(Soccer) USA In U-20 Youth World Cup [Archive] - Front Office Football Central

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SirFozzie

06-11-2005, 08:36 PM

marshall881

06-11-2005, 09:56 PM

Wow! Excellent start for the young guys!

Young Drachma

06-11-2005, 09:58 PM

Glad Freddy is finally getting to play. Unlike w/Peter Nowak and Co.

MIJB#19

06-12-2005, 08:18 AM

He missed a penalty kick, Adu is doomed for failure! :P

Actually, the game was not in Holland (don't let the people in Enschede hear you speak of Holland!). The tournament organization decided to only use stadiums in the rest of the Netherlands, meaning the USA games are all far away from my home, making it harder to attend games (I really wanted to, especially so I could see your American soccer phenomenon Adu in live action).

MalcPow

06-12-2005, 08:33 AM

This is great news. You have to feel good about the future of US Soccer when things like this happen. Hopefully Spector is alright, he's a big part of that back line and the future, playing in Man U's youth system seems to have done a lot for his development. Which makes you wonder about Freddy's choice, I live in DC and it looks like MIJB has got a better chance of seeing him live anytime soon.

TroyF

06-12-2005, 11:25 AM

Adu is just an incredible player. He made a few passes yesterday that were simply beautiful to watch. His penalty hit the post. The USA keeper had a terrific game as well. Great win and a good start to a tough group.

Galaxy

06-12-2005, 01:40 PM

When do you see Freddy going to Europe?

Young Drachma

06-12-2005, 02:12 PM

When do you see Freddy going to Europe?

Soon than later if DC United keeps messing with him.

Desnudo

06-12-2005, 02:22 PM

I caught a DC United game where he came on as a sub and looked great. He constantly pressured the other team with his dribbling and passing. I don't understand the resistance to playing him more.

daedalus

06-12-2005, 02:46 PM

Young Drachma

06-12-2005, 04:47 PM

I caught a DC United game where he came on as a sub and looked great. He constantly pressured the other team with his dribbling and passing. I don't understand the resistance to playing him more.

Apparently, it's all Peter Nowak, the DC coach. And since MLS is single-entity, there isn't an "owner" of sorts to just say "put him in or else.." like in other leagues. I think that's the #1 reason why MLS still has failed to prove it's big-time in the league.

Galaxy

06-12-2005, 06:22 PM

He couldn't play first-team football until he hits 18, couldn't he? When does he contract expire?

Easy Mac

06-12-2005, 06:25 PM

Apparently, it's all Peter Nowak, the DC coach. And since MLS is single-entity, there isn't an "owner" of sorts to just say "put him in or else.." like in other leagues. I think that's the #1 reason why MLS still has failed to prove it's big-time in the league.
Its failed to succeed because a coach doesn't want to play a player he doesn't think is ready for the full 90 every game? If only all teams had such meddling owners.

I've seen a few DC games where Freddy has started, and he has some nice stretches, but he also looks completely lost for large stretches of the game. He needs to be a sparkplug off the bench for this team right now, and he needs to accept that.

moriarty

06-13-2005, 07:52 AM

Apparently, it's all Peter Nowak, the DC coach. And since MLS is single-entity, there isn't an "owner" of sorts to just say "put him in or else.." like in other leagues. I think that's the #1 reason why MLS still has failed to prove it's big-time in the league.

Nowak doesn't want to burn him out. He prefers to use him in a sub position and as occasional starter, but not an everyday starter. It's not an uncommon phenomenon (at least in Europe) to trot an extremely talented youngster for everyday play only to see him burn out and never reach his potential. Besides, Adu is still a small dude in a 16 year old body, and you could make the case that he can't take the pounding from starting everyday yet.

I'd love to see Freddy play more, but I can't really fault Nowak for being cautious with him. On a side note - I'd love to see Arena include him on the 2006 world cup team (although Arena seems extremely reluctant to do so). He's not really ready yet, but I think he'd gain some invaluable experience just travelling with that group.

