Reyna re-injures groin- out after New Year....

But Reyna's game isn't built around his athletic ability like Giggs is. His game could be starting to decline but its not readily noticable when he plays guys at his talent level in the Premiership. But I wouldn't be too surprised if your right and his game is starting to wear a bit. But solmeone has to take that position away and it takes more than being 7 years younger to do that

 

Just watched the Man U - Newcastle game and Man U won playing with 10 1/2 men....The 1/2 man missing was the other half of the old Roy Keene...this guy used to be box to box....now he is edge of center circle to edge of center circle....he organises, doesn't give the ball away. makes simple passes but IMO his legs are gone...I'm sure SAF realises this but Keene is such a leader/bully that he may be around for one more season.....for sure no more than that...I feel that Reyna is coming to the end of an illustriouis career, age is catching up to him, injuries linger and are more frequent and harder to shake off....there are few things worse than staying with a player past his "sell by" date....and Reyna is close to his "sell by" date...

 

I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you saying if he had played with the reserves he wouldn't have reinjured himself?

 

but heres the thing. Manchester United have Kleberson, Flether, John O'Shea, and even Eric Djemba-Djemba. We have Kerry Zevagnin and Chris Armas. Does no one else see this? Reyna might be getting worse, but our options aren't even close to as good as he is yet. Except for John O'Brien. IMHO. I sincerly hope that someone like Ricardo Clark or Clint Depmsey or Danny Szetela proves me wrong. This isn't about age or loyalty. This about playing the best player at the position.

 

If Reyna is still the best player at the position then I think the USA has real problems....

 

then so be it. but do you think the other options we have at this position are better than Reyna?

 

First off, this sucks. Hopefully Reyna makes a full recovery. Regardless if you think he should be starting 11 or not, Reyna should be included in any USA squad. Remember World Cup 2002 -- you need a full squad with games in such close proximity. We're a better team with Claudio Reyna.

However, looking forward, there's a huge opportunity for players like Clint Dempsey, Ricardo Clark, and Richard Mulrooney to provide an alternative in case of continued injuries to Reyna and O'Brien. And, hopefully Donovan continues his ascent into a leadership role and provides some of the intangibles Reyna does.

If this had to happen, though, you couldn't ask for a better time..still a year and a half to go.

 

I think we can all agree with this.
As for his role with the USMNT, it's clearly nearing an end, injury or not. He may have another two years left at that level, putting that much stress on his body between club and country, but he really may not.
I'd agree that no one right now plays that role at a level equal to JOB or reyna. But i don't know if that matters anymore. With their injury history, they have to be at least very close to international retirement, they have to think about cutting back on games to extend their professional careers.
But, while I'd hate to see them both go, this is where the rubber meets the road, and we see if what we believe is out golden generation can step in and replace the best from the last generation.
I agree with appoonu that heading into Germany with KZ in that role is a big step down ( I really like KZ, but he's not at their level), but we've got two years to find someone.

 

Depends. If Armas is on the field, we absolutely must have a holding midfielder (your definition). With three midfielders with a modicum of ball skills and the ability to complete simple passes, dribble out of pressure, and not completely panic when a defender comes within the same tv frame as them, we don't need a holding midfielder.

 

thats not very easy to find. Ask Manchester United as the midfielders are having all kinds of problems this season with this. You also forgot something. Physical strength to hold up to challenges under intense pressure for an extended period of time. I think Donovan, as he is physically very strong, can do this but I think it'll take a lot out of him. For an example of what I'm talking about consider the current criticism of Bobby Convey and consider Freddy Adu's play with DC United. I don't believe that Beasley or Convey are strong enough and durable enough on the ball to with stand this kind of pressure either. Plus, I don't think I'd want them gto have those reponsibilities because I'd rather have them attack.

See the beauty of having Claudio Reyna on the field is that it allows our attacking midfielders the freedom of not having to worry about coming back to release pressure. More often than not, they can trust Reyna to hold the ball under pressure, and release it to the attackers. Take him away, and you'll see Donovan and Beasley dropping back very deep to simply get the ball.

 

I hope the coaches and players believe the same. Actually, we and they have to start believing that because the reality is we cannot count on either of them to be healthy.

 

Whatever. Reyna has been a great Captain for the US whether he gets another cap or not. Everytime I've seen him play for club or country he has played his guts out. That doesn't mean he's ALWAYS been the best on the pitch or at his best level but he's always played the best he can and thats all I can ask.

Screw all you sceptics. Smile. You're as free as you want to be.

Malk.

