Not sure how much the manager loves Dempsey but he is certainly one of the stars of Fulham. Adu is an utter failure in both club and NT right now.
Dempsey certainly is a star at Fulham - with he fans. However, Dempsey has had to prove himself to every manager that has come in...and he has managed to do that. My point was, despite not being an undisputed starter with Fulham in the past, he is for his NT.
I fully agree with Montero being called up. of course he is our most promising talent, but I just don't think Rueda will have him as a starter, anyways , I wanted to ask you guys, what place in this Copa America will you be "satisfied with"? Of course we all want to win it, but what do You consider an acceptable performance? Myself, I would be more than happy with reaching the semis.
as long as we're out of group stage im fine with that. Not saying we're incapable of winning, but I just wanna see a Copa America where our guys actually try. We go to every Copa America on some lazy chill mode sh*t. Our players treat those games like friendlies, which doesn't necessarily bother me AS LONG AS THEY CAN WIN.
Reaching the semis is something Ecuador has never done since 1993 when we were the host nation. And that was probably the first time we had achieved that in decades. Sorry but reaching the semis would not just be an "acceptable performance", it would be the second greatest achievement in the history of the Ecuadorian national team, second only to qualifying for the final 16 of the 2006 World Cup. For me, given that we are in the "group of death", the minimum acceptable performance is a win and a draw. If we beat Venezuela or Paraguay but lose the two other games, that shows no progress. If we beat Venezuela and tie Paraguay, that's respectable. Paraguay just made the quarterfinals of the World Cup, and were very close to beating Spain. And losing to Brazil is nothing to be ashamed of. I think 4 points from this group is very respectable, even if we end up in 3rd place due to goal difference. Anything less should be considered a disappointment, and anything better should be considered a success. 4 points should also be enough to get us to the 2nd round where we would face either the winner of Group A (Argentina) or Group C (Uruguay/Mexico?). If we finish 2nd and play the winner of Group C, we face a decent chance of making the semis. If we finish 3rd and play Argentina, I don't like our chances of winning that one.
I am far from being a nationalistic person, in fact I am very honest but with the players we have I would not accept anything less than semifinals. however knowing the kind of crappy manager Rueda is, I believe the team will make it at most to the knockout stage. I know people are going to hate me for this but I hope Rueda fails misseerable so that we could get a real DT. If we would have gotten Fosatti we would be serious contenders to win it right now.
Even if we'd get crushed at the Copa America we would still have Rueda behind the team. the fef would consider it too risky at this point and say he needs time or some bs like that. Rueda leaving wouldn't prob happen
how would the 2007 Pan american games champions do if we were to use them in the Copa America in 2011 ? http://www.edwingarcia.elgratissitio.com/images/CAMPEON.JPG Everyone here is 24 or under except for Zura (28) German Vera, Maximo Banguera; Deison Mendez, Wilson Folleco, Carlos Delgado, Hamilton Chasi, Israel Chango, Roberto Castro, Jefferson Pinto, Jefferson Montero, Fidel Martinez, Alex George, Eduardo Bone, Alex Alcivar, Fabricio Guevara, Pablo Ochoa, Edmundo Zura
Ok.. after watching the under 20 sudamericano tournament, I think there should be a mix of youngsters with veterans for the copa america. ------------------------Banguera Paredes--------- Narvaez--------W Ayovi -------------------------Castillo Valencia------------------ Noboa ------------ Montero -------------------Cazarez ...........Ibarra---------- Montano
I dont think Ibarra would fit in well as a striker...and Ive liked what Ive seen from Cazares when hes on the left wing. But I agree, we should identify some of the more promising youngsters that emerge in the Seria A and also the U-20 WC hopefully and reward them with a call up, it would be a good motivational tool as well.