Pre-match: US vs. Belgium, Tuesday 1 July

We'd get killed on the flanks by Belgium if we went with 3 CB's. To compensate, we'd have to drop our WB's back and thus create a 5-3-2. This would negate any offense we'd look for.

 

Thanks for the post. Belgium without Benteke (or a healthy Kompany) are a much different prospect, but unpredictable players like Hazard and Mertens are always concerning. Witsel is the best midfielder for me. Belgium's talent is there for all to see, but they have not looked like a cohesive unit despite a perfect record so far. Belgium should be favored to advance, but it is not as clear cut as I might have thought before the tournament. It will be interesting to see how Belgium's players handle the pressure of expectation in a 'win or go home' scenario.

 

Is it time to sit Bradley? I keep reading articles on how he has run farther than anyone in the World Cup but we can find anyone to just run around and have zero impact. I find myself yelling at the TV any time someone passes him the ball as it is most certainly a turn over or long aerial pass. I think we can gain 10% possession time just by putting a warm body in his place.

 

There's no way Jurgen will sit him at this point. He would have benched him for Germany (or removed him at some point) if it was in his thought process at all.

Bradley is clearly out of position and incapable of playing as a 10 at this level, but Jurgen will not change it up at this stage.

 

Beckerman has been great, possibly the best roster selection that JK made. But when it comes time for us to pull one of the 3 DMs I think we have to sit Beckerman and drop Bradley into that role. My theory about Bradley has been that he's just being asked to do too much. If you asked Beckerman to shield the back line AND support the attack he might also struggle at this level.

in the next game there will probably come a time around 70 minute where we will have to sacrifice one of the 3 DMs to generate more attack than we saw against Germany. with the players available I think you have to go with Mix for Beckerman, with Bradley taking Beckerman's role and freeing Jones to join the attack more. Bradley has to stop running himself into the ground.

 

Most certainly a turnover? His pass completion rate 85.1%. Your argument is invalid.

 

I agree the Belgium team looks like a bunch of players thrown together instead of a cohesive team. Wheras the USA looks solid. Still one flash is all it takes as seen in all 3 previous games.

 

I agree with the Cameron nod against Fellaini and others.

Geoff Cameron has already played against Lukaku, Fellaini, and Hazard. and Tim Howard has played against them and against Lukaku in training quite a bit. The combination of Cameron and Howard against them seems pretty likely to me.

In a broader thought on this game - I think we will have to score 2 or more goals to win. I don't think either team will want to bunker it in unless it is late in the match and the conditions dictate it.

 

no they would not start for us ... Klinsmann would likely kick a number of them out of camp if they did not toe the line and come together as a team.

If there is one thing Portugal, England, Italy and Spain can learn from the US - it is how to come together as a team and really depend on each other.

back when the John Terry situation was going on (with Wayne Bridge) it really surprised me that the English coaching staff does not seem to grasp the enormity of pulling a team together.

 

Disagree...I think Insaghi was called offside against Korea while onside by 4-5 yards. The calls Korea were getting in their world cup were out of this world. Both in all the 50/50s were going their way AND that every game had 2-3 big decisions that went Korea's way that shouldn't have. I have never seen something like that in the professional game.

The fact that Italy was given a red card in 06...in 02 the Korean opposition was getting red cards in their last group game which could have knocked them out and their first elimination game.

Against Spain they call the ball out of bounds on a Spanish cross when it was clearly about 4 foot from the end line. Can't have Spain scoring. Assistant was in position to see.

So...no...I've not seen Brazil get the same calls. In fact, in 2010 Kaka got a red card for a phantom foul...that never happened...that the ref didn't see because he wasn't looking that direction. Whoops.

There is no logical explanation that world cup refs could be so bad (calling a player 4-5 yards onside as off when through on Koreas goal, calling the ball out when it was at least 4 feet in against Spain) on so many calls favoring the same team over and over. Its not possible.

