VA was a talented kid that hasn't been able to put it together. Not sure why more US fans didn't root for this kid as his skill set is a perfect partner for Brooks. I'd still prefer him tonight over Gonzo. Unfortunately, we don't 30+ guys excelling in top leagues so considering guys from the SPL, Championship, 2 Bundesliga, MLS, etc.
It's not that people didn't want him to succeed, he was just desperately in over his head. Also, he moved to Santos in January and hasn't played yet, but you'd rather he play over Gonzalez? Makes sense.
Just because most folks had a better handle on his ability than you doesn't mean they were rooting against him...
I don't buy it. A group fans disliked every player chosen after the WC. There were many games that Alvarado was better than Brooks but that was never the view. I thought Gonzalez was actually worse than Alvarado in that GC. I'm not a fan of his game and his a horrible fit for how this game could play out. Id pick just plenty of guys before either of these two. While I may have been wrong about Alvarado's potential, your guys approach would have missed Wood and Morris. With our pool, we might as well give shots to high potential kids and see if they can step up.
1) No. That's what youth teams are for. 2) Morris would have been in the squad during/after his first pro season. Which is fine, because Morris hasn't done anything meaningful for the senior national team. 3) Wood didn't really get into the team until his decent loan stint at Aue, and didn't truly cement a spot until his season at Union Berlin. So no, "my approach" wouldn't have missed him at all.
You guys are delusional. 1) more rules 2) when would that be 3) who is Aue? Isn't union Berlin a second division team? I'm not sure that is really how it happened either. If it was, I doubt there would have been as much complaining around here.
gotta bounce jj out of the starting xi after that pathetic performance. would make total sense if that was his last game. moving cameron up to dm, not sure who i'd replace him with at cb. gonzalez had a pretty good game but he's not starting xi material.. havent seen enough of zimmerman yet. i've just never seen much in birnbaum. seems besler would be awkward playing on the right. ccv's or epb's arrival and takeover of that spot cant come soon enough.
This is what I'd do for away WCQs: Something of a hybrid between a 4-2-2-2 and a 4-4-2 diamond. Maybe even a 4-2-3-1 with Dempsey as the nominal striker and Wood playing as a very high RW. Johnson plays as a LM, while the RM tucks in closer to the defensive midfielder. Wood would need to help defensively on the right side more than what our forwards are normally assigned, allowing Pulisic to take up more central positions. RCMs: Bedoya, Jones, Acosta DMs: Bradley, Dax, Acosta, Cameron I thought our movement in the front six wasn't sharp enough tonight. Altidore and Dempsey put in a shift, but their movement is laborious, not sharp, not threatening enough. Bradley and Jones cover lots of ground, but again, I don't think they move decisively enough. Lots of jogging and running, but they don't close down quickly enough. I thought Bedoya and Acosta both covered ground and pressed more effectively. Things are different when we're at home, as we've seen. I don't think there needs to be as much of a premium on work rate.
Tell me I don't know how things happened, and then be unable to identify the club that Bobby Wood played for, in the German second division, on loan from 1860, also in the second division. Learn to Google, at least. Wood made his debut in the Bosnia friendly in 2013, then got a run in the fall of 2014 after the World Cup. He didn't impress, at all, and didn't get called up until after the 2014-15 season ended. He spent the latter half of that season on loan at Aue, where he scored 3 times in 9 games, breaking a goal drought that stretched from May 2013 to February 2015. Almost two years! He got another look in the June 2015 Euro friendlies, where he scored against Germany and the Netherlands. He wasn't in the squad for that Gold Cup, but since then, he has been part of the squad for every camp except for January camps and these most recent qualifiers. In short: I know what I'm talking about. You?
Bobby knows what he is talking about. Here are Bobby's own words: Hamburg attacker Bobby Wood has said he could have quit football had it not been for former U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. ... He added: "I believe that if Jurgen had not been the U.S. head coach, I might have quit football or would have played somewhere in the fourth tier. "I was in a deep hole at the time, it was really difficult. But Jurgen Klinsmann in that situation cast the line so I could get out again." http://www.espnfc.us/hamburg-sv/sto...wood-jurgen-klinsmann-helped-rescue-my-career
What I learned from Copa America (back 4) and Honduras game a few day ago (attacking) is our line-up should be this for the best possible starting XI. -----------Deuce-------Jozy------------- ------------------Pulisic--------------------- ------------Nagbe---------Lletget------- ------------------Bradley----------------- Villafana---Brooks---Cameron---Yedlin --------------------Howard----------------- Then you have subs like Wood, Johnson, JJ, Morris, and Donovan (wishful). Although one could argue Johnson could replace Lletget since he's really good there or with Villafana to really complete the perfect back 4 that we saw at Copa America. JJ should never play alongside Bradley ever again. Thoughts?
