The Castrol Index was just updated a few hours ago... Gordon is #4, ahead of Wondolowski at 5 and behind Lenhart at 3. Brek Shea is now up to #40.
Below Matt Hedges at 32. Hedges is great and has seriously stepped up, but he is a rookie and hasn't been starting long.
Based on the way people talk............you'd think Shea was at #400. If you just look at the midfielders in the Castrol Index, I think there'd be some people surprised at how Shea ranks. Is he playing as well as last season? Obviously not. Is it an abomination that Shea gets a callup? I don't think so. Shea is ranked well ahead of Osvaldo Alonso, for instance. [I personally don't put much stock in the Castrol ratings, though. I use my eyeballs instead.] Every coach in the world has a couple of "project players." Guys that may not be all that great now, but have all the attributes to be an impact player. These are players you may not call up during World Cup Qualifiers, etc..........but for friendly? Why not?
This. The Index clearly favors big, strong attacking players. Look at the top 25, and you'll see a lot of journeyman forwards in the mold of Gordon and Lenhart. Then the really outstanding guys playing forward, or attacking positions that aren't hold-up players start showing up in the lower twenties, mixed in with some GKs.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...otlight-after-breakout-year-what-changed-shea Well there goes my Shea as a CF theory..
So, am I still supposed to pretend Shea can't dribble? After he came on the field and did just that very well multiple times in Azteca.
Shea did that on a semi=regular basis last year, skinning guys that close to the box and creating chances. That's why he finished so high in the MVP voting. Let's hope this gets him back into form. He's an ideal LW in a 4-3-3 in terms of his speed and size. Imagine him crashing the back post against your typical right fullback who goes 5'8" and weighs 150.
COngrats to Shea! Hope he can keep up this form back with Dallas, and come back stronger with the nats in WCQ.
That was awesome. Fifa 12 called him a "dribbler," and none of us listened... I can't wait to see what happens in September!
That article from MLSsoccer.com sheds some light on his performances this season. I wonder if his production would have been higher if Blas Perez wasn't missing so many games.
Absolutely spectacular. I've called him out on this thread, so here we go: Brek, I'm proud of you. You sucked it up, you put your boots on and you played. And helped one of the biggest goals of your life. I absolutely hope this is what turns you around as you had already started to do. I knew you had it in you bud, and keep it up. See you in Jamaica.
Yep, Brek, I called you out too. Great work on the goal! Start the rest of your career with greatness tonight. best wishes, of course . . .
As I said either here or in the roster announcement thread, I really wonder how much the people who say Brek Shea sucks this year have actually watched him play, and how much of it is groupthink. Sure he's not the same as last year but he is a one man team at FCD with Perez and Ferreira missing so many games, Chavez in San Jose, and I'm not sure what's going on with Fabian Castillo... US is 1-0-1 against Mex in the last year with Shea setting up both US goals, they would probably be 0-1-1 without him... Brian Straus: "Shea is the MexHex breaker. Goes 90 as FCD beats UNAM last Aug to end US club O-for streak, then sets up goal tonite to end NT's. Talisman."
Brek is a great spark off the bench But he needs to leaves Dallas. His development is arrested there --at least with his current coach
Eating some crow, but even his supporters thought the callup was undeserved. Guess everyone was wrong huh? haha For me JK needs to figure out who to play at LW. I think Dempsey is better underneath the striker, playing off Gomez or Altidore but we'll see. Shea is a good sub option when healthy on form.
Every coach has his project guys and it certainly seems that with Klinsmann and Shea. I think Klisnmann wants Shea to be a big player in 2014.
Or Hyndman needs to be fired. I was calling for that in this thread after that Dallas Observer article...
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/featur...ational-team-makes-history-in-mexico-?cc=5901 FWIW, Shea got an "8"