down to BA deciding one or other is doing a better job at tracking back on defense. I give slight edge to Convey based on mainting form all year, while DMB bounced in and out of strating lineup for PSV. 7) Attacking Mid/ Center Mids -- Tactically based decision. LD is the default A-Mid, unless LD is playing forward or BA decides to run a 4-5-1. If LD goes up top, this would be a prime spot for Reyna to create from otherwise DMB or Convey could slide here. Given current poor permorance of forwards lately. I half expect LD up top and Reyna in the A-Mid role. 8) *** Right Mid -- Renya vs Dempsey/COnvey-DMB*** Another interseting battle depending on tactics. I can see Reyna playing RM, but more inside as Dolo actually covers the flank. If Reyna is AMid, then battle between Dempsey and COnvey-DMB non-LMid. I give edge to Convey-DMB non-LMid because of experince and talent. 9) Forwards -- Who plays with McBride?? McBride Starts. Who starts with him???? LD up top or withdrawn into 4-5-1? Does Wolff, EJ, TT or someone step up??? Right now edge goes to LD up top since there is a plethora of talent in the midfield to cover for him and insufficient talent to fill 2nd forward role. SUPER-SUBS Offensive Minded Situations (Down and need a goal) Midfield -- DMB/Convey non-starter/Dempsey/JOB Forward -- Big question... Better to bring in another midfielder or an actual forward, ala EJ/WOlff TT. At present.... bringing on 2 midfielders, COnvey-DMB and Dempsey off bench, beats any forwards based on form. Defensive Minded Situations (Protecting lead/Preserving Tie) Defense -- Hejdude???? Not sure who would come in on defense Midfield -- JOB, Olsen/KZ I am interested in what others think of these battles, especially to answer the following questions..... Gibbs play both inside and Left Back? WHo is Left Mid-- Convey or DMB?? WHo plays Right Mid??? Forwards -- Anybody step up or is LD/tactical formation change better option? Who is first off the bench to help?
Hard to answer these questions for all three group games, as I expect Arena to change the formation and line-up from game to game. But, in general, I'd say: 1. Gibbs plays inside. Right now, I'd guess he starts every game he's available with Gooch. Perhaps someone else beats him out for the other starting CB spot. Unlike the midfield and forward spots, I do not expect Arena to rotate CBs. Whoever win the starting jobs start all games. However, if Lewis is injured/suspended/playing LM, then Gibbs might play LB. But not as a tactical decision where Lewis is available. 2. I expect Beasley to start over Convey every time. I agree Arena would start Convey if he thinks he's better. But, there's been absolutely nothing in friendlies or Arena statements to lead me to believe that Arena rates Convey over Beasley. 3. Answer to this depends upon the formation we're in. Assuming a 4-4-2 diamond, I prefer Reyna to start at RM and Donovan at AM. If Donovan plays at forward, then Reyna moves to AM and Dempsey starts at RM. 4. I'm still holding out hope that Johnson plays the other forward. I don't like Donovan at forward in a 4-4-2. Perhaps we play a 4-5-1, with Donovan and Beasley as withdrawn forwards, twin AMs. 5. Obviously, no way to answer unless you know what formation we're in and who's starting. But Dempsey and Convey both seem like good bets if we're down a goal. If we're up, then Mastro, Reyna, or JOB (whoever is on the bench) are possibilities. Either way, I expect McBride to be subbed off and replaced with another forward if we're down or a midfielder if we're up.
The one thing I would add is that if he is in decent form Lewis will play left back and not Gibbs. Unless the game situation is such that the team needs to conserve it's resources (they are tired or have less rest then the opposition) then Arena will not lie back. Just not his style. That means he will attack Italy- or at least have players who could attack Italy if they can. That means Lewis if he's in good form, not Gibbs. Or as Shackleton says, Gibbs stays inside.
