I agree with your MOTM. I fashion him to be the 'American Carvalho', but maybe not as much of a pitbull. It will be interesting to see Parkhurst's decision on his club future this summer.
People talking about Jones V Holden need to stop, especially the people bigging up Holden. Holden isn't anywhere near a soccer field right now so that makes the argument ridiculous in the first place. People saying Holden is better then Jones is also almost just as ridiculous. Holden had a good season last year with Bolton and won fans player of the year. People need to stop talking about Holden being in a "EPL Team of the Year". Do you know how many blogs, websites, pundits, etc come up with a "EPL Team of the Year". Saying that means nothing. Jones is a veteran who's played at one of the biggest clubs in Germany and was on the fringes of making the German NT. Jones career and Jones as a player are still miles ahead of Holden. The gap could easily be bigger also if not for Jones unfortunate injuries a couple years back.
Wicked time wasting by Venez. Incl nearly 3 minutes of a sit in in the box in stoppage time (which was supposed to be 4 mins).
El Vinotinto brought a zero in the game plan department thus any research on our new centerback pairing is a wash, so the away game to an often mobile n pesky Panama is what I look forward to for evaluations. The player ratings and performance discussion here has been done, no need to elaborate but I do need to celebrate Rico one last time cuz his clutch header was a great way to send such an undisciplined side packing.
That is what we do here, we argue how great a player who isn't playing, or who wasn't invited into a camp, or who hasn't been capped, or is still awaiting an American passport, or who someone once saw play well in a youth tournament, over the guys who we actually have. This is big soccer, hear me roar. Really, Holden is a great player, but anyone saying that he is our best midfielder is going too far. He might be, but we have no way of knowing this. Sure he is in the conversation, and I have high hopes.
No clue how so many people figure Pearce was so awful... of course, most don't even say. He did nothing overly special and had no costly errors to speak of; in other words, he was average. The way he constantly gets judged on a vicious slant is bewildering. Not to mention that was his first game in six months and his first at left back in nearly a year.
I don't know what the soccer equivalent of the hot stove league is, but this thread is evidence it exists. Lots of pent up commentary just waiting for a home. Venezuela was pathetic. All tests have ceilings, and doing well on a test with a low ceiling says nothing about how you would perform above that ceiling. Playing in Panama should be a better test. Jones is a bit scary to have to rely on, but he is extremely valuable when he's on. Holden is an unknown quantity at this point. The quality of the feed was so bad I probably had Cameron and Parkhurst mixed up half the time, but they were not under much pressure. I was disappointed in Bunbury and Shea. I thought Benny was better than the general view around here -- especially given how many times he got mugged.
But it's so much fun. And when BS is ahead of the curve, like some were for Chandler and, IIRC, Gibbs, before the injuries, it is even more fun.YMMV.
To be average is poor. I see. So then by that same standard, Jones and Parkhurst were really mediocre? How many chances to defend did he even have? He spent his entire shift in Venezuela's half supporting possession. He didn't have any calamity. He sent Shea and Zusi up the wing. In his first game in six months. What am I missing?
yep...its almost like being a fan of the indie rock band before they "make it big" and then you get to say "i was a fan of them before they made it big" and d-bag it out to your friends, mostly annoying the crap out of them. of course, all the other indie bands you pretend to be a fan of that dont ever become crap, well you never have to mention them and hence are a true genius because you only talk about the 1/1000 indie bands you pretended to support that "made it big". then you stop liking them because they "sold out" and start the whole thing over again. whats not to like?
Weird, after I watched the game I thought it was a nice performance even if a bit sloppy at times with a few too many giveaways. I was happy to see our second and third stringers get on the field and possess the ball, create chances, win the ball back regularly and just generally dominate the game. And I thought it was well deserved that they finally got the goal after a couple really nice saves kept them off the board earlier. It wasn't until I got to Big Soccer that I realized the whole game was crap and no one should be allowed to play for the US ever again.
Sure, that's true. But to judge players based on their clubs is to dismiss primary-source information (watching players play) in favor of contextual secondary-source information (league/club). If you told me only that Player A plays for Schalke and Player B plays for Bolton, I would guess that Player A is better -- but not with certainty. The median Schalke player is better than the median Bolton player, but there's plenty of overlap. When it comes to Jones and Holden, we have more information than that at our disposal. Why not make use of it?
