Official Major League Soccer/US Men's National Team Thread

#951
#951
EJ is probably the best athlete we have on the team. Klinny has stated unequivocally that Deuce is a forward for the USMNT, so he and Altidore will almost certainly be the two featured guys at the top.

Jurgen's perferred setup is a 4-3-3 that holds the ball up and plays in from wide, but he's had more success using a counter attacking 4-4-2. We may not have the most skilled guys in the world, but from an athletic standpoint we can go toe to toe with anyone. Jurgen's showing some real capability as a national team manager: in club football, a manager more or less runs the show and has a lot of sway if not total control over who's on his squad. With international competition, you have who you have and must be able to adapt your style to what's available. Jurgen's been doing an exemplary job of just that.

Here's my guess as to the XI Jurgen's going to bring to Brazil, based off recent results:

F: Altidore, Dempsey (underneath)
M: Zusi, Bradley, Edu, Donovan
D: Beasley, Onyewu, Goodson, Cameron
G: Howard

I still don't think Wondo has played his way into the WC roster. There's only 23 spots, so we're talking 4-5 total forwards. The obvious two are listed. Donovan will probably play roving right mid against better competition. Has Wondo played his way ahead of Gomez? Eddie Johnson? I think not. He's our fifth best forward at best, and that's with Donovan as a mid.

Baker, Beckerman is a nice player. Not great, just decent with international competition. Problem is, he plays a spot where we have a few better options, and a spot that Klinsmann does not seem to utilize. He prefers to generate offense from the central defenders, because it stretches the field and maximizes our athleticism. Generating attack using guys like Beckerman works great if you can short pass up the spine, but we just don't have the quality to do that against better teams.
 
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#952
#952
milohimself said:
EJ is probably the best athlete we have on the team. Klinny has stated unequivocally that Deuce is a forward for the USMNT, so he and Altidore will almost certainly be the two featured guys at the top.

Jurgen's perferred setup is a 4-3-3 that holds the ball up and plays in from wide, but he's had more success using a counter attacking 4-4-2. We may not have the most skilled guys in the world, but from an athletic standpoint we can go toe to toe with anyone. Jurgen's showing some real capability as a national team manager: in club football, a manager more or less runs the show and has a lot of sway if not total control over who's on his squad. With international competition, you have who you have and must be able to adapt your style to what's available. Jurgen's been doing an exemplary job of just that.

Here's my guess as to the XI Jurgen's going to bring to Brazil, based off recent results:

F: Altidore, Dempsey (underneath)
M: Zusi, Bradley, Edu, Donovan
D: Beasley, Onyewu, Goodson, Cameron
G: Howard

I still don't think Wondo has played his way into the WC roster. There's only 23 spots, so we're talking 4-5 total forwards. The obvious two are listed. Donovan will probably play roving right mid against better competition. Has Wondo played his way ahead of Gomez? Eddie Johnson? I think not. He's our fifth best forward at best, and that's with Donovan as a mid.

Baker, Beckerman is a nice player. Not great, just decent with international competition. Problem is, he plays a spot where we have a few better options, and a spot that Klinsmann does not seem to utilize. He prefers to generate offense from the central defenders, because it stretches the field and maximizes our athleticism. Generating attack using guys like Beckerman works great if you can short pass up the spine, but we just don't have the quality to do that against better teams.
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I really enjoy reading and learn alot from your posts.
 
#954
#954
milohimself said:
EJ is probably the best athlete we have on the team. Klinny has stated unequivocally that Deuce is a forward for the USMNT, so he and Altidore will almost certainly be the two featured guys at the top.

Jurgen's perferred setup is a 4-3-3 that holds the ball up and plays in from wide, but he's had more success using a counter attacking 4-4-2. We may not have the most skilled guys in the world, but from an athletic standpoint we can go toe to toe with anyone. Jurgen's showing some real capability as a national team manager: in club football, a manager more or less runs the show and has a lot of sway if not total control over who's on his squad. With international competition, you have who you have and must be able to adapt your style to what's available. Jurgen's been doing an exemplary job of just that.

Here's my guess as to the XI Jurgen's going to bring to Brazil, based off recent results:

F: Altidore, Dempsey (underneath)
M: Zusi, Bradley, Edu, Donovan
D: Beasley, Onyewu, Goodson, Cameron
G: Howard

I still don't think Wondo has played his way into the WC roster. There's only 23 spots, so we're talking 4-5 total forwards. The obvious two are listed. Donovan will probably play roving right mid against better competition. Has Wondo played his way ahead of Gomez? Eddie Johnson? I think not. He's our fifth best forward at best, and that's with Donovan as a mid.

