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1860 Munich announce Wood included in USMNT’s roster for friendly vs. Czech Republic

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Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By RYAN TOLMICH

The U.S. Men’s National Team is just over a week away from its first post-World Cup friendly and Bobby Wood could take part.

1860 Munich announced Tuesday that the 21-year-old forward has been called up for the Americans’ upcoming friendly with the Czech Republic on ept. 3. The friendly, which is set to take place in Prague, could mark Wood’s second cap, with the first coming last August against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

U.S. Soccer has since called the announcement premature, saying Wood was included in the preliminary roster for the friendly but that no final decisions had been made on player personnel. The roster is expected to be finalized by the end of the week.

Wood, who made his debut for the 2. Bundesliga side in January 2011 and made 13 appearances last season, had previously been included in the U.S.’s 35-man preliminary roster for the 2013 Gold Cup. He did not make the final squad, however.

Wood has started in 1860 Munich’s three league games this year, but has yet to find the back of the net.

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What do you make of Wood’s potential call-up? Excited about the chance of possibly seeing him play for the U.S. again? Who would you like to see called up for the upcoming friendly?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

    • It would be highly irregular for JK to have the official list out more than days ahead of time. I assume to offset that we send out a slightly larger wish list communication indicating you are in the provo pool from which we may pick. That could be misconstrued.

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    • makes sense.. Jurgen is more of a fan of announcing the camp roster via twitter photos in airports and the team bus to the stadium.

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      • The players (and their clubs) know whose getting called up long before JK makes his public announcement. Nothing prevents club/players from sharing that news other than a respect for discretion.

  1. Since MLS scheduled multiple games per each team during this international break it might be all European based.. might not completely up to Jurgen.

    my 23 of all European based players
    gk: Guzan, Cropper
    fb: Johnson, Chandler, Lichaj, Spector, Morales
    cb: Ream, Packwood, Cameron, Brooks
    w: Bedoya, Green, Shea, Gyau
    cm: Kljestan, Mix, Obrien, Holmes, Hydnman
    fwd: Altidore, Agudelo, Wood

    not a very strong lineup – probably should have looked to schedule Estonia or Moldova – but hopefully prospects and guys looking for a move shine.

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      • A lot of the retreads bore me, making mediocrity slightly less mediocre doesn’t win you silverware. The future of the team is elsewhere, players like Green and Hyndman, Zelalem if he gets the passport. Stars.

      • i have a feeling like Jurgen agrees with you to some extent… just wonder how many and how young he decides to go.

      • + 1

        Now is as good a time as any to start with a clean slate and bring in the new blood in search of the talisman or two that will burst us into the next level – top 10 or maybe even dare to talk seed worthy status.

    • With that group of 23 I would love to see a 4-1-4-1:

      ——————-Altidore——————
      Green——Kljestan—Mix——Bedoya
      ——————Cameron—————–
      Johnson–Brooks–Packwood–Lichaj
      ——————-Guzan——————-

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    • I’d like to see:

      ————————Guzan—————–
      Chandler—Cameron-Brooks—Ream
      ————Kljestan——Hyndman——–
      Johnson————Mix————-Bedoya
      ———————–Jozy———————-

      Thoughts:

      Guzan picks himself.

      Chandler and Johnson together down the flank would be exciting. Brooks needs a start and Cameron is the most seasoned CB option available. Ream earns a LB position because he’s been playing their for club recently.

      I dislike Kljestan, but I’d love to see what Hyndman can do in our system so he needs a seasoned partner next to him.

      Mix got the biggest shaft at the World Cup. I’d love for him to cement his place at the tip of our three-man midfield. Bedoya and Johnson seem to be no-brainers given our list.

      Jozy has to have a good game.

      Subs include: Agudelo, Gooch, Wood, Gyau, Green, Morales, Lichaj.

      I’d also add Gooch to the roster. He’s in Europe and could use a few minutes on the field.

      I too think Shea gets a spot. Klinsi loves him.

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      • Not sure why you would call in Gooch or Agudelo. Neither has a club, or has been training at game day speed (If they are training on the side with a club it is still different than training with the first team in a game mode). Call them in for the training session and evaluation, but on the bench? Seems optimistic that either would be ready for any game minutes.

      • He has 1 professional game under his belt and didn’t dress for the other 2 this season. I doubt he’ll get the call up.

    • You are misunderstanding; he scored a dozen with the reserve team, almost all of his appearances have been with the reserves. He’s been a pro for about 3 1/2 years, with some significant time injured.

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      • Meh. It can be a sign of promise but it can also merely be he’s playing in a 3rd or 4th division. Green had like 20+.

      • Sure, but 3 from 46 is different from 12 from 46, with a big injury break in his 3 1/2 years. He’s still only promising and not delivering, but I personally withhold judgement for now.

      • I give Green a break because he was on BM2 behind the big boys, and that team just happens to be 4th division. 15 G in 23 games impresses me, and now he’s first team, B.1.

        Wood by contrast bounces between first and second team for a B.2 side, which I think is in the neighborhood of MLS level. He has 15 goals in 4 years. I realize he’s a prospect but in terms of NT value, it’s this kid is playing at MLS level maybe and not producing a ton.

        That being said, this period of time is about newer faces and auditioning and seeing if he’s better than the next guy. He does come from a serious program in a serious soccer country. But you have to be pretty good to squeeze onto our team, and we’ll see if he has it.

      • Not unfair, I’m just not ready to consign him, given what seemed like a lot of promise in his age-group play.

