Who are the 3 US Senior Nats You Choose for the U-23 Olympic Team

Yes, good choice.

 

Agreed on the GK being one of the choices (Countess is awful) but I doubt Tim Howard is the answer, with the long season Man U. is likely facing next year. I would guess Kasey or Brad would be willing to step up.

Bocanegra should absolutely be on the team.

And my final choice would be McBride. The U-23s are a team with very little height up front. Donovan, Beasley, Convey, etc. could use a target man to play off.

 

Tim Howard
Bocanegra

and one of the following:

John O'Brien
Steve Ralston
Eddie Pope

 

Nobody.

This will never happen with the Olympics being such a high-profile thing in the states. But I say it's time for the US to show that we've grown up and can be a good team without the overage players.

 

I think it's time for Conor Casey to start filling that role. Buddle also has some height and target-man ability.


My choices would be Howard, Bocanegra, and Armas...if fit. Armas deserves another chance.

 

Here, here. I second these comments. I believe it would send "shudders" to other nations when they realize that our talent pipeline is just getting better and more confident.

 

My choice would be guys that just miss the age cut-off but will likely be in the Nat's player pool in the future.

The benefit is they will gain international experience while becoming familar with future U.S. teammates.

My picks would nicely fit into positions that our under-23's are not deep in:

Noonan- right mid

Curtin-center-back

Dunivant-Left-back

 

Thing is, there are qualifications that are going to be held that summer. More "seasoning" won't help the top 24.

I'd go with guys who need time out on the field in hard matches:

Taylor Twellman (unless he's still only 22)
C.J. Brown
Richard Mulrooney

And I just realized: Donovan, Beasley, and Adu are Olympic-eligible, I think!

 

I don't look at the overage players to help win the Gold. I want to give additional experience to players, preferably close in age to the Under 23s, for future Nat team.

My top six choices (it will depend on injuries)

1. Carlos Bocanegra - Central Defense
2. Aiden Brown -- Goalie
3. Steve Cherundolo -- Right Back
4. Taylor Twellman -- Forward
5. Ben Olsen -- Right Midifield
6. Cory Gibbs-- Center/Left Back
7. Todd Dunivart -- Left Back

Richard Mulrooney fits the profile as well, but I think the Under 23s are already loaded in Central Midfield.

 

Id Go with Richie Williams.....and then clone him twice.......we should win with a triple-ankle-biter- force!

 

Definitely Mulrooney. McBride (Think about it!). Mastroienni (sp?).

 

Oh i always thought that Countess is the new boy for American Keeper Legacy, but I've never seen him play.
It's too bad

I like the way it sounds.

 

It would be classy to give Armas a shot if he wanted - especially since he has had so many disappointing injuries in the lead-up to World Cups. He would be a great professional and captain to drive the other guys along.

Not that Szetela, Clark, Grabavoy and others shouldn't be pushing hard for that position on the field as well.

I think it is always a good idea to have an older steadier 'keeper. I would like to see Steve Cronin get a shot to push Countess and Doug Warren.

If Josh Wolff is rounding into full fitness and seems like he needs some extra game action to prepare him for qualifying - I would consider this a good forum for that as well, although club action might also do the trick.

 

A) Countess is now awful. On top of that, he is one of the emotional leaders of this team. Replacing him will disrupt chemistry and it won't really make the team much better as the difference betwee Countess and whomever replaces him is not that great.

B) It's not going to be Keller or Friedel. Both have played in the Olympics already, as overage players (and Friedel also played as a U23). The Olympics overlap with the beginning of the EPL season next year which means any overage players would miss most of their club's preseason plus the first couple of weeks of the season. I assure you that Keller and Friedel at this stage of their careers don't want t jeopardize their starting spots with their clubs to play in a U23 tournament they've already played in.

C) For Howard, see above. Think he wants to open the door for Carroll to have a good preseason and first couple of games while he's gone? Let's say it's Carroll who comes up big in the Charity Shield next year and SAF decides to ride him and Timmy sits because he was off playing in Athens. Howard's not gonna risk that.

D) On top of that, none of the clubs want the GKs to leave so there will be pressure to stay. There will already be conflicts because of CONCACAF qualifying and games that aren't on FIFA dates. The Olympics just makes things worse.

E) That leaves the domestic-based GKs. Is Adin Brown really that much better than Countess and is it worth disrupting the chemsitry?

F) Missing time from their club applies to all the Euro-based players, and that will likely include Bocanegra by the summer. The U23 players, their teams don't have much choice. But whomever Bocanegra signs with is not going to be happy if he misses a month of his first preseason with our Olympic team. And, as a new player, Bocanegra is in no position to risk alieneting his new club and risk getting buried on the pine. Same with Gibbs, O'Brien (been there, done that), etc...

