It what many call the best tactical game employed by a US coach, Arena packed it in an played counter attacking football against Mexico. Mexico held 70% of the possession. Arena said that under the heat and with limited rest, he needed a game plan that kept them from running all match. Ghana does not pressure or pass with the efficiency of mexico, but if we play very compact for 60minutes with a makeshift team, I think we can freely counter for the last 30minutes and catch Ghana off their game. My starting line up would look to rest Demrit, Jozy, Dempsey, Bradley. I would like to rest Donovan as well, but you can't really imagine a match without him in there. -------------------Howard------------------- Dolo--------Spector---------Gooch----------Boca----- -------------Edu----------Clark-------------- Holden-------------------------------Beasley -------------Donovan-------------- ----------------------------Buddle-------- As a forward, I dont think donovan would be called to run much if we are compact, just pick his counter attacking moments. I also think that he and Buddle are teammates and can do well in transition. Panstil, the Ghana right back looks to go forward and Beezer would keep him very honest. I would long ball out to Beasley as often as possible. Holden will be asked to play a lot more defensively, but I think he can handle it. With Spector, Edu, Dolo manning the right. and Gooch Clark, and Boca on the left we should be very tight in defense. Clark, Beasley, Holden, Edu, Buddle and to an extent Benny are all rested. The other defender who scares me is Dolo. He has been outstanding thus far, but both he and Bradley are visibly tired.
I don't think we'll see Bob deploy Spector at CB. Bob has never even played Spector at LB, let alone CB. That said, despite his shaky form with West Ham this season, the Confederations Cup made a believer out of me, and I have all the confidence that Spector could step in on the defensive line and do the job if we needed to (such as if Cherundolo needed a rest, or DeMerit needed a rest and we were to move Bocanegra inside next to Onyewu). I also think your line-up would cause problems for FIFA and the referees, seeing as how you have 12 players listed.
DOH! yeah, as I said, we needed to rest more by playing more! Should look like this: --------Holden--------------------Beez------ --------------------Donovan----------------- ----------------Buddle-------------------------
Gotcha. It's an interesting idea, but I also think it's a bad idea to rest so many starters in a knockout game. I'm not comfortable with a Clark/Edu pairing in central midfield. Have those two ever played together? I also don't think there is any way Dempsey or Bradley get removed from the line-up, but if Bradley ever did, Feilhaber would be his replacement, I think. As I mentioned in my other thread (your response was helpful, by the way), I am still a bit confused on how Bradley intends to use Holden and particularly Beasley going forward in this World Cup. Beasley may be the biggest wild card on our roster. He has loads of experience and rumors from training camp were that he's regained his pace. Could he be an ace in the hole for Bob?
The reason you use him is defensive, though. Ghana has great speed on their wings and Beasley could negate that. If we are up at 70 mins, I bring him in. I would not start him as I think our other RM options with Dempsey up to top (Donovan on R, Feilhaber of L v Donovan of L and Holden on R) are better all around options.
Regardless of whatever merit your overall thoughts may have, there's no way we'll play a lineup Saturday without Jozy, Dempsey, Bradley and Demerit. If any of the four of them are not in the lineup, it would be an utter shock (and probably injury-related). You can get fresh bodies back in the lineup without sacrificing any of our most crucial players. I don't think the soak-and-absorb strategy is necessarily wrong. I suspect we will see a Bradley-Clark (rested) midfield pairing to start, along with Findley (rested) back up top to keep the GHA defense honest. Midway through the second half, we can gamble with more offense if we need to. Biggest question is whether Bob will go back to Gooch (rested) against the stronger Ghanaians, or does he roll the dice twice with Bornstein? If you get all three of those guys in, that's 30% of your field players who didn't play on Wednesday. That should be enough to freshen things up, with Holden also a possibility if we push Dempsey up top to start. I wouldn't at all be opposed to this: -----Dempsey-----Altidore------- Donovan-------------Holden----- ----Bradley------Clark---------- Boca---Demerit---Gooch-----Cherundolo That's three fresh bodies mixed in with our core, provides some craft and countering speed and is fairly staunch defensively against a team that looks threatening but has struggled to finish. I suspect we're better conditioned than Ghana is, although they have superior athletes at the outset. We should be able to wear them down with a smart first 45-60 minutes and then turn the screws as they get tired and tactically looser.
I am more concerned about us getting tired. Beasley was given a yellow after perfectly bringing down a cross into the box with his chest (ref says arm). That could have led to the goal. As mentioned he's supposedly gotten back his pace, and his experience in the SPL could negate somewhat not only their speed but physicality. So he's a good bet for a sub like last game. I was thinking the same lineup to start with Findley the dagger at the end?