Photo by ISIphotos.com
Every great journey starts with a first step and for the U.S. men's national team, which is about to embark on a exciting and challenge-filled 2009, that journey begins tonight at Home Depot Center against Sweden (8:30p.m., Fox Soccer Channel/Galavision).
Neither team will feature its top stars, but rater an assortment of standouts from their respective domestic leagues. For the U.S. team, the match is a chance to see how much some good young prospects are ready to contribute once the games do get tougher. Whether it is Charlie Davies, Robbie Rogers, Stuart Holden or Sacha Kljestan several members of last summer's Olympic team look ready to graduate fully to the senior team and contribute.
I will be providing a live commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here, and as always, feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Commentary after the jump):
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FINAL– That's all from me tonight. Hope you all enjoyed the insight, the unexpected news, and the drinking games. Thanks to all of you who followed along tonight.
Please feel free to share your post-game thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. Good night.
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FINAL– Kljestan with the star turn and yes, we'll take credit for setting him up for this game by using a Kljestan picture with this post.
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FINAL– USA 3, Sweden 2. Good performance from the USA in a match that was always going to be a bit sloppy and ugly. Kljestan was the star, Ching was the second best player today. Wynne impressed, as did Clark. Bob Bradley wanted to see some young players step up and I think some did.
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90th minute– Listen folks, Cooper is a very good young player but he still has growing to do to be an impact player on the international level.
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90th minute– Cooper with the breakaway chance but he gets closed down and doesn't make the most of it.
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90 minute– Is it me or did I just hear Bob Bradley yelling for Cooper to fight harder to challenge Sweden's defenders for possession? Yep, it was definitely Bradley.
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90th minute– It's 10pm, do you know where Kenny Cooper is?
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89th minute- GOAL SWEDEN!!! Great cross, great header. Wynne gives up way too much space for the cross and Ihemelu was caught in no-man's land on the header. USA 3 Sweden 2.
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88th minute– Not much going on in the closing minutes, though Sweden came close with a header cleared by Ihemelu.
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82nd minute– Ugo Ihemelu is in or Parkhurst, who was steady today and was never really tested.
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81st minute– Not sure if Cherundolo has done much to challenge Heath Pearce tonight but I'd say Wynne has looked good and wouldn't be a bad replacement if Cherundolo were injured for the Mexico match.
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79th minute– Chris Wingert comes in for Bornstein, who played well after overcoming a rough start, but faded late.
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76th minute– There goes Kljestan with a hat-trick, which has to have Celtic rushing to its checkbook. And there goes Ching, dropping a gallon of Shut-Up Juice for the haters. Listen folks, if you still can't figure out why Ching is the USMNT starting forward then I really don't know what to tell you.
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75th minute- GOAL USA!!!!!!!!! Kljestan with BLAST after a BEAUTIFUL play by Ching, to collect a long pass, then laying off a perfect pass to Kljestan. USA 3, Sweden 1.
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74th minute- GOAL SWEDEN!! Daniel Nanngsong scores, beating Bornstein to a header. USA 2, Sweden 1.
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73rd minute– Kljestan's kick is saved easily. The Sweden keeper had no trouble.
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72nd minute– Ching draws a dangerous free kick. Again.
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70th minute– Carroll comes in for Rogers. I think we might see a 4-3-3 now that looks like this:
—–Cooper——Ching——Rolfe———
——————Kljestan——————-
———Carroll———-Clark—————
Bornstein—-Parkhurst—Califf—–Wynne
——————Perkins———————
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69th minute- Cooper with a shot attempt from 30 that is blocked. still waiting for him to get involved.
And here comes Wynne, who still runs like a cheetah, but has the touch of a fire hydrant.
Rolfe with some nice moves.
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65th minute– Sweden with a weak shot on goal. I must admit I'd like to see Perkins get tested.
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62nd minute– And there was FSC's correction of their earlier remarks about the USMNT's rosters for Gold Cup and Confederations Cup. Yes, all of you who already bought tickets to South Africa can come off the roof now.
