Who might be our Olympic Starters? [R]

Right forum, a little redundant but it's a decent idea to revisit the issue after a big youth tournament so I'll give it a try:

Code:

--------Donovan---------Buddle--------
----------------Convey----------------
Beasley---------------------------Mapp
-----------------Clark----------------
Wingert--Bocanegra----Pope------Onyewu
---------------Countess---------------

Subs: Warren, Martino, Adu, Beckerman, Borchers, Casey, Ricky Lewis.

Obviously whoever are the overage additions plays a big role in who gets selected where. Mooch could decide to bring Tim Howard or any one of a number of guys. He could also go with Beckerman over Clark or pick a natural right sided player instead of Mapp, possibly Kyle Martino or Beckerman with Clark sliding over to the right (the lineup we saw vs. St. Kitts).

But man, when Kyle Martino, Conor Casey and Freddy Adu are coming off the bench and Eddies Gaven and Johnson might not make the bench...

...you know you have an attack in the starting lineup. Which is why I robbed the starting central defense from the senior team. You like to have two central defenders familiar with one another, and those two are very familiar and far and away our best two.

Qualifying is going to be difficult though as we eventually need to win a single elimination game in Mexico, a game which could, unfortunately, wind up being against Mexico if things don't go quite to form.

Here's the U23 pool:

http://www.ussoccer.com/teams/stats_results.sps?iType=267

 

I'll worry about who starts in Athens once Arena decides whether Landon, DaMarcus and Bobby can go and whether or not there will be overage players.

(And, rest assured, it will be Bruce's decision.)

But, here's a guess at the starters for qualifying.

---------Countess
Lewis---Onyewu-Yi---Wingert
--------Beckerman-------
Beasley------------Mapp
---------Convey
---Donovan------Buddle

The only one I'm really not confident about is Mapp. Despite Convey tearing it up in the middle with the 20s, I could see Mooch moving Convey to right mid (or left with Beasley on the right) and starting Martino in the middle.

Or, I could see him leaving Convey in the middle and playing Clark or EJ on the right.

 

Doesn't Donovan count as an overage exception since he was on the roster in the last Olympics? I recall Reyna was in the same predicament in '96, despite being within the age limit.

 

The rule has since changed and unlike Reyna, Donovan and Casey will not be considered overage players despite being Olympic veterans.

 

We do have a conflict. The Olympics are like August 13-29 (I think) and the first game of the CONCACAF semifinal round of World Cup qualifying is August 18, during the Olympics.

 

Even though it is world cup qualifying, I think we as a nation are deep enough to handle Grenada or Guyana in the first round and field a strong Olympic team. It would be a shame to sacrifice the Olympic team so that we could run up the score on these minnows.

 

[

---------Countess
Bocanegra---Onyewu-Yi---Wingert
--------Clark-------
Beasley------------Mapp
---------Convey
---Donovan------Adu--

 

I really do not believe that we will see the same starting lineups for 3 consecutive games. Here are some lineup alternatives that might happen.

U20esque 4-2-3-1:

**********Donovan**********

Beasley**Convey**Johnson

*****Clark***Beckerman*****

Gray*Borchers*Onyewu*Lewis
_____________________________________

Arenalike 4-4-2:

*****Casey***Donovan*****

************Martino************

Beasley********************Mapp

**********Beckerman**********

Convey*Burciaga*Yi*Lewis
_____________________________________

Classic 3-5-2

*****Buddle***Jaqua*****

**********Donovan**********

Beasley*************Mapp

*****Convey***Beckerman*****

Yi**Burciaga**Onyewu

 

After the U20 WC, I don't see Bobby playing anywhere but in the middle for the Olympics. I have yet to see Martino make the same impact on the international stage that he has in MLS play. I think a telling example is are the just passed qualifer games. Not only was Bobby the a-mid, but he wore the armband while Martino played a half. You can never have enough good attacking players but if I was to chose Convey for Martino for that spot, it would be Convey just about every time.

 

maybe

If I hadn't seen Martino in the middle against Cameroon in the Confed Cup, I would agrre with you. (BTW, Convey was on the field that day and Bruce chose Kyle over Convey for center mid) Now I will admit that this U-20 WC has completely made me reevaluate how good Bobby is/can be. But, if Martino is playing the way he was at the beginning of this past MLS season before he got banged up, I pick him everytime.

