USMNT Roster for Panama, T&T

[ZooCougar]

Y'all are far too hard on Jozy, even when he plays really well you criticize him somehow.

Bad first touch, injured a lot. Inconsistent. Slow and lumbering.

 

[meyers7]

Really? The goal counts.

Well thank you, at least someone realizes it. Now if only we could get Zoo too.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Bad first touch, injured a lot. Inconsistent. Slow and lumbering.

Good layoff passes, holds off defenders well, good free kick taker, good scoring record.

 

[ZooCougar]

Good layoff passes, holds off defenders well, good free kick taker, good scoring record.

Does that like once every 6 games. Seems like he’s been with the USMNT for like 15 years. He was better when he was younger and not so heavy. But his touch was back then too.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Does that like once every 6 games. Seems like he’s been with the USMNT for like 15 years. He was better when he was younger and not so heavy. But his touch was back then too.

Also has 14 goals in his last 25 caps, if that's our striker i'm pretty happy with that.

 

[ZooCougar]

Well thank you, at least someone realizes it. Now if only we could get Zoo too.

Too bad you’re too disingenuous to leave the rest of the post. Smoke and Mirrors, much like Jozy’s entire career.

 

[ZooCougar]

Also has 14 goals in his last 25 caps, if that's our striker i'm pretty happy with that.

Against crap competition and a JV Gold Cup that shouldn’t have even counted.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Against crap competition and a JV Gold Cup that shouldn’t have even counted.

Dude, it's not his choice as to who we play.

 

[SubbaBub]

Y'all are far too hard on Jozy, even when he plays really well you criticize him somehow.

The criticism is that he played extremely well for him and was still easily replaceable.

It is ludicrous to justify a roster spot solely on a single or even a handful of layoff passes. His sole unique contribution was the layoff to Pulisic on the first goal off the flick on from Wood. Even on that play his contribution was third best behind Pulisic and Wood.

Anyone not named Wondo, scores those two goals.

Is Jozy one of our top 3 strikers? I suppose it depends on what you expect for the other 89 minutes. Wood was creating chances, passing lanes, and running channels. He was a threat. He can even dribble if called upon.

Jozy is rarely a threat, even on set pieces where his size and strength should be dominant, he isn't.

For every Jozy goal, I can point to bad touches, giveaways, missed opportunities and general lack of running. Is he horrible, of course not but he isn't out best option given how we want to play. I'd say the same for Dempsey but he is a consistent threat to score and does.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

The criticism is that he played extremely well for him and was still easily replaceable.

It is ludicrous to justify a roster spot solely on a single or even a handful of layoff passes. His sole unique contribution was the layoff to Pulisic on the first goal off the flick on from Wood. Even on that play his contribution was third best behind Pulisic and Wood.

Anyone not named Wondo, scores those two goals.

Is Jozy one of our top 3 strikers? I suppose it depends on what you expect for the other 89 minutes. Wood was creating chances, passing lanes, and running channels. He was a threat. He can even dribble if called upon.

Jozy is rarely a threat, even on set pieces where his size and strength should be dominant, he isn't.

For every Jozy goal, I can point to bad touches, giveaways, missed opportunities and general lack of running. Is he horrible, of course not but he isn't out best option given how we want to play. I'd say the same for Dempsey but he is a consistent threat to score and does.

We need our strikers to pressure the backline more than Dempsey does, at least as starters. And i'm not deluded in saying that Jozy is a workhorse like Wood is, but at least he moves when he doesn't have the ball. Dempsey can be a good sub for us, but he is past starting.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Altidore has 7 goals and 5 assists during this WCQ cycle, very content with that.

 

[SubbaBub]

We need our strikers to pressure the backline more than Dempsey does, at least as starters. And i'm not deluded in saying that Jozy is a workhorse like Wood is, but at least he moves when he doesn't have the ball. Dempsey can be a good sub for us, but he is past starting.

I have my issues with Dempsey but he is a finisher, still at his age.

No he doesn't move, except to drop deep to collect the ball with his back 30 yards from goal (not good). When he is in the box however he is still deadly. To me that is a real benefit beyond what Jozy brings. Jozy is club footed. If he had to take a touch on his goal he would have botched it.