 

I can't believe anybody is seriously talking about benching Bradley. The only way that happens is if JK goes to a 4-4-2 and uses just Jones and Beckerman in the middle, but even then its a stretch. Bradley isn't playing up to his standard, but we've already established that we don't have central midfielder backups and that Bradley is still playing as one of our best players (higher passing percentage than most, top workrate on the team).

 

It's funny when you think that the position we all felt the best about going into the Cup, central midfield, in terms of depth (outside of GK) is the position we desperately need some depth right now. Behind JJ, MB, and KB, we've got a grand total of no one. If one of them goes down, we have to play a different tactic, not bring in someone off the bench to fill the role because there is no one. Mix does not fill any of those specific roles, and JK sees Bedoya and Zusi as wing type players. I don't think this was a problem with his selections of the 23, it was his assessment of the quality of the possible selections and him not judging those available as being able to play those roles to his satisfaction.

 

No radical changes will be made, but there is the decision to be made: Cameron vs Gonzalez.

I'd come close to stabbing someone if Beckerman was removed from the line-up.

What's Jozy's status?

 

How much impact on the game does he have? I've seen almost 0 interceptions, takeaways. He touches the ball far less than anyone else on the pitch. he just jogs around at a constant pace.

 

What jersey (sorry, kit) will we be wearing against Belgium. I'm assuming they are the home team and we would have to wear an off kit from them. They have a dark red home strip, so I assume we have to wear the white again. I was hoping to wear the bomb pops again!

 

He's day to day. He'll have a fitness test on the day before the game and be found not to be fit. JK will keep them guessing all the way up until then. And he should.

 

If Jozy was healthy, I'd sit Bradley in order to play Dempsey in the hole and scoot Fabian into the attack. It hurts my eyes to watch Bradley playing as a 10 on this stage. In these matches against skilled opponents when we are reduced to playing a transition game, it is a simple matter of tactics. Bradley is a DM, and Beckerman is playing his role just as well and maybe better right now. The XI choice would be a Beckerman/Bradley decision in the 4-2-3-1 on current form.

 

These stats are readily available on the internet. He's getting 53.7 passes in per match so far this tournament, which means at least that many touches. One of the highest on the team. So, again, your argument is invalid.

 

Bradley 1 tackle, 2 failed tackles; Jones 1 tackle, 2 failed tackles; Beckerman 3 tackles, 3 failed tackles
Bradley completed 52 passes, Jones 27 (Beckerman 47, nobody else in the 40s)
Bradley had an 85% passing completion rate 2nd best on team, Jones had a 75% completion rate, Beckerman 94% best on team

So yeah...Bradley is the engine of this team and to take him out would be like just getting on the plane and going home before playing Belgium.

 

Since everyone seems to be missing the entire point of my post, I'll attempt to explain. The post I was responding to said that several of Belgium's subs would be starter quality for us. Of course, that's completely true. In fact, Belgium likely has several players who didn't even make their 23 who are better players than many of our starters. England could drum up a good 50 players who could start for us. Italy and Germany probably could name 100 players who could start for us. For example, does anyone really think that Beasley (God love him) is even a top 100 left back in the world?

My point, though, was that this is largely irrelevant, as demonstrated by the fact that England and Italy will need to purchase tickets to get into World Cup games going forward. Most World Cup games, like most soccer games, are won by the best teams, not by the best players. (Caveat- Truly great players sometimes can carry their teams on their backs.)

 

Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

 

Bradley oh Bradley better shows up on Tuesday.

 

Bandwagons, knee-jerk reactions and willful disregard for objective realities.

 

Davis added nothing for Germany, just more evidence that LD should have had that spot (or Green's).

Gonzalez played great after a shaky start, that was certainly encouraging. Encouraging enough that he may deserve to start.

For me, here's what I'd do, aside from my tiresome assertions that Guzan should be starting:

---------------Howard-------------
FJ---Cameron---Besler---Beasley
---Bradley--Beckerman--Jones---
-------Bedoya-----Diskerud------
------------Dempsey-------------

Assuming no Jozy. Get MB out of an advanced position (which JK did last game by putting Jones forward). Get someone who can function as something near a #10 on the pitch (Mix).