Why does everyone think it's a conspiracy theory? Any Everton fan can tell you that the flu ran rampant through the squad. Started with Royston Drenthe and claimed victims after that: Jelavic, Baines, LD and others. LD would have played the FA Cup game against Blackpool, but didn't due to illness. Now he's withdrawing from the friendly...due to illness. He's sick. It's a friendly. CCL is the week after. Ergo... I HATE HATE HATE it too, but there's no conspiracy here. Just a sick player not wanting to fly 13 hours to Italy and back. And it sucks. Big time. By the time he plays again in May, LD will have gone 9 months without playing for the Nats. That's unbelievable. Argh. I was so looking forward to this game. Still am, but this definitely changes the dynamic with Gooch, Chandler and LD missing. Think this pretty much guarantees Johnson plays at LB, and Shea at LM: Shea Altidore Dempsey Bradley Edu Williams Johnson Boca Goodson Dolo Howard Since Kljestan wasn't called up until now, don't see him getting the start.
BigSoccer is probably overusing the 6/8/10 terminology at this point, but from what you've been saying, you are thinking of the number 10 role when you are writing "8". Stuart Holden's face appears next to "number 8" in the Soccer Dictionary.
Oh, and before folks start saying the inevitable "will JK call him again?" "Is JK mad?" - I think the takeaway is: he was called. And he ended up being too sick to go. But he was called in the first place. Which means, see you in May LD. And for the love of God, please get your flu shot, take some vitamin C, and Galaxy teammates - please don't come to work with the flu. Kisses - USMNT
Buddle/Clint---Jozy----- Shea------------Clint/Specs --------Bradley------- --------Williams------ FJ---Boca--GC/MP--Dolo ---------Tim----------- Most reasonable, probable line-up that I could think of.
By the way, whatever Drenthe had at Everton? Kept him out for a month. From the man himself: Landon Donovan LandonDonovan It's been an extremely frustrating two weeks but I trust that life is happening the way it's supposed to Landon Donovan LandonDonovan Appreciate all the well wishes. Tried hard to be ready for the Italy game but still too sick. Need to keep resting and get healthy again ********** Sounds like he accepted the call-up (remember, as of a week ago Bruce Arena said he was going, so he accepted awhile ago), and waited until the last possible minute to make a judgment call.
lets see... knowing klinsman.. -------------Altidore---------------- ------------Dempsey--------------- Shea--------Bradley-------Williams ---------------Edu------------------- Johnson--Boca---Goodson----Dolo ----------------tim------------------ Williams and MB might be switched and I wouldn't be shocked if FJ was left mid and Spector was LB. Ugly lineup, but i'm guessing klinsis will be close judged on the past. i hope im wrong
Nooooooooooooo. A number 10 is a play maker. Whatever defense you get from him is gravy. Give me an example of a "classic" 8 - besides Holden, lol. (btw, I love Holden, was the 1st one on this board that had him as a "lock" for WC10.
Please not Williams at RM. That was a painful sight. The US will be stronger with Williams at LB (he's played there before) and then move Johnson to midfield. [LINEUP-4-3-3]Shea, Altidore, Dempsey, Johnson, Edu, Bradley, Williams, Bocanegra, Goodson, Cherundolo, Howard[/LINEUP-4-3-3] I hope JK starts with this....
Personally I like this: F. Johnson--Buddle--Altidore --------------Dempsey ------------Edu--Bradley Williams--Boca--Goodson--Cherundolo If JK goes 4-3-3 with the V midfield: F. Johnson--Buddle--Altidore Dempsey-----------Bradley --------------Edu Williams--Boca--Goodson--Cherundolo If JK goes 4-4-2: ------------Buddle--Altidore F. Johnson--Edu--Bradley--Dempsey Williams--Boca--Goodson--Cherundolo
You might not be familiar with the strong hierarchy within top level soccer. Brek Shea go simply dropped in favor of another player. Shea doesn't want to be with the u23 team. Klinsmann doesn't have some special plan for him or anyone else. The only thing that happened is Shea got moved down the ladder, Ream got moved down, Kljestan never really was on the ladder, and others moved up because Klinsmann thinks they are at the moment (possibly) better players than Ream, Kljestan, Shea, Whitbread, etc. And this is proven by the fact that Shea has now been called up. A spot opens up, and he moves up the ladder. So could it be there is some short term and long term plan? No. There is only one plan: Klinsmann needs to qualify for the WC.
Hopefully not. We should let the Olympic team get the resources they deserve - to qualify - and to build a team that can go as far as possible in London. In the long term this will only improve the depth chart of the totality of the whole ussoccer player pool as well. The fact that Boyd and Shea misses the Mexico line up is already a bad sign. I hope more players, in the few months to come (before London), favours the U23/Olymic team over Klinsman's men. It should be their (players) choice - with no reprocussions lurking in the background.
i say Shea gets the start at LM by default. i know his form has declined but i rather see an out of form Shea at LM than a fish out of water WIlliams at RM (with johnson sliding left mid) --------------jozy--- shea-------demspey---johnson-- -------bradley---edu------ williams--boca--goodson---dolo--- -----------howard---------- 2nd half i want to see Cameron and klejstan get some time. Maybe even spector at RB real late in the game to give dolo a break
Probably? Here is Italy's squad. Take a look at the midfield: Midfielders: Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Thiago Motta (Paris Saint-Germain), Antonio Nocerino (AC Milan), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus) Two things jumped out to me: 1) Good balance between creators (Pirlo, Montolivo) and workhorses (De Rossi, Nocerino) 2) This is going to be an incredibly narrow game. Good opportunity for Shea if he plays left mid/left wing, as the space will be there.
Johnson played CB and Williams CM for Hoffenheim last winning match. Shea was playing with the U23s for Porter, but without a Beasley, etc, Shea was the only choice for JK. Kljestan, also.
This is exactly what I'm thinking. If we're holding a clean sheet and playing well at halftime I probably wouldn't mess with the defense though.
uh. not to be pedantic but this isn't entirely true ... at least not the Johnson part. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast?id=320844&cc=5901 that is the gamecast for Hoffenhiem's 2/25 win over Wolfsburg ... if you click the "starting formation" for Hoffenhiem you can see that Williams started as the RCM in their 4-2-3-1 and Johnson started at LB. Johnson has started at LB and Williams at RCM for as many matches as i checked going back ... at least 5 and probably most games this season.
My starting XI: Howard Dolo/ Parkhurst/ Boca/ F Johnson Williams/ Bradley/ Edu/ Shea Dempsey Altidore 6 subs: Buddle/ Spector/ Goodson/ Boyd/ Kljestan/ Cameron GK: Guzan
Johnson's been playing a lot of LB recently, but he's been in a more attacking role on the wings in most games this season.