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The U.S. Men's national team has completed the five-game run that was supposed provide a sample of what World Cup 2014 will be like, while also helping Jurgen Klinsmann learn more about the make-up of his team. It wasn't always pretty, and there were plenty of disappointing moments and questions raised, but the stretch of games has helped shed some light on the current state of the national team.
Here is my FOX Soccer column on the things we learned from the recent USA friendlies. The biggest thing we learned, and it's not really something that should be all that surprising, is that the team is still very much a work in progress. Whether it's finding the right formation, or the right back four, Klinsmann still has a way to go before he will have what he can consider an ideal team to take the team to the World Cup in two years.
Fortuntely for him, and the USA, the World Cup is still two years away. For now the focus is on making sure the team is good enough to handle the task at hand, which is reaching the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
Give my FOX Soccer column a read and let us know what you took away from the recent stretch of USMNT matches? What are you most encouraged and excited about? What has you the most concerned about the U.S. national team as we head into the summer and the rest of 2012?
Share your thoughts below.
Just now reading this thread and in case you, David, happen to check back in here–I love this comment, I mean the content (I agree with Brett below, you need to put in some paragraphs), and I hope Klinsmann reads it. He could learn from it.
GW—-Trust me I am old school. Do you know who Angelo DiBernardo is? I REMEMBER WATCHING HIM PLAY FOR THE US NATIONAL TEAM. Definately not a new fan or new to the US national team or its history (recent or no so recent). My point is the guys looked TIRED. I, like you apparently, realize how difficult CONCACAF is to qualify from. I grew up watching Klinsi play, and he was a hero of mine. However, I think that early on, he and his staff have made some mis-judgements. Including relying on too many of the same players for significant amounts of time in games leading up to the Qualifiers.
Brett,
Dempsey cannot be in two places at once.
If you want Clint to “roam behind the attacking lines and make darting runs” like he does at Fulham, then someone else will have to deliver the ball to him when he does that.
If you want him to “roam” and “dart” WITH the ball then the defense will have a much easier time tracking him and shutting him down.
If you want Clint to be the guy with the ball, the one who makes tha final killer pass that creates the opportunity for a goal then you will decrease the number of times Clint is the guy who actually takes the shot. And right now I want Clint to be the guy who takes the shot.
For example, Xavi does not score a lot of goals because he has Messi to do that for him
Clint is the best “pointy end of the spear” that we have. You can’t have it both ways; why take Clint away from what he does best?
Brett,
Dempsey cannot be in two places at once.
If you want Clint to “roam behind the attacking lines and make darting runs” like he does at Fulham, then someone else will have to deliver the ball to him when he does that.
If you want him to “roam” and “dart” WITH the ball then the defense will have a much easier time tracking him and shutting him down.
If you want Clint to be the guy with the ball, the one who makes tha final killer pass that creates the opportunity for a goal then you will decrease the number of times Clint is the guy who actually takes the shot. And right now I want Clint to be the guy who takes the shot.
For example, Xavi does not score a lot of goals because he has Messi to do that for him
Clint is the best “pointy end of the spear” that we have. You can’t have it both ways; why take Clint away from what he does best?
Brett,
Dempsey cannot be in two places at once.
If you want Clint to “roam behind the attacking lines and make darting runs” like he does at Fulham, then someone else will have to deliver the ball to him when he does that.
If you want him to “roam” and “dart” WITH the ball then the defense will have a much easier time tracking him and shutting him down.
If you want Clint to be the guy with the ball, the one who makes tha final killer pass that creates the opportunity for a goal then you will decrease the number of times Clint is the guy who actually takes the shot. And right now I want Clint to be the guy who takes the shot.
For example, Xavi does not score a lot of goals because he has Messi or others to do that for him
Clint is the best “pointy end of the spear” that we have. You can’t have it both ways; why take Clint away from what he does best?
Brett,
Dempsey cannot be in two places at once.
If you want Clint to “roam behind the attacking lines and make darting runs” like he does at Fulham, then someone else will have to deliver the ball to him when he does that.
If you want him to “roam” and “dart” WITH the ball then the defense will have a much easier time tracking him and shutting him down.
If you want Clint to be the guy with the ball, the one who makes tha final killer pass that creates the opportunity for a goal then you will decrease the number of times Clint is the guy who actually takes the shot. And right now I want Clint to be the guy who takes the shot.
