Exactly. This lineup was predicated on Bruce Arena's complete lack of respect for Cuba. He figured that against Cuba he could rest key players, try out utter newbies, reward the old guard with final caps, and experiment by moving other guys to different positions. Really, there was no way for Cuba to win, so why not? I'm surprised we didn't see Earnie Stewart and Eric Wynalda out there, too. I hated the (first half of) the game but I gotta salute Bruce's strategy. He got it right.
Man, I guess I am getting old Olsen will be a young 29 when Germany '06 comes around. Out of the three listed, I think Olsen is the only one that warrants any serious playing time. He is the great 'What if...' player. What if he never was injured playing for Nottingham Forest? In his short time there, he probably saw more playing time then Convey has for Reading. Anyway, I think Olsen is one of the tougher players mentally. He may have lost a step, but he did okay considering he caught a cleat in the groin and one to the chest
As I said in another post, regardless what he is playing in Chicago, Sanneh is not a central defender, let alone a left central defender in a 3 man backline. But Bruce wanted to try out a 3-5-2 and this was the best improvised line-up he felt like putting up there. I don't think he'd look at Tony in the same spot in the same formation against a semi-decent team. As JohnR wrote, this was a "don't get no respect" line-up. Personally, I would have liked to see Tony as a defensive mid. He's still a bit too slow there covering but his ball skills, size, heading and passing going forward are better than Armas's and Olsen's. And you never know, you may need a game against a mid-to-low level team where Reyna is MIA, JOB hurt, Mastro suspended and Tony Sanneh has to run things from the deep mid. With his international experience, he should be better at it than the remaining MLS contingent. Or it may be Pete Vagenas's, Benny Feilhaber's or Kyle Martino's turn.
I think the biggest problem was that Armas was on the field at the same time as Olsen. They both want to play def. mid. Olsen is the better option at this point in their careers. I would prefer the 4-4-2 with Olsen as the def. mid and Donovan in front of him. Mastro is likely to be the first choice def. mid ahead of Olsen or Zavagnin.
Martino shouldn't come close to a US jersey anytime soon. Keep in mind that Bruce was going to play basically a 2nd 11 from his GC roster. 3 games in 8 days requires it. He's done it before (Didn't we beat Germany at a confed cup with Paul Bravo in the line-up?). The other thing is that you must also remove injured players and players left with their club, so things get a little thin when you start removing EJ, Ching, and others. I would have prefered not to have Armas or Sanneh in there, but Arena seems to like to surround a couple newbie's with guys he knows. How meaningful will the 3rd game be? We could be playing CR with both teams at 6 points. What is the difference in potential opponent for 1st or 2nd? If there is not that much difference, we could see a lot of reserves in that game as well.
Yes. Arena gambled a bit; he weighed the odds and took some risks. Let's be thankful that the game didn't turn out for the US like it did for Argentina when they showed a lack of respect against the US back in Copa America 1995. It sure must have seemed like it for a while after the Cuban goal! From now on when someone argues that Arena isn't bold enough, there will always be this game to point to for the counter-arguement. In the end the risks were worth the lessons (hopefully) learned, especially since this whole tournament is 3d-rate and less important than the upcoming qualifiers. * Will Sanneh have seen his last chance, like Stewart did in the early qualifier against Jamaica? * Did Conrad and Davis do enough to get future chances? * Quaranta seems to have earned more chances. * Dempsey seems to be building his case stronger and stronger. * Has Casey dropped behind Ching on the depth chart, and wouldn't that mean off the WC06 roster? * How long will the Armas-Olsen-Zavagnin battle last to be Mastro's backup? * how many more times do we see Beasley central vs out wide?
Bruce is evaluating deep options - which is a good. Thought's on Bruce... I was pleased that LD was on the bench for this one, and pleased to see him come on when he did. Quaranta inclusion surprised and it came off well. Backline was cetainly strange. I found it odd that Sanneh was on the left and Hejduk on the right - opposite from WC02. But then again...Obviously we still aren't sure what to do at LB, Hejduk is a known quantity on either side, why not throw old Tony in the mix a left back and see if he can step it up. Didn't work...on to the next LB try out. The biggest dissapointment to me was the Olsen/Armas/Davis 3 some. Why did we need all these guys out there. Then after we went down 1-0, Beasley started to drop back deep to get the ball. It was like we were playing with 4 D-Mids. And of course Beas had to do that because who of the afore mentioned 3 was gonna get him the ball? Obviously trading Olsen, Davis, and Casey for LD, Wolff, and JOB (and the red card) did wonders. Overall I was satisfied. We won - albiet not convincingly. And BA evaluated a bunch of options.
