and all of the players in the US pool were in top fitness who would make your starting lineup. Finally, our team has some depth meaning some good players will have to sit. Here's my lineup: ..................................Keller......................................... Reyna...........Gibbs.................Bocanegra............J.O'Brien.. .....................Zavagnin............Mastroeni........................ .................................Mathis........................................ Donovan..........................................................Beasley.. ...............................E.Johnson..................................... possible subs: Pope, Lewis, Ralston, McBride, Wolff I don't think Bruce will ever put out this lineup but I think these guys have a shot against any team. Obviously Reyna and O'Brien aren't used to playing in the back for the nt but they can do it as long as they are fit. They would be great for building up the play from the back. This lineup also puts the most dangerous 4 attacking players we have on the field (sorry McBride, you should be a sub). Johnson could be a target man who springs Donovan and Beasley off the wings, while Mathis is not a traditional AM he has a great shot, tenacity, and enough creativity to fill in. I think this lineup has both the offensive and defensive abilities to make our team successful. What do you all think?
I think I see what you're trying to get at, but if you wanna make the team more offensive by putting Reyna and O'Brien at defense, why put two Dmids in there? Switch Zavagnin with Dempsey. Here's a more pratical lineup that Bruce would play- Keller Cherundolo, Pope, Gibbs, Boca Mastroeni Beasley, Renya, Lewis Donovan, Johnson
Mathis is a non-factor if he plays that deep. Well, he's almost a non-factor now, no matter where he plays. Bo canegra won't be starting in the middle. His best chance is at left back. Expect Gibbs and Gooch to be starting in the middle. Reyna, as pointed out before, cannot play right back. Expect Cherundolo to play there, and almost play a wing back actually. Our lack of right mids will probably have Cherundolo roaming that entire side. Zavagnin is finding himself with his foot out the door. A solid player, but not consistent against high levels of competition. You take away all of Donovan's talents by playing him on the right side. Ask Steve Sampson, even he saw this when he experimented. He'll play much more centrally and may help out on the right. Bruce will play with two forwards as well. EJ won't be able to handle things by himself, and will probably be paired with either LD or McBride.
I think you are smoking some wacky weed. Keller Dolo Gibbs Gooch Boca Pablo Ralston Donovan Lewis/DMB GAM BMB/? Issues: Trying to predict this is really futile as Bruce changes his players, tactics and formations depending on the opponent, venue, and fitness. Can we get a better left back? I would love to see JOB back there but until I see Bruce actually play him there, that idea is a total pipedream. Against most teams Ralston is not the answer. How do we get Lewis and DMB on the pitch at the same time? Who plays up top with GAM? (Does LD move up top and Dempsey really develop into a top AMid?) This leaves out Reyna, JOB and numerous others...but that was the only part you had correct...that some good players will have to sit.
By next summer I think Claudio will be sitting. Johnson, Donovan, Beasley & O'Brien (if healthy) are guaranteed starters so that leaves few options for Reyna to start in an attacking position. If Dempsey keeps up his current form or improves he will be pushing more for a start than Reyna will be. I think Reyna's role will be to come in when we have a lead and maintain possession and waste time. The younger guys have caught and passed him. Right back is Cherundolo's right now. There is no way you will see Reyna push him out. If Mathis can't get onto the Gold Cup roster now he won't even be an after thought next summer. To improve he had to have a bomb of a season and right now he's only bombed out.
.........................Keller Cherendulo....Gibbs.......Gooch......Boca Beasley......Dempsey....Donovan....Gaven ...............Jonhson......Wolff/Noonan
..........Keller 'Dolo....Gibbs...Gooch...Boca DMB....Landon...Dempsey...JOB ......Johnson...McBride i like that lineup the most.
--------------------------Keller-------------------------- -------------Onyewu-----Gibbs-----Bocanegra------------ -------------------------O'Brien-------------------------- ---Cherundolo-----------Dempsey-------Beasley---------- ------------------------Donovan------------------------- ---------------Johnson-----------McBride---------------- Bench: Howard, Hahnemann, Pope, Califf*, Hejduk**, Lewis, Mastroeni, Quaranta, Noonan, Ralston**, Ching, Wolff * - Califf could be overtaken by Marshall by next June ** - Hejduk and Ralston will probably be overtaken by Spector and either Klein, Mullan, or Gaven respectively by next June Now we spend most of the game playing in this 3-5-2; however, our official lineup shows a 4-4-2 with 'Dolo at RB, Dempsey at RM, and Boca at LB, and we play like this for the first 5-10 minutes of the game to confuse the opponent.
-------------keller------------- ------gibbs--gooch--boca----- --'dolo-------job-------lewis--- -------dempsey--dmb----------- -----------donovan------------ --------------ej---------------- given current form, it's difficul to bench mastro. and if we were really talking about "next" week, then maybe it's not dempsey yet, but it definitely will be by next summer. and, swap dempsey and donovan if you want or simply allow that trio to rotate amongst positions as they see fit during games. of this group, lewis got the 11th spot. if mastro is in, slide job or dmb out to the left. if mcbride is in, slide donovan back and dmb to the left. lot's of flexibility, and with three big backs if we're going 3 in the back.
Keller Cherundolo----Pope---Onyewu----Gibbs Lewis----Dempsey---Donovan---Beasley Johnson--Noonan Rounding out the roster: Hanhemann, Simms, Adu, Gaven, O'Brien, Reyna, Mastroeni, Jones, McBride, Wolff, Wynne or Spector
Roster for World Cup 2006... E. Johnson B. McBride L. Donovan J. O'Brien D. Beasley C. Dempsey J. Spector C. Gibbs O. Onyewu S. Cherundolo K. Keller Bench: GK - T. Howard, M. Hahnemann D - E. Pope, F. Hejduk, C. Bocanegra M - P. Noonan, E. Lewis, S. Ralston, P. Mastroeni, C. Reyna F - B. Ching, J. Wolff Sidenotes - C. Dempsey needs to step up his play. J. Spector is a lock if he gets playing time. O. Onyewu over C. Bocanegra if he plays better and Boca getting less time at Fulham.
I'm going to go a bit deeper here than usual. We all post our roster and starting XI. The problem is that we won't have the same line-up for every game. It will be three different line-ups for each game. Assuming we aren't seeded we will likely get a seeded team like England, an African nation and a weaker European country. GK: Keller* Howard Hahnemann D: Gibbs* Gooch* Dolo* Boca* Pope Hejduk Spector M: Donovan* Beasley* Pablo* Reyna* JOB Lewis Dempsey Noonan Convey F: Johnson* McBride* Wolff Ching * indicates primary starter First XI: Keller Dolo Gibbs Gooch Boca Pablo Reyna Beasley Donovan Johnson McBride This is what I think we'd play if everyone was available. This won't be the case as Reyna and McBride won't be able to play the second group game if they play in the first. So I would then move to: Keller Dolo Gibbs Gooch Boca Pablo Dempsey Beasley JOB Johnson Donovan Third game: Keller Dolo Gibbs Gooch Boca Reyna JOB Beasley Donovan Johnson McBride I also would consider Lewis, Pope, and Hejduk legitimate options to start games in case of injury/cards. There isn't a chance in hell this is going to happen, but this is how I would plan it out.
Well, another county heard from... Keller Dolo Gibbs Boca Lewis Pablo Claudio Donovan Beasley Johnson McBride