You guys wanna laugh (no one asked me to christen their kid, Goodfellas reference) According to this guy, Monte Burke, who writes for Forbes, Carlos is one of the best 11 players in the WCQ. And yes Best 11 of the whole world. http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_y...ug=ys-forbesqcquals092409&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Look at their metrics. They use minutes played, team record, goals scored, and goals scored against to come up with this list.
First, Forbes tells me to Invest in AIG, now Boca played World Class in qualifying, what's next... Drink formaldehyde to prevent Swine Flu... f*ck you Steve Forbes!
The rankings are based on a freakin system. If they were just someone's opinion, then it would be completely different. Everyone was so surprised when Dempsey and Bradley had such good rankings at the Confed Cup. But no one wanted to make fun of them at the time because the US had just finished in 2nd place.
I'm pretty sure this means ESPN will be hyping Boca as one of the best XI in the world. Similar to how they hyped Keller as one of the best keepers prior to the last world cup.
Bocanegra is the best player in the USMNT. And I don't need a system to tell you guys that. LOL Come on guys, any publicity is good publicity for Soccer in the US.
I've actually always been a big fan of this guy. I never thought he got his due. Defenders rarely seem to get their due. American defenders especially. I don't know if it's just that most folks don't watch the defenders in games, or don't appreciate how they do their job, or whatever. Maybe Bocanegra is what might be called a "defender's defender". I'd be suprised if he were really among the 11 best players in the world. More likely among the top 11 defenders in the world. Or at least among the top few dozen defenders in the world. At the very least.
Ugh seriously, when Wynalda said that I wanted someone to come and give him a urine test right on camera.
Both. One of the studliest and best defenders. There's a reason he is U.S team captain. He's a good defender and knows how to organize the team well.
Top 11 defenders in the world? Seriously when he was in the Premiership he wasn't in the top couple of dozen defenders in the Premiership which is why he spent a lot of the time on the bench and he wasn't offered a new contract. He's not a defender's defender - he's actually a bit suspect defensively for a CB, which is why it didn't suprise me at all when Rennes converted to him for a LB. I posted many times at on these boards when he was Fulham he'd be better off at left back, precisley because quite often he did look like a fullback trying to play as a centreback. The list was bizarre quite frankly. 8 players from Europe, 1 from South America, then 2 from North America and none from anywhere else The article was awful. Anyone asserting that Bocanegra or
With the way Boca has been playing recently I don't even know if I could consider him to be one of the top 11 AMERICAN players.
Which makes it even more bizarre, he's arguably USA's third best CB and despite being the captain, isn't even THAT important to the USA.
this is funny. I'm wondering why Landon Donovan (you know, the guy who will never miss a WC qualifying match and sets up all our goals) was not on there considering the criteria. Hell, Michael Bradley is one of the best midfielders in the world if we use their system.
Yes, and the system is really, really, really dumb. Please don't ask us to explain. One should instantly see why.
Yes, like all of the publicity we received for being ranked #5 by FIFA going into the 2006 World Cup, having that disseminated in the media leading up to the event, and then losing our first game 0-3 and going 3 and out. I'm all for publicity but it should be tempered and realistic; otherwise, it can come back to bite us. No one took the USA seriously after 2006 and it caused some to even question what they accomplished in 2002.