Dolo hasn't played too well in the last few games. That said, he's miles ahead of the other options, in my opinion...
I am not a fan of the Lewis call up, but I will try to defend the thought process: 1. For those of you living in a vacuum, f^^k off, this is too complicated for you. Yes deals are made with club coaches despite what FIFA rules say, U-23 players go back to MLS teams to train with them. Euro players go back to their teams, thereby removing 20 players from consideration. 2. Lewis is not first choice but he is still on the depth chart. Remember Cobi Jones and Earnie Stewart had roles with the Nat team as 2006 qualifying began. A team can afford to give away 1/18 of their roster for a friendly. 3. While Derby is rotten, Lewis has been half-decent by their lowly standards. That's how he finds the field on a consistent basis. 4. Looking at who else was called in. Who is taking the set pieces for this team? The same ones b!tching about Lewis will be the first ones on this board on Wednesday yelling "Why is Donovan taking the set pieces?! He is terrible." Let it go. If Eddie is still on the roster next February, then let the grumbling begin.
Ya gotta figure that the Gibbs call up is just a "getting to know you" call up. He's not back to playing w/ his club team yet (except for reserve games), is he? If so, he's only just back. I'd love to see Spector tried out at the deepmid spot. I know, we've got a million of 'em. But, if he's better than the rest . . . . . .
That, and it could be a at the request of Charlton A. to get him 30-45 additional game minutes in order to get him closer to reintroducing him to the 1st team. Cory playing will serve to allow both coaches to know where he stands.
Id like: -----------Wolff------------------ --------------Dempsey----------- ---------------------------------- Lewis----------------------Donovan ---------Clark----Bradley---------- ---------------------------------- Spector---DeMerit---Boca----Dolo ---------------------------------- -------------Howard-------------- With: Ching>>>>>Wolff Pearce>>>>>Spector Gibbs/Onyewu>>>>>>Bocanegra
I seem to be missing some valuable players out there who have shown that they should be starting to the USMNT based on some of these comments. I won't go into why some players are missing etc because I already made a much too long post on the previous page with my breakdown and thoughts on that. I do think, that given various constraints, BB is trying out his first team with a couple execptions for looking at previoyusly known quantities for contribution (Lewis, wolf, and Gibbs). From that post I will repeat my guess at our current depth chart - perhaps as a starting point for others to say who should clearly be there instead. CB: Gooch, Oneywu, Demerit RB:Cher, Spector LB: (Bornstein), Pearce CM: Bradley, (Edu), CLark, Feilhaber RMid: Donvan, Dempsey Lmid: (Beasely), (Convey), Lewis...(Adu, Gaven) Forwards: Ching, EJ, Wolf, .... (Altidore) () not on roster for various reasons the ... are young guys who are making a strong case for inclusion as starters
I just think it's pathetic that Bradley is using two roster spots on that Gooch Oneywu fella. I heard from some Newcastle fans that he's pretty good, but damn!
3 great keepers, wonder who's starting. Also is your coach the Leo Beenhakker? I was wondering where he was.
I could think of reasonable answers for these - whether they are true or not is another matter... Cut from U23 - is this because of personal conflicts or is it because Benny is not match fit and Nowak had no time to fix that. Also Nowak did not have much time but spent it trying to make a system for the players to play in - maybe Benny did not have a chance to learn that system or did not adapt to it quickly enough in conjunction and possibly compounded by the above reasons. Not starting for Derby could be a good thing ... as opposed to playing on a rubbish team and looking like rubbish as a result. Ok thats flippant. Benny is not even on the roster for Derby and I think the manager decided pretty much from the onset that he did not fit in with the team - for whatever reason. This is different from a player who fits and fights for a start and cannot make it. Therefore, I do not take that situation as a firm indictment of Benny. Benny keeps getting called for the USMNT based on his performances with the team previosuly and what the coaches have seen in camps. They still see potential in this players and think that with a break he can be a good player for the team. He needs good games and camps and so they give him that. These are friendlies, if he makes the roster for WCQ match, that will be more telling. I personally have a hard time making sense of Benny as a player. I'm not wholly convinced that he does fit in with the USMNT, but he has good skills. I'm not sure if perhaps he is too inflexible in how he plays and therefore brings the same type of game each time which may or may not work depending on the opponents and team mates and team strategy.
