Without Landon Donovan, Timmy Chandler, Jose Torres, Oguchi Onyewu, and Kyle Beckerman the US has looked very good against Italy. The attack has been solid, the defense a bit shaky butnothing terrible. Although if Italy we’re a half step more patient they could have about 4 goals by now. They’ve ben called offsides on just about every chacne.
The starting lineup today got me thinking abotu what an actual US starting lineup would look like.
——————Altidore———————–
Shea————Dempsey————-Williams
————–Edu———Bradley—————
Johnson—Bocanegra–Goodson–Cherundolo
———————Howard———————–
Ultimately there’s a few more pieces that can be added in and a few that can be taken out.I think (after seeing Fabian for a single half at LB I’m willing to throw him in to the starting lineup there. He’s impressed me the last time he played a different position and his crosses look better than Chandler’s did from that spot.)
——————Altidore———————–
Shea————Dempsey————-Donovan/Chandler
———Beckerman———Bradley—————
Johnson—Bocanegra–Onyewu–Cherundolo/Chandler
———————Howard———————–
I’m looking at Chandler slipping back to the right where he had more success and splitting time in any real tournaments to give both Donovan and Cherundolo a bit of rest that they’ve begun to seem to need.
Along with filling out the roster (to a somewhat arbitrary 22) a bit more down below.
Agudelo
Torres, Kljestan
Jones, Edu, Williams
Goodson, Cameron/Parkhurst, Chandler
Guzan, Hamid
A team with promise that hasn’t quite been realized yet for sure.
UPDATE: I obviously just forgot to mention it because its become such a standard thing recently but we have another great midfielder plying his trade in Belgium and helping his team push through the Europa League who hasn’t gotten very much of a look from Klinsmann yet. Sacha Kljestan is exactly the type of player we thought Klinsmann would want but he refuses to give him a real look. The only possible reason I can think of for this is that he doesn’t like Sacha’s little moustache. Its a real shame cause a team lacking connection between attack and defense (and therefore not scoring) could use a Sacha Kljestan (or a Benny Feilhaber, not to say Torres and Dempsey can’t do it, but the two outsiders seem to deserve a more serious look than they’ve gotten. Especially Sacha.)
We’ll finally get to see Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey together under Jurgen Klinsmann. It’s been a long time coming but they managed to line up a pretty good opponent for the reunion. Italy will announce their rosters Sunday, but here’s the US followed by my best guess at a potential starting lineup.
A few of the names we haven’t seen with the A team(or at least not in a while) are Brad Guzan who played well while Shay Given was out, Geoff Cameron and Michael Parkhurst who apparently impressed enough at Camp Cupcake to get a call up,
Jose Torres back from injury, and the new face of Terrence Boyd who has shown up big time for Borussia Dortmund 2 in the 2. Bundesliga. Im most excited to see Parhurst and Cameron who (due to the lack of Onyewu) split halves in this game alongside Bocanegra and hopefully one pans out. I’m most curious about Terrence Boyd obviously given that I’ve been hearing his name but haven’t had a chance to see any 2. Bundesliga games ever.
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England), Nick Rimando (Salt Lake)
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Geoff Cameron (Houston), Timmy Chandler (Nuremberg, Germany), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Clarence Goodson (Brondby, Denmark), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland, Denmark), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham, England)
Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona, Italy), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim, Germany), Jermaine Jones (Schalke, Germany), Jose Torres (Pachuca, Mexico), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim, Germany)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Alkmaar, Netherlands), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles)
I expect something of the 4-4-2/4-3-3 formation we’ve been getting lately but it’ll be interesting to see whether having Donovan and Dempsey together changes that shape (along with not having Brek Shea who has become a mainstay and gaining Jose Torres who was a starter before his injury) It’ll be interesting.
Howard
Dolo Bocanegra Cameron/Parkhurst Chandler
Bradley F. Johnson
Donovan Torres
Dempsey
Altidore
“I was on the first flight out (of Philadelphia) the next morning. I was ready to get out of there.”
Q: What is going on at the Union with all these major players changes?
A: To be honest, I have no idea. I just know they’re making a bunch of changes and I think they’re going in a different direction with their team. Some players they decided to keep, some players they had different plans for. In the end it worked out for me because I ended up coming back here, back home, but I think they’re just doing a big overhaul of their team.
Question: Are you glad to be home?
Answer: I went from not too good of a situation (in Philadelphia) to the best situation ever – being home, playing where I grew up.
Apparently we now qualify as a not to good situation. In combination it seems like Naka and Le Toux have the same issue, but we knew Naka was leaving. If he would have said things along the lines of Le Toux’s quotes I would’ve been extremely disappointed in the team. It seems Naka calling the Union a bad situation probably has more to do with playing time than with the evils of Piotr Nowak, but it’s not totally clear.
http://www.insidesocal.com/soccer/2012/02/a-few-words-with-galaxy-midfie.html
Whatever you think of Bob Bradleys tactics, he’s a classy guy. After the riot that broke out at the Ahly-Masry game, and the ensuing riots that broke out across the country in response Bob Bradley was in Sphinx Square today with his wife Lindsay today. He was marching in the streest with protesters. I have personally never had more respect for Bob Bradley. He was asked by an Egyptian newscaster why, as a foreigner he decided to come out and responded “It’s very simple. … When a tragedy like this occurs, I think it’s important to show respect.” He’s right, but his method of respect will surely put a big target on his he, although he has surely gained a large group of unmoveable fans. This is possibly the most important diplomatic step from any American towards the situation in Egypt.
A lot of people have complained about our teams loses over the past week but its impossible to compare with what has happened in Egypt last night. We knew the country was in a state of absolute turmoil but no one wants this to happen. The last number I saw was 74 dead from the incident. In a match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly, major rivals in Egyptian soccer, which ended with the host Al-Masry winning dozens of people were killed in the flooding of the field that insued. Fans rushed the field and chased the opposing team off of the field while security seemed to have done very little to control the situation. How much could have been done is up for debate. Egyptian Ultras are a serious issue for the countrys sporting population, and the rivalry with Algeria has been known as one of the fiercest and most aggresive in sports. They have also been cited as a part of the revolutionary force in the country.
It’s an absolute shame to see anything like this happen anywhere, but especially in a country where the government and media will surely spin it in the worst of ways. Although even the numbers on the field tonight wonn’t compare to the number who have passed in the streets of Egypt over the past year it’s a harsh reminder that emotions there are extremely high strung. Hopefully things will calm down in the near future and we won’t see these kinds of tensions in the streets or in the stands.
Update: It seems that the Egyptian league has called an indefinite suspension of games.
“Al-Ahly goalkeeper Sharif Ikrami, who was injured in the melee, told the private station ONTV that dead and wounded were being carried into the locker room.
”There were people dying in front of us,’ he said. ‘It’s over. We’ve all made a decision that we won’t play soccer any more. How will we play soccer after 70 people died? We can’t think about it.” It’s unclear if this means that they will stop playing temporarily or permanently but the manager of Al-Masry, Kamal Abu Ali is resigning in protest. Of course all sides are already translating these events in the context of the political turmoil and trying to find someone to blame. Despite a seeming lack of action from security, along with a definitive lack of availabilty and action by police in the surrounding are, most of the blame seems to be falling on the protesters. If you’re a praying person, Egypt is a good place to send your prayers.
bpmangan
mattsant16
Pat
