Convey [R]

Did he play defense?

Sounds like he had an assist, and he sent in the corner that Bocanegra scored off.

Was he on the roster as the right side defender? I guess that's good for him. If he can play captain or supporting role, mid, wing, and fullback it increases his chances of being useful for Arena in 2006.

Sounds like Rimando also did well for himself.

 

Re: Did he play defense?

He had one really nice save. In fact, I think it was the only save of the game by either him or Howard.

 

Re: Re: Did he play defense?

Wade Barrett left camp to go on trial in Europe. Bruce has talked about moving Bobby back ther and he has done it in camps before.

Do we need to come up with anohter possible formation for DC??

 

after the match they interviewed donovan and asked him about convey playing left back and he said that bobby was doing what it took to get on the field. he had a strong game but of course it wasn't overally competitive. pretty nice show by a lot of guys but the next one ought to be a more valuable experience.

it was nice to see a USMNT playing with 3 DCU men at one time.

 

Maybe this was posted already, but......
Here is a link to an article about Bobby Convey that appeared on US Soccer site:

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/news_you_can_use/334980.html

and here is the link to an article about Ben Olsen:

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/latest_soccer_news/335892.html

 

Like Argentina is better than Canada??

 

kudos for setting this match up before Argentina... it gave bruce a chance to move around players (convey i think) but it worked out alright.. sounds like the Senior squad still has alot over the younger teams... (ie us youth vs. canada )

 

The think about Convey that seems to go by so many people is that he's still nineteen. He is still on the U-20 team. There's no one else on the U-20's who gets called up to the senior squad and play.

 

not only that, but how about a 19 year old who can play so many different positions, even on the senior team. he is really becoming a nice player with the kind of versatility bruce seems to court. nice show by all our boys by the way.

 

I agree with R&B that what's really starting to impress me about Convey is his versatility.

With the U17 team in New Zealand 4 years ago, he played primarily as a forward (off the bench).

With United, he's played mainly left mid and some time as a central mid.

With the last U20 team that competed in Argentina in 2001, he played as a flank mid, switching with Beasley between the left and right flanks. (He spent a lot of time on the right with the old 20s.)

With the current U20 team, he's playing the playmaking central attacking mid.

And, now Bruce has him at left back.

And, he seems to play all of them well. At the national team level, where rosters are often small, this kind of versatility in invaluable and will bode very well for young Bobbitio as he works his way into the "full" national team.

 

Years ago, I remember commenting to my fellow season ticket holders around us when we saw the young 'un the first few times. I still hold by what I said then: it's been a joy and a privilege to watch him grow up. Good on ya, Bobby!

 

If we weren't playing an inexperienced Canadian side, it's doubtful Bobby would've been tried at left back - same with Sasha at right. I wouldn't expect to see him there against Argentina.

That said, his corners were better than he has taken in the past. The assist on the goal was beautiful.

Welcome, Jarrett!

 

The assist on the goal was beautiful but Bocanegra had several feet of open space around him for the header. Awful marking by Canada.

 

He also had a second corner that was beautiful that Boca put on frame but a defender cleared it off the line

 

he took all the corners and did a wonderful job...

i was very impressed with convey last night. regardless of where he ends up for the national team he will be solid. i think this may be the break out year for him on united's team.

 

Jarrett-

SoccerDome off of Western Blvd right into Cary usually shows games on PPV.

Also the place if you want to play in an indoor league.

 

Slightly off topic, but it seemed that when Ben Olsen came in, he was in the center a lot. Bruce was being creative with him as well as with Bobby.

 

Arena has lots of options at his offensive position- and he includes his outside backs offensive positions. If will be fun to see folks here try to understand what the hell he's doing for the next four years.

 

My take about Arena playing Convey at left back is (and this is an old Ajax youth tactic) is: put your 10 best field players on the field. He probably sees LD as an A-mid. DMB ensconced at left mid. Convey at left back (and granted, there is potential competition: Gbandi, Gibbs, Bocanegra), means that he gets a fast, technical player with vision on the field. The attitude there is: a player can learn to defend, but they can learn speed, they can't learn vision, and acquiring marking ability is less hard than acquiring technical ability.

 

I gave him high marks in my USA v. Canada review. Special thanks to Lowecifer and Lanky who were of great help in the raucus Summers atmosphere.

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/NationalTeams/1043013906/view

-Tron

 

Spot on, as usual, Tron.

 

Nice report from The Dread Pirate Roberts.