These are the best 11 US players. How will Arena fit them on the field?

Lewis at LB, Reyna/O'Brien behind Donovan/Beasley in a box midfield. Pretty simple.

 

Unless you are down a couple goals or outman a team substantially, it would be sheer folly to start Dolo in a 3 man backline. In doing so, you almost completely take away his ability to get forward and thrown in great crosses (his greatest asset) and require him to perform more physical central defending (his greatest deficiency). You assert that he will be able to somehow get up the right flank in this line-up and I would respond that only a team willing to give up 5 goals to the Czechs in hopes they could outscore them 6-5 would even suggest such a scenario -- you cannot leave 2 central defender that exposed in the back -- you simply cannot. I could not forsee Dolo starting on a 3 man backline against any team at the world cup.

You pose and interesting question but I think you're right that BA will work some magic to get his best players onto the field. That said, he won't do this to the point of lunacy -- if the 6 best players on our team were keepers, he's obviously not going to play them all in the field.

Likewise, its hard for me to see Bruce playing Bobby at left back. While I am a huge fan of Convey and think he will get time on the field in Germany, I think it will be at his natural position in the midfield. From his only two appearances at the left back, it seems clear that Eddie has much, much better defending skills than Bobby, at this point. Moreover, I take issue with your conclusion that Bobby would be in our best XI over Lewis even at left mid. Yes, Bobby is having a wonderful season at Reading and I look forward to seeing him bring some of that here -- but Lewis can score goals (see Azteca) in addition to being the best crosser on the team. I think Bobby will eventually be as good and better than Lewis, but I've seen no evidence that this is the case now.

Finally, I think you've really got Bruce all wrong by assuming there is a "top XI" in the first place. You posit that that Mastro "just isn't in the top XI" but I would respond that if you are looking for a midfield Gattusoesque destroyer there is no one better on this team. Even assuming we have a healthy Reyna and JOB, I think there are situations where Bruce would elect to start Mastro based on the tactics he wishes to employ (quintessential example is Mexico '02). The fact is, Bruce will use the Top XI to execute the tactics he wants in any given situation which can cause an alteration of both our formation and personnel. Fortunately, we have many more tools to work with now then we did in '02. However, I think it is impossible to define a Top XI without specifying the tactics that Bruce will employ against a given opponent.

 

JOB can play at left wing-back where he did early in his career at Ajax.
I would go with:
---------Keller
Dolo Gooch Gibbs JOB
--------Reyna
DMB----------- Convey
------Donovan
GAM----------BMB

 

as much as that looks like a wonderful line-up, I'd be amazed if injuries, cards, and other concerns would allow us to see 9 or maybe even 8 of these guys on the field at the same time during WC2006.

 

Additionally, the other thing we need to look at how Bruce will strategically utilize his player so as not to wear them out with three matches over 10 days. While Gibbs, I would contend, is probably a better central defender than Boca when healthy, I'm not sure he's necessarily a better defender if he's exhasuted from playing 90 minutes in 2 games in a row. Likewise, my first choice line-ups for the first two matches would be as follows (assuming, of course, everybody is healthy):


---------------------KK-------------------
Dolo-------Gooch----------Gibbes-----Lewis
-----------------Mastro------------------
-------Reyna-----------------------------
---------------------------------DFB-----
------------------Landon-----------------
-------McBride----------------EJ----------

Likely subs (if winning):
Hejduk
JOB
Wolff
(if losing)
Convey
JOB

Then for Italy, we come back with the following (of course our line-up and tactics against Italy will almost certainly vary to some extent on the results of both our match against the Czechs and Italy's against Ghana -- for these purposes I'm assuming we got a draw against the Czechs):

-------------------KK--------------------
Dolo----Gooch----------Boca-------Hejduk
DFB-----Reyna----------JOB--------Convey
--------------------------Donovan
-------------McBride

Subs (if trailing)
EJ
Lewis
Wolff

Subs (if winning)
Mastro
Lewis

 

.................keller.................
......gooch....gibbs............
dolo...........................lewis
...............................................
...........reyna...job.............
..........donovan.....beas...
..............................................
.........ej.........mcbride.......


we attack down the left- its not that compicated. dolo gives us token width on the right, reyna and job stay central- reyna can drift out a bit if need be.

landon goes where he wants, mostly staying central behind the forwards and combining with beas.

 

I think that's as good a lineup as any. However, for some reason I think that BA will be hesitant to start JOB against both Italy and Czech. Accordingly, I see him possibly using O'Brien as a 60th minute sub against the Czechs and starting agains the Azzuri -- where I think possession will be at a premium.

 

-----------Keller-------------
'Dolo---Gooch---Gibbs---Lewis
------Reyna-------JOB-------
------LD----------DMB-------
------EJ----------BMB-------

It's a straight up box 4-4-2 as dfb547490 said.
Big and athletic at CB. Two good man markers.
Fast, skilled and good crossing at FB.
Two class holding midfielders/distributers who are creative offensively and solid defensively.
Two fast attacking midfielders who are creative and combine well. One makes the killer passes and the other makes space and counters. Both can take on the D one v. one.
Two forwards that are both good in the air. BMB is tireless, tracks back well and is a great assist man. EJ is athletic, quick and can be a deadly finisher. Both hold the ball well and move off the ball well. Both combine well with the attacking midfielders.

