I'm looking forward to seeing how the US copes with the Turkish midfield provided Turan and Sahin play a good portion of the match (jury out on Turan unfortunately given he finished the year injured). It could give us a better idea of what to expect in Brasil. That's a solid B+ Turkish roster.
Last night, too much whinging about a game with a team that would make Jose beam with pride. They might as well have hosted that game at the Greyhound bus terminal. Too much bus parking. So with Turkey coming up, we will definitely see a much wide open game. This game will be a much better test for the USMNT. Look forward to seeing this game.
Fortunately for a result, but unfortunately for practice, Turan likely will be limited minutes wise if he plays at all. They don't have anyone else near his level, but perhaps we'll get a look at some of their young talent. Looking forward to an actual soccer match.
lol I am sorry but Turkey is actually pretty decent. We didn't exactly look dominate last night and now we will be playing a much better team. I just don't see us breaking down their defense, so I fully expect us to get a limited number of chances. I think our problem is the wingers don't play like wingers. I am sure this is what Jurgen wants because he wants to see his fullbacks joining the attack, but it rarely happens. Thus the field gets very narrow and this will play into Turkey's strengths. This is the way I see it unfolding, but I would gladly be wrong.
My XI: -----------------Altidore------------------- ---------------------Dempsey-------------- ----Bedoya------Bradley----Diskerud--- -----------------Jones---------------------- -Chandler--Besler--Cameron-Johnson- ------------------Howard------------------- Essentially it's a diamond with 4 CMs. Then go Zusi for Diskerud, Green for Bedoya, Gonzalez for Besler, Johannsson for Altidore, Wondolowski for Dempsey, and finally Yedlin for Johnson.
The USMNT, like most clubs and countries, hasn't used two "wingers" in a while. That aside, you do pinpoint the potential problem position, the attacking semi-wide midfielders. Last Cup, Donovan and Dempsey were effective in making the offense go. JK immediately and purposely moved away from that by moving Dempsey to the center and determining that Donovan can't contribute, especially in the attacking wide midfield positions. This has undoubtedly strengthened our central core. But, the question is whether Zusi or Bedoya, or the too slow Davis or the guy-who-can't-get-games-in-midfield-for-his-club FJ can't do enough there to create chances as Bradley and Jones can't do enough on their own, leaving only Dempsey. It will be interesting to see if this shift makes the USMNT more dangerous and/or solid on defense.
Has there been any info on an open to the public training session at RBA the day before? I'm looking around and can't seem to find anything. Thanks in advance if anyone knows. Edit: Might not belong here but in case anyone else was Interested... Saturday, May 31 (times ET): 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Public Training Session at Red Bull Arena: The always-popular opportunity to see the U.S. MNT will be held at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. The training is free and open to the public.
Do not underestimate the power of the regualr 30 MPH Candlestick windstorm (starts up at 4 PM each day) to suck the life out of the game. USA will look far, far sharper in Jersey.
The US didn't dominate Azerbaijan last night? In pretty much every meaningful stat, they were dominant. Not sure how you could come to this conclusion.
When is the team coming to the East Coast? Is it today? Where are they practicing out here (other than the open practice)?
I want to see: -----------------------------------------Howard-------------------------------- ------------------------Brooks-------------------------Besler------------------ Chandler---------------------------------------------------------------Beasley -----------------------------------Jones------------------------------------- ---------------------------Bradley--------------------------------------FJ -----------Mix------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------Aron---------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------Altidore----------------- If dempsey's OK, I play him where Aron is. Zusi looked OK vs. Azerbaijan, but I liked seeing mix play in the midfield and add creativity. SUBS: I put in Yedlin for Chandler, Green for Beasley, slide FJ to LB, and Davis in for Bradley or jones depending on who needs a rest and put whoever's left as the '6' and Mix as the '8'/10 and Davis out wide. Wondo in for Altidore too if he's tired or Aron depending on how either look.
