So I just realized that the round of 16 game is only 2 days from now. Considering the last two games the US has played all out balls to the wall for 90 mins, will 2 days of rest be enough?
Two days from now would be Friday. The game is three days from today: Today = Wednesday 1 day = Thursday 2 days = Friday 3 days = Saturday 2 full days of rest, but three days from now.
Hopefully this is where our experience with the Confederations Cup might help us out, as that tournament was a bit more accelerated.
Our projected starter (Onyewu and Findley) didnt player. Edu only played a half. I am sure Bob will surprise us with the lineup again on Saturday. I am not sure who's Ghana's trainer but i have full confidence in our trainer, pierre barrieu. drink your gatorade boys!
Probably no one? Unless Ghana's base camp is a zillion miles away. Both just played very close to Rustenburg, both had fairly tense games (though Ghana were at least half-safe for most of that game).
Not sure about Ghana's substitution pattern, but we have used 19 of the 23 players on our roster so far. Our players should be relatively fresh.
How can any of them not be up for Ghana, it might be the biggest game some of these guys ever play. Unless they're hurt adrenaline will carry all of them through IMO.
We do psychologically and physically. We are the most fit team and pride ourselves on this. Players also "think" they are in the best shape. Past 2 games we came on strong in the 2nd half. We just have to figure out the first 15 minutes. Maybe pots of coffee on the sidelines before kickoff might help. I don't know. We just need to put 90 minutes together but I think we will recover quicker than the Ghana team because of our fitness regime.
Aside from Tim Howard, we've been riding four guys hard: Landon Donovan Clint Dempsey Michael Bradley Jozy Altidore Three of them have logged every minute while one came off with 5 mins to go in one game (Jozy). Outside of them, no one has even 180 minutes so we should generally be fresh. thoughts: - I wish Stu Holden could have picked up 45 minutes in there to give Dempsey a break. - Bradley never leaves the field for us, so it's not even worth discussing. I don't even have an opinion on it because it doesn't matter. - Landon can probably handle it. - Jozy just has to suck it up, we have no reasonable alternatives. edit: Whoops, aside from our defenders of course. Dolo, Boca, and DeMerit have all logged 270 minutes.
Yeah i had a weird sort of black-out moment there. I compiled an excel spreadsheet. Im looking right at it. I mentally registered how much the backline was playing, then completely ignored it in my post. I've felt like i had amnesia all day after that win. Cannot think about anything else. Great f'ing day. The reason I ignored it is that typically, you'd expect your backline to be able to 'suit up' pretty much constantly without too much fear of over-working them. The one guy we currently do have that concern about just had a game off. Basically when I look at the numbers, I don't expect us to come out looking tired though I would say i'm a tad concerned about Jozy and Clint, especially if we advance.
as a team we have run about 20 more kilometers. Ghana used 18 players. 7 players played the entire time. 2 played what appears to be 2 complete games. two with about 90 min.
To answer this thread: the fans benefit. I don't think I could wait more than 2 or 3 days for this game to get here. Any longer and I won't have any nails left to bite.
Resting Onyewu was huge. I think Spector has something to offer, but I don't see Cherundolo slowing down. The next game could go 120 minutes. Bob needs to sub so that we are fresh enough to win two games. I would really consider bringing Dempsey in at halftime in the next match. Holden or Feilhaber can hold the fort for 45 minutes. Donovan and Bradley likely have the lungs to keep playing and playing and playing. Bocanegra and Demerit are slight concerns. I am not too worried about Altidore as Buddle can fill the role.
Bingo. We've already waited eight years for a World Cup tournament game. BTW cthomer what did your Ghana spreadsheet say?
Demerit is a superb athlete- a multisport athlete in high school, who ran his a$$ off for Watford that year in the Prem, under constant bombardment.... Jozy is 20 years old. He should be able to run all day. Enough said. Bradley Jr. is really not human with his fitness level- until he's dead on his feet (Costa Rica game). Let's hope that never happens again. Boca could be a worry. Dempsey will find a way I think we are in pretty good shape. I'm more worried about niggling injuries.
adrenaline doesn't stay with you for 90 minutes, in fact if you are too juiced up in the beginning of the game you are likely to crash big time in the later stages.
Stamina peaks for athletes in their late 20s, sometimes early 30s; recovery is easier for younger players. This is where base fitness starts to matter. If you have a good base, you can focus on recovery - not more fitness - between games. The player I'm most worried about is Dempsey. His finishing and touch were off yesterday - a sign of fatigue. Off all our players, he had the most demanding season. We're about to find out how much Bradley can rely on guys like Holden and Bornstein. Forwards not named Jozy have to step up, too. You can't go deep in the WC without help from your bench.
In 2002, Bruce Arena made a few changes to the starting line-up prior to the Round of 16 Mexico game, which if I recall, was also held just a few short days after the USA's last group stage game against Poland. For the Round of 16 game, Arena brought in: Berhalter for Agoos Lewis for Beasley Wolff for Mathis (this was the most surprising move to me) Mastroeni for Hejduk (as part of the switch to the 3-5-2) That's quite a few changes. I can't remember how much of this was influenced by yellow card accumulation, but I do remember Bruce Arena stressing in post-match interviews that part of the reason we were so successful in beating Mexico is because we were able to get some fresh legs into the starting line-up I think we'll need to see these guys step up and shoulder the load, either as starters or more likely as subs that log more than your 5-10 minutes at the end of the game: Benny Feilhaber Stuart Holden Herculez Gomez Jonathan Bornstein I would also be fairly comfortable slotting Jonathan Spector anywhere across the backline if we needed to. Obviously all of our central midfielders have seen the field, so none should be in a situation where they are sh*ting their pants upon entering the match.
From a season workload perspective, Dempsey's was not all that high. He missed something like six weeks with the knee injury. The starters with the highest game load have been Donovan (by FAR), Cherundolo, and Bradley. Bocanegra lost time to Danze for a few games at Rennes. Edu played under 20 games at Rangers because of the knee injury. Onyewu obviously missed the whole season. Altidore played about half the games he was available for (mostly the Hull home games). Not sure about DeMerit, but defenders do less running. Donovan had only the small break from the MLS championship game to starting up again with Everton, and I believe he was keeping in shape that whole break as well. He has played alot of games this year. Even Bradley missed some games at the beginning of the year.
This is not my idea, but a colleagues: Buddle Dempsey donovan edu bradley Holden spector gooch demerit dolo ______________ Buddle replaced by Jozy (early); and Dempsey replaced by Gomez (later) the third sub being situational I'm ok with it because Dempsey has to work less as a forward and will be off the pitch for PKs-- which I think is good