True, but the young Olsen was asked to do something very different from the current Olsen. The young Olsen was a winger, pure and simple, with pace and some serious attacking flash. Post-injury Olsen is a workmanlike ball-winner with an occasional flash of the old brilliance, but it's only occasional. Basically, he's turned into a rich man's Richie Williams - a d-mid who doesn't really have the classic physicality of a d-mid, but makes up for it with a ton of grit and tenacity. Ben is also a better passer and much more capable in the final third than Richie was. No one is saying Olsen is a starter for the USMNT at d-mid. But who are the alternatives as a backup? Hell, who's the starter? If Clyde Simms (who may very well develop into a USMNT starter-caliber player someday) got called in to play the role a few weeks out of the A-League, the pickings are slim.
I agree with this. I'd probably be a little harder on Armas though. The number of give-aways by Armas tonight was unacceptable. I'd put him in with Sanneh or pretty close. Conrad should get matched up with Gooch for the rest of the Gold Cup. I'd like to see if Olsen can compete for Mastro's backup spot. Noonan doesn't impress me but he's still a possible.
Exactly correct, and I'd add, never with the "A" team. His stock is actually rising based on the play of others in this cup. This is the third stinker in a row with no offense and I give us little chance againstMexico if we get far enough to meet them. I also see no role for Armas, Saneeh, Olsen. Frankie was bad last night. I hope the game last night ends all posts about Dempsey as a forward.
Dempsey's not a forward. He needs to be able to shoot on through towards goal when it's not expected. I think Hejduk has a better chance of staying than some people think. He's got stamina. He puts himself out there. Managers remember that. Ralston passed the ball a lot worse than he should.
Nows the time to find out. If you're BA & you're not gonna call in your A&B players then call in your young C&D players that might develop into starters and give them some experience, rather than the over the hill players that no longer have anything to give. For Sanneh & Armas maybe this is a last chance to see what they can do, but Olsen ain't gonna cut it
I think that, out of the players you named, Noonan and maybe, just maybe Olsen will be with the USMNT in Germany. However, I'm starting to get worried about our LB and forward situation. I like our full strength midfield and the defense outside the LB, but I don't think EJ can carry the load up top in the World Cup. We HAVE to find someone who can help him, unless we go to a formation like a 3-4-2-1, such as: Keller Gooch - Gibbs - Boca Dolo - Mastro - O'Brien - Beasley Donovan - Lewis Johnson The reasons I put Beasley at the wing behind Lewis are: 1. Beasley is more comfortable as a pure winger and plays much better defense than Lewis. 2. Lewis has very, very underrated offensive skills, and I am confident he could play more centrally and be successful; with this lineup he could also take advantage of DMB's cutback abilities and sneak out to the wing for one of his patented whip crosses.
The WCQ and the Gold cup so far have me with the following conclusions (obviously based on curerent condition and barring injuries): -Noonan & Dempsey are going to be in Germany -Ditto Hedjuk -One of Armas/Olsen will be there -Conrad is now fighting with Pope and Berhalter for the final defender position, unless Spector gets significant playing time in the EPL this season and is brought into the squad for the inevitable Euro friendlies iin early '06 to prepare for the WC. -O'Brien will be there if he's healthy -This team still needs Reyna! -Bye, bye Sanneh (hopefully). I've been thinking about the vets at the Gold Cup. The reality is that (I believe) in Bruce's mind, the majority of the WC squad is already in place. There are really just a few spots left to fight for.
Okay I'll bite. -Noonan has been tried at forward this tournament has has done very little. If he makes the Germany squad, he'll make it as a midfielder, and right now he's behind several players there. - Dempsey will make Germany and we'll see him trotted out at various positions by Arena over the next year to see where he's most effective- a lot like Donovan was last go around. - Arena will probably bring four central defenders. Gooch and gibbs are pretty close to locks and Arena still likes Pope. So count on those three to go if they aren't injured. Boca is most likely next because he does play LB as well and is a good target on set pieces. But his position isn't secure like the first three. Conrad may be playing himself into the next position, ahead of Berhalter. IMO we can almost count on one of the top four here listed being hurt so Jimmy has a better than 50% chance of going to Germany. Sanneh is after that. Like Noonan at forward, Sanneh has not made enough waves to be seriously threatening to go to Germany as a center half. What we should look for after the GC is if Arena tries Sanneh at full back like he does Bocanegra. -Armas and Olsen are still in the mix but if everyone's healthy they are on the outside (like Noonan). JOB's return hurts their chances. -Hedjuk's blunder vs CR hurt him as well and it's possible that Arena might not feel so comfortable with Hedjuk as a safe fall back anymore. We'll see if that's the case soon. - Wolff has also not impressed that much though he's better than Noonan at forward. But no goals scored is still no goals scored. He's still on the short list for Germany but... it will be interesting to see Arena arrange his forwards this winter. -Quaranta and Davis are still incomplete and thus on the outside. However they will play more in the GC to make their cases.
