MrSaigon wrote:Another question, and a good one for this board:
The choice of Portland over St. Louis was an absolute slam dunk for the league, right? Obviously I'm very biased here, but Portland has brought a lot of great attention to the league.
Absolutely.
Mexico US - That first half formation can go [expletive] itself.
I'm trying not to get worked up about a game without Dempsey, Holden, Altidore etc.
Orozco is a zero. Torres is a zero unless you cater to his strengths which means he isn't good enough to matter 95% of the time against good teams. Castillo is certainly better than the majority of our left backs, but give me Lichaj next time. Buddle, zero.
Starters:
Howard - 6 - Faced very few chances, organized the back line well.
Steve Cherundolo - 5 - Was very active up and down the right side, defended well, but I have to call him out for that irresponsible petulance swinging at Guardado that could have been a red.
Boca - 7 - Solid, responsible and best of all, physical. Those little forwards wanted nothing to do with him. Kept them out of the box and organized the back line like the captain he is.
Edgar Castillo - 5 - Fast, but didn't get forward as much as advertised, some bad giveaways and like when we've seen him before, nothing to get excited about but about on par with our previous clown car left backs of Bornstein, Pearce and Boca.
Orozco - 5 - Don't rate him. Physical and held the line well, but is a walking red card. Good for depth, but I'd rather see Gonzalez and Goodson.
Jermaine Jones - 4 - Clumsy with the ball, missed two solid chances and didn't distribute the ball from the midfield.
Beckerman - 7 - Solid, responsible, fluid, put out fires and calmly laid the ball off. His best international performance. Finally looked like the dude who runs RSL in the US kit.
Michael Bradley - 4 - Garbage. Looked lost holding a high line, bad turnovers, bad passes, terrible positioning too close behind Buddle.
Torres - 5 - Good second half. Garbage, awful, scared first half. He has a left foot, but he is not a left midfielder. If you have to put him in the middle and tailor the game around him just to get him to be a contributor, he's not good enough. You know who doesn't need that? Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Stuart Holden, Benny Feilhaber, Maurice Edu and Brek Shea. It's a numbers game and Torres isn't good enough.
Landon Donovan - 8 - Brought into the middle in the second half, Landon was a lightning bolt. Popped up everywhere faster than they could react. Brilliant performance in the second half.
Edson Buddle - 5 - It's almost unfair to grade him. Jurgen marooned him up top alone. That said, we all know he's second rate.
Subs:
Brek Shea - 8 - Dynamic, creative, fast, fluid, great vision and calm. He didn't look like this was his second cap. On the ball he's as good as anyone we have, his size creates problems for smaller defenders, his ideas are young Dempseyesque and he can play on the left side.
Juan Agudelo - 7 - Enthusiasm got him in good position but sometimes led to some fizzled attacks, but that said, I love his direct style, I love his persistence, speed, strength and he always has tricky, unconventional runs.
Robbie Rogers - 7 - I don't rate him as anything more than depth, but he put himself in great positions to score and to receive the ball from Agudelo that should have been the red card. Lazy, inexcusable marking on the goal, but good for him anyway.
Rico Clark - Can we strip him of US citizenship so he'll never play again? Get on it, Congress. Seriously, he brings nothing.
The first half guys suffered from a terrible formation, that as I said earlier when I first saw it, can [expletive] itself. Not sure what Jurgen was looking for there, but good lord it was bad. Still, the players could have done better.
thrill wrote:
The first half guys suffered from a terrible formation, that as I said earlier when I first saw it, can [expletive] itself. Not sure what Jurgen was looking for there, but good lord it was bad. Still, the players could have done better.
My thoughts:
Liked what Klinsman brought overall. Putting Bradley as the attacking CM, was odd, but I'd imagine it's to get Bradley to be more aggressive offensively. It didn't work.
Buddle, has no place on a team w/ Adu and Agudelo.
Other players I don't need to see anymore: Orozco, Clark, and Jermaine Jones. How dissappointing is he everytime he suits up for USA?
I know Chicharito wasn't playing, still, Donavon was clearly the best player on the field. Head and shoulders above all the others on either side. I liked to see the energy, and hope Klinsman brings out more of his best from his best player. Can't wait to see Dempsey out there w/ him!
Agudelo and Shea- both brought extreme energy and chances. You have to like their ball skills and attacking mentality. I know he's only 18, but Agudelo is exciting and should be starting up top.
Rodgers- fast and attacking. Look forward to seeing more.
On the back line, play Ream. Need to see some young blood, and not Orozco.
OHHHH, and how in the F'in world was that not a red card in the last 5 minutes!!!!
Yeah man, the Mayor of Hannover is legit. One of the only Americans to captain a European team, he's the ever-so-rare, one-club-player in Germany's top flight for a reason. He's incredibly consistent, really smart getting forward and a good leader. Of all US National team players, he may be the most unimpeachable. Doesn't hit the highs of Howard, Donovan, Dempsey etc, but he's definitely consistently good to very good.