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61st minute– Rolfe for Thorrington. Good effort for Thorrington, who always gives his all. I'm very interested to see Rolfe on the right flank.
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59th minute– Sullivan's Sweden musings= DRINK.
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56th minute– Rogers hasn't had the best game today. We should see Eddie Gaven soon. I also think it's time to see Chris Rolfe, perhaps in place of Fire teammate John Thorrington.
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51st minute– Only one sub at half for the USMNT, Cooper for Davies. Not the best night for Davies.
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50th minute– At halftime of this match I contacted Sunil Gulati about Max Bretos' comments regarding Confederations Cup and Gold Cup rosters (which I thought were wrong) and Gulati stated pretty emphatically that he hadn't made any such remarks about the USMNT sending its first team to the Gold Cup. If he were going to make any such declaration, it would be the other way around. U.S. Soccer hasn't come out and made a statement of their intentions but it is a very safe bet that the USMNT will be sending its full-strength squad to South Africa this summer.
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47th minute– Rogers hits a good corner that the Swedish keeper makes a meal of. It's cleared out of danger and the next corner is cleared.
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46th minute– We are back and there are subs. Cooper is in the match.
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HALFTIME– USA 2, Sweden 0. Not the prettiest first 45, but plenty of bright spots. Kljestan has been great, Ching has done well and Wynne has shown flashes.
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45th minute– I'll tell you what, Marvell Wynne's technical ability in the attack may still need plenty of work, but his speed is so amazing that he breaks up way more attacks than any other right back in the U.S. pool. Once his offensive game is adequate (and his crosses are slightly better than atrocious) I can't see him not being a first-choice right back.
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43rd minute– Sweden with their first good attacking sequence but a cross goes begging.
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43rd minute– I just want to illustrate the play that led to the penalty. Wynne hit a bad pass that Ching did well to save. Ching and Thorrington exchange passes before Thorrington slides a pass to Wynne, who makes a nice turn on his defender. The Ching haters need to relax because he's not the flashiest player, but he makes important plays, like saving that Wynne pass. So yes, he's played his part in both goals tonight.
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40th minute- GOAL USA!!! Kljestan slides it into the low right corner. USA 2, Sweden 0.
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39th minute– WYNNE Draws a penalty!! He slipped behind the Sweden defense and gets taken down just inside the area. And yes, that's a drink.
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38th minute– Thorrington isn't playing too badly. He's a great effort player, but does not have that second gear to get by people, or the crossing ability you want from a starter on the right flank for the national team.
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37th minute– Great sequence for the USA, with Ching setting up a nice pass, but Davies makes a bad layoff pass.
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36th minute– Yes, win just ran by somebody AND got a bad touch out of bounds. That's a double. Drink.
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34th minute– One player who has looked smooth so far is Michael Parkhurst. Some good early touches though he has really to be tested yet.
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33rd minute– Kick is deflected out for a corner. The corner is cleared.
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32nd minute– Rogers draws a fee kick with a nice touch. This is definitely in Kljestan's wheelhouse.
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31st minute– Okay, here's the best drinking game so far. Anytime Chris Sullivan gives us information about Sweden's team that we could care less about, you drink. Pass the cups.
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30th minute– Rogers with a nice corner, but it's cleared. Bornstein shows some good effort defensively and Wynne does very well to win a challenge.
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28th minute– Rogers with a really bad touch. You can tell this is his first senior national team cap.
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26th minute– "Some of these Swedish players, their English is better than our English"- Max Bretos.
Yes, you can laugh.
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25th minute– USA needs to play more centrally and try to find Davies more. They're trying to force things on the wings and the quality just hasn't been there.
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24th minute– Ricardo Clark with a great tackle. The kid can run all day.
New drinking game. Any time Marvell Wynne runs past somebody OR sends a bad touch out of bounds. I would include bad crosses but I'm thinking about your health people.
