Who helped/hurt their chances after Mexico ? [R]

Hurt--
Wolff, unless there was something physically wrong with him.
Casey, was a klutz without sufficient footskills to keep up with LD, DMD, BC; first touch is quite poor

Helped--
Twellman, game flow in the attacking third improved a lot because of him
Zavagnin, seemed pretty solid
Mastroeni, did well, but he may move to the right side with Bocanegra back in
Convey, did well out of the back, although there were a couple of instances when his defending succeeded despite some bad judgment.
Armas, strong game
Pope, the usual
Beasely, the usual
Donovan, bound for Arsenal
Walker, the usual
Hejduk, postponed his demise. Was that really the same person in Holland??

 

This game was proof of why Hedjuk infuriates me. After the last ouple of outings, I figured he was finally done.

Then last night, he plays I thought a real solid game. A few usual Hedjuk crosses to be sure (cross into the stands) but overall, I thought he played very well.

 

Hurt:

Casey. Maybe good in games where we really need a big forward, but this clearly wasn't the case last night and may not be the case in WCQ.

Helped:

Convey. He has to be our first choice at LB now.
Mastroeni. Now a very strong option in the back.
Zavagnin. Proved that he can play in our MLS XI.
Armas. Still hanging on.
Hejduk. Still our MLS XI starting right back.

 

I disagree here. I think everybody helped themselves with Casey being the lone exception.

 

Hurt - Casey should have seen red in first half, lacked touch to finish chances when he had them

Helped - Zavagnin

 

In the hour or so that I was able to watch, Casey looked dangerous but stupid, so I don't know if he helped or hurt himself.

I know it was only a few minutes, but boy did Kirovski look unhelpful.

This was the Taylor Twellman we Revs fans know and love, although he hasn't shown up much in our games yet.

 

there was one player who came on and seriously looked horrible... connor casey. here all this time i thought he was nationally ranked, he was terrible. he killed so many US attacks. he needs to get back to practicing with his starkick.

twellman finally showed he has some serious potential. it'll be fun to watch him play in qualifying i think.. he might signal the end of international careers for the likes of kirovski razov and every other GOOD but not great striker the US has.

 

I think everybody helped themselves in this game, Casey included. While he was not as impressive as he was in the Poland game he still busted his ass out there trying to win every ball he could. He probably could have been give a red for that challenge, but considering how dirty some of the Meixcan players were, it was surprising they didn't get sent off for getting 2 yellows.

 

I agree...Casey should have recieved the red card on that challenge on the Mexican keeper.

 

...and the tackle on zavagnin by the mexican was as close to a red card as you can get w/o getting one.

i was really impressed with zavagnin. i guess all this time in camp with the national team and all the glowing things bruce has said about him were true. he played an excellent game...was better before the horrible tackle, but still was great at winning the ball, contolling the ball <none of those horrible "trap the ball and let it bounce 15 feet away" things> and getting it to donovan/beasley and in to the attack.

 

I thought Casey looked very much like somebody who was playing with people who were very familiar with each other but not him and he not familiar with them. A bit out of synch. Also, I think the level of the match pumped him up a little too much. The slide on the goalkeeper and looking out of gas in the first half suggests to me he was running on adrenaline.

Get him under control and give him some familiarity with the players around him and I think we have a very useful player on our hands because other than McBride we don't have a striker who can get up there get his head on the ball.

 

I hate to agree about the red card, but that was my first thought when he hit the keeper. In a match with this much animosity between the teams, a late and reckless challenge, against a keeper who already had the ball and was defenseless, knowing that the foul would undoubtedly lead to retribution from the Mexican players on the US leading to even further violence, I can't believe the ref didn't red card him.

Honestly, if the situation was reversed, BigSoccer would be littered with people clamoring for the Mexican's head, FIFA complaints, threats against the ref, etc, etc....


Helped:
1. Landon Donovan, his less than stellar performances in recent friendles made me forgot how good he really is, unbelievable performance
2. Convey His fitness and pace, as well as his skill on the ball and defensive abilities I think make him our first choice LB for now
3. Hejduk As much as I complain about him, he really played well last night. He played essentially the same roll he played in Holland, but with fantastic success.
4. Mastroeni The announcers in English and Spanish couldn't stop praising him and for good reason. I've never seen a more complete game from a US defender, ever. He looked so assured, solid and cool under pressure. Great pace too.

Hurt:
1. Wolff, Didn't show for almost the entire first half. I thought Twellman was going to replace hmi in the second.
2. Casey, As above, probably would have been red carded in a qualifier, especially a road qualifier. Can't have that kind of play. Bad with his feet.


The others played well, but I don't think anybody else really significantly helped or hurt themselves other than those listed.

 

Casey helped by showing the dedication to fly across the world after playing 90 minutes over the weekend to play in a meaningless friendly.
He didn't show nearly as poorly as the majority of you are making it him out to be, I thought Wolff was worse IMO.

