Chandler was surprisingly ineffective. He made several defensive mistakes, and Klinsmann's tactical plan neutered his effectiveness on the outside since Rogers and Shea were taking his space all match. In fact, all 4 defenders had sloppy play at times. I think it's unfair to single Castillo out.
I agree, the coaching change has made Chandler less effective than he previously was, will have to sort that out sooner or later if Lichaj is unavailable or playing on the left.
I didn't see Castillo's defense as the issue. Not saying he's a star LB... but worse than everyone else we throw out there? Hardly. I think the angst was more from the fact that he has zero accuracy kicking ball beyond about 10 yards... and seemed to kill our offensive momentum several times after making good moves forward.
Exactly. If he stopped trying to be too fancy with the ball on his feet he'd be ok. The problem is he can't cross for shit...
out of the back 4, I would say Castillo was weak link, he had a few good runs, but from my view I thought he was just too physically weak to play at the NATS level.
Castillo is not good enough. Fiscal!?!? We saw him in MLS, garbage. What's the point of bring in these players, they both are garbage. Anybody who follows the US national team knows they aren't good enough. And yet....because it's Klinsmann we are all holding our collective breaths. Give me a break. The US wins because it works hard, and everybody digs in. The moment we try to play offensively, we're going to get lit up against good teams.
Both of those players still needed to be evaluated by the new regime as they came in, and it's not like their respective positions are overflowing with prospects.
What's so hard with keeping a line? Watch the Paraguay game. They scored two early against Panama, and after they relied on their defense. Didn't even break a sweat. How is that done? Discipline. Mental focus. No one is caught out of position, no one has to cover for someone else's brain fart. That gives you much comfort. You can put the team on autopilot when you can trust your defense. Or score a goal, and then relax.
Both players look like interesting prospects who are young and new to the international game. I'm interested in both. They bring unique qualities to their positions.
Castillo is godawful. Bornstein is better than him by a good long stretch. How does Castillo play for Club America? Are they that bad? Sheesh. I agree with those that are saying Chandler was surprisingly ineffective, at least after the first 15-20 minutes in the first half. He and Rogers didn't work very well together at all. My instincts are to blame Rogers for this as I don't believe Rogers knows what to do on a soccer field, but I'm too tired to be sure.
chandler and boca were both decent, but far from their best. castillo is bornstein/pearce, just a little different. but not better. lichaj needs to get healthy, chandler needs to be able to play on the left or johnson needs to pan out/actually play left back for us. orozco's "clearances"/any attempt to play out of the back would make gooch blush. hes solid positionally but tends to get run around a bit much. but my gosh, he blooped more balls directly to the top of the box than anyone should in any three matches.
Castillo was marginally better than vs Mexico, but that's really not praise at all. I still haven't seen anything to make me think he is a starting-quality international back. That said, I really don't have any problem with Klinsi testing Castillo here. LB has been a US black hole for most of a decade and these are just friendlies. But unless the kid shows better vs Belgium, I'd give up this experiment pretty soon. Boca was Boca. Generally solid but also awkward at times and not much of a passer or ball handler. He's a transition guy this cycle, just like Mastro was last cycle, and for the time being he deserves to start. I just hope we have some good CBs to transition too by 2014. Orozco wasn't horrid, but he didn't really do anything positive, either. Looks like a sub internationally at best. Time to test some of the other CBs. Chandler was actually my biggest dissappointment in the back. Not that I think he played rotten, but that he seemed so pedestrian and also seemed out of position several times. He is one of my big hopes this cycle and he looked good in his 2 prior matches, so his mediocrity last night was dissappointing. I think several posters may have hit on a good reason, in that Rogers, as a more classic RM/RW eliminated the space that Chandler could use up the flanks. The Rogers+Chandler right side didn't work very well, and I'm inclined to view that as a problem with Rogers more than a fundamental issue about Chandler.
We are in a lot of agreement there. Generally, we pressed high and were trying to attack, so were a bit vulnerable to counters, that's the price you pay for taking the initiative. Germany gave up 2 to Austria yesterday. But scored, what, 5 or 6? Point being, what some are calling out of position was sometimes just the result of guys trying to get involved in the attack, and us turning the ball over. Hard to judge the defense in the first half, as they didn't have much to do. Castillo. I thought his biggest problem was what he did going forward, not the defense. too many turnovers and not getting crosses off, much less in. I was a bit worried about his strength on the ball, he got knocked over a lot in what could have been very dangerous situations. Had the Costa Rican players been a bit more subtle, or the ref let a bit more physical play go, we could have been in trouble. And again, some BS posters are just full of it, who would you suggest at LB right now? (Borsntein isn't playing, Pearce and Loyd are hurt, and Boca is too slow). Orozco. Again, he wasn't horrible. A couple of awkward moments in the second half, and I fear he may not be strong enough for more physical teams. Still, he's worth watching going forward as he develops. Boca. Pretty solid night, though it looked like he was the one at fault on the goal by not stepping up with everyone else. Even ventured forward a bit. Chandler. I thought he had a very good night, Especially early. Great pass to Rogers right in the first couple of minutes. Wasn't as much of a factor going forward as I'd hoped, but count me as one who thinks Rogers was more of the issue with shaky first touches. Maybe he gets some minutes as a RM in the second game.
Castillo had a brutal first 5 minutes, followed by a good 30 or so minutes, followed by a really bad 55 minutes. Orozco and boca were not good. And the distribution from those two...U-G-L-Y. Ream has his flaws, but he is at least orozco's equal in terms of defending and far superior in terms of distribution. I thought Chandler had a lot of good moments mixed with some moments of disinterest. I'm sold that he should be in the starting XI, I just hope he plays with more consistent fire. Can we please try 'dolo at LB?
I think Chandler's distribution from the back has been underrated. Cherundolo does well getting forward but its always the same run up the flank, he doesn't make any incisive passes from the back. Chandler several times found players at the top of the box, ball played to their feet, from his righr fullback position. It was refreshing to see genuinely dangerous build up coming from that part of the field.
I haven't seen Boca pass the ball like he did for years. Not since his early years with the Chicago Fire. He passed the ball so well then. I wonder if he can just jump right back to it.