Here's my article evaluating each player in the USA V. Canada game with an eye towards whether they helped or hurt their chances of making the 2006 World Cup team. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/NationalTeams/1043013906/view -Tron
Excellent stuff, Tron. BTW, it's good to see topdrawersoccer back up and in action. I unsuccessfully tried accessing the site on draft day and the following weekend and was getting a little worried you guys weren't coming back.
reassessment This is cool Tron, but just reading through a couple of them... You fail to note how bad Landon was around the goal. What happened to his ability to finish - let alone his burst to get into position? He got two assists but is looking dull and cheeky in the box. Bad combination. Cunningham: almost created a goal in the first minute. As it was he was pulled down, defender shoulda been carded and Victorine almost/shoulda? scored on the ensuing free kick. JC's dribbling won us corners. He created the third goal by running at the defenders (have you never seen this tactic where a follow-up man gets the second ball? watch Argentina deal with a packed box.) He was robbed on another call where he got behind the defense, but let's look at his "head down" play. He made checking runs to make simple connective passes and then he took Mathis' back heel cooly in traffic then laid off a perfect square pass to Landon, only to watch Donovan miss the sitter. The score at the time: 0-0. Also the US was up 3-0 at half-time. Not a bad 45 minutes for Cunningham. And so much (Bill Archer, Karl Keller etc.) for his not being able to dish the rock.
Great article, Malcolm. Regarding your opinion of Arena emphasizing the long passing game (I haven't seen the game yet), a little to add about Gooch at Metz since you're talking about 2006. It's probably known now that he finally got some playing time with the first team this weekend and what I've been told was the most impressive thing about his debut was his passing skills. In particular his long passes. A thread on the Metz forum was started just to talk about "les touches d'Oguchi." Granted, Onyewu is playing in a division probably inferior to MLS, but this was against Bordeaux, one of the better teams in League1.
Malcom, I enjoyed reading your evaluations. Contrary to others, I would not suggest adding number ratings. This approach/format distinguishes your evals from others......such as Bob Wagman at Soccertimes. Besides, I didn't see the match and in this case prefer more descriptive reviews. A few thoughts: Convey and Victorine at fullbacks - Could it be that BA is trying to get as many SKILLFUL players on the field as possible even if it means re-defining players roles on the field. Clearly, their ability to play in the midfield at the club level (or even forward) gives the USA a different element to our game. Remember Leonardo playing fullback for Brazil in 1994. I had to chuckle when I considered Sasha and Klein on one side of the field and DMB and Convey on the other. The big lads on the right and the wee lads on the left. While Clint cannot and should not blame others for his failures or better yet, underachievement,......OZ was definately hurting his cause. The real Clint will stand-up under Arena and Bradley. Danny Califf is interesting. Many claim he is prone to big blunders at critical times. Well, I have yet to witness any of Agoosian proportions but I'm sure he has made his share of mistakes. BUT,....consider that he stepped into the breach in Australia when the Olympic team needed him and aquitted himself well. Not to mention he starts for the MLS Champions, by far the best team MLS has ever produced. Maybe ths kid has something. Maybe he is just a winner. Steve Ralston simply deserves a prolonged look at this level. He has been too consistent in MLS. Maybe he just needs time to get comfortable with the whole scene. Nick Garcia's opportunity was a long time coming. When I think of all the caps given to Jeff Agoos, I want to vomit. Given the reasonable depth we have at forward, McBride, Mathis, Wolf (when healthy), Donovan (if he is not already our attacking midfielder), Razov, I think Twellman will be a great spark off the bench. Rimando somehow gets it done. I am not a big fan of small goalies (Paul Gardner can keep Jorge Campos and his tanned supple forarms) but this guy is a shot stopper. Enjoy the Argentina match!
Thanks guys. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. I sometimes do give numerical ratings, and I have no problem doing so. But in general I'm not too big on them simply because there is very little range in them. The typical ratings never give a 7 unless someone had "player of the month" type game, and everybody is usually slotted somewhere between 5.0 and 6.5, which makes it hard to really discern who is doing well and who is not. But at any rate, everything is subjective anyway. Our focus for this piece was to try and evaluate what players helped their cause for making the USMNT both in the near future and for the 2006 World Cup. As such, numbers would have been difficult because they wouldn't have been reflective solely of the performance, but rather reflective of the performance as it relates to the standard of play of the competition for that position. So, it might have been more confusing than it was worth for this particular article. -Tron
I appreciated the descriptives but love the numbers too, I find them more specific, i.e., a finer point. Either way, good job and I look forward to your Argentina review.
