USMNT Roster for March qualifiers released... | Page 2 | The Boneyard

USMNT Roster for March qualifiers released...

Bobby Wood seems to have pulled himself off the US Team because of back problems; they'll examine him further this week. He started for HSV yesterday against Eintracht Frankfurt and was not substituted out until the 90. minute. I watched the last 30 minutes and Wood was nearly invisible, if he didn't commit a foul and get substituted out I don't think I would have heard his name. For Eintracht Timmy Chandler was involved more than the other midfielders, but that's not saying much. It was a horrible game in steady rain. In the entire game only one shot was on goal; both teams barely connected on half their passes (51% and 58%).
 
Well that sucks. If this team didn't have bad luck, it wouldn't have any luck at all.
 
UCFBfan said:
Well this sucks....

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Ouch. I really like Wood. I think that's a key loss. It's curious to me that Klesjan has now been added to the roster, since they are not "like for like". It makes me think that the loss of Wood precipitated a formation change for Arena. It will be interesting to see...
 
So this is now the roster with FJ and BW dropping off, and GZ, SK, and MB being brought in...
G: Howard, Guzan, Rimaldo
D: Brooks, Beasley, Cameron, Gonzalez, Orozco, Ream, Villafaña, Zimmerman, Besler, Zusi
M: Acosta, Bedoya, Bradley, Jones, Lletget, Nagbe, McCarty, Pulisic, Kljestan,
F: Altidore, Dempsey, Morris,

Given the injuries to Wood and Johnson, does this force Arena's hand to play Pulisic in a more central role as he is probably the most flexible player, even at 18 years old? Or, with only 3 attacking options on the roster, do they use him up next to Morris or Altidore.... similar to how Dortmund has occasionally used him along side Aubameyang (and with very positive results)?

The US absolutely has to get a minimum of 3 points from the next 2 matches; they probably need to get 4 points; and getting 6 points is feeling like a nearly impossible ask as Panama is playing well, and will be a difficult road trip.
 
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SAMCRO said:
So this is now the roster with FJ and BW dropping off, and GZ, SK, and MB being brought in...
G: Howard, Guzan, Rimaldo
D: Brooks, Beasley, Cameron, Gonzalez, Orozco, Ream, Villafaña, Zimmerman, Besler, Zusi
M: Acosta, Bedoya, Bradley, Jones, Lletget, Nagbe, McCarty, Pulisic, Kljestan,
F: Altidore, Dempsey, Morris,

Given the injuries to Wood and Johnson, does this force Arena's hand to play Pulisic in a more central role as he is probably the most flexible player, even at 18 years old? Or, with only 3 attacking options on the roster, do they use him up next to Morris or Altidore.... similar to how Dortmund has occasionally used him along side Aubameyang (and with very positive results)?

The US absolutely has to get a minimum of 3 points from the next 2 matches; they probably need to get 4 points; and getting 6 points is feeling like a nearly impossible ask as Panama is playing well, and will be a difficult road trip.
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It doesn't force his hand any more than it did prior to the change. In fact, if anything, it has made it easier not to put Pulisic there, since that's where Kljestan plays. Dempsey and Altidore up front, with either Kljestan, Jones, or Nagbe behind them (or Bradley I suppose). Of that scenario, I would actually prefer Kljestan with Pulisic out right and Nagbe out left and choose a holding midfielder in front of the back four. But I'm guessing Arena will play it "safe" and have both Bradley and Jones out there at the same time...
 
UConnDan97 said:
It doesn't force his hand any more than it did prior to the change. In fact, if anything, it has made it easier not to put Pulisic there, since that's where Kljestan plays. Dempsey and Altidore up front, with either Kljestan, Jones, or Nagbe behind them (or Bradley I suppose). Of that scenario, I would actually prefer Kljestan with Pulisic out right and Nagbe out left and choose a holding midfielder in front of the back four. But I'm guessing Arena will play it "safe" and have both Bradley and Jones out there at the same time...
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Jones can't play v Honduras due to yellow card accumulation.

Here is Stuart Holden's prediction for the starting XI

C7TTimuXkAAzm6s.jpg
 
SAMCRO said:
So this is now the roster with FJ and BW dropping off, and GZ, SK, and MB being brought in...
G: Howard, Guzan, Rimaldo
D: Brooks, Beasley, Cameron, Gonzalez, Orozco, Ream, Villafaña, Zimmerman, Besler, Zusi
M: Acosta, Bedoya, Bradley, Jones, Lletget, Nagbe, McCarty, Pulisic, Kljestan,
F: Altidore, Dempsey, Morris,

Given the injuries to Wood and Johnson, does this force Arena's hand to play Pulisic in a more central role as he is probably the most flexible player, even at 18 years old? Or, with only 3 attacking options on the roster, do they use him up next to Morris or Altidore.... similar to how Dortmund has occasionally used him along side Aubameyang (and with very positive results)?

