Good morning all. The most popular topic of the weekend on SBI was the naming of the final 20-man roster for U.S. Olympic Qualifying. There were some shocking exclusions, namely the decision to leave Benny Feilhaber, Robbie Rogers and Arturo Alvarez home.
My sources tell me it was simply a case of these three players enduring bad camps and head coach Peter Nowak deciding to go with the midfielders he felt were on form. That isn’t likely to sit well with fans who can’t comprehend how a Feilhaber could look worse than a Dax McCarty or Chad Barrett.
While some can argue about the players left out until the end of time I think it is time to start considering what the starting XI will look like for the Olympic qualifying tournament.
Here’s one guess:
———————-Altidore———————–
Gaven—————-Adu——————-Zizzo
————–Holden——-Kljestan—————
Freeman——Sturgis—Edu———–Wynne
———————–Seitz————————
What starting lineup would you use for the tournament? More importantly, what starting XI would you want taking the field for the decisive semifinal match-up that will determine if the United States actually makes the Olympics? Share your lineup suggestions below.
Agreed. I saw Dax in some scrimmages as well and have been really impressed. Looking forward to tonights game to see what Nowak has really done in camp.
seems to be nitpicky things here… give or take a few fringe players USA always performs the same. No matterwho is playing if we win the Olympics it will be an overachievement, and if we don’t make them it will be an underach..
Rogers, Feilhaber, etc as fringe players: yes, Peter Nowak is saying that if they play like fringe players then they are such. I can appreciate that argument.
Benny Feilhaber must be in god awful form.
Dax McCarty is a perfect, perfect fit for a Peter Nowak team. It’s no surprise he’s on the top of the heap with this squad.
Nowak loves smart team guys, self-effacing players who imagine the game well. He also loves players with a great workrate – the higher the better. (Please see: Olsen, Ben; Gros, Josh – a Nowak favorite and a Nowak project.)
Dax is all those things, with skill. I think American fans subtly dismiss him because of his stature (a mistake other futbol-centric cultures are not going to make for a moment), but the kid has an unreal motor, great anticipation, a nice first touch and increasing passing range.
I like it. But then, I assume that Peter Nowak knows more than me, so I’m inclined to imagine it positively. The games will tell.
Nevermind, found it
Bad camp for Rogers-joking right or is this an early April fools joke? How do you explain Robbie’s goal and assist in the final team scrimmage? I think it had more to do with his injury and Nowak’s feeling that he would need a player running the flanks without fighting injury-or at least that what I hope Nowak was thinking or else he is not as smart as I am hoping he might be.
I don’t know what type of form the other central midfielders are in, but Dax McCarty is currently playing brilliantly. I watched him in a couple FCD scrimmages before he left for the Olympic camp and he was absolutely dominating the middle of the field. I’m not surprised at all that he was chosen for the team and wouldn’t be surprised to see him start a couple of the games.
Anybody come up with that source about spector not coming til the semis?
Dominghosa,
I remember those. They were 10 months ago. I don’t think Fielhaber looked bad in the Gold Cup, but he was very outclassed in Copa, but would agree the supporting cast made that relative.
Also, Bradley has progressed into a more offensive threat since then and Fielhaber has regressed. In most of thos ematches last year, Fielhaber played a more advanced role. Now, Bradley is a better 2-way players, better attacker, and better defensive mid-fileder. Plus, when you add for the Nats that you have LD and Adu who should be competing in the center of the field, I think Fielhaber needs to greatly improve or be the odd man out.
Leaving Rogers off was a travesty. Bad camp or not. Poor, poor choice by Petr. Kind of making me wonder what is going on in his head.
I thought Bradley and Feilhaber actually played pretty well with each other during the Gold Cup tourney. And had some good minutes in Copa America, though the surrounding cast didn’t help much.
Not sure if you remember watching those matches.
Just wanted to throw out my opinion on Fielhaber. I know this was discussed yesterday, but didn’t really agree with most takes.
First, I’m not shoecked at all that he was left off. Has anyone watched him play? I know that has been hard given his lack of time, but he has looked like absolute crap every time I have seen him on the field for the US or Derby. The US has a history of trying to get players confidence by keeping them up on the national team – see Onyewu when he was struggling. Most National teams work in reverse. We are way too deep at midfield to coddle Fielhaber. I’d love to see him turn the corner, but if he never does, it really doesn’t hurt us much with all the options we have in the center of the field.