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22nd minute– Good touch from Perkins. This is an important game for him as well as he tries to grab the No. 3 goalkeeper role on the USA depth chart behind Howard and Guzan.
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21st minute– Kljestan tracks all the way back to break up a Sweden sequence. He is playing very well tonight.
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20th minute– Still waiting for Rogers and Bornstein to get involved tonight.
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18th minute– While I doubt that free kick seals the Celtic deal for Kljestan, it definitely boosts his chances of being a starter for the USA against Mexico. I think the Kljestan-Bradley combo in central midfield is the choice right now.
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18th minute– "Hello Celtic? Yeah, this is MLS. Hi, yeah, the price just went up."
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17th minute- GOAL USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it's Kljestan with a BEAUTIFUL long free kick. WOW.
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16th minute– Ching draws a foul for a long free kick. The guy is a handful.
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15th minute– If you are following the live commentary, let me know in the comments section.
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13th minute– Bornstein shanks his first long pass attempt. Somewhere Heath Pearce is smiling.
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12th minute– Wynne shows his speed but his hit-and-hope cross was weak. The U.S. is definitely trying to get service in, but no good crosses yet.
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10th minute– Swedes with a corner that Kljestan clears well.
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8th minute– In fairness to the fans in Carson, there's a decent-sized crowd in attendance. Maybe 12K to 14K?
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8th minute– Thorrington's cross is a bit weak. Nobody has done much for the US yet.
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7th minute– If you are in the Carson area there are good seats still available. Which ones? Try almost all of them.
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5th minute– We will want to see how Wynne and Bornstein hold up today. Wynne is seen as a potential replacement for Cherundolo while Bornstein is looking to regain the starting left back spot he lost to Heath Pearce last year.
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4th minute– Galavision is starting to sound like the better option, unless you care about Sweden's fullbacks that much.
Clark and Kljestan in central midfield. I'm sure a few Red Bulls fans will point out that if a few things had gone differently that could have been the Red Bulls tandem.
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1st minute– And we're off.
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PRE-GAME– Here is Sweden's lineup:
——————Dahlberg——Nannskog——————
Holmen———-Svensson—Andersson———-Dahl
Johannson—von Schlebrugge—Lindberg——Jonsson
—————————–Dahlin————————–
SBI Mafia members in Sweden are more than welcome to give us the lowdown on these guys.
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PRE-GAME– If you are wondering which channel I'm watching the game on, I haven't decided yet but FSC is on right now.
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PRE-GAME– Thorrington is the one surprise starter in this group and I'm very interested to see what he brings to the table. He's coming off a great year for the Fire and definitely brings the two-way effort that Bob Bradley wants from his midfielders.
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PRE-GAME– Good evening folks. We're getting closer to kick-off and I have to say U.S. fans have a reason to feel excited. No, not about tonight specifically, but about what 2009 is shaping up to be. With World Cup qualifying, Confederations Cup, Gold Cup and some key youth world championships, this year is going to be filled with great action and important matches for U.S. Soccer.
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PRE-GAME– I know plenty of fans are complaining about Ching getting the nod over Kenny Cooper, but the fact remains that Ching is just a better player in the U.S. system and also more likely to be starting for the USA against Mexico, which just three weeks away.
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PRE-GAME– Here is the USA lineup, which looks very familiar to the lineup we projected earlier this week:
———–Ching————Davies—————
Rogers——————————-Thorrington
—————Clark——–Kljestan————-
Bornstein—-Parkhurst—-Califf——–Wynne
———————-Perkins——————–
Yes, this lineup includes 10 of the 11 starters from the projected lineup SBI suggested on Wednesday. The only difference? John Thorrington starting for Stuart Holden, who was a late scratch today with a hip injury.
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does any one else think some of you are overating Torres?
Kljestan is a beast
I think we do have an American Xavi coming up and that would be Torres. I don’t think he’s a solid starter quite yet but he’s showed great play with the U.S. although I’m worried about his lack of strength to be honest. He loses the physical battle and clever passes arent going to get him inside or outside of everything.
