USA Roster for 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup

I will contest that Donovan could play his role equally well for ManU.

 

Except we never use wingers, and Rogers isn't very good.

If we wanted a left-footed winger "just in case" or something, Bobby Convey would have been a far better option.

 

I'll bet Bob knows his head comes off if we do not win the GC. I'm sure there are no gift call-ups or nostalgia picks on this roster, in Bob's thinking. Every guy has a job, and he intends every guy, barring GKs, plays.

Personally, I feel for the guy. Look at the Forwards. Altidore is unproductive. Agudelo is so inexperienced it's laughable. Wondo is the guy getting the minutes and the goals, and everyone just knows he can't score at the international level.
And you wonder why he called up Adu? Because he isn't another Altidore (he could have called up EJ if he wanted someone who won't score consistantly), another Agudelo (Bunbury is waiting for his phone to ring if Bob needs a second guy who has a great future and precious little experience), and if the team needs another guy who everyone knows can't cut it, we can recycle Twellman, Ching, ad infinitum. Adu is something else agin, no matter what you think that something else is. Personally, I think Mixx is the new Adu (in skill set), but its not my job on the line, and Adu is more experienced than Mixx, and this team is short of attacking experience, barring the forwards that play wing.

I like this team. I think there is the opportunity to put more talent with the ball on the field than the USA has ever had.

I'm rooting for Wondo. Pile on the negative adjectives if you want. I'm for giving him his chance to be slow, small, lost, and overwhelmed while putting the ball in the net against what are really no better defenses than he trounces in MLS, while being supported by a much better team.

 

Hernandez's role??

 

The nice thing about the matches against Canada, Panama, and Guadeloupe is that all the relatively unproven players such Wondo, Agudelo, Adu, etc, should be able to perform well in those matches. As such we have a good opportunity to winnow out some of those guys before we hit the elimination stage.

 

I've been a pretty big Kenny Coope pusher around here, but I've watched ahandful of Timbers games and he was fairly disappointing, not as active as he was in Dallas, of course, they have midfield issues but still................................
And I'm simply not a Wondolowski fan at all.

 

I really doubt Bradley is fired unless there is a massive breakdown like not getting out of the group or losing to Cuba 5-0 in the first knockout.

 

its more that i've seen enough of sacha to think he's not one, whereas jury seems still out on bedoya. apparently he has had a good year, he's younger, and more upside. so thats why i'd rather see him.

 

nicely put. i guess what is bugging me is seeing so many retreads on this roster. i'd rather see a more experimental, ambitious roster.

separate from the gc roster,

i'd kill to see a starting eleven of:

bunbury-agudelo
dempsey-donovan
jones-edu
dolo-ream-goodson-chandler
howard

 

I agree on Sacha. I see a lot of Bedoya love and just don't quite get it. I don't see the kind of talent that warrants hand-wringing.

I'd have rather brought Convey or Torres than either, to be honest.

That said, if Sacha sees important time, it's a sign we're in trouble.

 

I'd take Donovan and Dempsey over any Mexico player, possibly including Chicharito, though maybe not if it came down to Dempsey vs. Chicharito. But Vela, Dos Santos, and Guardado? Nope. Not even close. That's what gives us the advantage. They may have the best player, but we have the best attacking midfielders, and our central midfielders are better than their central midfielders.

Chicharito plays more like an American than a Mexican, which I find highly ironic. He's not a dribbler, he's an above average passer, but he finishes with power rather than finesse and isn't the greatest technical player out there - in fact his fellow attacking players for Mexico are probably better technically. But like I said before, his real talent is finding the spaces to exploit in the attacking 3rd, and being a very gifted finisher...something Mexican forwards are as bad as US forwards. You thought we had a drought at the position? You have to go all the way back to Jared Borghetti to find a legit international striker for Mexico, before Cheech.

Well you can say that about any striker that plays for an elite Club side, that goes back to their national team, unless you play for either Argentina or Spain. Well, actually if you're Messi you probably have better service with Barca than you do with Argentina, since none of his teammates there would start for Barca.

Yea, he's going to have worse service, but he's also not going to be playing against defenders as he was playing against in the Prem. Sure Jones is a Prem starter, but Bradley a sub, and only Cherundolo good enough to play for a big 4 league, for now. I mean, Hernandez is going to be going from going up against Puyol and Pique, to playing against a questionably healthy Gooch and Tim Ream.

But really, my point is that Cheech is a world class player. Just because he doesn't create for himself doesn't mean he's NOT world class. I'd bet you that if he started for Real Madrid, then they would have had a shot at winning La Liga, and possibly getting the upper hand on Barca. They weren't too off there, they just didn't have the finisher that Barca had. They were down to praying that Adebayor was going to be good enough for them.

