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15 years ago
Monday, November 12, 2007
WELCOME TO THE "CITY OF GOLD"
Welcome back to the MNT Blog, folks, as we join you from the "City of Gold" here in Johannesburg, South Africa. While we certainly expect a fantastic experience during the week, one thing is for certain - it's a heck of a haul to get here. Travel stories aside - and we'll share some tomorrow - we do actually have some team news. Eddie Lewis will not be joining the squad in South Africa, and U.S. coach Bob Bradley has supplemented the roster by adding Heath Pearce and Jonathan Spector, bringing the total U.S. contingency to 18 players. The vast majority of the group arrives today (Nov. 12), and a light training schedule is on tap for the afternoon. There will be plenty to talk about this week as the U.S. preps for game #499 in MNT history, and we hope you'll be following along. For now, goodnight from Jo-Berg ....
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13 comments:
Are they going to announce more MLS players (IE Eddie Johnson) soon?
Glad to have the blog back.
Let's keep the momentum from the Switzerland friendly going and get a win of African soil.
Any specific reason why Eddie Lewis was replaced? I'm all for Pearce and Spector getting called up as they will play bigger roles for the 2010 World Cup. But it is in poor taste to release someone after initially inviting them. Any specifics?
I'm looking forward to seeing who Bradley decides will be the starting Left Back. Jonathan Bornstein and Heath Pearce look to have a little battle going on for that position.
Welcome! As the most hardcore USMNT fan in RSA (last 4 world cups!), I'm stoked. When and where can I greet the team and/or watch a practice.
Great to see our USMNT traveling to Europe and now RSA! I know the travel is tough and it might seem a lot better to play here in the States but I believe by doing this we will be much better prepared for 2010 and we will be there in RSA in 2010.
gabe,
why would you think they would call in Eddie Johnson? He's done nothing for the nats. He should stick to the Wizards.
I think we should ignore Eddie Johnson for now unless he changes his attacking tatic. Look, most of the time instead of racing the ball to the goal and score he stops at outside the box and wait for teamates while he has space to go forward. That's why he has not score for U.S national lately.
ummmm... Pearce and Borenstein have a battle going? Did you watch Copa America and see that Borenstein was directly responsible for 2-3 goals? Pearce should have that spot locked down.
Dear Staff of the MNT Blog,
I beg you to convince Bob Bradley to start the following players: Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, and Freeddy Adu.
It’s great to see Jozy Altidore's name on the roster. He should be are main weapon going into 2010!!
Love to see Adu start. I think he made a big impression when he was sub in during the Swisserland game, he had those Swiss defenders going crazy.
I'm fairly certain Lewis picked up an injury during the game against West Ham this weeend.
Glad to see Spector in the squad, he has regained a starting place at West Ham after losing it for a bit.
I'd rather see Chris Seitz in the line up than Brad Guzan though. I know Guzan had a good MLS season, but I see Seitz having more of a future with the team. Howard is only 28, Guzan is 23 and Seits is only 20. In 2010 Howard will be 31. It's likely that Guzan and Seitz will be the backups. Howard will PROBABLY start in 2014 as well, at the age of 35. By that point, Guzan will be 31. By 2018, Seitz will be 28 and likely the full-time starter. I don't ever see Guzan being the full-time starter for this team. So ditch him and give Seitz a chance..away from the states against a decent team.
I also don't think you start Freddy Adu in this game. The South Africans are big and fast. Adu's speed will be negated by their speed, and he's not big enough to by physical with them. I think you start the following:
Howard
RB - Cherundolo
CB - Onyewu
CB - Boca
LB - Pearce
RM - Dempsey
CM - Edu
CM - Bradley
LM - Beasley
FW - Donovan
FW - Altidore
Feilhaber is probably not match fit so he doesn't get to start in my line-up. In my team Donovan would play forward, especially with Altidore's size and ability to hold the ball. Think of how dangerous they'd be with Altidore holding the ball and playing it through to Donovan, Dempsey and Beasley or dropping it off for the cannon like shots of Edu and Bradley.
Adu did have the Swiss defenders going crazy. He's quick, they're big, slow and were tired from playing 80+ minutes of fast paced international soccer. Adu's weapon is his quickness. Something that the speedy South Africans can easily match, and in most cases, easily negate. His weakness is his size/strength, something the South Africans have in abundance. The Americans would be better served by starting Adu on the bench, wearing down the South African back line with players like Altidore, Edu, Bradley, and Dempsey challenging for balls in the air and applying stiff pressure and hard tackles. Bringing Adu off the bench when the South Africans are tired and have been banged up will allow him to open up and run at people who are too tired to catch up and muscle him off the ball.
People raved about how Adu "calmed the midfield down" against the Swiss, when the opposite is true. Adu came in and for the first 5 minutes looks like a kid running around trying to play with the big boys. When he finally stopped spinning around, swinging wildly at the ball and actually played good technical soccer, he was much more successful.
This isn't the U-20's.
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