TnT absent... It seems that Taylor Twellman is absent again from the Nats roster against Mexico. Has the staff already given up on him? or is there something I'm missing?
The fact of the matter is this: Twellman is but one of many talented young players trying to get a foot-hold in the player pool for the National Team, and he's not going to be called into camp for every match. For a game of this magnatidue, even for a friendly, Arena seemingly wants the most experienced attacking force he can field, especially in attack. Twellman will get his opportunities, and to be honest, I'm glad he wasn't called up for this one, a game that's likely to be physical, demanding (heat & humidty of Houston), and less that 48 before a key Revolution contest, a re-match of MLS Cup. Maybe he'll get called in for the New Zealand match, maybe the Gold Cup... who knows, but the opportunities will come. The Magpie
Top 10 American MLS prospects I was thining of posting this in today's news, but it might be better here. Did people see Marc Connolly's recent article on ESPN.com, Ready for the big stage (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=265853&cc=5901)? He polled "close to a dozen MLS general managers, coaches, players, agents and soccer aficionados who are 'in the know' in one shape or form", to come up with the list of the top 10 American prospects in MLS who could be come international stars, as well as a few honerable mentions (Adin Brown made this list). his intro to the "Others" might interest people: "What intrigued me was that only one person mentioned Clint Mathis, and that was a G.M. who listed him as a "questionable." Same went for Bobby Convey and Ben Olsen. There wasn't a Taylor Twellman mention; there wasn't a Josh Wolff mention; and there was no sign of Nick Rimando's name. There were several players given to me in their place. (Heck, Mike Clark even got a nod.)"
Coincidently (and I hope this hasn't been mentioned elsewhere already), there's also a recent Boot Room on espn.com "Arena on MLS", in which he answers a question on players we haven't seen on the National Team that he's watching. Here's his answer (which does include a few players that have payed a few minor international games already): "Arena: If we do it geographically, in New England, Adin Brown is someone I'm watching closely. He's played well so far and has a real upside. And we'll keep an eye on Taylor Twellman. With the MetroStars, obviously Tim Howard and Eddie Pope, and we want to see if Clint can get back in form. With D.C. United, we want to see Bobby Convey continue to move forward as a player and we also want to get Ben Olsen back in here, to see if he's back to full health. In Chicago, we continue to watch DaMarcus Beasley and Carlos Bocanegra closely, and I want to see if Chris Armas has come back from injury. Same thing with Josh Wolff in Kansas City. Can he get back and help us? We'll also continue to watch Chris Klein and Nick Garcia there. In Colorado, Pablo Mastroeni. In Dallas, we're keeping an eye on Ryan Suarez. In Los Angeles, clearly, Danny Califf. In San Jose, obviously Landon and Richard Mulrooney, but a new face that I'm watching is Ramiro Corrales. I want to see him at some point this year." Not that I believe anyone would have thought so, but TT obviously hasn't been forgotten.
When looking through Arena's list, all of them seem like reasonable choices, but anyone notice a slight flaw with his "let's do this geographically" approach? He forgot Columbus, a team most people consider to be a contender for the title. Think they might have a couple of guys on the list? As for Twellman, I wouldn't worry about him. Just keep doing what you're doing, and even if you don't get the call right now, you'll be still there when people say, "Oh yeah, I remember that Mathis guy. He was pretty good once, what ever happened to him?" Tom
Perfectly said Tom I think Arena might be trying to avoid another player believes his own press a la Mathis last year Maybe Bruce thinks if I play the kid now it will all go to his head and ruin him
An air-conditioned 74 degrees is not particularly demanding. Um, yeah... would be nice if the roof were closed, and even if it were, at 74 degrees, you'll still have the heavy, humid air, plus some 50,000 people there to heat things up. Have Taylor Twellman run around in that, they try to recover in time to play a full 90 against Los Angeles? Harumpf! The Magpie
Could the horrificially blown sitter vs Canada still weigh in BA's mind, even if it was 4-0 at the time? 4-0 in scrimmage or not, you have to put that away.
