Great signs from the players in their 3-0 win against Panama. Now, it’s time to head down to San Jose and get ready for Costa Rica.
My line-up: ————-Ramirez————- Baird———————-Arriola ——-Mihailovic—Roldan—— —————-Trapp————— Lima————————Cannon ———Long—-Zimmerman—- —————Steffen————— Subs: Canouse (Trapp) 46 Lewis (Baird) 60 Ebobisse (Ramirez) 70 Lletget (Roldan) 70 Delgado (Mihailovic) 80 Trusty (Long) 80 Comments: I’m not as low on Zardes as most, but I’m willing to sit him for Ramirez to get the start and then to allow Ebobisse to get sub minutes in his natural CF position. I’d switch Baird to the left to get Arriola on the field; and I’d still use Lewis as super sub. I’d continue with Mihailovic and Roldan for the next game. Using Delgado and Lletget as subs for each. Although Bradley was much better last night; I still don’t want to see him penciled in as automatic starter. I’d split halves with both Trapp and Canouse. Lima was outstanding last night; which made me hesitant to move him, but I want to see what the versatile fullback can do on the left. Plus, I still want to see Cannon.
Fair enough but I thought that very few of their players are in Europe (off the top of my head, it's Navas and Borges). you're probably right that those two alone are enough to make it not a A team.
Costa Rica's squad is a lot more Internationally based than you think. This was their World Cup Roster (sorted by minutes played) with current club: Ruiz - Santos Borges - Goztepe (Turkey) Gonzalez - Bologna Acosta - India (really) Navas - Real Madrid Gamboa - Celtic Guzman - Portland Oviedo - Sunderland Duarte - Espanyol Venegas - Saprissa Urena - Alajuelense Campbell - Leon Calvo - Minnesota Colindres - Bangladesh (yep) Waston - Cincinnati Bolanos - Saprissa Wallace - Kansas City Tejada - Lausanne-Sport (Switzerland) Smith - Norrköping (Sweden) Azofeifa - Herediano So Calvo and Guzman are the only guys in this game that were on the WC Roster. It's a B- team at best. Still better than that Panama squad though.
FYI Weather update: 75% chance of rain at 1PM on Saturday and continuing throughout. This coming off a predicted inch Wednesday night, with another inch Friday all day. Could be a mess.
Predicted Lineup...Sarachan style! ---------------------Ramirez-------------------- ---Lewis----Lletget----Roldan----Arriola--- ----------------------Trapp----------------------- -Lima-------Long--------Trusty----Cannon- ---------------------Steffen---------------------- Zardes was poor. Let's see Ramirez (could go Ebobisse there too) Lewis rewarded for the late spark. Can he do it from the jump? Djordje may keep his spot, but I see GGG wanting to get a full look at da Boy Roldan is a glue guy. Arriola isn't sexy but he's still better than Baird at this point Everyone wants to see Canouse. Trapp is GGG's boy. Lovitz isn't the answer to anything. Let's see Lima on the left. Long=Captain Zimmerman is solid. He's known. Challenge Trusty. Cannon needs to outshine Lima here. GK consistency.
I'm not getting what anybody had against Baird. Disclosure: I never thought much of Baird. This is my first post ever with Baird in it. Word. But he looked as good as anybody else out there. He was doing stuff. He was playing. He had more control over his game than anybody else on the pitch, actually. Would Baird get stoned in a game v. Real Madrid? I suppose so but wouldn't everybody?
I feel an away match like this calls for a more defensive line up and I would not be surprised if we become clueless on the field again and then it’s back to square one. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.
We were surprised by a lot of the guys who started against Panama. And they did great. And I'm sure Berhalter wanted to a strong debut. But is there any chance we were saving our Jan Camp "A" team for Costa Rica?
I think 3G is doing a Southgate. He is looking for players that can play a certain style rather than just picking a "fantasy soccer all star team". Hard to tell so far from a January Camp (as it has value but lacks a number of our top players), but he is so tactically minded, I wouldn't be surprised to see him shift us that direction. ,Frankly, I am happy to see that.
Yep. Broadly speaking, he wants guys who can possess the ball, make passes/runs to break lines where appropriate, and have the tactical/gameplan discipline to implement the little wrinkles he comes up with (Lima last game). Even if a player is good, if he lacks in those capacities, it is gonna be tough for him under 3G.
Do we really have "top players" anymore apart from Pulisic, who has been super-seded by a young British player at Dortmund? TBH, McKennie's still unproven. Adams just played his first match for Liepzig. Sargent's barely in his 1st season. Weah is a late 2nd half sub for Celtic. The guys who failed us in the qualifiers, including Bradley, cannot be considered top players (Yedlin's questionable, Brooks inconsistent, etc., etc.). I feel sorry for Berhalter; his options are relatively few.
C'mon... it sounds just like some qualification campaigns and World Cups from the last three decades, whereby we grind and grind, giving the very earnest college try to controlling the game with gravely deliberate play/tactics, then some young dumb guys show up with game breaking speed and then maybe somebody else that can launch that ball and that kinda becomes plan A and we give all our ConCafoes fits.