The game is tonight at 6 PM on ESPN2 and will be shown delayed on Telemundo (not sure what time). It's the last chance for MLS players to show what they can before the World Cup roster is named. Dynamo forward Brian Ching will probably be starting. Full roster: Goalkeepers (2) – Tony Meola (New York Red Bulls), Matt Reis (New England Revolution) Defenders (5) – Chris Albright (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nick Garcia (Kansas City Wizards), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), Eddie Pope (Real Salt Lake) Midfielders (7) – Clint Dempsey (New England Revolution), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Pat Noonan (New England Revolution), John O’Brien (out of contract), Ben Olsen (D.C. United), Steve Ralston (New England Revolution), Kerry Zavagnin (Kansas City Wizards) Forwards (4) – Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution), Josh Wolff (Kansas City Wizards)
Interesting starting lineup: Meola; Hejduk, Pope, Mastroeni, Albright; Olsen; Ralston, Noonan; Donovan; Twellman, Wolff. Don't know if I've seen Mastroeni in the center of defense before. That'll be interesting.
US goal by Ben Olsen. 1-1 26th minute. Landon Donovan breaks the US National Team record for assists, and he just turned 24.
1-1 FT. Pretty bad match to be honest. The US dominated possession, but really couldn't do much with it.
I got a question in the FIFA world cup bracket..they start with 32 teams.. we are in some hard group..does the winner of the group get a seed? whats the point of the group?
I believe the top two teams in each group move on to the next round, when it becomes a one-game playoff competition (i.e. a loss and you're out, similar to the NFL.
tigermission is right. The top two teams in each group advance to the knockout round, where the teams that advance from our group will play teams from group F. In other words, if we don't finish first in our group, we'll almost certainly be playing Brazil.
That is correct, the benefit of coming in first in your group is that you'll start against a runner up from another group. In the US's case if they come in second they'll most likely be facing Brazil and I would say our chances of winning that game are basically 0.0001% (even being the biased fan that I am). It would be awesome to get to see that match-up though.
Is Twellman the one that had the hat trick against Holland? Will he be starting up front in the WC, or will it be McBride and Johnson? DD
I didn't get to watch the entire game but that goal look very weak. It looked like the keeper should have save it but kind of knocked it into the goal. Friendlies are usually horrible games so it could be expected that this once was dull.
He really should have saved it, their keeper let a few balls go right through his hands and came out to punch balls away and missed completley. May 2nd. His odds don't look too good right now, he does have a good size advantage over Twellman which could help him though.
It was nice that Tony Meola got his 100th cap and all, but he should not ever see a US jersey again. While the goal wasn't entirely his fault, Keller or any of the other US keepers would have eaten that ball up. It wasn't a great first touch and yet Meola was totally out of position. He got caught in no man's land. It was a terrible showing for everyone except maybe Ben Olsen. Masteroni and Albright were caught out of position all night. Heduk should have gotten a red card for the 2 footed slide tackle. I've never been a fan of Noonan or Ralston and I don't believe either should make the roster. My roster would be GK: Keller (st), Johnnie Walker, Marcus Hahnemann DEF: Pope (st), Cherundolo (st), Onyewu (st), Bocanegra (st), Berhalter, Gibbs, Vanney, Hejduk MF: Donovan(st), Beasley(st), Reyna(st), Dempsey, Lewis, O'Brien (st), Olsen, Convey FW: McBride (st), Johnson (st), Ching, Twellman
I thought Dempsey played well, and it was good to see JOB playing again. I like your roster, except I'd take Maestroni instead of Vanney. And I think Bruce will have Wolff on the final roster in place of Ching or Twellman and Howard instead of Walker.
Mastroeni is a lock for the team, he's great in midfield, and will be a starter if O'Brien isn't healthy. Greg Vanney, when was the last time he even played for the National Team? I think (at least hope) Berhalter lost his chance at to make it to the World Cup after his terrible display in Germany, I haven't been impressed with him at all. By the way, in all likelyhood, Eddie Lewis will be the starting LB. Keepers: Keller (st), Hahnemann, Howard Defenders: Onyewu (st), Gibbs (st), Pope, Bocanegra, Cherundolo (st), Hejduk, Lewis (st), Spector Midfield: Reyna (st), O'Brien (st), Donovan (st), Mastroeni, Beasley (st), Convey (st), Dempsey, Noonan Forwards: McBride (st), Johnson, Twellman, Wolff I think that Donovan will be played as an AM/withdrawn forward, considering we need to solid CMs (Reyna and O'Brien/Mastroeni) to battle the tough midfields in Group E. Also, none of are others forwards have really proven they can play on the biggest stage. My formation would look like this: -------------------Keller-------------------- Cherundolo-------Onyewu-----Gibbs-------Lewis -------------Reyna----------O'Brien-------------- Convey-------------Donovan-------------Beasley -------------------McBride---------------------
