The Official US Soccer thread

[Stout]

Originally Posted by Zeno

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 6/5 SO), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF: 0/0)

DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 16/2), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland: 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 17/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 1/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 13/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 11/0), Michael Orozco (San Luis: 0/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 5/0

MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco: 1/0), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 19/4), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach: 5/2), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers: 3/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 3/0), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio: 0/0), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca: 0/0)

FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal C.F.: 0/0), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 9/4), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF: 0/0) Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 11/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 24/8)


Nice to see the inclusion of Adu, Torres, Szetela, Davies & Altidore

Still disappointing to see Hejduk & Ching...rather have Wynne & Cooper.

I hope Adu & Altidore get starts, especially since I will be at the game.

Nice! Now, note to Bradley: good start, but remember that we're playing Cuba at home, which means you're not bringing these kids along for a ride, you're bringing them to PLAY them.

[Zeno]

Originally Posted by Stout

Nice! Now, note to Bradley: good start, but remember that we're playing Cuba at home, which means you're not bringing these kids along for a ride, you're bringing them to PLAY them.

I think you'll see the same back 4 and GK. Any changes will be up front and in the midfield. I doubt Torres, Szetela & Davies see much playing time if any...Bradley is just too conservative to do much tinkering.

It is really nice to not see Eddie Johnson & Eddie Lewis being there...best part of the whole line-up now if we can just phase out Hejduk & Ching I will be happy.

Remember of those 23 only 18 will be available on game day.

[Zeno]

USA 6 Cuba 1..take that commies. LOL

I was at the game, what a good atmosphere, it always is at RFK. Ching got a goal but was right there with Michael Bradley for having the poorest match among our players. Bradley had a stupid yellow card in the 90th minute and will miss the next qualifier on Weds. Hopefully Adu & Altidore earned starts...we've already qualified for the next round now is a good time to get the young guys some more playing time.

I guess I didn't notice much on TV how deep Michael Bradley plays in the midfield, he is almost like another centerback. He was disruptive but his passing was off and to me it looked like he wasn't timing his runs properly...the belly aching to the ref is getting old thugh as are the stupid fouls when you are up by 5 goals and there is about a minute to play.

For about 20-25 minutes Sacha Klejstan was the best player on the field. He just hit a stretch where everything he touched was perfect, too bad he didn't get a goal, he deserved it. He didn't hit s short stretch where his passing was off but overall I think it might have been his best game in a Nat jersey.

Bocanegra plays solid defense and never panics but his distribution on long passes is AWFUL.

Met Jay DeMerit, a very cool guy...he is out with a hamstring injury.

[gr000000vy]

looked like a pretty good atmosphere type match.....well i'm hoping now that they have qualified we will get to see some of the youngsters play... I'll be at the US v Guatemala match that will mean absolutely nothing....

glad to see beasley getting some goals and i think he had a pretty good match... the run on the second goal was just so sweet.....

[Stout]

Great to see Altidore get in on the scoring. He really showed his quality out there. Torres, too, looks pretty solid. Man, he had a laser strike that just missed, and it was from distance. That would have been an amazing goal. Hopefully Bradley is smart enough to start the kids in the next match. He was smart enough to get Torres capped, which is a good thing. I agree with all that was said already, too, and it was a great match.

[Gorilla]

hey guys! nice win by the US yesterday. We blew out a great chance to secure the second spot in the group yesterday. We tied 0 - 0 to T&T with them playing 10 men for most of the game. Now we need the US team to beat T&T on wednesday so we can keep our hopes alive.

[Zeno]

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Troy Perkins (Valerenga, Norway);

Defenders: Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Danny Califf (Midtjylland, Denmark), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus), Michael Orozco (San Luis, Mexico), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Marvell Wynne (Toronto);

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Brian Carroll (Columbus), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia, Italy), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca, Mexico);

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal, Spain), Charlie Davies (Hammarby, Sweden), Chris Rolfe (Chicago)

Rogers & Mastroeni were originally on there but due to injuries were replaced by Rolfe & Carroll. Kenny Cooper turned down an invite citing a virus and a sprained ankle...and that he wants to help his club get to the playoffs (whcih might bite him in the butt).

Surprised Beasley is staying and not going back to Scotland and surprised Hejduk keeps getting called up.

[Zeno]

Originally Posted by Gorilla

hey guys! nice win by the US yesterday. We blew out a great chance to secure the second spot in the group yesterday. We tied 0 - 0 to T&T with them playing 10 men for most of the game. Now we need the US team to beat T&T on wednesday so we can keep our hopes alive.

Well the US is bringing in a mostly inexperienced team to play on the road...3 of our starting back 4 won't be there and our starting GK is back in England, Landon Donovan(most important player for the US attack), Dempsey & Bradley(less important--he isn't irreplaceable) are also out.

It might be a rude awakening for the young guys. They'll be hungry but T&T has everything to play for and will likely pull out all stops.

My guess as to the lineup we see....

