You make a good point about speed of play, which affects a lot of things about how a player plays--especially in terms of speed of thought. However, at some point a first touch is a first touch.
Any velocity is not every velocity. Any trajectory is not every trajectory. Any acceleration is not any acceleration. The likelihood of plucking the ball out of the air at full speed with a 6'3" highly trained athlete draped on your back in an adult rec league is very slim. There are reasons why people who shine in lower levels of play fail at the international level, and one of those reasons is that it is one of the highest speeds of play on the planet.
Yes, and those players don’t belong at the international level. We are toothless at the front with Zardes against any top 50 team. I know he’s supposed to be a sub, but he’s not even good there. Time to end this failed experiment and move on to other options.
I don't disagree. There were 3 or 4 opportunities Zardes had that another striker of higher quality would have figured out how to get in the net. However, I don't think anyone else in the world could have had the kind of incredible first touch Zardes did on his goal. That one was unique to Zardes.
Unequivocally. There was a time when he was pretty amazing. Fond memories of watching him boss the midfield with beautiful passes from deep and watching him arrive late at the top of the 18 knowing it was going to be a goal or a great save
If we can get him to time his runs correctly, the wings can just smack rockets off of his body into the net.
Not disputing any of that, friend. You're focusing on a very tangential point I stated. My concern about Zardes is not with the difficult balls to pluck out of the air that would never even be attempted is some local rec league, but a lack of consistency in properly controlling the routine passes to his feet (hit hard or not). My real point is about how it's amazing that a player can rise to the international level and still not have a fundamental technical skill developed as an adequate tool. For the sake of US Soccer, it is a big concern when considering the bigger picture.
I think it has to do with the speed of play. MLS does not have a high speed of play relative to the world's best leagues. The games are mostly in the warmer months and the quality of player is lesser. Players are not getting tested regularly at the same speed of play as they are in the world's better leagues. We don't develop our vision and touch at that level in the US because it is not part of our domestic professional system.
I am reminded of a series of Dilbert cartoons where Dilbert was drafted onto a soccer team and was told by the captain, "Just go stand in front of the other team's goal and I will bounce balls off your head into the goal." Now if we just could get players with the ability to hit Zardes in the face consistently we might just have something, unless he wises up and starts ducking.
So what. He has more upside. If we are talking previous experience, sure Yedlin has gone to WCs. Dest still is more of a complete player than Yedlin. The kid has it.
Its an effective tactic when executed correctly. The keeper could not respond and was soundly beaten. I say we go to this more often.
It was Guyana. It looked like the players knew what to do. We are hurdling over incredibly low bars... Arriola looked terrible against Jamaica and Venezuela. He looked good in this game. I think that is the marker that should color all evaluations. If you didn't look as good as Arriola, you are a serious problem: Players that looked better than Arriola: Boyd McKennie Players that looked as good as Arriola: Lima Players that looked worse than Arriola: Ream Long Players that looked non-competitive against the 177th ranked team in the world that Arriola dominated: Zardes Players that had nothing to do and mostly looked as good as Arriola because they had nothing to do: Steffan Zimmerman Bradley If you want to put McKennie with Lima and Long with Zimmerman, then ok. I thought Long had one play and he ball watched and recovered badly. Much like his play against Rondon. But it was a guy in the 5th division of England (guessing) who didn't convert iin this game. But a quibble. Of course, I left one player out: Player that looked as good or slightly worse than Arriola because the "System" doesn't allow him to look good: Pulisic If Pulisic can't dominate Guyana from the CAM spot; he is not going to do it in this tournament. The roster is a mess, so there is nobody else who could possibly do it even as well as Pulisic. Pulisic's best moments were when he came back for the ball and then did some individual class. The way the System gets Boyd, Lima, and Arriola into dangerous positions does not do that for Pulisic. McKennie got into some positions but players were too scared to pass (Zimmerman) or didn't even look up (Roldan). Boyd got in a good position and Bradley couldn't pull the trigger (he does eventually send the overhead ball for the first goal, but an on the ground pass to put Boyd alone on goal is missed from hesitation). But there were no real times Pulisic was in such positions because the defense was pulled out. Some of that was possibly that Guyana were keying on him and he used that to pull them apart for other players with well made runs. But, again, if Pulisic can't get the ball in that left channel facing goal against Guyana, it isn't going to happen. That means GB is wasting our best attacking talent.
I think Pulisic needs to be kept outside and up top...move Arriola to left back to make room. --------------------Altidore---------------------- Pulisic----------------------------------Boyd ---------McKennie---Mihailovic---------- Arriola----------------------------------Lima ---------------------Bradley------------------- ---------Miazga---------Zimmerman----- ---------------------Steffen----------------------
Can't do it with the 23 man roster GB has given us. Djorde can't physically compete with the best 6-8 teams in CONCACAF yet. Roldan has zero vision or field awareness. I doubt Arriola could play CAM well nor does Boyd have any experience there either afaik. Holmes could and should have played there. That was a tough loss. Atthough,I don't know if Gregg would have ever played him there. It is so obvious our most competitive lineup, at this point in time, is: --------------------Altidore---------------------- Pulisic----------------------------------Boyd ---------McKennie------Holmes---------- ---------------------Adams------------------- and come up with a back 4 with Steffan or Horvath.
I'd maybe swap Holmes for Pomykal and see what comes of that, but you're right otherwise. I think that a midfield triumvirate of McKennie/Pomykal/Adams gives the team a hard interior that is also both athletically gifted (speed) and creative. All three of Adams/McKennie/Pomykal can pick out passes. Ideally Jozy collects with hold up play, distributes to the wings (a couple of wings who can actually create chances believe it or not), and makes runs at goal or combines.
I haven't quite figured out which MLS pundit / shill you are. I outted Morroco a while back but the line of rah rah, cultural, league, and race commentary goes beyond your paycheck and enters the dogmatic. You play your position better than (insert MLS player here) small soldier.
I'm no MLS shill, but I think that Zimmerman has earned a legitimate shot at one of those CB spots. The MLS shill bit has made mlssoccer.com pretty much unreadable though. They treat their patrons like unwitting morons, which makes their product less tolerable for me.
he looked terrible he missed boyd twice and arriola once instead playing terrible flat passes and had two passes behind arriola to stop a counter. mckennie being hurt could be a disaster because roldan was terrible too they need more options at those spots he is an emergency sub at best...for the u23 team.
He could invent a whole new type of forward style of play. Maybe we could calll it “target forward” or something
zimmerman does have a shot next to brooks the problem of course is that its not because he its good its because he may be the best of a lack of options.
Well, everyone seems to be forgetting the first "target forward" Zardes strike where McKennie bent a ball from the deep right wing and a wild Zardes touch would have gone in for a goal had he not been offside. That would have been two world class first touch goals in the same game. an incredibly rare feat.