except Johnson has played ( badly) with the USA a large number of times. Rolfe could be a reasonable option.
at the forward position? absolutely Id take Rolfe over EJ as well. Offers us that Charlie Davies dynamic
Arguing over nothing. Both guys are fringe final-23 Nats with a lot to prove and not much time and may not necessarily be competing with one another as Rolfe has gotten much time on the flanks. And Rolfe's game isn't remotely similar to that of Davies; Rolfe is a much smaller and much slower player who relies on lateral acceleration and technique to be effective.
Wow. In the 10 caps that Rolfe has had with the US, he has never ever had anything close. Not even a little tiny aspect of what you just said above. Rolfe hasent even played a single match yet in Europe and people are acting like he has improved and is now better than slice bread before we even went to the supermarket to find out. It sounds familiar, oh yeah we did with Findley,{name MLS player here},etc. in the last few months.
His style isn't similar to that of Davies. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjkdrGQU7eA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjkdrGQU7eA[/ame]
those clips are 3 seasons old. His style has vastly changed. I'd say the only thing he's lacking from Davies is speed. Rolfe is quick, just not Davies quick
There you go putting words into everyone's mouth again No one is saying Rolfe is "better than sliced bread," we are just saying he's better than EJ and EJ is pretty far from sliced bread
I hope no one objects to our talking about the MNT during a lull in the (Aalborg) action. Let me try to be clearer. BB has been in charge of the MNT for more than three years now, and there is no indication that Chris Rolfe has ever been part of BB's WC 2010 plans. I am relatively neutral on Rolfe, but I don't think he's ever had a real shot to impress. Yes, he has ten caps, but how many quality caps does he have - playing time with the "A" team in a game that mattered? [I would welcome a cap-by-cap review, btw. My sense is that Rolfe has had a series of mostly forgettable performances in a series of mostly forgettable games, but I have forgotten.] BB has looked at a lot of players and spread caps around, but most here would agree that BB's group of 'core guys' has been very limited. Part of that is that our player pool is still rather limited, but another significant part is BB's limited worldview. Now, at this late date, with the team decimated by injuries, BB is scrambling to find suitable understudies at multiple positions, and he has his hands full of less-than-perfect options. I'm looking forward to watching him sort them all out, but mostly I'm hoping that our injured first-choice players recover in time. Davies return (to WC form) still seems unlikely, and I think Rolfe is worth a look at forward - not because he's a suitable replacement for Davies - he isn't, but then no one else is.
Maybe we should take a different approach. Would Rolfe be a good option against the particular teams we're facing in SA? Against England probably not. We'll definitely want a speed/power guy that's useful on the counter. Against Slovenia, a team that generally bunkers? Yeah, a guy with Rolfe's finishing ability would be much more useful than a speed guy like EJ or Cunningham, or a hold-up guy like Casey (though Casey would be useful on the set pieces). With Algeria, I would still hazard to guess that Rolfe's skillset would fit better than the other guys. Is he good enough, consistent enough, experienced enough, regardless of his skill set? That's a good question. All that being said, I think Chuck Deezy will be back for the WC.
Players don't 'vastly' change their styles in a couple of years. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjprunNnFl4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjprunNnFl4[/ame] Not a Chris Rolfe goal.
Rolfe's game feeds off of his close ball control and an excellent shot from distance. Many of if not most of his goals come from outside the box. Not similar to Charlie Davies. I'm a Rolfe fan. He's been my favorite MLS player for some time. His golazos were second only to Dwayne Desorio's in frequency. At times he carried Chicago. He's the type of player an MLS championship team could be built around. Too bad Chicago chose Justin Mapp. Dumb azzes. Thinking back to the previous cycle he scored a goal against AC Milan in a friendly. With the Nats he had nice golazo against South Korea during a scrimmage. The man is not without some merits at above MLS-level. The problems I see for Rolfe's prospects as an international striker are the following: 1. The technique on the shot is still there but his ability to beat the first man with his dribble has so far been non-existent at international level. Again, lateral acceleration and close ball control are a big part of his game. 2. His lack of size and speed combined with point 1 makes him less effective on the break. 3. His lack of size and stoutness makes him ineffective as a hold up player. 4. His tactical nous in the half-court game is behind the speed of the internatonal game, the result imo of poor developement on the part of Chicago.
I wouldn't expect most players to receive playing time in A team games that matter until they've impressed in games that don't matter. That having been said, the only time I've felt that Rolfe was given a solid runout to show his worth was at the very beginning of this cycle. Bradley started Rolfe in both of his first two games in charge. The second was a friendly against Mexico that with a few notable absences featured the majority of our presumed A team starters at the time, including Howard, Bocanegra, Dempsey, and Donovan. I don't recall Rolfe making much of an impression in either of those two matches.
I support all of out players but Rolfe looked like a lost puppy in that Mexico match. Then again it was almost three years ago. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but Rolfe has Ralston Line written all over him. A good enough player, but not good enough overall internationally. Here's hoping he impresses this season.
And of course Steve Ralston put lie to that stupid and shameful disparagement like nobody's business. C'mon. BigSoccer readers have learned a lot about soccer since they jumped on board in the Sampson days. No one thinks Mike Burns cost us the '98 Cup anymore. We're even taking a more sophisticated view of the 3-6-1. Can't we retire the effing "Ralston Line?"
Rolfe's actually got a very decent speed and good acceleration. His main problem for me has been tactical. Sometimes he just can't find the ball. I also don't recall him being an effective crosser from the flank. But, if you presume that Aalborg is roughly on par with Aris, he's got a chance to impress. His competition, as been pointed out on other threads, will include Adu, Johnson, Holden, Rogers and either Casey or Ching. Chris can play two positions and, as a 21-23 roster member, that versatility may prove valuable.
Pat Noonan. Rolfsie's game reminds me of Noonan's. To give Chris credit though he is faster than. From an International perspective I wish this move to Aalborg had taken place a year earlier. The Danish league did wonders for Danny Califf and Benny Feilhaber in terms of physical and tactical development. Maybe both EJ and Rolfe will get an invite to the Dutch friendly.
First Amendmant ='s NO. Well, poitical groups are trying, but this is BS, and I ain't listen'en to anyone from France. Ralston Line Ralston Line Ralston Line Ralston Line Ralston Line Oh yeah. When did he put it to rest? He could play against CCAF and did OK versus Mexico but other than that? Plenty of players fit his mold. Very good but they can't excel at that final stage. When did he blow that saying away?
For me, anybody who uses the term "Ralston Line" is somebody I can immediately ignore. Ralston ended up with 36 caps.........which is more than Preki had. And Preki just got elected to the US Soccer Hall of Fame. Ralston also had the same number of goals as Preki in MLS (more or less), and many more assists. 36 caps is more than John O'Brien had. It's more than Ricardo Clark has. More than Jonathan Bornstein has. Twice as many as Conor Casey has. Ralston may have never made a World Cup squad, but he played for us (and well) in many other competitions. He's appeared in 15 games for us in 2005 in our run-up to the World Cup, including playing a pivotal role in qualifying. (remember the goal he scored against Mexico in Columbus? Anybody?) Now he ended up being an alternate for that WC squad, and I guess that's tainted people's memory of him. Whether people think he was great or not........he was one of the best right mids of his era. If Rolfe ends up having the career that Steve Ralston had.............that's pretty "effing" good.