This lineup might be a pipe dream too but this COULD, i said could, be a solution to the left back problem.
————-Altidore—–Ching————
——————Donovan——-Dempsey—-
———–Bradley——-Kljestan———-
—Beasley-Bocanegra—-Onyewu-Cherundolo–
——————–Howard—————–
Ives presented this one to us in the Cuba game when we subbed in Jose Torres for Heath Pearce. We then slid Beasley to left back, put Torres in central midfield with Bradley, Kljestan on the right, Donovan as an attacking midfielder, and Dempsey as a forward next to Altidore. Ives said this could be a possible lineup with Beasley playing as a leftback/leftwinger. Basically we’re playing a 3-5-2. However, with Beasley’s speed we’ll be able to trust him to get forward and back.
Is this a Swedish “B” Team? I know nothing about them. For their sake, I hope it is.
Posted by: Joe Quake | January 24, 2009 at 08:58 PM
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Yes it is a B-team, 4 of the start 11 plays in the danish league as Danny Califf and Parkhurst..
3 of those 4 swedes all play in Brondby, Holmen was substituted by Farnarud, he also plays in Brondby in Denmark.. Nannskog plays in Norway, the other forward plays in sweden..
So to sum up, yes, its their B team, the A players are in their clubs.. The danish B team just won Kings Cup in Thailand as their Winter training in their preparation for the continuing of the season
Is the US team finally taking shape? If only adu/altidore could get some consistent club playing time, I see the following as an actually bona fied US WC team:
———–LD———Altidore——–
—Adu———-Klejstan————–Dempsey
—————-Bradley———————
Pearce———Boca—–Gooch——Cherundolo
—————–Howard——————-
This would make me Very happy. Unfortunately I think Beas is done at Rangers and may not be our best option at left back, so that is why I have adu there, assuming he gets some playing time.
Lineup I’d like to see use use against Mexico (and yeah it’s a pipe dream:
———-Ching
—–Adu Donovan Dempsey
——Bradley Klejikstan
Beasley Gooch Boca Cherundolo
2. Even if the US team is awful at direct free kicks, that doesn’t change that Kljestan being the best at them is a valuable addition to the starting 11. If anything, it makes it more important.
——
ITA. And one could argue that this even gives him the edge over someone who is a slightly better field player.
Also, it’s kind of ridiculous to argue for pages over who Bob Bradley has started in every 2009 game, after only one 2009 game has taken place, don’t you think?
Ching may have his liabilities, but he provides a lot of subtle things out there, especially on the defensive side. Tracks back like crazy, holds the ball up well, too, and his turn and feed on Klestjan’s third goal was pure class. Klestjan may have been MOM tonight, but Ching was next in line.
Ives, thanks for clearing up that comment from Max Breto about the US sending a “B” team to the Confederations Cup. I almost had a heart attack when I heard that, because that would be so incredibly stupid.
wish we could have seen holden. wanted a little more davies. ives i like ur commentary but your too harsh on bretos and sullivan.
Ryan, the guy in charge says that, that’s where. Deal with it.
Ryan,
To answer why we need a target striker, it is because we don’t have the players to hold possession effectively just passing the ball around on the ground. Therefore to relieve pressure we need a target man who can hold the ball up and allow the defense and midfield to push out.
From reading some your posts, I understand your complaints but I don’t see what the solutions are. If we had an american xavi or essien to stick in to control the midfield and break down a defense then we could have a our more technically gifted forwards and drop a target striker. I’m just not convinced we have the talent level to employ a team without a target man.
Against Sweden’s B team we probably didn’t need a target striker but against better teams we do or we will barely ever get the ball outside of our own half.
Also for all the ching-haters just look at how heskey has helped the english national team recently and all he does are the “little things.”
just looked at the third one again on ussoccer.com
watching it in the stadium I saw chings beautfiul touch but I didnt know it actually was popped over the defenders head before he nicely passed it off to klesh
brian chingydinho!!
kleshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I was there too…top class today from him
2 and a half morw weeks till Im off for columbus!
i blame perkins for the two goals we gave up…both times he was beat on his side. i think wynne proved he can atleast make the bench for our A team.
as far as torres is concerned i have a feeling he’ll see minutes in the mexico game and hopefully he does.
