USSoccer

He's a good example of what an actual good young player would look lke against MLS defenses.

German is better than Miles. Frick.

I think people are going to be really, unpleasantly surprised about his inability to be an everyday player by about mid-June. Isn't he going to be in a pretty strict platoon? Or are you saying he won't even been good enough playing against almost solely RHP? [i'm not necessarily disagreeing, just trying to clarify] I think that he has a good chance of being exposed as the number of PA's he has increases beyond anything he's seen at the ML level. His performance will really be important to the offense, because if he sucks, his backup is going to see time, and his backup is more likely than not to be wicked bad.

I think people are going to be really, unpleasantly surprised about his inability to be an everyday player by about mid-June.

Smart on Lou.

If salary is included I'd be hard pressed to not delete Fukudome. Lee would be a close second and Soriano third. Otherwise, Miles, Gathright and Vizcaino are all excellent candidates to go away.

He's better than anyone you'd likely sign, even at his contact rate. He's becoming really underrated.

Is anyone on here willing to reconsider Hinrich's value to the team?

FWIW, the ELO models have us at exactly the number of points expected through 2 games. I think the changes we make ahead of Wednesday's game will say alot for how Bradley is going to evaluate last nights hot mess.

How much does where we finish in the Hex matter in terms of World Cup stuff as long as we're in the top-3? I know that to finish third vs. first we'd have to lose and draw a few games which would hurt our world ranking, but I really have no idea how that affects placement in the World Cup (or if it even does at all). It doesnt but if you want to avoid the playoff with CONMEMBOL...i mean, do you see Mexico, Honduras or Costa Rica dropping points away to ESA? It means we now need to win an away match we'd otherwise need to draw to avoid qualifying coming down to the last couple games. We've never won at the Saprissa or at Azteca. The two points we lost out on make it that much more difficult.

Ok, seeing as how I have been up all night keeping an eye on my sick daughter, I watched parts of the game again. Thoughts: -Beasley and Pearce were the two worst players on the field, which is saying something, because for the first 40 or so, Califf was playing center liability. Both DMB and Pearce need to sit in Nashville. The three together probably combined for the worst performance in a meaningful game since the CZR game in 2006 where no one played well and Pope, Donovan and Beasley were atrocious. -Dempsey was hit or miss rather than solid, but he and Donovan actually did try and assert themselves in the first half. Donovan kind of stopped after the first half. None of the mids took particularly good care of the ball. We played, ironically, exactly like Mexico did against us, bypassing the midfield positions and almost exclusively hitting long balls to Ching and Clint. -Long balls would have worked against the Sallies had we had effective wing play. We were just that much taller and physical. Ching was holding well. The problem was that by the time we started to assert said physicality, Dempsey had decided to play almost exclusively centrally (where he should be anyway), leaving Hejduk along to cover that wing. So he couldn't really get forward, and Beasley looked completely lazy and slow. Deuce actually yelled at him on two different occasions to get forward, and I'm not sure how that ever should happen to a supposed veteran of the team. We need either better wing play (which presents a problem since Clint isn't a winger and Beasley is bad) or better fullback play (more likely with 'Dolo, Spector, and Wynne all options. -Sacha shouldn't be starting. He's not done anything outside of the C friendly against Sweden to warrant pairing with Bradley. WAY too many idiotic giveaways. Inexplicable passing. Panicked shooting. A lack of composure and vision. He isn't ready. JFT or even Pablo (until Sacha or JFT are ready) should be starting. On the road, you can't afford a central mid to be so careless with the ball. -On the buildup to Jozy's goal, the Sallie who should have been marking Hejduk was rolling around the center circle faking a strained vagina. That's what you get. At one point, ESA had 5 players on the ground, bitching it up. If Ching had pretended to be a striker for a split second and finished the point blank chance Jozy set him up with instead of drilling it into the keeper's chest, it would have been a karmalicious outcome for the worst example of time wasting since every Ghanian field player acted like snipers were in the stands in 2006. Bob Bradley needs to never, ever carry 2 D-mids and 2 backup defenders over Adu ever again. Games like this are made for players like Adu, Torres, Dempsey and Jozy. Also, this is the first time in a long time that I saw us play completely disorganized, undisciplined ball. -I can't shake the feeling that the two points lost in this game will come back to get us at some point. I feel this result was important for some reason, like something's changed after it, but I can't quite place what.

