I'd say the teams are about equal. And you would expect Jamaica to attack in waves. Lazaroni didn't and will watch the 2006 WC from a place other than on the field in Germany.
I agree, there's something wrong. You could make an argument that the attacking Jamaican players on the field last night shoud have given the US defense fits, considering who we had out there. They had VERY FEW chances, or even half-chances. There didn't seem to be any urgency out there, as Celo pointed out during the broadcast. Maybe they just need their Bruce Arena to appear.
And now for something completely different... ..I loved the retro-uniforms....... ....and those sox.......WHERE could one possible find something that hidiously beautiful.
Maybe not C team, but we did start Corralles, Ralston, Albright, and Sanneh hasn't exactly been around the nats much lately. B team I suppose, but I was a bit afraid that Jamaica would run right through the defense we put out there last night. Thankfully they seemed disinterested...
Yes but listing several WC squad players is not the Starting "A" team either. In fact, other than Landon Donovan, I don't see a sure fire "A" team starter in the bunch.
I agree the game was poorly planned, but when bringing the usual excuses: no need to risk your body, rainy field, not our first team, no need for a result, down a man,etc. it makes it more palatable a result..... Still, we were a lucky Jamaican goal away from having them play us instead of Panama.....Thank goodness the Jamaican were as uninspired as i've ever seen them, because their poor play was for the most part not a result of any great game plan of our own team Besides Corrales, i think the guy who should have been there to close down the right side of defense was Albright, no? Funny that he (Chris) had an overall decent game, while i keep thinking he should watch USMNT games from the bench at worst, from TV at best.....
7 of 11? EJ--is he really in our starting 11 already? KK--maybe 1/3 of our starting goalkeeper position Sanneh--NO Pablo--50/50 at best to be a starter Cory--Excuse me, was he the starter over Pope or Bocanegra, I forgot. You have 2 of 6 field players who are consensus starting 11. At this point, the others on your list are in the top 18 (except maybe not Sanneh). If you consider the anyone in the top 18 to be on our A- team, then you may have more of a point. You're definitely right, it's not a C team. But it's a 'B' team at best. Most people would consider Pope, Boca, DMB, OBrien/Reyna (both injured, per always), and maybe Clint to be our consensus high tone players. None were there. Depth is a nice thing, huh?
Realistically, this was neither A-team nor C-team, but a blend. Andy Mead is going to far too one extreme, just as calling the US lineup a C-team was also too far to the other extreme. Keller, Donovan and McBride are clear A-team players based on how often they have played this year in meaningful matches and/or their longer-term roles with the US Nat's. Other A-teamers who were not at this game were Pope, Boca, Friedel, Hejduk, Cherundolo, Reyna, O'Brien, Beasley, Wolff, Berhalter, and Mathis. I would call Mastro, Gibbs, Sanneh and Johnson B-teamers in 2004. Other B-teamers who were not at this game were Casey, Howard, Walker, Convey, Lewis, Armas, Zavagnin, Vanney, Ching, Klein, and Jones. C-teamers who played were Oneywu, Ralston, Albright, Dempsey, Spector, and Twellman. Other C-teamers apparently in camp were Martino, Suarez, Califf, Cannon. C-teamers not here are too numerous to mention. I'm not sure where Corrales fits in. Is there any point in a D-team? Granted, you can debate endlessly who qualifies as an A or B. And some of these players are in the process of moving from one category to the other. For example, Johnson would have been a C-teamer early in the year and is arguably pushing for A-team status right now. I hope he is A-team in the Hex and WC06. Berhalter and Mathis may be on the way to B-team status. But it is pretty clear that Arena's lineup against Jamaica was a collection of players from accross the spectrum of US status, abilities and potential. It was a "mixed bag" and the game turned out looking like a "mixed bag".
I thought we looked alright until the red card. We also had most of the possession in the first half. Besides, when you are expecting a team to come at you, counterattacking is what you want.
I have this friend, Nelson, who will mention that he lived in Jamaica for one year, whenever Jamaica gets brought up. He says, "Bottles and Boobs! That's all I remember, Bottles and Boobs! I was in no condition to remember anything else!" So everyone kind of says, "Oh, it was one of those years..." Well last week, he said it again, and something in my head clicked, I said, "Nelson, were you born in Jamaica?" He said, "Yeah, haven't I been saying that?"
My take on last night: It started off so well. I hoped we could keep it up but I thought the ridiculous take down by Corrales stole our thunder and we took our foot off the gas. Whenever i have to ask over and over who is that wearing a Nats jersey, you know our team is crap. Why start 5-6 guys who will not play in the next round when you could play the 2nd teamers and give them more experience? And if you want to give them time off, then why play Landon (he probably played in more games than anyone else this year)? Kasey doesnt make the big save in the second half we lose. Eddie Johnson is the real deal. McBride needs to make way for Wolff or Mathis. Why sell Adu jerseys but not let him play in this meaningless game? Sanneh is finished. I would rather have Albright in the back than Frankie.. Where have you gone Bobby Convey?
I think the way we jumped right out of the gate and put pressure on immediately made it hard to watch the game after the wind was taken out of our sails. After the PK, it seemed like the guys were OK with playing for the tie, which is fine because they had already advanced. I personally would have liked to see them put together more strings of possession like they had early on but I think they did a decent job given who was out there, the weather, etc. There are definitely players who could have done better and players whose placement on the roster was questionable. There were some frustrating points to watch (like always) but all in all it wasn't a pile of crap like some assert.