My McBride point was not that players think they have to play that way, but fans seem to think there is always a need for “target striker”.
Too many people have this notion that because we have Ching and he’s our only “target man”, we need to play him.
I pose the question – where does it say we are required to field a target striker?
Where does it say that if we employ 2 strikers, 1 has to play with his back to the goal?
I was at the game. It was entertaining. Best game I have seen out of Klejstan, he did not commit any of his usual big errors. His free kick goal was a beauty! Wynne was good. Califf was solid and paired up pretty well with Parkhurst. Thorington was good too.
I’m not completely opposed to giving dempsey a more attacking role on the national team, but let’s not forget we’re talking about a guy with a .18 gpg strike rate at Fulham…
Ryan, my point still stands. Thorrington, while not the most skilled player, closed down the space and didn’t leave Wynne hanging out to dry. It’s not a coincidence that Sweden scored both their goals after he came out of the game. Our right side was a sieve after he came out.
Ryan,
1. Perhaps the Rui Costa-Bastistuta point wasn’t the best, but my point wasn’t meant to be that Landon is as good as Rui Costa. My problem with a Landon-Dempsey pairing is the lack of a target man. Maybe:
——-Altidore——
—-Landon-Dempsey—
Despite not having many options, i really feel you need someone else up there.
2. Maybe I’m misunderstanding your McBride point, but I don’t think the issue is really that every American striker thinks they need to play like he did (or does, I guess). I think the issue is in the system. Did you read that Soccernet article on Davies? I found the bit about the difference between playing for Hammarby and the US to be quite interesting. Basically, Hammarby tries to exploit his speed while BB’s biggest beef with him is his inability to come back for the ball and DEFEND. I don’t want this to turn into a “off with Bradley’s head” conversation, but that article was a little disheartening.
For the most part of this game I was very impressed. The first Swedish goal was nasty, but I was disappointed with the second.
I never would have guessed Clark and Sacha could co-general a full national team game. Wow. Great job to the youngins.
I was disappointed with Rogers, but I’ll chalk it up to nerves. Also, as a group the U.S. had some terrible passes, most of which seemed to be too weak. But given the roster, and also given that even the older players didn’t have all that much experience internationally (Thorrington for example), I liked what we did out there.
Props to Sweden too. They were so disorganized they didn’t have a shot, and yet they only lost by a goal. It shows the individual quality out there that the scoreline was so close, even though they were thoroughly outplayed.
AND, that exact fact shows how great it is that the U.S., since Arena, has had a HUGE player pool. If Sweden’s national team system was run similarly maybe they wouldn’t have been so disorganized. It makes me proud of U.S. soccer as well as hopeful.
Bacalao,
It sounds like your sample size is a bit small and you’re missing my argument slightly.
I’m definitely not advocating for Donovan as a lone striker. I am saying that smaller guys (and yes, Cisse is sub-6′, though Wiki lists him at 6′) like Rooney and Defoe can excel as strikers, regardless of pairing.
Judging success of a partnership by MLS success isn’t exactly a good barometer, so I’m not really impressed by the Quakes winning with DonovanChing.
As for Thorrington (MikeR) – I thought he was pretty bad. He spent most of the game making late slide tackles and generally looked like the speed of the game was too much.
I never suggested that we should start him only because of his free kicks. That’s ludicrous.
I remember Sacha having trouble with giveaways, but he seems to have worked on that. If he’s awful against Mexico, I’ll eat my words.
And still your arguments aren’t saying anything about my original one. All I’m saying is that Torres has not proven himself to be one of our best 11 players, while Sacha has at least made a case. Torres could well be more talented that Sacha, and I acknowledged that. However, Bradley isn’t going to take that risk in an important game like Mexico. Go with the guys that are working for you, and if they let you down, go for the new ones.
