OT - USMNT Gold Cup Final Game of Group Stage
Game means nothing to U.S. (already qualified for next round) and everything to Panama as Haiti shocks the tourney with a current 4 pts. A Panama win pushes them into 2nd in the group but Haiti should be fine as a 3rd place team with 4 pts (top 2 3rd place teams advance). A tie from Panama might push the to the next round with 3 pts.
- Guzan
- Chandler, Alvarado, Brooks, Johnson
- Bedoya, Beckerman, Bradley, Morales
- Wondo, Zardes
I'd prob play Chandler and Jozy this whole game and then sit them the rest of the tourney (ok maybe Jozy as a sub for 15 minutes) but I can deal with this mix as Zardes could use 60 min. Wondo is fine for garbage games.... Ice Man rest of tournament up top with Zardes I hope.
I'd have liked to see Johnson at an outside mid but he seems stuck at D for the U.S. Morales will be interesting to watch to see if he has any impact.
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Growing up in Michigan, this reminds me of full contact soccer we used to play in elementary school in the winter.
Our parents would put us in our big fluffy snowsuits, and with the snow on the ground...we'd run outside yelling "FUUUUULLLLLL COOOOOONTAAAAAAACT!!!!!" and we'd play like a 15 v 15 soccer game on the snow and just be checking the shit out of each other.
It was awesome.
Nice goal but I have to tell you guys in an earlier game I saw some bad turnovers from Beckerman and I am seeing them again tonight. I also think some of the bad defense is from him as he is the holding mid. He is at that age you really start to worry about guys because they can falter overnight (33). Just something to watch - his turnovers are not so LOL as Chandler's but a better team would be exploiting someof the things he has been doing.
(and I was a big fan of his play in the WC run up and WC after just hating his play 3-5 years ago)
Brooks great tackle.
Brilliant tackle there
Great defending by Brooks there..let's try to possess this ball a little bit more now
Brooks having a good half.
Beckerman needs to come out...or Bradley. Both look sketchy.
Ref is really letting them play football. American football.
And just like that Beckerman makes a play reminiscent of 2014 WC.
Anyhow my comment is for the next 6 months - something to watch. Could just be a crap few games or a start of a decline. He was indispensable in the WC.
But it's going to be hard for Beckerman to play in future international tournaments if he continues to play like this. He's just a step slow and it's showing BAD tonight.
Makes me wonder if Jones would be a better option because he had more speed to start with.
Kyle's tough as nails, but you can just see the age showing.
If he does make it to the world cup team, he should be the 22nd/23rd man who just comes in when you're trying to preserve leads in important games.
Edit: Foot meet mouth.
Jones is going to have to be a holding mid or center back as he also slows down. I think that was the talk after the WC - convert him to CB to make him have any chance of being useful in 2018. Not sure if that is still the plan.
The scary thing is I dont know who we have like minded to Beckerman if not Jones. I cant think of another player unless you take a guy like Besler and make him a holding mid.
Beckerman did so much in the WC qualifying and run - he does a lot of things you dont notice unless he fucks them up. Which he didnt do almost at all for 2 years - but they are becoming very evident now.
He can play that role too, right?
I expect Perry Kitchen to get a look at some point, too
Has Edu really been very involved in the Jurgen era. I wont forget that turnover vs England in 2010. Ugh.
He and Beckerman were an awesome tandem in the WC because neither can play a full 90 consistently.
And we don't have anyone...however, here's a thought. If we're so obsessed with Timmy Chandler, maybe give him a shot in that role?
You know me, I can't stand the guy in terms of being part of this team...but he cannot me on the back line...what about putting him in that role if he HAS to be on the team?
If not him, Bradley is the only other option, IMO. Chandler is too slow, he's a CB all the way.
Hell no on Chandler. The only thing worse than giveaways down the sideline are giveaways down the middle. Chandler has no role for me. Give me Evans or similar at right back and there are about 8 outside mids I have more confidence in then Chandler - and he'd plain scare me in the center. You put your best players down the middle - not scariest.
Look I never watch league games with Chandler - maybe he is a solid for his club. He just sucks with the U.S. team. That's all I am concerned about.
Because I'm sorry, but there isn't a person on this board that feels he doesn't deserve to be on the team more than me.
Crowd wants it...
