Tell me about Gibbs

Fragile as glass

 

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/players/active/index.html?player_id=53

He's a good player, who just hasn't been healthy for a long time.

When he was healthy, he was awfully good. His best performance I can remember was against Holland (in Amsterdam) in 2004. I believe he played on the left in that game, with Berhalter and Bocanegra in the middle. He helped SHUT DOWN Ruud, which is no easy feat.

 

There are so few here that can speak to seeing this semi-myth, semi-legend Gibbs.

From what I've been told, he has the speed of a jaguar on the hunt, the stamina of a camel crossing the desert, the strength of 8 grizzly bears and the ability to use his leg as a bow and the soccerball as a arrow to strike the an apple off the head of a child from 70 yards away.

IMDB is currently reporting that Robert Redford will play this fictional character in a movie called "The Natural."

 

That he's probably gotten injured since the squad was announced.

 

We don't really have anyone on the team comparable to Gibbs. Gibbs does not contribute much to the attack, though he's good enough with his head on set pieces. Distribution is average. His greatest assets are his size, quickness and athleticism. He's very good at defense in close quarters because he uses his body well and is able to cover a lot of ground just by lunging. Good in the air. His best position is center back, but he can also play left back. As a left back, he would NOT be similar to players like Cherundolo and Bornstein who get forward almost like wingers on the attack; he would be a stay at home type. He's also one of the very few guys we have who could play effectively on the left side of a three-man back line. It remains to be seen how much (if any) athleticism he's lost due to recent injuries and set-backs.

 

I'll preface this with the major disclaimer, WHEN HE'S HEALTHY, which isn't often:

He's a good combination of size and quickness, and is the best man-marking CB we have unless you want a guy specifically to lock down a big target striker (in which case Gooch is your man). He has the size to mark most strikers (would probably struggle with a Koller-type giant, but who other than Gooch wouldn't) and the speed to handle the quicker, faster guys. He's equally effective at CB and LB, and the few times he's played LB for the US has shown a good ability to get up and down the flank, which is rare for a converted CB (see: Boca).

I honestly don't remember how he is at distributing out of the back line, that's how long it's been since I've seen him play. IIRC he's at least somewhat better in that regard than Gooch and Boca, how much better I couldn't tell you.

The knock is obviously the fact that he can't keep healthy. If, and it's a big IF, he can get back into form and stay that way he'll be a major contributor through the next WC cycle and a likely starter (good complement to Gooch) at CB in 2010.

 

I've seen Gibbs play and have been a big fan of his since he emerged into the MNT scene. I've even seen him play live against Brazil in 2003 or 2004 I think it was.

He has skill, when healthy. He isn't as quick as Bornstein but he has a bigger frame as some have already stated.

Something else that people overlook but I've been saying since hearing of his return. He and Beasley have great chemistry. DaMarcus even labeled Gibbs as his FAVORITE teammate ever. They are good friends and imagine them defending the left side if both can get healthy and return to top form. Sounds good to me.

 

IMO, one of the two best defenders the US has. The other being Dolo.

 

One more thing, in that match that I saw live against Brazil, which we were winning 1-0 (goal by Bocanegra), Brazil equalised late. Then as stoppage time was winding down, Brazil got passed Kasey Keller and there was an open net. I think it was Diego who took the shot on the wide open net, and Gibbs who wasn't going to be able to get to it, intelligently handed the ball away and got a red for it. Brazil did score on the ensuing PK, but Gibbs was smart enough to give us a chance to save the PK and possibly go to stoppage time, then just allow it in and assume the game was over. We did lose 2-1 too...I left that game so pissed...

 

The last time I recall watching him shine was as one of the lone bright spots in our 4-1 shellacking to Germany in the leadup to the World Cup. He did get forward on occasion in that game.
But what's exciting about Gibbs is that his feet are so quick. He's the only center back who plays for the USA that, on his best form, with whom I would feel comfortable defending in the box against the Arsenal. He can keep up with the quick feet guys, or at least has shown that potential, whereas Boca, Onyewu, and Spector I've seen get embarrassingly burned seemingly time and again. Having a healthy Gibbs could ostensibly make us tactically more flexible.

 

The biggest advantage Gibbs has is his flexiblity, the combination of his footspeed and size. His ability to defend teams who play the ball on the ground with pace was unmatched in the U.S. pool for center back or left full back. He was also one of the best if not the best tacklers in open play that the U.S. has had in the last 10 years. His passing was also slightly above average compared to the other players in the pool, but nothing I would label special.

He shut down Ruud Van Nistelrooy in Amsterdam, and combined very well with Beasley on the left flank in most of his appearances. He is not an attacking full back. He is injury prone.

He just needs to stay healthy and win a starting slot for Charlton. Just chuffed to see him on the roster, and give him some uplift for his hard rehab work.

 

Gibbs is what Bruce thought Eddie Pope was for the last cycle. He's young well balanced defender. I think he'd be very good next to Gooch. I haven't seen him get mentally phased out of a game and get overwhelmed yet, a quality that I think he dominates over all other defenders on the team.

