Feilhaber

1. Feilhaber is a unique talent and offers a lot, in terms of vision, touch and linking up, in our pool.

2. There have always been rumors of him being a "challenging" type personality.
There was a story of him getting in a fight with Freddy during the '08 Olympic training and others.

3. Unfortunately, if true, these types of players can take a bit out of a team. Team chemistry suffers. A team can handle some of this, particularly if the player is talented, however, after a while the payoff, ordinarily is not worth the cost.

4. Each coach chooses what battles to fight (based pretty much on what he thinks he and the team can handle). Jurgen has pretty much avoided these types in his player selection, preferring younger, perhaps excited, players to add into the mix. The concern may have been that they do not offer as much on the pitch as a substitute or an impact player.

5. Feilhaber was called into the January friendlies (formerly Camp Cupcake, now sometimes referred to as Camp Strudel). He played the first 62 minutes with the 10 jersey against Venezuela, was replaced by Chris Wondolowski and did not play in the Panama match that followed.

6. Again, there were rumors, here on Big Soccer (for what that is worth) that there had been some challenging behavior.

7. He has not been called in since.

 

Feilhaber got capped the first 3 matches after the World Cup. He got called in but didn't play against Argentina and Paraguay, and made the Gold Cup 23 but got injured and replaced by Bedoya. Klinsmann just flat out hasn't been interested in him, other than 1 Camp Cupcake cap.

I've enjoyed Feilhaber's play in MLS this year, and I always try to catch New England matches because of him.

And your point about Feilhaber's play in the World Cup is 100% true, he was excellent in all 3 matches he played and BB should have started him against Ghana.

 

I suppose what I am going to post qualifies as what OP deems "spouting," but the only conclusion I can draw from the repeated refusal to include Feilhaber (and similarly, Kljestan) is that Klinsmann is deeply troubled by our CBs.

This is the only conclusion I can draw that explains his unwillingness to not use friendlies to give time to the "next generation" CBs* (was worried his debut games would blow up); to roll out his three-holding-or-defensive-mids formations; to attempt to force us to play wider by giving so many early games to Rogers & Shea; and to give Howard virtually all the minutes in goal.

I'm not saying that our up-and-coming CBs are super awesome Puyols in the waiting. But when I examine Klinsmann's personnel and tactical decisions in aggregate, this fear is the only single notion that connects all the dots.

*Orosco-Fiscal I guess was his nod to this, but why only him?

 

He was called up by JK for the January camp. He played v Venezuela, had poor 2 way play and energy, and spent the match complaining to the ref. He was subbed off and did not see time in the next match v Panama.

Zusi clearly impressed more than Benny in that camp and has been more impressive during the MLS season (tops in US assists). As a consequence Zusi got an invite to the recent extended 27 player camp.

 

JK has given callups and match time to Orosco, Ream, and Cameron. He called up John, Gonzales, Cameron, and Parkhurst to the January camp with Cameron and Parkhurst starting both the Venezuela and Panama matches and Jeff Parke getting match time.

 

I agree that it's a tactical choice by Klinsmann, as in only 3 out of 13 FIFA date matches has Klinsmann started less than 3 holding midfielders.

Feilhaber may not be suited for a CM pairing anymore unlike 2007 against Ecuador and Mexico or 2009 against Honduras and Brazil, but he certainly puts in the 2-way effort necessary to fit in a 3-man CM pairing. Klinsmann just doesn't rate Feilhaber, and prefers to rely on extra holding midfielders for attacking punch. Other possibilities like Zusi, Corona and Adu don't seem quite good enough for Klinsmann either.

 

He doesn't like his workrate, him fading in and out of games. That or he doesn't fit the philosophy?

Now I'm not saying this, I'm speculating as to what Klinsmann thinks.

 

It seems like with Klinsmann tie goes to youth.

