He was definitely more effective tonight when he switched with Corona. I tend to agree he is still better than Zusi out there, but he's a better player overall inside. His movement is way better and he creates a ton with his passing behind the defense.
He's totally a complimentary player. He doesn't assert himself or push the attack forward, he's best as a backboard to play 1-2's off of or as an outlet/circulator. Holden, on the other hand, just has a need to drive forward. If Torres had played with Stu he would have looked better because he'd feed off of Stu's game. Mix is more of a #10 so he naturally wants to move up to the edge of the box and looks to open the game more with his passing or flicks while Stu is a little more oriented to running with the ball, go back and watch how many times Mix hit Shea in space. So now we finally get to fully debate my 4-3-2-1. All of those 3 CMs cover a lot of ground, quickly. Mike and Jermain are bulls while Stu had nearly winger pace pre-injury. Slot in Cameron for one of the big guys or Zusi for Holden and same deal. Up front, on the other hand, we'd no longer have world class pace to stretch defenses but I suspect that trident would still concern most of our opponents and cause them to play pretty honestly.
I'm going to venture that he's the only one (or one of less than a handful, before they tracked assists) who is on the verge of 50 assists as well as 50+ goals. The tracking of assists doesn't go back very far, but I'd wager that 150/50/50 would be a unique achievement in international men's soccer.
Those would be my first 4 if all are healthy and in form. Though I could still see Edu sneaking into the squad.
Re: moving Donovan up top and the improvement we enjoyed once that happened, I'd venture that that has less to do with getting Donovan centrally instead of wide, and more to do with breaking up the influence of that triangle of suck that was Corona-Beckerman-Torres. The whole team got better once we didn't have to constantly play through that morass. Before that, the only thing we had going was the occasional instance of Beasley forcing the issue on his own out left.
That's a good point. The thing I commented on during the first half-hour of the match was the lack of off-the-ball movement and the lack of one-touch passing. It got much better once Donovan moved up top, and I originally credited it to his runs and quick touches, but it may olso have been creating a little more space in the midfield by pulling some of the Guat defenders deeper into their end and spreading Carona out to the wing.
It wasn't just moving Corona away from the morass, it was moving Donovan into a position of more influence. For instance, had it been switching Zusi and Corona, I doubt it would have had the same effect. I can't know that, just an educated guess. I know if I'm a Guat and I see Donovan out wide and I know where he is, I breath a little easier than when he has a free role and he's a bitch to track.
If this is what we did vs. Guatemala's B-side.....I fear for Belize on Tuesday. Would not be surprised if we surpassed the 8-0 Barbados win in 2008. Then again, knowing the USMNT, I should know better than to expect a blowout
Corona was OK. He's miscast in the middle. But he did a pretty good job on tackles, crossing, and runs when he was moved out wide. Unfortunately the sample was small. I agree with you about the rest. It seems, between the u-2o's and seniors, Klinsmann is trying to build a bridge between Mexican Americans and the national team even though he doesn't have the proper materials. He's working with paper. It's going to collapse if most Mexican American players aren't successful with the U.S. Who cares if they're there? That's not going to inspire Diego and Raul in El Paso to dream of playing for the U.S. national team.
I was greatly impressed with how Holden and Mix commanded the game in the second half. I wasn't impressed with anyone else to be honest. Other players had good games like Gomez and Beaz (of course). I was truly impressed though at the second half CM group.
Jones, Cameron, Edu, Morales. If Alonso ever becomes eligible for the USA, I would prefer him as well. Beckerman is at least fifth, and thats not counting Alonso and any of the better young DM's in MLS like Kitchen and Caldwell.
Second worst. After all, he is a midfielder. None of the strikers has an assist record that compares, so far I know.
Castillo played a little out of control. I think part of it was JK pushing the whole team to play faster than its comfort level. But, he and Beaz being two fast nimble guys paired wide looked like 2 kids w/ a new toy - like "hey, this could be fun!" It would take some time with them playing together to get that down. And, I think it's pretty clear that FJ isn't gonna bet bounced out of the starting line up. But, if Beaz & EC got a lot of games together, they might be able to shred people down the side. Who was it w/ the touch pass that released Beaz down the wing in the 1st half? Was it Torres, or was it Castillo? Whomever, it was sweet.
With Bradley and Jones as our primary CMs, it seems that the US plays more with two box to box CMs rather than assigning someone at the dedicated DM. So I think it's more important where someone ranks on the overall CM scale. For me, Beckerman is definitely behind Bradley, Jones, Cameron, Edu, and Holden. I also rate him below Kljestan and Williams. Since that's already 7 center mids I rate above Beckerman, I just don't think he's all that necessary in future plans. I would rather his spot be used on younger guys like Mix, Corona, Morales and O'Brien. That's not to say that Beckerman won't have a good Gold Cup (especially if paired not with Torres, who I don't rate). But he's not getting younger, and I have a really hard time imagining him playing at the World Cup.
We still need to find a legit back-up forward for Jozy. Donovan sure looks like he can provide depth for Demps. So, we gotta figure out the RB spot. I'd say we gotta figure out if there's a spot for Mix. And, we gotta get 2 back up CB's. I'm fine w/ Parkhurst being Besler's backup at the "smaller CB" spot. If we don't need him at RB. We have a year & a lot of up and comers in MLS, so who knows? And, I kinda think that CB is just not going to be a great position for us. I like Besler. Gonzo needs to step it up, and the depth is old.
Oh, I think if I hadn't made it before, I mighta made it tonight. But, I'm banned from there, so I'll never know. Jajajaja.
I was there and I must respectfully say you in fact are crazy. I saw 3 corners that were the result of him hustling down the side and scaring the crap out of the right back. He also threw in some great crosses that really gave us a bunch of chances. He really sparked that side of the field when he came on and let DMB take some time off.