The Official US Soccer thread

[Zeno]

Pearce was AWFUL...made Bornstein an absolute lock (and Bornstein wasn't anymore than average).

Kljestan was invisible as was Bedoya.

Ching, I have to admit, played decent, he held the ball up and passed pretty well. Buddle didn't do much--although he was better than Johnson--I doubt Buddle did enough to force Ching off the roster(unfortunately).

Cherundolo played well, so did Holden.

4 goals though? Wow...thats awful.

 

[Shzm13]

Holy **** that was a bad showing. Yeeeeesh!

 

[Stout]

Holy **** that was a bad showing. Yeeeeesh!

The showing was irrelevant as this isn't anywhere close to the team that will be playing.

At this point, I'd definitely keep Gomez over Johnson. He got his cap and he made the most of it. He's in form and Johnson isn't even close to it. Edu is playing quite well. I'd really like to have a solid holding and distributing midfielder, like Reyna, but we don't have one. How about Edu, Holden, Donovan and Bradley in the midfield, with Altidore and Dempsey up front and Gomez coming in for him? I really like what Holden and Edu bring in the midfield there. Dempsey could always be played a little farther back in a 4-4-1-1 kind of a role and then jump forward. Thoughts?

 

[Zeno]

The showing was irrelevant as this isn't anywhere close to the team that will be playing.

At this point, I'd definitely keep Gomez over Johnson. He got his cap and he made the most of it. He's in form and Johnson isn't even close to it. Edu is playing quite well. I'd really like to have a solid holding and distributing midfielder, like Reyna, but we don't have one. How about Edu, Holden, Donovan and Bradley in the midfield, with Altidore and Dempsey up front and Gomez coming in for him? I really like what Holden and Edu bring in the midfield there. Dempsey could always be played a little farther back in a 4-4-1-1 kind of a role and then jump forward. Thoughts?

I actually like that quite a bit or even playing Donovan as a withdrawn striker behind Altidore with Dempsey being on the left in the MF (where he said in a recent interview he actually prefers).

 

[Zeno]

I am worried about Onyewu though, he is obviously really rusty and couldn't jump like he could (that first goal would not have happened if he had). He looks like he will not be 100% for awhile and I doubt he will be fit enough for the England game.

If he doesn't start who will take his place? Will it be Boca & Demerit in the middle with Spector & Dolo on the outside? Spector mostly plays on the right but has played LB for his club team in the past, even with that lack of experience I'd feel better with him than Bornstein there.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I am worried about Onyewu though, he is obviously really rusty and couldn't jump like he could (that first goal would not have happened if he had). He looks like he will not be 100% for awhile and I doubt he will be fit enough for the England game.

ESPN seemed to make a big deal about that goal and his inability to jump. I didn't see it that way. I saw him backpedaling and trying to jump at the same time, something that is very hard to do. (try it sometime)

I thought his footwork was bad but not his jumping ability. I saw him jump earlier in the match well. (not challenged)

I'll admit that I am a newbie when it comes to soccer though.

 

[Renz]

23 man squad for WC:

G: Guzan, Howard, Hahnemann D: Bocanegra, Bornstein, Cherundolo, DeMerit, Goodson, Onyewu, Spector MF: Beasley, Bradley, Clark, Dempsey, Donovan, M. Edu, Feilhaber, Holden, Torres F: Altidore, Buddle, Findley, Gomez.

Ching is out.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Whatever happened to Freddy Adu? I thought he was supposed to be our superstar.

 

[Chaplin]

23 man squad for WC:

G: Guzan, Howard, Hahnemann D: Bocanegra, Bornstein, Cherundolo, DeMerit, Goodson, Onyewu, Spector MF: Beasley, Bradley, Clark, Dempsey, Donovan, M. Edu, Feilhaber, Holden, Torres F: Altidore, Buddle, Findley, Gomez.

Ching is out.

Awesome.

 

[CaptTurbo]

Whatever happened to Freddy Adu? I thought he was supposed to be our superstar.

Yeah he wasnt even on the cut list. Did they even invite him? Is he injured?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Awesome.

I saw some amazing speed out of Buddle out there in a pretty dismal performance by US.

I'm going to watch the game against Turkey on Saturday as well if I can.

 

[CaptTurbo]

Krep evidently Freddie is languishing in some low level Greek club. Wow what a fall.

 

[Dr. Jones]

No Ching..... Makes me happy.

