In my opinion: 1st Choice: Parkhurst, Gibbs 2nd choice: Onyewu, Gibbs 3rd Choice: Onyewu, Parkhurst 4th: Demerit, Gibbs 5th: Demerit, Parkhurst
i personally like parkhurst/onyewu paired with gibbs. with the style of the opponent dictating whether parkhurst or onyewu plays. i think we know the differences between the two players and how they are better suited to face certain types of opponents. however, none of us have seen much of gibbs in the last year and he is a big question mark now. it's hard to hypothesize somehting without seeing much of what your hypothesizing
I agree that's why I had trouble saying Parkhurst and Gibbs is our best pairing, but they aren't just some potential over hyped phenom, Gibbs everyone knows is a great defender, just suffering from constant injury but when he does play is in my mind the best we have, and we have all seen parkhurst on the revs and gold cup, he is such a great organizer and reader of the game with high skill for a defender, Onyewu I would use as a specialist for teams with a big height advantage and would be a vital piece of the puzzle considering he can shut down players that most teams can not. He seems to thrive on these special assignments and be on his game getting in fierce one on one battles and lives for these games, however against typical forwards he lacks the mobility and pace often to be steady all game long, with a combination of these three we would be able to compete with anyone in my opinion.
Onyewu and Gibbs, no question for me. The World Cup would have been universally different had Cory been fit.
A-lineup: Bocanegra - Gibbs B-lineup: Onyewu - Conrad C-lineup: DeMerit - Parkhurst D-lineup Berhalter - Boswell
Cory's more important than alot of people seem to realize. I think Cory compliments any partnership with Gooch, Bocanegra, or Conrad. I think Conrad also makesa good compliment to Bocanegra or Gooch, but the GOoch-Boca thing just isnt working. I gotta say Gibbs-Onyewu at this point. Want to see more of parkhurst, not sure if we will get a really solid look until camp cupcake in 09 but i wouldnt mind seeing it.
Gibbs Onyewu no question. Parkhurst can be great but we havent seen him play for the Nats except for some crappy T and T side