It looks like we’ll have to agree to disagree here, because we clearly see this differently.
Ryan, Neither Trezeguet nor Cisse are small. And I might point out that Rooney pairs well with others–even if it’s “only” CR7. Up top alone (ie when Sven hung him out to dry as the lone striker in ’06 WC), he largely disappears.
Fact is that in the modern game, if you’re pondering putting Donovan up top, he has to be running off of someone else primarily because of his game, which is obviously influenced by his size. It’s no accident that Donovan/Ching paired so well and won championships with the Quakes.
We’ve seen the same phenomenon with him alone up top as with Rooney–he disappears.
I’ve seen a lot of people dissing Thorrington. I’d like to point out that he was playing right midfield, and both goals came after he left the game, from crosses on the side he’d been playing. I bet if Thorrington had still been in the game neither goal would have been scored. You could say Wynne was out of position, but I didn’t see a midfielder anywhere either.
I’m not saying Thorrington’s a great player or anything, but he worked his ass off to close down space on the right.
Bacalao – have you watched his play much with Fulham over the past 2 years? His best performances have come up near the top, not out on the wing.
Neither Dempsey nor Donovan are target forwards, but why do they need to be?
Blake – starting someone simply because of their ability to hit a free kick is ridiculous if they don’t offer significantly more than their counterparts.
Right now, we’ve barely had any chance to see Torres, but that doesn’t take away from his actual talent. Just because he hasn’t been capped as much doesn’t preclude him from being a better player (and better fit) than Sacha.
Sacha is benefiting a lot from being a Bradley favorite. He gets lots of caps and minutes, regardless of his play. There was a stretch of games last year where Kljestan gave the ball away more than any player I’ve ever seen in the midfield.
A lot of people have bought into the media hype around Kljestan, and I’m just one who hasn’t. He had a decent game in the Olympics, but he also played 2 other pretty forgettable games in that competition. The biggest problem I have is that we have him in a critical position on the pitch, and yet he doesn’t value the ball at all. He constantly gives the ball away, and he does it way to easily.
Sure, he’s shown some flashes of talent, but nothing to justify the ridiculous praise that’s been heaped on him.
In a soccer world where set pieces need to lead to some goals we need somebody who can hit free kicks, so Sascha showed a glimpse of something important. And unlike Freddy, the other guy who can take a free kick, Klejstan gave the ball to his teammates once in a while and gave a pretty solid defensive effort.
Wynne may get the Hejduk role at right back, but Dolo is the starter by far. Too bad, because Steve C. might be our best hope at right mid.
Ching had some bad moments, but did a lot of things right. Cooper stunk up the joint, which says a lot about his preparation mentally and otherwise.
In general, though, Sweden was a lousy opponent, so the bad US performances tell us more than the good ones about who belongs in the player pool.
Edit – Trezeguet was actually 6’3.
My point is that Landon can be a deadly weapon if he’s employed up top.
As a #10 (“in the hole” or whatever else you want to call it), he’s average at best because he simply doesn’t have the creativity and vision that a lot of you think he has.
Ryan, You’re logic’s a bit off on a Dempsey/Donovan duo. Dempsey is not a target striker, and much like Landon, doesn’t play particularly well with his back to goal. I’ve been a Revs fan since their inception, and so I’ve seen Dempsey develop over the years. His best position is a flank mid on the right side, where he can receive the ball and take defenders on, hopefully getting a shot off.
I feel you’re ultimately missing the point.
1. The Olympics wouldn’t be the best example, but against a newbie like Torres, it’s effective enough. Kljestan has 13 senior team caps, several assists, and 3 goals. Torres has 2 caps and no points to his name. I don’t argue that Torres has the potential to be the better player, but to call him that after two decent (but not outstanding) caps against lousy teams is beyond presumptuous.
2. Even if the US team is awful at direct free kicks, that doesn’t change that Kljestan being the best at them is a valuable addition to the starting 11. If anything, it makes it more important.
