With World Cup qualifying for the U.S. national team set to begin on Sunday against Barbados, it is time to start thinking about what starting lineup Bob Bradley will put on the field.
Will he stick with Eddie Johnson up top? Will he go back to the Onyewu-Bocanegra center back tandem? Will he consider starting Freddy Adu? Is Brian Ching ready to step back in and start?
All these questions will be answered soon enough. For now, here is a look at the starting lineup I think we will see against Barbados on Sunday:
USA POTENTIAL LINEUP vs. BARBADOS
———————Ching———————
Beasley———–Donovan———Dempsey
————-Bradley——Mastroeni———-
Pearce—Bocanegra—Onyewu—Cherundolo
——————–Howard———————
Variations I could see:
Word I’m getting is that Dempsey is really worn down and if he can’t go then Bradley will have to decide whether to slide Beasley to the right and start an in-form Eddie Lewis or move Donovan to the right and start Freddy Adu. I know fans would love to see Adu but I don’t think he starts. Then again, Bradley may want to rest a vet or two for the road leg and might give Adu a long look in that case.
The back-line is pretty set. Danny Califf and Jay Demerit were good vs. Argentina but Bocanegra will get the nod.
Who will start at forward? Fans might hold protests at Home Depot Center if Eddie Johnson gets the nod but don’t be surprised if he does. For all his struggles in the Big Three friendlies (and the past two years for the national team) he has put himself into position to do things. He’s just been awful at actually doing anything. The Barbados series could be Johnson’s last chance to really show what he can do.
I have a feeling Bradley could just as easily go with Ching, who plays very well with Donovan and has the experience of playing well in qualifying. He’s also on pretty good form in MLS and has been healthy.
What starting lineup do you want to see the U.S. national team field against Barbados? Share your thoughts below.
I agree with Rocco’s lineup.
I also completely agree that the time is now for Johnson. He has to score at least one goal this weekend. I’ve been fine with him starting these last three games. I don’t think any American forward (including Jozy) would have looked good playing alone up top against England, Spain and Argentina, and I think EJ did ok, not great, ok.
But EJ has to justify BB’s faith in him by having a huge series against Barbados. BB has sunk a lot of time and energy into developing EJ. If he can’t start producing in WC qualifying, then BB has made a big, big mistake.
I think EJ will have a couple really good games, but we’ll see.
Getting Subotic in the rotation next year would be nice….
For those who may not know, he just signed with Dortmund in the Bundesliga (I hadn’t seen it reported on this site).
http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/soccer/archives/2008/06/us_u-20_defende.html
I think we will win the game no matter who we start, but I think if we lose the double defensive mid formation and play Adu as a withdrawn forward behind Donovan and we win the game easily by many goals.
Bradley is killing the creativity in the game by playing to defensive mids.
Ives: “The Barbados series could be Johnson’s last chance to really show what he can do.”
That is what’s so lame about the whole thing. You know if Johnson scores three goals against Barbados there will be people on here talking about how he’s got his form back and how great he will be. You can’t judge anyone’s quality by how they do against basically a semi-pro team.
I don’t think pairing Bradley with either Edu or Pablo necessarily means we’re being defensive. It’s less about formation, and more about the coach giving Bradley (especially) permission to move up the field and make that late run into the box.
Attitude matters more than formation.
Shoshana- disregard my post…. i completely misread your post O.O
juke box hero- b/c its most likely bradley will stick to the formation he tends to use…
a 4-4-2 with one of those forwards withdrawn…. so in that case we do have 2 forwards….
—x–
Shoshana- there will be names in the 2010 roster that are not present….
just to name a few, jozy, adu, edu, kljestan, rogers, cooper, bernardo, etc…
personally with Bernardo’s growth it wouldnt be unheard of to see him getting more views closer to 2010… and lets not forget Subotic (if he decides the US)…
Re: where to play Bradley….I think the comment was made during the ESPN broadcast and it’s spot on…nobody has a more divergent role between that of club and country than Mr. Bradley.
That being said, I’m not sure how you’d go about getting Bradley in more of an attacking role. He’s a central midfielder all the way. He’s not going to be displacing Adu or Donovan at the point of attack..