For example, Xavi does not score a lot of goals because he has Messi or others to do that for him
Clint is the best “pointy end of the spear” that we have. You can’t have it both ways; why take Clint away from what he does best?
I disagree. Preki was no jock, but effective; Oduro is a great speedy athlete whom if he had half of others’ skill would be the toast of MLS. The ideal player is both.
Dempsey is a similar athlete to Donovan but has surpassed him on the field because of his superior skill, particularly finishing. Their differences basically display what I am getting at. Donovan is these days a sloppier Dempsey, which is why he is no longer the indispensible player he once was.
What I saw on the replay:
Dempsey is one of the few players showing consistent quality. And we need to hire him as a shooting coach to teach the rest how to move around defensive pieces and then tidily finish.
Howard got really fooled on the equalizer, surprised no one’s really mentioned that. Every so often he just goes to sleep, evens out a little the general resume of shotstopping.
Johnson got through-balled on a chance in the first half where the hard shot was parried, and needlessly bowled over the Guate player on the equalizing foul. Mixed bag, and I sense a hint of defensiveness in all the people springing up to back him for the spot. I want someone who shows well not just a flavor du jour.
It wasn’t 3 DMs we used, it was 4. Beckerman on late. That’s a tactical and personnel joke, you’re undercutting your own engine.
Game came across to me as pretty even, we had some chances, they had a few. I was particularly concerned by Pappa getting that open chance top of the D late, that can’t happen particularly versus this mediocre level of opposition.
Holden as a winger in SA is one of Bradley’s failures in my eyes.
Coyle had been using him effectively as CM since Jan and it was the following season Holden broke thru. Yet Bob was still trying to find his CM pairing in SA with never trying Holden.
So we hired Klinsi to get the same results as Bradley and Arena before him? I don’t believe it for a second. The whole concept was to make us an elite international side and not just another CONCACAF team. Amnesia.
Put some line-breaks in here… no one likes to trudge through a wall-o-text
I want the attack to flow through Dempsey in a position where he can roam behind the attacking lines and make darting runs. I don’t want him as a hold-up forward or chaser.
Agreed. It all depends on Donovan. If he continues his in inspired play we need Johnson at right mid to create something. Unless you slide Dempsey there and play Jozy and Hercules together.
If Lichaj is getting quality minutes and reps at LB at villa he should play there and push Johnson fwd.
I think there are several points missed in this story. First off, roster selection: Many people saw no earthly reason why Lichaj was left off the roster and I think this 5-game stretch only reinforced it. Ives, your point about JK preferring his wingbacks to play on the side of their natural foot is undermined by the fact that Fabian Johnson is right-footed. Lichaj played LB at Villa during the year and while I wouldn’t see him necessarily displacing Johnson (who was, as you say, excellent) he gives us a bevy of options that Castillo (who was, at best, serviceable against weak opponents) doesn’t. First off, Lichaj is strong enough at left back that we can consider pushing Johnson into a left midfield position. If Dempsey plays as a second or withdrawn striker, that is a very attractive option. Secondly, in the case of injuries, Lichaj can play back up both outside back positions far more capably than Castillo, Parkhurst, etc. You may be right that his future is replacing Cherundolo at RB, but based on Cherundolo’s age and his so-so performances lately, that future may be pretty soon. Another roster selection curio is why did he bring Joe Corona to sit him on the bench? In games down the stretch when we needed an offensive punch (Canada, Guatemala), JK didn’t call on him. In fact, in those games, JK looked down his bench and didn’t seen any midfielders that could help unlock a defense. That’s got to call into question the exclusions of both Sasha Klejstan and, yes, Freddy Adu. Klejstan has never seemed to fit into JK’s plans, but he is a clever passer of the ball, with good field vision and an excellent touch. He was coming off a very good season with a Champions League qualifying club in Belgium. As for Freddy, he certainly has his flaws, but as we saw in the Gold Cup, he brings a skill set that few other players in the pool have. He is one of the few players who could come in off the bench and change the nature of the game. I also would’ve liked to have seen Jonathan Spector in the mix. I imagine JK did also when Johnson, Castillo and Torres began dropping like flies. Spector is not a great talent, but can play any of the four spots across the back line and anywhere in the midfield. He is never awful, usually decent and occasionally quite