Too bad Davies couldn't make it back.

Jozy & Landon will need to be huge for us....

And our Midfield is still the weakest link IMO. Can we allow every team to control the ball? It seems like we cannot fix it.

 

[Zeno]

Krep evidently Freddie is languishing in some low level Greek club. Wow what a fall.

It's not exactly "low level" it is the Greek first division and the team played for the Greek Cup. He also has Eddie Johnson on the team with him.

Keep in mind he is only 20 yrs old...he isn't exactly washed up(yet).

 

[Zeno]

No Ching..... Makes me happy.

Too bad Davies couldn't make it back.

Jozy & Landon will need to be huge for us....

And our Midfield is still the weakest link IMO. Can we allow every team to control the ball? It seems like we cannot fix it.

Thats funny because our best players (aside from Howard) are all Midfielders...Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Holden, Edu

 

[Zeno]

I am surprised by a couple of things with the 23 man roster. Ching not making it (pleasantly surprised) and the inclusion of Findley over Bedoya.

Findley is a local AZ product of Sereno Soccer Club...but he is not having a good MLS season and has never shown much in an Int'l match. To be honest I probably would have selected Johnson or Bedoya over him, not that big of a deal though because really he is probably inactive every game in the WC.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Thats funny because our best players (aside from Howard) are all Midfielders...Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Holden, Edu

In some ways I agree.... My contention is that they allow way too much ball handling through the midfield area. And the space they give drives me BONKERS.

It's almost like they don't attack defensively until the opponents are about 15 yards from the box.

Oh... And with my schedule requests next month I have three weeks with only 3 working days. I cannot wait for the world cup!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[azsouthendzone]

I'll admit that I am a newbie when it comes to soccer though.

Welcome to the world of soccer. It will change your life if you let it.

 

[Stout]

Thats funny because our best players (aside from Howard) are all Midfielders...Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Holden, Edu

True, but none of them have half the holding talent of Claudio Reyna. We need someone approaching his level of skill in holding and distributing the ball to take more control of the midfield. We also need to be better defending in the midfield, but that's a whole other issue.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Welcome to the world of soccer. It will change your life if you let it.

One of the biggest things it has going for this thus far that the green of the field makes it one of the best looking HD sports broadcasts.

I am making it a point to watch all of the US matches in the WC this year. If this can't get me into soccer permanently, not much will.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

So, realistically, what should I expect out of our team in South Africa? What would be considered a good showing?

 

[Chaplin]

So, realistically, what should I expect out of our team in South Africa? What would be considered a good showing?

Well, getting out of the group stages should be expected. But beyond that? Not so sure. If everything goes the way it should, we may be facing Germany in the next round. Not a great prospect, but we are capable of pulling off some upsets. Of course, if we beat England in the first game, that changes a bit and we might be facing the #2 team from Germany's group.

 

[Zeno]

True, but none of them have half the holding talent of Claudio Reyna. We need someone approaching his level of skill in holding and distributing the ball to take more control of the midfield. We also need to be better defending in the midfield, but that's a whole other issue.

When Claudio was healthy--which wasn't often--remember our best games in 2002 came when Claudio was out (against Portugal) or playing defense not midfield (against Germany), John O'Brien was controlling the MF that entire tournament with Pablo Mastroeni the defensive MF next to him.

We may lack the guy with his type of personality right now but Michael Bradley is playing at a level well beyond what Reyna did at the same age (Reyna was playing at UVA for Bruce Arena--Bradley has been a pro since he was 17). I expect Bradley to be able to make people forget Reyna very shortly(if he can control his penchant for reckless tackles).

 

[Zeno]

So, realistically, what should I expect out of our team in South Africa? What would be considered a good showing?

We should have a win, a draw and a loss in the group stages. Whether we advance to the next round is totally up to goal differential.

The health of our defense concerns me--Bocanegra, Onyewu & Demerit are all coming off recent injuries. Our lack of a proven Int'l striker worries me (like it always has). Our lack of a world class coach worries me as well. We will win or lose based on the play of Dempsey, Donovan, Bradley & Howard - guys we know who are in peak form...a motivated Altidore would be great as well.

Worries aside though I think we have enough talent to compete with most teams in the world.

 

[Milgod]

I have to say i'm pretty happy with the final 23. I'm not gonna lie, Ching not being there made me have a little sex wee.
Anyway, not too bothered about the Czech result. Let's see how we do with a stronger team out.