Second, I know this is a really bad comparison, but I feel like Bradley & Fielhaber on the field at the same time is similar to the Lampard & Gerrard issue England has. I’m not saying the skills are comparable, I’m say that the skills aren’t different enough to both play at the same time. We have good D-Mid options and better attacking options. When we play both, we’re stuck in between capabilities. I don’t like both on the field at the same tim eon the U-23’s or national team.
So, I’m not really disappointed that he didn’t mak ethe team – he didn’t apparently do enough in or out of camp to justify a spot.
As long as Adu is behind Altidore and Zizzo is on the right, that’s enough of an attack for me.
And as long as Seitz is in goal with Edu and Spector, when he’s available, is on defense, that’s also good enough for me in this tournament.
Where is everyone getting this info about spector not getting there til the semis?
http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_5439498.html
as far as I know the site says that that roster will be competing in tampa, so I would expect to see spector there unless someone else can come up with a reliable source.
Bill, the ‘A’ is used not to specifically refer to Dax McCarty, but to refer to a type of character similar to the individual.
For instance, if you were referring to German soccer players, you would say: “I can’t comprehend how *a* German soccer player looks worse than *a* Cuban soccer player.
So used in this context, a player is showing Dax McCarty-like characteristics. Hence, it IS appropriate to use *a*.
it amazes me how many people on here refuse to acknowledge the mere notion that players, regardless of how big a name they may be, suffer dips in form, carry nagging injuries that limit their usefulness, and/or have trouble adapting to a coach’s system.
Seriously, if it were up to some of the posters on here to decide a roster, they wouldn’t even need a training camp. They’d just pick players based on what they did last year, not on current form.
It has just occurred to me how often the use of the indefinite article “a” is used when referring to athletes, especially in team sports.
For example:
“That isn’t likely to sit well with fans who can’t comprehend how a Feilhaber could look worse than a Dax McCarty or Chad Barrett.”
This is not a criticism of Ives–he’s doing what basically all sportswriters do, and I’m sure I’ve done it myself in forum posts (like this one). What does it MEAN? How is it that we can use “a” with a person’s name in the world of sports?
My impression that the use of “a” is something of a substitute for “a player like ________, of whom _________ is the only relevant example in this case.”
What do you think?
The formation is dictated by the personnel. Jozy is clearly a step and a half above all the other forwards, and Adu will be spending considerable time up front, so no need for another forward. In my opinion, Adu needs to be up front with Jozy as much as possible. Those two have great chemistry and Adu runs off of Jozy very well.
I’m not sure who the ball winners in midfield will be either, which is why I would strongly consider playing Edu in central midfield. I’m not sure if Ianni is good enough to start, and I’ve never seen Orozco, but if either of them can get the job done I think Edu needs to be in midfield to help the US win possession and control the game. When Spector is available, I think this is a no-brainer.
I think Gaven will actually have a good tournament. He’s always had the skills, and with years of professional experience under his belt already, I can see him holding down the wing. To make room for Edu, I would probably lean towards putting Zizzo on the bench. He’s a dangerous but limited player, which would make him a good spark off the bench. I’d move Gaven to the right and put Holden on the left.
As for Wynne and Freeman, I assume Nowak will have seen enough in camp to know which player should go where.
I don’t mean this as a shot at Ives or anything, but what is the deal with picking a 4-5-1 all the time? Is it a really popular formation right now? Also, does anyone know what Nowak ran at DC? Was it also a 4-5-1? It will determine who I think will be in the line-up
I don’t understand the shot at Dax . . . he has seemed to be quite the spark/playmaker for the U20s/Dallas. I think that was real harsh.
Everything I have heard about Dax is that he was one of the top players in camp. Wasn’t he the captain for awhile too? I think he would start over gaven, allowing Holden or Sascha to move wide. The lineup Ives posted lacks any true ball winners, so there is no way that is what is rolled out. I think we all agree Barrett doesnt belong, but oh well.
So is it a definite that Michael Bradley will not be released at all during the qualifying stages?
