USMNT Roster for March qualifiers released...

[businesslawyer]

Arena likes Jones just as much as JK did. But Arena will play Jones in a Box to Box role. I think Pulisic will be a free electron turning up in dangerous spots, combining with Jozy and Dempsey.

It wasn't like Pulisic was in a fixed position, he was all over the field the other night.

So given that Nagbe got the start over Bedoya on Friday, and I thought played the best I've ever seen him play, who do you think Bedoya gets the call over Nagbe tonight?

 

[ZooCougar]

So given that Nagbe got the start over Bedoya on Friday, and I thought played the best I've ever seen him play, who do you think Bedoya gets the call over Nagbe tonight?

Oh heck no. What was I thinking.

Dempsey Altidore
Nagbe Jones Bradley Pulisic
Villafana Besler Gonzales Cameron
Howard

So, maybe two changes. I don't think he starts Zimmerman just yet.

Panama's attack is really anemic so our back four should look good regardless.

 

[SubbaBub]

If this is the lineup, look for it to work like this with Jones covering the diagonal space from Dempsey to Pulisic in front of Cameron who will cheat up to help Bradley cover the space. It's and odd line up but Jones likes to roam.

------------------Altidore
-------Dempsey
-------------------------- Pulisic
----------------- Jones
--Nagbe
---------------Bradley
----------------------------------------------Cameron
Villafana Besler Gonzales
--------------Howard

 

[UConnDan97]

He has to make at least one change because Lletget is out.

I was saying to leave Bedoya...

 

[SAMCRO]

No Cameron tonight (quad injury). Yikes!!! The back 4 could be an adventure.
Starting XI:
Howard
Zusi, Gonzalez, Ream, Villafana
Pulisic, Bradley, Jones, Nagbe
Dempsey, Altidore

A draw on the road would be a solid result with the injuries this team is dealing with.

 

[ZooCougar]

No Cameron tonight (quad injury). Yikes!!! The back 4 could be an adventure.
Starting XI:
Howard
Zusi, Gonzalez, Ream, Villafana
Pulisic, Bradley, Jones, Nagbe
Dempsey, Altidore

A draw on the road would be a solid result with the injuries this team is dealing with.

We better win. They have only scored one goal in qualifying.

 

[SAMCRO]

We better win. They have only scored one goal in qualifying.

They've also only allowed 1 goal in qualifying, and drew with Mexico in Panama. A point here is a good result for the US. So far, 15 minutes in, Panama is physically pushing around the US and the Mexican ref is letting them play.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Getting dangerous. We need to exert our will. They will keep fouling us. Bradley needs to not pass back every single time. He's a one man offensive possession killer. I really want to see how we'd play without him.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Goal!!!!

Pulisic is a wizard, and Dempsey just has a nose for putting the ball in the back of the net.

 

[SAMCRO]

Pulisic is ridiculous, and Dempsey knows how to finish. What a combination those two make.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Atrocious play by Ream.

Bad defense is bad.

 

[SAMCRO]

Zusi and Ream are liabilities. Boy are they missing Brooks and Cameron.... and Yedlin and Johnson for that matter.

 

[businesslawyer]

The defense being poor i can understand with the injuries, but this is on Arena. As I feared, coming off a 6-0 win he changed the damn formation to give Jones a place to play. And we've lost all the fluidity.

 

[ZooCougar]

Zusi and Ream are liabilities. Boy are they missing Brooks and Cameron.... and Yedlin and Johnson for that matter.

Ream more than Zusi though. I can see why JK left him in the bench now.

 

[SAMCRO]

Ream more than Zusi though. I can see why JK left him in the bench now.

Zusi has somewhat of an excuse as he's not a true/natural back.

 

[ZooCougar]

They've also only allowed 1 goal in qualifying, and drew with Mexico in Panama. A point here is a good result for the US. So far, 15 minutes in, Panama is physically pushing around the US and the Mexican ref is letting them play.

This is not a good team. And I'm not talking about the USA. Anything less than three points against this rabble is a missed opportunity.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Ream more than Zusi though. I can see why JK left him in the bench now.

Zusi has somewhat of an excuse as he's not a true/natural back.

Zusi has been surprisingly solid back there. Forced several gks that could have been corners and pretty steady. Ream has not been good, but Villafana looks much worse than Zusi to me on defense.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This is not a good team. And I'm not talking about the USA. Anything less than three points against this rabble is a missed opportunity.

They are like Cinci basketball. They will foul you and chip at you all game to frustrate you. Pressure at both ends. It's up to our guys to attack and make them pay and we haven't.

 

[ZooCougar]

Zusi has been surprisingly solid back there. Forced several gks that could have been corners and pretty steady. Ream has not been good, but Villafana looks much worse than Zusi to me on defense.

I've seen Zusi play in person a bunch. He's a smart player, but his lack of pace is a liability.

 

[ZooCougar]

 

[HuskyHawk]

I've seen Zusi play in person a bunch. He's a smart player, but his lack of pace is a liability.

Understood. And he gave us nothing on offense because he stayed back. But his defense was fine.

Crappy tie. They didn't play to win in the second half.

 

[LIuconn]

Really happy we brought Dax Maccarty's corpse to two games instead of a kid. But hey, MLS first

 

[ZooCougar]

Really happy we brought Dax Maccarty's corpse to two games instead of a kid. But hey, MLS first

As long as Don Garber and the owner of the Portland Timbers are happy..

 

[UConnDan97]

The defense being poor i can understand with the injuries, but this is on Arena. As I feared, coming off a 6-0 win he changed the damn formation to give Jones a place to play. And we've lost all the fluidity.

Exactly what I feared yesterday as well. I don't understand the desire of these coaches to feel the need to have Bradley and Jones on the pitch at the same time. They want to occupy the same exact spot, and the team gets stuck.

Year after year, it boggles the mind. Maybe Arena had learned his lesson for the next game, but I've been known to be overly optimistic...

 

[businesslawyer]

Really happy we brought Dax Maccarty's corpse to two games instead of a kid. But hey, MLS first

Seriously? We brought Dax to sit there in case Bradley got hurt. He wasn't going to play. You really think it would have been an important step for the program to make Danny Williams or Morales fly across the ocean in the middle of their seasons just to sit on the bench? As if either of them has shown that they're on a different level than Dax in an emergency? And don't tell me Hyndman. Different kind of player.

The problem last night was not the roster selections. If you want to criticize Arena, the mistake was changing the formation to force Jones back into the lineup where you knew doing so was asking everyone who had played well to do things differently.

Oh -- and Tim Ream was just terrible. But I notice that all the "MLS sucks, why not more Europeans" of you failed to ask even once why Besler didn't play alongside Omar when they had been through a round of Qualifying together. Friggin Eurocentric hypocrits.