twellman hasn't recovered sufficiently from hernia surgery, so eddie gets a shot (undeserved, i feel). but he has the goods to make good on his umpteenth chance - i'm hoping!! http://www.soccernewengland.com/articles/view_article.php?id=2317
IMHO Eddie looked solid his very few minutes played in the WC. While his club form has been atrocious, his NT form has usually been quite solid when healthy. It would be very nice to find Eddie back in form 2010.
Solid? Even that might be an exaggeration. He provided a bit of a spark against the Czechs, but I still don't remembering him getting anything on target. And against Ghana he looked about as threatening as a butterfly. Oh well, it's not like we have an embarassment of riches to choose from up top. Let's just hope he doesn't wreck the camp atmosphere.
Danny Califf and Todd Dunivant have also been called into camp. http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=news&id=2557
So my interpretation given this new knowledge is that Bradley is thinking of the following depth chart: Donovan - listed as a forward on the release Ching - Bradley singled him out as someone he wanted to see Twellman - called in even with potential injury slowdown Rolfe, Cooper, Jaqua, Alecko - Other original call ins Johnson - first replacement Cunningham and Razov - appear to be too old in his opinion as their production last year was above most of this group objectively (goals/assists)and very competitive subjectively imo.
I'm gonna play devil's advocate here so please don't flame me. This is just a hypothetical. What if Bradley knew Twellman was gonna be unavailable and named him away. But all along Bradley had the intention of bringing Eddie in, he just didn't officially name him. Thus, he was making as statement to Eddie, no one's place is safe and you must work for it. Motivation via reverse psychology, if you will. I know, I know this is crazy thinking and its probably not true, I just threw it out! Nonetheless, I hope not being named orginally does provide a spark to Eddie and his focus is there. He's too good of a talent to let slip.
I don't think that's crazy at all. I don't know Bradley enough to know whether he would do something like that, but I think it's a fine idea. That's the kind of tactic of a sharp coach, I think.
Johnson is now "eddie", per this thread title. so long Pope, Lewis, Gaven? either way, i don't know if not being named orginally does provide a spark for GAM, but it seems like a silly ploy (if it was one) and probably won't have noticeable results. EJ is what he is as a player. he's an athlete who likely has a much brighter future with the USMNT than the other two recent additons to camp, Danny Califf and Todd Dunivant.
We kicked this idea around for quite a while today on the camp roster thread, starting here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=452545&page=33
Uh. It's a "get to know each other - show me what you got" camp. I wouldn't try to read any "depth chart" out of it at all. Seriously. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
And it was a great shot , but he also missed a tap in from a cross right after that . I remember we were chanting his name for him to get subbed in against Ghana , he came in , and the first thing he did was fall on his a**. Simply stunning.
congratulation to EJ on getting called up...I really hope he gets a starting job for the Denmark game and then we go from there.
So, what an over and under on the number of days that it'll take Peter Nowak to get into Eddie's face and subsequently send him home?
Ha ha. Until someone with more talent comes along- we need to keep trying to get production out of eddie. I keep waiting for the day.
This would be a logical conclusion for Eddie to draw. Somehow, I doubt that Bradley really puts Eddie behind Jaqua and Eskandrian, but maybe. I also kind of doubt that Donovan is being considered a forward. But, of course, the list above is a depth chart of the available players only. There are also guys in Europe and/or on the U-20 team that might be above EJ in the pecking order. I would posit that Altidore is a better candidate for 2010 RIGHT NOW than EJ is. Johann Smith and Charlie Davies are, at the very least, nipping at his heels as well. My sincere hope is that all of this bad news for EJ motivates him to dig in and fight. Both for a spot on the USMNT and for a ticket to Europe.
My exact thoughts. There is no way anything Eddie did leading right up to the WC or after the WC (other than his quick cup of coffee actually playing where he looked fast and did not score) would earn him a right to be called in. Basically its a matter of this guy just has such great physical skills that we keep giving him chances. Hopefully this last instance of, if it werent for injuries your chances would be done will serve to wake him up. If not, it may be time to officially turn our eyes to Josy.
aren't Johann Smith and Charlie Davies more in the u-23 mix right now... i'd suspect they do the oly qualifying and beijing gigs before moving on the the full usmnt... as to twellman, i think he sees success at club level as being far more important, hence a desire to get as healthy as possible... sure 2010 is a goal, but, with the 2006 rejection, and the forward pool being in great flux, i don't see him putting many eggs into the international level basket... perhaps getting a big euro contract is appealing, and with success in europe, a better chance to get to the 2010 big tourney... still, it's a long shot battle for twellman, and i think he realizes it
Given his reaction (we all remember the goal celebration Im sure) at his last rejection, I think that is utterly incorrect.
the celebration was like...i'll show you, particularly with arena in the booth... too bad the revs feel asleep for the next minute.... i just see twellman's chances being longer for 2010 than they were for 2006..
apparently ching's knee is troubling him, and he prefers the rest over any camp... i'd expect we see ching at either gold cup or copa america and probably either ecuador or guatemala at the end of march