News: Klinsmann announces 30 man preliminary WC roster

Correct me here, I don't think LD has scored anywhere the 18 yard box or beyond, most of his scores have been up close, I would prefer my SS guy to have some options from distance. Against our foes I don't think we are going to get many chances inside the 6 yard box.

 

Canandian Championship, thats a good one!

Ok, so what is the real reason?

 

Donovan is our Ronaldo... not the Portugese one, the fat Brazilian one. Donovan at his age knows how to conserve his energy and effort for the right moment. We have seen this before, sleep walk through some games and then pow! go for the jugular. I am not worried about Donovan in the least. He surely isn't the player he once was, but he is now 32, but he is still one of the best players on the team, and I think when the whistle blows against Ghana he will be in "blast the ball at the Slovene keepers head mode."

 

Honestly...what?

A simple youtube search would tell you the answer. In both MLS and for the Nats.

Here it is: you're wrong.

 

Omar answered some questions from the Galaxy's reporter today - if he's being made available to the press it's looking more and more like his injury was minor.

 

answer me this, when was the last time he did it, probably he had a full head of hair back then.
because it wasn't in 2010 or 2006 WC.

I just checked his goals video and he has never scored outside the 18 for the national team. His last long shot was in 2013 and it was a lob from the 18 after he got a pass, as years go by, he is getting weaker with his shot. in 2011 was his last long shot and it was a half voley . His strongest shot from outside was in 2001.

 

I remember Donovan scoring from just outside the 18 against Real Salt Lake last year.



Regardless, I think this is a pretty poor argument to make for why Donovan shouldn't play on the wings. Most goals aren't scored from outside the 18. Wingers make runs into the box. Plenty of Donovan's goals were scored while he was on the wings. Besides, he's not just a goal scorer, he also has more assists than anyone in USMNT history.

Edit: Also, let's compare Donovan to the other wingers on the national team. Zusi has had some rocket goals from distance for Sporting, but none of his 3 national team goals have come from outside the 18. Bedoya's one goal was inside the 18. Johnson, Davis and Green haven't scored for the national team. Corona has scored twice - once from just outside the 18 and once from just inside.

So if your concern with Donovan is that he doesn't score from distance, I'm not really sure why you think the other available options are going to provide that.

 

He did against Ecuador. Twice. In the same game. This took me literally 90 seconds to look up.



Also, here are all of his national team goals:

 

For fun, I decided to watch the full goal compilation just to see how many there actually were. Landon's goals from outside the 18:

#2 - January 2002 v. South Korea
#17 - September 2004 v. El Salvador
#23 - July 2005 v. Cuba (FK)
#28 - March 2007 v. Ecuador
#30 - March 2007 v. Ecuador
#36 - June 2008 v. Barbados (FK)
#42 - October 2009 v. Honduras (FK)

Other thoughts: He scored a surprisingly high proportion of his early goals from headers. Also, his goal v. Algeria still makes me outrageously happy.

 

Are you lying? I just looked at all 57 goals and seven were from outside the box (includes a couple of free kicks).

 

Maybe not what you were wanting, but he did score that goal in Honduras from a free kick.

Do free kicks count?

 

Breaking down the roster tells you a lot of what JK is thinking.

Goalies: This is and has been a set group for awhile now.

Defense: JK brought 5 RBs. Why? Because we have defensive issues and JK knows it, and he might want to move Cameron somewhere else. He only brought four CBs of which Besler and Gonzo are locks. Cameron is also a lock whether he plays RB or CB. Johnson and Beasley are locks for the LB. So here JK has a lot of options of filling out the roster. He can move Cameron back into the CB as a starter, and then take two of (Evans, Chandler, Parkhurst, and Yedlin) to cover the right, and then pick either Goodson or Brooks. Or he can take both Goodson and Brooks as the back ups and make Cameron the de facto RB with one of the four backing him up. But, in any case 3 of Brooks, Goodson, Evans, Yedlin, Chandler, and Parkhurst are going home. My guess is that JK knows that Cameron is too important and good at too many positions to leave him as the main option at RB. I think we see Cameron play a number of positions in this cup. So I think he takes two RBs and then one of Goodson or Brooks, letting them all fight it out to see who can fill out the roster. That way if Gonzo is not a sure thing, or stinks it up in his first game, Cameron can slide in there and then you still have two dedicated RBs to cover. We also might at some point need Cameron at DM.

Locks: F. Johnson, Beasely, Cameron, Gonzo, and Beslet

Probably Going: Brooks (he is like by JK and had a good end to the Bundesliga season), Chandler (ditto), Evans (I think JK likes him a lot and owes him, but this is just a placeholder position, he is not getting on the field)

Cut: Goodson (just doesn't look dominant), Yedlin (too young), Parkhurst (could go for Evans, and probably deserving)

Midfield: The locks are obvious here: Jones, Bradley, Bedoya, Zusi, Mix. Some will quibble with Mix, but if you watch his game he creates a lot of chances and had a hand in a lot of our goals when he is playing. After that, you need a backup to Jones, that is a battle between Beckerman and Edu, knowing that also Cameron can slot in depending on how well JK feels about the other 4 RB options. Zusi and Bedoya have the right nailed down, and there is also Donovan who can play there. The left side is more worrying. Obviously our best option is Donovan and this is where he will play. Otherwise, he has Davis and Green to add to the wings on the left, to either push Donovan or be the backup. Then there is the curious case of Jose Corona, who fell of the side of the earth only to reappear. I think he is there mainly to push Mix, or even be another wing option, but he is going to have to show big to get in there. So the guys fighting for a spot are Corona, Beckerman, Edu, Davis and Green.