i think if Reyna plays A-mid the US is in trouble....Landon needs to be in the midfield for this team to be successful. landon has no problem making the heal pass to spring someone loose or the flick on pass that splits defenders,,,,he takes chances, Reyna is too conservative in running the offense, always looking for the safe pass or pulling back for more attackers. There should be no contest on who gets the attacking mid spot,,,,it's Landon's. left mid is beasley's, nothing against Convey but beasley is better, faster and more attack oriented. left back is Lewis unless he gets hurt. CB's should be Gibbs and Gooch. Pope is not the same guy he was 4 years ago. Biggest spots i see open are Right mid and McBrides strike partner
I think so long as we get a postive result vs. cech r. gibbs will start at Lb vs italy. Alos Beazley will start over convey becuse of big game eperience. but if gets knocked around to much will be subbed by convey. I think dempsey willl start at rm. also mastro will start and job will be a sub to protect lead.
Sounds like fun. All the below is a matter of opinion, nothing more. My expectation is that Gibbs will win the spot from Pope in camp, assuming Pope can get through the next few weeks in MLS without breaking down. I, like ursula, think you make too much of this. Lewis is the starting left back absent a meltdown in May. While there may be some tactical situations where someone else is used, I believe these will be exceptions. I don't think that the way to play Italy is necessarily to bunker and if it is, I would drop another holding midfielder into the game instead of taking Lewis off. Have Beasley support him and he has a decent shot against Camoranesi. I suspect tactics will be what limits using JOB and Reyna together too much. But noone knows what Arena thinks since he has never had them both available in a long, long time. I think this is a battle and Convey will play. But I think Beasley has too much credit with BA going in and would have to perform badly in May not to be the main starter. I think Beasley tracks back better as well. And it is possible Beasley would be used elsewhere, either at midfield or forward. I don't think Dempsey takes a backseat to anyone in terms of talent. Experience is the real issue against Dempsey and it could very well come down to who plays better in May. Dempsey has several important positives, specifically his size, his natural right-footedness and his goal scoring ability. I think the bigger challenge to Dempsey is Reyna or Donovan at a quasi-right mid position. That is good talent-wise but Arena seems to prefer using a more true right mid at times. It's the most interesting spot on the field, though I don't think we have bad choices there. I believe Arena will give EJ and maybe Wolff every chance to win a starting spot in May. It's not looking good that they will do anything with that chance.
If injuries do not intrude, Landon will be up with McBride. This is necessary in order to free up another midfield slot, while keeping LD in the game. Reyna and JOB work really well together, but Mastroeni has also been playing really well. So, I see all three in--JOB on the left; Mastroeni and Reyna middle. This leaves one other. It will either be Dempsey on the right or JOB will be in the middle with Reyna and Convey/DMB will be on the left. Right now, I see Convey bringing more to the table. His play has a vitality to it now that DMB's lacks. The issue for Convey is his defensive contribution. In his favor is the sloppiness of DMB's play recently. So, if it is Mastroeni, Reyna, JOB and Convey/DMB/Dempsey, whoever is sitting of the last three will be available as subs. That's a good midfield. The options also allow BA to field a group that may be better offensively on one side of the field than the other, if he feels that would be useful.
Lewis at Left Mid! If we think Gibbs is a decent option at left back, then Boca and hejduk are certainly good coverage at that position. Don't be surprised therefore to see Eddie Lewis at left mid. This is not just a battle between Beasely and Convey. At this point in time, Eddie Lewis is the United States' best left wing option. Bobby's hot but hasn't proven much of anything for the US. Beasely's not on his game and his attacking effectiveness tends to range dramatically even when he's in a patch of good form. Eddie Lewis is one of the very best, most effective and most reliable players we have in our entire squad so I do not assume he will be shunted to left back if we have options. We may need to lock down the left and put the ball on McBride's noggin, and Lewis is Bruce's best bet to do that.
Keep in mind that Jamaica and especially Germany let some air out of our balloon recently. We may not be thinking we want two of our four backs to be "diminutive" but out there because they get up the wing well. We may not want to deploy Convey or Beasley to aggressively run at people with a makeshift left back behind them, chosen (again) primarily for his attacking ability. We're in the Group of Death, people.
