Twellman = McBride of 2000-2001 Remember when McBride was working his ass off every game, pressuring defenders, knocking down balls for everyone else, not scoring, touch was criticized, Segroves wanted him dead, etc.... I can't count how many times TT laid off balls to Cunningham and EJ and made runs looking for the return, as they decided to dribble around and lose the ball. He won several headers and flicked balls into space for runner who never ran. His lay off to Donovan that led to the blown header by EJ was a play that Cunningham would not have made. Granted his first touch needs more work than my 62 Chevy Nova, but he will learn how to play with the other nats. I don't think Cunningham ever will. BTW I am a fire Fan so I can give 2 shits personally about either of these guys. -C
TT's got some maturing to do..but games like this are part of it. I'd give him a couple more starts before next June...if it doesn't work out, I'd think he'll continue to grow and be a reliable forward for the subsequent four years (injuries permitting!). Pablo played great..tough, good posession, smart passes. Really really good play from the midfielder. Hard to rate the defenders...not put under too much pressure but Marshall played tough and was big in the air. Hahnemann put in another solid kick-ass US keeper performance. Kind of expected, isn't it? Looked much more comfortable than T.Ho..but then again he doesn't have Fergie breathin' down his neck. EJ..tough luck on the header. This guy can play, man. Great game for the sub. Thought Allbright played well...tough, good positioning, good posession and passsing. But like the rest of the defenders...they weren't exactly playing Brazil tonight so its hard to say. The Guatemalan's didn't look fast or tricky. Everyone else i give a "meh".
I'd like to see Dempsey played as an off-striker. Free him of defensive responsibilities and distribution, and just see if he can manufacture some magic. He's not good enough to demand such a spot this cycle...but looking past that, I could see that being his permanent role.
Wow - well, remind me to not be near you when you watch another "we've qualified for the World Cup so we're going to try out some bubble players" game. EJ hasn't played a consistent set of full 90s recently, so the one you see out there certainly isn't the one you'll see later. I'll cut Dempsey some slack - he is young and still learning. If he stays at it, he might show something. Taylor - what else to say? I think this game exposed his weaknesses enough that hopefully now people can see the problems that Bruce has with him. I don't mind him getting another look or two, but once he has clearly had his options to play and failed, can we please move on? I'm not real surprised about Vanney. But again, let's not lose perspective - this team was a collection of bubble players. It was Bruce's way of saying to these guys, "rise up and show me something." Apparently not many did.
i thought hahneman had a great game. marshall edged conrad for best in the back, albright was...average. vanney did pretty poorly. i dont think they played very well together, though. its hard to argue against a clean sheet- but they let too much happen, too many chances for guatemala. tino did pretty well, bobby...just needed to be more assertive, but he did ok. pablo did about what hes supposed to. clint didnt have a great game...but hes still a dangerous player- and we dont have many guys you can say that about. i just wish he could find his position and/or have it all "come together" for him. i thought twellman did a lot of really good things, but the finishing was poor all around. cunningham just isnt a guy i want to see for the nats. he doesnt translate- its that simple. yet hope springs eternal here at bs for him...though im not sure why. donovan did ok, but wasnt much of a factor, gam did some very good things but good greif...has to finish that. has to. the number on his shirt says so. i think ralston was there... being such a random lineup i thought we did alright, we cant look past picking up a point on the road in qualifing- thats always the goal, right? our finishing needs to get better but thats not really breaking news. im pretty pleased with the result, all things considered- but the only guys who helped themselves a whole lot to me are marshall and tino. (man, i hope he can get ralston out of our first 11) and hahnemen i think is pretty safely our third keeper, and he held that spot tonight. point on the road, got a look at some guys, need to finish better, no injuries. ill take it.
With the already-qualified B or C US team of reserve players playing in Central America against a Guatemala team fighting for its life in its home stadium in the rain, you can be reasonably satisfied that we got the tie. Qualifying is about taking care of business at home and drawing on the road. Sure we had great chances to salt them away with some missed sitters, but so did they, as Hahneman made a few nice saves, and the goalpost did its part at the end. Take the point and get out of Guatemala City... Godawful game to watch. The one bad thing about this is that our "all-important" FIFA ranking should take a bit of a tumble, as #6 draws with #59 or whatever Guatemala is ranked, losing whatever we might have gained vs. Mexico.