Freddy will likely go overseas sometime between the ages of 18-21. I'd like to see him wait until he's about 21, but my guess would be he'll go at 18.

moriarty

06-13-2005, 07:59 AM

Huge win for the Young Yanks today in Holland, as they won their first game in the group stage, 1-0 over Argentina, despite Scooby Adu missing a PK (clanger off the post).

Freddy did play great otherwise tho, and USA fully deserved the win.

Their remaining two games are against Germany and Egypt

Dola,

Great win for the youngsters. I thought they played great at times, but really probably should have given up a goal in the second half as Argentina really started to controll them. Messe (sp?) for Argentina was a force ... not sure why he rode the bench at the start.

I thought Adu played ok. He made some highlight reel plays, but tried to go one on one unsuccessfully a few too many times for me (he seemed like he was forcing it a bit). Eddie Gaven was a disappointment. I haven't seen him play much but I was expecting him to be more of a force.

A good sign for the US - they're very fast and big/tall. Apart from Adu (who's pretty tiny) I was impressed with the fact that they were physical presences on the field ... but agile as well. Watching Wyne (sp?) sprinting down from his right back position and constantly outrunning the entire Argentinian team was very impressive.

I haven't seen the U20's much, but i was quite impressed. If we could just maintain a little more possesion in the midfield ...

MIJB#19

06-13-2005, 09:05 AM

Slightly off-topic but did you catch Quincy with the Dutch team, Matthijs? How do you rate him? Obviously going against Japan isn't the same as going up against Argentina but I heard he did well. I read that he was on the left wing instead of his usual position with the Gunners up front, though.I haven't seen much action of this tournament yet.
I may catch up, but it's unlikely to happen. There are not much games aired and usually I got better things to do at nights.

Quincy played on the wing, but given the rest of the squad it makes sense a bit. Ryan Babel (Ajax) and Collins John (Fulham) already played for the 'real' Oranje squad. But partially because Quincy never played in the Dutch league, I understand the fans are wow-ing over this guy.

Critch

06-13-2005, 09:23 AM

Slightly off-topic but did you catch Quincy with the Dutch team, Matthijs?

I caught the Netherlands v Japan game, Quincy looked good. Played on the wing, but was pretty free to roam through the middle too. Good ball control and good strength, one of the Dutch goals came from him combining skill with strength to dribble and strongarm his way through half the Japan team before setting up Babel to score. Quincy and a guy called Afellay (I think, I can't check the website cos I've got last nights Brazil v Nigeria game TiVoed so can't risk seeing the result), were the picks of the Dutch attacking players.

Dutch looked good early, took an early 2-0 lead and seemed to hold it pretty easily til late on when they conceded a goal and ended up lucky to hold out against the late Japan attacks. Some good finishing and Japan could have sneaked a point that they wouldn't have deserved over the full 90.

Good game though.

SirFozzie

06-13-2005, 09:38 AM

USA's next game is against Germany tuesday (on Fox Soccer Channel). A win will pretty much guarantee a spot in the knockout rounds (six groups of four, top 2 from each group, + top 4 third place finishers).

They want to avoid playing a group winner, however, and they'll need to win the group for that. The good news is that ARG-GER will be the final game of the group, while USA faces Egypt.

SirFozzie

06-13-2005, 09:40 AM

dola:

Spector is considered doubtful for the game with a thigh contusion, they might hold him out for egypt.

moriarty

06-13-2005, 09:40 AM

SirFozzie

06-13-2005, 09:42 AM

Cool thing is that in three of the six groups, the winners of the first round of games are playing each other (US-GER is one of em). If there's a clear winner in any of the games, the winner is guaranteed a spot in the knockout rounds.

Critch

06-13-2005, 09:52 AM

Yeah, big game for us. I'm stoked that FSC is apparently showing all the US games. My Tivo is set and ready to go.

