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No surprise as they loved him on his first time around, but Everton wants to bring Landon Donovan back into the fold with another loan move. Apparently Moyes is counting on Timmy Howard helping out a bit in bringing him back to the club. Also maybe the two of them would be able to influence Brek Shea another possible addition to the team.
The other reports seeping out of LA as Houston makes their way in to face off for the MLS Cup is about a possible incoming deal. Apparently the Galaxy are in talks with Chelsea to bring in Frank Lampard, current England captain who is currently 33, two years older than Beckham was when he joined the club. Beckham has been offered chances to go back to Europe and is apparently seriously considering them.
Lampard could only come if Beckham leaves as MLS teams are only allowed 3 DPs and it would be unimaginable for Lampard to not come in as a Designated Player.
…and I don’t just mean he could go to any team he wants and manage to get a contract. Although Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton are all apparently calling and more calls are surely expected no one seems to know where the kid plays. Klinsmann and FC Dallas seem to call him a leftwing or a striker most often, but some people are calling him a center-back, and most people apparently view him as a centre-half. Although Shea has played other positions(and was quite the prospect at center-back considering his size and speed) I’d be shocked to see him end up playing anywhere but on the wing or up top.
Carlos Bocanegra, presuming he gets a cap against Slovenia will join the USMNT century club. He’s sitting at 99 now and will be the 11th player to reach 100 caps for the team, which is (according to wikipedia) more than any other national team. The other USMNT players with a hundred caps or more are…
| Rank | Player | Caps | Goals | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cobi Jones | 164 | 15 | 1992–2004 |
| 2 | Landon Donovan | 138 | 46 | 2000–present |
| 3 | Jeff Agoos | 134 | 4 | 1988–2003 |
| 4 | Marcelo Balboa | 128 | 13 | 1988–2000 |
| 5 | Claudio Reyna | 112 | 8 | 1994–2006 |
| 6 | Paul Caligiuri | 110 | 5 | 1984–1997 |
| 7 | Eric Wynalda | 106 | 34 | 1990–2000 |
| 8 | Kasey Keller | 102 | 0 | 1990–2007 |
| 9 | Earnie Stewart | 101 | 17 | 1990–2004 |
| 10 | Tony Meola | 100 | 0 | 1988–2006 |
| Joe-Max Moore | 100 | 24 | 1992–2002 |
Presumably by tomorrow night Captain Carlos will have his name etched onto that list.
To celebrate, here’s Carlo’s Bocanegra summing up his perfect dinner party for anyone interested in throwing him one for reaching the honor.
USA/Italy in Genoa February 29th.
A match up that would pit an American team preparing for World Cup Qualifying against an Italian team that is in the midst of Euro-qualifying. Should be a good peek at a peak for both teams.
Also a great chance to root against that scumbag from New Jersey
http://www.noshortcorners.com/2011/11/thats-spicy-meat-ball.html
So everybody’s putting out line-ups right about now and I really don’t know how to handle that. I’ve been looking for a way to sum up in a simple formation what I expect Jurgen to do. I can’t I can tell you the 11 players I expect to start though and I guess we can go from there.
1. Tim Howard-obviously we need a keeper and he’s the one that’ll start. Although I’d really like to see Hamid get some minutes, he shouldn’t get them against France
2/3. Steve Cherundolo/Timmy Chandler- A given at right back for this team until someone really steps up at left back. Until we see someone other than Chandler who can hold down the left spot this is it. Chandler will eventually take over Dolo’s spot on the right, but not until they fill the hole on the left.
4.Carlos Bocanegra- He’s the captain and we’re not going into the game without him. The interesting thing for me is that I think his spot is much more up for competition than the other CB spot.
