USSoccer

That was a stupid play by Rose

That was a bailout whistle. Hilarious.

Agreed. Delonte West and his prison tats make me laugh.

Agreed. Delonte West and his prison tats make me laugh.

agreed. not that i wouldnt take him on my team. Jordan did the same thing. He was actually way worse. And Mike was pretty darn likeable. Jordan won six titles and never danced and preened like a high school kid lighting up some scrub team. James acts like an ass.

James acts like a total douche on the court. Really not likable.

What are you watching on the Rose call? They just showed the replay again, you want to retract? To say nothing of the 3 "fouls" called on Miller and Noah.

This is comical. It's like watching WWE

Chuck D started full match training with Sochaux today. Still would like some positive news on Gooch.

The blessing here is that Jozy doesn't have to play again for Hull. They're awful

hahaha karma

The second half of your sentence should be somewhere in the NSBB mission statement.

While I agree that Bradley hasn't and probably doesn't have the ability to get the most out of Freddy, I will disagree that Ching is an asset on set pieces. Ching isn't that good in the mixer. He's a very good holdup player, but he isn't an offensive threat. Like I told TT, I think as the 23rd man, Adu can potentially have more value in a short tournament than a player like Gomez. I'd drop Ching in my scenario not because I don't see his value, but because I think Jozy and Clint can probably handle any hold up duties, Ching's not a lock to be 100% healthy, and we'll only really need a hold up player against England anyway. Slovenia and Algeria are going to bunker and counter us. Against those two sides, Gomez and Adu have more value than Ching. Matchup wise, Ching doesn't fit there. He'd be of most tactical use against a more physical side as a holdup/lone forward or as a player brought in to be able to fight for possession late and kill off a game. Tactically, we're not likely to need that kind of player during the first three games. Rust can be shaken off with the May camp/Send off friendlies, and he's not likely to play anyway unless we need his specific skill set. Still, as a coach, I'd rather have that card to play than the Gomez/Ching/Casey card off the bench. EDIT: This is all moot anyway, since I think Adu isn't a lock to even go to the May camp, and even if he's there, would have to beat out at least 6 guys ahead of him for that spot and even then Bradley probably won't take him. It's just what I would do as of now.

In my world where I'm USMNT coach and married to Jessica Alba, Charlie doesn't start but comes off the bench for 35 against England and Slovenia and starts against Algeria. Jozy plays up front in the 4-5-1/4-3-3 against England and we play Deuce and Jozy up front against Slovenia. I am of the mind that in a short tourney, you can afford to take a specialist like Adu with one role in mind over a guy like Ching, and taking Davies as an impact sub isn't really much of a risk. If Charlie can't go at all, then I take Ching in place of Charlie, drop Bedoya and add Beasley to the roster because we're going to really have to concentrate on defending and countering rather than attacking, and Beasley can probably defend better than Bedoya and has more value in that setup, as much as it pains me to admit. In the real world, where I work for an insurance company and am not married, I'll concede that you're probably correct and Ching goes and Adu doesn't. Bradley is far more likely to look at Ching's workrate and holdup play as greater positives than the potential usefulness of an offensive only specialist like Adu vs a bunkering defense. The other variable is that Ching is hurt, and may not be ready in time anyway, in which case it's Casey who Bradley will likely take.