There have been 3 pages of posts here, some thinking Hey-Dude should stay, and others equivocating, however.... He scares the crap out of me every time he touches the ball or goes in for a tackle. Is there nobody else in a 70 player deep pool that can can play outside back so that Frankie is not automatically penciled in as #2 or #3 for this position?
As a midfielder, I think he's on the outside looking in as well. I'll continue to make my case that the value of a Noonan, Spector and Convey is their ability to cover multiple positions in emergency or tactical situations. That's perfect for a deep bench slot. Between those three, you'd be able to cover darn near every position if needed. Not well, mind you, but they're not starting XI, nor are they likely to be an available reserve. With a 23-man roster and the potential for a month-long tournament with intense games and training, that positional flexibility is key. Noonan only needs to demonstrate that he's serviceable as a forward and he'll have a successful Gold Cup.......
My post was in no way reflective of my opinion about these players. I was merely interpreting Bruce's history with recent selections and projected WC06! I don't think that Hey-Dude should be there. I just would be shocked at this point to see Bruce leave him home. Same thing from Noonan and Dempsey. I just think that these are Bruce's type of guys (versatile, skillful, high work-rate) and will be on the roster.
This seems to be a useful comparison. Conrad and Berhalter play similar positions, and have similar styles. So, if you had to choose between Conrad and Berhalter, who would it be? Arena has said (I think) that Berhalter is hampered by playing in the 2.Bundesliga with Cottbus, so this may be why we're seeing so much attention paid to Conrad. Who else competes with Conrad to replace Berhalter in 06? Marshall?
I think this is right. Neither of them will be in the running to start, but they are both solid backups and great locker room guys. My guess is Olsen may come out on top due to his age advantage.
We'd likely take 8 backs to Germany. Cherundolo is not a center back, but he's going to the WC. Gibbs and Onyewu play CB, and are going. Bocanegra is going, on the left or in the middle. Arena likes the veteran influence of Pope, so I think he'll go, if for no other reason. Convey can play outside, or slide to the middle, Arena likes his game, so he'll go. That sets up a little competition between Hejduk and Vanney for a back-up outside back positon, and if Hejduk can play both sides, that's to his advantage. Conrad is now in competition with Berhalter, and the big wild card is Spector, who can play any of the four positions. Guys like Borchers, Marshall, and Kotschau are longshots and would need some injuries to get into the mix. Arena isn't going to pull a Sampson and suddenly go to guys who didn't play a role during qualifying. That Spector was in camp before the U-20 tournament was telling... So two slots and five guys - Hejduk, Vanney, Conrad, Berhalter, and Spector. I'd take Hejduk and Spector.........that's my read on where the defense is at right now.
Exactly. We need somebody (or preferably a few) who can score on a pretty consistent basis. Here are the USMNT career stats (from ussoccer.com so blame them for errors) for some guys who have played as forwards (or m/f) for us over the last 2 years: Ed Johnson: 8 caps, 8 goals, 100% strike rate Landon Donovan, 67 caps, 25 goals, 37% Brian McBride, 88 caps, 28 goals, 32% Clint Mathis, 44 caps, 11 goals, 25% Ante Razov, 24 caps, 6 goals, 25% Brian Ching, 8 caps, 2 goals, 25% Josh Wolff, 34 caps, 7 goals, 21% Jovan Kirovski, 62 caps, 9 goals, 15% Pat Noonan, 9 caps, 1 goals, 11% Conor Casey, 8 caps, 0 goals, 0% Taylor Twellman, 9 caps, 0 goals, 0% Wolyniec, 2 caps, 0 goals, 0% If EJ and LD miss games during the WC06, you have to wonder whether our forwards will score any goals during those games. If we think about the group stage a year from now, I'd like to have strikers with at least a 33% scoring rate so we'd could expect a goal from them during those 3 games. From that list we'd only have EJ and LD making that cut with McBride just falling short (and of course being pretty old). Sure some of the guys with less than 10 caps could suddenly start scoring in bunches but I doubt it. Yes, DMB could chip in a goal as could Ralston and Lewis or a defender but it would be nice to have a few productive forwards to lead the attack. The stats probably look better if broken down by minutes but its hard to miss the fact that we have a pretty weak group of forwards.
I agree on Spector being in camp, and of course, there are other Euro-based young defenders, but we know even less about them than we do Spector. Spector will control some of his fate by whether he gets many starts at Charlton. In contrast, Arena gets to see Conrad and Marshall play weekly. And Marshall's fate will depend in part on how things turn in Columbus. In fact, Spector's chances may depend more on Arena's feeling of security in his backup for Cherundolo (more security = more flexibility in selections in the center).
