Watch his positioning when the ball is in the back 4. That is EXACTLY where Armas positions himself on the field, or any other mid playing destroyer for the US. Mastroeni was given much more freedom of movement. This I think is by design, and is consistent with Arena's previous teams. I watch Corrales quite a bit, I dont think hes Nat material, I think hes a solid pro. He was asked to play a very constrained role that I have never seen him try to play on the quakes.
Coralles was in the center with Mastro, not sure if it was the Armas role, but he wasn't on the left. Lurking - Good call on the formation in that other thread, that's pretty much how I would describe it too. Very strange
Donovan didn't play that great because his is a big game player. He almost always steps up when it matters. Yesterday didn't matter.
Call up again EJ Albright Ralston Mastrioni Too early to tell Gooch Spector Dempsey Overall the US team got a solid result and put in a good effort but I was surprised Jamaca didn't play with more urgency or fluid play. I thought they would have been a more difficult opponent fighting for their WCQ lives.
Voros, AloosM, JohnR, you are way too hard on Gooch. He was completely dominant in the air, delivered several superb long-range passes - which is more than Eddie Pope has done in his career - while playing with an entirely new set of team mates in a very odd formation against a fairly talented, albeit terribly underachieving, Jamaican team. As to his red card ... if it was a conscious effort to prevent a breakaway late in a tied game, then it was actually a very good play, a so-called professional foul with the odds favoring his decision. As to Donovan, I am rather disappointed with both him and Arena's vision for him. When the ball is kept on the ground and Landon's got options left and right, he has looked very dangerous. But, when the "executive decision" is made to play the long ball, LD disappears and, even worse, becomes a liability because his diminutive statue and soft approach to the game keeps him from contributing both defensively and offensively. When Landon tracks back, he's too far toward his own goal to be an outlet to McBride. Often Donovan is just caught as a spectator in a no-man's land where the ball flies around him back and forth with him rarely jumping or challenging anyone. Yet, when he does get the ball, he is only capable of pushing it forward into an empty space with his less than average dribbling skills rarely allowing him to take on defenders one-on-ne and win his share of battles. Jonathan Spector had dribbled around more players in his 10 minutes on the field than LD has done in his career and this showed again last night. What's worse, Donovan seems to alternate one good game with one mediocre one and that doesn't make him an irreplaceable AM in my mind. Hopefully, Germany will demand more from him. But if he slinks back into the MLS and then ends up stagnating, then I don't see him as an ironclad starter for this team. I realize that, on a good day, he can be the best US player on the pitch but I also expect some consistency for a player who really only plays well in one position. A lot of things can happen in the next 20 months leading to the World Cup but, if I were his coach, I'd want to see a great deal of hunger and desire coming out of him. If, on the other hand, surfing off Malibu becomes his preferred choice, then I would love to see other options in the central/attacking midfield - either Clint, Eddie Gaven, Jon Spector or anyone who can step up in the hex and the next MLS season.
I thought LD had a solid game. Didn't stand out but was far from a "liability." Interestingly, though, earlier this year when the US played Poland in Chicago, LD was rendered ineffective because the physical presence and speed of Poland neutralized the US's wing plays. (I think that's what Lurking explained to me. I might be wrong.) So perhaps there are some situations in which someone else might be better suited to play in the middle or at least there needs to be one more playmaker. And it might just be that Arena experimented on RB and LB because he needs to find the right kind of players to complement LD's style. Landon can't dribble He's no Ronaldinho. But I'm surprised anyone would think he's not good at one-on-one. I don't agree that Landon can only play one position. AM is his best position. But when called for, or when another AM emerges and Arena wants to have both of them on the field, he can still slide into the front line and be effective there. In fact, I think a LD/EJ combo could be lethal.
I am done giving Albright chances, he has yet to do anything to stand out and say "I deserve a spot". Ralston looked as if he tired out after about 25minutes. EJ obviously deserves another call up, as well as mastroeni. I think your "too early to tell" list are all also worty of another call up. Each of them had at least one moment where I said to myself..."please do that again"... Dempsey is a monster. During the MLS season he would put his head and the rest of his body wherever it needed to be if it meant a goal. I can only imagine he would do the same for the Nats.
I can see your post is not a full-fledged criticism of Landon and his lack of willingness to get "stuck in", but I gotta disagree about the not going full force like a captain should. Given the circumstances, with Reyna, the captain, out for who knows how long - the last thing we needed was for Donovan to get himself hurt in a game like this. I think he did what a captain should; played a good, smart, solid game. I have no worries that when it's necessary, as in the upcoming hex, Donovan will get stuck in. He's done it before in big games (the World Cup comes to mind as well as games vs. Mexico. He risks life and limb then); he'll do it again. But on an aside, I did see him challenge for alot of headers - and he actually won a few or at least one. As for Dempsey, it was his game to prove himself. He'd better go all out and get stuck in. One thing that stands out about Dempsey - and I'll probably get flamed for this - but it's been mentioned he puts his body into everything, but sometimes it's not the wisest thing to do. For example, when he broke his jaw in MLS. It actually wasn't a smart thing that he did. If you'll recall, it was a throw in by the Revs to him; he's lunging toward the ball to win it on a header - but what would have happened if he "won" it? It's a header going out of bounds. Throw in to the other team. He "wins" it for nothing. There's no way he can win the ball and control it as he's heading it out of bounds - he's left his feet. no advantage. As it is, he heads it out and gets his jaw broken in the process. Kind of a reckless thing to do - as then it puts him out of action a few weeks later. Yeah, flame away.