EJ
Adu
Lewis-Bradley-Edu-LD
Pearce-Gooch-Boca-Dolo
Howard
Rest DMB and Clint. Give Edu the chance to continue to develop (He was showing flashes last week). Adu as withdrawn forward. EJ over Ching because as long as EJ keeps getting called up, he needs to keep proving he shouldn’t have been, until someone finally gets the message. Or until he learns how to score.
I agree with many others that for this match we should play a very attack-minded formation in order to capitalize on our home turf and overall superiority. Let’s put this thing to bed early and put on a show for the Home Depot Center faithful.
I think we give Demps a rest and I love the idea of thrusting MBrad into a more attacking role. Let’s try a 3-4-1-2 with LD and DMB getting forward on the wings:
—–Johnson——Ching—–
———–Bradley———-
Beasley————–Donovan
——–Mastro—Edu——–
–Pearce–Bocanegra—Dolo–
—Timmy “The Man” Howard—
It’s time to score some goals, in bunches.
Curious why those who prefer twin d-mids against Barbados? You could argue that this gives us cover if Barbados counter-attacks, but I see it as leaving us undermanned up top and vulnerable to being in a 0-0 game waaay longer than we should be. The longer it stays 0-0, the more encouraged they get and the more frustrated our guys will get. Why not have an attacking center mid and 2 forwards from the start to hopefully open the floodgates?
The line-ups Bradley is using are distressingly similar to the 2006 world cup line-ups, with change only coming due to retirement and his son. While he has brought in many new names, he seems extremely reluctant to start new people, especially in attacking positions.
Also where did this notion of Adu as a sub-type player come in? He’s always a 90min guy for the youth teams, and was a starter in MLs (despite piss poor use by Novak). He also seems to play better when he starts.
If you start Lewis, you start Ching, because he can finish in the air. If you start Beasley, you start EJ, because Beasley/EJ’s speed on one side and LD’s speed on the other causes fits for almost any team.
If Dempsey is ready, start Ching and LD up top, Lewis-Adu-Dempsey across the middle, Bradley (or Pablo, but who are we kidding), and the usual back 4.
Bring Klesjtan or Pablo on for Dempsey (and move Adu out) at the half, Beasley on for Lewis, EJ on for Ching (or Sacha/Pablo on for Lil’ Bob, when he gets juiced at 65 minutes).
Give Dempsey a rest and go with this lineup.
I predict EJ will have a break out game.
———————EJ———————
Beasley———–Adu———Donovan
————-Bradley——Mastroeni———-
Pearce—Bocanegra—Onyewu—Cherundolo
——————–Howard———————
Funny, just read U-20 coach Thomas Rongen’s Euro column for SI. He was talking about France, and saying how they lack inspiration in the lineup. He said, “Samir Nasri could be that guy — he’s a 20-year-old with ridiculous talent and he’s ready. But coach Raymond Domenech notoriously goes with experienced guys, so I doubt he’ll get that chance.”
I wonder if he feels the same way about Adu and Bradley.
KC- my brother brought up a good point about Ching… i truely wonder how many of those 26 caps are starts..??? and how many of them are 10-15 sub minutes???
obviously its not a stellar record, but you cant look at the records in order to see how a player performs…
look at personal strengths in comparison to the team they are playing… EJ is SPEED, against a team of Barbados quality you’ll see them bunker in 10 players in the box with a solo fast forward trying to draw fouls (Ruiz-style in Gold Cup)….
Ching is a target forward, not built for speed… he’ll receive the balls with his back to the goal, allowing players to run off him… he’s good in the air…
against a team that will actually attack us, i may take EJ for sheer speed and getting behind the line of defense… but with a bunkering team EJ style flops
I agree with Arena Futbol – to play twin d-mids and 1 forward in this game is silly and objectionable. I also think that right now on merit M.Bradley doesn’t deserve to be the d-mid, but any one of our 3 d-mids can do the job here. Thirdly, I agree we need 5 attackers out there from the get go to hopefully run up the score. My preference:
——Ching–LD——
Lewis—–Adu—–Beas
———Edu———-
Pearce-Boca-Gooch-Cher
As long as Adu and Edu get the nod to start I’ll be happy. Other than that I’ll complain. I also don’t think Ching can handle national team play anymore. He just doesn’t have the speed or atleast the initial quickness.
yes, llyod.
