Does Eddie Gaven deserve a call up to one of the last qualifiers? This was brought up alot when Eddie was getting some looks earlier with the national team but his play hasn't been that good lately. What do you guys think?
unless im mistaken we still dont have a rm, so sure. give him and tino a few looks...cant be worse than ralston.
From this seasons play no, but I would rather see him tested than not. I am an Eddie Gaven fan, but he needs to work even harder, he needs to drop the hammer and get mean.
he has potential, but his play this year has been atrocious. many have attributed his poor form this season to him being tired (from going away with the U-20's). i don't see how getting a call up will do anything to improve this. however, i am a really big gaven fan and want to see what he can do with the full national team... so idk, i am torn. if the metros shoot themselves out of playoff contention soon, i think gaven should get a callup to the next game though
I'll stay with the Arena formula-play well for your club team and you'll get called. For whatever reason(s), Eddie has not performed well this season. But, as with any other player, things could change quickly. But right now, if someone asked me to lay a bet, I would say that he will not get a callup to any of the three remaining WCQs.
Yes, yes he does. I don't care that he hasn't done much this season. Quaranta hadn't done much for the 3 years prior to getting called up for the Gold Cup.
I love Gaven's play and think he's a huge talent in the waiting. However, earning/or being awarded a cap is often a "what have you done for me lately" deal. I'll be honest that I don't read every little tidbit about the Metros but just around here, on the MLS telecasts, and MLSnet I haven't heard much about him the last 2-3 months, really since the u-20 WC. Because of this I just really think he won't feature in the last qualifiers. I could be wrong. Others at the moment like Duivant, Clark, Marshal, Cunningham, Mapp, or Burciaga, maybe have earned it based on their consistent play all season.
I like Gaven, but he's probably still a touch young. One thing you dont want to do is stunt his development with a premature callup that wrecks his confidence. He will play in a World Cup someday, probably South Africa 10, but not next summer.
I forgot to mention Spector. I desperately want to see what he can do on the international scene. I'm hoping he's getting fit, so he can show his worth to Charlton and the EPL.
we need to test mapp on the internation stage before would cup, he would compliment DMB so well, giving the nats so much speed on both sides, very hard to defend us then
Last season, some were tauting Gaven as the second-coming of Christ, but alot of that fervour has died down with his play this year.
I say no, he didn't impress me that much when he played with the nats before, and more recently I don't think he's been doing anything spectacular for his club (but I haven't been watching, correct me if I'm wrong), and I thought he was singularly unimpressive for the U20s too. Unitil he can tear it up at those other levels, I don't see giving him another chance for the senior team. He needs a lot of maturing before I'd want to see him out there again. (Same goes for Spector.)
Like the title of this thread says, now that we have qualified is the time to look at the young players with potential. I don't need to see Ben Olsen or Chris Armas or Greg Vanney or Eddie Pope. They've been around & we know what they can and cannot do. I also don't need to see Donovan or Johnson. They are locks for the USMNT WC squad. I want to see the young or untried bubble players. Every World Cup year there are those young revelations. Who had ever heard of Michael Owen before he scored that 50-yard goal in the 1998 World Cup? Donovan and Beasley were barely 20 years old in the 2002 World Cup and they were critical. Other than Eddie Johnson our team is old. Donovan & Beasley will be 24. Gooch will be 24 next year and he's our youngest defender with a realistic chance of starting. We are looking at going to the World Cup with the oldest average age of all teams. I was livid that Jonathon Spector didn't play in the friendly against England. What a perfect opportunity to see the kid. A meaningless game, in his hometown, high level competition. Instead we saw Greg Vanney (age 30), Eddie Pope (31) & Steve Cherundolo (26) back there. Spector wasn't even used as a substitute. Who cares if they have a terrible game? Gooch got hammered on these boards for his first international cap (remember, so long ago in March) when his man Borgetti scored on him. Now, 9 caps later, we are looking at him as the next great US defender. Bring on Eddie Gaven, Zak Whitbread, Jonathan Spector, Justin Mapp, Alecko Eskandarian, Benny Feilhaber, Marvel Wynne. Too bad they didn't go to UVa.