We started the worst possible lineup for it. Donovan isn't a back to goal player. He should have been lying deeper. Actually, you probably should have swapped Donovan and Dempsey and that would have helped. We had no midfielder willing to change the point of attack. Beasley was awful, Clint ended up all over the place trying to do too much, Donovan was beaten out of the game, and so you have Ching holding the ball up for no one. We had no width, not enough creativity to break down the bunker...basically, we've learned nothing in 3 years. Nothing tactically has improved because our team selection still sucks. If Torres starts instead of Sacha (way too many stupid giveaways to justify his first XI status, btw) and maybe swap Dempsey and Donovan position wise, or start Adu, and you have something.

The problem was we had 7 guys who sucked hard tonight. Dempsey kept trying to basically play a number 10 type role in the center of the field, only his teammates mostly sucked all night. Donovan was fricking invisible. Completely terrible. Awful. Bad. Beasley was absolute horsecrap. Clint was ok, but was too careless with the ball at times. At least he was trying. You would need players like Clint-creative, attack minded, technically gifted-to break a packed defense and move the ball one-touch. Until Jozy and JFT came in, we had no one for him to play off of, especially when Donovan vanished after about the 20th minute. Bradley and Sacha were awful. Sacha shouldn't start in the center of the pitch anymore if this is going to be his form. He was bad against Mexico, only no one noticed because Bradley was Roy Keane that night. Well, tonight, Bradley was aaaaawful, and we were terrible as a result. None of the back 4, Hejduk included, should feel proud of themselves. NONE of those 4 save Boca should EVER start for us again if we're being serious about being a top team. Califf...cripes. If our 3rd choice CB is a starter in Norway, we're hosed. And WTF is wrong with Bradley? If you have your choice between the recently uninjured EPL defender with skill, the recently uninjured Colaship defender with skill, and the recently uninjured Norwegian defender with no skill, why the hell do you choose the latter? If its based on his performance in the friendly against Argentina...the only thing that kept that game from being 5-0 was Tim Howard, because the central defense was pants that night too. Guzan isn't ready. If Howard is hurt before 2010, Friedel should (and likely would) be our first choice for the WC. He should have saved the 2nd goal (although again, he had a terrible defense in front of him). Jozy and JFT should be starters. Ching had a good game, actually. I thought his hold up play was good and would have been an asset, had anyone but Dempsey been trying to play quick passes. Bradley deserves the blame for this tie. Califf and Pearce shouldn't have been out there. He should have known that the Sallies were going to bunker and pack, and should have started creative players instead of physically 'gifted' ones like Beasley (who's touch sucks). If we do anything but demolish T&T on Wednesday I'm going to be right pissed off. We were LUCKY to get a draw out of a team we should handle with ease.

GET CALIFF OUT NOW

DAMMIT TO HELL Nice backline play.

Mexico is getting every call against Costa Rica and lead 2-0. Their number 2 keeper Ochoa has made some nice saves

BOOOOOO to that back four. Come on. I know its a Central American WCQ but it's the weakest Hex opponent, and one that plans on bunkering. Hejduk, Pearce and Califf aren't first choice material right now for a top side. What makes it worse is that we have 2 EPL quality defenders in Spector and (stretching it a bit) DeMerit. I'm mildly surprised at Sacha over Pablo as well

Gooch, EJ, Adu and Howard all not dressing tonight. I guess that means an interesting night in central defense. Figure Califf, Demerit or Spector to start. My money is (unfortunately) on Califf.

I know Craig Bellamy is a tool, but his postgame after Wales was effectively eliminated from 2010 was pretty much the opposite of anything any American athlete ever says after a game: 'he's not a good enough player to score' 'they aren't a good side...i know we've just lost, but...pfft...' awesome interview.

He's got a nice touch but he's just not quick.

swing and a miss

Okay, that was funny as hell. But he's still less athletic than that dingus from Carolina.

What my dexter-esque 2nd sentence was trying to say is that the presence of any athletic ability in him is being magnified by the fact he looks like a white center from central casting. he's more athletic than he looks like he should be, but he's not really all that athletic. he's still stiff.

He still looks like an oafish tall white center from Kansas. Him showing the fleeting glimpses of athleticism is just whetting lowered expectations.

Aldrich looks like a slightly more dexterous Greg Ostertag. Slightly.