Suggestions to Sir Bruce Arena on his starting 11??? GK: Reis LB: Vanney CB: Gooch CB: Conrad RB: Dolo LM: Beasley CM Dempsey CM: O'Brien RM: Ralston LF: Donovan RF: Noonan
I like most of your selections, but offer the following modifications. The (sad) return of the two-headed (non-passing) beast at DM. This lineup (I think) keeps all of the YC-carrying players except DMB on the bench. I don't think JOB will get the start after appearing in both games so far. Hopefully Sanneh will stay at the end of the bench, Pope has a bit of a knock. I think BA will want to see what Marcus can do against a better opponent. GK: Hahneman LB: Vanney CB: Conrad RB: Dolo LM: Beasley (maybe Davis? that would keep ALL 6 YC's on the bench) CM Dempsey CM: Olsen CM: Armas RM: Ralston LF: Wolff RF: Noonan
Not too bad, though I would make 2 changes. Davis instead of, either Olsen or Armas, and Quaranta instead of Ralston. Or maybe, Quaranta for Wolff. Just hope our finishing is MUCH better & that Hahnemann looks steadier than he did v Cuba. I know we're into the Q-finals but I would rather play a 3rd place team (from Group A or C) than the top team in Group A, which could still be Colombia (a tougher opponent & my second country, which brings mixed feelings into a potential matchup)!! Let's go for the W, guys!!! Or, at least, a draw!!
I think we'll see JOB get another start - Bruce really wants to bring him back and there's no better way to get his match fitness up than to run him through some matches. He's faced two sub-par opponents so far but hopefully Costa Rica will offer some more challenge. I'd like to see a more experimental lineup here - although keeping a balance of regulars and experiments. I think maybe leaving Landon on the bench for the first half would be good. - - - - Noonan -------- Quaranta---------- ---DMB------------------Dempsey---------- ----- JOB --------Pablo------------Ralston----- ---------Vanney-----Gooch--------Dolo-------- ------------------Hanehmahn-------------------
personally id like to see quaranta and davis get some good minutes with the A squad in this match maybe start them both and then bring in dmb and/or noona/ralston or something like that. start donovan up top with noonan/wolfe/dempsey and keep job in midfield with mastro. reis/keller in goal (im a revs fan, what do you want?) and i think a 4 man backline of (l-r) hejduk, conrad, gooch, dolo just some ideas. what do i know forza inter
USA needs to win by a two goal margin. CR is a decent squad but USA is just better. I watched the CR Canada match and they didn't impress me at all.
Can players hurt during the Gold Cup be replaced on the roster? Just wondering if Bruce could add someone to replace Casey and with Taylor Twellman already in town...
Dolo and Vanney in a three man back line? No. Too small, too offensive oriented. If you said Gooch, Conrad and Pope then you've got me listening. I want to see Quaranta start but I doubt he'll get the nod over Rally because he was successful in the last CR contest. I'd like to see Marcus play again. Didn't get too much of an opportunity vs. Cuba. Whomever had the flat midfield with JOB and Dempsey is a genius... well maybe not a genius but I really like it. They are both two way players who have trouble fitting into Bruce's system because neither of them are perfect for the AM nor the DM. Pablo and Landon have skills sets that are more appropriate for those positions. What I'd like to see: Marcus Dolo-Gooch-Conrad-Vanney Quaranta-JOB-Dempsey-Davis Noonan-Wolff
We've already qualified for the quarters, and in a tournament format it's important to make the most of your roster, so I expect we'll see a highly "experimental" lineup as Bruce gets some of the newer players some more looks and rests his big guns.
Do cards carry over into the next round? Bruce also said on the podcast as ussoccer.com that he was interested in looking at Dempsey at forward. Now would probably be the game. And I think Reis starts this game--Bruce was pretty proud that all but one of the players brought up for the tournament started a game. That in itself is pretty impressive.
Costa Rica is sad at best they dont exist and are not the "tough" team they were in WCQ France 98... With that in mind a 2-0 victory is inorder.. I know its hard for the US team to pump themselfs up for this cup but we should trash the teams that beg to be trashed and if a sad costa rica shows up i dont see why the US cant put away 4
This game is in escence meaningless. We could be playing a team better than Costa Rica in the next round. If Mexico struggles in one of their two remaining games they could finish 3rd and we'd play them in the Quarters. Unlikely, but their games are harder than ours. I'm just saying that finishing first may in fact get us a harder game in the next round. You never know. We've qualified, so that's all that matters. I want to win, but we also need to rest guys. This is Bruce's last chance to experiment in this tournament. Period. I expect the unexpected. Quaranta and Dempsey as our forwards. Davis will get another shot, perhaps in an unexpected position. Left back? Yikes. Conrad will certainly start with Pope on the mend.
