You saw correctly. I don't know who we should have brought along as a like for like replacement for Jozy. But, if we didn't have one, then we were crazy to play the same system, forcing Clint up top. Our forwards were Jozy, Clint, Wondo, and Johansson.
Although I could see it if Klinsmann had hedged his bet a bit. Aside from Johannsson, who at the time I didn't think was a bad choice, he also brought several players that were not particularly versatile and left a player (Donovan), who was the definition of versatile. I know there are many that feel leaving him was justified and I don't want to restart that argument but think about the options that having Donovan on the team provides. Contrast that with Brad Davis (for example).
im with you on not opening that can of worms for the fiftieth time (and that brad davis is exactly the reason- not wondo, not green)
I don't think we really had a top level "like for like" to replace Jozy but we had options but they were home. There was very little versatility in the team. Off the toip of my head I would say that Dempssey and FJ were probably the two most versatile players, Cameron also but after that we had a team full of players that could pretty much do one thing. (or at least were good in only one position)
He was definitely the least versatile on the team...by far. Klinnsmann was taking a page out of NFL special teams that backfired.
I said that Donovan's 2002 WC performance didnt compare to Mbappe, Muller, Ppgba, Poloski, and Owen's performances when one of his fans was trying to make a big deal of the award. I am not comparing him to all time greats. I am simply using them to show that Donovan didnt play a lot of games in his career. I was lazy and picked top players to make it easy to find them. I'm sure I could find others who werent top players, but not sure worth the effort.... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_footballers_with_the_most_official_appearances
v How many of those other guys were playing across the American continent? Lots of foreign players have complained about MLS travel and playing conditions. Landon put in an obscene amount of air miles. When I have personally complained about the number of games he played for the US, having to fly from California to Europe for a friendly is what I am thinking of in terms of abusive.
I absolutely agree. When the roster came out, I was asking "what happens if Jozy goes down?" That roster was a rookie mistake. Klinsmann wasn't a "rookie", but that roster was a rookie mistake. Arena was on the BSI podcast talking about when he did rosters, he got together with his coaches and ran through innumerable "what if's." Klinsmann didn't even get to the first what if - what if our #9 goes down?
How many friendlies did he play in Europe? I dont recall that many and have to think the majority of the matches were in concacaf... making it more challenging for someone like Dempsey.
When the roster came out, some people complained about everything they could come up with. Most of the complaints ended up not being issues (like why he is taking all those young players, I bet Brooks, Yedlin, and Green dont even play), but they were able claim they saw it coming for the few that ended up true. I find hard to believe you were able to think about anything other than Landon and once you were, I have no idea why you would be concerned about what would happen if Altidore went down... or did you somehow know that Johansson ankle wouldnt hold up. Most of the conventional wisdom around here ignores what players are available in the pool and many of our players dont have acceptable replacements. Or that team chemistry is very important and he got that right in 2014. People still complaining about Klinsmann when things have gotten steadily worse under three coaches and new talent has presented itself.
And which notable teams did the US and Argentina beat, playing that way? (At least Maradona beat Mexico without Donovan)
Ghana in a world cup and should have beaten Portugal if not for a head-scratching trapping inability of recently-moved-to-a-minor league Bradley.....
Ghana was not at their peak. "The Ghanaian players’ discontent over the lack of payment, which had been simmering for days, exploded on Tuesday when they refused to train — even threatening to boycott their match against Portugal on Thursday — until they were paid more than $3 million in appearance fees, to be divided among the 23 player" https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/...nas-players-to-be-paid-3-million-in-cash.html
By my count it is 10 from 2002 to 2010. That doesn't sound like a lot to me. 2002 - 3 2003 - 0 2004 - 2 2005 - 1 2006 - 1 2007 - 1 2008 - 1 2009 - 0 2010 - 1
I think the Plan B was for Dempsey to fill in there and Johannson to fill in for Dempsey. When Arjo also got hurt, then it was a problem. I doubt Arena would have had a plan if McBride and Donovan had been hurt in 2006. You can't plan for everything with a 23 man roster with 3 Gks. As it is, they got out of the group without Jozy and Arjo, so Plan C was effective. Dempsey started many games as the #9 for the USMNT before and after JK, so not sure why this is always seen as some big roll of the dice in 2014. Clint played the whole 2016 Copa there, started WCQ's in 2017 there, played there in the 2010 WC under Bradley. he was Plan B.
Fair enough, maybe that's not a lot. I didn't sort by the games he was in the squad on my initial review. He spent a lot more time on long flights than most pro soccer players in the world. Every Euro who comes to America talks about being shocked at the flight hours. I think it was remarkable that he survived it all without any major injuries for so long.
we've never had a notable World Cup win then, I believe. The only other win I can remember was Algeria and Ghana is a far better opponent IMO
We've had a few. The 2002 World Cup wins vs Portugal (ranked 6th by Elo) and Mexico (ranked 12th by Elo) and the 1994 win vs Colombia (ranked 14th by Elo).