The US absolutely has to get a minimum of 3 points from the next 2 matches; they probably need to get 4 points; and getting 6 points is feeling like a nearly impossible ask as Panama is playing well, and will be a difficult road trip.
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No Guzan. His wife is having a baby and since he was presumably told he wasn't starting .... Bingham took his spot on the roster.

Far worse, Brooks is flying to the the states but it's not clear that he will be able to go. The lineup is really going to be a hodgepodge.
 
Aaaaaaaand Wondo is back on the roster. Uggh. The guy works hard, but my goodness. He is the answer to a question that no one is asking...
 
I'll be stunned if arena rolls out anything but a 4-4-2.

Howard

Orozco, Cameron, Brooks/Gonzalez, Beasley

Bedoya, Jones, Bradley, Pulisic

Dempsey, Altidore

Party like it's 2013.
 
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SubbaBub said:
I'll be stunned if arena rolls out anything but a 4-4-2.

Howard

Orozco, Cameron, Brooks/Gonzalez, Beasley

Bedoya, Jones, Bradley, Pulisic

Dempsey, Altidore

Party like it's 2013.
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That was my initial thought. No way he plays a 3 man back line. Your lineup looks right, with Jones on top of Bradley.
 
SubbaBub said:
I'll be stunned if arena rolls out anything but a 4-4-2.

Howard

Orozco, Cameron, Brooks/Gonzalez, Beasley

Bedoya, Jones, Bradley, Pulisic

Dempsey, Altidore

Party like it's 2013.
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That seems right. Bring Morris off the bench for either CD or JA around the 60 minute mark. The question is who plays the Jones role v. Honduras? Pretty sure he is suspended for that one due to yellow card accumulation. That's where I would not be surprised to see Arena put Pulisic in the middle with Nagbe on the wing. This will be an interesting 2 matches, and the team better be a heckuva lot more sync'd than they were for the 2 friendlies in January (I know it was without European players, but still....).
 
SAMCRO said:
That seems right. Bring Morris off the bench for either CD or JA around the 60 minute mark. The question is who plays the Jones role v. Honduras? Pretty sure he is suspended for that one due to yellow card accumulation. That's where I would not be surprised to see Arena put Pulisic in the middle with Nagbe on the wing. This will be an interesting 2 matches, and the team better be a heckuva lot more sync'd than they were for the 2 friendlies in January (I know it was without European players, but still....).
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I heard Morris was hurt now too.

Arena will trot out the three man back line from time to time. He did it against Mexico in the World Cup in 2002. In that game he started Claudio Reyna on the wing. He also did it with LA Galaxy periodically.
 
ZooCougar said:
I heard Morris was hurt now too.

Arena will trot out the three man back line from time to time. He did it against Mexico in the World Cup in 2002. In that game he started Claudio Reyna on the wing. He also did it with LA Galaxy periodically.
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I wasn't thinking that he opposed it as much as the utter catastrophe that occurred the last time we played it with USMNT. Needing a win, can he take that chance? With Beasley, you could start him back and slide him up later if we aren't scoring.
 
ZooCougar said:
I thought all this stuff was going to stop now that Jurgen is gone. Oh wait...
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I expected a lot to remain the same, since he is not going to experiment during the hex. However, I expected Wondo to stop. I don't understand how any qualified national team coach could say to themselves, "Yup...we need ourselves some Wondo!"

Unfortunately, we've had 2 coaches in a row who have thought that it actually makes sense... :confused:
 
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UConnDan97 said:
I expected a lot to remain the same, since he is not going to experiment during the hex. However, I expected Wondo to stop. I don't understand how any qualified national team coach could say to themselves, "Yup...we need ourselves some Wondo!"