I'd put this lineup out against anyone. Period. Mastro and Hejduk being the main defensive subs in the event of a second half lead. CB subs would be Boca and Berhalter. Convey and Wolff being the main offensive subs in the event we need a late goal (maybe Rolfe too not sure). In the event we absolutely, absolutely have to have a destroyer then insert Mastro in the starting lineup for EJ or BMB and move LD up to forward and move JOB up to one the AM spots.

The only really big weakness here is perhaps a strong outside shot taker in the midfield. The midfield D might be considered a bit soft, but I'd take my chances.

 

I was wondering how you put together a team with 5 gks. But you have a different meaning of "best".

 

It's hard to see Bruce playing without a destroyer in the WC. JOB will be hurt, so put Pablo in his place.

 

It seems like all these formations are including Gibbs. He doesn't even have a team right now. Any ideas on where he might be going? And who's second in line behind him should he not look like the Gibbs of old?
I'm for Berhalter: he was definitely DA MAN against Mexico.
Arena seems to think that Eddie Pope still has a role. I hope not. He looked horrible against England-- not enough speed to be able to deal. I don't think the friendlies of the next couple of months will be able to expose this weakness, though. I'm afraid Pope will be this World Cup's Agoos. Arena will have false confidence in him on the basis of the performances of the next couple of months.

 

That would certainly redefine the notion of a bunkered defense.

 

Pope is on his way out, IMO, unless he somehow dominates in the next few friendlies.

No rumors yet on Gibbs. He's probably thinking that playing time will be his #1 concern, and will aim for a short contract. If he can get fit and earn two frist round starts for the US this June, he should not have trouble landing a good job this fall in Europe. To that end, we might see him on an MLS side this spring.

Barring injury, Beerholder should be going to Germany (and, as a WC vet, likely keeping Pope off the squad).

 

Even if JOB and Reyna are both healthy, one of them will sit vs. Italy (or we'll go 3-5-2) and Mastro will be given the task of making Totti's night a living hell. I also think Boca or possibly even Berhalter starts at CB over Gibbs in that game.

 

Yup, this is how you get a 3-6-1.

I'll even cut the OP some slack on the goalkeeper issue. However, Mastro and Lewis are both better players than Gibbs. Okay, so Mastro may also have more caps as a defender for the national team than Gibbs,too. So we'll put him at CB, because 'it gets our best players on the field', or Lewis at CB, an even better team. But it does get our best players on the field.

More specific? Let's get our best midfielders on the field? Sure. Mastro is head and shoulders a better d-mid than either Reyna or O'Brien. They are clearly better 2-way mids than Mastro, and would generally be considered better players. So if you really need a d-mid, you're going to put Reyna or O'Brien out of position there, creating a weaker team, because 'it gets our best players on the field'.

 

I think everyone is approximately in right spots here. But I don't think we will see a box in the midfield. With a box, I don't think we utilise our best asset, which is speed. I believe beasley will be playing wider and donovan may get pushed out wide too.

Up front we just gotta hope GAM gets back to his old form. And who woulda thought that an Armas injury may come back to hurt the US? If there is no Reyna/JOB/Mastro available for the center, I would rather see Armas acting as a d-mid than anyone else. Of course when he got injured I didn't think that all three of those guys could possibly be sidelined at the same time.

 

Arena will have a different strategy, formation, and lineup for each game. Based on past experience he has done a pretty good job of coming up with these for our big games. A few qualifying road games maybe not but overall this is one of his best qualities as a coach. I am willing to wait and see what he comes up with and not take it personally if his lineup is not in agreement with what I think.

 

Agree 100%, I look for us to maybe go with a 5 man midfield against the czechs maybe try and get an early goal or two (ala portugal) then go with a 4-4-2 with a holding midfield (pablo) against italy and against ghana depends what we need from the game.

 

Neither Dolo nor Lewis are going to be defenders in a 3 back system. It's not going to happen against any real opponant so just forget about it. It's not realistic.

This is just wrong. First off, Lewis did play some leftback at San Jose, and 2nd, Lewis is a good 2 way outside mid, he's done a good job defensively. There have been loads of times that he has had to cover back for an overlaping leftback, it's just the nature of the game. You've overstated his lack of defensive tactical awareness.

Again, pointless. Neither player is a good choice in a 3 man backline, it's not going to happen against real competition.

It's not a crazy move to convert outside mids to outside defenders. You're making too much of this. Lets see how it goes. He's been fine so far.

 

Excellent post.

Bruce will use his players to fit the tactics that he thinks will work against each opponant. This may mean that 14, 15, or even 16 guys will all get starts in the 3 group games. Look what he did last time.

Mastro certainly has to be considered even if everyone is healthy.

 

bruce is going to shock us with atleast 1 guy in the starting line up that will make us scratch our heads.

i remember being in a BS aim chat room right before the US-Portugal game (early, still dark outside forgot the hour),,the mass confusion at the starting line up was funny...but it worked like a charm

i have a feeling one of our best 11 isnt going to start the first game

 

-----------------McBride---EJ--------------

-------------------Donovan----------------

--Bease------O'brien-----Reyna------Dolo--

-----------Boca----Gooch----Gibbs--------

--------------------Keller------------------

3-5-2

prime subs: Mastroeni, Convey, berhalter

 

I've read this before and I don't know why anyone would want this lineup.

It doesn't make any sense to bring Beasley furthur away from goal with more defensive responsibilities in order to get Cherundolo closer to goal with more offensive duties.

You would be better off playing those 11 in a 4-4-2