They're showing a lot more than just the US games, they've got pretty good coverage. A live game most days, 2 live games some days for the group stages, plus all the games when it gets to the knockout stages. Not bad at all.

wbatl1

06-13-2005, 11:15 AM

They're showing a lot more than just the US games, they've got pretty good coverage. A live game most days, 2 live games some days for the group stages, plus all the games when it gets to the knockout stages. Not bad at all.

Yeah, I'm liking this fox soccer channel thing alot right now. In the past, when they were fox sports world, they would be showing australian rules football or rugby right now

SirFozzie

06-13-2005, 12:05 PM

Yeah, I'm liking this fox soccer channel thing alot right now. In the past, when they were fox sports world, they would be showing australian rules football or rugby right now

They still air Rugby (both codes, Rugby Union and Rugby League.. now that's bizarre :D) and Aussie Rules.

Don't be messin with my Rugby and Aussie Rules :)

Galaxy

06-13-2005, 12:07 PM

I'd love to see Freddy play more, but I can't really fault Nowak for being cautious with him. On a side note - I'd love to see Arena include him on the 2006 world cup team (although Arena seems extremely reluctant to do so). He's not really ready yet, but I think he'd gain some invaluable experience just travelling with that group.
.

Don't you have to be 18 to play in the WC?

GoldenEagle

06-13-2005, 12:17 PM

Don't you have to be 18 to play in the WC?
No.

ISiddiqui

06-13-2005, 12:59 PM

I may be in the minority, but I din't think Adu did that great. He had a few good runs, but on the whole, meh. Barrett played better IMO, but I was really impressed with the teamwork of the American side. Somewhat rare in an international squad.

The BEST player on the pitch, though, was Messi of Argentina. WOW, he's going to be a great one!

MalcPow

06-13-2005, 01:14 PM

The BEST player on the pitch, though, was Messi of Argentina. WOW, he's going to be a great one!

Barca is very excited about this kid, he's gonna be something.

KevinNU7

06-13-2005, 01:25 PM

Adu gets plenty of playing time on the development teams in the D.C/N.C area. IMO he doesn't start everyday for United because the coach doesn't want to wear him out for all the time he spends with the development teams. I think they are treating him right.

TazFTW

06-13-2005, 01:52 PM

What position does Adu play on the U-20 team? Haven't seen much of DC United but I seem to remember him playing as either a forward or a midfielder last year.

ISiddiqui

06-13-2005, 02:03 PM

He plays Forward on the U-20 team. IMO, Adu's best position is MF, not forward.

MalcPow

06-13-2005, 02:06 PM

He plays Forward on the U-20 team. IMO, Adu's best position is MF, not forward.

I agree, from what I've seen of him he comes to deep as a forward anyway. He likes to be in space and try and make things happen, he seems best suited in the hole as an AM. Because he doesn't seem to have the strength to be a true MC.

moriarty

06-13-2005, 02:43 PM

He plays Forward on the U-20 team. IMO, Adu's best position is MF, not forward.

He's actually listed as a midfielder on the team, and I'm pretty sure he played in the midfield in the warmup against China. We'll see where he plays throughout the tournament.