5.Michael Orozco Fiscal- Jurgen is doing something very specific by giving this spot to Fiscal and later subbing him out for Ream. I was personally shocked when I saw that he put both Onyewu and Bocanegra on the field at the same time. Fiscal and Ream have been getting called in because they play a totally different role from Onyewu, Bocanegra and Goodson. Those three might be the better defenders, but Fiscal fills the role better. The only issue with that is, with Ream being out the only real backup I can think of here is the newcomer Alfredo Morales who reportedly can play CB and would seem to not be the hulking style of player that Bocanegra, Onyewu and Goodson are.
6.Kyle Beckerman- Everyone thinks Beckerman does nothing and doesn’t do it particularly well, but there’s a reason that Jurgen keeps putting him in this spot. The deep lying holding midfield who starts the attack from the back is an important part of what he is trying to do. Beckerman might not be Makelele but he fits the same role and gets a lot of the exact same complaints from critics. Beckerman may not be the best player but he’s the best at that position. Edu may be a better defender but his passing isn’t quite there. Bradley may be appealing to some, but he’s very much a box to box midfielder. the only other player I’d be particularly interested in seeing in this role would be Danny Williams. I haven’t seen much of him at Hoffenheim, but from what I have he looks to have the qualities required to play this position pretty well. Although I still think Beckerman has done well.
7.Landon Donovan-Honestly the hardest spot to judge what might happen. It’s Landon’s spot ultimately because he has no real competition. There’s a reason that Robbie Rogers and Danny Williams have both gotten time there since Jurgen joined the team. There’s not a ton of depth on the wings. I’d assume that we might see one of those two out there again although it’s equally possible that Shea or Run DMB get the start there. If I had to hazard a guess (which i guess I really set myself up to do) I’d go with DaMarcus Beasley, but it could really be anyone.
8.Michael Bradley- I don’t see either Bradley or Edu owning this spot if everyone’s healthy, but I think this is the spot they’re fighting for now as they’re both vaguely box-to-box players and that will fill this spot well enough. With a full roster this is probably Stuart Holden’s spot(assuming he comes back where he left off), but that won’t be for a while. If not him I’d give it to Jose Torres(assuming he comes back where he left off) but that won’t be for a while either.
9. Jozy Altidore- He’s looked better and better playing back to goal since he’s started playing alone consistently for the Nats. I’m not in love with him either, but I don’t see much of a better option. The only real thought I have on strikers is that Gomez should get a chance to prove he’s not the one. I definitely see Altidore on the field, but where is a question. I think we might be better suited to have Dempsey play back to goal and have Altidore a step deeper playing where he can face the net and pepper shots rather than worrying about the distribution.
10. Clint Dempsey-The only player on the team who really doesn’t have a potential sub. I may not have mentioned other’, but Howard could be subbed for Hamid, Altidore could be subbed for Buddle, everyone else could come off for a worse player but with no huge loss to the formation. Who would really be able to fill in for Dempsey? Fabian Johnson would probably be the only player who even qualifies as the same position. Any issue with Dempsey means that either Landon fills his spot or we start playing with a second striker. He is given this kind of free reign in the middle of the park for a reason. Landon Donovan is not the best player on this team any more and the transition to Klinsmann has only made that more apparent (although getting the best two on the field together sometime soon would be nice(and Torres and Holden too?)).
11.Brek Shea- The one and only, the man who single handedly drives this blog. Really 90% of my traffic comes from pictures of his goofy hairstyles. He’s the best wing we’ve had since DMB was young. A few months ago I thought that Timmy Chandler would be the best player for the USMNT in 2014, but the more I see of Brek Shea the more I reconsider. They both have great promise and should absolutely be a key factor in the teams success for a long time.
I see them lining up in somewhat of a 4-3-3 or a 4-1-3-2 depending on how Brek Shea is feeling and whether or not we have the ball.
Howard
Boca OMF
Dolo Chandler
Beckerman
Bradley
Beasley
Shea
Dempsey
Altidore
*Altidore and Shea would be a lot closer than this might make it look but Dempsey would be floating in between the two levels to play basically wherever he wants.