 

he played commendably enough against Asamoah in the germany friendly leading up to the world cup as well. Their first encounter Gibbs got torched, but after that Asamoah was pretty much a non factor until the Beerholder tragedy. Gibbs is a better CB, but can play LB as well. I think that is where Bob will roll him out. will be interesting to see if he starts so long on the shnide.

and theres the whole initiative of forcing Padrew's hand on getting Cory some minutes now that he's healthy. a solid chunk of clock against Poland IN Poland, and a good showing from it, makes Pards think, i need this guy for my promotion push. I think Bob is concerned with his players club time and will help them out when the situation arises. This is one of those situations.

 

To be fair to Bruce, Eddie probably wouldn't have started in Gibbs was healthy. Either that or he would have played Gibbs out on the left as a rather successful experiment in the run-up to the cup. I don't know if it would have made any difference in the long run. We played 3 teams with more talent than us. Simple as that.

 

No way Pope was going to come out of that lineup. He would've replaced Lewis on the left had he been healthy.

 

He once was a defender for the US .. about 2 years ago. He has decent skills but hasn't played competitive ball in a real game in well over a year. And no, he should NEVER have been called up to a National Team roster at this point in time!

I'd even prefer someone like Whitbread that has at least been playing regularly (5 games so far in March) in League One in England ... If Gibbs plays in this game, Bradley should be sacked! Seriously!

 

Dude, what's up your butt! I love the way you think you know more than coach Bradley. He's not some idiot off the street like you. He knows what he is doing. I'm sure he had trainers and coaches who watched Gibbs carefully, and told him he looks good. He also will be able to see how he does during training, and go from there. People like you seem to forget that. Your not there, watching him train, and play scrimmages. And by the way, Gibbs has more than decent skills. From what I saw, he is almost as good as Eddie Pope in his prime. He is absolutely solid on defense. On offense, he is nothing to brag about, but he knows his limitations.

 

The highlighted text is key ... SCRIMMAGES. There is no substitute for real, first team games. I've seen players that are fantastic during training and then can't perform in real games. And I've also seen players that are good in practices, but really shine in real games. And real games are the only thing that matter. Kirovski once scored 5 goals in a scrimmage at Sporting ... enough said.

So, I never said that I knew more than Bradley, but I have a significantly different background than he does. I certainly don't have the information he does about each player, but I have the clarity of being more removed from any relationships with the players.

And, from a player's perspective, if I'm busting my tail every day and playing real games, why is a player that hasn't played in well over a year taking a spot on a National Team roster that I (pr any number of other more deserving players) might have been better suited for??? What message is Bradley telling the players?

This is by no means an indictment of Cory's quality when he is playing regularly ... but ... having *been there, done that*, I just can't climb on board with this one ...

 

Well, maybe this is Bradley saying to Gibbs that this is his last chance and if he stinks it up it will be his Swann Song.

 

Then that's not fair to Gibbs. IMO you can't correctly evaluate a player and draw a line in the sand if they haven't been playing regular team ball. There's no way that Gibbs is at the top of his game without having stepped on the field in a meaningful game. So, making this a "make or break" opportunity for Cory would not be fair given the circumstances.

Let me make it clear that I think Gibbs used to be/is a quality player -- who knows at this point. I just don't believe ANY player should be getting a call up when they have hardly any first team real games under their belt since a lengthy injury. (In Cory's case, he's had none!) It's not fair to him, or other players.

 

-I don't know dude, I was just throwing that out there.
-I've never even seen the damn guy play, the only thing I have to go off of is the Cory Gibbs lore/legend bits that I gather from this blessed website.
-Hell, from what I've heard on this site, right before his last game he sat down to a final team meal and said to his teammates in a hushed tone "one of you will decieve me" and he exited, played the match where he was killed by Romans and he ascended three days later and he sits at the right hand of Sunil Gilati, Alexi Lalas and Bruce Arena and one day he will return again to lead the team to a World Cup win. Other than that, I have no idea of the guy can play or not.

 

Gibbs is the one roster change that could have toally changed our World Cup 06 performance. Leading up to the cup he was our best man marker...period! He would have been inside instead of Pope (or at least most certainly should have been if healthy and on the squad). He would not have got burned by Koeller as Pope did just 5 minutes into the game. If we hadn't given up that instant goal, things could have been drastically different. Just a simple 0-0 tie at the half could have given us the confidence we needed. But Pope got burned early and the whole thing was downhill from there.

I, for one, hope Cory gets healthy and stays healthy and is a starter for us in 2010.

 

DeMerit was a real option for center back as was Eddie Robinson. Arena chose to ignore the writing on the wall. IMO Pope had not been a top player for over a couple of years when he was selected for the 2006 team. That certainly tarnished his star and caused the team some pain. The same was true for Reyna and McBride. I have to think that Cory could have filled that gap, but it was not to be because of his injury.

I'm not ready to pencil anyone in for the World Cup team at this point. There is so much time to go and many games to be played. Players will fall in and out of form and other players will emerge to become viable candidates for the team. The best thing for Cory or any other player is to be healthy and to be playing at a high level to improve their chances of making the team. And the more competition for spots, the better!