You're right we do. We have people that have watched some of these guys throughout their whole career. In his prime, Jones would have wiped the floor with Holden. Now? It's definitely closer. It's tough to compare because they play such different positions. When it comes to club importance, I'd say they're at the same level. Schalke just doesn't have any CDMs on the same level as Jones. Bolton are in the same boat with Holden. The difference is Schalke is in a three way tie for first in the Bundesliga, and Bolton would be luck to do that in the EPL once in half a century.
Regarding Venezuela's team there were many players that are regularly chosen. So these are mostly players that should be well versed in the Venezuelan modus operandi. I believe their one big lacking is that they didn't have any of their proven scorers. So we played a Venezuela that knows how to play as a visitor and makes it difficult for you to score. So I think the only thing that we can get from this game is that the midfield was able to create a decent amount of pressure against a Venezuela team set up to absorb that type of pressure. The back four looked good and it was nice to see them contributing to the buildup and keeping focused on the few Venezuelan forays but that's also because there just wasn't all that much in the Venezuela attack.
The US got a good win and routed Venezuela... We like always did not score. Until the end but the game was free flowing the US looked dangerous and this little MLS squad did us proud. A good win and a good chance for bubble players on to Panama where we hope for the same kind of result.
I think the Panama match will be much more interesting in terms of evaluating player performances, because Panama will be bigger, more physical and press harder. Players will have much less time on the ball. Our defense in perticular will be tested more sternly. Brek Shea was too slow on the ball against Venezuela, and he will have less time in Panama. He is still very much a work in progress. As for the "Holden Question", I think Holden is overrated. Not in the sense that he's not the player people think he is, but because we have no evidence of what kind of player he is now and will become. Some people in this thread have stated that they are sure he'll recover fully and get back to his previous best for Bolton. Really? Do we have sports doctors in this thread? Show me the MRIs. In all seriousness, we have no data that proves that Holden will get back to where he was. We can't count on him at all. I hope he returns to his previous form, I think he could potentially have become an automatic stater by now - but it will be quite a few months before we know. I hope that dirty ManUre player hasn't ruined his career, but until he's training and playing again we are all just guessing.
I have a feeling this US side.... is just DYING for goals. Once we get the hang of putting them in the back of the net, they will flow like water. Our play looked good in teh beginning, but the bad referring and hard tackles really got to our 'B' guys heads and started playing like shit afterwards. They still held it together enough though to finish on the last chance of the game. For that alone, I have a good feeling... with time we will start seeing this team score in bunches. The chances were there... we just have to have more luck on our side, and our guys being more confident in themselves. I just have a feeling... once we get a couple goals in... they will flow baby... flow.
Would be interesting to know how many posters who commented on how "entertaining the match was" saw it live in Phoenix.? I did watch the match live and did not feel that the match outside a few opportunities and the last ten minutes was at all a well played Or a overly entertaining affair. Perhaps the fact that we were told to sit down over and over again and were treated to deathly silence during most off the match contributed to the lack off atmospere and excitement.
You were told repeatedly to sit down? By whom? Fans behind you, or stadium personnel? (Sounds like AZ ain't the location of choice for USMNT matches in the future.)
That's the real trick though, isn't it? Donovan and Dempsey are the only USA players that I would personally class as proven world-class finishers - and even they are some distance back from the best in the world. One thing the USA very rarely does is beat up inferior sides. I don't think I can ever remember goals "flowing like water" from the USA. We win games by one or two goals and occasionally lose by more, but were are not a free-scoring team.
Fans behind us were constantly telling us to sit because they could not see, a problem that we had in the first few years in Salt Lake. Sitting on your ass for 90 minutes just does not add to the atmosphere of a major soccer match.
I was there. I would partially agree with you. I would say that it was entertaining but not especially well played. The nature of it as a B friendly meant I was more interested in individual performances and I didn't see a ton to get excited about. It was nice to see Cameron hold his own. Other than that nobody really surprised me with an standout performance.