Chandler's reputation for me is more about how he's a gigantic flake that clearly only committed to the US when promised a WC roster spot, threw a tantrum when he didn't get on the field in Brazil while on the sideline in Brazil, and has consistently found miscellaneous reasons not to show up for camps and games.
I can't even lie, I'm in disbelief that we have posters arguing that Zardes should start as an 8 or a 10 in a three man central midfield for the USMNT. Complete shock.
Let's see if Siggy wakes up and plays Zardes in mid against Columbus mid week Let's face it, Galaxy are like Churchill's pudding at this point - no theme. I can't come up with a lineup but they need to pull Zardes out of the forward line. Arena didn't play him there.
NBC Sports via Yahoo Sports 4 days ago reported that Johnson didn't train last Friday and didn't play on the weekend because of an "unspecified injury." There's no report of him training this week on google or gladbach's website?! Where do you get your info?
Changing coaches and one player won't change whether we win either. We won't win until we have 20 or so players that are comparable to the other top 3-5 teams. Until then no coach would make that big of a difference. One player won't either. Even Argentina with maybe the best player ever can't win it all and their roster is a lot better than ours top to bottom.
Offensively? Maybe. In pro ball you have to play two ways and Zardes plays tough defense. He also has a very good motor and can play hard for 90 minutes. I know that watching him he can show that 50/50 bad touch and some other goofy stuff but no there really aren't 1000 better players than him. I watched both of my sons play in Dallas leagues where thare are plenty of skillfull Hispanic players. I saw some of them get signed to HG deals with FC Dallas. I've seen others get signed to deals with LA. They don't get the time and space in the pro's they did as kids and most of them don't make up for it by improving their two way game. If they are absolutely exceptional offensively maybe they get away with it. Not many of those guys. Certainly not 1000's.
My 23 for these WCQs: GK - Howard, Guzan, Horvath/Hamid D - Yedlin, Villafana, Lichaj, Morrow, Besler, Cameron, Gonzalez, Miazga M - Pulisic, Nagbe, Bradley, Johnson, Acosta, McCarty, Zardes, Arriola F - Altidore, Wood, Dempsey, Morris Notes: -The CR game is a FIFA international date (obviously) and in the northeast/an easy flight from Europe, so I'm calling in Horvath as the #3 as it's probably the only chance Bruce is going to have to get a look at him before spring. After the CR game send him back to Belgium so he can use the rest of the break to get over jet lag and bring Hamid to Honduras -If Yedlin can't go, Bedoya takes his place and Johnson slides back to RB -Hedges, Morrow, Roldan, Bedoya, and Sapong on call for Honduras if we lose a guy to card suspension
He may end up being a useful right back, he is def not national team material, def not an attacking player for this level. Until we get rid of this crazy idea that we can win something relevant with hard work, we will be a joke.
I think we can get two wins and basically be done with it, but you are probably right, CR will be hard, while Honduras in theory shouyld be more beatable. Try and stop us.
Probably not even close. One poster thinks Zardes should start in midfield for the US national team and and another thinks he's terrible. Very polarizing player. Funny thing is I see both sides while agreeing with neither. I'm sure we can all agree that while he's supposedly a great guy and plays hard we'd like to upgrade the whole team. Sure hope this next wave of youth isn't more fools gold so four years from now we aren't arguing over the next cycle's Zardes.
Unlikely we'll see Yedlin, Johnson or Gonzalez 9/1. Lichaj was on the bench for Forest's first 4 matches. Even if he's truly called in, and Bedoya is included, that makes 21.
I doubt you can see either side of the assertions that he should start in CM or there are literally thousands of better Americans than him right now, just understand that opinions on him range from general satisfaction to dissatisfaction.
Hoping Lichaj and Chandler are the two RBs considered, not Zusi. However, I can see Zusi starting in Honduras as the "we don't really have to win this but we don't want to implode" match. Very concerned about the LB position going forward, but Villafana should be fine. CBs should be Cameron, Belser and Tim Ream. Really, I don't see an issue with any other positions. We're (relatively) healthy in the midfield and forward line, but the back has two-three major injuries Bruce will have to manage around.
Roldan seems a legitimate candidate for a callup from Arena: Cristián Roldán me dijo esta mañana, que Bruce Arenas se había comunicado con el al respecto de una posible convocatoria @SomosSounders pic.twitter.com/2ybr4smrHN— Niko Moreno (@ELROLONW) August 22, 2017 He has done quite well with Seattle since returning from the GC.
Of course I have to exaggerate a little to make a point. I used the Luis Silva case as an example, Silva obviously a better player with less minutes played has 2 goals and 2 assist this season. Zardes has 0 goals and 1 assist. I am sure there are other attacking players with better numbers, but they are not "hard workers" and they don't "fit" the style. The crazy bs our mediocre fans have accepted, it's been the same dumb idea for the las 30 years.
We are not going to win much of anything as long as people consider a guy like Gyasi Zardes a professional footballer. The guy grew on me a bit under JK, but then again he was one of the few guys still really trying, the rest were either disinterested, confused about their role, or being tasked with jobs they were not suited for. I will be glad for the day when Zardes types can't get a cup of coffee with the National Team. We need skilled players who work hard.