 

Convey is not a natural defender. He was turned down for a work permit in UK and, consequently, missed out on a transfer to the Premier League last year. Arena's giving him playing time so that he can get a work permit. LB is where he does the least damage.

Convey = not ready for prime time

 

donovan clearly the m.o.m and best player on the field, not that his stature on the team was endangered; mastro was very sharp; not much to do for walker, but he belongs; convey & beas looked very tired- off games for both of em; heydude tireless as always, but is absent any skill required at this level- same goes for armas, who's increasingly exposing himself. wolfe? i didn't know he was on the field for the first 20 minutes- very quiet; casey less imposing than last time out, and didn't much help his case. overall, an average outing, and surprised at mex's lack of intensity & possession.

 

Exactly - and remember: it's just his second cap. He made himself a presence out there. Sure he had a big mental lapse and his touch let him down on a couple occassions, but what members of the team haven't done the same at times? For a second cap against Mexico, I think he did himself well overall.

 

As far as players on the "bubble" going into this game, fighting for a spot, I'd say Casey did okay; he's kind of clumsy with the ball, needs to move his feet faster, but I liked how he won the ball in the air and would chest it down to the onrushing player behind him. I think he helped his chances.

Zavagnin was very impressive to me. I'd say he helped his chances and proved he belonged. He could play at the speed of the game.

Twellman was impressive. When he came in and started playing, I really thought now we're gonna score. In his previous times with the nats, I never got that feeling. I think he'll get more looks.

Kirovski...no. Granted he didn't have much time, but in his short time, he really did nothing. I felt no moment of excitement from him at all.

Unless I'm missing something, I really don't think the rest of the ones that played were questionable in Bruce's mind anyway.

 

And this is the point I don't see many people making. Zavagnin is no Richie Williams, or even Chris Armas. Most folks say "Zavagnin was great, broke up a lot of attacks."

But what he really did was link to the attack. Three of the last four years of feeding the ball to Preki has paid off.

 

In previous appearances, Twellman did not show well because he was never given the ball. Last night, not only did he receive it regularly, we had a simulataneous comparison of him and Conor Casey. Twellman won that comparison, hands down. Those two are competing for one position, to say nothing of the others like Buddle and McBride who are also in the mix for the same position. When the opportunity is presented, excuses like, "Give him time," or "He was nervous," don't work if the player doesn't deliver. Not for professionals at this level. I particularly liked this from Stillkickin which I imagine is a joke:
"I'd say Casey did okay; he's kind of clumsy with the ball, needs to move his feet faster, but I liked how he won the ball in the air and would chest it down to the onrushing player behind him. I think he helped his chances."

 

I thought that Casey did EXACTLY what he was expected to do - that is play back to goal, collect the balls and play them off to the others around him. He is not going to turn and take guys on on the dribble. I thought he did extremely well at creating space for himself to take a ball out of the air and get it on the ground to our guys that break the defense down.

I think that you guys are being overly harsh on him for a few stumbles with the ball. He exhibited good foot skills a number of times getting out of tight spots. I think that part of the issue with him bungling a few first touches was not being as familiar with the guys around him and at times not expecting the pass or not knowing WHERE to expect the pass.

The other thing he did was pressure their defense a lot and physically punished them if they held the ball too much. I think that he earned a penalty early in the first half when he was taken down without the defender touching the ball.

Wolff was nowhwere out there and showed very little to nothing. Twellman should have come on much sooner for Wolff.

As for Twellman & Casey playing for the same roster spot along with Buddle & McBride also in the mix for that single roster spot, I disagree.

I think that we showed that with the speed and attacking skill we can put on the field in the midfield, it can be a very dangerous combination to have two post up type forwards like Twellman & Casey or Casey & McBride up top. They can physically stand up to the big defenders we'll see in Europe and they can let our attacking midfielders play off of and through them like Donovan & Beasley did last night.

One thing that I am convinced of after last night -- Donovan belongs in our AM spot, not up top. I was also impressed with Zavagnon. If OBrien and/or Reyna wind up not being available due to injuries, then Zavagnon is a good option in the dmid spot.

 

Mastroeni was pretty unbelieveable. He was very solid in the back.

Twellman was the perfect sub for this type of game. Glad he got some good chances.

Midfield was alright, but sometimes it seemed a little crowded and unorganized...Donovan was the only one who stood out to me.

 

I have to say, whether he's in EPL or MLS, Kirovski is still overrated! (Not to say that Casey had a much better game). In my opinion, out of the 4 forwards, Twellman impressed me the most with his ability in the air. As far as attacking the goal, Donovan is still number one, creating more chances then Kirovski, Casey and Wolff put together.

 

One run of play sticks out in my mind the most: later in the second half, a great run by DMB and Donovan, passes between each other, working the Mexican D. They try to get Conor Casey into the play to further exploit the Mexicans and he has a horrible first touch, totally finishing the scoring opportunity.

I don't want to see him in another US match, unless he is coming off the subs bench.

 

Friendlies don't count toward your work permit. A player must appear in 75% of his national team's competitive matches during the past 2 years.