Re: Saturday morning practice I think you're misreading Gooch. Hand usage on high balls and crosses is taught, or at worst tolerated, in the more physical Euro leagues. I just don't see him being less skilled than Conrad after a year in France and two years in Belgium, especially considering his ever rising value on the continent.
Re: Saturday morning practice Great. One minor problem, however, even if you are right. Neither the Gold Cup nor the World Cup is part of the "Euro leagues." And, did you actually "see" Gooch? Ursula did and provided her assessment relative to Conrad. Take it for her considered opinion based on her clearly astute observations, right or wrong. One thing that is in error, however, is any supposed judgment of player quality based on where someone has played. Or, maybe I am wrong for thinking that assessment was based on skills brought to the field, rather than that some anonymous third party "on the continent" thinks a particular player's value is rising.
Re: Saturday morning practice I think Imorin answered you pretty well, but I'll add something or two on the subject. First, Gooch is valued highly because of his huge upside as much as what he does now. Conrad has no real upside anymore: what we see is what we get with Jimmy and he showed in this camp several defensive moves that Gooch seemingly doesn't have- yet. However I'm sure that if in a year's time, I saw Gooch in the same camp setting, he'd show more skill, he'd be more clever. That's what I'm betting on- that this next year for Gooch will round him out into a defender that Arena can rely on in Germany. He's not there yet- quite. Almost. he had several physical battles yesterday with Casey- lot's of body contact- that I eluded to above. He was excellent there, as good as Conrad or Pope. Where he's weak in is being slightly out of position and then getting back into position to clear the ball. Hmmmm. Here's it: Conrad or Pope both had better footwork and so they didn't need to rely on their hands so much. Thus they didn't give up free kicks in spots where say Michael Ballack would bury the chance. But, again, I think this next year will be like finishing school for Onyewu.
Re: Saturday morning practice Ach you are afraid of Ballack?..Funny...But Ballack will get better too and I ´m sure he will watch careful Conrad, Pope, Gooch etc.... Onyewu ?..Hm someone on board offered him for Bayer Leverkusen... How good is Onyewu?...
Re: Saturday morning practice It may be trivial, but being part of the wall is so important in these games. And size counts. Against Ballack you have to have a tall wall, ask Mexico. And I don't recall, but how tall was our wall against him in 2002 when he burned us?
Re: Saturday morning practice Afraid of Ballack? Hardly. He's a great player and deserving of the full US respect, but the US team is no more afraid of him than the German team should be afraid of, say, Dempsey. Their positioning and heading abilities are very similar.
Re: Saturday morning practice 2,002 was a header of a 45-yard Ziege's cross. I'd have to disagree. If Anderlecht is going to "trade" a part-time Belgian international for him without Gooch's extending his deal (TreeItaliano pointed out that his contract is up after 2,006), then his value is in here and now. Having previously seen the players involved, I would have to see this for myself. I don't think Pope's footwork is anything to write home about as he was frequently out of position bodywise in his international matches over the last year and the cleanest match the US defense had was against Guatemala when both Gooch and Cory Gibbs were on the field at the same time. I have seen him as much as anyone here not living in Belgium and watching Jupiler on TV (or Skip), i.e., I saw him in the Nats games and on Standard Liege highlights clips. Based on that information and third party references, I just do not see Eddie Pope and Jimmy Conrad being better than him. Having said that, Skip saw what he saw. Maybe Gooch was having a bad day. Maybe he was just recovering from an injury. This happens to players. One day Jonathan Spector is the best US U-20 player on the field (for about half-hour), then he come back after an injury and can't put a foot right. I can't argue with a specific practice. I would however doubt that a coterie of the European GMs would be that far off in their cumulative judgements.
Re: Saturday morning practice Shot in the dark... Ryan White from South Eugene High School (where Jaqua & Barrett are both from)? He was 2nd team all state 2yrs ago as a soph., but I think blew out his knee last year. 6'1 as a 14 year old in middle school, selected for the U16 US team at 14 as well - so US Soccer would know about him. Does this look like the LB? again... complete shot in the dark.
