John O'Brien from summer of 2002. Pair him up with M Bradley in the center. Or let him play left back??????????????????
That's a good call. I'd say use him at left back, which is where he was playing for Ajax at the time. Plus, I think we've got the center of midfield covered. Of course, John O'Brien's "prime" pretty much only lasted for 2 years (2001-2002). I did encounter John once outside of a buritto place in Chicago prior to the England friendly. I shouldn't say "meet." I saw him coming, and was stupified. Completely frozen in place. I looked around frantically to see if anyone else noticed the star US soccer player that was standing amongst us. Nodoby seemed to have noticed, even though he was wearing some sort of US soccer tracksuit. I'm sure if I ran into him he would have broken a collarbone. Like a little fragile egg, that one.
As much as I like the guy, by choosing McBride in his prime, you'll relegate Altidore to bench status the rest of this cycle. I'd rather not do that if I'm hypthetically fantasizing. Ramos is another great player, but he'd compete with Dempsey at RM. Plusses and minusses in that swap. O'Brien in his 2002 peak form and healthy has got to rate as a serious upgrade over Pearce and Bornstein at LB, or a quality upgrade over Kljestan/Mastro/Torres/Clark at CM. I'd lean to this choice and lock in a high-quality LB. Pope at CB over Boca would be a decent choice, too. Pope's touch and composure were better at his peak than Boca's ever was. And the 2002 version of Sanneh at RB would be preferable to the currently injured and possibly declining Cherundolo.
Billy Gonsalves. The 6-2 Playmaking midfielder/foward "The Babe Ruth of American soccer" the "The Pele of America". If we had him right now......... I believe we could go deep in the World cup with our current best squad. Next would be John O'Brien 2002 World Cup. --------------------Altidore----------Donovan/Adu-------- ----------------------------Gonsalves-------------------- Beasley/Adu------------------------------------------------Dempsey -----------------------------Bradley--------------------------- Note: My third choce would be Bert Patenaude. A goal-scoring Machine.. for both AMerican Club and country.
John O'Brien. I'm just glad I got to see a little bit of him while I could. One of the few Americans I've actually been captivated by in the same way as your Tottis, Del Pieros etc. Incredibly versatile too, midfield, left back. I also think LB is probably our worst spot at the moment, so he'd work nicely there.
Mathis, he was more risk taker, crafty skillful and willing shoot outside the box. A different type of player. Tab Ramos, creative spark.
McBride would be tempting... Wynalda even more so...if all you know of Eric is ESPN, take it from an oldie like me...before he got that knee injury in that stupid MLS shootout, he WAS that darn good... But our forward issues will solve themselves. Likewise...Ramos (or the vastly underrated Hugo Perez) is tempting as well, but I think we have some guys now who can be midfield generals...including Torres... But...that darn Left Back...a healthy JOB would be a great first choice for that...or...as I put the flame-retardant suit on...an in-form/in-his-prime David Regis...
People still trying to line up O'Brien at left back. That's funny. He'd be a good pick and a good partner fr Bradley in the middle though. Wynalda wouldn't be bad either as we can always use a scorer. I like his mobility and free kick ability better than McBride's aerial game, but he'd be a good choice too.
Ramos in the same sentence as Torres? You forgot how explosive Tab was. He was a great passer but was explosive himself.
Howard Cherundolo-Onyewu-Boca-JOB(2oo2) Bradley-Torres Dempsey-Donovan-Beasley Altidore This team may make it to the quarters.............
All we've done is remove Heath Pearce and put a more defensive minded midfielder in there...although that might improve our wing play, I wouldn't count on going to far.
Irrespective of current needs, I would go with Ramos, JOB or Thomas Dooley for their creativity and versatility - two things I fear we are lacking in our current incarnation. You could certainly add Reyna, Stewart and Wynalda to that list (at least among those post-1950), and I would have no complaint. With needs in mind, I would love to shore up the LB position with JOB or Boca with Pope or Dooley in playing inside. A more explosive option up top, i.e. Wynalda or McBride, would also be welcome to complement and mentor Jozy.
Assuming all players in their best year, I'd take these five in this order 1) JOB 2) Ramos 3) Wynalda 4) Mathis 5) Gibbs That's about it
Based on 6 and 4 matches played by these two for the Nats. Bert scored half his goals for the Nats in one game.