Frankly, until someone else (Dempsey, Stu, Gomez, Torres) shows that he can take FKs, corners and PKs well at the world level, I'd stick to Donovan. The World Cup is not the time to risk it by making someone who once took a good one in the MLS or the Primera División de México give it a try.
You know that I did. I provided the qualifier that he was decent at corners. I don't have much issue with Landon taking corners, as long as Stu isn't on the field. Stu's the man. Did you see his work in crossing situation set pieces during his time at Bolton? I know that you did. Just about every one was money. I think you have the tendency in regards to some Yanks to just fixate on the individual positive instances, (paraphrasing) "remember this one positive singular play and that one positive singular play", and ignore all the negative instances. That's all well and good but it's about the overall success rate. The simple fact is there are more accurate and powerful ball strikers on this roster than Landon, like Stu and Gringo, to produce a higher success rate, so unless unless they are on the sidelines, he shouldn't receive the responsibility of handling set pieces.
I'd be the first one to provide any that were relevant to the topic if I knew they existed. But I doubt they do. You didn't either. All you pointed out was a few singular instances. That says nothing of success rate. They don't keep statistics worth s*** in regards to footy. You have to go by observation, and from my observation, it's like, c'mon, really?
Your observation does not equal fact. In my observation, Landon Donovan was the best free kick taker on a team that included Leighton Baines, Steven Pienaar, and Mikel Arteta.
Donovan should take corners and the rest of the set pieces. We dont have a player thats a real threat at putting the ball on frame from set pieces other than dempsey, and dempsey is very spotty from the kicks i have seen him take. I think a strength of our team is in the air, so it makes more sense to have donovan take them, because he is not going to be going up and getting any headers while a player like dempsey always seems to find the ball.
OK, I'll take back the phrase "in point of fact". That's something I acquired from a college professor I had at UW-Milwaukee who said it about 15 times per class, even accompanying debatable statements. How about the phrase "common sense dictates"? I know he didn't take the free kicks in shooting position, so you can't make that judgment. Did he take many non corner free kicks, period? Either way, he and Holden weren't on the same team. And Holden seemed to get all the free kicks for Bolton outside of shooting position after he arrived.
Okay, decent debate, but didn't Holden play a total of about two games for Bolton?* And he's less likely than Landon to be on the field at any given time. *Side note: Holden strikes a ball just great and I wouldn't mind him taking our free kicks. But I'm always dismayed with the confidence BigSoccer posters can show in a guy based on one or two particular performances. Really favors the new pu$$y, like Bedoya, but it can also put guys like Beasely back in good graces. So many players over the years have benefited in this way from a few good minutes. People are still talking up Cory Gibbs despite so many clownish performances for Dallas, for example.
Holden can really curl it in, but his accuracy was off at times tonight. His free kicks went directly into Cech's hands at least 6 or 7 times.
And yet, 2 goals resulted from his services. He was walking the line between wasting them and putting Cech in no man's land all night. He played the percentages, and won. I'd take that to Donovan's cautious approach. And often times, still he wastes them by hitting them too low or out of bounds.
To be fair even in regards to most very good players this is the case... I remember donovan wasting quite a few in his time. Either way I want Donovan on them because he strikes a slightly better ball but Holden was great on the first goal today.
To me, it looked like Holden was putting them where he wanted (except for the last one in the dying minutes): back door on Goodsen's head. However, I would have preferred the balls with less loft. That being said, Holden looked like he put the ball where wanted most every time.
Reviving this thread for 2026. Pulisic and Berhalter seem the two obvious choices, although Pulisic is a far more guaranteed starter. And he's on the bubble for the final roster, but Busio scored this peach last weekend: VIDEO
IMO Pulisic takes free kicks because he's not very useful in the box on a free kick moreso than some good ability to take kicks. He's improved the last year or two but we have much better options than him.
Berhalter is on my 26 man roster. He's ok enough in general field play but if we need a late goal then the whole world knows set pieces are where its at. Berhalter is on the field then.
I think that ability might give him an advantage over other midfielders who he's competing with. He's also really good at long shots and long passes. His defense could improve with experience even if his athletic ability is stuck where it is. I haven't picked a squad yet because I fear injuries will happen unfortunately and I'll wait until later when it's time and I know who can make it.
He needs to start. Set pieces are too important in international play. We can't afford to waste opportunities like we did throughout the 2022 cycle (excluding the Honduras game in Minnesota). We saw it in the Uruguay game. He scored off a free kick and assisted on a corner, setting the tone for a 5-1 drubbing. If he isn't in the lineup, the whole game changes, likely not in our benefit.
True. For me it's between him and Roldan to see who starts next to Adams, although I wouldn't be opposed to both of them starting together if Adams regresses to his Gold Cup form.
I'm coming around to this line of thinking. It's pretty awesome to have a set piece weapon for which an opponent knows what's coming, yet still can't defend against. Berhalter scored or set up at least 9 set piece goals over the past year: 2 free kick assists to Chris Richards in the Gold Cup against Mexico and an earlier opponent, 2 corner kick assists in consecutive games in the fall (where the Apple TV announcer more or less predicted the outcome, noting that Berhalter assisted LaBorda off a corner in previous match just before they repeated it against the Sounders), the 2 you mentioned in the Uruguay rout, 1 off a corner in the classic Vancouver-LAFC playoff match, and another 2 assists off corners just last weekend. (I don't even follow every game the Whitecaps play, so there might be more set piece successes that can be credited to Berhalter the Younger.) I like that he's not simply a free kick expert, too -- we can reasonably expect several corner kick opportunities in a game, but you don't always get many free kick opps in the attacking zone, let alone ones in direct shooting distance. I don't trust Berhalter at the #6 position, and I'm not sure if he's sufficient defensively at the #8, but I would be comfortable seeing him start at least some games at the #10. If we had a reliable ace playmaker I might feel differently, but Gio Reyna's fitness is always in doubt, and it's still TBD if Poch brings in a more natural #10 like Hany Mukhtar or Djordje Mihailovic. In last year's CCC semifinal tie against Inter Miami, Berhalter scored in both legs and helped set up the other 3 goals in their 5-1 aggregate victory. Notably, none of Vancouver's goals came off set pieces.
I don't know if I'd actually start Berhalter (maybe against the worst team in the first round?) but teams also don't foul as much near the box when a guy like that is on the field. If teams think you can't punish of set pieces they foul at will to stop chances. Maybe coaches have deep stats that balance the plusses and minuses of those type of players. Off the bench when behind? I'd be pretty happy to see him come on and I bet Richards would have a big smile on his face.
I agree with this, but I see that as a very positive thing for our team. If having a strong set piece taker on the field keeps opponents from hacking Pulisic and the other ball handlers that to me is a huge plus.
It's too bad none of our regular starters are really good at that. Pulisic has actually looked good at it for ACM but not the US. Is it his kicks or the players not being good at getting on the end of them? Maybe both and more time together before the WC helps?