What! you probably want Boca instead!? Com'on!!! Thanks for the catch - won't fix it because then your great comeback won't make sense.
So let me get this, we don't have a lot of players to choose from(given the U23's just finished playing),Bob calls Spector, which a lot of people wanted him for the last couple of friendlies, Demerit and in a freaking miracle Cory Gibbs, and people are still complaining? You have to pick your battles guys, seriously.
Speculation on the specifics of why Benny's inclusion despite his club situation might not matter has been done nicely above. I will state more generally that we continue to see youngsters (and some oldsters) called up for friendlies despite less-than-stellar form for three reasons: 1. We have no "world class" field players. And we desperately need someone or sometwo to step it up if our aspirations are greater than the round-of-16 at the WC. If a few games in meaningless friendlies leads to better form, which lead to more club playing time or a Euro contract, which leads to quicker/better development, its a little price to pay. 2. We have little "high quality" depth. This is the "if not Benny, who" argument. 3. They are only friendlies.
More importantly, what is the fascination with Pearce? Lewis is at least a very experienced player. Everytime Pearce gets called in he ends up mysteriously injured or warming the pine. I can't attest to his ability, nor compare it to anyone else. I'm still trying to figure out how the rest of you have been able to properly evaluate his merits.
Boruc will start, but maybe we'll see Kuszczak come in at the half. And yeah, it's the same Leo Beenhakker, he's been in charge of Poland NT since after the World Cup, and after leading Poland to first ever European Championship appearance - and especially after beaing Portugal at home and tying them away - has acquired a near legendary status already. He seems to have infused a modern coaching philosophy into the team, lots of possession football, not as much reliance on counter attack as it had been our virtual trademark in the past. The prior failures in the last two WC's have been blamed largerly on archaic tactics/coaching, favoritism and mental lapses, and Leo has been, at least so far, able to deal with these problems. Someone else asked about tactics and danger men, etc. Poland's biggest weakness is lack of power up front, with most of our good strikers either warming benches in their clubs, or going through cold spells. Smolarek is probably the most dangerous goal scorer, but he is a forward in name only, since he generally plays in the midfield. Zurawski, after leaving Celtic for a weak Greek club seems to have regained some of his striking power, and hopefully this will continue as we near the European Championships. Someone else asked about Jelen, he generally does well for Auxerre and was probably our best outfield player at the last WC, but he fell out of Leo's favor after what many thought was faking an injury in order to avoid playing in a couple of friendlies, so he hasn't gotten a call up since, and probably won't ever again, for as long as Leo is the coach. Krzynowek is another midfield scoring threat, although getting up there in age. Matusiak was a hot striker about two years ago, but failed in Parma and then failed again in Heereneven, so now is back in Poland trying to regain his form. But Leo likes his potential so he keeps getting the calls. Blaszczykowski (Kuba, as he is called in Germany), would normally be another major threat - a super speedy right winger, but he is injured at this time and will probably be replaced by Lobodzinski, who is not too bad either, but lacks some of Kuba's flair. Probable starting line up: ==============Boruc================= =Wasilewski==Jacek Bak=M.Zewlakow=Bronowicki== ========Lewandowski==Dudka============= ==Lobodzinski=======Smolarek=========Krzynowek= ============Zurawski==================
Easy answer- BB likes him and he calls in guys he likes. Maybe with this string of games against better teams, the state of US soccer will be exposed and hopefully, something will be done about it. This is 90% of the A team and if we can't do anythng then something is wrong. I can not see Josh Wolff being called for anything at this point. Dempsey has lost his starting position and is getting about 30 minutes a game now for Fulham. How many minutes could he go in this game? At least he's rested. I know Altidore did not get called and after the Olympic qualifiers, which he played a lot and did almost nothing, he should not have been called anyway. He is not the answer at this point. EJ is now starting for Fulham and should start against Poland. Good time to check his progress. Boca isn't playing much for Fulham and there defense is bad. Is he our best option at this point? Ching? I don't get it. Maybe right bench, next to Wolff. It just comes down to I do not trust BB to lead us anywhere and I often do not like many of the guys he's choosing to promote. I think it would take several very embarassing results to actually get Sunil to pull his plug. This might just be the start of the end.