Ives, I hope that is just your prediction and not the lineup you would prefer to see…
There is absolutely zero reason not to play 2 true forwards, a true AM, and only one DM at home vs a minnow like Barbados.
—————Donovan——Ching———–
Beasley———–Adu—————-Dempsey
—————-Mastroeni——————-
Pearce—Bocanegra—Onyewu—Cherundolo
——————–Howard——————
Ching gets himself in to position and finishes? His 5 goals in 26 Nat appearance don’t exactly bear witness to that. He’s on the roster though, if he doesn’t start he will play because our options at forward aren’t exactly stellar. Ives lineup is probably right but I expect it will be Eddie Johnson rather than Ching starting, if he doesn’t score against these minnows he might as well never show up to a camp again.
I agree with Lee that Bradley is not being used in the best position. He isn’t being given any offensive freedom at all after scoring 19 goals last season ans scoring for the MNT versus Switzerland. Also, Adu needs to play more, because he is clearly the “creative” key to our 2010 future.
Also, I have no problem with the starting 11 as proposed by Ives. Let’s face it, we have problems at forward/striker regardless. Again, I reiterate the obvious: I don’t think Brian McBride is busy this weekend.
Lets see a nice 5 or 6 goal win, after which we let the US women’s team get some Beijing prep in the away leg.
Here’s my lineup. No need for our usual one guy up top and two defensive middies. Bradley sits and observes Mastroeni. Dempsey looks pooped so he’s a second half sub. Yes, I know EJ sucks, but he’s actually been playing somewhat better of late. However if Mr. Excitement doesn’t score by halftime or at the very least show improved effort, then he gets benched (or better yet, left off the roster) until further notice.
……chang…….ej…….
…………adu…………
beas………………lando
………..mastro……….
pearce..califf..gooch..dolo
………..howard……….
Parkhurst is pretty calm and doesnt rattle too easy. Unlike boca and to a lesser extent gooch, who looked rushed and end up booting the ball out to no one in particular.
The are three things I want to see: 1. Adu in the starting lineup. 2. Edu in the starting lineup. 3. Someone other than EJ at forward.
If Bradley is inable to do all three Il be pretty pissed. Im hoping that two of those happen. Although Im pretty confident only will.
———-Ching———–
–Lewis—-Adu—Donovan–
—–Edu——–Pablo—–
Pearce-Gooch-Califf-Hejduk
———Howard———–
Rocco’s lineup:
Here is my lineup
———————Johnson————-
Beasley———–Adu———Donovan
————-Bradley——Mastroeni——–
Pearce—Bocanegra—Onyewu—Cherundolo
——————–Howard—————–
DITTO. Ley Dempsey rest for the second game.
In the name of all that is holy — please let Bob play only 1 d-mid. We don’t need that much defensive cover against a team packing the box and looking for one good counter-attack.
If Dempsey needs a break, give Adu the start so we can be more offensive minded from go. Let’s see how long he can last before we bring in Lewis.
They will bunker. We will need service from Lewis and Ching’s strength in the air. After those two, get as much of our best attacking talent on the field as possible. As between Clint and Beez, go with whoever is in best health/form — possibly 45 min each.
— Ching — Donovan —
Lewis – Adu – Demps/Beez
——- Bradley ——-
the rest
Ching is a better fit so I agree the whole way around.
I really like Demerrit though. He is one competitive player.
Question: I hardly ever see the Revolution play. Why are so many sold on Parkhurst at the highest level? What would he bring that the others in the current pool do not have?
I have no opinion so any thing constructive will be appreciated.
would EJ’s speed be efficeint against a team who will pack the box??
Hopefully Bradley will start Ching. He isn’t a worldclass striker, but he actually gets himself into positions (like Johnson) and actually finishes (unlike Johnson). I’d say let Dempsey play the first half, and then give him a much needed rest. Moving Donovan to the right and putting Adu in the middle should do just fine….If they have a substantial lead, let Adu start the 2nd leg.
Whoops! Premature post, wasn’t done.
Totally agree about Dempsey. I think we need Lewis in the line-up to have a threat on free kicks and to serve it into the middle. I’d like to see Adu start, but I’d be surprised if BB let him out. In that case, slide Donovan back, and I’ll take Ching up top (for now).