Well, I think Hejduk threw Arena's security out the window last night. But what is Spector's position?! Center, left, right.....I don't think that's at all determined or clear, and perhaps his flexibility is his strength, just as Hejduk's ability to play both outside positions may be his. I think the competition is wide-open, and I'll be curious to see when Spector gets into camp.........
While it would always be nice to have more players to choose from, I like our choices at D-Mid a lot more than at left back and forward. If Bruce is looking for his usual destroyer, Mastroeni starts and Zavagnin backs up before you start looking at Armas and Olsen, IMHO (I would hold my nose and pick Armas as the second back up over Olsen based on what I've seen so far). Plus, I doubt Arena brings a second back up at destroyer since he has choices for a more well-rounded, albeit less physical D-mid. As many others have mentioned in different threads, both Reyna and John O'Brien might be well suited for a D-mid role which would allow them to do one of the things they do best, make linking passes from the defense to the offense. In short, if we have to bring Olsen to Germany, we're in worse shape than I thought.
what we need right now is the second forward who consistently scoring in the high level of competition ...
At the moment, that person is Brian McBride. He is the second forward until someone proves they can score at a better rate than him. Unfortunately, I don't see that person on the near horizon. Not knocking McBride, because he is still a good player; however, I would like someone else there as well. Truly, we need three, not just two, forwards who can be considered by the other team a danger to score a goal at any given time. Ching, Twellman, etc., I don't know. The most disappointing aspect of this argument is that I thought that Clint Mathis would be the scoring ace on the NT by this point. We can only dream that he magically regains his form of pre-2002, and he and EJ form a deadly duo in the final qualies and then in Germany 2006. Ahhhhhhh, to dream.
Wolff is supposed to be the Man but he is an almost player meaning he almost scoring goal all the time...but never put the ball in the back of the net.
For Sanneh and Pope, Arena is doing a very good job of replacing them. He's got Gooch, who's coming on like gangbusters, Gibbs, who is also very solid. Bocanegra might be the odd man out but is a good backup. And I expect Spector to have an excellent year with Charlton, leading to his challenging not only for a roster spot, but a starting position (maybe on the left if a 442.) Conrad has done a very serviceable job -- especially having to bail out and cover for Sanneh. I think he has earned another look. Bring in Wynne for a run out to see how he looks at this level. For Armas, Olsen, and Reyna, IMO Mastro is the *owner* of the d-mid spot. Almost without exception, he's very solid back there and helps the team maintain possession and push forward successfully. Ricardo Clark might warrant a look if he keeps up his form, and I would like to see the other Clint -- the exiled one -- brought back into the fold. Sure, he's not having a great year, but he's in a tough situation with an expansion team. Being brought into camp may just ignite the fire that we know is there and were all clammoring for just three years ago. Give Feilhaber a look. Why not throw him a bone for his performance at the WYC and see if/how he fits in? For McBride (and I know this isn't popular, but look at his performances over the last 10 games), I'd like to see what Jacqua has to offer, Ching, or Buddle. I'm not sold on the *launching pad* approach anyway. When was the last time that a long ball to McBride resulted in a goal in the run of play? Go back to any game and count the obscene number of giveaways with that tactic... Here's what I think would bring us the most success ... Having EJ, Donovan, DMB, and Dempsey all working together as the attacking nucleus of the team with support from JOB and Mastro, and crosses from Lewis and Ralston (Davis and Mapp future looks?) and backed up by Gooch, Gibbs, and Dolo with classy Keller backing everyone up. The rest of the supporting staff IMO could include Noonan, Twellman, Klein, Brian West??? and any of the young guys that step it up. Remember, it's a young man's game!
the thing is, we need to plan for WC 06 like we'll be playing 5 or 6 games. in 02 Bruce essentially planned to get a 23 man roster that could get us out of group play, by that Germany match, we had a number of guys who were plum out of gas. now, McBride will likely start the opening match in Germany, but he will not be able to 90 minutes in 5 straight games. hell, he won't go 90 in 3 straight matches. so, someone better step up and claim that 3rd forward spot (or call it 2-a). right now i want to see Jacqua, Twellman and Buddle get their chance at partnering with EJ (and get good service). I'm just down on Wolff right now ... i'm sorry, he just reminds me of an old guard player: someone who looks great but is always just a bit off in his finishing and final passes (i know i'm paraphrasing someone else, but it was a good observation ). in 06, we don't need guys that can ALMOST get it done, or MAYBE get it done ... i want someone who can put the ball in the damn net. because with LD and DMB, he WILL get service. that's why i brought up Twellman and Buddle ... i like the idea of having another poacher in there ....