Story Here He will be back to train with the rest of United soon. The article makes it seem like Pope was in the camp, but he wasn't in the team on Saturday.
Soccer TV says 12:30 am after the mexico vs. columbia match. My dish program schedule says the same. Wonder why Bennie was dropped? Injury, performance, Klein?
This is worrisome. Olsen was a non-factor in the middle against Argentina so far as I can tell, but why is he being dropped now? Conditioning? Injury? It can't be, at this point, that he isn't good enough for a roster spot when most of the Europeans are not available.
Yep and maybe a guy coming back from injury does not need to play two international games in 5 days. And could be that Steve Ralston is getting his shot out wide right so let Ben get back home and get going with United.
You know, it is entirely possible that he's being dropped because he's not good enough (at least right now). In an interview during the game on Saturday, Bruce pointed out that one of the reasons that Ben was playing centrally is that since coming back from the injuries, he doesn't have the pace that he once had and doesn't have the pace to play on the flank. That may be temporary until he completely recovers fitness or it may be permanent -- who knows. He clearly was not a factor in the middle on Saturday. If Bruce has decided not to play him in the middle again and has decided that he can't play out wide right now, then he may have just decided that he'd just as well leave him home.
Bruce is in his tinkering/experimentation for the future phase. Olsen is largely a known quantity for him. He got some training and some game time in. But to push him that hard right now, two games in a week, and the crap field that they've got in Jamaica, seems to be too risky. Bruce wants to see other players. It's his time to get the National Team pool as deep as possible before qualifying.
I agree with the experimentation idea. Bruce knows what Ben can do when he's completely healthy. He wants ideas of how he could use Ben if he's not completely healthy or if he never gets back the speed that Bruce wants. He'll be able to watch him play all season with DC. For now he's not ready to play in the middle, so try somebody else there that hasn't played. Put them in a tough situation and see how they perform. Bruce doesn't need to bring Ben off the bench so he sent him home.
You're not the only one. But I have a feeling it will be Twellman and Mathis up top, with Donovan slotted in behind them. Or Donovan and Mathis will flip-flop as they like to do.
FWIW According to a Jamaican press report yesterday, they are going to be breaking in a newly resurfaced field on Wednesday. Not making any promises, obviously, but it could be a lot better than the dirt patch from WCQ.
The not ready for wings because of incomplete recovery crowd may be on to something as the best reason. Note that Victorine was also not called back--because of injury.
Another Convey supporter I'd like to throw in another vote for Convey too. His best action as a fulback on Saturday was when he was playing as a midfielder on his overlaps with DMB. By the way - I love the Pixies logo Lowecifer.