It might be interesting to see exactly how our strikers train with their club teams day in and day out. Maybe that can be improved upon. Does anyone here actually see how strikers train with their teams during practics, and if they have more training after the team practice ends? It would be interesting to talk about.
First of all, the problem with Johnson vs. Ching is not their talent (or lack thereof) but the roles they are being called upon to do with the Nats. Brian plays essentially the same role he plays with Dynamo (and I really want to spell it Dinamo, for old times' sake) while Eddie is playing a much different role than he is given with the Wizards. The latter fact accounts for his low productivity with the US squad. Second, the US team in 2010 will have, hopefully, a different contingent of strikers than it has in 2007 ... but between then and now, there are qualifications to go through and, depending how the competition settles down, it may not be a cakewalk that it was in the 2004-2005 run. Consequently, there's a need for the best current line-up as it shapes out for the 2008 WCQ's. Given the US's relative depth in midfield, the "away" roster (vs. stronger teams) is likely to depart from the away games at lower quality opponents and home games. At a difficult away match, I'd go with 4-5-1. In this, I am reminded of Thomas Doll's problems with HSV last season. To recall, he didn't have a single quality striker (but he had several mediocre ones) and yet kept trotting out the same aggressive 4-4-2 Diamond. After Hamburg slipped to the last place in Bundesliga, he was replaced by a far more cautious Huub Stevens. The Dutchman promptly realized the shortcomings of his own roster and changed an aggressive 4-4-2 Diamond to a more appropriate for HSV 4-4-1-1. As the result of this change, the Rothosen even managed to grab themselves an Intertoto spot. Incidentally, Bob Bradley did not partake in this lesson and kept repeating Thomas Doll's mistakes in Copa America by featuring two sub-standard strikers in all US matches. So, I'll start a more defensive 4-5-1 away ... ---------------Johnson-------------- Beasley--------Donovan-----Dempsey ----------Bradley------Feilhaber------ Pearce----Bocanegra---Demerit----'Dolo This line-up gives speed on top and in central-left midfield while both deep central mids can change the point (Schwerpunkt, for those militarily inclined) of the attack. Central defenders have enough ability to pitch in on set-pieces where they'd join Johnson, Bradley and Dempsey. At home, the emphasis would have to be on scoring goals. Unfortunately, the US doesn't have two strikers capable of functioning side-by-side. However, with the greater reliance on crosses, I'd have: ---------------Ching-------------- --------------Donovan------------ Convey--------------------Dempsey --------------Feilhaber------------- --------------Bradley-------------- ---the-same--defense--as-above--- Insofar as 3-5-2 goes, I don't see the present talent as a good fit for it. I can however see a 3-6-1 as somewhat palatable. --------------Johnson--------------- Beasley------Donovan-------Dempsey -------------Feilhaber--------------- --------Bradley-------'Dolo---------- --Bocanegra----Onyewu-----Demerit- The deep midfielders here can both handle the ball and provide lateral defensive coverage. Feilhaber is a capable two way mid and there's speed on top with some size spread along all positions.
Not really sure why you're convinced we have to play Ching or Johnson or that they're our best 2 options. Since I'm a bit more secure about the intelligence of our coach than you are, I'll assume he gets some of the young guys action this fall, and in January so that in qualifying we can impose our style on everyone we play with the possible exception of Mexico, so why wouldn't we play something like this? We have enough talent to do so. -------------------Altidore--------------Dempsey-------------------------- ---------------------Adu-----------------Donovan------------------------- ----------------------Feilhaber-----------Bradley-------------------------- Bornstein--------------------------------------------------------------Dolo ---------------------Demerit-----------------Gooch----------------------- --------------------------------Howard----------------------------------- And of course Landon and Deuce can switch whenever they please.