Just to be clear here: I never ever ever said that Gooch was having a bad day. I never said he was a bad player. I was for three days very very impressed with him. Arena had his successors can probably plug him into the starting lineup for the next ten years. He would start for any MLS team and for many 1st division Euro teams in the best leagues from what I saw in three practices. I don't think anything I said was a disagreement with " a coterie of the European GMs". Gooch ain't perfect and I was looking at him with an eye of not having seen him that much before. He's very good and of the center backs in camp it's obvious that if a GM were starting a team and had to choose from the Nats pool they'd take him. That, however, doesn't make him better in every way. Don't you see that an important part of any player's value right now is the amount of upside they have? Thus Onyewu has more value than Pope or Conrad for that reason alone as they are not gonna get any better. Players approach practice differently and what I got was a long snapshot this week, no more. There's a lot I didn't write here. For instance about Pope: in yesterday's scrimmage, Eddie was doing okay, when an elbow from Casey doubled him over for a couple of minutes. Thereafter he upped his playing level a couple of notches, especially vs Casey. Now having seen Pope over the years with the Nats and various clubs, this seems to be characteristic of him. He can play great defense but often he needs a challenge to get going. He played better vs CR and Panama after the England embarrassment for instance. Or at the practice DMB did little to excite this viewer. He just seemed on cruise control willing to trade bursts with Hedjuk yesterday or on the previous days. That's okay in my book as I've seen him quite a bit better and his goals for this camp didn't include having to prove he belonged with the team (unlike Brad Davis). I know he'll step it up next week in a real game. Gooch didn't at all strike me as that kind of mecurical player, the kind who switches gears much or often (like Donovan). He's.... solid. Chris Armas comes to mind. But he was for a couple of days slightly bewildered by certain calls. Frustrated. He doesn't yet command his area that makes me think, oh so THAT's how Japp Stam did it all these years." Not yet. Maybe the calls were wrong (though I didn''t see them as wrong and they were right in front of me.) But in international play you've got to deal with some dodgy reffing even in the WC and thus references to how some Euro leagues call 'em is unimportant here. A final word on this topic: I'm just real interested now in how what I saw translates in a real game. I'll just see the Cuba game on TV but Canada I'll see live.
Re: Saturday morning practice That's possible, though it's hard for me to tell from just that one photo.
Yes but Anderlecht (presumably) wants him for what he can offer now on the field, especially if future transfer value is uncertain. In fact, if Gooch can leave on a free after the World Cup, then his future value to Anderlecht is zero.
I've really appreciated your observations. Reasonable people can differ about what they've seen, but I suspect your player analyses are pretty close to the mark. Having said that, there's the old saw about certain players being "practice players," and others being "game players." I wonder if DMB is one of those who seems to show better in games, while some others are fairly uniform in their play between practices and games.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: Originally Posted by Red Card It may be trivial, but being part of the wall is so important in these games. And size counts. Against Ballack you have to have a tall wall, ask Mexico. And I don't recall, but how tall was our wall against him in 2002 when he burned us? sidefootsitter's reply: 2,002 was a header of a 45-yard Ziege's cross. -------------------------------------------------------------- wow! the server wasn't that far upfield. and then it wouldn't be called a cross. more like a 20 or so yard cross, which didn't give sanneh enough time to do his run-and-jump defence of ballack the way he wanted to, and he couldn't outmuscle him. 1-0 deutschland.
Re: Saturday morning practice Man, I love the internet. Ursula: "Some high school kid filled in at the US nat camp in Portland." Dragonfly: [digs up online photo] "Could this be him?" Too fun.
I think it may be the case that Beasley and Donavon KNOW they are 100% starter if healthy, and pro players being what they are, they are not going to bust their ass in practice given that.
I also think Donovan and Beasley will be in GErmany in 2006.. no need to discuss it so much...this is fact..i think Arena will send both.... plus you need someone who can fight with our Ballack....but you have already enough offer for this fight.......many cool new stars in the USA
Re: Saturday morning practice Can't carry a tune in a bucket, so the choir won't have me, but A-freakin-MEN!
hi Mirka- our Clint Dempsey is a Ballack clone.Same size, very similar game.They even look a little alike.
Now if Dempsey can play like a Ballack clone, and if Casey can play like an Adriano clone, then we're in business.
Hello Bruce....ach, Clint Dempsey...is Ballack II or ballack made in the USA.. yes it might be truth....you are right...maybe they were cloned really.. I will tell Ballack he should be careful about Dempsey...
ach, this is this "secret" strategy of Arena...he clones super players and make them "made in the USA"..aha..I understand.. you will "create" the best team cloning the best german or brazilian players... maybe Roony II, then Beckham II, ...Ballack II is already Dempsey and Adriano II is Casey ...interesting ....Arena is clever... Americans are in the business...YES..... So you can make it in WC 06... so finale Germany-USA is realistic then?