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Starikov called into USMNT camp

The USMNT camp of new faces has added another national team newcomer to the mix, with Bob Bradley calling in Russian-based striker Eugene Starikov.

Born in Ukraine, Starikov was raised in Florida and played for Stetson University before signing with Zenit St. Petersburg in 2009. He went on loan to Russian First Division side  Tom Tomsk, where he scored one goal in nine appearances.

Starikov brings the number of players in camp to 25, with Juan Agudelo also joining the camp after taking part in the U.S. Under-20 camp in Florida.

What do you think of Starikov being added? Like seeing Bradley taking a look at so many new faces?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Dempsey has played up top for the USMNT many,many times. As I said before where he starts out doesn’t seem to affect his scoring rate.

    As for our wealth of options in midfield it seems like that doesn’t it? Then when you get to crunch time everyone turns up hurt or out of form. Before you mention that Holden should have replaced Dempsey long ago, I would point out that Holden wasn’t playing this good a year ago and even so, he is not a direct replacement for Dempsey.

    I’m not overly concerned about Altidore because he seems to be slowly turning into a decent target man and for the foreseeable future the scoring for this team will come from it’s two legitimate star attacking players, Donovan and Dempsey.

    Since you almost always have to play these two it seems the idea is to find complementary players for them.

    Davies was good in that his speed and willingness to go wide gave Donovan a good foil during his counterattacks. Given that the players I find intriguing are the Ryans, Guy and Smith. I’ve seen neither one play but if they are good on the ball, are direct and fast, they could help give the US attack the width and depth it needs to free up Donovan and create the kind of havoc that Dempsey preys on.

    For me Davies’ worth was not so much about what he did drectly but in how he freed up LD and Deuce who were and are the USMNT’s best goal scorers, position be dammed, anyway.

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  2. I still think it wouldn’t hurt to play Dempsey up front with the Nats. Jozy just doesn’t pose much of a scoring threat to opposing defenses. Dempsey does, whether he’s doing it from the midfield or not. Dempsey is also the guy who’s starting and scoring in the EPL, whereas Jozy sees limited action in Spain, and much less of the back of the net. With the Nats, we have more options at midfield that could play Dempsey’s role there just fine.

    As far as Guy and the Irish First Division, I don’t get too caught up in league rankings. He has 26 goals in 132 league appearances…that’s a goal ~ every 5 games. Not bad. He also made SoocerOverThere.com’s Best 11 American’s playing in Europe. I think he warrants a look.

    As for Grella, he played at Duke and was a first team All-American. While at Leeds, he was playing behind red-hot Jermaine Beckford, and fell down the totem. He was loaned to Carlisle United, and has scored 3 goals in 6 appearances. Carlisle United wanted to extend the loan the entire season, but Leeds declined, so maybe he will see his way back into the fold at Leeds. I don’t think it hurts anything to bring him into a camp. He has also played for the US MNT U-18’s and U-20’s.

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  3. Easiest way to know to “the” or not to “the” is if the country is a plural/group or not. United States = the. Netherlands = the. UAE = the. United Kingdom = the. Ukrane, like Canada or Korea, does not have “the”.

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  4. I’ve watched KC play a few times and Smith always stood out to me.

    Hes got pace, a spirited work rate, ball skills and if I’m not mistaken a solid left boot.

    Deserves a look at least IMO

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  5. I’ve watched KC play a few times last year and Smith always stood out to me.

    Hes has great pace, ball skills, a good work rate and if I’m not mistaken a solid left boot. Deserves a look at least.

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  6. When Smith came here from England he was in the process of establishing dual citizenship as his dad is an American.

    It’s unclear to me how long that process takes though I suspect it would be shorter than the usual getting a green card , wating 5 years deal. Given the US’ need in this spot, and his apparent skill, I suspect Smith is still ineligible.

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  7. ” I find it interesting that Dempsey finds himself in the forward role a lot at Fulham, but not much for the Nats…why?”

    At Fulham they only play him there out of sheer necessity. It’s not really his best spot. If it were Fulham wouldn’t be looking for strikers so much during this transfer window. If you check really close you’ll find that he scores just as much for the USMNT as an atacking mid as he does when played up front, though he moves around so much during the course of the game it can be very hard to verify that.

    Ryan Guy might be worth pursuing though his league is ranked 25th in Europe (Norway’s is ranked 24th).

    However, on paper Mike Grella seems very underwhelming. It seems to me the only reason he is in this conversation is because he is an American who plays forward professionally in Europe. Other than that he seems very unimpressive. Have you ever seen him play?

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  8. If you click the Yanks Abroad Soccer Highlights link under the SBI Soccer Blog Roll on the righthand side of this page, there are a few highlights of Starikov. When you get to the site, just put Starikov into the site search feature.

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  9. But now he’s jumping on the band wagon. Face it, we need more of his type in the media if we ever expect to make soccer mainstream in the US. I remember what his feelings were but it dosen’t matter anymore, at least he cares now.

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  10. If I was a Googlian-Wizard I’d have the ability to link his comments about said Confederations Cup.

    Of which, he was completely condecending and dismissive about the tournament and the result(s).

    Perhaps his positive spin started after that?

    Either way, he’s a D-bag and that’s even excluding his views on soccer.

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  11. Believe me, if he can score goals from the forward position for the U.S., I’ll be screaming “Euuuuuuuugeeeeeeeeeene”, as well.

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  12. Wouldn’t he still be eligible to play for the Olympics because he won’t turn 24 until November which would be after the Olympics in 2012? Wouldn’t this also apply to Omar Gonzalez and Eric Lichaj as well? Because they weill all still be 23 years of age during the 2012 Olympics.

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  13. I actually hate Cowherd, passionately, but over the past year or two (starting with the Confederation’s Cup win over Spain) he’s been on board with the idea that USMNT soccer has a chance to be the next big thing.

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  14. I went to Stetson and saw him play. Good player and high energy. Was pretty raw when I saw him and I spoke to the Stetson coach a few months ago and he said that Eugene just up and left the university during the semester and didn’t tell anyone. Only other thing of note is his Dad had the annoying habit of saying “Euuuuuuuuuugeeeeeeeene” at the top of his lungs ALL game long.

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  15. You’re wrong.

    My nephew was born in Spain. His mother is American, his father is Russian. He has three legal citizenships. Spanish, American, and Russian.

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  16. you are automatically a US citizen if you are born abroad to an american parent, assuming the said parent spent at least 4 consecutive years in the US before he or she turned 18.

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  17. I think the U.S. needs to aggressively pursue striker options. I personally don’t think Jozy Altidore is ever going to be a prolific scorer…his touch just isn’t good enough to create a lot of chances on his own, which means he has to realy on excellent service…that doesn’t make for a lot of goals. Charlie Davies has a long road still ahead, and who knows how that will turn out. Outside of these two, we’re left with Findley, Buddle, and Gomez. I find it interesting that Dempsey finds himself in the forward role a lot at Fulham, but not much for the Nats…why?

    Other guys we should look at at some juncture are Ryan Guy and Mike Grella.

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  18. actually you are not an american citizen by just having an american parent if you were born abroad. You can apply to become a US citizen without having to wait the 2+3=5 years process time.

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  19. Cow**** and Rome will never get an ounce of love from me due to their irrational hatred of soccer. For my money, I’ll take Dan Patrick, because at least he reps Landon Donovan and a few of his staffers are known fans.

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  20. Agudelo didn’t look that great in Open Cup games. When he played with the full squad, he definitely improved. (Same with Tchani, BTW).

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  21. props to bradley for leaving no stone unturned.
    is there a left back some where in russia that we can call in? that would be fantastic.

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