Does anyone have information about when US WC Camp starts and who will or will not be joining because of their club commitments? I am curious if we will have the same amount of preparation time that we did before 2002? I see Mexico has already started and MFL teams have agreed not to call on World Cup bound players. If I remember correctly, MLS also did this in 2002. Are they going to cooperate again? Sorry for the questions, I just couldn't find the info.
dempsey showed well against jamaica... he's got a snarliness which must make arena smile, and for a decent sized guy gets free an awful lot.... i can see beasley and convey sharing spot duty, splitting time based on match-ups... having one or the other off the bench with 20 minutes to go isn't all that bad
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and I won't debate whether or not Lewis should be a LB instead of a LM for the USMNT. But, you're not paying attention if you don't realize that Lewis currently and for the foreseeable future is a LB for the USMNT. He's started at LB and gone the full game every single opportunity in which he's been available since Arena made the switch. He hasn't played a single minute of LM for the USMNT since the switch. The team has done well in those games and Lewis has almost universally praised for his play there. We're overloaded at LM and thin at left back. It's clear that, so far at least, the experiment has succeeded. I cannot see Arena suddenly shifting course and moving Lewis back to midfield.
It should also be noted that Arena never planned on playing Gibbs at leftback against Germany, but was forced to switch to that formation because Germany went with a lineup with 3 forwards (per Arena's post game pod cast). Gibbs is cover at left back but not the best or even a probable option. It's clear that Lewis is Arena's #1 leftback.
If healthy I think we'll see O'Brien, Reyna and Beas in the midfield. I would prefer Convey over Beas right now but Beas' D is better and I think Arena will take that. LD either is in the midfield with the other 3 or played upfront if EJ doesn't return to pre-injury form. If LD plays up front I think Mastro will go into the midfield over Dempsey. I don't see Dempsey starting any matches unless it is the last match and we've either already done enough to progress or so far out of it it won't matter (of course injuries and suspensions can change that too). I just don't think Dempsey has shown much against anyone outside Norway's youth team and Japan's C team to say he starts. Did Jamaica play their 1st team? Again no. So we'll move on. First sub will be Convey 2nd sub will be Demps if EJ starts. If EJ doesn't start then he'll be the first sub. Gibbs will be in the center with Gooch.
I don't see Convey starting at leftmid unless Beasley is horrible in May. Convey doesn't defend well enough to help out Lewis on the left.
This seems like a very sound conclusion, but the picture has changed some since we played Germany. And Bruce is not afraid to change things up dramatically, overnight. In fact, I expect him to. He's going to respond to pressure - early or late - like he did when Germany went to three forwards. In 2002 he threw the script out the window and rolled the dice with an entirely strange team. He must've come up with Hejduk, Sanneh, Mastroeni, Beasely, O'Brien, McBride etc overnight -- and Portugal was the toughest team we could conceive of facing. Not saying the move of Eddie Lewis back to left wing is a certainty, just saying you should consider it in any "Battle for Starting Spots" discussion cuz there's a darn good chance it could happen.
Arena was going to play a 3-5-2 against Germany because he didn't have the personnel to play his prefered 4-4-2, That will not be the case in the World Cup. He wont be forced into changes because of the same lack of quality players. That wasn't an entirely strange team at all. The only surprises were leaving Reyna out and starting Hejduk at leftback. Hejduk wasn't even a huge surprise because it was clear that Regis had lost it. Mastro for Reyna was a surprise but it was clear that Arena liked his destroyer Dmids. But there's not a darn good chance it could happen. There's not a necessity to make that change like there was for Regis in 02. Lewis will only loose the leftback spot if he sucks in May, and even if that happens Arena isn't going to then move him up to leftmid ahead of Beasley.
The message of that little parable was that under the pressure of the situation, Bruce changed his game plan. They'd never played together before. You're going to call that familiar? You could say Bruce fields unfamiliar teams quite often, if you wanted to help make my point. Hmm okay. I'm saying it's a possibility, but you heard it here folks, straight from Allos: despite the fact that Frankie Hejduk played three different positions at the last World Cup and Mastro started against Portugal, our most experienced and most reliably effective left midfield player has NO CHANCE of playing there during this World Cup. I apologize for wasting your time, O Allos.