Baker, Beckerman is a nice player. Not great, just decent with international competition. Problem is, he plays a spot where we have a few better options, and a spot that Klinsmann does not seem to utilize. He prefers to generate offense from the central defenders, because it stretches the field and maximizes our athleticism. Generating attack using guys like Beckerman works great if you can short pass up the spine, but we just don't have the quality to do that against better teams.
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I only disagree with Onyewu. Zusi is too unathletic for my tastes, but he has played well.
 
#961
#961
The talent is there. Give him time.

Beasley has made a great captain so far and can organize, but we still need that one guy who can just mark almost anyone. I still think that's Onyewu.
 
#963
#963
Vols520 said:
More and more rumblings of a winter world cup for Qatar. That's going to be kind of lame.
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The 2022 WC is going to be the disaster of all sporting disasters. Of course, when you select a WC site based solely on who has the deepest pockets to pay you under the table bribes, what can you really expect.
 
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#964
#964
Onyewu is not going to Brazil. He's got 3 CBs ahead of him plus guys like Cameron or Edu who can play there. I don't know what recent results you're basing him on. I also don't see anyone displacing Besler and Gonzo of their starting spots. Jurgen has invested too much time in that pairing to throw it out now.

Fabian Johnson is going to start somewhere. RB? Which moves Cameron to CM to balance with Bradley as I don't like having two defensive types even though I know Bradley has made improvements on getting forward.

Can Cherundolo make it back? Can Holden challenge for a CM spot.

We finally have multiple players challenging for starting spots at all 11 positions and that's the best problem to have
 
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#966
#966
Vols520 said:
More and more rumblings of a winter world cup for Qatar. That's going to be kind of lame.
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I want to see EPL clubs and other leagues take a stand and say that their players won't be there. I want to see what happens if FIFA has a WC without England, Spain, Germany, Holland, France. I'd imagine that others would follow suit: USA, Australia, etc.
 
#967
#967
MSUDuo said:
I want to see EPL clubs and other leagues take a stand and say that their players won't be there. I want to see what happens if FIFA has a WC without England, Spain, Germany, Holland, France. I'd imagine that others would follow suit: USA, Australia, etc.
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It wouldn't just be those countries. If the European Leagues refused to bend their schedules to FIFA's will and allow their players time off for the WC, the African and South American teams would also be decimated.

But, I'm afraid your hopes are all in vain. From reading this story, and seeing their change of stance, it appears as though the Bundesliga have received their cut of Qatar's bribe money. I'm sure similar, or bigger bribes will promptly follow to get La Liga and the EPL to rethink their position.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge backs Sepp Blatter plans - ESPN FC

I'm with you though, I'd love to see UEFA (and all it's member leagues) announce that not only will the domestic leagues and Cups will continue on schedule, but that the show will also go on in the Champions and Europa Leagues, WC be damned. Pulling it off would require complete cooperation from all the leagues in Europe, but it would be awesome to see the force FIFA's hand and see what happened next. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd want to walk to far in the shoes of the people who decided to try and bow up to an organization as corrupt as FIFA and the oil sheikhs with bottomless pockets from Qatar.
 
#971
#971
orange parmejohn said:
im no judge of talent but i disagree.
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I love seeing him doing well in this tourney but, unfortunately for the US team, I tend to believe the real EJ is the one we've seen doing mostly nothing for many years. Scoring a few goals against the B teams of our (mostly) horrible confederation doesn't really convince me otherwise.
 
#972
#972
NochNoch said:
I love seeing him doing well in this tourney but, unfortunately for the US team, I tend to believe the real EJ is the one we've seen doing mostly nothing for many years. Scoring a few goals against the B teams of our (mostly) horrible confederation doesn't really convince me otherwise.
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He's had some good showings lately for the A squad also. His recent outings may be the exception rather than the norm, but his play before this tourney has been impressive enough for at least a harder look going forward.
 
#973
#973
EJ is the perfect guy to bring on with 10-20 minutes to go in a tie game or down 1 in Brazil. Those fresh legs with his speed attacking tired defenses could be the difference.
 
#974
#974
MSUDuo said:
EJ is the perfect guy to bring on with 10-20 minutes to go in a tie game or down 1 in Brazil. Those fresh legs with his speed attacking tired defenses could be the difference.
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That would be ideal to me. His skill level is not on par with top flight competition but his athleticism is, bringing him in to force a tired back line to chase and contend with in the air on set pieces after 80 minutes is probably where he should fit in.
 
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