Unfortunately, we've had 2 coaches in a row who have thought that it actually makes sense... :confused:
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Out of curiosity, if you assume that Wood and Morris are out, and he's not sure Dempsey is a 90 minute player, whom did you want called up that is a better choice for this weekend? All I have is guys sitting on benches in Germany that aren't playing. Like Johanson, or Boyd, or Green. Do you have a single forward who was an obviously better choice? Or we should just forfeit because we hate Wondo?
 
businesslawyer said:
Out of curiosity, if you assume that Wood and Morris are out, and he's not sure Dempsey is a 90 minute player, whom did you want called up that is a better choice for this weekend? All I have is guys sitting on benches in Germany that aren't playing. Like Johanson, or Boyd, or Green. Do you have a single forward who was an obviously better choice? Or we should just forfeit because we hate Wondo?
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There was a Bundesliga expert on Grumpy Pundits this morning who said that Green was doing fantastic at Stuttgart. He's actually a winger and he would have been a better midfield option than Graham Zusi.

He's scored a goal and had five appearances since the winter break.


https://www.whoscored.com/Players/132316

I probably would called in another attacking midfielder. I don't see why we are anchoring on 4 forwards. We could go with a one striker formation and have some better possession and creativity as opposed to Arena's Gladiator Counterattacking 4-4-2.
 
UConnDan97 said:
I expected a lot to remain the same, since he is not going to experiment during the hex. However, I expected Wondo to stop. I don't understand how any qualified national team coach could say to themselves, "Yup...we need ourselves some Wondo!"

Unfortunately, we've had 2 coaches in a row who have thought that it actually makes sense... :confused:
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Yeah, the problem is that everyone wanted to scapegoat Jurgen and pay no mind to the state of the player pool.

Jurgen definitely didn't help his cause BUT he stuck with players like Bobby Wood and John Brooks when the MLS Bubble was up in arms over it. And now they are doing fantastic. This program got hijacked by a bunch of clowns who are trying to promote MLS; not win at the National level. The USMNT is their only penetration into the mainstream.

I almost want to see a catastrophic failure so that we can flush the toilet with some of these guys. I'm still not sure why people still think Michael Bradley is all that. Altidore is done developing.

Before Wood was hurt, the MLS Bubble media was actually saying Altidore should start over Wood. Wood is scoring in the Bundesliga, unf-ing believable.
 
ZooCougar said:
There was a Bundesliga expert on Grumpy Pundits this morning who said that Green was doing fantastic at Stuttgart. He's actually a winger and he would have been a better midfield option than Graham Zusi.

He's scored a goal and had five appearances since the winter break.


https://www.whoscored.com/Players/132316

I probably would called in another attacking midfielder. I don't see why we are anchoring on 4 forwards. We could go with a one striker formation and have some better possession and creativity as opposed to Arena's Gladiator Counterattacking 4-4-2.
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I'd love to see Green succeed, and I wouldn't have an issue with him having been added instead of Wondo. But a guy scores 1 goal in the second tier and you want to make a case that you can't not take him? Seriously? When Stuttgart is promoted and he is contributing, or when he is tearing the Bundesliga 2 up, give me a call.

The point remains that, with all the injuries, criticizing him for taking Wondo is just not fair. Even though I would be happy never seeing Wondo in a national team kit every bit as much as you.
 
businesslawyer said:
Out of curiosity, if you assume that Wood and Morris are out, and he's not sure Dempsey is a 90 minute player, whom did you want called up that is a better choice for this weekend? All I have is guys sitting on benches in Germany that aren't playing. Like Johanson, or Boyd, or Green. Do you have a single forward who was an obviously better choice? Or we should just forfeit because we hate Wondo?
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It's not about hating Wondo just for hating him, Biz. And there are a bunch of forwards that I would have rather used, even ones that don't start for their teams. Without looking at which of the following are currently healthy, we could have gone with Agudelo perhaps, or Johannson, or Charlie Davies, or even Alan Gordon or possibly even Patrick Mullins. And if they were healthy, we would be better off. We could have even gone with a modified attacking midfielder up there like Pontius. Those are just choices off the top of my head. I'm not trying to hate on Wondo just to be "that guy". He's a net poacher, which is not bad in and of itself, but it's not what this team needs, especially when considering Jozy's style and the fact that I think we need more speed and ballhandling than what Wondo provides...
 
ZooCougar said:
Yeah, the problem is that everyone wanted to scapegoat Jurgen and pay no mind to the state of the player pool.

Jurgen definitely didn't help his cause BUT he stuck with players like Bobby Wood and John Brooks when the MLS Bubble was up in arms over it. And now they are doing fantastic. This program got hijacked by a bunch of clowns who are trying to promote MLS; not win at the National level. The USMNT is their only penetration into the mainstream.

I almost want to see a catastrophic failure so that we can flush the toilet with some of these guys. I'm still not sure why people still think Michael Bradley is all that. Altidore is done developing.

