Well, the tournament itself of 2006 should not be considered, just as the 2010 tournament itself cannot be considered. That'd be hindsight. I want to compare what was the team right before the World Cup, in comparison to this one. We may have huge expectations of, say, Donovan or Dempsey, but truth is we don't know for sure how well or how badly they will perform when they are actually in the fire. So please try to erase the result itself during the WC. Think what you were expecting, what were the strong points coming in. Right now, for example, my personal expectations of Jozy are not too good --I've seen most matches of Hull this season and to say he's underperformed is being nice to him. Quite often he has been completely useless, invisible, or when getting good passes completely shooting them wrong, straight to the keeper.
I think you're being too hard on Jozy. Playing striker in the Premiership at age 20 is hard to do, and even more so when your team is inept. In the beginning he looked like he had the athletic tools but was really not a Premiership striker. At this point, he is a Prem striker, if only barely. Of course he's had good games and bad games. As for the whole expectations thing... it's hard to measure since we know the outcome of one. There was another matter as well in 2006, which was the fact that we pretty much sailed through qualification (it was a much easier Hex), we beat up on a bunch of patsies for the most part in friendlies, and then, foretellingly, they played like crap in the send off series against a bunch of lower-mid level sides. Also, a certain portion of our expectations in 2006 were built upon the enthusiasm over Gibbs (that didn't happen), the expectation that O'Brien would regain fitness and form (he didn't), that Convey who was tearing it up in England would continue to do so (he didn't), that Donovan would play like a 4 year more mature version than he did in 2002 (he didn't), that Keller would play to the same standard as Friedel in 2002 (he didn't, though he did have a good game against Italy), etc. Basically all our hopes were very speculative, and the only pleasant surprise really was Clint Dempsey. At this point, Donovan and Dempsey have both been in very strong form, really at a whole other level from anybody we'd had at that point (only Reyna in his pre-injury 2005/06 form basically compares). Howard's better at this point in his career than Keller was in '06. Altidore is off from McBride's 2006 form, admittedly, but hopefully won't be called upon to go it alone, though his partner is problematic any way you look at it. Bradley is not the wily veteran that Reyna was, but he's a better engine and he's not slightly hobbled the way Reyna was at the time. Edu's a smarter player than Mastro, more cultured but less experienced. An injured Gooch raises the specter of a possible big weak link in central defense. Better or worse than Pope '06? We shall see. Right back is decent and left back is a shambles now, just the way ours have always been...
You're right to want to discount World Cup play, but I think you're relying too heavily on club play here. In the past year or two, Jozy has been about as good for the national team as McBride was for the Nats in the two years leading up to the Cup. He's scored more goals in less games than McBride did and his average Sam's Army rating has been better than McBride's was at the time. And all of this with a much tougher schedule than the national team had leading up to the '06 World Cup. Remember, Jozy's going to be playing off of Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and Charlie Davies/Stuart Holden at the World Cup, not Craig Fagan, Ricahrd Garcia, and a 36 year old Nick Barmby.
Yes, we have averaged 11 to 12 MLS players in WC squad in last 2 WC's. In 2010, we will probably have 3 or 4 with Donavan (Everton) being one them.
Has Demerit, in fact, been as bad recently as suggested above? Do people actually watch Watford matches?
It appears that he captained his side to a 1:0 win on Saturday. He was a revelation at the Confeds Cup against the best forwards on the planet.
It's not easy to actually watch the Watford matches outside England. I try to get streams but half of the time they don't work at all and the other half the quality is so bad, they're not very useful. I've read reports that basically indicate their back line is not solid, all the contrary, and Jay is not exactly the best of the four. He doesn't play all their games either. He alternates with Doyley and Bennett. In particular I remember and instance of a game vs. Derby Country where Jay slipped, their striker got easily past him and scored (they lost that one 2-0). In a more recent defeat, at home, to Crystal Palace, DeMerit and Mariappa were defeated twice for two of the three goals Palace netted. All in all, Jay is not doing that well, IMO. And his club is barely 3 pts away from the relegation zone to the League One.
I might be wrong here, but from what I can find, Demerit's only been on the bench twice this season. And one of those times was in his first game back from that long term eye injury. He's also listed on several sites as Watford's regular captain, but I can't find official confirmation for that on Watford's own site.
I can only go back to his prem games for Watford -- when he was probably their best defender -- and his unshakable backline performance against Spain, etc. And that should be encouraging, I would think / hope
Hard to judge any single player on a team that has had a bad season. He has looked good for the U.S. That's all we can really worry about at this point.
Well of course Watford is pitiful and if they go down to League 1 it won't be because of Jay, but because of their lousy midfield. The record in the last 10 games according to ESPN is (most recent game first): Watford 1-0 Plymouth Argyle -- Jay played all 90 Watford 1-1 West Bromwich --Jay subbed in for Doyley after injury, 10' Preston 1-1 Watford --Jay didn't play, not on bench Watford 1-3 Crystal Palace -- Jay played all 90 Watford 1-1 Middlesb'gh -- Jay played all 90 Sheffield 2-1 Warford -- Jay played all 90 Cardiff 3-1 Watford -- Jay didn't play, not on bench Watford 2-1 Ipswitch Town -- Jay played all 90 Watford 0-1 Peterborough -- Jay played all 90 Watford 0-1 Swansea -- Jay played all 90 So he played 7 out of 10 games in full, and was used as sub in one. Was absent in only 2. He's started in 24 games and used as sub in 2 games in total, out of 42 matches played by Watford this season.
I've said before that his marking and tackling are Premiership-level. But his composure on the ball and distribution aren't anywhere near it.
He was out with an eye injury for a significant chunk of the season. He was subbed into his first game back. And, in the past 10 games he had a back injury that kept him out of the Cardiff match, and another injury that kept him out of the PNE game. I believe that the West Brom game is the only match this season that he hasn't started for reasons unrelated to injury - although even there he was coming off an injury from the previous week.
Well, if he's got the two most important skills for a CB down, seems like a no-brainer to me. I'd love to have a marauding centerback who can bring the ball up the field and send a beautiful through ball to spring the attack, but since we don't have it, I'll take the physically imposing, hard-nosed guy that will us keep the ball out of our net and let other people worry about starting the attack. It's what we've got to work with.
A CB also needs jumping and header. They're as important as marking and tackling. I know, I play PES.
Demerit isn't physically imposing. He is undersized and slow. However, he did perform well at the Confed Cup and I am not aware of any better options, even if Gooch returns in full form.
Of you played football manager you'd know that positioning and concentration are equally important. Actually, that'd make for an interesting way to kill time while we wait for the action to start: compare FM's take on USMNT player's stats to the BS consensus.
Gee, I knew this thread idea seemed familiar.....not sure if it's important enough to merge the threads, but it's pretty much the exact same question I posited in my thread. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1239936&highlight=2010+2006
And I found out that someone else had done a thread just like mine! https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1218098
Yeah, his main attribute is his hustle. The guy goes all-out the entire game. This was exhibited best in the Spain match where he made a couple diving stops on Spanish shots. If it wasn't for his tenacity, Demerit would be an above average MLS defender.
What's the difference between an average League Championship defender and an above average MLS defender?
2006 2010 Keller<Howard Albright<Spector Onyewu<Onyewu Bocanegra>Bocanegra Lewis>Bornstein Olsen<Holden Reyna>Clark/Edu Convey<Bradley Beasley<Donovan Donovan>Altidore McBride=Dempsey