Bacalao – I don’t understand why putting Landon up top means he has to play with his back to the goal?
I think a problem we have with American soccer is that our most successful field player has been McBride, a “back to the goal” striker. It has seemingly instilled this notion that all “strikers” have to play in the ChingMcBride fashion, and it’s wholly untrue.
Guys like Jermaine Defoe, Wayne Rooney, David Trezeguet, Djibril Cisse, etc. are all guys who are small with lightning speed that are effective as strikers.
Caramba Mike, well put. I agree full on. Lando is best in the hole preferably behind two other target strikers, though he can run off of just one if he has to.
He doesn’t have much of a hold-up game, and near as I can recall, has never really played with his back to goal
Blake – using the Olympics is not your great example is it?
I don’t agree about Argentina. I thought Kljestan was largely invisible and, while he did nothing to actively hurt us, he didn’t shine that much either.
As for the free kicks – he’s hit 1 good one (and there are a few arguments to be made about the quality of that keeper) and a couple of decent ones. Given our current team, it’s not exactly high praise to be considered one of the better free-kick takers.
Does this mean that MLS is better than the Allsvenskan?
My problem with having Landon “run at players” is that he’s not particularly skilled. It’s a big reason why he’s never been effective when employed on the wings.
What he does well (better than anyone the US has ever had) is finish and run. But, where he excels right now is running at angles. Donovan, when paired with a good passer, is a lethal weapon. He understands positioning and where to make his runs. His timing on those runs is also superb.
You compared him to Rui Costa, which I actually think is a pretty bad one. Rui was a spectacular passer, something that Landon is not. I see Landon and think Michael Owen (though not necessarily as talented, obviously). Great speed, great vision on the receiving in, great timing. Landon has all of that in spades.
As for Dempsey, I think he’s probably our best option to pair Landon with. He’s very adept at “playing on” to a strike partner (as opposed to Ching, who plays backwards). Dempsey also can turn and face a defense and put them on their heels. We waste his talents by leaving him on the wings.
I actually think a LandonDempsey pairing would be very, very tough.
The problem we face is that we don’t have wings that are worth a darn.
Good show in the Olympics, particularly the last two games, also played well against China while China’s players still had their legs. He was every bit as good against Argentina as Torres was against Cuba. And Torres doesn’t have any CL suitors, does he?
Can’t deny the free kicks, either. No one else in our starting 11 can hit a direct kick like that.
Yeah I’d rather have LD and CD serving our strikers. Better creativity and skill.
Good game:
Kljestan – Obviously the goals were nice, but his positional play, the ‘maestro’ing, was phenomenal. Lively all night, great first touch and vision. He picked out Davies a few times and Davies did nothing with it. He was already a mainstay in my mind, but he just solidified it. Sorry Clark/Edu. He gets the spot next to Bradley in the “A” lineup.
Wynne – Dare I say better than any fullback has played in a US uniform in recent memory. How good is his left foot?
Ching(ugh) – Hate to say it, but he made a difference. I still want Jozy in as the #1 at that spot, and think it will be him come 2010, but Ching looked a better option than Cooper. Kenny failed to shine in his moment, Ching did.
Bad Game:
I really won’t/don’t care to elaborate on too many negative points, but I thought Davies, Thorrington, Rogers, and Cooper all hurt themselves.
Not really anything to carry on to the Mexico game other than some added confidence for Sacha. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a repeat performance. Unfortunately, something else will also carry on, and that is Brian Ching. Altidore I would hope gets the start, but Bradley will stick with Ching.
Happy to see a win with some bright spots. Here’s a concern of mine: Throughout all my years of following the USMNT, I’ve been proud that our players play it like men and dive much less than other teams, actually playing through physicality. Even though soccer is my favorite sport, I admire the way players get hit by a pitch in baseball with barely a change in facial expression or football players get up right after a big hit. Now I’m kinda bummed. I only saw one replay but it looked like Wynne went down extremelyextremely easily on that penalty, Ching kept falling down, and Rogers did at least once as well. Some of these might be slips, but I see a trend. Let’s cut this sh*t out
Travis–I thought I put that in two posts ago. I’d go:
—Ching-Jozy—
DMB—LD—–CD
——MB——-
Once again, assuming DMB is in form.
