I think Johnson will make a name for himself but beleive Onyewu will increase his reputation more. Gooch is an absolute beast and if he plays like he has been, especially like he did in our second game against Mexico, he'll get a lot of intererest from the top clubs in the world. Gooch: "How's it feel to be my b****?"
If he can return to his form of two years ago, I'd agree. Unfortunately, he hasn't been anywhere near that form since. I think he'll be used as more of a spark off the bench, with McBride playing as a lone striker and Donovan sitting right behind him.
Here's a pretty good article from USA Today with info about each player and a quote from Arena about each one. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/worldcup/2006-us-roster.htm
I just pray there isn't a goalkeeper injury that forces Arena to bring in Tony Meola. Dude is done. That goal against Jamaica a few weeks ago would have been eaten up by any other keeper in the pool. That said, we are good with alternates at just about every other position. I'm actually suprised Chris Armas didn't make the roster. I don't personally care for his game, too one dimensional, but Arena seems to love him.
You'll notice that most of those guys are the ones playing in Europe, who's season is just coming to an end. On the top teams, you're looking at around 50 games since September. That is a lot of freaking soccer.
It's not like Meola would play even if one of our keepers got injured, it would take at least 3 injuries to our keepers in order to get Meola between the posts, it's not going to happen. I'm worried about our central midfield, which is basically three deep, Reyna, O'Brien and Mastroeni. It's going to get ugly if any one of those guys gets hurt (and Reyna and O'Brien have been hurt ALOT recently).
http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_280938.html Just thought I would add an update to the roster. The story above states that Frankie Hejduk has been replaced by Chris Albright. A MRI has shown that Frankie had a torn ACL in his right knee. Not quite sure what to think of this. I hope this is not a sign of injuries to come. I want our roster to be as healthly as possible to give us the best chance to get out of the group of death. I hope that I inserted the link properly. If not I am sorry but as my first time I don't know any better.
Yeah, I just saw that about Albright. He gives us a good attacking force at either fullback position, he's very good in the air, and dangerous on set pieces. That being said, I worry about him defensively, he just seems to get caught out of position too much (which isn't surprising since he's a converted forward). I've never been a big Hejduk, but he's a World Cup veteran, and would have brought much needed experience to the back line. Tough break for him, especially considering that at 31,this was his last World Cup.
Wow, Frankie Hejduk has some huge balls. He suffered the knee injury during the match this Saturday against KC, but didn't tell anyone, because he knew the World Cup selection was a few days away. He then went through an entire training session yesterday, before finally going to get his knee checked out today. That's right, he finished a match and practiced with a torn ACL, just to make it to the World Cup. Amazing.
wow that is amazing about Hedjuk. I am not a fan at all of Albright - hopefully he won't actually play over there
That sucks, I actually like Hejduk. He's always giving it his all when he's out on the field and has World Cup experience also.
That was pretty wild. We flew on a plane in front of 2 totally trashed Irish fans who sang team songs the entire flight. I remember watching Brazil/Italy among good-sized crowds on the sidewalk (by an indorr/ourdoor bar) in San Francisco. You could hear cheers from all the bars up and down the street anytime anything happened. Still don't know any of the rules though.
there really arent too many rules. probably about 4-5 total that you would need to know. offsides goal kick corner kick would be the main ones i can think about.
look at the size difference. i laugh and think to myself that america's best athletes don't play soccer, but if they did, how good would they be?
diego maradona was the best soccer player in the world during the 1980s, but he was overweight and pudgy
Exactly. Cruyff was skinny and slight, Maradona short and overweight. Heck, Ronaldinho is also very very thin compared to the guy in the photo. That's what I love about football. Your size doesn't define you.
Size isn't the biggest factor for a soccer player, but having somebody that's 6'4" anchoring your back line doesn't hurt. With his size and strenght he's going to make set pieces and crosses a lot harder on our opponents. As long as he can keep up with the smaller quicker guys running at him with the ball then his size is an advantage.
