re: Jurgen says NO to GMO

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But what is the excuse for the long periods of poor play and the general tactical shittyness? We were promised an upgrade to Bobball, but what we've gotten is Bobball-lite where we suck at defending and suck at counter attacking. At least with Bradley we had an identity.

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I will say that, for the most part, we *do* possess the ball a little better. We'll go long stretches with decent possession - even against better teams (I guess Mexico C- is a better team....) We can cycle the frick out of the ball. That possession almost never leads to even a half-arse decent look at goal, though. It feels like most of our goals are trash goals (like a follow up on a keeper spill) or some completely unrepeatable wonder strike like Shea's free kick. Just once, I'd like to see someone slot a nicely weighted through pass to a forward making a run that leads to a nice, smooth finish. As nice as Morris' actual finish was, it took a confluence of just right bounces off of seven legs that put the ball directly into his path.



I'm sure the lack of chances created is entirely Jozy's fault, and primarily because he plays in MLS.

One of the problems I have with Jurgen's tenure is that I can't tell if we are a better side or not. Sure, our WC result was arguably better than Bob's but is it because of Jurgen or is it because of our better player pool? Idk.

I agree about that GC goal. I was there when it happened. It was beautiful. I honestly think we were going to win that game, had it not been for Cherundolo's injury. Bornstein got torched for basically all four goals, and then he never saw a look again for the national team.

To his credit his recruitment of dual nationals and identification of young talent has paid dividends. However, I wonder if that benefit is cancelled out by the blackballing of players like Benny, Lichaj, and to an extent, Ream. These players have the passing skills and ability to maintain possession that Jurgen claims he desires, yet he refuses to give them a sniff. At some point I would rather be Benny than Ream, who gets a callup for two games and then gets six minutes of time in the second game. WTF. That's just straight up dickish on Jurgen's part.

You have a freakish savant like memory when it comes to the USMNT.

Check this out. Statistically Ream and Lichaj have been some of our best performers in European leagues. Passing. Clearances. Tackles. Free kicks won. Chances created. These are all thing Jurgen should want in versatile backs. LINK

Single-best US Team that I've ever seen was the one they sent to the 09 Confederations Cup.

It was the perfect storm of in-form guys. Gooch was healthy and a top 10 CB in the world, DeMerit emerged, allowing Bocanegra to play LB (forcing Bornstein to the bench). Timmy, Donovan and Dempsey were all in the prime of their careers and the striker pairing of Jozy & Davies complemented each other so well.

The only real weak link on that team was Rico Clark paired centrally with a young Michael Bradley.

Still, I think if Gooch & Davies are healthy a year later, we beat Ghana and probably even Uruguay in the quarters. That's easy to say in hindsight, but it's honestly how I feel.

Lots of if ands or buts, but imagine that team with a healthy Jermaine Jones and a healthy Gooch and a healthy Charlie Davies. Semis was not out of the realm of possibilities.

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You have a freakish savant like memory when it comes to the USMNT.

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I looked at the highlights on Youtube.

I *did* remember that Bornstein played (for the most part) adequately that day.

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Semis was not out of the realm of possibilities.

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Our draw was amazing.

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Gooch was healthy and a top 10 CB in the world

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Pre-injury Gooch was good, but he wasn't THAT good. He couldn't get a game in a middling Milan side that fall before his injury. He did hit a nice run of form towards the end of his time in Belgium and going into that summer. Such a horrible shame about his injury, as we won't ever know if he could have eventually forced his way into the Milan team.

I personally loved the way Demerit played. Slightly undersized, looked lightweight, but you could tell from the first moment he played that he would bleed for the team if he had to.

Also that tournament had the coming out party of Spector, who is another player I'm surprised has been frozen out, given that he gets game time for Birmingham and is a borderline PL level player. God, when he was moved to central midfield for West Ham, he had a sparkling run of form where he scored against Man U in the League Cup. I think West Ham's next game was against Sunderland, and Spector had one of the loveliest pieces of skill I've ever seen from an American. It happened around the 43rd minute if anyone can find a clip from that game in 2010.

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Pre-injury Gooch was good, but he wasn't THAT good.

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I disagree, there's a reason Milan wanted him. Just didn't work out for him once he got there.

At Liege and with the USMNT circa 2008-09, you could see just how good he was. If he wasn't top 10, he was damn close.

I remember that Spector run of form in midfield. Scored two goals against Man U and scored against Timmy and Everton. I didn't see the skill you mention but given how impressed I was by his midfield form at that time, I would love to see that sunderland skill. I would also like to see him get another run, but he seems to be inexplicably blackballed like the others I've mentioned.