Which nation? Seriously, there's no way Ali is even on the radar screen for national team duty. And rightly so. He has a few skills, holds the ball well and makes some good runs. On pretty much any other MLS team he'd be a solid offensive substitute. In short, Ali's not that underrated.
Jonny needs to stear clear of the bad neighborhoods in DC, and the crack he smoked along the way. Curtis works damn hard, but if everyone on the DC roster is fit and on their game, he should never see the field.
Ali Rules Ali may not be nat caliber right now, but he is progressing quickly and is a become more and more dangerous.
Ok, call me dumb, or just not up on the politics of the Nat'l team Esky, Hermann Trophy winner, 1st season, gets capped. Ali, Hermann trophy winner, 4? seasons, no caps. Ali has been more productive in a creative sense, certainly. He has improved since last year, and seems to have something several more notable players don't always, DRIVE, a willingness to give all he has. I am not so egocentric as to believe Bruce Arena ( or anyone else for that matter) gives 2/3 of a damn about my opinion, but by the end of the season, maybe Ali should get that one cap, even as if a sub/reserve. Mark
It's good to see someone else wondering why people drool over Esko when he has yet to show why he deserves it. Well, at the non-youth team level, at least.
Worst thread ever? Wow--lots of competition for that title (I'd nominate the speculation this winter that Quaranta had a drug problem as his "personal" reason for leaving Florida). Curtis adds a lot to DCU right now. But he is relatively limited in what he brings (effort, some speed, aggressiveness to his game, willingness to take people on, unselfish). There are easily a half-dozen American strikers who bring those same elements and more. McBride. Donovan. Wolff. Joe Max Moore. Brian Ching. Eddie Johnson. Chris Albright. Sasha Victorine. Dante Washington. Then there are other strikers who don't bring those same elements (Cunningham, Buddle, Twellman, Kreis, Quaranta, Mathis, Stewart, Cobi Jones, Chris Carrieri, Jovan Kirovski) but have shown more internationally and/or with their clubs. In otherwords, Curtis has a lot of players who are deservedly ahead of him for the National side--b/c they are significantly better, significantly more talented, and have better results. As for why Eskandarian's callup? Well, he wasn't--it was Quaranta. And remember, it was on an MLS weekend and the only players Arena called up were from DCU and SJ (who weren't playing that weekend), red-carded players and Euro guys who's season had ended. When Quaranta went down, only then did Eskandarian get called in as an injury replacement. And while I admire everything Curtis brings to the side (and I did post earlier that he and Stoichkov should continue to start until they prove they aren't working), how many goals/assists does Curtis have? I believe it's 0-0. Quaranta has a goal and 2 assists now. Eskandarian has 2 goals.
Ali playing for the Nats? Wouldn't he just be a bald-headed Cobi Jones? Don't get me wrong, Esky is doing it for DCU but I don't think he would get called up over any of our other forwards that are currently playing for the Nats.