Steve Ralston got the start on the right wing for their WCQ this evening against Jamaica, and has been playing well as the match goes into the 23rd minute. Clint Dempsey has also made the final 18, and is on the bench alongside Taylor Twellman. Ralston is wearing #14 Dempsey is wearing #2 Twellman is wearing #16. Go Revs! The Magpie
2nd half is getting underway. Eddie Johnson has the lone U.S. goal in a 1-1 draw to this point, ex-Rev Andy Williams scoring for Jamaica off a PK. Ralston played well in the first half, but suffered somewhat from not getting the final ball forward: Jamaica's been pretty compact in the center of defense. No substitutions for the U.S. as the 2nd-half starts. The Magpie
Clint Dempsey coming on!!!! for Ramiro Corrales in the 66th minute. Gets his first cap, playing a d-mid position.
overall a really good showing by all three. nice hustle and contribution. i especially liked it when twellman stripped Hue (?) of the ball near the end.
Loved the Jersys! Although i didn't reconize Clint at first glance in it, too used to the Revs jersey. Thought Ralston had a great time out there, had some nice touches, don't think he'll be a standard player, but he definatly has potential IMHO. Dempsey not half bad bad out there, almost thought he had a run on goal at one point. Twellman Didn't get much play time but I liked his hustle down in the defensive zone in those last minutes. Jamaca doesn't deserve to advance if they are going to play the way they did. It was kind of like Columbus, no to much ergency even as the clock wore down. They needed to play to win and instead they play with the intent on hurting us. The reffing was good in the beggining but it seemed that after the second yellow, he couldn't keep it in the pocket! Good job Nats and an extra good job to Ralston, Dempsey, and Twellman.
I really liked Dempsey in his role. He has a bright future which means, unfortunately for the Revs, that he'll be out of your lineup a fair amount every year for the forseeable future.
Dempsey, to me, seems to be the best rookie that we have ever had on the Revs. I was not surprised and really happy to see that he was the first call sub in last night's game. And, I thought he did very well especially on that breakaway run near the end of the game. As a matter of fact he seem to energize the entire team after he came on. (Anyway, he energized me.) Up to that point they were looking too laid back for a cup qualifier. For sure Clint, will be selected by Arena for future games as he is Bruce's "kind of player", a real mixer and usually comes out of the mix with the ball. It won't be long before some European teams bid for him.
I agree. He very definately had an impact with his hustle. This Lad most definately "got game". I also agree that it won't be long before he gets sold overseas. Nice "Rev" showing last night. Glad we will get to see one of the next round WCC in Foxbpro. I doubt that TnT or Ralston will be on the "Big Match" rosters but we could see Dempsey. He sure didn't hurt his chances last night. Dempsey "Off to Holland" to expand his skills? Good move
I think Dempsey had about as good a debut as could have been hoped for. He's called into his first USMNT camp, makes the final roster, and gets in for some quality minutes. He started off a bit conservatively while playing a bit careful, but you could see he was gaining confidence with each passing minute, and eventually began to look like the Dempsey we've grown used to this past season: confident, not intimidated, and an ability to push forward. It's still early though, and there's a lot greater competition for spots than there used to be in terms of the USMNT. I certanily think we'll see him again, but whether it's on a consistent basis remains to be seen. Ultimately, that's up to Dempsey, Arena, or some combination of the two. Nice effort, and congrats on his first cap. The Magpie
We did have some rookie a couple of years ago that won the league scoring title - that's kind of hard to top.
I really liked Ralston's game. It seemed like every cross wasn't just "in a good spot" but rather "right on McBride's head". And most of his other touches seemed quick and smart. Protecting the ball mostly, but also playing people forward and taking himself into the center of the field a few times. It reminded me a bit of Eddie Lewis' play on the left. I think Eddie's a bit faster and his 1v1 usually lead him down the outside rather than towards the middle of the field, but generally the solid play and providing very good service from the flank. Good game for Steve. I think Magpie summed up Dempsey's night pretty well. For me Twellman's stint suggests that he played well in camp. With the Dec/Jan camps coming up I'm happy for Twellman's chance to get more time with the Nats.
Oh my, such platitudes. Right now Dempsey looks a lot more like the next Ben Olsen than Tab Ramos/Claudio Renya. A decent and likely useful player for sure, but he has a ways to go in the skill and tactical departments before top European teams start drooling. Tougher competition for playing time than he'll get with the Revs would help his development.
I didn't see any posts from anyone who expected to see Clint playing in the EPL next year. Which comments did you think were overly generous?
I agree. I've only watched the first 50' so far, but Ralston had some very good passes in the early going. Leading up to Eddie Johnson's goal, he gave EJ 3 or 4 really good passes leading to scoring chances (it started to seem inevitable that EJ would score, given the number of chances he was getting from Ralston). For some reason, the US was very right-sided. Even when they switched the ball it very quickly came back to the right and stayed there. I think one of the things the US needs to get better at is switching the ball under pressure. If you only play the ball in the direction you're facing, it makes it much easier for teams to trap you along the sideline.
Their positioning in the middle was kind of odd. Mastro and Ralston and Landon were in the normal spots but Corrales also stayed in the middle. I guess it was expected that Gibbs would take play up the left flank, but that never really materialized.
I echo the pro-Ralston comments. Check out the USMNT board and you'll see a lot of "eh, OK" comments regarding Ralston. But I thought he played better than that. Not an athletic guy but smart, he played within his abilities. Rarely lost a ball, made some accurate crosses, found a way to get about 60 touches during the game, helped Albright to clog up the right side of the field defensively. Pretty good work overall. Which U.S. right mid do we really think would have been better? Clint is a fun, fun player. You don't have to be a Rev fan to like watching that guy.