My line-up:
———-Ching—–Donovan————
–Beasley——Adu——-Dempsey
———Bradley——Mastroeni——-
—Pearce—Bocanegra—Cherundolo
—————-Howard—————–
Holy S@#%.. Someone finally realized Dempsey is run down. I’ve been saying this from the England game. Actually I saw it late in the season at Fulham when Hodgson must have also noticed and benched him for a few games.
Here is my lineup
———————Johnson———————
Beasley———–Adu———Donovan
————-Bradley——Mastroeni———-
Pearce—Bocanegra—Onyewu—Cherundolo
——————–Howard———————
I could see Adu starting here. I know he is not a vet, but he played in all three friendlies and we are playing Barbados. Plus he has to cut his teeth as a starter at some point. Why not against Barbados @home? He also gives Bob more flexibility. Both he & Donovan could shift up top, then we can bring on Dempsey in the 2nd for Johnson or Adu.
Also, its all mental with Johnson and he should be able to score at least one against these guys. If not, then you won’t see him for awhile unless he regains his form @ Fulham.
I see 2 or 3 – 0 @ half & 4-0 or 5-1 game.
dont know if it’ll show, but i want to swap LD and Adu in my lineup
————Donovan——————–
Lewis———-Adu————Beasley
———Bradley——Mastroeni———-
Pearce—Bocanegra—Onyewu—Cherundolo
————–Howard—————-
after posting that id rather swap LD and Adu b/c of Adu’s lack of getting back and defending…
I like what you’re thinking Ives, but I would like to see Beasley come off the bench and have Donovan start in his spot. I would also like to see Adu start in that CAM position. Up top… well, we have problems. I think every option we have is equally poor. Bless Ching’s heart, but he, Johnson, etc are all poor.
Let’s be honest, it’s Barbados. Our Women’s NT would crush them. Actually, they would likely do a better job than out MNT.
Lee- watch for MB being able to go up on the attack on sunday… im not 2nd guessing the chance of an upset, but Barbados isnt quite a world power… i think MB will get into the attack quite nicely due to the fact that Barbados is probably going to be sitting back with 10 defenders (1 of those defenders is going to be a defender/keeper) and sit 1 fast guy up top…
what i want to see??
—–ching—–
—LD———-
Bease–MB-Edu–Adu
Pearce-Gooch-Boca-Dolo
—-Howard—–
Robbie Rogers and Kenny Cooper should be in the starting 11…
If Bradley is going to keep calling Eddie Johnson into camp despite his recent form, then I think he’s got to continue to start Johnson in order for Eddie to regain his scoring touch. Eddie Johnson is a striker, and when he’s “on” he’s one of the more dangerous individuals on the field.
Unfortunately, EJ sat on the bench quite a bit for Fulham and has been out of form recently. A quick little game against Barbados could help to give him a bit more confidence on the ball.
That being said, Bradley was stupid to call in EJ.
I think we’ll see something pretty close to your lineup but I think Bob will give Edu the start over Mastro since we shouldn’t be defending too much and his distribution is much better. I’d also like to see Jr. crash the box for the US like he did this past year in Holland. As for Eddie Johnson, I know he has been totally inept at finishing as of late, but I always thought he’d be best utilized at the end of games when defenders are worn down and he could use his only weapon, his speed.
It shouldn’t make a difference who we start. Myself plus 10 SBI readers should be able to beat Barbados.
I wouldn’t mind that lineup. I mean, I refuse to take a win for granted but at the same time it’s Barbados. We should be able to put any of 4 or 5 lineups out there and be competitive, no?
As long as Bradley and Clark are not partnered together I’m happy. Too many needless fouls that lead to forced substitutions to avoid red cards.
GK: Howard
Back Line: Dolo-Boca-Gooch-Pearce
DM: Mastroeni-Bradley
RW: Demspey (Beasley if he’s hurt)
CAM: Donovan (possible Adu sub)
LW: Lewis (possible Adu sub)
CF: Ching (but I know it will be EJ)
I want to see Ching. He just gets into great positions to put the ball in the back of the net.
I’d love to see Freddy start, and it would be nice if Bob unleashed his son and let him play the role he was so good at with his club.
For all of EJ’s recent struggles, his career goal-per-game pace in WC qualifiers is pretty striking.