G) We have a World Cup qualifier DURING the Olympics. This could and perhaps should be A). The first semifinal WC qualifier is August. 18. The Olympics are from the 13-31. Given how high-profile the Olympics are in this country and the fact that we have a very good chance to medal, expect the USSF and MLS to "encourage" Bruce Arena to let the U23 players like Landon, Beas and Convey go to the Olympics and miss the qualifer. If he's already shorthande, you think Arena is gonna want to lose three more overage players? C'mon!

H)Realistically, the sollutions that make the most sense are either going with an all U23 team or going with young players who have national team potential but who aren't there yet but who are too old for the U23 team. Todd Dunivant (LB) and Pat Noonan (RM) would certainly fit this bill.

I) Even the young overage sollution isn't without flaws as MLS teams will already be missing their U23 players for a month plus a week or so of their national teamers plus any foreign Olympians or national teamers in qualifying and they may not want to lose any more and encourage the Fed to go with an all U23 team.

This is a fun debate but in doing so, you need to be practical or it just becomes a silly gum-flapping exercise.

 

If the US wants to have a decent shot at winning, they're going to need to bring some "overage" players. Here some of whats coming.

Brazil (Kaka, Diego, Adriano (led Series A in scoring before being injured), Alex, Robinho, Nilmar, and bringing Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, and either Ronaldinho or Dida as overage players.

Argentina (Tevez, D'Alessandro, Saviola.etc)

Netherlands (Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Robben)

Portugal (Quaresma, Cristiano Ronaldo, Postiga, Viana.etc)

 

Bring it on!

Look, the Olympic team for the US is potentially very good, though there are a number of teams with better resumes. If things broke right, the US could win, though it would be easy to be eliminated early as well.

P.S. I can't believe people raise Postiga as an example of a good player to be afraid of.

 

Out of curiosity,

why are teams allowed over-age players?

 

Can we please stop beating the Armas horse to death? He is a waste of space. Why don't we just put Jeff Agoos on the team and maybe Cle Kooiman? How about Richie Williams?

No overage players. We don't need them and we need the give the young guns a chance to step up.

If we do have an overage player it should be Freddy Adu.......

 

Q)You know what would send shudders to other countries?

A) Winning the damn thing.


The Olympics are scheduled 13-29 Aug. so not all of our European based players could risk their spots.

One of the overage spots should go to a goalie. No doubt.
Friedel's place at his club is rock solid. I doubt him missing the pre-season would hurt him. So let's not count him out. Not the same with Keller. SAF doesn't give a rat's ass about the US or the Olympics so I am pretty sure Howard is out.
If Brad is out then maybe Walker, who has played under the intense pressure of Copa Libertadores at the Maracana. Maybe Adin Brown.

Boca will probably be in Europe trying to solidify his place in the starting 11 somewhere. So let's be realistic and count him out.

O'Brien. Please, with his string of injuries do you really think Ajax would be happy about this? Next.
Reyna? See above.

It would be great if Armas could play. That would be a class thing to do since he missed the WC. He or Mulrooney or Pablo would be a major upgrade from Beckerman or Clark.

We are desperate for outside backs at the USMNT level so let's throw Dunivant in the deep and see if he can fly. Or maybe Wade Barrett if he can get the time off, but it's doubtful. I hope to God it's not Califf.


So I guess I'd go with
1) Brad or Walker or Brown
2) Armas or other DMid
3) outside back - NOT, NOT, NOT Hejduk

 

When you look at who we'll be willing to spare and will be willing to go, it's almost like we'd be better off just sending the U-23 squad that's had a year of playing together.
Qualifying is not going to be easy as there is a substantial likelyhood of having to play an elimination match against Mexico in Mexico.

 

One other point I forgot to mention earlier:

I think we should wait and see who does well and where the holes are after qualifying.

If Clark or Beckerman plays great, suddenly it seems silly to replace them with Armas.

If DJ stands on his head, it will be tough to dump him for an overage.

At the same time, if we struggle to score goals or the central defense is terrible, suddenly we made need to fill gaps there.

We'll know alot more Feb. 12.

 

Agreed.

 

Apparently only you "realize" the US is in the same bracket as Mexico because, well, it's not true!

The US is in Group A with Honduras, Canada and Panama.

Mexico is in Group B with Costa Rica, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.

If both teams win their groups (or both teams come in second), they wouldn't play in the semis. If both teams win their semi, they would play in a meaningless final as both teams will have already qualified for Athens.

The only way the US plays Mexico with Athens on the line is if one team finishes first in their group and the other second. That's the only way.