kingfc22

06-13-2005, 03:46 PM

<table class="bgBdr" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tbody><tr class="bgHdr1" align="center"><td colspan="5"> FIFA World Youth Championship 2005 on Fox Soccer Channel </td> </tr> <tr class="bgHdr2" align="center"> <td align="left">Date</td> <td align="left">Group/Round</td> <td colspan="2">Teams</td> <td>Kickoff (ET)</td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 10 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> A </td> <td class="cdata"> Holland </td> <td class="cdata"> Japan </td> <td align="left"> 2 p.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 11 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> D </td> <td class="cdata"> Argentina </td> <td class="cdata"> United States </td> <td align="left"> 11:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 12 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> F </td> <td class="cdata"> Brazil </td> <td class="cdata"> Nigeria </td> <td align="left"> 5 p.m.* </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 14 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> D </td> <td class="cdata"> Egypt </td> <td class="cdata"> Argentina </td> <td align="left"> 11:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 14 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> D </td> <td class="cdata"> United States </td> <td class="cdata"> Germany </td> <td align="left"> 2:30 p.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 15 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> F </td> <td class="cdata"> Switzerland </td> <td class="cdata"> Brazil </td> <td align="left"> 11:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 17 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> C </td> <td class="cdata"> Spain </td> <td class="cdata"> Honduras </td> <td align="left"> 11:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 17 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> B </td> <td class="cdata"> Turkey </td> <td class="cdata"> Ukraine </td> <td align="left"> 2:30 p.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 18 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> D </td> <td class="cdata"> United States </td> <td class="cdata"> Egypt </td> <td align="left"> 7:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 18 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> F </td> <td class="cdata"> Brazil </td> <td class="cdata"> South Korea </td> <td align="left"> 10 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 21 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Round of 16 </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 11:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 21 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Round of 16 </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 5 p.m.* </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 22 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Round of 16 </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 11:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 22 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Round of 16 </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 2:30 p.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 24 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Quarterfinal </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 11:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 24 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Quarterfinal </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 2:30 p.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 25 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Quarterfinal </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 9:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 25 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Quarterfinal </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 2:30 p.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 28 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Semifinal </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 11:30 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jun. 28 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> Semifinal </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 2:30 p.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jul. 2 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> 3rd Place </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 11 a.m. </td> </tr>  <tr class="bgC" align="center"> <td align="left"> Jul. 2 </td> <td class="bgC" align="center"> FINAL </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td class="cdata"> TBD </td> <td align="left"> 2 p.m. </td> </tr> <tr class="cdata" align="center"> <td colspan="5" align="left""> * Delayed coverage (All other games LIVE)
This week's LIVE and premiere soccer broadcasts (http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/2646572) on Soccer's American Home.</td></tr></tbody> </table>

kingfc22

06-14-2005, 01:38 PM

US game is about to start on FSC.

MalcPow

06-14-2005, 02:15 PM

US game is about to start on FSC.

I'm at work, anybody know of any kind of webcast/scoretracker/anything that can keep me somewhat posted on this game?

SirFozzie

06-14-2005, 02:17 PM

bigsoccer has a pbp thread. Youth National Teams

MalcPow

06-14-2005, 02:20 PM

bigsoccer has a pbp thread. Youth National Teams

Thanks, fifa.com has a "live scoreboard" but it's not loading.

SirFozzie

06-14-2005, 02:23 PM

halftime, won't reveal the score, but FSC is 10-15 minutes behind

kingfc22

06-14-2005, 02:24 PM

Well, I think it is safe to say that we have controlled this first half, but just like the main club we need to work on your finishing.

SirFozzie

06-14-2005, 03:51 PM

0-0 Final. Dominated the First 70, average at best the last 20.

It pretty much puts USA through to the knockout rounds, however

MalcPow

06-14-2005, 03:53 PM

Anyone else see the score of the Spain-Chile game? A 7-0 smackdown by the Spaniards, that must have been ugly.

Critch

06-14-2005, 04:03 PM

Anyone else see the score of the Spain-Chile game? A 7-0 smackdown by the Spaniards, that must have been ugly.

Hmmm, so Chile beat Honduras 7-0, then Spain beat Chile 7-0. Spain v Honduras still to come, live on FSC. Should be a few goals in that one :)

p.s. Somebody remind me not to look in threads when I've got games TiVoed. I guess I can skip the US v Germany one.

moriarty

06-15-2005, 08:02 AM

0-0 Final. Dominated the First 70, average at best the last 20.

It pretty much puts USA through to the knockout rounds, however

I'm beginning to thing we have a fitness problem. That's two games in a row where we were much better in the first half and near collapse at the end. Still, a good result (damn Germany has some big dudes).

Couple of random thoughts:

Thought the defense was solid (especially without Spector) other than the last 15 minutes. Freeman looked more confident. Tough to pick out any good performances other than Eilhaber (sp?) in midfield. He was everywhere.

