Especially if he got that food poisoning by sneaking in a meal that wasn't approved by Klinsmann and his staff!
What? You think when Magee receives his packet from the coaching staff post camp it's going to knock him for getting food poisoning? There was an entire three week camp that led up to this. If you guys really believe that the most important part of this camp for evaluation purposes was the friendly against South Korea you're insane.
I wonder how he got food poisoning? Don't they all eat the same stuff during camp? I don't know, I'm asking how that works. I won't speculate, but I am curious about how this happened.
No, not even close. These are adults, some of them making millions of dollars a year. This is not a youth sleep away camp where they are confined to their bedrooms any time they aren't on the field. They have access to team provided vans and can do what they please when they aren't required to be somewhere. It could could have been something as simple as stopping in for a quick bite at a taco stand while they were out on their free time.
What free time exactly? I thought this was a WC dry run. Besides why would you eat tacos at a taco stand? You'd have to be a bit of a moron. I thought these guys were professionals.
Literally every interview with a player relating to the Sao Paulo portion of the camp asked about the free time and what they did around Sao Paulo. Players posted pictures of them out doing stuff around Sao Paulo and LA throughout camp. And I have no idea if Mike Magee stopped at a taco stand. My point is that in no way shape or form is this a militaristic endeavor where everyone does the same stuff and eats the same thing at all points in time.
Farrell vs Yedlin. Ferrell was I believe the most prolific dribber(vs dispossessions) in the league. By some margin. He's got an intriguing mixture of size, power, agility, dribble, and touch. Like Geoff Cameron he could probably excel in multiple positions. Yedlin looks to be a 'pure' right-back and has somewhat better positional sense.
I'm aware players get a day off. But that's one day, or maybe another somewhere. The rest of the time they eat the same stuff or at least from the same kitchen. If magee ate at a taco stand he's just dumb. Why would you expose yourself to that kind of risk. Didn't he pay attention during the nutrition workshop?
No. He's going to get an "incomplete grade/assessment" relative to all of those guys who were healthy enough to play on 2/1. That's the reality. And it is not a beneficial reality for Magee, specifically. I never said the friendly was the most important part of the camp. But it certainly was an important part. Magee being unavailable was incredibly unfortunate for him. He was not able to close out the camp by participating in the friendly. Could his full weeks of work in Jan play into him being called again and perhaps working his way onto the roster for Brazil? I'd assume so. But he is certainly limited in his chances/opportunities, and was not at all helped by his unavailability to participate in the friendly v South Korea.
I just got back from Carson. It was definitely a sell-out, but because of horrid traffic around Stubhub people were still trickling in near half-time. Lots of US fans but SK fans looked be at around 35-40%, and they seemed a damned bit more spirited in their cheering. All in all, a beautiful day for soccer, nice atmosphere and a fun game to watch. I can't say I agree with the general consensus about player performances in this thread. While Wondo and Zusi had nice games it was pretty obvious that Donovan is still on another level when going forward. For those that want to gripe that a SK player was faster than him one time, well what can I say, it happens. Mix was a joy to watch, and his speed of thought and decision-making were tops. I also would not cringe in the slightest if Beckerman made it to Brazil--if we're gonna have to bunker a lot in group play, then he'd be quite the useful cock-blocker in a sub situation. Yeah the defense was downright scary at times, but I gotta say, after coming home and watching the DVR'd game Korea looked nowhere near as threatening. I still don't get how Brad Evan's performance hurt his chances for Brazil. After reading this thread, I went back to my DVR and tried to find all these times that Evans was "burned" or did something stupid and outside of a couple mistakes he was pretty solid, and I might add, he sent in some nice crosses. I'm pretty certain that Gonzo, Besler and Parkhurst committed about as many boneheaded errors. In my opinion, the only players who really stank it up were Brad Davis and EJ. How many times does he have to do the step-over, fake, dribble backwards and lose it out of bounds move he's so fond of?
We've had this happen in the past as I recall. I wonder if it's a standard term they use as an excuse for something else (no, not starting an rumors)
EJ was coming off a quad injury. Evans struggled in isolation a couple of times and added little to the attack--in a match in which the US carried the possession.
Ok, I hadn't seen that about EJ. Gotta admit though, the guy does a lot of stupid stuff with the ball even when healthy.
Doing a lot of stupid stuff with the ball is simply EJ trying to push himself outside of his comfort zone. (Or maybe he does it so often, that "stupid stuff" is now his comfort zone and he needs to start doing more smart things with the ball to really get outside of his comfort zone and potentially help the team.)
I think we've seen he's best when playing direct. I gotta say, the no-nonsense approach of a Wondo is pretty darned attractive.
Yes, Wondo's no-nonsense approach is going to look pretty/very good against Concacaf foes and WCQed "B-teams" and EJ's (positive) attributes aren't necessarily going to shine when he comes on during a game in which the US is up relatively comfortably 2-0 and "protecting a lead." Hard to know what JK and the staff will see as the "more-needed" skill-set given the conditions the US will face in Group G. I could certainly see Wondo grabbing a spot (perhaps or perhaps not at the expense of a player like EJ). If JK wants a "potential game-changer" (and better athlete who can also play fairly comfortably on the wing) then EJ might be the preferred option -- and Wondo might miss out on the roster as he may not be deemed a starter nor an all-that-effective potential sub for when the game needs to be pushed. That is not to say that Wondo's no-nonsense approach couldn't turn out to be something the USA will need (or could benefit from) while in Brazil.
EJ has been very productive when played at striker or right mid for the team this past year and against decent competition. Not sure about the 'stupid stuff' he does. That angle comes across as projecting.
EJ and Agudelo have similar qualities in some ways, but Agudelo is better at it. I think if Klinsy wants a "game-changer", and assuming Agudelo does well over the next 5 months, I suspect Agudelo gets the nod over EJ. As everyone knows, Wondo is a totally different type of player than those two. One thing Wondo brings is non-stop effort and high pressure, which can really help a team regain possession if they're under pressure on the defensive end. Many people (myself included) see Altidore and Aron Johannsson starting. I can foresee many situations in which Wondo could be the right sub for either of them, and Agudelo, too, for that matter. EJ is too one-dimensional for me, and that dimension is often not very useful.
I thought beckerman looked extremely vulnerable defensively against B/C listers... He was outplayed and out positioned on a number of occasions.
I doubt it happened in Sao Paulo. They had been back for a week already. Food poisoning doesn't take that long to make you sick.