We all love to predict who'll be the starters and the big guns for us down the road but in reality, we don't have a single guarenteed starter at any single position. Perhaps with the exception of Carlos Bocanegra. We'll have intense field battles for starting positions. How do you think this will affect the players themselves and the relationships between the players, and the team chemistry? If you watched "Our Way", you'll realize that one of the keys to the US doing so well in WC2002 was our good chemistry. To Illustrate what I'm talking about let's look at the Midfield and the wingbacks, you'll have Bobby Convey vs DaMarcus Beasley vs John O'Brien vs Landon Donovan vs Clauio Reyna vs Pablo Masteroeni vs Ben Olsen vs Steve Cherundolo vs Chris Klein vs Sasha Victorine vs Chris Armas. Other than the last 4, these are all "star" players. And Cherundolo starts for a BL squad, and before injury you could argue that Armas was a VIP. Unfortunatly there is a total of 11 players for 6 spots. This is a situation thats gonna happen up front to with the forwards. Will our team implode like some European teams?
No. Depth is good thing, not a bad thing. The question reminds me of the pre-WC debate on how to get all of our "best players" on the field at the same time. Due to injuries, player availability, and tactical adjustments the question was rendered largely moot. Also, the WC GK situation aside, one of the things that Arena is good at is letting players know exactly where they stand and what they need to do to earn a starting role. IIRC, there were some players who were dropped from the pool because of attitude (as in, they were unwilling to accept their roles).
I will agree that this early there is no reason to try and predict who we will be counting on, even as early as the beginning of qualifying. However, I do think there are a number of players who right now are penciled in as starters, the others may be able to give them a go, but will have to work hard to replace them. Donovan, Beasley, Mastroeni, Friedel, Mcbride are "healthy" and IMO are the guys everyone else will be chasing. O'brien, IF he becomes healthy and is as capable as he was before his latest inury, is another. Mathis is one player who looks to be returning as a fundamental starter. He had that before the world cup, got hurt, and ever since has been trying to regain his form. He is doing well and is another O'brien like player, needs to work hard to regain past form. But alas, all or none of these players could be replaced by newer players, or older players finding late career form.
Picking the qualifying team for 2004 is going to be more difficult than picking many of the players that are going to make it to 2006. The reason is that many of the older players from 2002 are still going to be useful for WC qualifying, but aren't going to make it to the WC in 2006 IMHO. Here's a list of players who I think will make the 2006 WC squad without evaluating the current crop of rookie MLSers, the current U20s and the Olympic team. Mathis Cunningham Donovan Buddle John O'Brien Suarez- as a central defender Bocanegra Cherundolo Mastroeni Onyewu Pope-recently added Friedel Keller Howard
I can agree with that list, except for Cunningham. He has more to prove, but his age makes him a possibility, doesn't it? How old is he again? My point I guess is that unlike when Arena first took over this team we can be MORE sure of who will most likely play a large role in the next four years. I think there are much fewer starting spots up for grabs than there were four years ago. And most of the open spots are in defense. Good luck to the fellas getting their chances now, while they can, cause those chances will dissipate as these months go by.
Re: Re: USMNT-Field Wars I said perhaps but I can't think of another Central back that would start over him unless he gets injured. But back to my original post. I was asking this from my own experience. When I was playing high school football our teams had a bucket load of talemt and we would have seniors sitting for sophomores or juniors at times. They weren't exactly the happiest people around. Also, as a Bills fan I was thinking of Flutie vs Rob Johnson. And at the beginning of last season the Revs were a shrink case. While this has happened before for our national team, in 3 years we'll reach a whole new level. Remember these are STAR players being benched. They've been brought through the youth system and P-40, read about how they're gonna be the future of American Soccer, been one of the key players for their club teams, and now that they are 23 - 24 , are gonna have to sit on the bench.
It's that whole "penciled in" situation that bothers me. Can anyone say with absolute certainty that DaMarcus Beasly and Landon Donovan are Better midfielders than Bobby Convey? Can anyone say with absolute certainty that Pablo is better than a certain 20 year old , who was the #2 pick of the MLS draft? But as you said those players, when healthy, will start.
Re: Re: Re: USMNT-Field Wars And if they pout and cry about it, there are plenty of guys in the pipeline who would gladly take their place. While egos are tolerated on the club level, they are rarely tolerated on the international level.
I do agree that there's less uncertainty than when Bruce was brand new, but I'd like to spin this a little differently. One of the things we learned in WC'02 is that it's the squad available that matters, and the squad size that counts is 23, not the 11 in the starting lineup. The starters will change based on opponent, injuries, fluctuating form. The smart players on the bubble will be focusing on staying comfortably above the 23 line.
Pretty good list. I fully expect to see Ben Olsen on the next WC squad too. I'm curious about Friedel and Keller though. Do people really think they'll both be on the roster for the next WC if we qualify? Given their age and the potential for injury over the next three years, I'm not so sure.
Whither Howard I used to be really high on Tim Howard, but now I suspect that by 2006 some second tier keeper is going to have a couple hot seasons and overtake him. The Reis/Brown scenario in New England is conducive to that. I think DJ Countess will shine when he gets his chance. Hahneman is in a good position to get a bigger spotlight. It could be anybody. Having said the above, the new regime at the MetroStars could really help Howard's game.
Re: Re: Whither Howard Very true. He tried to fake it before with mixed results. The one thing we know is our keeper better be bald come the World Cup.