Which I love because he deserves it...but would've liked to see the crowd go crazy for Graham.
Zardes drops back to the midfield.
If we want to go for the win...this is the lineup.
Holy shit what a save
wow guzan!
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I love that shot by Beckerman.
Altidore is only 25? Damn thought he was 28-29. He is like some of these college players that seem to have 7 years of eligibility.
I love how much they are picking on Zardes tonight - cumong man. Altidore couldnt even trap last game. Even on an off night Zardes has to be accounted for due to speed. He has been ok this half. First half everyone sucked.
With Zardes as the super sub and Altidore as the situational sub.
Give me those 4 and Bobby Wood or Jordan Morris in place of Wondo for the 2018 WC.
Great service by Johnson there- wasted.
Nice movement there by all.
GK
- T. Howard
- B. Guzan
- N. Rimando
D
- F. Johnson
- G. Garza
- J. Brooks
- O. Gonzalez
- T. Ream
- M. Besler
- B. Evans
- B. Shea
MF
- K. Beckerman / J. Jones
- D. Williams
- D. Yedlin
- A. Bedoya
- M. Bradley
- M. Diskerud
- J. Corona
F
- G. Zardes
- C. Dempsey
- B. Wood/J. Morris/J. Green
- A. Johannsson
- J. Altidore
Has Shea ever played D for USMNT?
Even if no, I'd take him over Chandler. lol
Dont sleep on Hyndman. By that point he will be in early 20s. Technically probably top 10 in America already from what limited I have seen of him in under age tournies. And heady as hell. The next Bradley type.
Understood your 23 is as of today.
But I've seen him play LB and RB for Orlando City in person at least 3-4 times and I'm 100% confident that he's a vastly superior player to Timmy Chandler. He's got plenty of experience at the position.
The numbers obviously don't mean anything...
To be honest, I was trying to group everyone by position, assuming we were playing the diamond formation.
GK - LB - CB - CB - RB - DM - LM - AM - RM - "roaming" F - "possession" F
The next wave (??) that might be candidates by 2017ish
- Hyndman
- rubin
- Gil
- Carter-Vickers
- Zelalem (we'll see - looks super raw to me)
- Kitchen
- Trapp
- Agudelo
- A bunch of guys currently 18 years old and living in Germany
Who else? Pulisic maybe.
I really hope Hyndman and Rubio get serious looks. Hyndman is the kind of talent that this team needs in the MF.
I want to say Marc Pelosi, but we will see how he comes back after another injury. I'm really hoping that he can bounces back. He might be another one of those prospects where we never get to see his full potential because of constant injuries.
I like the steadiness of the back line with Brooks being your young guy with loads of potential. Shea/Evans would be a little slow and boring, but I'll take that over, well...you know all know.
I like Jones and Beckerman battling it out for the old man defensive mid spot. Danny Willams takes the other and learns from the vets.
Yedlin's speed should make up for the Shea/Evans combo. I like Bedoya's service ability and ability to take corners along with Bradley. I think Mix is better in Bradley's role, but he never comes out of the game. Corona is my utility mid.
Zardes is my utility F which would've been awesome to have in the last WC, his name is Landon Donovan. Dempsey is Dempsey and I got Johannsson starting next to him except when you want to go with the young guns to switch it up. The winner of that trio should be damn good. Altidore is a situational backup that I think is a HUGE asset in that role and not as a starter who we have to depend on.
Weird thing is the offense was actually quite nice in that swing thru Europe. I was saying to myself - look we dont have any individual stars (Clint is only guy even within world top 250 IMO) but they made a lot of chances. And plenty of teams get chances against us without a plethora of top 200 players - see Gold Cup. But our defense was iffy.
Now I have an iffy D and an O that doesnt work without Dempsey out there constantly. So I have come to expect the D to be a bit stinky the past year but the offense thus far in Gold Cup just has nothing going for it for 30-50 min stretches. Team like Honduras who played packed in I get but tonight Panama didnt play that style and we still did nothing for 45. But then we created plenty vs Germany's 1.5 team (not 1st team but not 2nd). Just strange.
Jones and Beckerman will both be 36 in 2018 so its probably going to be Williams or Cameron or Besler from the board nominations. I just dont see field players not named Pirlo being effective past 34-35.