Before Wood was hurt, the MLS Bubble media was actually saying Altidore should start over Wood. Wood is scoring in the Bundesliga, unf-ing believable.
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I hear some of what you're saying. But there is also an over-reaction on the other side of it that I would hope you also appreciate as well. That is to say; just because someone plays in MLS doesn't automatically make them crap, and just because someone plays abroad doesn't automatically make them better. Yes, there's a strain in American soccer that seems to prefer the MLS guy. There's also a strain that prefers the foreign guy. And Klinsmann was a new strain that seemed to prefer the German guy specifically. For instance, how many national team games did or do we need to see that Chandler wasn't working in the back four, even if his club form abroad was pretty good? Or conversely, did Dempsey suck all of the sudden because he was playing for Seattle and not Fulham or Tottenham?

So for me, it's a double-edged sword. What I'm hoping for is a coach to come along without pre-bias as to where the player comes from and more of an eye as to how to fit the best 11 on the field, even if that means to make moves that might appear head-scratching on their surface...
 
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meyers7 said:
1bb77b6a691f68d206245df277d6aafa.jpg
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I should put it on record that I hope Wondo really shuts me up by scoring a couple of goals, making Arena look like a genius. Nothing would make me happier...
 
UConnDan97 said:
It's not about hating Wondo just for hating him, Biz. And there are a bunch of forwards that I would have rather used, even ones that don't start for their teams. Without looking at which of the following are currently healthy, we could have gone with Agudelo perhaps, or Johannson, or Charlie Davies, or even Alan Gordon or possibly even Patrick Mullins. And if they were healthy, we would be better off. We could have even gone with a modified attacking midfielder up there like Pontius. Those are just choices off the top of my head. I'm not trying to hate on Wondo just to be "that guy". He's a net poacher, which is not bad in and of itself, but it's not what this team needs, especially when considering Jozy's style and the fact that I think we need more speed and ballhandling than what Wondo provides...
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Look, I didn't want to have Wondo here either , but there is a difference between wondering if any of the guys you listed might be better and actually being able to say you know they are better. You simply don't/can't know any of them are better choices for this weekend, because none of them has proven anything that let's you know that.

Arena has made a perfectly reasonable call based on who is hurt and who is playing. Period. I don't expect anyone to like it, but there is a different between saying you would have gone another way and actually criticizing the pick. The pick was reasonable. None of Gordon or Agudelo or Davies has done anything between league play and any capped appearances where you can demand them on the field.

I'm surprised that we haven't heard posts acting for Perez. He's played at least 45 minutes for Florence this season.
 
businesslawyer said:
Look, I didn't want to have Wondo here either , but there is a difference between wondering if any of the guys you listed might be better and actually being able to say you know they are better. You simply don't/can't know any of them are better choices for this weekend, because none of them has proven anything that let's you know that.

Arena has made a perfectly reasonable call based on who is hurt and who is playing. Period. I don't expect anyone to like it, but there is a different between saying you would have gone another way and actually criticizing the pick. The pick was reasonable. None of Gordon or Agudelo or Davies has done anything between league play and any capped appearances where you can demand them on the field.

I'm surprised that we haven't heard posts acting for Perez. He's played at least 45 minutes for Florence this season.
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Well, let's take this from your approach of saying that neither Agudelo, Gordon, Davies, nor Pontius have demonstrated that their selection would be better than Wondo's during their national team caps, which is a reasonable way of looking at things I would add. However, I would counter that by saying that when you are comparing a player of 35 national team caps vs. players with 2 to 4 caps under their belt on average, that you DON'T know that they aren't better. All you can safely say in that scenario is what Wondo is. Not what the others aren't.

And in my estimation, what Wondo is is "not enough". And from a soccer style perspective, he doesn't fit the current roster in my view (for whatever that's worth). I'd much rather take the chance that Agudelo or Pontius would give you more when combined with this specific roster. And I think that difference would show itself especially with more caps under their belt. And those two names would be who I would go to in this type of situation...
 
We are one injury away form Landon Donovan coming out of retirement.
 
SAMCRO said:
We are one injury away form Landon Donovan coming out of retirement.
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1. That wouldn't, for two games, be a bad thing.

2. Even if it was a bad thing, I'd buy everyone in the sports bar a beer if Wisky was there and I got to watch him watch it happening.

3. Why not bash Donovan in a thread bashing Wondo. What are they -- 1 and 4 all time in MLS goals scored? Why, there must be hundreds of strikers who have accomplished that.
 
.-.
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