We're all thinking of the Fulham Deuce, the take-the-team-on-his-shoulders, driven, goal-hungry attacker. Not the on again-off again USMNT Deuce.
That being said, Donovan is not good at free kicks. I wish we could import a specialist from Japan or Korea, they seem to have their dead ball situations down pat.
actually beckerman is an excellent passer, in fact he has the highest passing accuracy in MLS and has completed, by far, the most passes in the league. has that translated to this level? tough to say, he's gotten very few opportunities to try but i think he did well against mexico and at least deserves more chances. especially with other players failing to lock down that position.
Please no. He is obviously not ready for this level yet and I'm not sure he ever will be again. I've seen all of his matches this year too.
Donovan played like a big ladies bra. He needs to show some courage and go back to the EPL. Playing in the MLS is not preparing him for international competition. There's just no reason for our supposed best player to be playing in MLS when so many other "lesser" players are trying to make it in Europe. i just see no intensity from him.
On the contrary, Donovan has developed into a very good dead ball specialist, after some early struggles with it in his career. Oddly, the entire US team did poorly on set pieces tonight, which is usually their only decent form of attack.
One time out of how many tries? The point is we are not consistant with scoring from direct free kicks, something that can be fixed just like the fitness problem and the lack of finishing. It just takes time.
Well we'll have completely different opinions on him then, I've given the reasons why I thought he was good, but you haven't been able to state a single example why you thought he was poor. Tell us why. His season HAS just started. 7 games is not much and I'm not even sure if you think he played in all those matches as I looked for him twice and he wasn't there. He was def tired in the second half whatever the reason and should've come off. To back this up, I've just had a look at his stats which were very good. I think he should've been a key player for us last WC and he will be again. I've been asking for the Edu/Torres midfield for 3 years now and finally got to see a full game of it. I don't know much about Beckerman, but from everyone else I've seen, he is the most suited to being paired with Torres as Torres needs someone to cover for him as he plays a more advanced role.
Re: USA vs. Costa Rica 9/3 Post-Mortem [R] Which would be even more ironic because the only argument against the content that i posted was that it was a slower paced game. I just pulled the first notable 'thumbs up' pic i found.
That seems to be the area (along with striker) that we are forever doomed to have no depth or ability at. Jozy is good for hold up play and the odd scrappy goal on the international stage, but he isn't a consistent scorer. What we need... is Brian Ching. Let's give him bionic legs and let him head/chest/bicycle kick/volley every ball into the back of the net. He will score all the goals.
yeah but those stats are misleading imo. defensive midfielders rarely make risky passes (nor should they). it wouldn't surprise me to find a defensive CM or CB with the highest accuracy all the time.
This. I can't believe it, but I'm becoming an apologist for Kyle. In a midfield with a guy imposing rythm (typical #8, like JFT), you need a DM who is mobile (without advancing much into attack) and who can pass, so he doesn't spoil the rythm. And who can change the rythm of play --something only a good passer can do. Kyle seems like the best fit in the pool.
Ugh. Give it a rest with this already. Donovan has had bad games for the US while playing in MLS and spectacular games for the US while playing in MLS. Your theory cannot be backed up by any kind of logical statistics.
Re: USA vs. Costa Rica 9/3 Post-Mortem [R] He hasn't looked like a train wreck on defense, there is no comparing the two. His problem has been his passing, which believe it or not improved today. Note, Dos Santos played the second half against Usa. He has only been capped, what 3 times? He is getting better and better and showed today that he is capable of making good runs. Imo I think he will get better with his passing as he builds more chemistry with this team. I disagree with your view of him playing poorly, especially tonight, but we will see what happens in the future.
Alright? I was responding to someone who was talking about FK taking abilities. Not sure I understand your response as it isn't really refuting anything I said.
Ehh.... not really. While he has improved, he is no where near class at directing corners or free kicks. I'd say out of every 10 free kicks he takes, maybe 2 or 3 are on target and where they need to be. He is no Steven Gerrard, that is for sure.
You may be right. Speed of play is the issue in international play, though. we'll have to see if Kyle can hold his own against, say, a European side in Europe. Perhaps Klinsi will give him this chance vs. Belgium?
He's started and played a full 90 minutes in all but 1 of 8 matches this season (playing 80 plus in the 8th before being taken off (and missing Rangers 9th match with a red card suspension)). I repeat, his season hasn't "just started". He is fully match fit. As for his performance today. When CR started pressing in the second half he was frequently out of position (see, eg., CR's goal). It was not an impressive performance.
Does quoting somebody always need to be refuting somebody? The point is, do you want a player like Honda who is mediocre at best during the game, but is among the best in the world at free kicks? Interesting question