Locks: Jones, Bradley, Bedoya, Zusi, Mix

Probably Going: Edu (I think he shows his quality over Beckerman very quickly in camp), Green (JK wants this to happen too much)

Cut: Davis, Corona, Beckerman.

Yeah it is only 7 listed midfielders but we all know Cameron might get minutes here, Donovan will, Dempsey might, and also Johansson can play on the wing. Fabian is also an option. So packing out this part of the roster isn't super important, the key is we have plenty of wide options.

Forwards: Dempsey, Altidore, Donovan, and Johansson are easy locks. There should be no argument. JK's only question is how to get all 4 of those guys on the field at the same time.

Boyd and Wondo battle out for the last spot.

Locks: Dempsey, Altidore, Donovan, and Johansson

Probably going: Boyd

Cut: Wondo

That still leaves one spot open with all the key spots taken up. JK will probably go with Wondo or Beckerman for loyalty since they have been around and been loyal soldiers. Otherwise if Corona has an insane camp, maybe he rounds out the squad with another attacking midfielder.

I say he stays loyal to Beckerman.

 

A semi-final second leg, and not the championship round itself (which will indeed be played while Bradley is with the US).

 

My only real quibble is the comment
"Goodson (just doesn't look dominant)" while Gonzo is "a lock" for the roster yet also conditionally could be a concern ("if Gonzo is not a sure thing, or stinks it up in his first game").

So in reality I see more of a camp "battle" between all the CBs not named Besler.

 

Of course by this standard all the wide midfielders on this squad have "sucked" their entire national team careers.

Alejandro Bedoya 26 caps, 1 goal, 4 assists
Joe Corona 11 caps, 2 goals, 0 assists
Brad Davis 14 caps, 0 goals, 4 assists
Fabian Johnson 19 caps 0 goals, 5 assists
Julian Green 1 cap, 0 goals, 0 assists
Graham Zusi 20 caps, 3 goals, 4 assists

 

And certainly Donovan and Beasley will be the starting wide midfielders throughout all of WC 2014 for Klinsmann, because stats.

 

Honestly, I keep harping on Landon as I don't think this is good enough from that position.

 

Perhaps his work rate from his last game might impress you also.

http://www.lagconfidential.com/2014/5/13/5715006/landon-donovans-work-rate-la-galaxy-replace-usmnt

He has lost the extra poundage from the Mexico game.

 

If you think the problem was Evans and Yedlin, you may want to rewatch that game. Seattle's midfield was simply atrocious. Every single goal (save an OG and a terrible step by Marshall) can be put squarely on the shoulders of the midfield.

 

That's the problem though--Jones is too much quality to play out of position or to keep on the bench.

JK will have no choice but to continue trying to make it work. Jones too, is good at going up, making assists, similar plays to Bradley. He's not THAT below him in that aspect.

I don't disagree with you on Jones and how he isn't quite at the level he was with Schalke. We will see where he is before the WC. If he's still not 100%, no doubt we see beckerman or cameron there.

 

Really? All of it? If true, that's excellent and makes me feel much better about him.

 

Not sure how old you are, but that run was a Cinderella run. Most people quite simply did not expect it. Germany fell in love with that team because it was unexpected and how it played.

You gotta remember that in the Spring of that year, Klinsman, with a loss to the US at home, was about to get fired. The pressure was so high that reporters in Europe asked Arena if he lost on purpose to save his friends job.

They were coming off perhaps the worst Euro championship in their history where they didn't even advance out of the group and couldn't even beat Latvia. The early friendly results under Klinsmann, as he rebuilt that side with youth and a completely different style and approach, were poor.

Heading into that tournament there were a LOT of doubters. The players weren't stars at the time (except for a few here and there like Ballack and Klose), and there were a lot of unproven players at that level.

When they barnstormed their group and hammered Sweden...they had Argentina.

I know it sounds weird but the 2006 Germany WC team was the story of an underdog, and Kinsman's run was quite remarkable. It was the beginning of the Germany you see today, perhaps the best side in Europe.

 

And Argentina bottled that game; they took Riquelme out because coaching up 1-0, ceded possession and conceded a goal, and their GK got hurt, and the game ended up on a shootout (of course).

 

That was all a matter of perception, though. Germany were simply turning into basket cases because they went a tournament without going deep, and a couple of tournaments without looking good. The foundation was a lot stronger than they were giving themselves credit for.

 

I am with this. I remember watching the WC and waiting to see Germany struggle. They got lucky with the draw and the Costa Rica game was awesome. If I remember right, I think Wanchope had an awesome game though vs. Them.

But that Germany was FAR from the one we saw in 2002 or before with Klinsmann. Nothing very 'shiny' aabout that squad. Making it to 3rd place was HUGE especially given the world's expecation at that time.