This is exactly my point. I see almost no way that EJ should get a starting role next year, but if he has a good season for Fulham then he should be in the serious conversation as far as bench/role players. There's no reason to be blinded by his past... if he's good enough to be in camp then he should be there.
1. There are both overly pessimistic and overly optimistic fans on all levels of fan-dom. That's just the nature of the game, it doesn't mean members of either group are misinformed or delusional or misled. It's just a difference of opinion. 2. I can not think of a single key attribute that Cooper and EJ have in common aside from a proven ability to score goals at lower levels. Otherwise there couldn't be two more dissimilar players. One is overly reliant on physical tools and lacks technical and tactical skills. The other has good technical and tactical skills and doesn't rely on his physical characteristics enough. (While Ching has an uninspiring but equal mix of each.) 3. Remember the days when we had higher expectations than simply not doing anything overtly wrong? Like actually providing a positive contribution to the effort? 4. The "if you knew anything about soccer you would..." type of comment does more to reveal your own deficiencies in a debate than it does to discredit your opponent. Just a little hint for future threads. 5. Did you just call him German woman? Because what you wrote is much closer to deutsche that it is to douche? Oo, maybe it was a creative combination meant to infer that he is a douche belonging to a German woman. In that case the degree of insult really depends on the woman. I mean, if we're talking about Diane Kruger here then... well... bravo to him.
Look, we are thin at striker. Arguably, our two best strikers currently start in the midfield (Donovan and Dempsey). Altidore an Davies are clearly the top 2 of the non-midfield strikers. And playing D&D in the midfield allows us to get our 4 most dangerous attacking players on the field at the same time. After those 4, we have Ching (who, despite his "declining" skills, led the USMNT in scoring in 2008, tied with Dempsey, I think), Cooper, Casey, and yes, EJ. Unless Adu gets in the mix, that's the pool. Unless someone like Tracy, Jemal Johnson, Findley, Diskerud, etc. steps up from way off the pace. If EJ has a good campaign, he should be in the mix.
I agree. If you've got to move either Dempsey or Donovan up to forward, I'd prefer Dempsey. Donovan is clearly much more effective as a midfielder. But I think ideally you're starting Davies and Altidore up front, with Dempsey, Donovan, Bradley and Jones in the midfield. Then you have the likes of Clark, Feilhaber, Holden and Rodgers on the bench. Other possibilities should be Edu and Torres. I'd like to see both Adu and EJ on the bench as tempo-changers if they can get a lot of playing time this year and play well. As you said, maybe somebody like Diskerud makes a leap over the next 10 months... but unless that happens, none of those young guys should be on the roster. I don't see any reason to have Brian Ching on the roster either. I also don't want to see Casey... I just don't get what he brings to the table. Edit: forgot Kjestan. He deserves to get brought into camp also.
watching him play against villa on the weekend i could see a different e.j. he still has major room for improvement dont get me wrong...but he was better on the ball...connecting passes and keeping possesion for fulham...fulham just never could threaten honestly. hopefully he can keep improviing and get some more playing time before andy johnson and bobby zamora come back...
Out of the backup for the USA strikers - Ching, Casey, Cooper, EJ. I can only fathom Cooper and EJ, but since Ching will be there, I hope Cooper joins him. EJ will have a chance but only if he lights up the league and I feel that will never come. I hope he heads to a smaller league in Europe maybe Belgium or Scandinavia. Lower his wages, become a local star.
i don't get it why other players have to light it up in europe to take ching's spot when he can't even light it in the powerful MLS....
How many different threads do you intend on complaining about Ching in? Let's see, you've covered the threads for Eddie Johnson, Chris Rolfe, Kenny Cooper, Jozy Altidore, Marcus Tracy, and Charlie Davies. What other thread shall you invade next, Mike Grella?
Because in America i have freedom of speech! and it's a soccer board to voice my opinions and i am not bashing him, i am not bashing him i am simply stating the fact that ching doesn't need to do much to earn his spot and others have to light it up in tough european leagues? doesn't make sense, 12 goals 5 assists in MLS ain't nothing special! It's good but nothing out of this world! And you must be stalking me or something if you are following me on every thread!
12 goals and 5 assists is nothing special? Wow, bonehead statement of the day. And what strikers have actually been playing in Europe. Don't worry, I'll give you time . . . . . . . . . . Before Jozy, Davies, and Coop arrived, there were none. I guess you could consider Wittman, Johnson, or Zimmerman. Want to start them over Ching? No one has to "light it up" in Europe to overtake Ching, they simply have to perform consistently. Hell, Wolff was a constant starter with the national team for a while. Boy he was a success. Altidore and Davies, and hopefully Cooper and/or Johnson can overtake him as well. But we're 3 weeks into the season. Give 'em time. Really, this is what you resort to? Childish accusations are no way to illuminate your argument any better. But it is not very hard to catch on to a single poster revamping the same whiny complaint in every Yanks Abroad striker thread, which I happen to follow.
who made you in charge, your not even a moderator, i can't say what i want when i want, how i want, good luck stopping me...
Wow, how adult of you. It would just be nice if you could come up with something different and add something positive. I have a yellow card so its not like I can even search for your posts. All I had to do was go to my subscribed threads and I found these gems: All came from different Yanks Abroad threads. Not US Men's team threads, not MLS threads, but threads about players not named Ching.