 

I always thought that early in bob's tenure when Bradley and Feilhaber were thrown into the fire that was always the best looking our central midfield had looked in that whole 5 year period. It was raw but damnit it was fun to watch.

 

Benny is playing for a mid-table or below MLS club. That's one strike against him.
He is less "challenging" personality-wise than Jones but doesn't have the German cache that Jones has. That's strike two.
He just isn't one of the top four CM's now for JK or the USMNT. Therefore he's out.

 

I don't care how challenging his personality is, he is miles ahead of Brek Shea, Robbie Rogers, Danny Williams, and Graham Zusi as an attacking wide mid. And he's probably the best attacking mid in the pool.

Of course, Adu and Kljestan can also provide some attack from CM and on the wing, and they haven't gotten more than a cup of coffee either.

I agree with JK being terrified of our CBs. Time to get Cameron, Gonzo, and Ream out there more.

 

Klinsmann never plays any creative midfielders anyway.

 

If that is true he did not show it in the January camp or the match v Venezuela. The performances of Jones, Zusi, Cameron, and Parkhurst put themselves squarely in the MNT picture at that camp. Benny was dissapointing.

People seem to forget that JJ had not gotten a single start and only a total of 28 minutes in Klinsmann's first 7 matches. His camp and MOTM performances v Venezuela and Panama put him back in the starting picture. Same for Gomez.

 

This appears to be true. And JK doesn't even seem to want one available off the bench.

 

Not so sure about that. There have been multiple threads in which the topic of JK's rather old starting lineups during his first two meaningful games (qualifiers) was discussed.

I think when push comes to shove, JK favors very fit, hard workers.

 

The treatment of Jones in 2011 defies belief, after he plays 60 minutes against Mexico he magically falls behind Edu and Beckerman for the rest of the year even when he wins his Schalke spot back by the end of September. If Camp Cupcake is what caused Klinsmann to first realize Jones was better than them, then Klinsmann has significant talent evaluation problems.

Gomez's "performance" at Camp Cupcake must have been truly amazing for Klinsmann to bring him back in May, especially since he had been an obvious callup for months. Parkhurst was always available as well. In the interest of fairness I'll give Klinsmann a pass on the other 2 as they have less experience.

Something about Feilhaber being the most dangerous attacking player against Venezuela and being a great fit for a possession style scares Klinsmann away.

 

Clearly I was talking about Gomez's performance at the recent May-June camp since Gomez was not at the January camp. As for "obvious callup" he was not on the Gold Cup 2011 roster.

 

Feilhaber would make a great impact coming off the bench. I agree with others that there are issues surrounding him.

 

But his goalscoring improvement for Tecos in the fall and his ability to be Mexican-American (a key attribute for Klinsmann) meant he should have been called in by the fall - not January as you clearly state in the post where you brought him up.

Back to Feilhaber: hopefully Klinsmann has changed his mind and now believes creative midfielders have a place in his system. It can be Feilhaber, or Zusi, or Corona, or Adu. Maybe somebody else I'm not suggesting.

 

Feilhaber would make a great impact coming off the bench. I agree with others that there are issues surrounding him.

 

You clearly have some unfortunate issues and are quite confused. I never made any statements about when Gomez should have been called in. I did make the point that when he got his shot in camp he made the most of it and proved he belonged on the USMNT, something that Benny failed to do.

 

Some good points . .

I remain concerned with JK's roster selections. I am hoping for more balance in the future.

 

Maybe being too pragmatic?

 

Something . . It seems he favors younger attacking players.

At this point, the preference should be toward players who might help us qualify by giving us a different look on the field. It has been interesting watching Beasley, Feilhaber, Kljestan and even Adu overlooked.

I would also offer that it has been my own experience that the creative player occasionally brings some dimension to the squad that may not be entirely healthy. They might be described as self centered and narcissistic. And certainly, this is a huge generalization. But I would also say that it has been fairly obvious that JK has avoided these types in filling out his roster.