Here's my pick: ----------------------------Keller------------------------ Cherundolo--------Conrad----------Sanneh--------Vanney --------------------------Dempsey----------------------- --Ralston-----------------------------------------Davis-- --------------------------Donovan----------------------- ------------Quaranta---------------------Noonan--------- Subs: Hejduk for Cherundolo, Olsen for Ralston & Armas for Davis. I'm not thrilled about the CBs but I'd rather hold Onyewu for the Q-finals & not risk a YC & suspension. I like our midfield and, hopefully, Noonan can put his chances away tonight. I really liked Connelly's analysis about how the USMNT wants to win "every" game, no matter how unimportant it might seem. It's that kind of thinking that we, US soccer fans should have, for EVERY match!! I know we're into the Q-finals but, speaking for myself, I will not be happy if we lose or draw v CR. I expect and want a win and, with this lineup, we should be able to get a result!! GO, USA!!!!
I'm thinking it might be --------------KK---------------- Dolo-----Conrad---Vanney-----JOB -------------Armas-------------- Olsen--------Dempsey---------Davis --------Tino--------Noonan----- I tried my best to rest all of those with cards, and ended up putting lots of midfield and mls guys out there.
You could well be right on with that line-up with the exception of JOB (no way he starts as BA will be very careful with him, i think). I just get the feeling that Landon will start (yellow card and all) to get a shot at the golden boot.
ticos don't have a half dozen of their top players, and haven't looked particularly good against canada nor cuba..... I suspect the guys who played against cuba will want to impress arena with a better overall performance..... back door cold front means the weather will be surprisingly pleasant.... usa can get through in 1st place with a draw.... I suspect a boring match will take place, and neither side has much to gain from a top notch performance...save the effort for the quarters....
I'm certain the US will begin the match with 11 total players of which 10 will be field players dressed in matching red white and blue uniforms along with a unifomed Goal Keeper who will spend most of his time in the Goal area supported by some Defenders. In the Midfield I expect to see for the most part Midfielders and the Frontrunners will be Forwards.
Plus, keep in mind that LD got his yellow for a stupid reason, pushing a Canadian defender while the ball was dead. He doesn't generally get cards in the flow of play, so if he keeps his head, we really don't have anything to worry about. ~Justin
I hope you are wrong. Both first matches were boring! Although the Bruce says he'll start a "mix" of players from games 1 and 2, he's unpredictable to say the least. Hope the US players do not give up penalty kicks. It seems like the only way CR has been winning. If the current GC experience continues like it has so far, we may again win after CR has lost a man after a red card.
It should be an awfully close and boring game. Then in injury time, we will score 2 or 3 to go ahead big and win the group.
I'll bet you two loonies that this is a replay of the Canada game.... Or we get played out of the park.
That seems like a pretty weak lineup. Dempsey up top with Noonan doesn't make sense to me. IMO, Dempsey belongs in the midfield. And Sanneh...
An intelligent national coach would be due a word of thanks for letting these guys bow out tonight. Scary that we don't know whether this is the case.
good prediction given the circumstances. you got the GK, back four, d-mid, and strikers correct. ralston, olsen, o'brien across the middle. pretty interesting. i for one am excited to see dempsey get a little time up top, although with this lineup i don't know if it'll learn us anything. i'm hoping to see quaranta get subbed in (why not?), maybe davis for o'brien or olsen (again, why not), and a goal or two from donovan (with one in stoppage time, just to keep up the trend). from ussoccer.com 18-Kasey Keller (capt.); 6-Steve Cherundolo, 22-Tony Sanneh, 12-Jimmy Conrad, 2-Frankie Hejduk; 14-Chris Armas, 15-Ben Olsen, 5-John O’Brien, 19-Steve Ralston; 13-Pat Noonan, 8-Clint Dempsey Subs: 1-Marcus Hahnemann; 3-Greg Vanney, 7-DaMarcus Beasley, 9-Santino Quaranta,10-Landon Donovan, 16-Josh Wolff, 21-Brad Davis
This looks like a smart line-up of B team players. Has both the ability to A) play wide and launch crosses into the box or B) play down the center with Dempsey as a withdrawn forward and O'brien cheating towards the center.
I'm surprised Tino didn't get the nod in this one. I thought he showed pretty well against Cuba but we havent seen him since.
we've qualified for the quarterfinals already, and the team we play if we win the group may actually be stronger than the team we play if we come in second (i heard). so send in the b-team. if things look interesting and you want to go for it at minute 65 or 70, send in reinforcements - ld, dmb, etc. good thinking bruce.
The beauty of this lineup is that bringing in LD, taking out Armas and moving Dempsey back to d-mid makes this a much more offensive team. Second sub would be to take out Olsen, bring in DMB and move JOB back to holding mid as well and voila, what a potent lineup that would be. Still leaves you a substitution to do something about the back line if that is what you need.
I took the iniative. But the only reason was to find out if there was going to be an AIM chatroom like the previous two matches. Anyone watching willing to do PBP again? Pretty please... Amy