Cross-posted from USMNT N&A Lineup: Howard; Cherundolo, DeMerit, Bocanegra (c), Bornstein; Donovan, Bradley, Edu, Dempsey; Gomez, Altidore http://twitter.com/ussoccer Bornstein...Bob is either a genius, or a mad man.
I think Bornstein gets the start to deal with the speed that Gooch wouldnt be able to thus Bob had to push Boca back in. I pray we dont pay for it!
Wow! This is really a surprised. I'm surprised Gooch gets benched. I know he's had some slips, but I don't think he's been that bad. And Bornstein starting? WTF? Hasn't the guy repeatedly shown he's not an international-caliber player? And I'm surprised Gomez got the nod over Buddle. I suppose it must depend a lot on what the players' form is in camp. I trust Bradley knows what he's doing...
Bornstein is just plain scary sucks if he costs us the game lets hope he doesn't get burned over and over.
Bob has done a good job here (and I'm among the biggest Bob critics). Those guys should be good enough to get the job done. Gomez is better than Buddle as a pairing with Altidore, because Gomez can stretch the defense and we need movement to get our offense in gear. We won't 'not win' because of this lineup. Our biggest guys (Dempsey, Donovan and Altidore- who needs to score) need to step up today and lead with performance. I am particularly pleased that Edu is pared with Bradley. Edu played very well with Rangers this year, in some big games too. Bornstein should have a speed advantage over Spector, and keep Algeria wings from getting behind his. He's error prone, but Spector could get beat with speed and make errors too. Better to cover for the speed in that choice, which Bob has done. Bornstein due for a good game. c'mon boys. its your time.
Everyone has asked if Onyewu is playing sub-par, who else is there? The fact is he isn't all there and it has shown in the results. The question should now be if Bornstein is that poor, really, who else is there? This lineup needed to be shaken. Pure and simple.
I'm not going to question Brad for dropping Onyewu, he clearly isn't playing to his best. However, I don't understand why we couldn't have had a straight swap for Goodson and Onyewu? I'd rather Bornstein not see the field in this World Cup.
I agree with this but damnit...Bornstein is now the MAN and he will have a huge game and draw interest from PL clubs!
Goodson is just not an option. He doesn't have any high level experience. Bob definitely made the right choice (Boca to the middle, Borstein on left). It is easier to take a risk on the outside back of a 4 man line than in the middle. Bornstein has enough speed to compete today. He just needs to be fully concentrated and stay in position. It is a good risk to believe Bornstein learned from the stupid PK he gave up against Holland and that he won't do that again. We don't have Argentina depth, so whenever we change the starting 11...we take material risk.
Indeed this all about having someone to deal with Algeria's speed on the flanks, assuming of course that Algeria has speed on the flanks.
Bornstein has a pretty simple task on offense: Find a wide open man, or boot up it up the line. Don't take a chance in our 1/2. If there is space ahead of him, take it, and then float a cross to the far post...across the field- so if it doesn't work..you have plenty of time to get back on D (and don't overhit the cross...like he is prone to do). Otherwise, stay at home. We should overlap on Cherundolo's side and not Bornstein. Bornstein is a good enough pro to take that advice and follow it. Dempsey has got to show his experience here, and help Bornstein. He's been in England long enough to understand he needs to play a lot of help defense in certain situations- like when Fulham play Chelsea, etc. His experience with Hodgson and tactics needs to come to the fore here. We can do it on the left side. Just execute guys.
*Sigh* Bornstein Well, he's under the microscope now, if he blunders here that should be the end of his caps.
Algeria does have some speed on the flanks, and they'll be using it since they need a win and will be more aggressive than they were in their first two games. I'm more confused by the Gomez selection. I was originally under the belief that Buddle was going to start the World Cup up top against Altidore, and that Gomez & Findley would be our "super scoring subs". Yet it's pretty clear now that Buddle is our last striker. Not that I think Buddle is better than Gomez or Findley, but I feel like Buddle is not a very good sub at all. In other words: if you're not going to start Buddle, you probably shouldn't use him at all. If we need offense we'll probably do what we did in the Slovenia game, which was to get more offensive in the midfield, rather than bringing on Buddle. Hopefully we don't need offensive subs, but at this point if we need offense I'd rather bring in Holden or Feilhaber or Torres, rather than Buddle.
I watched some of the England-Algeria game, and I wondered how Onyewu would match up with them. They all seemed small and shifty, and there wasn't really a big physical presence up front that they used as a target forward. I'm not usually a fan of tinkering with the back four, but we haven't been cohesive back there in the first two games.
Gooch was bleeding goals Boca moves inside to CB because Goodson is a scary option too. LB goes to Bornstein. Spector has been playing like crap and hasn't played LB for the US in a long, long time. Is this perfect? No. But we don't have perfect options.
He's gotta be Bob's personal kiss ass. That or he's black mailing him. Either way, I have no confidence in him and I think he'll cause major problems for the defense today and perhaps even put one in his own net. Hope I'm wrong.
I don't like it, but Bradley made the right decision here. Not sure what it'll take to get Buddle minutes...
I agree with the sentiment that if we're going to be bringing in one of our reserve backs that we're better off having them on the ends than up the center. Sliding Bocanegra into the middle probably actually makes our middle stronger, since Gooch was having so many problems. I feel very good about him alongside Demerit, who has been great so far. Bornstein isn't a world beater, but who else would you put there? If Bob went with Spector everybody would be flipping out even more.