Pulisic, Wood, and another speedy winger (or Yedlin overlapping) feeding a high positioned Dempsey is about as high powered as the US offense can get. It also works better with Wood, changing positions in a hi/lo game. Jozy to his credit has started to do this more but Jozy is a negative 25 yrds out, Clint is still dangerous from there, though I prefer him not to be there at all.

A guy like Dwyer is the preferred pair to Wood in terms of speed, physicality, and work rate. He has to demonstrate a killer finishing instinct and earn a roster spot first but that is the type of player this system needs with the ball cycling wide, like in hockey, looking to dart toward goal.

Jozy and to a lesser extent Clint, are more pass me the ball and watch types. At least with Dempsey there is usually something worth watching.

 

[UConnDan97]

Wow, this thread has had some spark all of a sudden.

On the subject of Jozy Altidore; most of you know that I'm not a big fan of his. But he definitely finds the back of the net; we cannot deny that and we should be happy for that, since we've had plenty of forwards that can't or don't. I would prefer Wood and Dempsey to be on the field rather than Wood and Jozy, but it is what it is.

On the subject of whether or not Jozy's PK should qualify for a goal; good grief! Yes, all the hard work was performed by someone else. But I can tell you with great certainty that the PK taker is already worked out before the game even starts. Jozy taking the PKs means the coach feels confident that he will put it away. I can also tell you with great certainty that if Dempsey was on the field, Jozy would NOT have been the one taking the PK. But Clint wasn't on the field and Jozy is the next in line in terms of the coach's faith for finishing in that moment. The goal counts. The coach's faith in the player counts. Give him his credit.

Jozy isn't better than Wood or Pulisic, but we are going to need him to play as well as he can if we have any hope whatsoever to do anything important in Russia...

 

[HuskyHawk]

Wow, this thread has had some spark all of a sudden.

On the subject of Jozy Altidore; most of you know that I'm not a big fan of his. But he definitely finds the back of the net; we cannot deny that and we should be happy for that, since we've had plenty of forwards that can't or don't. I would prefer Wood and Dempsey to be on the field rather than Wood and Jozy, but it is what it is.

On the subject of whether or not Jozy's PK should qualify for a goal; good grief! Yes, all the hard work was performed by someone else. But I can tell you with great certainty that the PK taker is already worked out before the game even starts. Jozy taking the PKs means the coach feels confident that he will put it away. I can also tell you with great certainty that if Dempsey was on the field, Jozy would NOT have been the one taking the PK. But Clint wasn't on the field and Jozy is the next in line in terms of the coach's faith for finishing in that moment. The goal counts. The coach's faith in the player counts. Give him his credit.

Jozy isn't better than Wood or Pulisic, but we are going to need him to play as well as he can if we have any hope whatsoever to do anything important in Russia...

I'm not trying to knock Jozy. I'd start Dempsey until he was gassed and sub Jozy, but Bruce will do what he wants. Dempsey is just vastly more creative with the ball, is able to get by defenders and is the best finisher on the team. Jozy can score when he is open and somebody feeds him the ball. But he doesn't create anything.

In any event, this flurry of posts wasn't about whether he had a good game, he did. It was about "he scored two goals and had an assist so he was the best player on the field". Um...no. I don't know how anyone could watch that game and conclude that. Pulisic looked like a young Wayne Gretzky in the first half, just slicing Panama up. All they could do, and they did, was beat the hell out of him. He needs to get stronger, because he's going to see that a lot from the Central American hack teams.

Even at striker, Wood played better than Jozy, and created the PK with a smart move to split defenders. I never noticed Bradley, which means he must have played fairly well, and didn't give the ball away in our end repeatedly like he sometimes does. I criticized choosing Arriola as a starter, but he had a lot of energy, and did more than Nagbe on the other side.

 

[meyers7]

Too bad you’re too disingenuous to leave the rest of the post. Smoke and Mirrors, much like Jozy’s entire career.

I usually only leave what I want to address. The rest wasn't worth my time.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Flooded pitch or not. Looks like it dried out enough and the game is on. Any guesses on the lineup? With the short turn-around, I think we will see a few changes to use fresher players in the heat and humidity.

 

[meyers7]

The criticism is that he played extremely well for him and was still easily replaceable.

By whom???

It is ludicrous to justify a roster spot solely on a single or even a handful of layoff passes. His sole unique contribution was the layoff to Pulisic on the first goal off the flick on from Wood. Even on that play his contribution was third best behind Pulisic and Wood.

