Good Quinteros! Even though he got kicked off I'm glad he's not a lil b*tch like Rueda was. Make your voice heard.
Bye Ecuador. Nice cup but not good enough. They should have qualified and I say we failed big time. We needed to be top 4 teams. We still suck.
Good game by the states we started off the second half well if bonehead Valencia didnt get that unnecessary red i could've watched penalties. The reality of the matter is the US have more experience than us in these kinds of games, whether it be gold cup, confederation cup, and even world cup games the US have been to more knockout games than us.
Hey guys.. wouldn't it be great if we had Three Minas on the field? Our other defenders aren't very consistent.. We need more Minas out there.. lol
Unbelievable how did Enner miss those 3 easy headers? Dempsey gets his header and he scores. Great tournament from the boys but we are ECUADOR what did you expect. I thought we found an elite striker in Enner but the game against Haiti where he had many opportunities to score more and these 3 missed headers made me think he is serviceable at best. On to the qualifiers..... we need to find some replacements as some of our boys are getting up in there in age and Mina is a good start he is a stud..
We played better once Noboa was subbed. I wont be able to forget Enner Valencia's performance today, if he is in charge of scoring then we wont be winning many games. I seriously think he is out of West Ham so I hope that wherever he goes he finds his position.
My thoughts on this CA: Two positives- Carlos Gruezo and Arturo Mina. I say Mina is the main starter out of all the center backs hands down. No one will take that from him now. As long as he's healthy, he will be the main man. Carlos Gruezo...he fills in the saying of "fue de menos a mas". He showed growth in the tournament and he adapted to the NT at the end. His last game was his best game and it was the most crucial one. What a way to leave a great last impression. No doubt that Pedro and Alex Bolanos will have competition now for the starting spot. Not sure if Gruezo is guaranteed a start, BUT he made a name and space for himself. It's very possible he starts in September if he keeps this momentum going in his club team. Quinteros is going to want to put in some new blood in that position so it can definitely happen. Negatives: Enner seems like he has trouble when going against physical opponents. He needs 5 pounds of muscle mass added onto his body. That will make a difference. I'm surprised he hasn't hit a gym in 2 seasons at the EPL. Antonio caught on quick. Surprised Enner has taken the advice. Hit the gym kid. We need you killing it against ALL opponents b/c that will make you COMPLETE. Potential to be even better is still there. You haven't hit ceiling just yet. Throw some weights and eat your protein. Can Enner play as a #9? YES, but he needs the right player to compliment with. We haven't found that player yet. Conclusion: Miller-Felipe is the best duo to date in the last year. Am I right or am I right? Enner is the best striker, but the best duo is Miller-Felipe b/c it's been the highest goal scoring and most productive in Qualifiers. How complicated.....you have the best striker but he can't find his ideal partner. So Enner...my advice= gain those 5 pounds of muscle and you'll probably compliment with ANYBODY. Erazo-Achilier: Both under performed. The real question is who is better than these two? We can't experiment in the Qualifier. So for those of you that are interested in throwing names out...TOO late. That was supposed to be done now like we did with Gruezo, Mina, Ramirez, and a bit with Gaibor. Now they made some room for themselves, but the other guys that didn't play....they're sh*t out of luck b/c the Qualifiers isn't a field to experiment on. So my guess is we stick with Erazo who is more talented but slower than Achilier, OR we stick with Achilier who is faster but more prone to making mistakes. The decision is Quinteros'. Personally, I'd say f*ck it and go with Erazo. Too bad we didn't make room for Luis Caicedo in any of these games. Now that's a long shot. Just as much of a long shot as Dario Aimar would be. Antonio: When he's not playing WHO can replace him? I don't see a replacement for him nor do I see one for Montero. It's like we don't have options on the wings as we once BELIEVED we did. What's going on here? Miller: I am putting this in the negative section b/c I believe that it's quite sad that without Miller we really lack creativity behind our striker. It's like that spark isn't there when Miller doesn't play. He provides that DIFFERENT play, that unexpected pass into an open space, that surprise appearance when he beats defenders backs and sneaks behind them. His shot, his pressuring, passing....it makes the NT play differently. We lacked that today. Without Miller, we honestly don't play at our max potential. We saw it in the last two Qualifier games, and we saw it today in a crucial match. Cazares has yet to fill in for him when needed. I always said Miller is a monster compared to Cazares way before Miller made it out of Emelec. He's the fuel to play "a lo Quinteros". That's why he's his token player and basically one of the most important players on the NT these days.