Unfortunatly I didn't get to see this game so I have some questions: Can anyone comment on how Landon did defensivly? If he is gonna be in the midfield he as to play some defense, and I always thought he relied on his speed and fouling too much Did DMB and Convey basically switch back and forth over the course ofthe game? IMHO this Arena's over-all goal. DMB proved in the WC that he can be a VERY good defensive player. If Convey can prove to be such a defensive player 2 than you suddenly have a lot of versatility over there. Perhaps this is why he liked Cherundolo at RB. Again defensivly...was the over all strategy to funnel Canada up the gut of the US defense? To go along woth ideas of Backs being more offensive.
Landon's Finishing Noah Dahl brought up an interesting thought that was prominent on the boards for a few weeks last March. Essentially, quite a few posters were alarmed at Landon's finishing technique in the routing of Honduras in March of 2002. Essentially, with Landon free'd up one on one with the goalie, on two different break away's, he attempted to dribble around the goalie and slot a low shot in the corner netting. He was successful on both goals, but many posters brought up what they perceived as his his habit of overdribbling, and his inability to fire off, in hockey terminology, top shelf shots (essentially, he doesn't always put a lot of mustard on his shots, and he has a hard time hitting the top netting, instead, often driving the ball into corners at a rather low level). Having watched him for two season's in San Jose (I live in the East Bay), and having seen about 2/3's of his USMNT appearances I'd have to say that this might be a concern worthy of noting. At this stage Landon is by far the most dynamic national, we've probably ever produced, he's the most talented off the dribble, one on one, and he's one of the best, if not the best, distributors we've produced, and finally he's one of the fastest, and most natural scorers we've ever had. Hence, the brilliant "Baby Jesus" gloss, however, what Noah Dahl, and others last March brought up, appears less nit picky to me now, than it did then. At this stage, we have a far better understanding of how much of a talent we have in Landon, after that Honduras game Landon found himself nearly able to score against Germany in a friendly, prolific in the World Cup, again very solid with San Jose despite a rather weak offensive supporting cast, and in general, quite prolific in friendlies. We know we've got a very talented player here. So is what Noah Dahl brought up, and what those March posters brought up, our main concern with Landon? Or is it just more nit picking? Any thoughts and perspectives would be very much appreciated.
I think fans have to decide if they want Landon (Baby Jesus) to be a true mid - which means being an effective finisher. Not, perhaps, a sublime one. A mid needs great vision, stamina, speed, defensive skills, great ball control - things I really wish Mathis would work on, but hey, Clint manages to finish well, which is a forward's main job. Sure, I think Landon could and should work on his finishing, but I don't think it'll even be much of an issue if he continues to develop this along with the parts of his game that are already pretty advanced. Speaking of, who as a midfielder should Donovan emulate? I just don't think it's really fair to compare his scoring skills to forwards. Of course, the fans can always hope and wish for him to improve, but give him credit for how good he is now, and be realistic about what's most important for him to develop to play his position well.
Landon has routinely had trouble finishing and it is definitely a weak point for Landon, but Landon's biggest problem is that fans think he is a lot better than he is. I don't know how often on these forums I've seen people say things like Landon is one of the top 20 players in the world, etc. Landon is very good, but there are a lot of club teams in the world where Landon probably wouldn't start (Arsenal and Real for sure). Landon has two great abilities his vision and anticipation (they work together) and his speed. Landon is a good dribbler, but I'm not sure he is the best current US dribbler (Anybody remember Reyna turning Davids inside out? JOB and DMB also have been known to beat a player or two and are probably better at it than Landon) and he definitely isn't the best at beating players off the dribble to have played for the nats (Tab Ramos in his hay day for instance). Landon is suspect on defense, a spotty finisher, and has the tendancy to drift out of games while he's playing in the middle of the midfield. Landon needs to develop and be developed and hopefully Landon will be at the right place to reach his potential, but the hopes of the US don't ride on Landon's shoulders in 06. The key for success in 06 will be for everybody that plays on the field to be at Landon's level of play. He really is the standard for being this century's Nat. Can we find Landon caliber players to replace Stewart, Berhalter, Hejduk, Agoos, Regis, JMM, Llamosa and McBride by 2006? That's the key. And realizing that while we have some great players none of them are superstars capable of carrying the US to the semis in 06 ala Maradona.
