What does everybody want the US Team to come away with from this match? Personally I want the Following: *A good game. Blow-outs are helpful to no-one. I truly hope that both teams show up for this and bring their A games. And more specifically, I want to see one of our guys step up in the last 20 minutes and attempt to take over. *a 3-5-2 with Donovan, Convey, Beasley, Masteroeni, and Ralston in the Midfield *Chereundolo to step up as our Right-Back and prove all his nay-sayers wrong Personally, I could care less about the score as long as we look good. I Really think that first point is the most important
Stringing more than two passes together in the midfield would be nice. Convey somewhere in the midfield, preferably in Donovan's spot, Donovan pushed up. Create more chances from the run of play instead of just off corners.
Klein and Sasha benched for starters. And possibly Califf as well if at all possible. Olsen no where near midfield. ..........................Howard.......................... 'Dolo.......Garcia................Bocanegra...Convey Olsen.........Mastroeni.....Mathis.........Beasley ..............Donovan..........Twellman............... I don't think we have the players currently for a 3-5-2 formation and I doubt we'll see one for this tough away match. Drop Mathis into the #10 spot, put a real winger, Olsen, on the WING where he belongs, and give Twellman a start with good midfield support. With this lineup I would expect a good result. I have no idea what the Jamaican lineup is going to look like, but they are bringing Euro players so it could get tough. I hope to see Arena forget the Sasha experiment and also realize that Klien is only worth something if he is playing against Barbados.
I thought you wanted Convey to be the central Mid? More of a Claudio Reyna role. Donovan is a hybrid forward/a-mid. I was hoping that Convey was gonna be the link between Masteroeni and the rest of the offense. A True Central Midfielder. While Donovan played at the top of the Midfield. BTW-Ben Olsen didn't make the trip to Jamaica. Steve Ralston will take his place
What I want? Victory. I think we've just played the game that it's OK to lose from in terms of reputation. We can't lose to Jamaica. We're claiming to be the top Concacaf side. That means we should win when we play other Concacaf teams. Jamaica has just revamped its stadium. Let's not let them establish tradition of beating us there. If we expect to win there in qualifying, we should win there tomorrow. Now, Argentina's team is going to be much closer to its A team than ours. Cherundolo was considered good enough to go to Korea, and he might be in better form than a lot of Americans right now. And Sasha's been sent home. If Ralston starts, which might happen, Klein is benched. I think Convey is better on the flanks. His crossing seems pretty dang good. Anyone know whether he's more comfortable on the left side or right? We're shallow at striker right now. Twellman should get another start, but if he's lost, should be subbed at about the hour or max 75 minutes for Jeff Cunningham, who needs more time in the game in order to settle down and get into the attack more. It seems that Bruce's consolation minutes psych him out. With Twellman starting, it only makes sense to pair him with Ralston, especially since Olsen has gone home and Klein was more or less useless on Saturday. If winning is the objective, more solid D is necessary, so maybe a Convey, Beasely switch is in order. For counterattacking and sending a defender forward, Id' prefer to see Beasely over Convey. When defenders and midfielders overlap, more resposibility falls on the defender. Think about it, when a goal is scored, is it because the midfielder was inept at D or because the back was out of position? Right, the defender gets blamed. Beasley should shoulder that responsibility. They'd be more likely to orchestrate clever overlaps if the more experienced player had the more crucial role. So here's what I'd like to see: ----------Mathis------Twellman--------- ---------------Donovan----------------- --Convey-----------------------Ralston-- --------------Mastroeni------------------ -Beasley----------------------Cherundolo- -----------Bocanegra----Califf------------ -----------------Howard----------------- Any thoughts?
I'll take Convey anywhere off the backline. I'd like to see him in the middle where Donovan tried to play last game. Donovan is not a playmaking a-mid. Get him too far away from the box and his effectiveness is hugely minimized. I think Convey could play in a Reyna role or higher up since his finishing has come around so much.