    • I’ve been fond of Bobby as a player for awhile. Here’s the breakdown:

      He was an up-and-coming young star for 1860 before horrific injuries to his knees. The docs and team basically told him his career was done. His contract ran out but one of the coaches convinced management to offer him a reserve team contract for a year (if I remember). At one point he was playing non-league side. He proved his fitness enough to begin his comeback through the reserves then finally the first team. This season is the first time he’s really back to form.

      He’s since moved from an out-and-out striker to more of a winged forward (from what I can tell), hence why he doesn’t score often. He’s a very useful player, and at still a young age (21), barring injuries, he’s one to watch.

      His story is just as inspiring, if not more so, than Holden’s efforts to come back.

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      • I watched an interview where he stated that his numbers were a bit misleading because the majority of his appearances were of the stoppage time variety.

      • Yeah goals vs appearances is a meaningless ratio. Goals per 90 minutes and we’re starting to get somewhere.

      • I grant what you say but in fairness what did Green do with his US “cameo” versus Belgium? Most players have to make their initial sales pitch spot playing. If you make an immediate impact you move up the order. If you can’t make a tired opponent look bad then why should I start you?

      • Not making a case for the kid one way or the other. Just saying that “x goals in y appearances” is a terrible stat.

        Like RBI in baseball.

      • GW,

        Take two players each with 10 “Appearances” and 10 goals.

        The first player plays all 900 minutes, thus goals/90 minutes is 1.

        The second player only plays 10 minutes per appearance, thus goals/90 minutes is 9. Statistically the second player is more productive.

      • Hurricane,

        Thank you for the explanation. However, I was looking for why away goals seems to feel that

        ” Just saying that “x goals in y appearances” is a terrible stat”

        Like all stats it is matter of context, which people on SBI seem bound and determined to ignore.

        Gerd Muller, the great West German striker scored 68 goals for West Germany in 62 “appearances”. The reason I use “ appearances” because it is extremely difficult to find stats where the minutes played for every game is listed for the individual player.

        In terms of context Muller scored 29 of his West German goals in friendlies. Which means he scored 39 goals in World Cup and European Championship tournaments and qualifying games.

        Muller also scored 398 goals for Bayern Munich in 453 appearances. Those guys played a lot of tough teams.

        Muller was not to everyone’s taste as he was squat and stocky, a powerful garbage man with a low center of gravity who excelled in the air and with quarter chances, working like a dog to get the 1 yard tap in, unlike Thierry Henry who was less productive, 174 goals for Arsenal in 254 appearances, but had more “stylish” goals.

        If you never saw Muller play he was like Clint Dempsey but about two to three times as good. This is actually very flattering to Clint.

        So what do you prefer, style or productivity?

        I don’t know Wood’s stats but for a guy like him at this stage of his career all those stats can tell you is that he is (hopefully) good at whatever level he is now. Only the context of under what conditions he scored his goals will tell you whether his “strike rate” is a good predictor of anything.

        However, I think we can all agree it is better if he score as many goals as possible.

        Kenny Cooper had a phenomenal strike rate for FC Dallas, 40 goals in 90 appearances but it did not exactly translate when he next moved to 1860 Munich and scored 2 goals in 13 appearances. Granted he was injured in Germany but that is why “context” matters in these discussion.

        The point is sample size and level of the competition determine the validity of the “strike rate/ per game/appearance stat” however you wish to massage it.

      • Interesting. Definitely excited to see some new faces. This is a great time in the cycle to start introducing some new players into the USMNT and seeing what they can do.

      • I have followed him and watched a lot of 1860s matches over the years and can confirm this information. He switched to more of a wing player beginning of last season. He has a good eye for the pass and can finish, he has progressed very well over the last few years, especially given the injuries as Josh noted. I will add that he actually played a handfull of matches last season and towards season end had a good run of games. This year he has earned a starting spot. Most of the matches I have watched he contributes in some form, be it assist, goal or defensive work. Certainly deserving of a look with the USMNT. If he has a strong season for 1860 I can see him moving to a bigger club though not too big. Something like an Augsburg or Mainz would be good I think.

      • Actually, Columbia IS in the US. Several of them actually. ColOmbia however… I believe is in another country like Hawaii or Alaska or something 😉

      • I was not aware that playing in New England made Charlie ineligible for the USMNT.

        I think Cameron , having been born there will be relieved that FIFA slipped up and let him play in the World Cup.

      • Mike Grella.. Man. Now there’s a guy I had high hopes for when he played for Leeds. The best he ever did was to earn a transfer to my FIFA13 team where I forced his abilities to rise high enough so that he was a decent player in the Premier League.

        Add to that list a certain Gabriel Ferrari and Danny Szetela.

      • Agudelo, Altidore, Bedoya, Boyd, Brooks, Cameron, Castillo, Corona, Cropper, Diskerud, Garza, Gil, Green, Guzan, Gyau, Hyndman, FJ, Joya, Kiesewetter, Sacha, Lichaj, Lletget, Morales, Packwood, Pelosi, Shea, Torres, Trapp, Yeldin, Whitbread, Wood, Wooten, Zelalem.

        Personally I’d start going down the youth team lists or scouting MLS players before I’d bother with Adu.

      • It’s a midweek game and there aren’t direct conflicts. There is also only one game the following weekend.

      • Drop the following:
        Boyd – Injured
        Whitbread – Not worth a spot/OLD
        Kljestan – Not worth a spot.
        Shea – Can’t make the bench, Don’t even know if he’s seeing reserve matches.
        Kiesewetter/Wooten/Agudelo – Do they even on teams?
        Otherwise not a bad squad.

    • Man, ripping on US national team players never gets old does it ?

      I figured it would be done in the 70s, maybe the 80s…nope.

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