This is a hungry Turkish team with a handful of veterans, and an emphasis on youth. I don't mind the emphasis on youth if I'm honest. The Turkish team his historically played less than the sum of it's parts. Fatih Terim is the coach that got Turkey through the cinderella run in 2008. He also brought the team back from it's DEEP DEEP hole in WC qualifying and almost got them to the big show (came within 1 game after their opening sh*t show). This is a team that is motivated to make the Euros, and will want to prove to their coach that they should be there. Since it's youth I'm hoping they won't be as lazy as their predecessors. They will also not bunker - they've got nothing to lose. They will give us a good test. In addition to all of that they'll be feeling the love from the crowd that will have a large Turkish contingent. EDIT: Even without Turan, Yilmaz will give our team fits.
Would substitute Chandler for Yedlin to see how he does in his native position, but otherwise that is my XI. I like Mix as the 10 right now. He just has some intangible that seems to make us play better and with more energy when he is there.
I like this lineup. Same with the situation with Dempsey. I wouldnt mind getting a look at brooks/cameron or gonzo. Maybe switch FJ with Beas and drop Bedoya in.
The best lineup Klinsmann can have atm. SHOULD try this but doubt he does.. -----------------Johansson------------------- ---------------------Dempsey-------------- ----Zusi----------Bradley-----Diskerud---- -----------------Jones---------------------- -FJ--------Besler--Cameron-----Chandler ------------------Howard------------------- As you can see there are no real wingers.. Our best attackers are more centrally oriented so they would play similarly to Italy imo. Obviously not the same quality but similar with the amount of CM in midfield. This team would play a much more fluid play and as a result much better offense... sigh probably wont be tried tho. Bedoya>Zusi around 65~ min mark. For me Bedoya always seems to have more impact as a sub. Green >Diskerud 70~ min mark. See what he can do against quality opposition.. after his debut one can evaluate him better with him having less jitters?nervousness. Altidore>AJ 75 min mark. Jozy is out of form and is less effective than AJ. Aron deserves a chance to start. I'd rather have him start tbh cuz he can actually create his own shot. And maybe throw in Brooks/Gonzo/Yedlin for more evaluation
Didn't Twellman make the brilliant comment during the match last night that we scheduled Turkey because most of their players play in the Bundesliga, thus, implying that playing them would be a nice warmup to playing Germany? Obviously this is not their "A" side which features more Bundesliga players, or Twellman's a twit, or both.
If we can beat Turkey than beating Portugal should be a much more realistic goal. I remember Turkey playing away from home beat Portugal 3-1 in a friendly right before Euro 2012.
I thought that even though we played a weak team, it was clear that Jermaine was given specific instructions to stay back and play the #6 role. Many times he could have bombed forward, but chose to stay back and cover. He also told many of the defenders to push up when provided with the opportunity, and when they did he plugged himself into the back line for cover. This was the most inportant thing we learned tonight. Jones play will be crucial to our success in Brazil. I thought that was the best thing at least on the field.
I'd definitely like to see the diamond again, as I think it'll be instructional to Bedoya's and Zusi's roles. Against Azerbaijan, those two had all the time in the world, for two reasons: 1) Narrow midfielders in a 4-4-2 diamond have natural space against a 4-2-3-1, particularly when 2) We were on the attack, and neither of our outside mids had to be overly concerned with defensive responsibility We need to pressure-test this against a stronger opponent before thinking this is a winning tactic against any of our World Cup opponents. With his skill-set, Bradley would be an idea shuttler in the diamond...wouldn't mind seeing him off to the side with Diskerud at the top of the diamond. Last night, he had a rough game, but wasn't necessarily in a position to succeed. He won't find space to distribute against Portugal or Germany the same way he did against Mexico, so let's play to strength and push him a little further back. Somewhat related: where the hell is the old Opta Chalkboard on MLSsoccer.com? I wanted to look at Bradley's passing (my take was that he played far more short backpasses than before), but couldn't find the old interface.