2009 Dynamo & USMNT Soccer Thread

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Joel

(dempsey)

the guy is a liability when (a) he has the ball or (b) the other team has the ball. he is only good when he gets a ball that he can put directly on net.

makes me miss clint mathis & josh wolff.

Crazy thing is I that I talked to my buddy today from the UK and he tells me how much he likes Dempsey and said it seems like he's playing well for the US. I informed him that he's playing like A$$, but just had the one header for a goal against Egypt. I was taking up for him as recently as a few matches ago because I really think he's capable of more. After this many bad performances he really needs to be sat down.

[papabear]

Holy Shit!!! 2-0 US 79th minute....and I think I saw Dempsey come back and play a little defense too. I got to see the first half. I was worried they were too willing to sit back and let Spain come at them late in the first half. Dempsey's goal is going to make it very hard for Spain to come back now.

[papabear]

They held on 2-0. Bradley got a red though and will have to miss the finals. Didn't see it, but gamecast commentary hinted that he didn't really deserve a red.


Wow....I think I may have tricked the sports gods with some reverse psychology on this one

[dalemurphy]

Originally Posted by papabear

They held on 2-0. Bradley got a red though and will have to miss the finals. Didn't see it, but gamecast commentary hinted that he didn't really deserve a red.


Wow....I think I may have tricked the sports gods with some reverse psychology on this one

It was a clean tackle and the guy didn't even pretend to be hurt. Even for soccer, it was one of the more ridiculous calls I've seen.

[Keith]

Gold Cup roster announced. It includes Ching and Holden, but no other Dynamo.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (IK Start), Luis Robles (FC Kaiserslautern)
DEFENDERS (7): Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Jay Heaps (New England Revolution), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaellands), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS (5): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Santino Quaranta (D.C. United)

I know I said I wanted Adu to play in this tournament, but then again, if he is going to get on the field for his club team next season, he needs to be ready whenever their training starts. And I'm a little surprised Bradley is keeping Davies on this roster, but then again, why not I suppose.

Outside of Ching, Holden, Adu... there's quite a few others I'm not too excited to see. Oh well. Those three are more than worth it.

Come to think of it, why is the Gold Cup necessary every other year? Seems like once every four is enough when there is WCQ going on, but I guess if the intent is to trot out your B- and C-level (and by this looks of some on this roster, the D-level) talent, then okay.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Keith

Gold Cup roster announced. It includes Ching and Holden, but no other Dynamo.



I know I said I wanted Adu to play in this tournament, but then again, if he is going to get on the field for his club team next season, he needs to be ready whenever their training starts. And I'm a little surprised Bradley is keeping Davies on this roster, but then again, why not I suppose.

Outside of Ching, Holden, Adu... there's quite a few others I'm not too excited to see. Oh well. Those three are more than worth it.

Come to think of it, why is the Gold Cup necessary every other year? Seems like once every four is enough when there is WCQ going on, but I guess if the intent is to trot out your B- and C-level (and by this looks of some on this roster, the D-level) talent, then okay.

I'm OK with the Gold Cup format....if for no other reasons than it give an opportunity to test out some different players. I'm not too excited overall about this roster either. I'm very happy for Holden, and want to see Adu more. I'm also happy to see someone from the Golden Triangle, Arnaud, get a call up. Even if he is from Nederland, I hope he gets some minutes and plays well.

[Joel]

why so few mls'ers for the confed cup, and then so many for the gold cup? i understand they can't be gone from their clubs for all that time, but wouldn't mixing up the two groups a bit more now help with cohesiveness later?

[superbowlbound]

Our defense couldn't have been more rock solid. We were under siege the entire game, and still came away with a clean sheet in only our second victory vs. a no. 1 ranked team ever. I'm very proud of our guys. Now rest up and get ready for Brazil, because, let's face it, south africa is only there because they're the hosts.


::edit::
Yeah, that red card was total crap. he slid in low, head on, and got the ball first. hard challenge, definitely. Yellow, maybe. Red? absolutely not. That's now 3 send-offs in 4 games for the us squad. not good.

[Keith]

Yep, we sat back and played the counters. The first half showed the good and not so good of Altidore, but thankfully the good was really good. He took a position on Capdevila and totally pwned him.

Dempsey at forward is something to keep an eye on. Davies actually played a decent game. With Ching and Adu (please!) ready as well, there is finally some depth there, which was a problem in past international competitions.

With Spain, this plan worked. I don't think this gameplan will be nearly as effective against Brazil, assuming they take care of business tomorrow. But that talk is for another day... time to celebrate this before the CWS tonight.