C'mon - who really expected Wingert and Marshall to be able to step in and be Best-11 type players on day one? Let's not forget that this was also in front of 60k Mexicans. Without doubt the most hostile environment those two will have seen. They'll improve. But neither will be in the first eleven on opening day. I expect Hejduk Clark Fraser/Akwari/McCarty and Denton. Convey is not all that good. I mean, he's good, but he's not a game-controlling central midfielder. I'd rather have Convey playing on the wing and Martino in the middle. Convey doesn't have very good field vision, IMO.
sans agoos and hejduk who can name our 2000 olympic defenders and there illustrious carreer highlights??
mccary was captain before he went down with injury. dunseth played, i think. and peter vaginas played didn't he?
Great wisdom and insight from someone who admits not even seeing the game. I guess you just had to kick the dog or otherwise vent your temper over the pounding that Mexico gave the US. Bobby did not have a great game, or even a good game, but the two Columbus defenders had atrocious games. Mexico would pressure our defenders who panicked and lost the ball by a demonstrable lack of ability to link up with a teammate on passes long and short. Mexico owned Wingert on the left side and Marshall could not mark anyone in the 6-yard box. Notwithstanding their gaffes, the entire US team is responsible for one of the worse performances I've seen of a US team.
Dunseth co-captained that 2000 team, but he missed the first five matchs of the Olympics with a torn abductor muscle or something. He played in the bronze medal match.
Tanking a quasi-meaninful game so they can be with the Crew all season and help keep DC out of the playoffs, again? BRILLIANT! I'll rest assured that after 5 years in MLS our guys will improve as Bobby will still be running in place.
i'm not sure what part of the "preemptive piss-off" Hal didn't get. maybe it was the fact that i dissed little Bobby Boy, maybe he didn't like the fact that i don't care for DC fans posting on the Crew forums, or maybe he is just upset Preciousssss didn't get to play. regardless, the TEAM didn't qualify. whether you want to blame 1.) OUR rookies for allowing a lot goals or 2.) 3 of the "best" young players in MLS (bobby boy, baby jesus, and wheels) with a decent supporting cast not able to muster any offense is subjective. still, i hope that this is not a bad omen for wingert and/or marshall this coming year. we'll see.
Now I didn't see any of the games, but I have to to think people are over reacting with regards to Marshall and Wingert. 4-0 and only 4 shots is a complete breakdown of the entire team, not just the defense. If some kind of possesion can't be maintained then yeah, defenders are going to be out of position and look like fools all night. I think we chalk this one up to a highly skilled motivated Mexico squad in front of 60K fans after 3 games in 5 days. But hey that's alright, chances are several of those U-23 Mexicans will be cutting our grass someday. If you want to talk about the other games, again nothing I saw just from discriptions of the game, the Panama game the entire team came out the second half and thought Panama would quit after 3 goals. I think the U-23s learned a valuable lesson in that game; in international games no one quits. Hopefully for Marshall and Wingert that transfers over to the Crew and they have the mentality to stop the 80' fiasco. Marshall and Wingert played a good game against Canada, but who didn't? In the Houndouras game Marshall didn't even play and Wingert and the rest of the defense played a man down and 2 of their 3 goals were penalties. Anyway there is a difference between international play and club play. This tournament doesn't stop me from believing that Marshall and Wingert were the two best defenders taken in the draft and they are going to be invaluable to this team in 2004. Marshall needs some work and hopefully he'll be ready by midseason because Clark and Fraser don't have much in the tank. I still think Wingert can come in and start right away. He's easily better then Dunivant and he was able to come in and contribute right away.
Watched the game. Wingert was looked every bit the amature. He was completely over his head. Marshall let his mark get goal side of him WAY too often. He seemed, at different times, to either watch the flight of the ball and not his defender, or try to find his defender and lose the flight of the ball.
Gotta disagree here. Most people who really follow sports realize the WC is the real deal and, with the exception of the "Dream Team", Bball is a good but not the NBA All Stars. Team sports in the Olympics have always been an afterthought for Pro TEAM players. Hockey in the Winter Olympics is becoming the only exception.
Yeah, well it rained in Tucson the yesterday, perhaps you should open an umbrella store. With the insight and logic you've shown it should be a huge success. (hint! price them below cost to gain market share!).
Is there a more reactionary segment of sports fans than BigSoccer posters? I like how a player like Chad Marshall goes from everybody's consensus second overall pick to someone who's "just horrible," all because of one match in which everybody got bad grades.
My opinion of the kid hasn't changed a bit, and neither has anyone else's who is not just a typical BS pain in the ass. Marshall is a second semester sophomore without a single minute of professional training. Wingert is a little older, but all he has ever done is play College Soccer and a little PDL. You don't pluck hot defenders off a tree. They take time to develop. Forwards come out of the womb pretty much the finished product - defenders need to mature and gain experience. Always been true and anybody with a clue knows it. The fact that Mooch felt both these kids were so much more talented than the experienced guys he had available says a lot more about their ability and their professional future than anything this idiot troll "River Plate" (HAHAHAHA) fan from KC who has NEVER laid eyes on them can possibly fathom. They'll be fine, they'll look good in Crew Yellow, and Marshall, at least, will play in multiple World Cups. Ignore the assholes like this fuentga tosser who really knows nothing at all.
I think the WC is gaining in domestic popularity - just look at the buzz in 02. But I still think an Olympic medal would get people talking about US Soccer because it's a win in a "major" (again, to most people) international tournament. I think your average American isn't going to get excited about a run to the quarterfinals in the World Cup.
I'm surprised to find myself completely disagreeing with foos. Seldom happens. The US Soccer team winning a gold medal in the olympics doesn't even hit the radar. In the last Olympics the US won something like 100 gold medals. It gets listed in the late night roundup along with "Mel Cooley of Moosecrap Wisconsin, winning the 20 meter skeet competition" and the silver we nipped in four-man 2000 meter skulls. There's almost no chance that much of any of it would be broadcast, because it's not gonna draw ratings. They can show the diving prelims or the sprint quallies or the opening round prepubescent female gymnastics and triple the viewers. NBC pays billions and billions for Olympic TV rights. They sure aren't going to put something on that will drive 95 % of their audience over to Law and Order reruns on TNT. A line in the paper in the "Olympic Roundup". A short clip of somebody scoring a goal. That's it. Then it's on to our interview with Carl Lewis and Flo-Jo. At this point, the average American DOES know about the World Cup. Even ESPN shows some highlights. The US team got several minutes every time they played. The TV ratinges weren't embarassing. That's not to say they care a whole hell of a lot, but I'll bet you could win the Soccer Gold Medal and not really have anybody even notice, because it's ONE medal out of the 25 or 30 the US won that day.
I'm in the middle. I think people know that the World Cup is bigger than the Olympics. I was just excited about having some US matches worth watching soon. Now I don't care. I won't watch hardly any of it cause I'm a sore loser.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not upset we missed out on the Olympics. A little disappointed, maybe, but very glad that we'll have all five of those players around for Crew matches. I just think it's an opportunity lost. It's possible the days of the WC being a non-event in the US are gone forever, and I'd be happy for it. But winning is winning, and America loves a winner.
Nope, I've spent a while trying to figure everything out and I've come to the realization that the qualifying starts next week! However, America won't play until June.