Wenger reinforces that its just a training period and not a trial. Not surprising but worth mentioning so that people don’t run away with the idea. Also pushing the idea that America and Asia will have a huge effect on the future of the sport. The growth of the game in these regions really will have a huge effect on the world game. I know that I want to believe it myself so I’m a bit biased but it really does make perfect sense that North America, specifically the USA, and Asia will both continue to grow and really diversify the top level of the game in very interesting ways. Its nice to hear someone like Wenger supporting that.
So the Union were the best team in the league with a one or two man disadvantage. I know a lot of people I watch with noticed this and really almost saw the team become more comfortable when they went down a man. Not particularly surprised by this but its nice to see the stats back up what you see. Also the Union were 5th in the league with the man advantage.
| oal Differential – One or Two-Man Advantage | |||||
| Rank | Team | Minutes | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | Columbus | 267 | 7 | 0 | +7 |
| 2 | Sporting KC | 135 | 6 | 0 | +6 |
| 3 | Real Salt Lake | 168 | 5 | 0 | +5 |
| 4 | Seattle | 232 | 6 | 1 | +5 |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 102 | 3 | 0 | +3 |
| Goal Differential – One or Two-Man Disadvantage | |||||
| Rank | Team | Minutes | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | Philadelphia | 74 | 2 | 0 | +2 |
| 2 | New York | 118 | 3 | 2 | +1 |
| 3 | D.C. United | 110 | 4 | 3 | +1 |
| 4 | Seattle | 41 | 1 | 0 | +1 |
| 5 | Chicago | 92 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Just a few reasons…
Hans Backe didn’t know that the Gold Cup was taking place this year and is explaining the teams failures with that. As if that makes it okay at all. The Red Bull did lose a lot (6) of players to the tournament, so it may have played a role but to not know it was happening?
Rafa Marquez was left off Mexico’s roster for Friday’s match against Serbia for his recent “indiscipline.” Marquez thought it would be a good idea to throw a ball at the back of Landon Donovan’s head after losing to the Galaxy in the first leg of their playoff series. He got a 3 game ban and a $2,250 fine and is now being left off of International rosters because of it. Everyone is better off without Marquez.
Actually one reason that Red Bull aren’t dumb but apparently everyone else is. Tim Ream is getting all kinds of offers for European trials. He’s reportedly been scouted by Arsenal but the most serious offers seem to be from West Bromwich Albion and Red Bull Salzburg. I can’t understand why a player who was responsible for this would be expected to be able to succeed in a top European league. Congratulations to the Red Bull for leading people to believe that.
-Another camp is expected in early to mid-December. Then a few camps in both January and February followed by Olympic qualifying and hopefully the tournament.
-Teal Bunbury has backed out of the camp due to an ankle injury. Real Salt Lake’s Luis Gil has been added. I believe these are the only changes that I haven’t mentioned here.
Friday, Nov. 11
Opponent Time
VFL Bochum (reserves) 11 a.m.
Azerbaijan (U-21s) 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 15
Opponent Time
Bayer Leverkusen (U-23s/reserves) 2:30 p.m.
Bayer Leverkusen (U-19s) 5 p.m.
Image by proforged via Flickr
To no ones surprise C.J. Sapong won the MLS Rookie of the Year award that has had his name etched on it since halfway through the season. Sapong led all rookies in both assists and goals and had a huge role in bringing Sporting Kansas City back from the dead. He looked extremely impressive and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a USMNT jersey before we see his teammate Teal Bunbury in one again.
In the battle for second place Union midfielder Michael Farfan won! He had impressed many of us at home for quite a while. As a rookie in a lineup that was constantly being turned over, Farfan established himself as a starter and a real key to the Union’s offensive . His skill on the ball has impressed many. On another day he’d deserve a look for a wing spot for the USMNT, but with Donovan and Shea starting to look entrenched there and the team having a ton of high quality midfielders available it is unlikely we’ll see him around for a while.
bpmangan
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