Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Also folks, don't respond to Revs fans. They are the most obnoxious group of fans in America (well, maybe other than Crew fans). Any player who graces the Revs with his presence is immediately a front-runner for a starting XI position on the nats (I'm recalling talk of Rusty Pierce here...). But whatever.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? No, I was thinking Ching, Olsen, Wolff and Conrad, if he wasn't so funny! His articles during WC will almost be enough to bring him along.... BMB is a world class player...better than Twellman. A starter for all our games for sure. Unlike Waldo, I've never said TNT should displace BMB, Taylor would be a substitute forward when we're losing to Czechs and Italy and a backup starter should he be called upon... If Sir Bruce is forced to use any of those three players we are in serious trouble in Germany....
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Bruce Arena Thinking: "Son of a b!tch, I really f^cked up giving Twellman such a looooooooong look. Now all I have is Ching."
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? No, neg-repped because you generalized from one idiot to Rev fans generally.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Sounds like another New Yorker at BC....Can't you NY'ers find a decent school in that toilet you call home As for Rusty Pierce?? He is and always was a POS and you'll never find any post or any person to say I've ever felt differently!!!
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Damn, I thought we DC fans were most obnoxious. Now I find out that Revolution AND Crew fans beat us? I guess we'll have to try harder.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Maybe it means they picked the wrong MVP? The casual fan won't have any clue that the MVP of MLS got left off the team.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Twellman is a better player than Ching however Ching will be a better role player for this US squad. He can backup McBride as a target forward, he pairs wells with Donovan and he is a big target for headers on set pieces as a sub. Wolff beat out Twellman only because he has more international experience, he is a better passer and can fit into a 4-5-1 lineup better.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Exactly. As I said before, Ching backs up McBride. Twellman is probably better compared to Wolff/Wolff's role, as you say. And Wolff's been doing it longer. Plus his eyes are really close together. Like a predator. Maybe that will magically translate into predatory instinct in the goalmouth at the WC. Twellman's eyes? Further apart. More like a deer. Might get eaten.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? I think TT didn't get the nod from Bruce to make Freddy have an easier let down.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Having watched just about every single mls game this year, I feel I can comment on this. Ching gets service from ddr and mullan and davis and barrett coming from the back. TT got nothing all year. noonan hurt, ralston hurt and nicol coaching tactics of playing through the middle. tt needs service but so does ching. they are equally dependent on quality service. no one is going to argue on these boards that ching is better than twellman with the ball at his feet because they both suck with the ball at their feet. Personally i dont feel that either hold the ball/distribute well. I believe they are both more poachers or scorers with their head. Ching got hot because of great service and twellman got nothing. Twellman finally broke through and kicked some butt in the winter camp - the same camp ching did nothing in. Neither are good enough to be world cup starters. But this is not bruce's fault here. He brought in Rolffe (he looked a little raw yet), he brought in Casey (no goals and was injured for much of the last year and half), he brought in Jaqua (he got injured), he brought in noonan (injured as well). Who else would he bring in? It was not bruce's fault that there wasnt a plethora of forwards to choose from. MLS has not been producing enough quality forwards (how about that for spin) Conclusion- Ching blows, but in the wc would tt have done any better- most likely not
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Once again, calm down, life goes on, be easy, it's as simple as that. Deep breath and exhale.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? All in my biz, he wasn't callin him names and he wasn't serious about Ching getting actually hurt because of Twellman, be easy man, that's different. He didn't call him a name, nor did I.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? McBride world calls target man, but not world class player. He is good international calss, but let's not get carried away. The guy is world class as a targert forwrad in terms of holding the ball and knocking it down and sacrificing, but he isn't a world class forward.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Probably the most intelligent post yet, although I have some reservations about the quality Ching really brings as a target forward, believe that taylor pairs well with Donovan, and there's probably no better U.S. player in the air than Twellman... perdio. If anything, Ching got the nod over Twellman not only due to what appears to be a desire to go with a larger line-up, but because Ching's a threat from both inside and outside positions, whereas Twellman's only really effective inside the 8 yard-box. Personally, I think Twellman's done more, and shown more than Ching over the course of the roster evaluation process, but Ching just provides a bit more flexibility from a tactical standpoint than Twellman, even if he's been decidedly inconsistent over these past few months, which in all fairness, might also be said of Taylor. All this being said, outside of McBride, the U.S. is going to the World Cup with the most mercurial crop of forwards since the 1990 World Cup. The Magpie
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? My take on why BA took Ching over Twellman was because, BA likes Chings height and potential. He doesn't believe Twellman's scrappyness, and nose for goal, will be effective against WC teams, especially Italy & Czech Rep. He feels Ching hasn't lost his scoring touch with this years MLS games. Also he likes the Ching/Donovan combo. They play well with other, and have been playing together for a few years with San Jose. It's a BA hunch.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Arena made the right move. Ching is a target forward and does what McBride does. Ching also will pair well with Donovan. This is probably the most important thing as Donovan is going to be on the field all the time. Twellman is just not big enough at the international level against big European teams. Twellman's goals in MLS have more to do with Ralston and Noonan than anything that Twellman does on his own. I also recall a few Revolution players setting up Twellman in camp cup cake this past winter.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Agreed. Obviously I'm new to the boards (posting-wise), but it seems like there is a lot of extremism here. Either every player on the Nats is awesome and world class and blah blah blah or they stink and don't deserve the badge and couldn't hold insert favorite international superstar here's jock. McBride is really solid for what the US does, is a good international forward, and is one of OUR best of all time. Does he belong on the same level as Rooney, Van Nistleroy, Henry, et al? No, but neither does Borgetti and he's pretty important to Mexico.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? TnT was screwed. Ching will never play unless McHead goes down and Twellman is better. Twellman did enough to make this team and yet didn't. Twellmans work rate and back checking will be missed while Ching wanders around looking confused. MLS scoring is as much a result of your team as individual play and TnT was screwed by Nicols botched game plans. The worse part is I think TnT knew it in the games leading up to today. Every minute he played with NO service was another nail in his coffin and he knew it. I would have thought Arena would have looked at performance over the long run like he did with O'brien, Reyna, Dmb, Pope ..... guess there's different rules for every player picked There's other picks I don't get either. Conrad??? Does anyone remember how bad he played last time out? Olsen? Even DMB had a few friendly stinkers. And other then past rep, how did O'brien make this club? Armas as an alternate? And where's Richie Williams when you need him?
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? It's almost as if he had it marco'ed and ready to roll months ago... And he doesn't disappoint.
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Yup, would have been even more interesting if he picked Conrad over Spector
Re: Taylor Twellman an alternate? Not that I necessarily agree with Ching over TT,either, but you're contradicting yourself. He should have looked at performance in the long run with TT, but not with Conrad? IIRC, the general consensus was that Conrad was playing well enough to be in, until the Germany game (in which I believe he played hurt, btw).