Why do they even have Final for this tourney? Shouldn’t it just end at the ‘semifinal’ stage once the qualifiers are determined?
per ives: “That isn’t likely to sit well with fans who can’t comprehend how a Feilhaber could look worse than a Dax McCarty or Chad Barrett.”
Barrett wasnt competing with Feilhaber for a position. as barrett is a forward, he would have been competeting with the other forwards… now whether he shouldve been there over Rogers, i dunno. i guess barrett performed in camp
now why mccarty is there instead of Feilhaber is probably down to who performed better in camp. i dunno tho
i think nowak will make the mistake of putting adu out wide.
So wait, Nowak isn’t allowed to play these guys wherever he wants? He has to follow what ussoccer.com posts? News to me.
I have followed Peter Novak’s coaching style since he took over DC United. Peter Novak in my judgement is a no nonsense kind of coach with a strong conviction of how the game should be played and he will select players that can and will enthusiastically play his game and he will put the players on the field that he judge are the best for the team on game day irrespective of “names” and prior performances.
The name players that were not selected are clearly good players, but they did not meet some of Peter Novak’s demands for being in the squad. I can only speculate what those unmet demands may be, it could be poor performance during the camp, poor attitude and no enthusiams ect. Peter Novak was a very good “team” player and I think he is one of the best coaches we have. I hope and expect his olympic team will play good soccer and do well in the qualifying round.
Ives, you’re losing it….
Note that per the US Soccer site Adu was called in as a Forward and Edu as a Defender…both have since been changed on to MF. A bit unusual, but this tells me that Edu will not play on the backline after all, and my educated guess is that this is due to Orozco showing well.
So what I see for game one is the following:
———————-Altidore———————–
Holden—————-Adu——————-Zizzo
————–Edu——-Kljestan—————
Freeman——Sturgis—Orozco———-Wynne
———————–Seitz————————
Or I could see a Findley/Davies pairing with Jozy up front then slide Sacha up to RM in a diamond midfield.
———————Altidore———————-
———————–Adu———————-
Gaven————–Kljestan ——————-Zizzo
———————–Edu—————
Spector——Sturgis—-Ianni———–Freeman
———————–Seitz————————
On the surface, I’m not a fan of Nowak’s moves. However, we’ll see this week how they all pan out in the field.
P.S. Although I’d put Benny in for Holden, which is obviously a completely moot point.
Rogers has a slight injury, so it’s not surprising that Nowak didn’t take a risk and include an injured player on the roster.
I don’t really have a lineup to put out because I basically agree with Ives’.
Wynne should NOT be on the left, he is too raw to go toying around with, that’s the one thing I will say. Freeman is FAR more versatile, hence why he should be on the left, no question about it. Freeman will find a way to get his crosses in regardless, whereas Wynne would probably be completely lost out of position.
Other than that, I can’t believe Gaven is on the team, and as a winger. I pray he can find his form.
No Gaven please!!
I don’t know what you are talking about BigJt. Holden and Klejstan would get murdered in the middle. We are playing Cuba not Germany. I agree if we had a tougher road to qualify they would be inadequate. But if those 2 can’t get us to the semi’s we have much bigger problems.
————–Altidore————–
Holden———-Adu————Gaven
———Edu———-Kljestian——
Wynne—–Sturgis—-Ianni—–Freeman
Slight changes, but Freeman should stay on the right because he’s a better crosser from wide positions wheras Wynne can beat defenders with speed and get into the box where he can make shorter passes with either foot.
I like having Eddie Gaven’s experience in the game as well, and since he’s not in-season, Zizzo can substitute after 50-60 minutes.
Dudes, West Ham aren’t releasing Spector until the group stages are over.
And it would be nuts to play Edu in the back; Holden and Klejstan would get murdered in the middle.
Until Specter arrives…
———————-Altidore———————–
Holden—————-Adu——————-Zizzo
————–Edu——-Kljestan—————
Freeman——Sturgis—Ianni———–Wynne
———————–Seitz————————
Specter will take Ianni’s spot at CB once he joins the team.
I’d move Holden out right for Zizzo and move Edu into CM. Start Orozco. Spector sits the first game to rest and get acclimated to the team.
I believe that Spector isn’t available until the knock-out rounds.
Doesn’t Spector start?