2009 Dynamo & USMNT Soccer Thread

[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?

[papabear]

Originally Posted by 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?

I think what you saw in the Confed cup is basically what you are going to get through this world cup cycle outside of a few minor changes or injuries. Bradley is basically just sending the B-Team. He's got some older guys for leadership and a few guys who will be apart of WC qualifying getting a few more minutes. Other than that it's guys trying out to fill in an injury role.

[papabear]

usa usa usa usa

[popanot]

Originally Posted by papabear

usa usa usa usa

It's amazing how much better Brazil is/was at handling the ball than team USA (or a lot of teams for that matter). I missed the first half, but you could tell it was just a matter of time before Brazil got back in it the way they had the US on their heels in the second half. It seemed they played down the US end the entire half. The US played great and did us proud, but they still have a ways to go. They've got get better at passing and setting up plays, with a little more aggression on O' to have a chance in the WC.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by popanot

It's amazing how much better Brazil is/was at handling the ball than team USA (or a lot of teams for that matter). I missed the first half, but you could tell it was just a matter of time before Brazil got back in it the way they had the US on their heels in the second half. It seemed they played down the US end the entire half. The US played great and did us proud, but they still have a ways to go. They've got get better at passing and setting up plays, with a little more aggression on O' to have a chance in the WC.

They were able to just sit back against Spain and keep them out of the goal. I knew that if we weren't able to keep possession at least a little that Brazil would eventually pick them apart. While I'm thrilled with the effort, I'm not near as warm and fuzzy over this team as some of the stuff I read is. As a team our first touch and passing still isn't at the level it needs to be. They rely entirely too much on the long ball at times when they should just be trying to hold the ball. I liked the way they used their speed for quick counterstrikes the last few matches, but you can't let Brazil spend the entire match in the attacking third.

After seeing the Astros look like a good team on Saturday (took my nephew to his first Big league game) and the first half of the USA match I was having a pretty good weekend....then the second half came. To top it all off the Dynamo choked against Arena and the Galaxy. I was thoroughly depressed by the time I went to bed last night.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by papabear

I was thoroughly depressed by the time I went to bed last night.

Me too. Still a little sad actually.

The US has to sit back and play the counters. That's it. They play too many long passes forward sometimes, but sometimes that's because they aren't good enough to possess the ball long enough to matriculate it up the pitch, so to speak.

More bad news for Dynamo fans, though potentially good for the development of the USMNT... Rico is drawing interest from the French team Rennes, the squad that employs Bocanegra now.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...405043,00.html
http://blogs.chron.com/soccer/archiv...onversa_1.html

Talks are preliminary right now and might go nowhere, but Rico going somewhere overseas seems inevitable to me at some point. I'm a little surprised he didn't leave last year actually.

As for the loss to the Gals, I didn't like the starting 11, but with Hainault gone, Waibel and Barrett unavailable, options were limited... but I really would have preferred to have Mulrooney at D-Mid and keep Holden in his normal spot with Davis wide left. Maybe put Ashe at right back (or left... not sure which Chabala prefers more). I think that would have been less disruptive to the offensive engine. Heck, put Mullan at RB and Ashe in front of him, just keep Davis out left and Mulrooney in the middle without Rico.