I'll take a team apporoach that was a hair away from getting us there in '02. And I would even argue your premise that none of our are players are superstars. Maybe not quite yet, but Donovan, Mathis, and Beasley are WELL on their way. Good article and review. Keep 'em coming.
landon has had some trouble with his finishing, no question. ironically, maybe his best "finish", was his left-footed blast which genghis khan parried away with the tip of his finger. of course, this isn't even an exception which proves the rule, but maybe the rule itself. i remember in early 2001 i think it was when bruce was quoted to the effect that landon was the u.s.' "best finisher". i wonder if he still feels that way now. and not only does landon have trouble finishing at times, but he often passes up shots which many world class or not even world class players might attempt, instead looking for that perfect pass, which usually goes awry inside the box. basically, for me anyway, he needs to be more selfish. i didn't see the canada game so i can't comment on (though he did have two sweet assists) whether he was dribbling and doing too much fancy stuff in and around the box, but sometimes the kid just needs to let fly and let the chips fall where they may. maybe as a 20 year old he doesn't feel like he can do this, and has to first think of feeding others so they get their chance. but ultimately he can't feel that way, and has to take the aggressive approach. and stay after practice on work on those upper shelf one-timers.
The kid's got it in him. No question. I remember him going hard top corner with the U-17's, first time and on the run when he could have simply slotted the keeper. Then look at his goals in the 2001 MLS playoffs. Deadly with both feet. Arena said he was the 2nd best finisher - next to Mathis, as I recall. That's why I wonder about his mentality at this point. I love his vision and lack of selfishness. But maybe he's thinking he can't be all things - alternately playmaker and goal hero - at his age. Against Canada he fluffed at least one open goal, and again I can't tell if he was being cheeky. But on other occasions he simply didn't charge the goal or wasn't reading the play to put himself in position to score. I think that's worse. If his shooting comes and goes then let him dribble into the goal - a la El Salvador. That's great, as long as he's thinking like a goalscorer. Humility is great, but I hope his presumptuousness (presumption?) isn't going away.
Landon's defense P.S. I think his defense is great. It is reliant on speed and fouling, but also workrate and intelligence. He doesn't have to be a great tackler if he can cover the kind of ground he did at the World Cup. (P.P.S. Talk about covering ground - Landon circa that El Salvador game mentioned above. We'll never see the likes of that again.)
re: Donvan vs. Canada I don't remember him hesitating vs. Germany in Korea. I wished his shots were a bit better, but I don't remember him hesitating. Maybe his pass first, shoot second performances vs. El Salvador and Cananda could be explained by him being in more of a midfielders' mind-set.
Goal scorers have the ability to dismiss a mistake. Landon gets too heated after shooting and not scoring. In soccer forwards fail much more than they succeed. Good finishers are often happy go lucky. Mathis doesn't get too excited about not scoring on a particular play. Reyna never turned into a scorer because he always wanted to be perfect. His passing is very safe and as a result he completes a very high percentage. Hopefully over time Donovan doesn't aquire the same style as Reyna.
This is typical bs on BS. They guy missed one sitter, for cryin' out loud. When do the "Donovan sucks" threads begin?
Last I checked Donovan has missed a handful of sitters. He missed an easy opportunity as far back as the Olympics and he had a terrible gaffe again vs Korea and they keep going. Donovan is *not* a prolific finisher. We have won of those, he's from Georgia. Donovan is a great player, don't get me wrong, but he has made a habit of squandering chances just not on the level of say Andy Cole.
As I recall from a recent interview with Donovan (in late December) he was asked what he was going to work on in his game this year (or something like that) and he said his finishing and being more aggressive and demanding of the ball more. So maybe he's trying to work on it. In fact, in many interviews I've heard him say he knows he needs to work on his finishing. I think he'll get there.
I want to criticize this kid, really I do. However unlike so many of you, I'm not qualified. I think he'll do fine though.
He is still 20, isn't he? Landon has not yet been used where, IMO, he should be on the national team. The last two games are about as close as it comes. He plays best as a withdrawn and it has shown in the last two games. Not only has he been out of position, he hasn't been consistently played in the same position. Look at K/J. He played in a different place each game. IAOTO that once he gets some consistency with the natties, we'll start to see some consistency from a scoring perspective. I think he's a fairly young player too.
Well, technically speaking, I think I can read what you've WRITTEN, but I don't wanna get all intellectual on yous guys.