Who gains and who loses from Arena's promulgation delay???

please pick ricardo clark...pleaseeee

 

That would be a start.

See above post.

This kid, even though invited, shouldn't have been written off when he recovered. He has so much more talent and and ability than a Carroll, Olsen, KZ, and yes, Armas, but BA shows his weakness with not being able to overcome this issue.

Talent should trump.

Anyone who deosn't see how much more talented this kid is than those hacks need not respond. Just stick your head in the ground, as you probably have been.

 

Jager..... I COMPLETELY AGREE......

I think BA is an excellent coach. However, he continues to play guys who have not and never will perform at the international level. IMO we have a number of our young players who are already more talented and technical than some of the older guys.

I think that was obvious last night against Jamaica's A-league, semi-pro and college players who showed more talent than many of these aforementioned hacks.

 

Once again you are correct.

 

As has been argued before, this is why we really can't be sure how good of a coach he is.

Excellent organizer and communicator. Great motivator, get's the players to believe. Great game plans, but at the same time...

Weak region where we can get away with mistakes and B level talent, has shown difficulties in managing a match once it has started (subs, tactical changes, reacting to other teams changes), has shown that he will err on the side of comfort and caution, and brings yth along way too slowly, and on a very short leash for the most part unless they blow him away. He does not give them the same benefit as older guys IMO. Wouldn't mind the last one, but as you said, the talent some of our younger guys have just blows away some of the older guys in the picture.
Pick the talent please.

 

OK, I agree Clark is definitely better than Zavagnin. And I'll lets say he's better than Carroll due to athleticism (though I think Carroll is better with the ball and a better passer). But I don't think he's got Olsen beat. He's more athletic and faster, sure, but Olsen is certainly a better passer and I think a better tackler. Clark is a pretty poor passer of the ball, even in MLS. He gives it away quite a bit under little or no pressure by making poor decisions about who to pass to and when IMO.

Clark is certainly someone I wish would've first of all never gotten injured, but even with the injury he should've been called in for some later friendlies. I completely agree that he would probably be fighting it out for the spot Olsen appears to have won, which is backup dmid (which may or may not actually be on the 23 man roster).

Clark has huge potential, and he might've beaten out Olsen, Zavagnin, and Carroll. I think a further look was warranted, but then again with that position he'd have seriously look quite a bit better than Olsen to trump Olsen's experience (which is seriously valuable in WC games).

 

This is why I'd like Bruce to move into a role within the USSF hierarchy, or to a club job after this cycle. He's done a magnificent job, but I think a fresh look from the top would be good for the USA for 2010.

 

Can't argue this for the most part. We differ slightly, but I can accept the genral thoughts.

Clark just needed more time to show.

Benny has shown very well over the last few mths, well since Scotland, but I'm not sure the speed is there. Then again, Armas wasn't the fastest either.

Personally I would err on the side of yth and potential (int'l po that is) for one of the last on my squad. Thats' just me, it certainly ain't BA. Has always been something I didn't like this last 4 years.

 

Buddle and Clark deserve a look and a half. If Clark isn't picked, he should buy tickets to every match and heckle Arena...

 

I think some wrong assumptions are being made here. A couple of them:

1) Do folks here really think a Spector or an Olsen aren't on his original 35-man list? 35 players is a lot of players.

2) Do folks here really think Arena didn't release his 35-man list because he's overly concerned about who the last midfielder might be? Of course not. Not releasing the list has almost nothing to do with who's at the very end of it. I'll say "almost nothing" because who really cares if (the following is an example only) Howard or Meola is the third GK in Germany? If, say, Meola wasn't on the 35 man list and Arena had second thoughts on including him, then he could just put out a 36 man list. BFD. Same with other individuals like Ricardo Clark or Freddy. If we were expecting a 35 man list and he came out with a 40 man list at the last second that wouldn't be the end of the world. Except on BigOverreaction.com of course.

3) No, not releasing the list must have to do with a deeper dissatisfaction of a part of the list. I say "a part of the list" for two reasons:

1) I mean a more important part then the marginal end. See point 2 above.

2) For most positions, practically everybody here and Arena can state who the main players will be. With or without the 35 man list most of us can nail down at least 18 of the 23 final positions. We know about the CB's. We know the top seven in the midfield. Those things won't change. Those parts of the 35 man list won't change and thus adding an extra player at those positions can't be a reason to withhold the list. It must be another position a position that we have no idea who, given the general wisdom of who''s going to Germany, will start. That position is....

3) Forward. Has to be. Although we speculate endlessly about forwards here we have to remember that even last summer in the Gold Cup, Arena wasn't happy with who the main guys were. Last year he even was on record that he was dissatisfied with his forwards and thus tried Dempsey and Noonan there in the GC (to not great results). (He also tried Beasley to somewhat better results.)

