Oh, OK. I'm not very savvy in terms of these differences in moderation and accepted topics in News and Analysis versus US Men. I just clicked on the thread that seemed to be a sort of pre-game discussion of today's game. My apology if I'm not very knowledgeable about Big Soccer's structure. So I guess in the PbP thread all topics including how we feel about the coach are allowed, right?
Oh, I think we're drifting away from what I think was the central point of this particular exchange. I was just trying to illustrate that not many people expected advancement. Nothing else. The questionable (sucky) roster decisions, the questionable (sucky) man-management, and the question of whether or not he should remain as NT coach are all not part of what I was trying to prove.
Not the grass...But the Rose Bowl is a massive concrete and steel structure...and that does to heat up under the sun. I guess this is where the drier conditions, implying little cloud cover, come in to play. Not sure if it's any advantage for Mexico. I would think, in general, players from MF and MLS would be more resilient under high heat than those habituated to European leagues.... without respect to which nation they play for.
I don't think is going to matter much. Pasadena at 6 p.m. cools very fast, the stadium is at the base of the mountains. Mid day temp will be in the mid to high 90s by 6 p.m should be close to mid to low 70s, by the final 15 minutes of the game should be in the high 60s.
Certainly adds some intrigue to the lineup. Williams as replacement is certainly the simplest but you could also see a lot of dominoes falling and a totally new formation. There will be a lot of support for going back to the 4-2-3-1 which many believe is a better scheme to play against Mexico.
I don't think so, last time we played Mexico in hot weather was at "our 2-0 house" and the game was at night and it was in the low 80 with high humidity. Mexican players prefer high altitude with humidity sprinkled with a bit of pollution like at the Azteca.
Why would you think that? He has not started there this year and I don't recall him playing there last year.
Suffice it to say he does not play a #6 for Reading. Now in his 3rd year, he has always played primarily as a #8. Williams primarily plays as a RCM in Reading's 4-3-3 (analagous to Morales' LCM in Ing's 4-3-3).
Not that current positioning in club has to be the same as in the NT. Klinsmann has used Fabian Johnson as a LB, even though he's been playing LM for the last 16 months.
I simply don't understand why JK doesn't use Yedlin as a sub to bring on to run against tired defenders. Especially if he insists on playing him in the midfield.
So all of those expecting a youth movement after tonight might want to brake check those expectations.
Well I would agree, I don't think he's a special player either right now. But the closest thing we have to special players available for this game up top are Dempsey and Altidore (who unfortunately doesn't really look anything special at the moment either). After that we have a bunch of guys in decent goalscoring form at a respectable but not all that impressive level. Which one is in better form will depend on how you slice the numbers - goals per game, goals per minute, exclude or include PKs, etc. Wood and Wondo might not be my first two choices for backup strikers, but again looking at the rest of that list, I just have trouble seeing how anyone can have really strong preferences one way or another there. (Wood, along with Agudelo and Lletget, is at least on the younger end of the spectrum among the starters in that list, which doesn't matter that much for this encounter, but does justify his getting looks in general outside of this game. And I would hope to see the same for the other two.)
This is just my opinion, but the reason I would prefer Agudelo over Wood would be that Agudelo has some excellent technical ability as well as the ability to make something out of nothing. Wood doesn't have a standout skill other than effort, but Agudelo, as odd as his club career has been, still has the most natural ability out of that whole tier of guys we're talking about. If the role is to come off the bench as a forward, you have to have the ability to make an impact. Wondo, for as much as I dislike him, has the poacher's skill that could make a difference in theory. Wood has workrate, which for a striker isn't that meaningful to me.