re: What XI do you want to see against Portugal

I'm struggling to come up with something I like to be honest.

Dempsey can play as kind of a false 9, but you have to have midfield runners to stretch the back line if that's the case. The only attacking formation that I can think of that I like with Dempsey as a striker is Fab on the left and Bedoya on the right.

But then who's the right back?

We need Fab and Bedoya on the right to deal with Ronaldo.

Dempsey as the striker gets our best players on the field arguably, but if Portugal has nothing to fear as far as us stretching their back line, then they could just press up and give us no space whatsoever.

Right now I'm stuck with going back to the original lineup, with Aron for Altidore. And then kind of just hope for the best. The best being Bradley and the rest of the team remember how to pass the ball, and Aron's not overwhelmed like he was.

I haven't done a full rewatch of the Ghana game, but from what I did watch I'm struck by how utterly incompetent we were with the ball. We were just absolutely incapable of the simplest passes, the simplest touches, etc. It was abysmal.

I don't care about possession stats, but we have to be better than that when we do have the ball.

Three pages in, desperate need of midfield play, and attacking/counterattacking spark and nary a mention of Davis or Green.

It really makes you wonder what the frick they're doing on the roster.

I think our best bet is to play *someone* behind Deuce (either Mix or Zusi - I don't know that it matters) and play Deuce by himself up top and hope he can draw fouls. That's not exactly inspiring though, as I can't recall Clint being impressive playing as a #9 ever.

1) I would stick with Johannsson.

2) Call it a knee-jerk reaction, but I would bench Bradley and give Green a shot. He seriously couldn't be worse than Bradley was against Ghana. Who knows, maybe the kid will do something with the ball?

3) My midfielders would be:

Dempsey-Green-Bedoya
Beckerman-Jones

with Jones and Bedoya helping Fabian Johnson out with Ronaldo. Let Ronaldo run his little heart out against those three guys for about 60-70 minutes, then sub in a fresh body for Bedoya like Mix and Zusi in the midfield, and another for Johnson (Yedlin, with the assumption being that he would just run with Ronaldo).

I think the key is going to be how we maintain our pace. With the game in the jungle, we want to keep up the pace deep into the game. If we can do that, Portugal might break.

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Three pages in, desperate need of midfield play, and attacking/counterattacking spark and nary a mention of Davis or Green.

It really makes you wonder what the frick they're doing on the roster.

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We should totally do more crying over spilled milk.

Nobody ever thought they would be starting, and we are not lacking midfield options. We are lacking a replacement for Jozy. Not surprising, since we don't have one in our player pool.


Not posted by Sheep:

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2) Call it a knee-jerk reaction, but I would bench Bradley and give Green a shot. He seriously couldn't be worse than Bradley was against Ghana. Who knows, maybe the kid will do something with the ball?

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Knee-jerk reactions everywhere are doing the jags fan gif at this comment.

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2) Call it a knee-jerk reaction, but I would bench Bradley and give Green a shot.

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Wut?

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That still leaves Deuce playing the role of Jozy, which I don't feel too great about.

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In terms of a striker that can hold up possession while also having the ability to put the ball on frame, Dempsey is (unfortunately) the best option we have to replace Jozy.

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Three pages in, desperate need of midfield play, and attacking/counterattacking spark and nary a mention of Davis or Green.

It really makes you wonder what the frick they're doing on the roster.

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i'm not sure this is a great argument (even if i agree, at least wrt davis). for example, green probably isn't going to be able to hold up for 90 mins considering his lack of physical maturity, but could certainly be an option as an attacking sub late on if we're searching for a goal. a player can be useful to a squad and not be the right option to start a match.

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Yedlin, Omar, Davis, Green, and Wondo. With Jozy out and Guzan and Rimando likely not needed, we have maybe four options at sub in Zusi/Bedoya, Aron (if not starting), Brooks, and Chandler and Chandler is a stretch.

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Everyone brings 3 GKs. Nearly everyone would be in a bit of a bind if they lost their best and most unique striker.
Why is Chandler a stretch?
Omar was not a bad roster selection.
Davis is a legitimate off-the-bench option.

We didn't leave a bunch of awesome options at home. We left one legitimate option at home.

And also, we beat Ghana and have a great chance to get out of the group.

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We left one legitimate option at home.

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I assume you're talking about Boyd.

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Three pages in, desperate need of midfield play, and attacking/counterattacking spark and nary a mention of Davis or Green.

It really makes you wonder what the frick they're doing on the roster.

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They're match changing subs and being in such better shape than a Donovan we don't have to worry about them tiring out in their 20 minutes.

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I think our best bet is to play *someone* behind Deuce (either Mix or Zusi - I don't know that it matters) and play Deuce by himself up top and hope he can draw fouls.

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Yeah, I kind of agree with this. Maybe Zusi is better simply in case Dempsey is able to draw some fouls in dangerous free kick positions and his tendency to drift wider may keep Portugal a bit more reticent to overload the flanks in attack.