Pre-match: United States vs Colombia, June 3, Santa Clara, California

It could be argued you haven't been paying attention.

 

Really? You're going to tie together the opinion of like 2 posters on this site and call it "Big Soccer" as if that's the opinion of the collective?

That's pretty disingenuous HHF.

 

That's the job though. A vital part of the job is to utilize the vast pool or resources that are available in the domestic league (along with the growing and available pool of players that are at foreign clubs and are US eligible).

It really isn't "hard" to do, for a qualified manager. (JK seems to have a tough time with it, but that's likely because he's not all that familiar with the league, or simply doesn't "value" it, nor think spending more time on it would benefit his program.)

US coaches who really knew (or specifically actually worked and managed in) MLS, have done a fairly decent (to great) job of better utilizing the MLS resources and players, and recognizing which ones have the tools to "make the leap" (or simply be successful) on the international stage.

For some players, regardless of their club or league, there really isn't a "leap" to make from their club play to playing and succeeding on the international stage.

I certainly do give credit for playing Beckerman at the 2014 World Cup, until he left him on the bench, for some reason.

Going with players like Diskerud and Davis on the 2014 WC roster, while leaving off players like Feilhaber and Donovan, were certainly some roster errors, imo. But that was all 2014. Let's look forward to see how 2016 proceeds.

 

Specious argument. I watch him make the same mistakes now that he made 5 years ago.

 

So no improvement then, at all? Just constant and repeated errors?

imo, McCarty could (if given the chance) have the same type of positive impact at WC2018 as did Beckerman at WC2014.

Certainly, I'd place McCarty on the depth chart ahead of Kitchen, currently. But JK, as he is paid to do, has his own plans and opinions and gets to craft the reality of the program.

 

I'm not going to argue that I think JK is a master at identifying talent. Quite frankly, I'm often confused as to what he's trying to do. That being said, I'll give him credit for the following:

• the bottom of his head-scratching South Africa roster worked out quite well and he was able to coax important moments out of marginal roster players
• the message that he delivered to Nyugen: you need to get in great shape and here's a program. I hope that other skilled MLS players get the message loud and clear. Imagine if Lletget was able to constantly move into space like Zardes! We'd have a less athletic Pulisic....
• it's important to push yourself at the higher soccer levels than MLS (i know you disagree so no need to respond to this one)

 

Who are the non-roster players in MLS right now who you believe are able to make the leap?

 

But that is not a universal rule, that applies to all players nor at all stages of their career.

He'd likely be a better NT manager if he were though, or so one would think.

 

Morris should be at the tournament. (Either for Wondo or Zardes, imo.)

McCarty should be there (likely in place of Kitchen -- who, imo, has a very low ceiling at the international level).

And I'd consider Finlay or Nguyen for the roster spot that Zusi holds for this Copa.

(Again, just my opinions, and I can see why JK has and goes with his opinions on these players called and un-called.)

 

would you agree that these are bottom of the roster decisions? or at least middle of the roster? Most of these guys have low ceiling (albeit above the Ralston line)

I don't see the major problem of JK being his roster selection, even though I often disagree with them. In other words, it's not that he bought the wrong ingredients at the grocery but rather he recently hasn't been able to mix the ingredients he has acquired into something that tastes better than expected. [note to self: what an analogy......]

Personally, I am not high on Finlay at all but would have included Morris as a smart, hard working, speedy player well suited for counter-attacking. I would have invited Lletget to CC as well to see if he could at the very least help us close out a tight game that we're winning with 15 minutes left. I also think Zardes does something better than anyone in the pool currently and this skill is vastly under-rated.

 

Middle of roster decisions are very important. And even the bottom of the roster decisions (in a month-long tournament, especially) can be important.

 

Lighten up, it was meant as a joke. JJJ's expression is priceless. Since you have decided to be serious and insulting, 2 people, really? Should I find the posts? Are you one of the 2?

 

Let's see if MB90 plays as asked.

Bradley avoided going into too much detail about the switch, saying that it was up to Klinsmann on how to use him best. And there are some subtle differences between his current role and the one he fills with club side Toronto FC. With TFC, Bradley is counted on to carry the ball out of the back with the two center-backs split to either side of him.

