usmnt

apparently Spector is starting tonight

GAAHHHHHHHH

we are mediocre huh. lucky for us colombia is so far too

i love edu's composure on the ball. he doesn't make me start drumming my fingers nervously in possession.
it seems like holden out wide takes away a lot of what's best about him: getting involved, cutting into passing lanes. you'd think the idea would be he'd send in crosses from out wide, but i don't think he's had a cross yet.

EJ for jozy? lichaj for spector (hey, he was only burned twice! not bad). any other changes?

lichaj looked good
ummm, other positives?

(we need to put it down on record that our first shot on goal was in the 55th minute)

I was at the Fire/KC game so I missed this. Doesn't sound like much of note. From the descriptions I've read/heard it sounded like a 4-3-3? Last time I saw that Costa Rica kicked their ass.

yeah i guess it was a 4-3-3, in the first half. jozy was so marooned and alone i'm tempted to call it 4-3-2-1. but i'm bad with formations. brek shea looked okay, not totally outclassed at this level with his first cap, so that's something. EJ came in at HT and edu went out (i think, i missed some) so the formation changed but i'm not sure how. the second half was better, dempsey with some spark, but yeah, you didn't miss much.

the pronunciation of Lichaj's name sounds exactly the same a "lihai" （厉害） which is a common slang word in Chinese that means "awesome."

same for (Luis) Figo in Italian (actually 'fico', but close enough) - any other examples?

in case there are any Brian McBride fans around... buy a shirt!

gooch goes after ibrahimovic after a dirty tackle

posted this in the italian thread but it makes more sense here:
http://i51.tinypic.com/2h6c8m0.jpg

btw congrats to Brian Carroll Logan Pause on callups, who the hell are you again?

guys with cool nicknames who got callups: Mix, Boss. bunbury needs a nickname

i think his twitter is TealBunB which isn't too bad, lil southern rap ref

Pause is the Fire's MVP from the last season. Good club guy, plays dmid, dunno why he's getting called for this exactly.

worthwhile stats
The average number of caps on the roster is barely eight. Only four members of the side – Guzan, Jonathan Bornstein, Clarence Goodson and Jonathan Spector – can claim more than 15 appearances in an American jersey. Aside from the six potential debutants, another five guys have fewer than eight caps to their names.

ppl seem to be either waaay pissed off at the inclusion of guys like Pause, Borchers, and Carroll or waaay excited about the inclusion of guys like Agudelo, Diskerud, Agbossoumonde, etc. (not using nicknames because their real names are pretty sweet imo)

the wild thing is Bornstein is going to captain this bunch

have bradley and holden ever played together in central midfield?

I'm not sure, but I'm guessing no. Big Bradley seems to like Holden on the wing when he's in the game.

It's kind of weird how many capable central mids there are in the pool now.

well, how many are leading the premier league in tackles?

Truly. I'm excited for the Gold Cup tbh.

------------------------Findley---------------------------

Rogers--------------Bedoya--------------------Gaven

-----------------Pause--------Carroll-------------------

Bornstein-----Ream--------Goodson----------Lichaj

------------------------Guzan------------------------------

facepalm @ findley

omg missed u vuvuzelas

warms the heart

winning some tackles, a little more assertive so far than i'd figured

tim ream o nice.
<3ing goodson's beard

lichaj did so fuckin good there. also, thank g for guzan

Captain Guzan

was that ream with the catlike bounce-up after losing that tackle?

gaven has a pretty sick beard too

really excellent persistance from lichaj rogers and bedoya, each of them has run on and on at least once

not a bad half considering
thought they'd get walloped but they haven't been too far out of their depth. center of midfield seems like the weak link.
i have to gif a comical sucky bornstein moment
bob said maybe agudelo in at the half. bunbury. spector:( for yellow lichaj?

FUUUUUUCK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

slightly garbagey goal but f yeah

wonder what the BS fanbois who called this the "F" team are thinking atm

and now BOSS

http://i55.tinypic.com/2rqlm37.jpg

kids!

roster for January camp announced, avg age is about 23

GOALKEEPERS (4): Dominic Cervi (Celtic), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Matt Pickens (Colorado Rapids), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (9): A.J. DeLaGarza (Los Angeles Galaxy), Sean Franklin (Los Angeles Galaxy), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy), Ugo Ihemelu (FC Dallas), Zach Loyd (FC Dallas), Ryan Miller (Halmstads BK), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Anthony Wallace (Colorado Rapids), Marvell Wynne (Colorado Rapids)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Eric Alexander (FC Dallas), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Sam Cronin (San Jose Earthquakes), Mikkel Diskerud (Stabaek), Jeff Larentowicz (Colorado Rapids), Dax McCarty (D.C. United), Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
FORWARDS (4): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Justin Braun (Chivas USA), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

article on SeanJohn, <3 this guy

http://yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=7228

Hope he can stay with the Fire a little longer, Euros are gonna take note of the dude for sure.

Yevgeni/Evgeni/Eugene Starikov joins the camp. is he any good?
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70646N20110107

he's young and plays far away. tomsk is in siberia for real. he's a zenit guy on loan, maybe will be sold. found some form at the end of this past RPL season. basically i have no idea but i'm looking fwd to seeing him.

when asked what he missed most about the USA, starikov said "skittles. they're not the same here." lol he is a kid.

I am intrigued by this guy too, but also in the former Germany U17 captain we seem to have sniped, Fabian Huerzeler. Second player listed in this article:

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/breaking-down-unknowns-rongens-u-20-team

gooch going on loan to twente, who are coached by his old coach from liege. would be nice if he was playing again
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/864044/milan-defender-oguchi-onyewu-joins-twente-on-loan?cc=5901

Let's hope so, we're going to need him to stop Chicharito in the Gold Cup.

wtf @ the chile match only being available on telefutura and espn3

I mean I like espn3 but cmon

wait when is this on?

10:30PM Eastern Saturday 1/22

whats the deal, why do we still suck so bad

Poch is using marginal MLS talent and leaving better players at home because he doesn't like their attitude and wants to send a message...and then 10 key players just unavailable for selection.

Poch is having possibly the worst start to a new manager's tenure though in recent memory.

big lol

Well that was good, and surprising

Freese; Dest, Freeman, Richards, Ream, A Robinson, Adams, Tillman, McKennie, Pulisic, Balogun.

Weird how far the gk position has fallen, don't know much about Freese but he used to be a lock to be a premiership or similar level player.

Cam we really not do better than Ream

Probably not. Miles Robinson missed his window, Mackenzie hasn't shown much, Trusty… isn't.