Zardes is terrible in the air, gets uprooted as a target forward, has an awful first touch and doesn’t finish all of his sitters. His second goal was really nice. Couldn’t have perceived or executed better. He hasn’t been good otherwise. A forward that can’t make that run and finish on his first shouldn’t be a professional. HE IS TERRIBLE. If he’s actually better than Josh Sargent, then Bremen are run by silly fools.
Zardes has 10 goals in 47 caps. Some of those caps were as a sub, some were as a wide player. He does not suck.
He knows the system. He works hard. He gets into good spots. He does these things consistently. And he's pretty productive, especially in 3 GGG's system. Lots of coaches like guys who are dependable with their effort & decisions. I wish we had fat Ronaldo or Drogba up front, but we do not. Zardes is a fine squad player, especially now since he knows the system well and a lot of the other attackers do not. He gives the attack a reliable platform to build/learn from as the roster gets up to speed. I imagine Jozy reclaims his spot soon, but he is going to need to be fit & work hard. He is not good enough to lollygag. And 3G wants the CF working hard.
Zardes has 10 goals and 8 primary assists in 36 minutes worth of caps. He has been a bit better than a 'squad player' for the team.
They have not yet disappointed the Big Soccer fans. They are like a gadget that you see on TV, they look like a great gadget in the infomercial, then you order it; sometimes it works fine, sometimes after you use it once or twice, you think, why did I ever buy this shit.
He was also one of the only players to actually attempt to play well against Argentina. I distinctly remembering him taking on defenders and succeeding.
Agree. Rewatching his first goal, you don't realize that he started the run as soon as Michael Bradley made the chip pass. If GZ doesn't make that run then the goal doesn't happen.
Another little thing on Zardes’s first goal was directing the ball down into the turf so it went under the keeper’s hand/arm. You expect a striker to do that but if he wasn’t composed could have been different.
I get the criticisms of Zardes and have made many myself. His touch is truly awful and he's pretty dire at passing. But, he is a very intelligent runner out there. He finds a way to make plays and he is always in the right spot, battling away. As I saw a couple people note here, he has a great soccer IQ and he "gets to the rim." He makes things happen with his aggressive and intelligent runs. It is a shame he too often doesn't know what to do when the ball gets to him, but he certainly has real strengths that others lack. That second goal was probably the best finish I've ever seen him make.
I wish we had fat Ronaldo before he was fat and every defender was able to hack him from behind. I believe the red card for tackling from behind was mainly because of him. He was a terror.
Not sure he gets credit for intentionally directing the ball down, but it wound up going that way. Zardes is sometimes so bad, he’s good because it’s completely unpredictable. Anyway, he’s a good guy and a tremendously hard worker and an unselfish teammate. Hard not to like him as a person, but he’s not a star as a player.
Germany robbed nothing the refs did... seriously look at it.. frings straight up blocked it on the goal line....
I think it is pretty clear he got his leg up and directed the ball down. There is another view somewhere from behind the goal that shows it better but you can see it from this one. https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...m-vs-trinidad-and-tobago/details/video/199139