He's just a classic #10 - he does the unexpected - he makes players look stupid off the dribble. The US doesn't have many of those types of players. Also, don't forget the growth that Martino had between his first and second MLS seasons. I would assume that one of the biggest things that he is working on this off season is strength and conditioning. If he can improve this (esp. his strength) he's going to be something else.

Finally - two points.
1. Myernick did pick Convey over Martino in the first two Olympic Qualifiers. Point for Bobby.
2. Freddy Adu has said that his preferred position is Attacking Mid. So for all future discussion of center midfielders - Convey and Kyle may be irrelevant. This would make your post equally irrelevant, as well as mine.

We're gonna be so good in a few years

 

Re: maybe

IIRC, Martino did not finish that match. Until he toughens up, should we really count on him to run our midfield?

 

Re: Re: maybe

We don't have a single player on our national team that continues playing after a tackle like that. Ask anyone that actually saw the game.

I agree he needs to toughen up (see my comments about him getting stronger), but that tackle had nothing to do with that.

The ridiculous thing is the guy didn't get sent off.

 

Re: Re: maybe

did you see the tackle that took him out of the game?

jesus, that was as bad as they get...i was shocked he didn't break anything.

 

cool, thanks.

 

We play the Guyana / Grenada winner in June.

The semifinal round would feature the winners of the June groups. So, assuming we make it that far, the Olympics would most likely conflict with a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier against El Salvador, Jamaica, Haiti or Panama.

The good news is that if we do get upset in the earlier round by either Guyana or Grenada we could take a full strength team to the Olympics. If we qualify...

 

**knock on wood**

 

I would expect to see a full strength Olympic team no matter what. I don't think the US would have a problem getting a W against any of those teams without Donovan, Beasley, and Convey, the 3 U-23's most likely to be included in the squad. Not to get off track here but here's a sample lineup we could put out without the U-23's:

-----Twellman-----McBride-----

Lewis---Reyna---JOB---Stewart

Hedjuk---Pope---Boca---Cherundolo

------------Howard------------

I went by picks I'd expect Bruce to make btw, not necessarily my personal preferences, but that lineup right there should be more than enough to handle any side we possibly face in the semi-final round.

 

The fact that Taylor Twellman is in the lineup ought to give you pause with respect to your prediction.

 

Who is the coach? Wrongen? or who is next on the coach carrousel ???

 

Do you think Twellman sucks that bad that he couldn't score against Panama or some other bunch of jokers with that midfield behind him? Fine replace him with Mathis (if you're an idiot), Wolff (if he's healthy), Noonan (if you think one season is proof enough) Razov, Moore, etc etc....either way that team is fine the way it is. And there's plenty of other options elsewhere on the field with Mastroeni, Mulrooney, Olsen, Ralston, Dunivant, Gibbs, Keller, Friedel, etc etc. I mean come on. Why is everyone so freakin' paranoid!? We can send a full Olympic team and survive just fine unless we got hit with a MASSIVE injury crisis, bigger than anything that hit us the last qualifying cycle, and that's saying something. So relax people, we're gonna be fine, jeez.

 

Galavision

I think there is a good chance. If so, they will probably be on Galavision (or possibly Univision or Telemundo). I have a renewed interest in learning Spanish thanks to these networks showing more US soccer than anything in English.

 

I think Nutmeg has hit on some of the variations in starting lineups. For me, right now, the pool is more interesting:

My depth chart:
(one position only)

Forward:

Donovan
Casey
Buddle
EJohnson
Walker
Eskandarian
Cooper

Wide Midfielder

Beasley
Davis
Testo
Mapp
Gaven
Adu
Jacqua
Gregorio

Central Midfielder

Convey
Martino
Beckerman
Clark
Pause
Caroll
Szetzla

Outside Back

Gray
Lewis
Wingert
Whitbred
Simek

Central Defenders

Gooch
Borchers
Yi
Spector
DC United Guy who never plays

Goalie

Countess
Cronin
Warren
Saunders
Spiteri