Here's my article on the USA v. Canada which details Convey at left back, Rimando, Olsen's ankle, etc. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/NationalTeams/1043013906/view -Tron
Well written Tron, hope Benny's ankle is nothing serious. Convey looked very comfortable playing back. The Argentina game will be a better test.
The article was a link on Sam's Army today. Congrats Tron on a great piece of analysis! I can't wait for the Argentina game!
Thanks for the analysis. I'm stuck here where there's no good satellite soccer bars like Summers to catch such games. Good to hear about Bobby. I'm very interested to see where he's going to work himself into the USMNT mix. He's too good to be left off the squad, especially because his level of play increases exponentially when surrounded with other top players.
I got back from Ft. Lauderdale late last night and I'm just checking in on BigSoccer and am surprised to find no chatter on the DC board about the fact that Olsen was playing mostly in the center of the park as an A-Mid. Since many around here are often asking for Convey to be played there, not Olsen, I found it interesting that last night Convey started at left back (and performed pretty well), while Olsen was in the middle for most of the half that Arena said "we did better" even though we scored less.
Good job Tron! I think you got it right but I will mention that I thought Califf played much better in this game than the El Sal game. I was in the stands and spent some time focused on him. He appeared more steady and confident and I think he will continue to get the call from Bruce. Sasha and Klein however, did not shine. Expect more Garcia callups too. He looked solid.
I was watching the game in a social (read alcohol flowing) environment so I'm sure my recollection may be hazy. In fact, I didn't realize until later that Olsen actually subbed in for a striker (Cunningham) until I read the report Anyway, I thought he did really well in the middle. I do recall remarking to my bar mate: "Is that OLSEN in the middle there?" I think he and Beasley worked really well together attacking down the left side. I hope there's a replay on FSW sometime soon as I'd like to watch that combination in a little more detail without the aid of Boddington's Pub Draught. It didn't help any that the cheap Setanta PPV production didn't have any replays during the game (poor production). Jarrett
Tron, great report. So that's what you were doing with your notes at the long table --- thought you might be recording some quips from Lanky and Lowecifer. I'll credit GoCaps with the description of Clint Mathis' new look : Anthrax meets porn star!
Tron, that was excellent. I look forward to reading more of your match reports as I think yours is better than all the others I read. Are you a regular writer there? And did you watch the game more than once? Because when I try to break down a game farily and in detail, I have to watch the game more than once.