If one assumes that we take four strikers, and Jozy and Charlie are healthy, that leaves 6 guys for two spots: -Ching and Casey for the holdup/target role. Ching is more experienced and tactically stronger. He's been the lone striker in our 4-5-1/4-3-3 hybrid setup. Casey is stronger and get himself into scoring positions more frequently (i.e., I think his off-the-ball positioning and runs are better) but he's slow as hell and a poor finisher. Ching is better defensively and Casey better offensively. -Buddle, Gomez and EJ for the backup striker role. Buddle is the most physically gifted of all three, and the biggest headcase. EJ is EuroBuddle, has pace but poor tactical acumen. Gomez plays in the softest defensive league of the three, but leads said league in scoring. Buddle is better in the air, Gomez an better poacher and EJ better on the counter. -Adu is the least likely of the group to go, sees the least amount of tick, but is the most likely to be able to break a bunker and provide a moment of genius. LD and CD8's flexibility help us here. Deuce can play the holdup role late in games, eliminating the need for Ching or Casey. LD can play the backup striker role if need be. Their flexibility opens the possibility of using the 23rd spot on Adu, however unlikely it may be. I wouldn't take a forward based on his ability to defend within the setup, but Bob will. The May camp will clear this up, but if it were me, today, I take: Jozy Chuck D Buddle Adu. Buddle can back up Chuck D, CD8 can back up Jozy and Adu can be used to break Slovenia and Algeria's bunker. If we are 1-1 in the 65th minute and need a goal to advance against ALG, do you really want our bench options to be Casey/EJ/Ching? That would be disastrous. We should only take 7 defenders and three keepers. That leaves 9 MF's and 4 strikers. The 8th defender taken to the past 4 WC's by the US has never played. With Spector and Bornstein able to fill central and wing spots, we should not take a 7th defender. The defenders should be: Gooch (CB) Boca (CB/FB) Demerit (CB) Bornstein (CB/FB) Spector (CB/FB) Goodison (CB) Cherundolo (FB) The mids: Donovan (LM) Dempsey (RM) Bradley (CM) Edu (CM/CB) Holden (RM) Torres (CM/RM) Clark (CM) Bedoya (LM) Feilhaber (CM/RM) It's the defender pool which worries me far more than the forward group. If Gooch isn't ready to go, we're in deep trouble. We'll have to bring a player like Marshall or Conrad, both of whom aren't international quality, or play Boca centrally which I'm not keen on, or have Goodison pair with Demerit, but defenders collect cards, and our central defender depth will be tricky. If Gooch is ready, forget the 9th MF, since Bradley would almost certainly forget Adu or anyone else in that 4th FWD spot, add Dempsey to the forward group and bring Pearce along with the Marshall/Conrad/Gibbs/Gonzalez choice at CB. Our offensive ability will be hampered by that, and our defensive quality would be pretty poor. Gooch's health will trigger more worrisome decisions than Davies' in the end.

Also, Neil Armstrong was like 60 years ago.

If you put a handgun to my head and made me choose Buddle or Gomez, I'd choose Buddle. Without the handgun, I'd still take Adu over both as the final forward

I'm not really worried. I think Guzan is a better overall keeper than Howard anyway. Howard is more athletic, Guzan technically better. Between the two of them we should be okay until the 2018 cycle, and by then we should have a candidate out of the Robles/Perkins/Seitz/Cervi crowd. Also, in 8 years MLS should be able to provide a couple decent backups to whoever is the alpha dog. Personally, I think our current keeper pool is better than the 2002 pool. Keller=wildly overrated.

He's said that even if he doesn't make it for the World Cup, he'd still like to play for us. That was at the Holland game. Seitz has been a disaster so far. Zakuani would be eligible as he has lived here for more than two years and has a clear connection to the country (attended college). Seitz has been really terrible in just about every area so far. I have my doubts Jones will ever recover from his injury, to be honest. If he's eligible, I'm all for Zakuani, Pontius, Cameron, Jack Mac, Ream and Orozco at the next Camp Cupcake.

Ok, Philly Union look like a real soccer team despite Danny the Traffic Cone and Seitz being terrible and gifting TFC the win. They pass really well, and Torres is the truth. Really enjoyable to watch. Nowak has done a fantastic job 3 games in.

He needs to show a plan B first. Last year he had one move-beat his man on the wing with speed. I like him as a player but he's still developing. Also, I *think* he's not eligible. Not positive though. We've all accepted that Jermaine Jones isn't playing for us, right?

You had me til McBride and Gomez. McBride is old and past it, and Gomez is nothing but Apetura Buddle. Nothing but poachy goals. Nothing really impressive. I suppose if CD9 isn't back, we just go with Jozy and Clint up top with Casey and Findley in reserve. A lot depends on if Holden gets back too. If he does, it's easier to just slot Deuce up front, if not, we play the hybrid 4-5-1/4-3-3 that we played prior to Davies arrival. I think Mikey's insane. Really insane. I love it. Did you check out the YouTube of he and Adu playing crossbar?

I was absolutely happy as hell that CSN had the Fire home opener in HD. Seriously happy. I haven't bothered to look it up yet, but I hope they commit to showing a significant number of games this season. 20k for the home opener was solid. Too bad Bobby Convey's corpse decided to actually make a useful pass and ruin it. And Wolf, if we have to take a couple MLS strikers and Ching is out, who would you take? Findley didn't look nearly ready and everyone else is pants. The best thing I can say about Buddle is he plays with LD and is incredibly streaky. If the 4th fwd is the 23rd man or so, I'd consider taking a U-21 type like Duka or even someone like McInerrney from Philly Union over just about any of the collection of crap in MLS.

This year will probably have a ton of growing pains, but that team has a ton of young talent. Mac, Torres, Orozco...thats a solid core of players. They'll be a handful next year. Full credit to SOB and the Philly fans. 35k on opening night.

Holy crap, Philadelphia Union look pretty good. DC suck, mind you, but PU didn't look bad against Seattle on opening night either. They're keeping the ball on the deck and Roger Torres looks like a find for MLS. Quality of play is definitely up so far, and it's only matchday 3