Overall, a decent game for the Bruce. His distribution was a little lacking, but he made up for it with pure hustle. That slide tackle on Cuba's coach was irresistable. He started to look a little tired at the end, but was in my opinion Man of the Match. He's one for the future.
I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that disagrees with giving Davis, Conrad, Quaranta, and even Casey a shot in this tournament. The issue that most of us have is including Sanneh, Armas, and Olsen in the mix. It's entirely clear that the *new* players (Davis, Conrad, Quaranta) significantly outplayed the *old* players (Sanneh, Armas, Olsen). There was absolutely NO value in having the geezers here. It would have been a much better decision to have included more young up-and-coming players such as Marshall, Clark, and even Jacqua or one of the U20s (Gaven, Feilhaber, or Wynne) than the washed up veterans...
Bingo. I'm very happy that Bruce was not conservative and tried bringing many more new players than normal into a game environment. However, I didn't like the lineup (Armas. Olsen, and DMB) in the middle. Plus, it's hard to make an accurate assessment of some of the new players. How can you assess Davis when he had Sanneh behind him (sort of) and the bopsy twins in the middle and Frankenstein up front?
Not to pick on you but I think you've got it completely wrong. Central defender is the only place Sanneh has/had any hope of playing with the Nats. Arena played him at CB in the Jamaica qualifier last Nov. Arena played him as a CB in a 3 back line against Mexico in WC 02. For the Nats, Sanneh is now a central defender. He's far too slow now to play as an outside back and he's flat out not a D mid. Center back is it for Tony and that's the problem. There was no point in calling in a guy like Tony when the US has at least 5 or more guys obviously better at that spot. If you want to experiment on a 3rd string guy do it with someone with some upside, or even a guy that's just a better player. I don't have a big problem with the Armas and Olsen call ups because there isn't a good replacement for Mastro. Some positions you just have to dig deeper to find someone, but that's not the case at CB.
What were you saying about Sanneh before the last World Cup? Were you right then? Anyway, I can see, even in this game, with Sanneh's record of achievement, why Sanneh was considered worth a look to see if he can help on our weak left side. Hopefully, the answer of NO has been noted by Arena (unless something amazing happens in the rest of the tourney)
Tony's career in Germany was as a right side mid and a right side wingback and that's what he played for the US in WC 2,002. So, while Bruce had tried fitting him into a bad spot yesterday (and against Jamaica ... where he also played Ramiro Corrales at a D-mid and Cory Gibbs as a left wing-back, clearly not one of Bruce's best Xs&Os plans), I don't see how Tony could have done worse than Ben Olsen and Chris Armas, who offered nothing going forward from their positions. But I will agree that Tony's done on the outside.
You are talking about ancient history. I'm fully aware of his past, I even predicted that he would have a future as a defender on SAG in 98/99(this was greated with some harsh criticism but in the end I was right). This is 2005, lets look at the here and now. Arena playing Sanneh as a CB isn't "fitting him into a bad spot", that's just incorrect. Arena has played Sanneh as a CB a number of times in both a 4 man and 3 man back line. Sanneh played in a 3 man back line against Mexico in the World Cup. He played as a CB in a 4-4-2 just a year ago against Honduras. He's played CB in 3 (his last 3) of his 5 post Cup Caps. His other 2 Caps were 45 min at right back which didn't go to well and about 15 min of mop up duty at RM, not too good either. This clearly isn't some aberration, it's where Arena thinks/thought(hopefully) Sanneh could contribute. I think Sanneh is way too slow to play Dmid. Tony would have been far worse at Dmid than Olsen or Armas. He couldn't even handle CB against a team that almost never attacked. Hopefully we will never find out just how bad he would be. I don't think Sanneh has the ability to play anywhere at this level anymore, but my main point is that Arena playing him at CB was not out of position and it shouldn't have been a surprise. Looking at the roster it's pretty obvious that Arena brought Sanneh in as a CB and that's why I still think it was a wasted callup.
The last World Cup was 3 years ago -- an eternity for a 30-something. His club performance before JK2002 was very inconsistent and even amateurish in some instances. His World Cup performance was an anomoly, because his performances since have been marginal, at best. In the WC, it was a big risk, but it paid off. Lightning WON'T strike twice for this guy. Three years for someone in his 30s is an eternity -- speed, skills, and touch decline significantly quicker, not to mention that coming back from injuries takes significantly longer. To judge his play, all you need to see is his feeble attempt on the goal vs. Cuba. Experience is only valuable if you can still MOVE to where you're supposed to be! And yes, hopefully the answer of NO has been noted by Arena -- and it shouldn't matter WHAT happens in the rest of the tournament. Sanneh should not be on the field to *show* that he still has it -- because he doesn't and he WILL fail miserably (again) given the chance.