Zak Whitbread doesn't get first team minutes and in no way has shown that he deserves to be looked at. Alecko did go to UVA and plays for DC United now, he just hasn't scored any goals lately and has been injured a lot. Eddie Gaven is not having a good year either and also had a less than impressive WYC. I remember in a qualifier against Jamaica last year, when he was brought along to watch and sitting next to Eddie Johnson, at the time EJ had not been capped. Since then EJ has taken advantage of his chances Eddie has not If Spector gets first team minutes Charlton this season and plays well, I'll say call him in. Until then I don't need to see him with the nats, especially since he's been hurt lately. He has been capped before so Arena definately has his eye on him, just doesn't look like he needs him now As for Marvell Wynne, good WYC, but I prefer that the players on my team are professionals, not playing for UCLA. Justin Mapp was called into camp recently and then sent home, he hasn't been called back for the Mex match even though most of our Euro players were released so he obviously did not impress Arena and will have to wait Benny Feilhaber, what has he done that he deserves a look? Frankly I'd rather see Adu.(which I don't want to see) I'm not opposed to trying younger players, and I don't think Bruce is either. But a player has to deserve to be called in, you don't just bring them in becasue they're young and may have a promising future. I think it's really important now that our team get used to playing with each other, just because we've qualified doesn't mean we still don't want to win all these games. I think Bruce has shown that he wants to try new guys with Marshall and Tino and recently haivng brought Mapp into camp, and I'm all for that but they have to be players who have a chance at contributing in Germany
Great Thread. Not just Gavin, or Mapp, or even Adu, bring up all the guys who deserve caps but never had the chance. There are bunches in MLS. Put Mathis back in and see what he has left. Cunningham should get serious pitch time. Petke, Raimundo, Chung, and yes Martino and Szetela. . . and anyone else you can think of. I think Curtin should get time up if he is healthy. It's a great time to test young kids and give solid MLS vets the chance to get experience at the International level. You never know when we will need both. These won't be push over games, either. 3 through 6 CONCACAF teams are battling for the 3rd your in and 4th tie breaker spot. At the same time sit down the guys who are shoe-ins for the WC. We all know footballers play way too many games. BA should give them all the rest they want, and avoid needless injuries.
The "you must be playing for your club team" argument means we don't look at our BEST young talent. Our BEST young talent has been signed by these huge international clubs that know they aren't ready to be playing for the first team yet, but they have the potential. They're playing with the reserves, and you know they're good, or they wouldn't be signed by Liverpool or Man. U. NOW THAT WE HAVE QUALIFIED, as the title of this thread says, what harm would it do to have a look at these kids in Guatemala or Costa Rica? Tim Howard is riding the pine at Man. U., but he is going to Germany because he's the second best American keeper. These kids may be our future. Why are we penalizing them for trying to play at the highest level? And because they're so young they have the most potential to grow as players. "Our team" has just returned to Europe. Brian McBride, Claudio Reyna, Damarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu, Gregg Berhalter, Eddie Lewis, Carlos Bocanegra, Kasey Keller, et al have all returned to their club teams. We're going to be filling holes all over the field. Why not get a look at some of these youngsters? And whether a player has a chance to be contributing in Germany is the point here. If they don't get capped, if the National team coach never sees them play for the Nats, they'll never get that chance.
Why do you assume that any player who happens to have been signed to a large international club is automatically better than players in the less-glamorous MLS? (or any smaller club/league, for that matter) I'd agree that most people STARTING for those big clubs (or regularly on the bench and getting put in as substitutes) are probably at least as good as their MLS counterparts, but even there I don't automatically assume that they're significantly better. On the other hand, I don't think that mid-level or lower clubs in any of the big leagues are necessarily better than the upper half of MLS teams (they may have a few more star players and deeper benches, but the bulk of the first 15 or so players aren't necessarily better). (Charlton has started off well, but that doesn't make them a "big club" in my mind, especially as their wins have all been against bottom-half teams. If they finish as well as Everton did last year, I'll give them more respect, but even that, I think, was a performance Everton are unlikely to repeat.)
Why would you assume that they have a chance for Germany? I don't really think there is any point in seeing Whitbread,or Spector until after '06. Would you trust a kid you've seen play in a couple qualifiers and reserve matches not to blow a game in the WC? I wouldn't, especially when we have guys like Gibbs, Gooch and Boca who are proven and reliable. And just becasue some of these kids are at those clubs doesn't make them the best young talent in country, it makes them the best young talent in the country with a european passport, or other means or acquiring a work permit.
This thread is getting completely carried away. You can't just call in all new players because we've qualified just to see what they can do. If you want any type of assesment of a player you have to play them with the players they will be playing in if they were to go to the WC, if they are playing well PROFESSIONALLY invite them to camps, if they do well in the camps you play them in a match, some of you guys seem to want a roster that looks like this for the upcoming qualifiers Wynne-----Spector-----Whitbread-----Karbassiyoon Gaven-----Adu-----martino-----Szeltta --------J Johnson-------Feihalber And from this line up or any lineup like it we would learn absolutely nothing that wouls be of any use to us in Germany. So slow down fellas, I have no problem bringing on a guy like Mapp or Marshall who have earned a look thorugh they're play, even though we've qualified I'd still like to win, we do mathematically have a chance at earining a seed, so there still is something to play for.
What, we have qualified!?!?!? Man, and I had this game TiVo-ed to watch later. Why did you not put an [R] in the title? Mods, please yellow the original poster...