Freddy seemed more muted, less one one one attempts. He clearly is our playmaker and I was suprised to see him subbed ... maybe his back/kidney area were tightening up. My only complaint is alot of his runs seem poor. He seems to run straight w/out the ball rather than making some of the angled runs into space.

Someone who watches Gaven alot, please convince me he's a good player. I thought he was supposed to be the star of this tournament, and I really try to like him, but he hasn't shown me anything. He looks like a tall dorky dude, who can't get more than two inches off the ground, consistently gets muscled off the ball, and gives it away needlessly way too often.

We seem to lack some speed up front. Ochoa isn't as fast as I hoped, and Barrett looks more like a target guy. It's probably not a good thing our fastest player is at the right back. BTW - I have a bad feeling one of these times were going to get caught on counterattack when Wynne makes his runs up.

Speaking of Wynne ... have you ever seen anyone with a longer thow-in?

And since I'm rambling ... anyone know anything about this high school kid they threw in at the end (Lee Nguyen)? Pretty cool to get an appearance as a high schooler.

Ajaxab

06-15-2005, 08:32 AM

I've also been surprised at how poor Gaven has been given that the commentator who did the Argentina game marked him as one to watch. Moriarty hit the nail on the head.

Wynne looks like he has a great future ahead of him. He's got a lot of pace, his headers are always powerful, he seems very strong and appears to make good decisions. I could definitely see him getting a look from European clubs.

Desnudo

06-15-2005, 11:24 AM

Gaven seems to prefer diving to fighting for the ball in the penalty area.

GoldenEagle

06-15-2005, 02:17 PM

Is Nguyen in the residency program? It is good to see some defenders developing into nice players. I think there was a few players who were left off the squad who could make an impact in the future. We have some concern about up type, but the US and MLS have been developing some nice strikers lately.

moriarty

06-15-2005, 02:31 PM

Is Nguyen in the residency program? .

Apparently he was Gatorade National High School POY in 2004 (playing currently as high school senior at Plano East in Texas), and headed to Indiana University. Oh, he has a 3.8 GPA for what that's worth.

Text (http://www.ussoccer.com/editorial/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=179015&itype=4129&iCategoryID=0)

Mr. Wednesday

06-15-2005, 11:31 PM

I'm beginning to thing we have a fitness problem. That's two games in a row where we were much better in the first half and near collapse at the end. Still, a good result (damn Germany has some big dudes).I don't know how Germany's lineup compared, but I understand the U.S. basically played the same eleven as against Argentina; Bruce Arena avoids that strategy in tournament play for good reason.

Desnudo

06-16-2005, 12:04 AM

Anyone catch the 30-yard blast from Freddy Guarin? I love seeing FM players on tv.

Havok

06-16-2005, 03:45 AM

Anyone catch the 30-yard blast from Freddy Guarin? I love seeing FM players on tv.

year 2008 + Freddy + my Wigan team = me happy :)

weinstein7

06-18-2005, 01:10 PM

hxxp://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=335724&cc=5901

Link to a recap of the Egypt game.

Critch

06-20-2005, 08:40 AM

moriarty

06-20-2005, 09:02 AM

Round of 16 game tomorrow, US faces Italy. Italy scrapped through, but apparently looked impressive in their final game where they had to win convincingly over Canada to qualify and duely beat them 4-1. FSC hasn't updated their schedule yet, they've still got TBA for the teams, but I'd guess US v Italy will be their live game at 11.30am ET, probably Brazil v Syria or Germany v China as their tape delayed game at 5pm ET.

Pick of the round looks like Argentina v Colombia on Wednesday.

I thought we looked pretty weak against Egypt (granted we had six subs in) especially considering they played with only 10 men most of the way. And now we're rewarded with Italy - even if they did finish in 3rd, this isn't going to be easy. Wow, Germany, Italy, Argentina ... the boys are definitely going to have to earn it this year.

