Yeah, Donovan certainly seems fit. Unfortunately I couldn't see all of the game, and what I saw was very grainy, but he looked active. Food for thought on that part of the whole argument, that's for sure. Next stop, Tuesday. PS. You seem to have mistaken me for someone who is thrilled LD was left off. I am not. In fact, I am very apprehensive about it; more so, every day.
Consequences? C'mon. If a CB gets hurt, Goodson will still be the first one called up. Klinsmann already said that he was fine with players expressing themselves and saying that belonged in the 23. He wants players that are hungry and believe in themselves. If Klinsmann really is petty enough not to call on the best available guy just because he said he shouldn't have been cut, then he's a total moron.
Not at all. Matter of fact, I only found that post of yours because someone repped my answer to it, and it was right below. I'm even expecting for JK to pull a rabbit out of his hat and do well. Just today I saw Iran outplay Montenegro, a team that outplayed Ghana. The more I think about it, the more chances I give us of surviving the group. And Klinsmann will have a lot of merit for it, if we do.
In order for this country to be successful we need both the players and the coaching staff to be professional. The common goal should always be to act in accordance with delivering the best equipped team to perform well at the World Cup. And while that probably involves incorporating Donovan on the squad, it also includes watching what gets out to the media. Loose lips sink ships. Even though Donovan isn't going to make it to Brazil, I think/hope he still wants the US to get as far as possible in Brazil.
First of all. Donovan better than Bedoya. Brek Shea better than Davis. Goodson better than Brooks. Eddie Johnson better than Aron Johanssen. What is going on in Klinsmmans mind? Someone clarify thi for me.
My take is that other countries haven't had players speak out against their exclusions as much because their coaches treat them more professionally. Everything Jurgen has done in the last week has screamed amateur.
Brek Shea couldn't manage to break into Stoke's first team and had some character incidents. EJ hadn't looked good this year in MLS and also had some character incidents. I would trust Goodson over Brooks right now, but as the 4th CB, neither really would have been likely to play, and Brooks is definitely the more promising player for the future so I don't have that much issue with it. Donovan should be on the roster.
Is Donovan the better player then Bedoya? Sure...but lately Bedoya had been doing very very well in Ligue 1 which is a top 5/6 league over in Europe. One could argue that Donovan should be in over Davis. Bedoya has a good chance to start with/without LD on the wing because of his work rate and defensive cover. Also Brooks had a very good end to his season in the Bundesliga which is another very good league. The Ukraine match he was paired with someone he just met two days before, went full 90 for the first time since November and was just coming off injury. That was Ukraine's A team as well which almost qualified over France.
It's not a sure thing, they already have 3 big CBs, Cameron, OG, Brooks. They lose one no big deal. Alter the LD fiasco, anything is possible.
Well, Donovan was an excellent player, I think Bedoya is more of a need to the team than LD. Bedoya, does something that LD lacks, defends very well and when you are going against teams like Ghana, Portugal and Germany, his game is indispensable. I would have taken LD over Davis, Shea is not even in the conversation. I wonder what would have happened if LD was on the team and Green was his understudy and Green showed to the coaching staff he is ready for more minute, would JK sit LD for Green? I guess he didn't want to face that decision and took care of the problem by making LD a forward and then cutting him from the pool of forwards. I like Brooks game, he is faster and stronger than Goodson and most of all, he play from the back much better than Goodson. I think Brooks got a bad rap for his play when he had Gooch for a partner. Brooks is the real deal, you can see that with his BL1 play. Your last selection is really a head scratchier, how you even think EJ is at the same level as Johannsson (AJ). The only attribute that EJ has over AJ is his aerial game, other than that, AJ has a strong shot from outside, better poacher, can create his own shot, quicker at changing directions and to a degree is a smarter player. EJ's move is a telegraphed step over that half the time doesn't work.
Let me be categorically clear: there is no separate depth chart for big CBs and small CBs. If a CB gets hurt, Goodson is the clear next in line choice. Klinsmann ain't going to spend a second thinking "well I already have some big CBs." That's nonsense. What he's going to think is "I need another CB on my roster, and Goodson is the next guy on my depth chart." The only other guy on the 30 who plays CB is Parkhurst, and like Goodson he also made comments to the media questioning the selection process.
Haven't you learned anything from JK? if he loses a CB he may give the nod to Edu for all we know. Conventional thinking goes out the window with him. He has gone against the grain so much that I no longer think normal when trying to guess his next move.
First off, I doubt that will happen. We didn't hear anything about Edu training at CB. But if it does happen, it won't be because Goodson made comments about thinking he shouldn't have been cut.
Some very defensive teams play with a diamond, where it is most vulnerable is against teams with good wingers and attacking fullbacks. We would need Mike to defend from side to side to support the RCM and LCM on the inside. 69% of Germany's goals were created from central positions, although I've advocated a more 4-4-2/Atletico/Bradley like approach. Jozy and Clint like pulling wide. Say we've won the ball back on the right side around the edge of our final third: -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -----------JA------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------CD------ -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------MB------------- ------------------------------------------GZ-X- ---------------------------------------------FJ- ------------------------JJ----------KB--------- ----------LB---------MB------GC------------- ------------------------------------------------- Jozy should be isolated against the opposing RB or in the space he has vacated. An early switch could give us a good situation for a 2 on 3 with Mike as a trailing runner. Bob found that we were able to use the two forwards in a 4-4-2 to disrupt our opponents when they tried to play out of the back and with the pace Davies offered, in addition to LD, we could keep their backline from moving too far forward. When filling in at RB he didn't cover himself in glory, LD has always been a net defensive asset. I don't think he can do that for 90 over 3 games but that's partly because the level of effort we need to make it out of this group will be immense.
Compiled a bunch of stats on the squad, let me know what you think! http://nnelli.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/usa-world-cup-squad-statistics/ Go Go USA!
Beckerman comes across ahead of Bradley as a DM/CM. Actually, the numbers reflect the more creative role MB has with Toronto: 1.8 crosses per 90 minutes, 3.3 key passes, 0.7 through-balls (surprised how few of those they all get, BTW).