Klinsmann has emphasized that he wants his center-backs to bring the ball forward and then find Bradley further up field, preferably behind the opposition team's forwards.

http://www.espnfc.us/united-states/...ew-weeks-at-copa-america-says-michael-bradley

 

rather than view it as insulting, I'd suggest it was incredulous. Not unreasonable if he didn't get that you were joking. YMMV.

 

I'd be interested to see why everyone thinks this make sense for the USMNT?

 

Fortunately, our tournament is likely to only last 3 matches (4, at best) so that makes the bottom of the roster less important...

 

ESPN's Paul Carr's lineup.



http://www.espnfc.com/united-states/story/2884600/us-position-battles-heading-into-copa-america-fc

 

But what if we make it to game 5 (which we realistically could), or heaven forbid, game 6 of this tournament?

 

Fox is a mystery. Most thought all of the WWC would be on FS1 and 2 except for the Final and maybe a weekend Qtr Final or two. Then, a few months out, they announce a schedule with a massive amount of games on Fox Broadcast even in the middle of the week and the middle of the day. I know alot of Fox broadcast affiliates were not thrilled with that schedule. Then, they make a big deal about this event, and only air a few early, guaranteed low rating games which I am sure will be filled with promos to watch the big games on FS1 and 2.

I think they are caught between trying to build up FS with big events that will draw in viewers and making sure they maximize revenue for events they paid alot of money for (ie put the big games on broadcast). FS1 hasn't cut into ESPN's lead as much as they thought they would be now. Its not just soccer. The World Series and LCS seem to cause the same type of confusion for them. They announced all of the LCS coverage would be on FS only to move a game or two to Fox Broadcast last minute the past few years in order to get the word out to watch the rest of the series on FS1&2. I think they are throwing everything at the wall and seeing what works.

I also would not be shocked that if the US gets out of the group, they could move a USA game to Fox Broadcast.

 

We couldn't beat Jamaica or Panama in the Gold Cup but we beat Brazil in the Copa? Sure, anything is possible but I'm not gonna hold my breath. If we do that then its hard to take issue with JK's player selections.

My bet is we go out in 3. (sadly).

 

Don't bother, if you have to ask if I'm one of the two, then you definitely aren't paying enough attention. I've been one of the most ardent pro-JJ guys on here for a while, even when many people who I generally find my opinions aligning with think otherwise. But please, continue your meme, or find the many, many posters who think JJ should be replaced with Dax. Here's a hint, it's confined to a thread where such suggestions are thrown out there regularly (flavor of the week thread), and only said by a couple posters there, and you can guess who they are.

Also, aren't jokes supposed to be funny or have a punchline? This is less of that and more thinly-veiled sarcasm to support an agenda while criticizing a viewpoint which hardly exists.

 

I actually think that JK, like most coaches, will go for what most recently saw good results, i.e., Bradley, Jones and Bedoya in the mid field.

 

I just dislike our roster for a tournament. If FJ gets hurt, we are done. It reminds me of the WC with Jozy.

Regardless, I expect the exact same line up we had in the 2nd half vs Bolivia. If we remain 0-0, I expect Nagbe-Pulisic to come in as well. If we are ahead he probably won't make those subs which will be a mistake. Possession to alleviate pressure is key to holding a lead and Nagbe is the guy for that.

If we are down, I frustratingly expect him to wait to long to bring in Nagbe and Pulisic.

I expect Zardes to be worthless against this caliber opponent. Deuce will be slow and dive to much. On a side note about that....we are so bad at set pieces, why is he diving so much?

For CR and Paraguay it will depend on our result here as well as injuries, cards etc. If we lose, we better be aggressive and dominant versus CR and Paraguay.

 

I am curious to see what you all think should be the mindset for the team vs. Colombia on Friday?

Should the USMNT take a more cautious approach (i.e., use Beckerman as the dedicated DM) or a more aggressive stance (i.e., Bradley as our DM with Jones + Bedoya/Nagbe)?

JK said on a Facebook chat earlier this week that the US would "go for it" against Colombia because he sees that first match as a "finals" type match for the USMNT. Whether he does actually "goes for it" by deploying more of our attacking players remains to be seen.

 

Fabian Johnson hasn't been so good for us that we're screwed if he gets hurt.