I can understand disagreeing with certain call-ups and wanting changes in the lineup, but I find it laughable that you sound as if you almost hope the boys will lose, so that some other person can come in and take the reigns of the same group of players more or less. I also understand the idea of wanting to bring in some untested talents...but if those guys came in and lost, everyone would be calling for the head of the new, "better" coach. Basically, this US lineup for Poland seems reasonable and they know one another fairly well. They aren't world-beaters, but which US players are? In the end, this is about preparing for WC qualifying, and these are likely most of the players we'll be working with. I do agree that I think Wolff is just a waste of a space. I've never been impressed. But keep in mind that the alternatives are limited (due to MLS, Olympic qualifying, etc). I also see the argument about the players who aren't playing a lot (Dempsey, Gibbs, etc)...but who would you rather have in their place? I don't know a lot of great MLS players who are able to just fly to Poland on a whim, and additionally, I don't know of anyone in Europe who would be considered a better alternative. Simply put, it's best to just take this lineup for what it is...guys who know one another and are the core of the team. Some of the fringe players will change from time to time, but in general...most of these guys are going to be going to be leading us through WC qualifying, and possibly into WC 2010 itself.
I hate it ...It's built completely around Dolo and Pearce getting forward and whipping in good crosses to Ching and EJ. Both Demps and LD want to take the ball to the center so in order for us to utilize Ching and EJ's strengths we need great crosses. If we don't gain width and are forced to play narrow - we will have a lot of trouble scoring. Now this line-up's "Achilles' Heel" is on the Polish Counter Attack. Benny & Dempsey can be very lazy back-trackers, LD is a soft tackler, MB dives in to tackles and our back four has no height. I expect lots of Polish free-kicks and the lack of height on the back 4 worries me. This line-up, the weather, players in Relegation Mindset-- This is is going to be a slow, foul-filled mess of a match
I suspect the rumored fisticuffs with Adu in training had something to do with Benny being cut from the U23s. As to his situation in Hamburg and Derby, in both cases he was brought in by one manager who was on his way out, and was not in the incoming managers' plans. Nevertheless, tough luck or no, the kid does seem to have a bit of an attitude problem, and he has one hell of a lot of proving to do. Nevertheless, aside from his time spent on the right wing, he's shown himself as worthy of inclusion in our national side for as long as he's been here. A mistake-prone talent who moves the ball through midfield with purpose, something our team has lacked. When he learns to fix that "mistake-prone" qualifier, well, then he'll be a genuine asset, but that ain't going to happen until he gets in good with a club, and that might not happen until he sheds the ego a little bit.
i might be wrong, but I think Bradley is just going to turn this team loose. He is going to have them attacking from all sides. I still dont think we will win, but we will attack.
I'd like to see Ching get a start. He has been hurt for forever, but, IMO, he really shined the last time he actually started a game in the GC.
And we may be....if Adu/Bradley/Altidore/and someone else but we don't know who yet/et al don't emerge as unequivocal starters for top club teams and the USMNT by 2010 we will still qualify but we won't get out of our group. We are not any stronger (arguably we are deeper) than we were 4 years ago but some of the out-of-Concacaf competition (e.g. CAF) seems to have gotten stronger.