As Clint said right above, in terms of the Gold Cup, the essence of this game is meaningless. Couple that with the idea that Arena is really trying to see if players, including players that are not favorites here, can still play the international game. Thus while we posters may have come to the conclusion that certain players shouldn't play ever again for the Nats, Arena doesn't share that view at least for this tournament. Come on down Tony Sanneh! Thus the lineup for CR will not be one of our favorites, but one that shows off all the talent on hand. Couple that with the need to rest some players for the games to come. So let's look at the situations at the various positions: Forward Casey is out and until we hear that Arena can and will add another forward to the squad, we are left with the following: Noonan, Wolff, Quaranta. Possibly Donovan, Dempsey, and Beasley also. So take the first three forwards. Quaranta has had the most rest so he'll start. Wolff has had the least so expect to see him on the bench. Noonan did not play the full game vs Canada so he might start. Then the last three: I'd expect to see LD and DMB on the bench again for this one as they've played a lot of minutes, especially Beasley. Dempsey however has had Tino's rest so he'll play, but where he'll play depends on the situation in midfield. midfield Again, rule LD and DMB out. The guys with the most rest are Olsen and Davis, followed by Armas and JOB. Dempsey and Noonan could play midfield, especially Clint. Ralston and Mastroeni just played. Normally I'd think Tino might play right wing again, but with Casey hurt... defense If Pope is out, that's a blow to the depth. Hedjuk and Sanneh both are rested. Gooch and Cher both just played 90. Conrad has played the most so I expect to see him on the bench. Putting it together So the question here is will we see a 3 man backline (Sanneh-Gooch-Hedjuk)? Given that there are two d-mid types fairly rested (Olsen and Armas) then I think it will be another 352: ---Hedjuk----Gooch----Sanneh ---------------Armas Olsen-------JOB-----Davis -------------Dempsey ------Quaranta------Noonan The biggest question here is if Arena is gonna be doctrinaire about not playing Olsen wide. If he takes that stance it will hurt the team in the long run since we can't play Ralston every game and this is the game to sit him (and sub him in if needed). Olsen can play a very defensive right wingback just fine and he and Hedjuk should be able to overlap and cover for each other. The key in this lineup is JOB linking the defense to the offense and allowing Dempsey to make his forward runs. A nice bonus about this lineup is that both Dempsey and Quaranta have some height.
I doubt Reis will play for the US in this Cup. He's in camp as a practice player and was only let go by the Revs with the understanding that he would be available for ALL Rev games. The Revs play Dallas pn Saturday right after the IS match and Reis will be playing for the Revs.
Good point. That reasoning is along the lines of the South Africa team where a couple of the players who played vs Mexico are being recalled by their club team (Orlando Pirates) to play some matches.
Well laid out, Ursula. I question whether we'll see alot of JOB in this game, because he just played the last game, is coming back from a long lay-off and needs to be worked in slowly, and because he is an A squad player and Bruce will want him ready for the next game. The other question I have is at RM. We know what we have with Ralston - and frankly, it's not international quality. Though he is a good crosser of the ball when he has space, he lacks the speed to create the space at this level. A winger without pace can still be dangerous if he can cut inside and make plays, but that requires a good left foot - and I've just never seen him make a play with his left. I would like to see Quaranta get more time there - he has the speed to get to the endline but can he cross? Bruce had him taking corners in the first game, so at least he thinks he's capable. Unfortunately, Casey's injury probably precludes the above - there just isn't another striker to play up top, if Santino is moved to wing, with Dempsey dropping back ti CM (with JOB out). Oh well...
What does the Dallas match on Saturday the 16th have to do with Reis playing for the US on Tuesday 12th??? Mike
As others have said, the game is essentially without meaning for us. I'd love to see someone other than Keller get the start. I also suspect Quaranta starts.
Call it boring but I don't think there is much uncertainty about the lineup. We are qualified for the next round, so we rest the A-Team and start the same team we did vs Cuba. The only change is who replaces Casey, to which I would suggest Noonan since he was playing the "big" forward slot vs Canada and falls into the lets get a good look at him catagory. One possible formation change (based on reports of the podcast which I haven't listened to (on vacation with dial-up)) would be Dempsey out of the AMid slot and into the forward slot moving DMB back to the AMid slot. I'd love to see Clint get some time at forward but I'm not in love with DMD as the #10 either. Finally, regarding yellows, I think Bruce ignores them. Sanah isn't going to start the next game anyway and if Bruce wanted to see Vanny as a left-inside in a three man line he would have started he vs Cuba. I guess this is one slot I could see change, Vanny for HeyDude to ensure that Frankie is available as an outside left back for the knockout games but I would be a bit surprised to see it actually happen. Keller Frankie - Conrad - Sannah Olsen - Armas Santino - Dempsey - Davis Beasley - Noonan