 

So you just started watching the national team within the past few years?

How quickly people on these boards forget Tab Ramos and John O'Brien - two players who's jocks Freddy isn't even fit to hold let alone be vaulted above.

 

Anyone who undersells Hernandez is out of their minds. Our defense had trouble tracking runners all last summer. Emile Heskey and Steven Gerrard made Bradley, Gooch and Clark look absolutely idiotic in the first game, and that's just one example.

Now we're trying to downplay a guy who basically spent all EPL and European season creating insane amounts of space and timing his runs to perfection?

Madness. He's going to be an absolute nightmare. Even if he isn't scoring himself he's opening up spaces for Dos Santos and Guardado.

 

For me, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. Neither really excites me, so I wouldn't have gotten too bent out of shape with either. The only glaring omission is Chandler, and we've discussed that one ad nauseum.

 

Yep. Fact is that the U.S. could use a true forward half as good as Hernandez. As it is we have a guy who can only score one league goal a year, a kid who just turned 18, and a career MLSer.

 

Gio and Guardado have a ton of talent but they need polish. He's a world class player, I agree. I think a very good and elite player is world class. He's not elite. I don't see that nor do I see the potential to become that for Chico. I think you have to be world class to start and make an impact at a top club. You can't just be good or worst. Adebayor has the talent but it's mental with him. His talent can be elite.

 

Ramos and O'Brien aren't as talented as Adu. Not even in the same area code. Ramos was a better player, without question I agree but Adu could easily pass him up as well. O'Brien is overrated. He was never that good. He was solid player was who had a flashy skillset but wasn't a playmaker to the degree BS tries to mask him as.

 

Errrm....that was unnecessary i suppose.

Either way, i highly disagree with the chicharo analysis in here.

Power finishing is NOT his style.

 

In this thread these words are directed at Chris Wondolowski, but this description could easily describe Pippo Inzaghi, a man with poor possession and dribbling skills, no passing game, no pace, no strength, no hold up play, no vision. Yet Inzaghi is only second behind Raul in UEFA CL all time goal scoring, and has helped Italy to a WC victory and AC Milan to two Champions League victories and two Scudetti. What Wondo brings to San Jose is the same thing Inzaghi has brought to Milan and gli Azzurri, good positioning, good anticipation, a poacher's instinct, and good finishing. Having watched both play quite extensively, I would actual say that I think Wondo has a better shot than Inzaghi, and has a more well rounded game as well.

Inzaghi's only talent is scoring goals and nothing else, and Wondo is a little like that. If you don't think a players is talented enough overall, don't forget that some players are effective because they are exceedingly talented at one or two aspects of the game, and fill a gap in the team. The US badly needs good finishers, Wondo is a good finisher. Agudelo seems a fairly good finisher as well, and is more promising but is less proven. What should be noted though, is Wondo isn't a good lone target striker, he can be used as one for his club team but I can certainly see how the US which likes to play with a traditional big strong center-forward, would not be able to make use of a player like Wondo as a lone striker. If we play with only one striker, I'd rather see Agudelo or Jozy.

Chincharito is a fairly one dimensional player too and certainly wouldn't play well in midfield or even in a more dynamic attacking role, but he's starting for ManU, and may be a superstar in the making. If a striker like these guys has good service then good finishing and a poachers instinct is all it takes to be great.

 

I don't think Gooch or Boca will be able to handle Chicharito.

 

Inzaghi was so much better talent wise though.

 

-I like how you pluralized Scudetto

-Chris Wondolowski isn't Pippo Inzaghi. I get the attempted comparison, but Wondo doesn't time his runs anywhere near what Pippo does, for one thing. And again, this is all probably moot as Wondolowski won't see much time.

 

I agree. And I have always been a big fan of Ramos and JOB. We need more players like that. But Adu has more talent than they did. Remains to be seen if he will live up to it. Btw, I'd add Mathis to the conversation when it comes to raw talent and skill. I'd say he had more than Ramos and JOB.

And it goes without saying that Donovan is the greatest offensive player by some margin that the US has ever had. Some of his skills (the world class acceleration and deadly runs on the counterattack) are obvious. But I think Donovan also has the best soccer brain of all the highly skilled players we've had. Dempsey is also an extremely smart player. What probably sets him apart from the others (except for the other Clint) is a willingness to try the audacious.

Btw it goes to show you how young we are as a soccer playing country that we don't need all ten fingers to be able to count all the really skilled players we have had.

I only can count eight: In addition to the six mentioned above, Reyna and Wegerle.

 

I'd agree with this. Talent doesn't always make the player, though.