It's ludicrous to want to get rid of one of the best strikers we have. At basically the peak of his career.

Is Jozy one of our top 3 strikers?

Yeah. Sorry, wish we had better, but we don't.

Wood was creating chances, passing lanes, and running channels. He was a threat. He can even dribble if called upon.

Don't compare him to Wood, Wood's already playing. Can't drop Altidore for Wood, when he's already playing.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Flooded pitch or not. Looks like it dried out enough and the game is on. Any guesses on the lineup? With the short turn-around, I think we will see a few changes to use fresher players in the heat and humidity.

I see the same defense, no reason to switch it up, maybe if Cameron is healthy enough throw him in there over Omar. I think Omar's lack of mobility has really been exposed recently.

As for the midfield I may start Bedoya ahead of Nagbe for this one to partner Bradley with someone who offers some defensive abilities, maybe Acosta instead.

Front three of Pulisic, Wood and Jozy should be kept the same.

So, my guess is:

Howard

Yedlin Cameron Besler Villafana

Arriola Bedoya Bradley

Pulisic

Wood Jozy

 

[UConnDan97]

I'm not trying to knock Jozy. I'd start Dempsey until he was gassed and sub Jozy, but Bruce will do what he wants. Dempsey is just vastly more creative with the ball, is able to get by defenders and is the best finisher on the team. Jozy can score when he is open and somebody feeds him the ball. But he doesn't create anything.

In any event, this flurry of posts wasn't about whether he had a good game, he did. It was about "he scored two goals and had an assist so he was the best player on the field". Um...no. I don't know how anyone could watch that game and conclude that. Pulisic looked like a young Wayne Gretzky in the first half, just slicing Panama up. All they could do, and they did, was beat the hell out of him. He needs to get stronger, because he's going to see that a lot from the Central American hack teams.

Even at striker, Wood played better than Jozy, and created the PK with a smart move to split defenders. I never noticed Bradley, which means he must have played fairly well, and didn't give the ball away in our end repeatedly like he sometimes does. I criticized choosing Arriola as a starter, but he had a lot of energy, and did more than Nagbe on the other side.

I agree with your views on Dempsey. I'm probably the biggest Dempsey supporter around. I wonder if he'll get the start tonight in Panama or if Arena will just let him come off the bench again.

As for the Jozy thing; was he the best player on the field? No. Do I care who anyone votes for MOTM? No. Is ZooCougar way too emotional to give Jozy an ounce of credit for having a good game? Yes.

Bottom line; I don't want Jozy to be one of my three best forwards. At this point on our national team, he IS one of our best three forwards. Let's hope that we continue to develop youth to the point where that is no longer true a year from now...

 

[meyers7]

I'm not trying to knock Jozy. I'd start Dempsey until he was gassed and sub Jozy,

A decent idea, though can't do that all the time, especially 2 games in 3-4 days. But that still leaves Altidore with a roster spot. (which a few on here do not want). Also that's not a 1 for 1 swap either. Dempsey plays better as a 2nd (withdrawn) striker. Not what Altidore does. Not what Wood really does either. A Dempsey/Wood duo would leave Wood kind of isolated up top. Hasn't always worked out in the past.

In any event, this flurry of posts wasn't about whether he had a good game, he did.

Actually a couple on here have not even acknowledged that.

It was about "he scored two goals and had an assist so he was the best player on the field". Um...no. I don't know how anyone could watch that game and conclude that.

I don't think anyone said he was the best player on the field. He was MOTM. Whoever it is that determines these things, decided that.

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...ap-mnt-usa-panama-world-cup-qualifier-orlando

I criticized choosing Arriola as a starter, but he had a lot of energy, and did more than Nagbe on the other side.

I agree, Nagbe seemed pretty invisible. However Arriola and Yedlin gave the right side a lot of speed. I don't suppose working with Villafana is quite as much fun.

 

[UConnDan97]

Flooded pitch or not. Looks like it dried out enough and the game is on. Any guesses on the lineup? With the short turn-around, I think we will see a few changes to use fresher players in the heat and humidity.

For the lineup, I would really like to see them stick with a consistent center back pairing. Besler and Gonzalez have gone the last couple of games together, and I would like them to continue to do that. Center backs are all about communication and familiarity, so we need to stop screwing around there and stick with the ones we think we'll play in Russia.