-----------Guzan-----------

Wynne-Orozco-Califf-Pearce

------Edu---Kljestan--------

Torres-------Adu------Beasley

----------Altidore------------

Thats just my guess though based on where Bradley has been lining guys up. He may start Hejduk over Wynne and may go Rolfe or Davies over Torres.

Its kind of a two edged sword as you'd like to see Adu & Altidore on the field at the same time as Dempsey & Donovan and with our starting back 4 providing cover but at the same time you want to see as many youngsters get as many chances to impress as they can.

[Stout]

Throw the young guys into the fire. I like it, as long as you then start meshing them with the vets in the next round of qualifying. It's exactly what's needed, IMO, if it pans out that way.

[Zeno]

Edu, Orozco & Hejduk have been awful tonight and Bradley's first 2 subs are Adu & Torres, I don't get it.

Anyways, its the young guys and about what I expected, T&T is at home, desperate for a win and more experienced.

5 minutes left and down 2-1 so there is still a chance to salvage a draw.

[Stout]

Originally Posted by Zeno

Edu, Orozco & Hejduk have been awful tonight and Bradley's first 2 subs are Adu & Torres, I don't get it.

Anyways, its the young guys and about what I expected, T&T is at home, desperate for a win and more experienced.

5 minutes left and down 2-1 so there is still a chance to salvage a draw.

I'm disappointed that Edu wasn't good. How have the other kids looked thus far?

[Zeno]

Originally Posted by Stout

I'm disappointed that Edu wasn't good. How have the other kids looked thus far?

I went back and watched the game again...Orozco on second watching wasn't as bad as I thought, he wasn't anything great but he was overshadowed by much worse play.

Hejduk & Edu were shockingly awful, their passing was terrible all night. Edu needs to go and concentrate on getting more time at Rangers and Hejduk needs to go and never come back to the Nats--its time for Wynne to be the first back up at right back.

Kljestan wasn't very good, perhaps he just doesn't play well out wide, he played in the middle against Cuba and looked the best I've ever seen him but was just completely ineffective in this game.

I think Altidore needs a strike partner to play his best, asking him to play as a lone striker just doesn't seem to work for him...I would have liked to see he and Davies (who was very good) play together for a full 90 and see how effective they'd be.

Ideally I'd like to see this(although we will never see this with Bradley in charge)....

-----Altidore---Davies-------
------------Adu-------------
Beasley--Donovan--Dempsey
Pearce--Boca--Onyewu--Cherundolo
-----------Howard--------------

Bench: Klejstan, Bradley, Torres, Wynne, Demerit, Cooper, Guzan

Unfortunately we will either see a 4-5-1 or a 4-4-2 with 2 defensive mids until we get a coaching change.

[coyoteshockeyfan]

It looks like its close to a guarantee that Landon Donovan will play in Europe next year.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...,4201050.story

So where would the best place be for Donovan to go? The article mentions that Juergen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich has been in contact with him and the Galaxy, but obviously his last stint in Germany didn't go so well. He also talks about the EPL, but the Premiership hasn't been too kind to American players (expect goalkeepers) in the past.

[Zeno]

Originally Posted by coyoteshockeyfan

It looks like its close to a guarantee that Landon Donovan will play in Europe next year.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...,4201050.story

So where would the best place be for Donovan to go? The article mentions that Juergen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich has been in contact with him and the Galaxy, but obviously his last stint in Germany didn't go so well. He also talks about the EPL, but the Premiership hasn't been too kind to American players (expect goalkeepers) in the past.

I've seen the Bayern Munich rumors but I don't know how Bayern Munich could be attractive to him, where would he be able to play? They already have several high quality players who play similar positions to him.

I'd like to see him in Spain, it makes a lot of sense, it would encourage him to be creative, he could make use of his speed and he is fluent in Spanish.

Although I could see an EPL team like Tottenham showing interest, they need all the help they can get...I just don't think he is quite built for the physical nature of the English game.

Sacha Kljestan & Kenny Cooper will probably end up in Europe during the next transfer window as well(both will likely end up in northern Europe--likely Holland).

Also Pablo Mastroeni wants to go to Italy or Spain too.

Should be interesting for Americans very soon.

[gr000000vy]

"When I go home, in the past getting ready for training and getting ready for games in some ways was almost an afterthought," he said. "It was kind of like, wake up in the morning and, 'Oh, shoot, we've got a game tonight.'

"Now when I get home from training I'm thinking about, 'How can I be good the next day?' What do I need to do? I need to rest. I need to get fluids in me. I need to eat properly. I need to sleep well. Those things go in my mind, and I'm craving a situation where that's [the same for] everybody.

"Nothing against our [Galaxy] guys, but in a lot of cases when you're making $12,000 or $15,000 a year you're worried about other things than getting up for training the next day, or getting ready for the game. That's unfortunate, but that's the way it is.

gee i bet he was thinking like that before the last World Cup....

I don't think it's a done deal because the MLS is going to want too much money for him... would love to see him make the jump though for sure...

also like that last quote.... MLS needs to wake up on the min salary requirements because it's a joke...