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re: Is there a legitimate chance that Jurgen leaves Donovan off the final 23?

Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:42 am to
Posted by Tigerstark
Parts unknown
Member since Aug 2011
6026 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 8:42 am to
Doing that against Honduras' B squad and against Ghana, Portugal and Germany are two completely different things.

Plus, Donovan is in poor form and looks a lot less quick than he used to.

He's still on the 23, but I don't know if he starts a game unless his fitness is better than it was a month ago.

On a separate front from earlier in this thread - I think Jurgen gets too much flak for talking out of both sides of his head. Yes, form, PT etc - all of that matters a great deal.

But you also have to build a team with different options. Brek got called in because he was one of the only guys, if not the only guy, that filled that role. Now, Green or Davis will fill that same role.

So, when everything is even, those things can really come into play. But things aren't always even, and sometimes you still need to build a squad and fulfill each need while keeping those things in mind.
Posted by uway
Member since Sep 2004
33109 posts
Posted on 5/20/14 at 10:46 am to
quote:

On a separate front from earlier in this thread - I think Jurgen gets too much flak for talking out of both sides of his head. Yes, form, PT etc - all of that matters a great deal.

But you also have to build a team with different options. Brek got called in because he was one of the only guys, if not the only guy, that filled that role. Now, Green or Davis will fill that same role.

So, when everything is even, those things can really come into play. But things aren't always even, and sometimes you still need to build a squad and fulfill each need while keeping those things in mind.


The flak he takes over this is silly.

quote:

Doing that against Honduras' B squad and against Ghana, Portugal and Germany are two completely different things.

Plus, Donovan is in poor form and looks a lot less quick than he used to.

Exactly. It's not CONCACAF competition, and if he starts in Brazil, it will be as part of a very different 11 than was at the Gold Cup.
It's not that Donovan can't perform against Germany, it's that the team may not be well served by Donovan being the focal point as he was in the Gold Cup.
Look at the first half of the Mexico friendly when Donovan was on the bench. US Soccer's website has gone retarded, so I can't see the old results anymore, but IIRC Donovan wasn't on the field against Italy, Germany, or B&H when we played and beat those teams. The point being that, with or without Donovan, this team can play awesome soccer against World Cup quality opponents.
And the question is whether Donovan has really found and solidified his place as part of our starting attack and whether his very large presence will be able to fit into and add to that group instead of throwing it off. If he was in 2010 form, there's no question you just make it work. In 2014, it's just not a given.
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