Confederations Cup

[a;sdlfkjas;df]

Unlucky for the US i guess, they've done well though still.

fucking classic landon donovan

thankfully deuce finally played himself back into form. earlier in the tournament:

it was a nice experience. we (kind of) showed that we can compete and that we at least want to win sometimes. bob bradley has hopefully learned a little bit from this tournament. maybe that, hey, it's alright to play with two strikers, maybe two strikers that can kind of form a rational partnership, and not a young, strong, kind of fast striker with an older, strong, slow striker. the biggest thing i'd like to see bob bradley do with this team is find a way to integrate jose torres w/o completely fucking up our team chemistry. i would love to see him in the role that benny played in this tournament

[^_^]

i agree, but i also think that Freddy Adu is wasting away needlesly on the bench.


another thing that is terrible about bob bradley, is his use of Connor Casey at the end of games in order to add some sort of flair to the team, or extra attacking force. it's a horrible decision. bob bradley makes the same subsitutes every time (klesjan and casey)

[a;sdlfkjas;df]

i agree, but i also think that Freddy Adu is wasting away needlesly on the bench.

jose torres has a better argument imo.

another thing that is terrible about bob bradley, is his use of Connor Casey at the end of games in order to add some sort of flair to the team, or extra attacking force. it's a horrible decision. bob bradley makes the same subsitutes every time (klesjan and casey)

he is one of three pure strikers we had on the roster. he's not going to add a spark to the team, but i can see why he was brought on. i was just happy to see bob bradley realize that this:

     x   x

x             x
      x x

was not going to work with what we have, especially when we are trying to chase a game

[^_^]

i disagree, and solely based on what adu has done in past youth world cups, especially the one in Canada.

his international performances are always on point.

[a;sdlfkjas;df]

i disagree, and solely based on what adu has done in past youth world cups, especially the one in Canada.

doesn't always translate

jose torres was arguably our best player for the first half against costa rica. he gets pulled off at half. gets dropped for the honduras game. gets added onto our roster for the confed cup. doesn't see a minute. you can't apply the no-playing time w/club rule to him. i guess you could argue that his style of play doesn't necessarily fit in w/our team, but with playing benny feilhaber, i don't think that this is necessarily the case.

i was less angry w/the adu situation when we at least stuck fucking charlie davies up top w/jozy.

jose torres has a great argument to at least get a fucking chance. not that adu doesn't, but i just think that jose's argument is a little stronger.

[^_^]

of course it doesn't translate, but what minutes has Adu been seeing in qualifying? none really. i'm wondering what or when bob bradley plans to do with adu. he's obviously got great potential, but is always nothing more than a name on bob bradleys 24 man roster.

and i also think that feilhaber doesn't deserve any more playing time. he has been playing awfully. players that deserve to be on the field  are:

donovan, dempsey, clark, davies, altidore, onyewu (most of the time), spector


there should be a greater amount of rotation and testing done during qualifying. i don't see bradley putting in players like adu and torres more often, and it's confusing to me. he shouldn't just be delving into experimentation with 11 months left until the world cup!

[TheGodEmperor]

players that deserve to be on the field  are:

donovan, dempsey, clark, davies, altidore, onyewu (most of the time), spector

demerit?

he's been playing well as a pure defender

[a;sdlfkjas;df]

of course it doesn't translate, but what minutes has Adu been seeing in qualifying? none really. i'm wondering what or when bob bradley plans to do with adu. he's obviously got great potential, but is always nothing more than a name on bob bradleys 24 man roster.

he's still very young. if he can establish himself this next year w/a club (any club), he'd have a very good chance to play an important part in the wc. iirc, both ld and dmb were brought along very late in the cycle for 2002. he doesn't have the physical presence to run into our NT like a jozy altidore. if he goes to benfica (or anywhere. villareal has been interested lately) and lights it up, he'll play.

and i also think that feilhaber doesn't deserve any more playing time. he has been playing like awfully. players that deserve to be on the field

he's very good going forward, but he has the awful tendency to get caught in poss. all the fucking time.

donovan, dempsey, clark, davies, altidore, onyewu (most of the time), spector

unfortunately, clark is probably going to be an afterthought when/if jermaine jones is brought into camp. as much as i'm excited about jermaine jones, i like rico a lot. i don't think davies has an assured spot, especially not if adu can prove himself in the next year (he's on the gc squad btw). his pace will cause a lot of problems for any team, but he's still extremely raw (and not all that young). onyewu has been particularly solid lately. he's gotten over his tendency to randomly clear the ball straight to the foot of the other team w/i 25 yards of goal (tomas rosicky). not getting skull-fucked by david villa (a player with the skill set that would have run over him 2-3 years ago in any game) during the confed cup makes me think that he may have turned a corner. spector makes me glad that the marvell wynne experiment is over. if he can stay healthy, he will be an extremely solid player for us.

there should be a greater amount of rotation and testing done during qualifying. i don't see bradley putting in players like adu and torres more often, and it's confusing to me. he shouldn't just be delving into experimentation with 11 months left until the world cup!

i don't think the hex is the place for experimentation. what he did at costa rica was fucking retarded. he gave a few players a run out earlier in qualifying. i think he's giving a few players the opportunity to win a spot at the gold cup, which is fine, considering that this gc doesn't mean a god damned thing.

ETA: a lot of the midfield situation depends upon how maurice edu does in the next year

[a;sdlfkjas;df]

players that deserve to be on the field  are:

donovan, dempsey, clark, davies, altidore, onyewu (most of the time), spector

demerit?

he's been playing well as a pure defender

it depends upon how the bocanegra situation plays itself out w/that pesky left-back position. thank fuck he has finally gotten over his dmb fixation (at left-back)

[^_^]

it was bradley in charge during the last gold cup right? it was such a mistake using the copa america as a more experimental cup. he took the gold cup seriously, and i'm glad that he's got some sense knocked into him about it this time.

feilhaber is indeed really bad about giving the ball away. there needs to be more consistency in the midfield.


@ demerit: he's been ok, nothing to special yet imo

[TheGodEmperor]

I actually dislike the way bocanegra plays
he does so much stupid shit

but demerit makes solid tackles, blocks TONS of shots
if he touches up on his skills a bit, I can see him going places (at the ripe old age of 28, I know)

@Marvell Wynne:  :lol:

How did TFC cut Rohan Ricketts (excellent player, actually) and not cut him?
The man can't play defence for shit.

[a;sdlfkjas;df]

it was bradley in charge during the last gold cup right? it was such a mistake using the copa america as a more experimental cup. he took the gold cup seriously, and i'm glad that he's got some sense knocked into him about it this time.

you do know why we were in the confederations cup, right? he knew he couldn't use his "big-name" players for both competitions. he decided to focus on the tournament that could qualify us for the confederations cup. i'd say it worked out pretty well. it was a decision that wasn't that popular at the time that i definitely agree with

ETA: this gc wouldn't qualify us for the confed cup

I actually dislike the way bocanegra plays
he does so much stupid shit

he does, but demerit's position is more of a toss-up than most of the others up there imo

How did TFC cut Rohan Ricketts (excellent player, actually) and not cut him?

because marvell wynne is really, really fast, duh. marvell wynne has (had) an extremely high ceiling. he's just not very good at playing soccer.