Ryan–I’ve always thought Landon was most dangerous running at the defense, playing directly behind our strikers. If you’ll allow a 1998 Fiorentina comparison, Landon is our Rui Costa…not our Batistuta.
I understand making the argument that Dempsey and Donovan should be listed as “Forwards” but strikers? I can’t imagine playing a 4-4-2 with those two paired at the top. I really don’t think I’d like it either.
As a player, I’d rather be Greece, Euro Champs.
As a fan, I’d much rather watch Turkey/Russia.
Ack – double post! Sorry!
Blake – I’d like to know who Kljestan has proven himself against?
This Swedish side was pretty bad. The young selection of Swedish talent is nowhere near the LarssonLjunberg generation. Let’s not kid ourselves by thinking that this was some collection of up-and-coming stars. They were marginal players from a marginal league.
As for Torres, I think he has a much better skill set than Kljestan. We’re asking Kljestan to play as a holdingcentral mid, which requires him to have a passing range outside of 8 feet. I haven’t seen a game where he’s displayed this type of range on passes. Torres has shown flashes of his range – which is still more than Kljestan.
Also, I still think Kljestan will always be a player “out of position” on this team. He’s a good player that doesn’t do any 1 thing particularly well, and he also doesn’t have any outstanding athletic traits that make him a viable wing option at the international level.
In simply discussing players in the holding mid position, he’s behind Torres and Bradley I think. When Feilhaber is healthy, I think he’s up there as well (and quite possibly the most talented of them all).
Sorry it wasn’t clear–the Greece-or-Russia/Turkey question has nothing to do with Ching. It’s more about the style we play. I’d prefer to see us a more attacking game (that could include Ching) rather than the defensive style we’re playing now (in competitive, meaningful matches). Personally, I don’t look at Greece’s victory has a great sports story–I look at it as a disappointing European Cup. I do, however, see Russia’s and Turkey’s runs as great sports stories, and had either won, it would have been legendary.
Looking back at those friendlies against England, Spain, and Argentina, we don’t really talk about the England game, we celebrate our almost 0-0 draw to Spain as a victory, and our actual 0-0 draw with Argentina was the game of the year. It’s a little scary to me. I’d rather be that team that might lose 4-1 every once in a while, but could also potentially beat Argentina 3-1…I’d like to see our boys start attacking more and really taking games to the “superior” opponents. We did it in 2002 and I think that has gone down, with little arguemtn, as our best World Cup.
Maybe I’ll be eating my words during the Confederations Cup…I really hope I am.
Ryan – glad for that last paragraph in your last post. I think the main difference in opinion on Ching is based on the system more than his qualites.
Mike – so if you have to put our guys in the 4-4-2 who do you put up top?
Mike, I’ve never been convinced that Landon is anything BUT a striker. Sure, he played ok as a #10 against MLS talent, but he’s excelled most when used as a striker.
His speed and finishing are his best assets, both of which are best used up top.
Frankly, I think he and Clint are our best 2 options up top.
I like it William.
Andy – Ching showed tonight that he is superior to Cooper. Granted, Cooper has more upside, but lets speak in absolute terms here. Get real with yourself.
Mike, I’ve never been convinced that Landon is anything BUT a striker. He was a decent #10 in MLS, but a fantastic #9. He’s gone to Bayern and is excelling as a #9.
Right now, our Top 2 strikers are Landon and Clint.
Yep, that was a nice good long argument Ryan, but if it’s based on the premise that Torres is better than Kljestan, it’s already flawed. Torres certainly has the potential, but he had 1.5 OK games for US soccer, both of which were against Concacaf minnows that this Sweden team could have probably beaten. Kljestan has at proven himself on multiple occasions on the national level.