"There is no one special," said Zico. "The U.S. is a good team, but we're going to attack. Donovan is a famous player and very good, but we would never man-mark him. We'll play normally." hmmmm.....
Sounds to me like more of an insistence upon his preferred style of team play (see Chivas USA). I don't think this was an affront to our loved LannyCakes.
If they're aggressive, they'll double team everyone on the ball. They'll just won't man-mark off the ball.
Can you give us the context of the quote?? If it was in direct response to a question about how they were going to deal with Landon, this is really a no big deal response. Even without that context, it isn't that big a deal, Zico is right - in terms of 'special' and how he would use it we do not have that player; i.e. no one to compare to a Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Henry, etc. I do hope that it motivates Landon, but I would have hoped he was motivated enough without that - i.e. his Germany experience(s).
They need to practice that 3-6-1 style. In a friendly that's the right decision. As far as our mls only team if you actually wanted to beat us instead of playing a quality preparation match you'd put your best d on Donovan b/c he's truly exceptional compared to the rest of MLS. Probably a bigger dropoff from him to Dempsey or Noonan leading the attack than any of the world superstars to their backups.
Don't think so...I'd bet there's a bigger drop with some of the African countries. Ghana without Essien and Appiah are done.
I think he means that they would play attacking soccer against the USMNT, expecting to be able to beat us on any given day. They wouldn't make any drastic defensive adjustments to mark an individual player. Man-marking can work, but it has disadvantages. If you commit a midfielder to a man-marking assignment, you are somewhat removing his attacking responsibilities.
""There is no one special," " Who uis special on the Japanese team I really don't know. If they attack I am sure it will be a sneak attack they like doing that from past performance from the people who gave us "Pearl Harbor"
I will say what Zico said, Why baseball field ? we have great stadium HDC in just miles away from San Francisco, i think the Japanase Americans from SF don't mind to drive to LA.
Good thing Claudio isn't playing tonight. He probably doesn't believe we can beat Japan. Plus Lannycakes being the good boy he is defers to Claudio too much when both are on the field.
Zico. Marone. If they can fit a regulation pitch then I have no problem with the baseball stadium. It adds a bit of quirkiness. And they use them in Japan, as well. Zico is one of the more celebrated Brazilian midfielders. He is known for his elegance and for being articulate. But like other Brazilian artists, he retains the right to mouth off, criticize, mock, belittle, dismisss, and whine. Socrates and Junior, from that same team, were two of the most smug, sanctimonious and arrogant bastards to ever step on a field. When Socrates wasn't refusing to wear shinguards or wearing headbands with political messages, Junior would offer snide comments on the French national team (1991: "Ginola is the only one who has a clue.") The sophisticated polyglot Leonardo nearly killed Tab Ramos. Zico once spit in the face of a ref in Japan. Yet they are all still extolled and lionized and remembered and feted. I always admired Zico despite his haughtiness. But I've always been aware of his less charming side.
With all of that said, I will be furious, if not altogether surprised, if they can't get a 75 by 110 field lined out. But I've learned that the USSF and whoever else doesn't consider field dimensions to be that big a deal. Oh, well. Who cares if we come off looking like a half-assed outfit again?