in Volunteer News, they are still accepting volunteers for game statistics, match reports. press releases and stadium security.
Steve Shirley Steve has been training with a Scottish Club off and on for the past couple of months. Since his mother lives in Scotland and he has paid for his trips to the Club facilities, he is still eligible for an NCAA Division I scholarship. He has been playing left back for the U-20's. And the rumors are correct, he hopes to sign with SMU. That is all I could find out.
second match score nil-nil against the South squad; no other details; hopefully some of those present can fill in the big blank
Game #2 Formation: 4-3-3 (4-2-1-3) Mapp-Wegerle(Cameron)-Barclay Alvarez Stone-Clark Shirley-Marshall(Cochrane)-Lancos-Simo Williams There may have been other substitutions but these are the only ones I got. The U-20's supposedly owned the first half (advantage, not domination) and the heat/humidity owned the second half. Opportunities were squandered in the first half.
Bethlehem - How has Jordan Stone looked for this team. He's looked good in limited PT for the Burn, but I'm wondering if any rust has developed.
Jordan Stone Having not seen the games, I cannot comment on whether he is rusty or not. It would be my expectation that since he has played in a variety of exhibition games with the Burn (like Johnson), several A-League games (see other threads), and practices with other MLS players (see 3rd Degree) that he is likely to be less rusty than the college players. At a minimum, he will be more fit than the college players.
Re: Game #2 I love this formation and I wish the senior team would look into using it more. However, you can't have an up tempo game for the full 90 minutes in the summer time in Texas. I want to know how Alvarez,Wegerle, Clark and Shirley have looked. I've seen most of the other players. These are just developmental games too, so I wouldn't get too excited about trouncing teams or losing.
Again Last time I posted a request, the CSA magically posted a report at their site. So here it goes. Any news on Canada U20 vs USA MidWest from last night???
Re: Steve Shirley Thanks for the info. Which club in Scotland? Hibernian? Shirley played about seven games (where I saw a lineup) for the U-18 National team in 2001. Well, the good news is that if his mother lives in Scotland he probably qualifies for a UK work permit, which means he's got a excellent chance to have a pro soccer career in Europe. It's interesting that he is playing left back, which I assume means he is left-footed. Simo is also left- footed, but according to your lineup played right back. I still wonder about the defensive lineup in the first game. Perhaps Simo played right back in that game as well, which would have allowed Harvey to start on the left. I guess that will remain a mystery. I'm also happy to see Williams earn another start at keeper. I wish he would have gotten a start in that last game (after we were eliminated) in T&T '01, so we could've seen him play.
Shirley Follow-Up No idea on the club. The reason Simo was playing right back was because Klaus was injured. Rongen probably took the opportunity to get a look at both players in the same game.
Tues. results Here are scores from Tuesday night. U.S. Reg. I (East) beat South Texas 3-2 after having a 3-0 advantage with 15 minutes left. (The South Texas team is almost all local Houston players). The U.S. U-20's tied the Region III (South) team 0-0. The South missed a PK just before halftime and had the better of the chances in the second half. For those interested, here's the starting lineup for the U-20's. GK- Ford Williams (CASL Elite) LD- Stephen Shirley (?) CD- Chad Marshall (Stanford) CD- Chris Lancos (Maryland) RD- Chefik Simo (Furman) CM- Jordan Stone (Dallas Burn) CM- Ricardo Clark (Furman) LM- Justin Mapp (DC United) RM- Devin Barclay (San Jose Earthquakes) ACM- Arturo Alvarez (U-18) F- Bryce Wegerle (Udinese) Mapp and Barclay often pushed into the attack giving a three forward look. Subs were Miguel Saavedra (Chicago Fire) for Mapp. Jordan Harvey (Irvine Strikers) for Shirley. Knox Cameron (Michigan) for Wegerle. And Ryan Cochrane (Santa Clara) for Marshall. Convey and Johnson who played on Sunday were not present. The U.S. team looked pretty good in the first half but in the second I would say the South had the better chances. In the other games; Mexico U-20's beat Region IV (West) 4-3 in a wild game that saw three goals in about a minute span just before halftime and two Mexican players ejected in the second half. And Canada U-20's beat Region II (Midwest). I think the score was 4-2.
bethlehem - thanks for the info on Jordan Stone. You make a good point re rustiness. Certainly this is preferred to the college route, but I still imagine he's glad to get these competitive games in. I'll have to find out about his A-League matches, didn't know about that. davide - Shirley having a UK permit only helps matters in the UK, While having an EU passport can help an American play in UK, many of the Euro nations are fine with Americans coming over, even without national team experience (France and Germany coming to mind most prominently).
US Soccer Festival Website Here are some websites about the US Soccer Festival http://www.tssas.com/soccerfestival.htm http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/soc/1515408
Williams Davide...the reason Williams didn't play in that WC T&T game is because he supposedly got hurt in the practice the day before the game and told Ellinger he wasn't going to be at full strength. I don't know about you, but I'd have to have two broken legs to give up a chance to wear USA on my chest in a game like that, even though the team had already been eliminated. Does that say anything about his mental toughness?
Re: Tues. results Thanks soccertex. So, Convey and Johnson started in the first game? Do you remember the rest of the lineup from Sunday? Turnaround, Well, I don't know. What was the injury? Honestly, the whole team looked like they didn't want to be there. We didn't hear anything about the injury, of course, but the situation now make sense.
Here's what I've gleaned from someone who was at both games. 1st game. vs East. 2-1. Formation: 4-4-2 Cronene Chefick Marshall Cochrane Harvey Barclay Stone Saveedra Mapp Wegerle Knox Cronen was solid. Marshall good with headers. Barclay good on first goal. Mapp, not much impact beyond amazing goal. Wegerle and Knox didn't have a great game. I didn't get a good description of the East's goal. 2nd game vs South 0-0 seems the U's played a 4-5-1 of sorts - Ford Chefik Lancos Marshall (Coch) Shirley(Harvey) Stone Clark Barclay(saveed) Mapp Alverez Wegerle(Knox) Ford had a good game. Alverez played well. Wegerle had another tough game, which makes sense for a 0-0. Can't attest to any of it personally as I was not there, but there it is, for what it's worth.
Ok, so playing time thru 2 games: GK Cronin 90 min GK Williams 90 RD Simo 180 CD Marshall 135 CD Cochrane 135 CD Lancos 90 LD Harvey 99 LD Shirley 81 RM Barclay 135 M Saavedra 134 CM Stone 180 CM Clark 91 AM Alvarez 110 LM Mapp 180 F Cameron 115 F Wegerle 135 The USASA South roster includes Fabio Tambosi (technical Brazilian at Clemson), Andreas Rota (signed with UCONN), Marcus Storey (UNC speedster), Nnamdi Ihemelu (Bowling Green and brother of U-20 pool player Ugo) and Martin Hutton (former U-17 pool keeper at Clemson?). The USASA West team roster has two players from UC Irvine, two from Washington, three from Seattle Univ, and one from Oregon State. Some of them played for the Seattle Sounders Select PDL team that upset the Dallas Burn last year. Joshua Brown (83) will be a sophmore defender this fall at UC-Irvine.