Or we need to go after argentinean or brazilean or colombian or chilean or mexican players. Good enough to be stars with the Dynamo, but rarely good enough to play for their national team. Wait... Our mexican guy actually plays for their national team? Juve call them and share your expertise with el tri junior!
Yeah, I don't think we complained about this that much in the Golden Years. We'd be destined for playoffs, well clear of the line, and you just put out a B lineup those particular weeks and play for a tie or 1-0. If the team is good enough you don't have to worry because of the cushion. If the team has to worry about callups perhaps it was marginal to begin with. I felt like a lot of the goofy "anti" discussion from recent years reflected the fact those were poor teams anyway. "I don't want internationals?" Really, who on purpose doesn't want the in demand players. The one glitch I see is whether with the Honduran thing we can put out a B team with decent enough offensive components to play the same style. I get the idea we'd toss in Alex left Wenger right Alexander central and that plus Torres and Clark starts to sound like last year's Barrett Bunker teams. I think they'd need to look at some younger options to put out a more attacking unit but is that type of personnel decision even in our DNA?
It's a cruel cruel thing to bring reality into these convos, but: Quali days 3/24 & 28, Dynamo off that weekend. Quali days 6/8 & 11, Dynamo off that weekend. Quali days 9/1 & 5, Dynamo off that weekend. Quali days 10/6 & 10, Dynamo off that weekend. MLS is not completely off those weekends, but we are. I personally don't want our league playing in the winter snow or up against late season football where no one will care. But for our purposes in CONCACAF quali, that's a moot point. GC group stage 7/7-16, Dynamo play on 5th vs MTL and not again until 19th. GC knockout rounds 7/19-26, Dynamo play on 19th vs MN (!) and 22nd vs DC, 26th is WEDS no game, game following weekend PTL but tournament over. It's early days but the 3 direct GC conflicts I listed have 2 points from 6 games, -14 GD. So for the quails MLS scheduling actually did us a solid, GC is more messy but we'll see if the first teams get called or if teams call in experimental players.
The people suggesting that based on two games they will take Torres and leave off Chicharito need to put the crack pipe down. I am sure his improved form will pique MX interest but NTs usually require bigger streaks than that, "show me." As I suggest we all should expect if we weren't trying so hard to make it work. Sorry but I feel like the "no callup" tweener markets in Brazil and Argentina are not our best bet. We have done best with Canadian and Honduran full internationals. Alex is our high water mark on BRA/ARG. People forget Camargo, Caraccio, Miranda, that it's not like we haven't tried. My sense on those countries you usually overpay for the last years of an older player on the down slope, or you roll the dice on a no name and maybe it works or maybe you signed someone reserve quality. Personally I'd rather have identifiable Honduran internationals, with the cap seal of approval, who come in athletic and 20-25 y/o. How many years has Boniek been here? I could see bringing in one pricey Argie #10 to finish a team a la Schelotto but for roster bulk I actually like where we're fishing, and I don't care if it means that in rare conflicts we will lose players.
yes they do see my post you took my quote from. i detailed exactly how teams game planned for him on the corner kick
You detail a set-piece. Things break down and that's where you get the mismatch that you note. Plus, most teams lately have been using zonal marking (Cbus and Seattle did this). No team says 3 players need to man mark one player. We also did some zonal marking in the Seattle game over man-marking. I'm not a big fan of zonal marking. Show me where teams are game-planning for him on the run of play and then I'll be convinced. Again, cut off the two Hondurans and you really take Cubo out of the game. Cubo's link up play against Portland was good in the first half because the Hondurans found space. They cut that out in second half and Cubo's impact disappeared. Honestly, he's not the guy you focus on. Kinda like Urruti in Dallas.