good. I think in a tournament setting, a guy like that is invaluable. He’ll never be a starter but he is worth a roster spot to help deal with injury problems/yellow card accumulations/etc. I’d agree with the notion that Gooch is done, but I don’t see Goodson as his replacement. I would like to see Whitbread get a look in the center of the midfield. Yes he’s slow, yes he’s injury prone, but he’s confident on the ball, distributes pretty well out of the back (better than Gooch and Goodson, for sure). A pairing of him and Bocanegra is probably too slow to compete at the international level, but as a backup for either of the central positions, he’s at least worth a look. I think it will likely be Cameron and Ream fighting for that spot for 2014. Cameron, despite his goofs in the Scotland game looked pretty good. Ream is coming off a decent spell at Bolton. Both are far better distributors of the ball and far more comfortable with it at their feet than Gooch/Goodson and even Bocanegra. If they can show some consistency, I think that will be a strength going into the next World Cup. Donovan definitely needs a fire lit under him–a move to Europe would be good though it seems unlikely–and if he doesn’t have it, I think he will have to give way to younger, hungrier talent by 2014. I’d also take issue with Jones as a central midfielder for the future. He has been streaky for the U.S., and while they can always use his “steel,” I think in a World Cup you’d have to count on him sitting out at least a game, if not more based on yellow cards. He’s not that good that he’s worth building things around. I think the long-term hope has to be that Stuart Holden returns to being the player he was before injury. If not, I think Adu/Torres/Klejstan deserve a look there.
Brett,
Clint has always roamed around, with great success, so I’m not sure the idea of him as a center piece, a #10 if you will makes a lot of sense.
As for Gooch, we’ve seen him at his best and we’ve seen him when he comes back too soon from injury. This latest episode sounds injury related to me. After all, he was very good for his club just prior to the injury. It seems to me he will get another chance.
What I find curious is this insistence by both JK and Bradley on playing him when he is clearly not up to it physically.
That tells me the confidence in his back ups is not high.
Mat to me Edu is a liabilty. Yes he covers a lot of ground but mainly because he gives the ball away too easily or gets caught in possession. I don’t have match stats on him but what is the the percentage of passess completed…minus his frequent/constant back passes. He just isn’t very neat on the ball. I want to talk about Holden here but it just doesn’t seem that he is ever going to be healthy enough to make Edu obsolete. Maybe Corona, Morales or Williams will rise up before the cup and make some noise. Until then Edu is who we got.
What I’m most optimistic about for the short term is Clint Dempsey’s evolving role as a center-piece. I like Donovan, Herc, and Torres ahead of him so that he can roam behind and play facing the goal in dangerous positions. Behind him should be Bradley and Jones (though I’d love to see Holden come back and take Jones’ spot), and the back four falls together much nicer now that Fabian Johnson has taken the left back position for his own. That is, of course, assuming Gooch stays far away from the starting 11. I’ve never seen a player who seemed to be a cornerstone drop so quickly. He has not been the same since blowing out that knee (non-contact injuries always seem to be the most damaging and long-term).
“But to the extent JK was supposed to elevate the team to international superiority…”
Who EVER said this was happening?
We could have played a lot better in a few ways, but for crying out loud, “international superiority” is hardly a realistic bar to measure against. This is football in WC qualifying, not a military exercise. A point away in qualifying is a point away. I’ll take Dempsey’s moment of quality and be happy.
Who is this “Jozy from AZ” you uspeak of. Because he sure as hell hasn’t played for the USMNT
Courey,
Here’s what I learned from the five game “tournament”.
The USMNT has a lot of new fans because most of them don’t remember how hard qualifying has always been.
With their disproportionate expectations, they are beginning to remind me just a bit of the delusional “Golden Generation “England fans who used rip their team to shreds if they did not beat everyone 6-0 and stylishly at that
Donovan himself in a recent interview pointed out that a lot of these Central American teams now have quite a few players who play abroad whereas before they would have all been playing for the local league. And even then they were not easy to beat. The Guatemalan lineup last night were still technically far inferior to the US but is it really so hard to accept that “inferior” teams often get amped up when faced with a David vs. Goliath scenario, particularly when Goliath is the US? This is the Super Bowl to them.