Convey still overrated and Quaranta showing inconsistency in his play that he can't afford to show.(and I consider myself a United fan shouldn't I have been properly brainwashed by now) Johnson any day of the week and twice on Sunday. He missed a sitter so what he's still more dangerous than other options. I don't know if he is but he looks like he's scarying the hell out of defenders. Cunningham (no service) no judgement. twellmen doesn't resemble anything he shows in MLS (confidence?) Dempsey I'm dissappointed. The backline was never pressured that hard partly due to their efforts and partly Guatamala just aint that damn good. Somehow Vanney found a way to look like sh!t to me though. The keep made a couple of good stops learning experience without injuries not a bad day.
Hmmmm I wonder if the game would have gone any differently if Mr. Mapp was on the field....and I KNOW he logistically couldn't play in this game, I'm just SAYING. Although....don't he and Bobby play in the same left-side spot?
apart from Haneman what a load of...crap. That looked like soccer as practiced by a mid level third division team in Bosnia ( Okay not bosnia but definetly Azerbeijan) God saves us from that....
You guys ever play on those fields where the damn ball plays up to you shins more than just settling flat. Did it look like that to anyone else besides me? Weird camera angle.
Donovan and EJ were the only guys that looked good in attack. Made the rest of the lot look horrible. The Reading contingent looked just fine.
McBride has proven he can score goals when given the opportunity. Twellman has not. Some guys simply will NEVER score at this level. How many goals in how many games at this level did Roy Lassiter get?
Not true. Only the top 7 results in a given year count. A loss never hurts directly. It just means we missed the opportunity to gain points, which we probably would have done with an away win in a WCQ (definitely if we had won 3-0). And I know the ranking isn't important per se, but it does matter insofar as our chances of getting a seed.
I may be disappointed, but I can also be honest with my assessment of the game. A B/C team went to Guatemala, faced a team in depserate need of a win, and actually created more chances to score than the Guate side did (Cunningham, Dempsey in half one; Johnson, Twellman/Marshall, Twellman alone, Convey FK, someone else in half two). Half the eleven (is that five and a half or six? ) with no road WCQ experience or no WCQ experience at all (Hahnemann, Marshall, Conrad, Twellman (?), Quaranta, Cunningham). Memories of past trips to Guatemala (both Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango). This isn't a bad result at all, and it could have gone much better. Worse, too, but I think the potential for upside outweighs the shot off the post and the Hahnemann save for the Guates.
This thread should be on the Nike "Nobody cares about soccer" commercials. I'm willing to give Twellman and others at least another chance. Maybe playing together will help them, but admittedly finishing chances would help too. At least our B team can go on the road and have the better of the play.
Another reason why Twellman should get on the scoresheet before Ching gets himself healthy - scored on the road in WCQ. Big plus. That said, when it comes to minute 90+ and we need a goal, I wouldn't mind having Twellman on the field IF someone is also on who can cross the ball well. "Flank play" and "USNT" were almost mutually exclusive terms tonight.
Dempsey played 88 minutes too long and at the wrong position he is an offensive mid? Later you have convey a wing mid and Donovan at the other wing mid why not one of them at offensive mid and not Dempsey? Dempsey has one talent he is up when the ball is up and that's it no skill to put the ball in the nest. He can not destribute to pass to our strikers. A lot of his passes our back passes. I think I rather see the surfer dude at offensive mid then Dempsey Arena did a poor coaching job for playing him so long and at at offensive mid.
Donovan was not on the field for most of the game. Remember the aired pass Johnson should have scored on with his head? Guess who made that pass to him Donovan.
You deserve more neg rep than any other post in this thread for even comparing McBride and Twellman. Twellman isn't even a Razov or Kreis. Twellman. Is. Utter. Crap. Twellman isn't worthy of tying McBride's boots.
Re: USA vs Guatemala: POST MATCH Thread [R] Dempsey sure also the starting wing from DC united in this game I have already forgot his name and so will arena very soon.