Did we decide to quit now while we're ahead? Lineups? Plans? Strategies? Where are they? It occurred to me that the entire US will pay attention (what else is there to watch on tv). Please, let us not send a bunch of exhausted players out there to lose miserably....please. please. please.
Ok ok, here's MY lineup for Sunday v Brazil: -------------------------Howard------------------ Spector--------Gooch----------DeMerit----Boca ------------------Feilhaber------Clark----------- --Donovan------------------------------Torres-- ----------------Dempsey----------Jozy---------- Subs: Bornstein, Davies & Freddy, if we need offense!! If defense; Pearce. It's pretty much the same XI that BB will use, except with Bradley out, I would start Feilhaber in the middle, Torres at LM, move Landon to RM & put Dempsey at F...where he seems to play much better!! I wouldn't play Kljestan or Beasley at all and have no desire to see Casey, either. I really wish we had Edu for this game! Can't believe it...we're playing in our 1st FIFA tourney final, EVER...not to mention, a Cup trophy...and against Brazil, no less!! I was "more than satisfied" with getting to the final, after beating the #1 team in the world, but now, I want to WIN the DAMN thing!! WE CAN DO IT, USA!!!
I think the lineup is so obvious for the next game that their isn't that much speculation. Just put in Benny for Bradley and you are ready to go. Also EVERY single BS lineup for every game in the tournament has included Adu and Torres who have both managed to get 0 minutes but yet we are in the final, I don't think anyone is lining up to be wrong/wishfully thinking again.
Little discussion has occurred because it's 95% certain what Bradley's lineup will be against Brazil: --------------Howard-------------- Spector---Gooch---DeMerit---Boca Dempsey--Feilhaber--Clark--Donovan ---------Altidore----Davies--------- Subs: Kljestan and Casey for Altidore and Davies if we have the lead. 3rd substitute depends on the situation. Experience - Beasley; Possession/Offense - Adu or Torres; Defense - Bornstein Strategy = Win
A lot of people don't spend a lot of time watching TV on Sunday when the NFL is out of season. YMMV. NBC has Wimbledon ABC has Local programming CBS has Golf or Local Programming, but I can't remember a Sunday in the last 3 months that hasn't had golf. Oh and I hate to burst your bubble, but people watch golf & tennis.
Yeah, but most of the Wimbledon matches (especially the one's people actually care about) are earlier in the day and there is no Major golf championship this weekend. Any golf or tennis worth watching will be over before the game. Basically, there will be no Roger Federer or Tiger Woods for Americans to be watching instead of Landon Donovan and Kaka
Local Programming. I hear that's exciting. But, as someone else has said, Wimbeldon will be long over. It won't run until 1PM Eastern or whatever it did last year. Also, this game should be set up by ESPN as the game to see that day.
Yawn. Prepare for disappointment. The game will draw between .9 & 1.1 and you'll all wonder why people didn't watch. People aren't going to turn to soccer because you don't think anything else is on. This assumes they know who they are and/or care.
People watch it every Sunday instead of the MLS game on Telemundo or Nat games. So people that wouldn't otherwise watch soccer are going to suddenly watch in droves?
It'd be nice to get a really good rating...and wonder, if moving the game to ESPN from ESPN2 will have a positive effect on the number...but, unfortunately, not very optimistic!! Anything over a 1.0 has to be seen as a "positive" thing...sad as that looks!!
The word you are looking for is "pragmatist". I would love to be proven wrong and soccer is immensely popular that it was 10-15 years ago, but it's a niche sport in the US and it will take a couple of more decades of deepening it's niche before we can really call ourselves the 5th major sport and we don't have the social-economic-political conditions that were present in 1980 (thank God) that allowed the Miracle on Ice to launch hockey out of the NE US & Canada.
HOLY SH1T. Two proposed lineups for Sunday's game and neither of them including Adu and/or Torres. Is that possible?
Nope. We need more speed. Dempsey for Torres, Davies for Dempsey. I really like Bradley's new habit of subbing in a mid and moving Dempsey up top. Just as the other team gets a defensive rhythm, we totally change up how we play.
Because we can be trained, obviously. People on BS started this tournament with the expectation that we brought 23 players because we'd need to use ~23 players with so many games so close together. We were wrong. So now we're in the final (yay!) having used basically the same team every game. With little or no variation. A question is whether this team is now tired, compared to Brazil, who have subbed out every player except 1.
I am far from a Bradleyphile, but seriously, if the problems we have are whether or not our players are tired before we prepare to play the final of a legitimate international tournament, I dare say the manager hasn't been a complete buffoon up to that point.
Ummm...the question was why all the formations didn't have Adu or Torres in them. The answer was that we've played more or less the same formation every game so far, so it's not a big stretch to figure out who's playing against Brazil. As far as the more general question of whether it's a good thing to play only the minimum number of players in the tournament -- well, I guess this means that we've only got this bare minimum of players who can be trusted to play at this level. Not good, right? (I guess there are some people who will step in, and some injuries. Maybe they'll replace all the people we just have sitting around on the bench watching the game. But for right now, the team is looking a little thin and tired.) And yes, it's nice to be in the final. Who would have thunk it?
I'm with the - 'Let's be happy we are in the finals' camp. Think about if, if we score one less goal or give up one more goal in the group play, we don't make the second round. Sure we are going to be less rested than Brazil going into the final, but we do get an extra day of rest and we are generally regarded as by far the fittest of teams. While it's not good that we only played the few we have - recognize what options we did NOT have in this tournament that we will have in the mix: Edu, Cherundolo, Heyduk (I'm surprised I have his name here, but I think it belongs here) and Ching. So, the group that is playing is playing because of injuries to others already.