It is a very big deal to a country like Guatemala to be able to take something off of the mighty US. You would not get the same performance from Guatemala if they were facing Japan, or Australia, two teams roughly in our class (Japan has better players, we’re probably a bit better than Oz), for example.
Below are the lineups from the Gold Cup final and the Guatemala game. What has changed since that Gold Cup final embarrassment to Mexico and last night’s Guatemala game?
2011 Gold Cup Final Lineup:
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo (12-Jonathan Bornstein, 11), 21-Clarence Goodson, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 14-Eric Lichaj; 4-Michael Bradley, 13-Jermaine Jones; 22-Alejandro Bedoya (9-Juan Agudelo, 63), 20-Freddy Adu (16-Sacha Kljestan, 86), 8-Clint Dempsey; 10-Landon Donovan
Subs not used: 2-Jonathan Spector, 7-Maurice Edu, 15-Tim Ream, 23-Marcus Hahnemann
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
Guatemala 2012 Lineup:
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 21-Clarence Goodson (20-Geoff Cameron, 46), 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 23-Fabian Johnson; 7-Maurice Edu, 4-Michael Bradley, 13-Jermaine Jones; 10-Landon Donovan (14-Kyle Beckerman, 90+3), 8-Clint Dempsey, 9-Herculez Gomez (17-Jozy Altidore, 64)
Subs not used: 2-Michael Parkhurst, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 11-Joe Corona, 12-Brad Guzan, 16-Jose Torres, 19-Chris Wondolowski
Head Coach: Jurgen Klinsmann
Obviously, there is a new manager and we have a few players who are upgrades, a bit more depth but overall, the only major change has been JK’s more aggressive attitude.
This is still Bradley’s team. It just has that new attitude, a few new wrinkles and some older parts that are wearing down. This is a far cry from being JK’s team yet.
It will take him a while before these players or their potential replacements can translate that into actual on the field results of the kind JK expects. But they have to qualify NOW so they are going to ride BB”s team, with a few tweaks, until they qualify. After that, then they can go into overdrive on the transition thing, if they can’t find a way to do it before qualifying.
When Klinsmann took over Germany he had the same positive outlook but he also had the freaking Bundesliga along with a few other top leagues in Europe to provide him with four star players to back up that attitude. Six years later JK isn’t in a four star restaurant anymore. It’s more like In and Out Burger or Taco Hell.
Forget about tactics, formations, attitude and everything else. Just look at the lineup and bench that Jogi Lowe has at Euro 2012 and tell me who in the US pool is a lock, a mortal lock, to make that squad? Maybe Dempsey if he is healthy.
I cite Germany because make no mistake, that is JK’s model.
We are better but still need more good players.
Klinsmann was a good hire and he is heading in the right direction but most USMNT fans have unrealistic expectations and an unrealistic timeline for the team.
I’m pretty sure we will qualify and I’m pretty sure that if we qualify, it will tell you very little about how we will play in the 2014 World Cup.
This team was in transition before JK got here and it remains that way.
It is working out its “identity” on the fly. The squad that goes to Brazil will be very different from the qualifying team and that is probably a good thing because it is obvious there are issues that need to be addressed.
One more thing, a lot of people look down their nose at JK because he had never coached a World Cup qualifier in CONCACAF before as if that makes him some kind of idiot rookie unused to adversity.
They forget or maybe never knew, he went through three qualifying campaigns as a player with Germany. In fact, when they won the World Cup in 1990 West Germany just barely qualified beating out Denmark by a point.
What makes you think Lichaj is the only person who can replace Dolo at RB for the US?
Even leaving Chandler out of it, there is a long list of candidates who just might be in great form by the time we get to picking the 2014 WC team, if we qualify.
They include among others,Lichaj, Zach Loyd, Sheannon Williams, AJ De La Garza, Danny Williams, Jonathan Spector, Landon Donovan, Josh Gatt and my personal favorite, because I’ve never seen him play and therefore have no reason to criticize him, Alfredo Morales.
I get that Lichaj is flavor of the month and I get that some of these names will be met with scorn and derision but that is today.
We are talking about a year and half process and that is an eternity in soccer terms. Some of these guys may soon rule themselves out and others will surprise us.
