Honore, ummm...if Donovan, Reyna, JOB, Gooch, and EJ arent one of our best players, then who is? Gooch is a certain starter, btw. Absolutely certain. Like Reyna. Like Donovan. Like JOB. (all if healthy) Oooh, I see Pope was never all that, and the Joe Max comment was a backhanded compliment at best. So, English fan? Mexican?
Gooch is a product of the BS hype machine. That is not to say that Gooch isn't very good. That is not to say that Gooch isn't the best central defender for the US. That is just to say that BS takes players and runs with them. I don't get to watch his league games so I really don't know how well he's doing. His potential is huge though and that is why there is such buzz on big soccer. We'll know more after Germany.
I think most BS'ers have penned Gooch as a sure starter, but I am not so sure that Bruce has. Gooch is still pretty raw, and while LD and DMB were raw as well in 02, they were not playing in the back like Gooch does. Playing raw in the back is much more dangerous than playing raw up front. I like Gooch and he has tremendous potential. We'll see though what happens in the coming months.
A little while back I read a comment by BA saying that 2005 has seen the emergence of Oguchi Onyewu who will play a major part in next summers WC. I think BA knows the potential of Gooch and knows he can be a great defender for us next summer and in years to come. Sorry I can't remember the article.
In 56 games for Standard, Gooch has two red cards. Granted, both came this year, but he hardly has a long and illustrious history of sending offs. He has played 11 matches for the U.S. and has one red card. He has not seen red in all of 2005 for the U.S. I hardly call those statistics "a red card risk," but I know the folly of throwing facts into a discussion like this.
I think that one of the reasons that people (or maybe just me) are high on Gooch is that he seems to be one of the few true athletes that the USMNT has seen in a long time. He is big, powerful, agile, and quick for his size and these types of physical specimens in America usually find their way to the gridiron or the basketball court. That is a pretty big generalization, but for the ~15 years that I have been following the Nats, there have been few players to roll through that have Gooch's qualities. He is raw...and the performance in Azteca makes me nervous about big games in front of hostile crowds...but I see him starting in Germany.
Please feel free - what's his yellow count? Would the term "card risk" apply in your opinion? One out of 11 is high isn't it?
Because he's 6'4, 220 lbs, has good speed, good technical ability, is one of the top 2-3 defenders in an above-average European league for a Champions League club, and is only 23. Gooch will be our starter at CB thru 2014 at least.
Which makes it one step higher in quality than BigSoccer. Seriously, at least Sam's Army knows which games he's played in. How many posters in this thread could name them all? You know darn well most of the people talking about him either way have seen him about twice.
mark my words: if koller is in germany on june 12th, gooch is a starter - furthermore, he is probably the only man we have who has the speed/strength combo necessary to negate toni physically
this hits it on the head. as others have noted, his play seems to improve with each game. in addition to his marking and physical stature, he shows more composure on the ball than the typical US center back, and seems to be looking to start the attack with a smart pass. is he there yet? interesting question, because might that not mean that he can't improve further? he's obviously going to get better, as that's what he's shown everytime he goes out there, but he's more than ready for the task ahead and certain to be in the lineup as long as he's available.
And when he got his red card for the USMNT, I seem to recall the two yellows coming on a handball and a questionable foul call.
I'm expecting a red card from Gooch in the WC. Tomas Rosicky or someone will make a tackle dislocating a shoulder or breaking an ankle and there won't be a yellow or even a call. But, Gooch will look at Totti and he'll collapse onto the ground as if he was mugged and Gooch will get a straight red.
I only watched Toni for few highlights. How strong is him? I though Berhalter handled Viera pretty good last time, so was Gibbs handled RVN. Do you think both of them have a chance?
if Gibbs is healthy, he starts alongside Gooch in the middle. Berlhalter likely goes, in my opinion, but will be a closer call, and his playing time if he's there will depend upon the health and cards received by others.
One out of 11 is meaningless due to insufficient sample size. If you polled 11 people Bush might have an approval rating over 50%. Check back after Gooch has played 30 or 40 games.
basically what blech said, although i think berhalter is all but a lock to go to germany and toni? yes, he is very strong AND moves well - van nistelrooy is an okay physical comparison because they move in a similar manner, but toni is a fair amount larger (approx. 1 1/2 inches & 20-25 pounds)
Not particularly. In addition to the sample size problem, one yellow card every 11 matches isn't even very high for a defender to begin with. MLS's league 'leaders' in cautions get one every 3 to 4 matches. http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/stats/index.jsp?club=mls Code: CAUTIONS (YELLOWS) PLAYER TEAM GP CAUT Michael Bradley MET 30 9 Jose Burciaga Jr. KC 31 9 Clarence Goodson DAL 29 9 Amado Guevara MET 26 9 Alain Nkong COL 28 9 Shalrie Joseph NE 31 8 Ronnie O'Brien DAL 28 8 Seth Trembly RSL 22 8 Simo Valakari DAL 28 8 Chris Wingert CLB 27 8 The Premiership is a broadly similar story: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/stats/playerdiscipline?league=eng.1&year=2005&cc=5901 And what harm, exactly, does it do to our WC effort if Gooch gets a caution every 11 games, meaning he accumulates about 0.45 of them during the WC if we made the QFs?
But wait, didn't Gooch get something like 4 cards in 10 games for the US? Are people counting an 86th minute appearance as a game? Awaiting correction here. Someone suggested one of the cards was unfair, but I would not have been surprised if Gooch was carded in Columbus either. I said he seemed like a red card risk - he does to me. He'd still be in my current first eleven (for what that's worth) but not without real concerns. I also look at somebody like Boca (who I also thought we overrated in early days) and am a bit surprised to see people agree that Boca is below Gooch on the depth chart. Yeah he gets benched, his flaws may have been exposed, but he's regularly defending some of the superheroes of world soccer.