I doubt Bruce is done giving him chances. Albright has a height advantage over our other RB options. He has pace, and decent ball skills. He essentially has all the physical tools to get the job done. He played a solid game against physical quality forwards. I'd say that's plenty to deserve continued call ups. Of all the marginal players on the field Wednesday, Albright was one who did the most to establish himself firmly in the rotation.
He played an absolutely outstanding game- did not put a wrong foot down in 90 minutes.How can you possibly say this?
Gooch was partly responsible for Jamacia's goal, got two deserved yellows and got sent off. He may have a lot of potential and will certainly be called in again. But sometimes you just have to say: he sucked.
Most impressive: 1) Eddie Johnson - GREAT touch on the goal & worked his a$$ off. 2) Oguchi Onyewu - despite the 2 yellows (which were bogus IMHO) I thought he was solid at the back. 3) Clint Dempsey - a bit surprised that he played at all but found his aggressiveness to be very impressive & I can't wait to see a lot more of him with the USMNT. 4) Chris Albright - ok, I am a Galaxy fan but I was VERY impressed with his play v Jamaica. I thought he tracked back very well, when he was beaten, & broke up a few opportunities by the Jamaicans. 5) Cory Gibbs - VERY solid IMHO, especially when the Reggae Boyz were threatening the US goal late in the game. Broke up quite a few plays. 6) Brian McBride - won just about every header that came his way. Hey, he actually played an ENTIRE game at Crew Stadium for the USMNT. Least impressive: 1) Ramiro Corrales - VERY poor challenge (and unnecesssary IMHO) that led to the PK. Looked out of place. 2) Pablo Mastroeni - played well the first half but in the second half he really struggled IMHO. Was surprised to see him SOOO erractic. 3) Tony Sanneh - don't think he's a good CB. I'd rather see him at RB or RM. 4) Jonathan Spector - seemed a bit nervous to me in his debut. Didn't do anything horrible but just seemed a bit "overwhelmed" IMHO.
Did you watch the same game everyone else did? Pablo was outstanding and easily MOTM. Spector hardly looked overwhelmed, he push forward and made a great run at one point.
Bruce, the Jamaican forward was breaking in behind Sanneh with straight path to Kasey Keller. Grabbing the ball was not a bad move at that point. And, like I said, his passes were excellent. I fail to see why that has been ignored.
Maybe that is where Spector eventually ends up, but I seriously doubt Bruce is going to going to put his faith in a 20 year old defender with almost zero first team professional experience with advancement at the WC on the line. Today Albright looks a better bet to playing that spot come 06. Unless Spector is getting serious first team action with Man U next season, his chances of starting at the WC are pretty slim, imo. Also, we haven't even seen Whitbread or any of the Arsenal boys get a chance. Or Russell for that matter. Any of these young players could develop over the next year to earn a spot on the team. Whitbread is actually closer to getting consistant first team action than Spector. Anyone recall how our Olympic team's defense fell apart when Whitbread went down? Spector was first to get a shot, and while he certainly didn't embarrass himself, I think there are numerous other players who could have come in and replicated what he did.
I thought Alrbight was pretty impressive. He was very good positionally and used his size and speed to keep that side of the field pretty under control. I would, however, have to watch the goal again to see where he was. As I recall, Onyewu took a hand to the face and went down, trying to draw a foul. Then Coralles came in and cleaned the Jamaican out. This all happened on the right side of the field. Was Albright guarding the thrower? Has anyone re-watched this sequence?
Just calling it the way I saw it, watching from Sam's Army section in C-bus. Unfortunately, I didn't tape the game & have no way to review the match & see if I'm way off-base. But, to me, it looked like Mastroeni was struggling in the second half & made some reckless challenges that, considering how bad the ref was, could've easily been a yellow or red card. As far as Spector, perhaps "overwhelming" was a bad choice of words. I just thought he wasn't AS aggressive as I thought he might be. Certainly not like Dempsey. It was his first cap & I want to see MORE of him in the future. There's NO doubt that Spector has a BRIGHT future.
That is how Spector always looks. He's not the typical USMNT player that we've gotten used to seeing (ie Hejduk) that uses work rate and hustle to compensate for inferior talent. Maybe we should nickname him "The Big Easy?"
I agree, Spector looked very calm he knew his positioning and his skills are outstanding. 15 minutes wasn't enough time to really see what he can do but it was promising. I'll take calm talent over reckless workrate.
I'm usually fairly critical, you wont mistake me for a "cheerleader" type poster at any point. Gooch was good in the air and I thought some of his long passes were very good. All that talk on Mark C's article about Gooch's poor ball skills seems to be very misguided. Gooch just didn't live up to my expectations. Maybe I bought into some of the hype. I just expected him to be better than Gibbs as a CB and I didn't see that. He made some bad mental errors. He has a promising future but I'd still put him at 4th(at best) on the CB depth chart. I seriously doubt that his hand ball was intentional, he wasn't trying to stop the break away. He had it up in a bad position and he was trying to get it out of the way when it was struck. He deserved that card but I don't see how you could describe it as planned or a good tactical descision. He will get more chances.