Thisis a team in transition so we should expect some changes an surprises.
“People need to think back to the last darned WC, Jozy was doing nothing and/or sitting, and Holden was used as a wing sub”
Better yet I actually watched the US in the last darned WC.
Guess what? Jozy played very well in all four games, took a terrific beating every game leading the line, was an integral part of the famous Algeria goal, was very unlucky to not score against England after terrorizing Jamie Carragher, and the same could be said of his game against Ghana. Though he did not score, he played very well.
I also found Holden played about 4 minutes against England and that was it for his PT in the World Cup. I don’t know if that was enough time to get a cross in but since after the 86th minute, both sides were happy to draw, I doubt it.
“Eredivisie “defense is optional” soccer, most teams will be crawling all over him and he has never skinnied up or skilled up to get where he can really hold up a la McBride with players all over him. ”
I hear this all the time. It is BS. Jozy and McBride are stylistically very different so Jozy won’t be approaching it like Bake did. You are also implying that goal totals in Holland are inflated and devalued because the Dutch teams emphasize offense and by extension are saying the forwards there don’t learn how to take on and beat tough defenses.
So how is it that, over the years, the Eredivisie has consistently developed and sold many of the best, most succesful forwards in the game, a list that is too long to give here?
And centerbacks are in low supply everywhere in Europe at the moment but the Eredivisie still produces its fair share of them.
The truth is players who develop in Holland tend to become better all around soccer players because that is what Dutch coaches emphasize, the proper way to play the game, almost to a fault.
Jozy is now a better all around soccer player than before and if he stays he should get even better.
Watching the replay? Maybe then you can see the entire game. Watching live at the soccer pub, the feed somehow went blank when ever it would have shown the slow motion replay of a questionable foul by a USA player. Maybe tonight we can see how Josy was cut down in the box (or not).
People should tone down those JOB comparisons.
To be fair to JOB, even with all the injuries, he managed to win some medals with Ajax and he had one of the all time best World Cup performances for a US midfielder. He remains one of the US’ best all time midfielders.
Sadly, Holden, who has mostly been “promising”,has yet to reach JOB’s level of accomplishment and even if he comes back, may not.
If he comes back, Holden is not a winger. Even when he played as a nominal winger, he would always cut inside. The center of the park is where this guy lived.
And he’s about 26 so no one is grooming him for any position if he comes back.
“Yes, let’s not mess with having a proven viable LB option in Johnson. ”
Sure but how about when you don’t have him?
Or did you not just notice how Fabian and Castillo and then Torres in their Spinal Tap drummer kind of way all got hurt at about the same time? If Fabian is “it” then you still need to develop viable backups.
And besides I want him in midfield because, after Dempsey and Donovan, he is the only other dangerous, legitimate full time attacking threat we have. He has the attacking skills and the “savvy” that a guy like Shea for example, does not have.
Like JK says, anyone can play left back. After all we had our second best World Cup, (after 2002) with Jonathan Bornstein, mostly,at left back. The proof is in the pudding.
Then I guess this stretch of games pretty much sucked!
Re the set piece thing:
Against A & B, Donovan’s corner, where he very smartly waited for Boca to get his shoe back on and then run onto the field, lose his marker and score on the parried Gomez header was a set piece. It was not horrid. It was a great ball to Gomez. And it was a very important goal and a very savvy play by two veterans.
The US does not have a Pirlo, a Beckham or a Roberto Carlos, a dead ball specialist who would take the lion’s share of the free kicks.
I have seen Donovan be an excellent dead ball specialist for the US for long periods of time. You have simply forgotten that he did well and can do so again.
I have also seen him go through inconsistent periods like this last run. And you could say the same thing about the other guys who have served in the role. I read someone blasting Gomez for taking a free kick and I had to laugh at that since I’ve seen him score a number of goals in Mexico that way. He’s actually rather good at it.
I don’t know who makes the decision or what criteria they use to figure out who is taking the kick but I do know that you have to think about who you want on the other end of the kick and who you want a bit further out in position for potential rebounds.
Besides, maybe Donovan is the only one who want’s to take the kicks most of the time. Not everyone wants that responsibility.
dude, jozy headed down the equalizer for Bradley (whilst Gomez made a brilliant dummy run).
let’s give them all some more time before the torches and pitchforks come out.
