9/8 US vs. Brazil, Foxboro

Jurgen said SKC "badly wanted him back".

At what point does MLS bare responsibility for coaches begging for players not to be called or to be returned in the middle of FIFA dates?

Grant Wahl ‏@GrantWahl
Klinsmann emphasized he's happy with Besler, but doing a solid for Vermes to release him for Wednesday's Portland-KC game.

This is an MLS issue. Problem is MLS was dumb enough to schedule a Por/SKC game the day after the Brazil game. Just cut out all the damn bye weeks. It would also force teams to play more youth which most are adverse to doing.

 

I thought S J looked silly against Mtl but didn't see much of the game.

 

Maybe Klinsi feels he is ready and able for Mexico and certain others need practice

 

Details here:

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...makes-roster-changes-for-match-against-brazil

 

----------------Morris
--Zardes--mix--jones--Bradley--Yedlin
--garza-------Brooks---gonzo--cameron


Although it mite be more interesting as

-----------Zardes----Morris---
-------mix-----jones-----Bradley
Garza----Brooks--gonzo--Cameron--Yedlin

as long as Morris or Zardes get wide as necessary. Problem is Zardes would head for the goal posts every play or step on Morris' toes. We are probably not ready yet. Garza stays back to baby sit Brooks who can look like a tree waiting for the axe in midfield.

If Fab and Hedges were available, our back line could actually look like -

Fabian---Brooks--Cameron--Hedges---Yedlin........wow speed on defense and passing on offense. Hedges' "on the ball" play has improved.

 

Says he saw what he needed to see. Can't believe he needed to see it in the first place.

 

------------------------Jozy-------------
-------------Morris-------------------------
Zardes---------Bradley------------Yedlin
------------------Jones----------------------
Ream---Brooks---Alverado---Cameron

 

Like it as long as Ream can be as solid defensively as he was against Peru. Maybe Yedlin to RB, Cameron to CB(Alvarado to bench) and Bedoya to RM for defensive cover.

 

And another hamstring goes kapow. Sigh.

No Besler, likely no Brooks.

Jeff Carlisle ‏@JeffreyCarlisle 3h3 hours ago
John Brooks left training with tightness in his right hamstring. @ussoccer says training staff is just being cautious. We'll see. #usmnt

 

--------------------Altidore-------AJ-----------
-----------Morales-----Bradley-----Zardes
--------------------------Cameron-----
-----Ream--------------------------------------Yedlin--
-------------------Orozco------Gonzalez----
--------------------------Howard----


Coming off injury watch: Jones played 72 minutes. Is JK going to start him again just 4 days later? Imo, he and Bedoya should have been released to their clubs.

Baby steps.

 

Can you believe it now? SKC's backline shuffling is a constant problem. Vermes asked for Besler back, so JK's giving him back. What, like we need to see Besler against Brazil? We need to see him against Mexico.

On another note, who else is hyped to see Morris?

 

What I expect to see:

------------Altidore------------
---Zardes--Bradley--Yedlin---
--------Morales--Jones--------
Ream-Gonzalez-Alvarado-Cam
-------------Guzan-------------

Klinsmann will want a big center back in there, so if Brooks can't go and he's unhappy at Gonzalez then Cameron slides in and Orozco takes the right back spot.

 

Brooks will play

 

Maybe he's playing too well and Klinsmann needs to try and convince people that he's struggling so he can leave him off the roster for the game against Mexico.

In the post game press conference, Klinsmann singled out four or five defenders for playing well. One of those that he didn't single out? That would be Besler who was the best of all the defenders despite playing the least minutes of any of them.

 

As long as he plays major minutes against Mexico, I'm fine with sending him back. I do not like how MLS clubs are not respecting the international break, though.

Besler and Brooks should be the two CB's against Mexico. Brooks can play the ball from the back very well, and Besler is a balanced defender that is good at marking.

 

Not sure how much either has played RCB and, yes, it does make a difference. I doubt JK starts both. Berti would not like it, either. So, Besler either starts at LCB or doesn't play since you don't sub your CB unless injury.

 

People need to remember this schedule crap works both ways. JK releases players back to MLS in the hopes that MLS will release players to the various national teams when games are scheduled on non international breaks.

