Indeed. And Jones didn't look terrible with the Galaxy just because that whole team is terrible right now. However, few here were voicing doubts about him. Also, of note: no shots on goal came from the Zusi side.
Chandler was not invited to join the roster because Arena said he didn't want him to fly from Europe for one game. Stupid decision in my opinion because as you pointed out a ton of our RBs were injured. Arena screwed up by not inviting a RB that is fit and starting regularly in the Bundesliga and taking a chance on Zusi at RB. Had JK done that and caused the team to get a tie instead of taking 3 points from a winnable road game in qualification, BS would have been all over him (and rightly so). Arena gets a pass for some reason.
I've long been a critic of Jones and the Jones-Bradley pairing, relative to other people, but I thought it was a pretty reasonable decision in this case given the loss of Cameron, the lack of integration at the position, and it being a do-or-die game. If we go offensive 8 we expose Bradley on the road. If we go really defensive that wouldn't help our build-up presumably, which was already a problem. I might have gone Dax-Bradley myself, but Jones-Bradley was the simplest solution in the situation, and what a good majority of coaches probably would have done in the situation. Getting Cameron back and putting him in the cm pairing is one phase of phasing Bradley-Jones out, and next phase would take place in the GC and surrounding friendlies where maybe Bradley is also phased out of the starting xi replaced by Roldan, Acosta, maybe Darlington against weaker opposition.
Bradley needs a defined role which are 1) cover the center defenders 2) find good chance to come in box. When his role is clearly defined, he is good to great. So if you asked him to do more,as JK did 1) #10 behind two forwards 2)fill in the void when Jones free floating, then he failed miserably, in which the midfield would be overran and defense would crack. Even when Jones on his peak that Bradley has the problem to figured out.
What happens if Chandler was called up but Cameron gets hurt the day before the Honduras game? No backup! The RB spot was very, very thin. You need cover for both games. So Chandler wasn't viable. Jones OTOH, had a lot of potential replacements. We have CMs in droves.
You're conveniently ignoring that Chandler has been terrible for the national team and there are a limited amount of players we can realistically call in for one game. Many questioned the inclusion of Jones on the roster at all, and he had the short trip. You're the one who wants to employ double standards to be protective of Klinsmann comparatively and rip Arena. Klinsmann would not have gotten 3 points on the road against Panama, period. One at most when healthy, which this team was far from. Klinsmann's squads fell apart with 1/3 the attrition, see: Guatemala, CC '16 semis, GC '15, etc. Speaking of the GC, we got out-shot 25:5 by Panama in a loss, and drew against them the other time getting out-shot. Those games were at home and the most recent samples against them. You're asking why shouldn't Arena be expected to be virtually perfect while Klinsmann should get leeway for making mistakes all over the pitch and producing historically bad results the last year or two. We got a standard result, a draw on the road at Panama in WC qualifying. Bruce wasn't perfect. If he made an error at rb with the massive attrition it was a minor one. The only considerable one he made was Ream over Besler at LCB. Klinsmann would have made 5 of that magnitude. That's why he would have gotten ripped majorly. There is no double-standard. He set a much lower standard.
Zusi already, of course. Arena did the right thing calling in Cameron and Orozco. With all the others injured, it was the logical calls. All the others were already out, except for Chandler --a guy who has shown poorly for us in qualifier road games time and again. Remember, you can only call two guys for a position, then have a third in case the other two get injured. That third was Zusi. It was very unfortunate that both MOF & Cameron got injured too. A situation you seldom see happening. So, Arena was forced to play the third guy, the emergency case. The original call-up was good. Keep in mind Yedlin was already out, and so were Fabian, Lichaj, and Evans. Calling Cameron & Orozco-Fiscal for the RB role was at that point completely expected. Some day we'll know what's really going on with Timmy Chandler.
I never liked Jones-Bradley either, but it's different now. Jones is done, he is just a poor player. Dax is way better than him, Acosta is better than Dax. Keeping CP in the middle and playing defensive winger Arriola/Bedoya might be the best although kind of risky decision. Eventually Jones didn't contribute neither to defense nor to offense.
So you're saying that because we drew (outplayed or not) against a stellar defensive team on the road whilst missing more than half of our strongest 11, we are "very limited"? Btw, congrats on "beating" T and T....
The back line deserves credit, not criticism. Zusi is clearly not polished back there, but he left it all on the field and never quit after being repeatedly taken to school. Ream and Gonzo saved our bacon several times. As far as Ream's passing, he had no options. Zusi quickly became phased out of the passing game due to lack of pace to separate from the press. Jones was nowhere to be found. Bradley was an option, an option that saw him quickly get the ball back, but now under pressure. It became the Ream/Villafana show, with nowhere to go until one of them had to boot it. On the goal, Ream was the only defender actively attacking the ball. He missed it and that's bad, but he kept after it. Look at what Jones and Bradley were doing and steer your misguided outrage that way. I guess if Ream had simply turned his back to the play like Bradley he would be saved any harsh criticism, which is ridiculous.
No way. Vermes thinks this is the best option for his team. And...In the three games Zusi played, they gave up a big whopping ONE goal. Why is Zusi a big topic of conversation anyway? He wasn't great, but he didn't cost us anything. That's all we were asking for.
For all their limitations, that backline kept their chances to a minimum. Ream & Zusi may bot be great players, but they showed a lot of courage. Same with Nagbe, even though he had a poor game. The only two guys who seemed to be strolling-by were Jozy and Jones, IMO. Bedoya also came in with that whatever-it-takes attitude. Also, as noted, a tie with Panama away is a good result. In the end, it may be the one that secures our direct ticket.
Zusi at RB was such a great idea, Vermes decided to go all in just this year? SKC have scored 2 goals on the season. They clearly could use Zusi up top.
Vermes' (and Arena's) call. Beasleyesque. Going from wing to fullback is not something that's never happened before. Whatever. In the end, it's a forgotten blip in terms National team history a year from now.
It's Arena's and Vermes's call. Ok so? Beasley had pace. And there were no other long-term options. Zusi rode a tiger against mediocre attackers. With Lichaj, Cameron, Orozco, and Yedlin all out, he made some sense as an emergency option in an away Qualifier. But then why not go with Brad Evans? He looked better in the friendlies and had more experience in the position.
No, DMB is a totally different animal. More like Eddie Lewis(que?). And results will be similar. But Bruce had no choice, so that's a moot point.
Zusi was beaten and there was a shot straight at Howard that he batted away. It was one of Panama's best chances.