Just hate crap like this. The Norwegian team that the US played had an average age of 27, with several guys in their 30s. Not "youth" by my count. The Japanese team that the US played was no "C" team -- the entire starting defense was there, some of the midfield and maybe even a starting forward. It could be as many as 8 starters depending on how many European benchwarmers Zico wants to go with.
I second this statement, but Reyna is top 11 material. Mastroeni also needs to start. How about: --------------------McBride --------------Beasley------Donovan -------JOB/Convey-----Mastroeni------Reyna Lewis--------Gibbs----Onyewu-----------Cherundolo ----------------Keller
The pressure of that situation is a silly comparison to make to a world cup match. You might not know this but, Bruce is not going to be forced into decisions because the majority of his best players aren't available due to club commitments. That's not going to happen. So you wised up and are backing away from your "entirely strange team" and "He must've come up Hejduk, Sanneh, Mastroeni, Beasely, O'Brien, McBride overnight" comments. You should back away from these statements because they are obviously incorrect. - Hejduk played leftback against Jamaica in May 02 and did quite well, he showed that he could replace a failing Regis. Not a huge surprise he started on the left against Portugal. - Sanneh played in all 6 (started in 4) of the 2002 pre cup matches he was available for. No surprise he started against Portugal. - Beasley played in all 3 May 02 warm up matches starting 2 of the 3. He looked great and won the spot from Lewis. No surprise he started against Portugal. - O'Brien started the last two May 02 warmups in central midfield. No surprise he started against Portugal. - McBride started 3 of the final 4 warm up matches. No surprise he started against Portugal. - Mastroeni replacing Reyna was a surprise but Arena's love of destroyer Dmids wasn't. So you've made some pretty ignorant statements and want to run from them with your silly "Familiar team" bit. Injuries and player availability make it extremely rare to have the same 11 in for every match. Save the stupid spin for someone else. No you are not. You said "there's a darn good chance it could happen". The "it" being Lewis could move to leftmid. There's a big difference between "there's a darn good chance" and "it's a possibility". But hey, I guess your thing is to backtrack and change your statements instead of just admitting when you've posted something ignorant and stupid.
Back track? I'm saying there's a darn good chance Eddie Lewis could play some left mid at the World Cup. You said it's not possible. Who sounds silly? (I'll warn you -- I was arguing with most people here that Mastroeni should start in the 02 World Cup before he had citizenship and through the period Bruce was leaving him off the plane.) I'm not back tracking. I'm saying Arena has proven time and again he will defy his word and your expectations. Remind me how much 3-5-2 we played before the Mexico round of 16 game? I'm also saying Bruce likes to play an aggressive game with twin attacking wing backs UNTIL he gets up against it. Look at the last college Cup he won: he went totally defensive versus Indiana, beacuise he thought they were superior. Look at the famous Richie Williams 02 qualifier down in Costa Rica. Frankie Hejduk was a last minute pick to start at fullback over Regis in '02 because Frankie could be trusted to STAY HOME. By the way, you can lay out all Bruce's lineups for 2001 and spring 2002 and there's no way in hell anyone would have guessed his line-up versus Portugal. If memory serves some of the selections of younger players were made on the day of the game after talking to vets he was planning to start. So coming up with that combination of players overnight was hardly an exaggeration.
That's a lie, I never said that. So now you are a liar on top of everything else. Good job. Speak for yourself, it certainly wasn't a stretch if you were following the team. Arena used the exact same lineup in the last May friendly only replacing the injured Reyna and Mathis and an incompetent Regis. Regis was on a steady decline during 2002, and Hejduk did great at leftback just a few weeks before the Portugal match. I know I wanted Hejduk over Regis. Post a link or I'll just figure you are lying again. It sure was an exaggeration when that was the exact same lineup as their last May friendly minus one horrible player and two injuries. Do you really think replacing injured players and Regis is some big surprising tactical move? Boy you've got a lot to learn.