 

I agree with appoonu that Reyna (or JOB) are essential for the US to compete with Holland, Brazil, Spain etc. Perhaps we could be a good defend and counter team against a top team without Reyna, and not have much possession...I'll agree with that much. But if we want to actually play these teams and not just defend and hope for a counter, without Reyna (or JOB) we are in trouble.

For example, Reyna was about the only calming presence against Holland earlier this year. With Zavagnin in his place, the quality of passing out of the back is just not there compared to Reyna, and Armas is just horrible at everything but tackling. Maybe we could do without Reyna if we play with LD and maybe Gaven in the middle, and then Beasley and someone else on the wings, but this would be a very very different team. Perhaps more of a play up the wings type of team or direct long balls up top for layoffs to LD/Gaven etc. We could not build out of the back like we can with Reyna. Now maybe that would be a more effective team, because I will be the first to admit that Reyna is not exactly the world's greatest at invoking a good quick attack. He does like to fiddle around with it and isn't always very direct. Also, he rarely makes a cutting run himself. So with a team with speed like we have now with LD, Beasley and EJ, maybe a quicker more directly attacking team is a better option.

Regardless, though, for now Reyna certainly fits into our starting squad, both in terms of talent and in terms of how much our team needs someone who won't cough the ball up in the middle of the field when we are playing against a team like Holland where such turnovers would be disastrous.

 

I refuse to ignore quality opposition from within CONCACAF - doing so would unjustly sell both us and the region short. Mexico is a quality side - and the last time we played them, we won without either Reyna or OBrien.
But if you must have a non-concacaf opponent - the last time we played one was Poland which we tied - no claudio. the previousl time we played poland we beat them with reyna... so obviously he made the difference? Would the USA have lost by 3-4 goals had Reyna not played against Holland?

I guess what bugs me is that you chose 1 sentence out of my post and responded to it while seemingly ignoring the basis for that sentence... and even the line you chose to quote you missed the point... i said I have to believe we can win - not that we regularly win without them.

If you don't think we can beat quality opponents without JOB or CR - then I'm guessing you dont't we'd be able to beat anyone good with players taht are currently healthy? Is that true?

 

Damn it...No Reyna or JOB. Oh well...I suppose it could be worse. At least it's not during Hex time...

 

I might - MIGHT - agree we need either/or to beat Holland, Brazil, Spain (I won't agree we need them to COMPETE) as of right now. But that may not be the case 1 1/2 years from now by the time we get to Germany. Someone or multiple someones could arrive on the scene or those already on the scene mature to the point where they more than fill what Reyna and/or JOB bring to the team. (I reiterate - look at what Donovan/Beasley did at WC02) That's all I'm saying. And with the rate that those two get hurt, well.....

[And I responded to the post initially that said, "well, we haven't done it yet," by simply saying that just because we haven't done it doesn't mean we won't be able to do it. Back in 2000, who would have thought we'd have stood toe to toe with Germany at the World Cup in 2002 and outplay them? Ya gotta believe, people!]

 

Reyna wouldn't have made a difference against the Poland match in Chicago because Poland simply bunkered for 90 minutes. Thats about finishing more than anything else. And you have a good point about the Mexico match. But even then, Armas and Zevagnin did very little in that match as Donovan and Beasley and Convey and Hejduk and Wolff simply brutualized Mexico. Get our attacking players to play that well then yea we can easily play with a pair of destroyers rather than central middies.

I'll grant you your point. Yes it would be possible for us to win against just about anyone without Reyna or O'Brien. But I would suggest the chances of doing so sharply decrease.

 

So, who exactly was arguing again the Kerry Z., Pablo Mastoeni, and Chris Armas are in the league of Claudio Reyna, who has captained Rangers and played for 2 EPL sides?

Its obvious Reyna gives us an incredible step up in our midfield general role offensively from the alternatives. However, we don't need him or JOB to realistically be healthy until WC 2006. So I'm not particularly concerned yet, I think we can qualify past the Hex with the midfield we've been playing, although I wouldn't mind a Ricardo Clark coming out party next season to boost my confidence.

 

Time for other players to step up. There were times when Tab Ramos was injured all the time and people couldn't rely completely on him being fit to guide the team. IN some ways I think that may have aided in Reyna's development and seasoning as team captain. I see it no differently today with players like Donovan and the younger generation having to fill in when the vets are hurt - it's good for them and it isn't as though none of them had the benefit of playing with Reyna before. I think that some fans may have just forgotten that without Reyna in the pre 98 days, the USA might've been even more sunk.

Claudio Reyna could add a lot to the team provided he's health yand plays beyond his now natural abilities. Same with John O'Brien. But given the two players propensity to injury, it would have been totally inexcusable for Bruce Arena to not have a contingency plan in the event that niether of them were available.