Donovan has had a disappointing, uneven couple of games. Of course, he was much worse before at the 2006 World Cup where the US might have been better off with you in his place.
Still the USMNT is in the position where they will have to hope that he come up with some motivational tactic to save his career and World Cup place. My vote is a transfer to Europe.
Given all that, your criticisms of him are
wrong. What you describe he has done but all players have games like that, even the sainted Clint. And you should not forget, Donovan had a direct hand in all three goals against A&B. So even when he is off he can contribute to the cause. And please don’t tell me those goals were not important.
I’ll bet the Slovenian keeper, who is happy to still have his face intact, from the 2010 World Cup, will disagree with your assesment of Donovan’s shooting power. I’ve never seen a keeper actually try to dodge a shot before. But I suspect he was flashing back to his dodgeball days (do they play dodgeball in Slovenia?). And Donovan hit pretty much the same shot against Scotland.
A lot of what you call “soccer play” is about athleticism.
I would wager that your criticisms of his “soccer play” would best be put to Phil Neville and David Moyes, who have rated that part of Donovan very highly in print. These are guys who cerrtainly know more about it than you or I and also had a stake in Landon’s performances. They are also known for being no nonsense, dour types. Google them and see what they had to say about Donovan’s “soccer play”.
Brazil, not Spain.
Not to sound overly cynical, will take two years minimum for him to play his way back into contention. That’s barring another injury and him earning a starting spot right quick. If Holden earns a ticket to Spain it will come down to the wire and probably require either LD retiring from soccer or another of JK’s core getting injured.
…they will not match that side, they will either be a different kettle of fish altogether or a disappointment.
I’m not saying that JK’s World Cup campaign will disappoint, I’m simply saying that this past team was a heck of a lot better than a lot of folks have given them credit for and I think many more folks are starting to realize that.
I still contend that had our back line been fully fit and had the team deservedly won the Slovenia game and didn’t have to sprint through the marathon that was Algeria for a win, they would have handily beaten Ghana and who knows then what.
I’m calling for Seb Hines! Seb Hines anyone?!
Sarasota,
I’m all for bringing Adu in if he makes the team more likely to score and win. But that does not seem to be the case.
What is the record of the USMNT Senior team (not the Under whatevers) when Adu plays with them? As recall it is not great.
In fact the only competitive, non- friendly game that Adu has played in where the US won with an important contribution from him was the Panama game in last year’s Gold Cup. His next start was the final where we were massacred by El Tri 4-2.
Freddy is fun to watch but it is a gross overstatement and just plain inaccurate to say he has shown that the USMNT gets better results when he is on the field, especially in tough, competitive games.
Sure did!!!
Gonzalez up top? Who the hell is Gonzalez? A new striker i don’t know about?
Gomez paired with Altidore. duh.
What are you basing these “bad passes, can’t tackle, hits shots with his purse” claims on?
You fail to mention that he is a phenomenal crosser and has a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
Anyway you slice it he is one of the bet ever to wear a USMNT jersey. This is ridiculous.
It’s amazing that you can in the same breath dismiss Holden and Jozy b/c of their play two years ago in the WC, and say that Donovan is not a top 20 US soccer player based on his performances in the last 5 games. Sounds like a double standard to me.
That tells us very little. Out of context that looks like we’ve regressed or remained stagnant.
Athleticism=soccer play. You can’t have one without the other. Bad athletes aren’t great soccer players and no amount of soccer skill is going to make up for deficient athleticism. Even the most standstill creative geniuses were great athletes in their own way (El Pibe, Riquelme, Cueto).
The measure of a player is what he does on the field and Donovan’s results speak for themselves.
Is that necessarily a bad thing considering the often times predictable nature the crossing game under Bradley? Or are you saying JK’s taken it too far?
Disagree on Josmer last world cup. He had a decent cup. Best out of all our admittedly terrible forward corps. Off the top of my head recalling some nice moments he had: that nice run with a shot saved off the post against England, the pass he centers to Demps which Landon scores for the Algeria winner, he was a handful all game against Algeria and Slovenia drawing a lot of fouls. Considering it was a relatively mediocre WC for most our players Jozy’s performance wasn’t near bad.
Besides, he’s a much better player today. No problem with Gomez starting though.