How about this? ------------ Wood --------------Dempsey------------- -- Johnson --------- Pulisic ----------------- Yedlin--- ----------------------- Bradley ----------------------------- - Villafana - Brooks ---------- Cameron --Chandler----- ------------------------ Howard ------------------------ While Yedlin does not provide consistent / accurate crosses, he does stretch the defense, and that might open things up very nicely.
Best XI players: Pulisic Brooks Wood Dempsey Johnson Yedlin Cameron Howard Altidore Nagbe Bedoya in that order. Jones is past it as a starter. Bradley is not in my best XI but unfortunately we haven't been grooming anyone to be his ready replacement so he continues to start. Guys like Gonzo, Zusi and Ream are way way out of my best XI The point and I am more sure of this after tonight's match than ever, is that we NEED more mids and outside backs badly. Depth has never been better across the back or at striker but we need to lock in a few more young mids and outside backs during gold cup so we can reach our potential. If we are still starting guys like Jones and Zusi come WC2018 I doubt we perform any better than 14 and will probably do worse. Gold cup is the time to get a youth infusion so when this question comes up again after Russia, it will be full of new names. Bedoya, Howard, Cameron, FJ and Dempsey are not long for the national team. I think we get another year out of Dempsey and Howard tops while the others will not be around for 2022 at all and it is likely many of them miss the bulk of that qualification cycle. In 2022, from this list we should only expect Yedlin, Wood, Pulisic, Brooks and maybe Nagbe to be around but even Nagbe might only see one world cup. That should be our goal.
These two statements aren't quite the same thing... the second version is much closer to reality though. A few things I would take issue with... I was quite impressed with him from the minute he came on as a first half sub. Maybe it was because I was at the game and could see quality of his runs, his speed, his technical ability, and his work rate. It also helped that I just watched him play and didn't worry about who he played for or who he had performed well against. "then got a run in the fall of 2014 after the World Cup... and didn't get called up until after the 2014-15 season ended." The second part isn't completely accurate. http://www.espnfc.us/story/2278613/...oan-to-bundesliga-2nd-division-erzgebirge-aue Didn't really get into the team < got a run < 3 camps and 5 caps over a four month period Not getting called up until the end of his season at Aue (yes, I knew what that was) is a little misleading. There were only two camps during that period. A pair of European friendlies in march and Mexico friendly on a non-FIFA date. Unfortunately, Bobby was injured on February 20th and didn't play again until April 19th. http://www.transfermarkt.com/bobby-wood/leistungsdaten/spieler/72519/plus/1?saison=2014 Not being in the Gold Cup squad also isn't the full story. It appears Bobby was never considered for the gold cup as he wasn't on the 35 man preliminary roster. After scoring on June 5th and 10th, he was released to sort out his career and join his new team for preseason. Bobby would have missed all of preseason and at least one match had he played in the gold cup (the final and first game were on the same day). http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/sto...tional-team-preliminary-squad-revealed-061015 He’ll have a decision to make on July 1, when his loan to relegated Erzgebirge Aue officially expires. Wood's loan would have become permanent through the 2016-17 season had Aue remained in 2.Bundesliga. 1860 Munich manager Torsten Frohling would like him back at Allianz Arena, but some turmoil in the club's management is casting doubt on a possible return. Wood, who has also been linked to Kaiserslautern in the German press, says US head coach Jurgen Klinsmann and his staff are offering every assistance in the decision he has coming up. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015...g-usmnt-striker-bobby-wood-seeks-clarify-club Wood has been with team every time he has been "available" since October of 2014.
-------------wood----- manneh---nguyen---pulisic--- -------nagbe-------benny-------- johnson--brooks---gcam---yedlin ----------------howard----------- subs: dempsey, agudelo, altidore, morris, zardes, arriola, acosta, hyndman, villafana, miazga, besler, lichaj, hamid how much worse could a nagbe-benny cm paring be than jones-bradley at this point??? is it really an experiment that isnt worth trying??????????????
After last night I'm changing my 11. Updated: Howard Yedlin-Cameron-Brooks-Villafana Acosta Johnson-Pulisic-Nagbe Wood-Dempsey Out are Bradley and Altidore, both of whom were poor last night. Bradley's passing is too often terrible for the position he plays. He can't keep making give-aways on his team's side of the field. I think Dempsey can look even better if he has a faster player playing just in front of him. Altidore was a waste last night. Can't play at all in front of an empty bucket midfield.
Yedlin hasn't been comfortable in his starts in midfield. He has also been vocal about not wanting to play the position.
Miazga was the best defender in MLS as a 19 year old. That's the kind of thing that gets you signed to better club, like someone like, I don't know, Chelsea. CB usually isn't a desperate spot for us, and it made sense not to use him when he wasn't playing. But he's now locking down in Holland. I would have started him over Gonzo in these matches. Why he seems to be the forgotten man is strange.
Cause they were must wins and Bruce is gonna go with who ne knows best. Miazga to Chelsea was more about his agent than him being a Chelsea caliber player. He's doing well on loan and will most likely be sent out on loan again next year then sold.