Bruce wasn't playing against the average EPL team - he was playing against Jamaica's Gold Cup team at a particular time.
Christian Dean comes on for Mieira and Montreal immediately score. Ouch. Polster not in the 18 p.s. I always felt Chicago were good but fragile because if they don't have their starting xi they really struggle.
Many people who are in favor of Zardes being on the team are quick to admit his drawbacks as a player. The issue is that those who are so ardently against Zardes being part of the NT are just as quick to disregard his actual stats and contributions as opposed to "lol touch".
If you are arguing that Gyasi's cross had no causative effect on the goal, then you clearly have issues perceiving physical reality, let alone soccer matches. Referencing famous people and other posters who also don't know what they're talking about isn't evidence for a crazy argument. Given that a goal was scored from both a corner and a run-of-play cross in the match in question, do you think a study like that is helping or hurting your analysis of actual , real-life matches? Players continue to cross, even though it results in a low percentage chance, because all decisions in soccer result in low-percentage chances. And yet, not crossing (your suggestion) results in a 0% chance on goal, the lowest of all. Your deduction that keeping possession is "statistically more beneficial" than crossing is false, but also kinda illogical and disproven by the outcome of the actual match in question. It's okay to criticize Zardes' decision (even if the outcome was a goal) but why do you think keeping possession is the better one? Having the ball doesn't automatically make defenses open up, particularly for a team that is organized, bunkered and playing for PKs. In this case, shots and crosses force the team to come out of their shell or may simply result in a fortunate bounce in a dangerous area. I feel this is basic soccer. I ask again: despite the US having a good share of possession, how many dangerous chances had been created prior to Zardes's cross? Since you insist that Zardes kicking the ball towards a spot where it can be knocked into the goal had nothing to do with the ball arriving in a spot where it could be knocked into the goal, maybe you can tell me how often it arrived there otherwise in the match? This should be simple and can probably be done by sitting through 5 mins of highlights. You seem to have a problem with your understanding of the word "causative" to begin with. Otherwise, Gyasi was very good for club and country before his injury last season and played well in the Gold Cup this year; did you actually watch him play or are you again siding with "experts"? Let's not make things personal, bro. Just make a better argument. It's okay if you don't rate Zardes but right now your argument is that the goal he was involved in shouldn't count because, in your mind, crossing was the wrong decision based on an analysis you read that doesn't apply to most soccer matches in general and definitely not the one being discussed in particular. Is that a good argument?
WS NT MLS Team of the Week 23 (player score)team avg ----------------------------------Bunbury(7.7)6.9---- --------Lewis(7.7)7.2--------------------------------------------SDavis(7.8)6.9 ------------Ulloa(8.1)7.0----Beckerman(7.8)7.0--Delgado(8.0)7.1-- --Morrow(8.5)7.1-------------------------------------------------------Beltran(8.0)7.0-- -------------------------Hedges(8.1)7.0--------Watts(8.1)6.8---- ----------------------------------SJohnson(8.4)7.2---- Player of the Week: Morrow SJohnson Howard U24 Player of the Week: Delgado Davis Ford Roldan Lewis Honorable Mention: FWD/A-mid: Dempsey(7.3) LM: Muyl(7.4)6.9 RM: Rowe(7.4)6.9 Manneh(7.3)6.9 CM: McCarty(7.7)6.4 Roldan(7.7)7.0 Kljestan(7.2)6.9 CB: Watts(8.1)6.8 Hedges(8.1)7.0 Marshall(7.8)7.0 Ford(7.7)6.8 Opare(7.6)6.6 Glad(7.4)7.0 RB: Nerwinski(7.3)6.5 GK: Howard(8.2)6.8 Rimando(7.5)7.0 Bush(7.5)7.3 Deric(7.4)7.2 Weekly Stats MOTM: Beltran Bunbury Howard Marshall Morrow Goals: Morrow(2) Davis Delgado Dempsey Lewis Manneh Silva Assists: Davis Delgado Ebobisse McCarty Morris Muyl Roldan Rowe Sweat Trapp Clearance off the Line: Ford(2) Opare
Nerwinski continues to shine at RB. Roldan and Morrow: ready for big WCQing minutes with the NT? Maybe in the Honduras match?
This is been interesting in that both of these guys played lesser roles in the Gold Cup and both of stepped up with their MLS team since then.
Acosta and McCarty mostly struggled in GC starting roles. This should open the door for minutes by Roldan and Williams. Maybe Jones gets a call. Villafana improved as the tournament progressed. But maybe Arena will want to give him the Villafana match then rotate in Morrow for Honduras tilt. This is all assuming Johnson plays in midfield.
Having watched Villafina live twice and also Morrow against Martinique, I believe the door is still open for candidates at left back. Sadly, Mother Hubbard's cupboard is bare. And given that Johnson has not shown much when moved up into the midfield, he might still be the best option. (ducking).
Does anyone else want to see Garza called up? IMO, the best LB in MLS. Might struggle more at the international level to a lack of athleticism, but in terms of American LB's, he's probably the best right now. I also might give Vincent a call up over someone like Morrow, I think he's a younger version of Morrow who might have a little more upside.
Garza was never really "bad" in his call-ups previously which is what I hear sometimes. His NT performances on the whole have been better than someone like Villafana, imo. I'd prefer to see Garza called up over both Morrow and Villafana.
Garza feels like Castillo to me. Decently quick, ok dribbling and passing, but light as a hummingbird.
Garza has never translated internationally, and Vincent has zero track record as opposed to Morrow (who is statistically better in MLS, better going fw and has an emergency switch defensively), so called up when? It certainly shouldn't be at WC qualifiers.
Vincent would be camp cupcake, not ready, as you said. Maybe the WC if he continues to progress and we are out of other options, but probably needs the big camp first. Garza has plenty of experience, so that shouldn't be a problem. I prefer Garza to Morrow, I didn't think Morrow did well at the Gold Cup. From what I have watched in MLS, I prefer Garza's play.
Nick Lima, can play both sides of the backfield........jus sayin...... closest thing we currently have to yedlin 2.0 Lima gets a chance at camp cupcake 2018 I could see him no less than the #2 left back choice
Garza has plenty of bad experience at the senior nt level. That's worse than none at all. He doesn't match-up athletically. Can't get fw and move laterally. Morrow can match-up athletically for both ends. He was cruising through an appearance and a half until two hiccups. Overall, he was fine. Whoscored ratings this year in MLS: Morrow - 7.13 Garza - 6.97 Morrow should get the call between the two if that's the choice. Nerwinski has a modest 6.81 rating in all of 9 starts in his career. That's not close to the kind of resume required for a call-up. Lima has a 7.01 rating in 19 career starts. Considerably more of a sample and he's probably performed better. As far as projectibility, Lima is more athletic, smoother on the ball/more technical, and possesses more versatility. So you should have an easy time. Nerwinski shouldn't even be on the nt radar yet.
Do you know what a moving average is? Nerwinski, Last four games (most recent)) 7.42/ 7.67/ 6.91/ 7.27 The post I was replying to, b.t.w., was about camp cupcake.
I know what a trend is. Do you know what a small sample is? If we had a system anything close to calling players up off a good 4 game stretch in MLS, and a mediocre 9 game total, we'd be wasting precious caps left and right, ending up with little quality or quantity by the end of the process. Even by that short-sighted measure, Nerwinski probably wouldn't (project to) warrant a friendly/Jan. camp call-up. Numerous American players achieve things like that in MLS. Lima himself has had a whole one poor game out of the last four, with a man of the match mixed in there, and a 19 game stretch where he's been pretty good, not mediocre overall for 9.