Does he have what it takes to be one of the starting eleven or did he peak during the WC? What do you think?
I thought he played well today except at the end. I think he's a starter for the nats at Dmid. Colorado really seems out of sync and it's hard to look good playing on a team that is playing as poorly as the Rapids.
agreed. he's a fantastic player, playing for a crappy club. other than pablo and chung, no one really stood out today. but i am dissappointed that he vented his frustration like he did in the dying minutes of the game. it was a little immature.
It's not time to replace Pablo yet, b/c I think the physical ability is there. He played a terrific game for much of it today. But ..... i've noticed a tendency on his part to warm into games and lose focus near the end. Argentina was clearly a case of this. He did a great job on D'Alessandro all day. But it looked to me like his mistake in the early going led to he Argentine goal. And then he got away with a foul in the box near the end of the game. Pablo needs to work on focus, not ability.
Pablo is just frustrated playing with a crap club. Put him with quality players and we all know what he can do.
Sorry, I watched the game today, but couldn't catch the end, what exactlly happened to him if anyone doesn't mind explaining. And, from what I have seen, he has what it takes to make a good destroyer, I dunno about his offensive abilities though. thanks
You guys watched the game? Mastro was pretty good, except the end. But the penalty he gave up was not a good play and the penalty that was not called was really stupid. Combined with his play for the USMNT earlier this year, I would bet that he is no longer first choice. But everyone will play in the Confed Cup, so he will get his chance.
I liked that Mastroeni got mad and fouled at the of the Col / LA game. The guy brings toughness to the table. He is better athlete compared to Reyna, Armas, and Obrien. I like having him in there. I prefer Mastroeni over Armas. I aslo agree that he plays better next to guys that can distribute the ball. He does have a habbit of sliding too much though. On the PK foul vs Ruiz I thought that Mastroeni was starting to slide tackle, then had to adjust when Ruiz changed directions. He got off balance then fouled. I don't think he really slipped. Ruiz is awesome, and makes many defenders look silly. I like that Mastroeni was back there in the first place to help out the defenders.
as noted by others, he committed the foul on Ruiz that gave LA the penalty kick in the 90th minute. Ruiz cut back, and Mastro was going down and off balance, and Mastro took Ruiz down. Mastro apparently didn't realize that he had defensive help coming back and that the foul was probably unnecessary. not the worst foul in the world, but also not complete awareness of the field and the situation. what the original poster was probably referring to, however, was a non-call that came a couple of minutes into injury time. a ball got played through and Mastro without trying to play the ball plowed into the Galaxy forward running onto the ball. as the announcers said, it probably should have been at least an indirect kick for interfering with his run, and it easily could have been a second 90th minute PK the way he had his elbow out. frustration aside, it was a pretty classless move and crossed the line from simply showing toughness.
But we will know that he's truly been accepted as a US national team player when all BigSoccer posters can correctly spell his surname on a consistent basis.
My take is that Mastroeni commits too many of that kind of unnecessary foul. He makes one or two overcommitments (some of which are fouls) per game and they cost. The second incident yesterday was not called, but in my referee's book, it was the penalty that should have been called, not the first. The first was clearly a trip, but it was not physically hurtful and the ball was already back in LA's possession. Referee's choice, however.
I want to get rid of the destroyer position on US Nats team. I'd much rather see someone like O'Brien, Reyna, or Convey back there. Someone who can instill confidence from the back 4 that you can recieve the ball and handle it adroitly in the face of massive pressue. Neither Armas nor Maestroeni can do that. They are lacking too much offensivly. Its one of the reasons why we boot the ball downfield so much. I actually look forward to Ricardo Clark. The kid looks like he can both destroy, and start the offense equally well. To get an idea of What I'm talking about think of last years Netherlands game in New England. We started a midfield of Reyna, O'Brien, DMB, and Earnie Stewart and it was great fun to watch them go toe to toe with the Dutch midfield.
This is probably a bit off topic, but there aren't very many successful teams anywhere that don't have a destroyer. Agree 100% that the 2-way destroyer is ideal, but, well, there just aren't all that many of them. And if you've got a good #10 you don't need your d-mid to do as much offensively. In fact, if he's too good offensively it can just confuse things -- a great piece by Phil Ball on Soccernet a few weeks back talked about this idea using Spanish sides as an example (Zidane/Makalele for example).
he is a pretty good player, but definitely a position where it would be possible to improve.He is not on a level with Beez,Landon, an in-form Mathis, Pope or Boca. He is a level below those guys in terms of over-all ability.
A destroyer with passing skills is desirable. I think that barring injury Clark is going to be a super stud that will put Mastro on the bench.
But the thing is, is that we have a candidate in John O'Brien who CAN be that 2-way destroyer. I fully believe that he is every bit as good as Roy Keane. And I think he'll get that chance once we get into qualifying.
Ya, that's right. I TOTALLY forgot about how it says in the rules fouls don't count when they're not "physically hurtful".
I respectfully disagree. JOB is simply not a physical enough tackler nor does he have the workrate of Armas or Mastoreni. Once again, playing without a destroyer might work better. But JOB is not a destroyer.
Thanks for the reply blech. Also, a little late, but in the first half I think it was (maybe early second half) a Galaxy player dribbled down the right side past Pablo, and Pablo simply took him out from frustation. Noone else mentioned this so I thought I would. thanks
I prefer healthy Reyna over either Armas or Mastroeni. Reyna is very underrated as a defensive player. He wins just as many balls very rarely miss a tackle. I like Mulrooney over Armas and Mastroeni as well. He can defend, has good skill and first touch, and plus he has speed.
Armas had a great match today. Won't talk specifics because of the [R] but I thought he was or best player against NZ
armas played the destroyer role to a tee...but i think once again he demonstrated why he only works in a five-man midfield. he added nothing to the attact...even less than twellman. armas wins the ball then passes it off to a teamate and that's the end of his role...when he's out there we basically have 5 defenders....he provides nothing to the attack in a four man midfield.