.........................Friedel ..................Pope............Boca Reyna.......................................O'brien .......................Mastroeni Martino..............Donovan............Convey ..................Mathis ...............................Mcbride ...................Wolff ...............................Casey Beasley.............Stewart.............Klien ......................Armas Lewis.....................................Hejduck ..............Berhalter.......Calif .....................Keller Whit everyone at 100%, who would when and why and how close do you think it would be? Happy now Seagroves?
The first team. Simply put- ball possession. Add in what was formerly known as the Trinity (mathis, donovan, mcbride) up top and this team is a goal-scoring machine. Team two lacks possession and seems to be more of the has-been/second team/will-be players.
Do you see Reyna/Martino having any trouble with defending Beasley/Lewis. Do you think Convey/O'brien could handle Klien's size and strength? How would Donovan deal with Armas' tough D up the middle?
You caught me there. I didn't realize that Beasley and Lewis were on the same side of the field. About Chris Armas (no knock on him here, he's a good player)- if Donovan doesn't have problems with the German defense, I don't think we have to worry about Armas Both teams have their strengths and weaknesses, but I think the possession wins it for team one.
Everyone's not at 100%, and I'm assuming you're talking about now (as opposed to when Earnie and Claudio were in their prime or LD & DmB will be). So this is completely fictional. Anything's possible, but I'd suspect a close game with the B team winning it with exceptional wing play and goals by DmB and whoever that Klien guy is.
Please point out to me something on this board that is not completely fictional, and you guys take spelling way to seriuosly. It's not like I'm writing a resume or something. I am just trying to make an example of Skill vs speed/size/grit. The point was that the first team would have skill as the top priority at every position and the second team would be comprized of players whose exceptional speed/size/grit seem to get them on the field. People argue against more skilled players at certain positions because the feel they are not fast enough or big enough, I just wanted to use this example to see what the majority of posters on this board value more, skill or Speed/size/grit.
Martino starting over Stewart or Klein on the right? Don't think so. He's got mad potential, but I still think the other two have to be given the advantage b/c of better recent experience shown for the nats. Also, either Eddie Lewis or DMB must be in the first team over Convey (who is best as a central mid).
But he didn't have Mathis and McBride there with him -- or most of his Earthquakes regulars either for that matter. I know he's great, but he can't be expected to do everything.
Slightly OT, but who would win a game between those two incarnations of Ditka? Put another way, is a whole Ditka greater than the sum of many small Ditkas?