Look at what JK recently said:


http://www.sbisoccer.com/2015/08/klinsmann-players-october.html
“We need help from the clubs overseas, we need help from the clubs here in MLS, in order to get the players released, especially [since] the Olympic qualifiers start outside of the release dates, so we badly need those players in order to qualify for Rio de Janeiro. Hopefully we get the support by all the clubs to get the players in.”

 

...Maybe JK's already given us a reason. Maybe every time a player is sent home there's not a conspiracy to keep Matt Besler from seeing the field? Maybe just because JK didn't go out of his way to fawn over Besler there's legitimate reasons for him leaving? Maybe it's because Vermes asked him to come back, which from all indications is what happened. "Klinsmann emphasized he's happy with Besler", but that's not enough for a player that's one of your favorites.

You know, if JK really wanted to not have someone play, he wouldn't call them into camp, let alone give them an appearance in a game. And he certainly wouldn't say that he was happy with his performance. But don't let facts get in the way of these theories you're crafting out of nothing, keep going.

What I'm disappointed in, and what we should be talking about, is that Bobby Wood's still in camp, but can't score for Union Berlin, while Lletget and Finlay are still waiting. Wooten's in camp still, so are we going to see him against Brazil? If not, why not call up an MLS player instead of making Wooten travel halfway around the world?

 

I am not saying it is right or wrong but JK has done this before where he has little intention of playing a new player in a game but he wants to start the integration process by having the new player train with the team.

 

It's all well and good if Jurgen saw all he needed to from Besler and sent him home, provided he start against Mexico. That's the caveat, or if Matt himself (not Jurgen or anyone else) says he's too injured to play in that game. Otherwise posters are going to have to redact their defense of Jurgen in this case. And certainly not double down by making up an excuse he's in poor club form (which would probably be a lie as it was b4), he's got some minor injury he doesn't himself say is too much of an impediment (so it's probably exaggerated or completely made up), or Brooks/Alvarado played well in the set of friendlies when Besler only got a sub appearance and no second game. Then you'd just be going back to the default of blindly defending Jurgen, changing your arguments along the way to one which suits his case at the time.

Personally, at this point I'll just take a wait and see attitude about how Besler is handled before I react. To me, him, Dempsey, Jozy, Bradley, Johnson, Yedlin, Cameron, and Jones are absolute must starts somewhere in the formation against Mexico. The last 3 are somewhat up for grabs, but with Guzan and Zardes being solid favorites for 2. Then I'd like to see Mix take away the final one from the mundane Bedoya, who complements Bradley and Cameron/Jones poorly to boot. I'd suggest someone else besides Mix, but he's about it as far as creative mids on the roster.

 

I'm not crafting them out of nothing. To seriously think that Besler went from not one of our four best center-backs at the Gold Cup to our best in the span of a month or two is just crazy. He's been our best center-back for years now. There's a very good case that Klinsmann got his feelings hurt and took that out on Besler.

I agree about Wood though. He was terrible against Peru. I was saying back when he scored those two fluke goals against Germany and Netherlands that it was actually a bad team for the NT since its going to earn a bad player more chances than he deserves. A lot of you were telling me that it was crazy to think like that.

 

That's not how I see it. There is a stated reason for why Besler was given back to SKC. You have willfully ignored that piece of information. JK "stressed that he was happy with Besler", but you have willfully ignored that piece of information as well. If you're going to make an argument or postulate something, you need to at least acknowledge all of the facts first. You may or may not believe JK or the writers who are covering him, you may not like what he says, but to not acknowledge what has been said, in my mind, means that you have made an opinion up off of nothing, namely your own prior feelings.

Because it's stupid to think like that. When someone has a good game, the reaction should not be "oh no, why did he have to go and do that?" The result of Bobby Wood having good games is that it earns him more chances, as it should be with any player on the team. The fact that it may not amount to anything is not particularly relevant. The chance of Bobby Wood being something is much better than the chances of players who struggle in international games. It's just logic. Of course, you may argue that your player evaluations are superior to the many people who evaluated Bobby Wood, but I think that'd be a bridge too far, even for you.

 

JK while clearly not feeling Besler, did call him in. And now he has rounded into form after a difficult season's start and given the travails of the other options, Besler should be the starter against Mexico.

I'd like to see Brooks given time at d-mid.

 

Landon Donovan

 

Haha! Well played!