Gosh, on the basis of that, he may be banned for life (and maybe his children as well). The thought of an American forward missing a sitter...well it just makes my blood boil.
Well, I didn't say it would be why he's not in there, just a small possibility. And it was one of the worst blown sitters I've ever seen, that' why I remember it so vividly. Add that in that match Taylor didn't do anything else to distinguish himself (getting in position to get the ball, holding the ball). Not trying to pick on the kid, but that was his most recent appearance in a National Team roster. and to be honest it wasn't good.
I'm sure he will get opportunities in the future, but Arena probably has several players he wants to try out. Also, as someone mentioned earlier, they're bringing a little big bigger guns for Mexico as it will obviously be a high intensity game. Regardless of his MLS accomplishments, he hasn't had much experience on the big stage and this game will require that if it is to be won.
keepers for Mexico game This isn't exactly completely related to this thread, but I thought this afternoon that Adin probably could have done better at taking command of the area on that first goal (sure looks easy when you're sitting on the couch), and that it probably wasn't the best way to impress the coaching staff before the Mexico game. But I just watched the Metros-Rapids highlights and eek, talk about a save one probably should have made. From what I saw (looking back over my shoulder while on my computer), I don't think Timmy could have gotten more of his body behind that shot, yet somehow the ball squeaked by him and into the net. Not exactly the best way to build up your confidence going into a big game (big for the individuals, if not exactly meaningful in the grand scheme of things).
I'm pretty sure that they'll keep the roof closed, since it's May and things have started getting hot here in Texas. Also, it's obvious that you're not terribly familiar with air conditioning, so I should let you in on a couple of things: 1) Air conditioners dehumidify the air before they cool the air. The air inside Reliant Stadium will be much drier than the air outside. 2) No matter how many people are in Reliant Stadium, it'll be 74 degrees. Trust me on this. Even the Astrodome's air conditioning has no problem keeping the place cool when 50,000 are inside. In other words, the playing conditions should be ideal.
"Also, it's obvious that you're not terribly familiar with air conditioning, so I should let you in on a couple of things..." I grew up in New Orleans Dustin, so if you wanna talk smack about heat, humidity, air-conditioning, and ideal playing conditions... you better bring your 'A' game baby ;-). We'll see how both teams hold up, but I bet by the end of the day they'll be dragging like nothing else. The Magpie
Did you grow up in a home without air conditioning? Did you never go to the Superdome? Seriously. And since we're mentioning such things, let me point out that I grew up in Houston and attended many Astros games in the Astrodome. They were great. It would be 98 degrees with 90% humidity outside, but nice and cool inside. I was convinced that air-conditioned domed stadiums were the greatest thing to come along ever in spectator sports. And that was at the Astrodome, a stadium built in 1965. I haven't been to Minute Maid Park or Reliant Stadium, but I can't imagine that they're any worse than the Astrodome at keeping everyone cool inside. From running around in 74 degree air-conditioning? Seriously, trust me when I tell you that the climate control work as advertised inside Reliant Stadium.
Of course, if someone gets cheap and decides to keep the roof open and the AC off, then all bets are off.
Because "TnT absent..." as a title in the Revolution forum is misleading. If you post it in the US Mens forum its a different story. Isn't that a bit obvious?
Which is what happened. So I guess Evan was right to worry about the heat and humidity. However, it did only get into the mid-80s yesterday there.
Clearly a couple of the US players got pretty gassed last night: Mathis in a half, Hejduk later on. Even Donovan seemed to wear down in the final 20. Who knows if it was the heat/humidity, but that was one of Stewart's least effective appearances ever.
I was pretty shocked to see pretty much everyone back playing with there club teams on Saturday. I thought this early in the season some would just take a rest but, I guess not.