I'd also like to see McCarty get more burn. I like his creativity.

Here's what I'd like to see tonight:

Howard
Yedlin, Gonzalez, Besler, Villafana
Pulisic, McCarty, Bradley, Nagbe
Dempsey, Wood

I'm confident that we WON'T see that lineup, but I'd like to see it...

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I agree with your views on Dempsey. I'm probably the biggest Dempsey supporter around. I wonder if he'll get the start tonight in Panama or if Arena will just let him come off the bench again.

As for the Jozy thing; was he the best player on the field? No. Do I care who anyone votes for MOTM? No. Is ZooCougar way too emotional to give Jozy an ounce of credit for having a good game? Yes.

Bottom line; I don't want Jozy to be one of my three best forwards. At this point on our national team, he IS one of our best three forwards. Let's hope that we continue to develop youth to the point where that is no longer true a year from now...

And whether we like it or not, he's gonna be for the foreseeable future. Wood is great and is improving a lot, he's our best right now. But, who else is there? We have young guys coming up, but they aren't really close to debuts, that lost generation really screwed us. Wright, Carleton, Sargent, Akinola are good but young. Don't know if we have any forwards that are like 20-21 that have great potential

 

[UConnDan97]

And whether we like it or not, he's gonna be for the foreseeable future. Wood is great and is improving a lot, he's our best right now. But, who else is there? We have young guys coming up, but they aren't really close to debuts, that lost generation really screwed us. Wright, Carleton, Sargent, Akinola are good but young. Don't know if we have any forwards that are like 20-21 that have great potential

I'm going to say something that's very unpopular here, but in my opinion, young promising forwards should play somewhere that they know they are going to get playing time. Often, that means the MLS (queue up Zoo losing his mind here ___).

Take Julian Green for example. Withered on the Bayern bench for quite some time (actually Hamburg and Stuttgart since he was loaned out). During his time in the Bundesliga, he has scored a grand total of 1 goal. Really, 1 goal. I'm not making that up. He is now languishing on the last place team in the German second division (Greuther Furth) without any goals in 5 appearances.

This is a player that had a lot of potential and STILL has a lot of potential. You're going to hear a lot of folks say, "The Bundesliga is great for him to develop against the world's best!" Umm...not if you aren't playing, it's not.

The flip side of this situation is someone like Jack Harrison of NYCFC, who plays every game and gets a lot of exposure. Well, he's now getting called up for the England U-21s. He didn't have to be at Liverpool or Arsenal. NYCFC and a whole lot of burn was all he needed to get himself onto England's team. Think about that for a moment and let that sink in...

 

[ZooCougar]

I usually only leave what I want to address. The rest wasn't worth my time.

Because the rest of it discounts the fact that it counted. That’s probably one of the most brazen and pathetic edit jobs I have ever seen here.

 

[ZooCougar]

I'm going to say something that's very unpopular here, but in my opinion, young promising forwards should play somewhere that they know they are going to get playing time. Often, that means the MLS (queue up Zoo losing his mind here ___).

Take Julian Green for example. Withered on the Bayern bench for quite some time (actually Hamburg and Stuttgart since he was loaned out). During his time in the Bundesliga, he has scored a grand total of 1 goal. Really, 1 goal. I'm not making that up. He is now languishing on the last place team in the German second division (Greuther Furth) without any goals in 5 appearances.

This is a player that had a lot of potential and STILL has a lot of potential. You're going to hear a lot of folks say, "The Bundesliga is great for him to develop against the world's best!" Umm...not if you aren't playing, it's not.

The flip side of this situation is someone like Jack Harrison of NYCFC, who plays every game and gets a lot of exposure. Well, he's now getting called up for the England U-21s. He didn't have to be at Liverpool or Arsenal. NYCFC and a whole lot of burn was all he needed to get himself onto England's team. Think about that for a moment and let that sink in...

Julian Green seems like a shrinking violet to me. He plays down to whereever he is. It doesn’t matter where you put him.

Didn’t Jack Harrison ride the pine in that U-21 game? that’s hardly any sort of validation.

The point is that certain players belong in the Bundesliga and certain players that are not as talented or are mentally weak like Donovan don’t.