KevinNU7

06-20-2005, 09:53 AM

I may be coming down with a cold and have to stay home tomorrow :)

moriarty

06-20-2005, 11:51 AM

Eaglesfan27

06-20-2005, 12:16 PM

I may be coming down with a cold and have to stay home tomorrow :)
I really do have a cold and an ear infection. Suddenly, they have a positive aspect to them ;)

Critch

06-20-2005, 02:57 PM

I may be coming down with a cold and have to stay home tomorrow :)

Coincidentally, I'm working from home tomorrow. Brazil v Syria is the second game.

Germany v Argentina in the Confederations Cup is also on FSC at 2.30pm. I know it's a meaningless tournament with no other reason to exist other than being a FIFA money-maker, but it could be a good game.

Eaglesfan27

06-21-2005, 11:25 AM

I'll avoid spoilers, but this has been a very interesting match between Italy and the USA so far.

MJ4H

06-21-2005, 11:33 AM

Any link to somewhere I can follow it on the web since I don't get this particular brand of fox

weinstein7

06-21-2005, 11:36 AM

There's a java applet at ussoccer.com

MJ4H

06-21-2005, 11:44 AM

Beautiful. Thanks

moriarty

06-21-2005, 08:31 PM

Well I assume if you're in this thread you don't care about spoilers, but just in case.

SPOILER ALERT
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Ugh, what a dreadful way to bow out of the tournament. I put the blame for this one squarely on Spector. I think he's a good player, but he was dreadful in this one. He did his best to give away a goal in the first half, and you could make a claim he could have done better than ducking on the first goal he knocked in (and possibly blocked the third). But the second goal was just an idiot move. If you try to make a run up from center back with 3-4 Italian players behind you ... you can NOT just give up the ball (or at least clobber someone if you do). He was outmanned in the air all game, and really put pressure on his own keeper several times.

Overall thoughts:
Gaven never showed up for this tournament. Did he even play today? He was invisible the whole tournment except when giving up the ball or diving in the box.

The US lacked any strikers who actually could create fear in the defense. We probably would have been better with Freddy up front the entire time - at least they had to respect him.

Best two tourney players for the US IMO: Wynne (obvious - he's raw, but his speed is amazing, someone is gonna pick this guy up and soon), and Filehaver (or however you spell his name) - he controlled the midfield well and was consistently good throughout.

daedalus

06-22-2005, 02:04 AM

For the people who saw Wynne, how good was he? What was he like? Some of the people on the BigSoccer Arsenal board seemed really excited about him.

moriarty

06-22-2005, 07:46 AM

For the people who saw Wynne, how good was he? What was he like? Some of the people on the BigSoccer Arsenal board seemed really excited about him.

Well, the first thing you notice is that he's fast ... very fast. I didn't see a faster guy on the pitch the entire tournament. He's very dangerous on forward runs up the right due to his speed, and has very quick recovery speed when an attacker gets behind him. But he also has quick reflexes. He made several 'dangerous' (IMO) tackles that he ended up winning because he was so quick at poking the ball away.

He also seems to be very athletic. He gets up high to win headers, and he often heads with a lot of authority ... clearing the ball way out. He also has one of the longest/strongest throw-ins I've ever seen. His dad is a former major league baseball player, so you know he has athletic genes.

The downside: They say he's pretty raw technically. I think this shows up in his positioning sometimes, as he tends to drift out of position ... but has the recovery speed to make up for it. A couple of times he lunged needlessly too, but so did half the team. Perhaps the area it showed up most though was in his crosses. Time after time he'd sprint down the right into open space only to make a dreadful cross back into the box. If he can get this worked out ... he could be real good. He doesn't look to be real tall (not sure on his height), but he does have a good build.

Considering he's fairly new to the big stage (he was only called up to the national team recently, and I'm not sure how long he's been playing soccer) ... he looks like he has huge potential. I'm sure his speed alone will get the boys on the BigSoccer Arsenal board fired up. Get this guy in training with a major team and he's gonna be a force ... at least I think.