I'm sure Arena had hoped that Johnson, coming back from injury, would take the forward problem away. But he hasn't. I'm sure Arena hoped that TT would continue his winter camp form. But he hasn't. I'm sure Arena hoped that Ching would bounce back strongly from his injuries of last year too. But he hasn't.

So I think the reason the 35-man roster wasn't released was because of the forwards.

Now the interesting thing here is that if so, what will Arena do? Unlike most of us here Arena doesn't window shop. In other words he doesn't just take a guy who's scored a couple of weeks in a row in MLS. Hell he doesn't just take a guy who scores 100 in MLS. He takes his time. Time that he doesn't have now.

He may wind up still will McBride and Johnson, Wolff, and TT (or Ching). But he won't be happy about it. Now he's looking at several other forwards not on his now private 35-man list. He's also thinking of midfielders who could play forward too (and thus less than four forwards for Germany).

 

I actually think, he's decided Mastroeni shouldn't play Centreback at ALL in the WC.

 

Very possible, but that decision wouldn't change his 35 man list one bit. He probably has six CB's already on the list, along with at least four back-up d-mids.

 

Ursula, I agree with your line of thinking. Just to take it a step further, even if he does end up being stuck with the same forwards, what does he gain by releasing the list? Nothing. Instead, now he keeps the players working hard and the players (and fans) guessing about who makes the cut. I really don't think there's a down side to not releasing the list.

 

Yep. Sends a message that they gotta do better. All of 'em.

 

You are correct, there isn't a downside to not releasing the list. I think if definitely shows things are a bit less decided than Arena had hoped.

What other forwards besides McBride can contribute at the world cup and how far will BA reach to find them?

 

arena's comments about the poor showing of the MLS based forwards makes you wonder if conor casey stays on the field and scores a few more goals for Mainz if he swoops in for a roster spot...

 

If that is accurate, and I don't see Clark play often enough to know, then that is why he isn't on the roster. You're dmid can't give the ball up in the defensive half. Just can't. Potential, talent, speed, nothing can overcome a tendency to give it up in the defensive half for a dmid.

 

Normally I'd blast a post like this, but let's face it, the "McBride backup" position has been trouble almost every second since Ching scored in his 2nd straight game in the 2004 round of WCQs. Twellman looked to at least be good enough for emergency duty for about 6 weeks, but now...it's not just that he didn't produce, it's that he didn't threaten.

Realistically, Cooper doesn't have a chance, but when your competition is Ching, Twellman, and Casey, I wouldn't say "never."

BTW, england, before you get all puffed up that's 90% about the competition and 10% about Cooper. His fearsome lack of speed worries me.

 

From the games I've seen of him, in a foot race, I don't think he is any slower than TT or Ching. With the ball at his feet, he is definitely faster and a lot more skillful than TT and Ching, and that's what matter most anyway.

 

I will... :::::: .... and I think it is Heath Pearce.

 

Greatest idea ive ever seen on BS by far! Repped.

 

This is a little OT, but the biggest problem that we've had in the recent run of cr@p games is the lack of a CAM. There wasn't even a nominal one on the field for most of the Germany game. And, I'm sorry, but LD is not a #10. It was grossly evident last night. How many times did he combine with anyone in the midfield? How many times did he spring anyone . . . down the side? down the middle? anywhere? How many times were our wide mids stranded on the outside with no help from the middle and dispossessed one-on-one, or forced to just dribble directly into the outside back. Why wasn't Donovan combining with them?

I don't know what position LD will play in the WC, but we need someone to rise up and take the CAM position. Most likely JOB.

The only way LD is effective as a CAM is in the box when he's paired with Beez. Somehow those guys move off the ball in complimentary ways that mask their lack of creativity. But, we ain't going to be playing any box against Cze & Italy. Bruce has said he's shootin' for those 2 matches to yield . . . . . . a point. Not a point each, . . . a point. There's going to be a bunker on the field and it won't be Archie. So, we need a CAM, stat.

 

im almost 100% sure that bruce is going to take hejduk and wolff regardless of recent performances. i have some notion that wolff will somehow start to perform again come germany, i dont know why (goals come in bunches maybe?)

im scared at the thought of ching or twellman going, they just dont have it right now. the prospect of a cooper or casey coming on at the last minute excites me. especially with cooper. i would love to see him just sorta pop up at the last minute and then do an incredible job of subbing bmb.

i also dont think landon is a #10 either, i never have. ive thought his best place is at second striker. i think we would be much better off with a midfield of reyna, job, dmb, and convey with bmb and landon up top. that lineup looks really good to me.

 

Not great, but it's not that bad IMO when you talk about his speed, physical play, offensive capability, aggressiveness (without being stupid), a motor that never stops and positioning at least as good as Pablo. Both can be pulled out, but then again Pablo got lucky with the Armas injury, or who knows where he would be right now in the pecking order.

Probably behind" int'l class" Chris. Hehe. BA at his worst here with way to many puppets to defend him.

This is, and has been a huge BA blind spot.