Rival Olympic Qualifying Rosters

[Gordon]

quote:Originally posted by Crazy_Yank

The U20 world cup golden boot winner is nothing to hear? Hmmm...I certainly hope your U23 men's team feels the same way. It'll make a US victory a lot easier.

He didn't trouble our U-20 team, and he has never troubled the MLS, so I'll stand by my assessment that Johnson is a big drop off from Buddle. One goal from the run of play takes much of the luster from the Gold Boot IMO.

[codegoat]

quote:Originally posted by Gordon

He didn't trouble our U-20 team, and he has never troubled the MLS, so I'll stand by my assessment that Johnson is a big drop off from Buddle. One goal from the run of play takes much of the luster from the Gold Boot IMO.

I couldn't agree more.

[Gian-Luca]

Well he did score one of the goals against our U20 team & rung another off the cross-bar, so I don't know that we can say he didn't trouble our U20 team. But I do agree that I think the loss of Buddle & Casey will hurt the US - but not as much as the loss of Hume, Klukowski & Nsaliwa (the latter all but confirmed to be unavailable due to a torn ligament that's expected to keep him out for the next 3 weeks) will hurt us. And then if we add (as is probable) De Guzman & Dunfield to that tally......... well, it would be nice to start hearing about the other teams experiencing roster woes, that's for sure.

[Gordon]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

Well he did score one of the goals against our U20 team & rung another off the cross-bar, so I don't know that we can say he didn't trouble our U20 team.

His goal came after Canada had slipped into autopilot knowing they were through. I don't recall the crossbar, but I do remember being disappointed in his play after all the hype I had heard. I was also very unimpressed by his performance on the tube with Dallas.

In any event, the players that will trouble Canada are Donovan, Convey, and Beasley. Martino will also be problematic. Casey and Buddle would have been a problem as well, but they are gone it appears. So basically the US has lost 2 of their top 6, while we have lost 5 of our top six. I don't expect us to be able to beat the US nor finish top two overall under those circumstances. But Mr. Johnson will not be a part of the reason we don't advance.

I'd like to have seen our best 11 against their best 11 at this level. I think the game would have been very close, with either side capable of winning.

[Gian-Luca]

The shot off the cross-bar came near the end of the first half. It was the only chance the US had to score in the match until it was 3-0 Canada. Of course, whether or not he truly troubled our U20 team is somewhat beside the point, since its going to be a nearly entirely different (and more experienced) defense with the U23's that he's going to have to come up against.

[Gian-Luca]

The final US roster has been announced. Take the roster posted earlier in the thread & subtract Buddle (injury) and, suprisingly to many US fans, Kyle Martino.

[Gian-Luca]

Excerpts from an interview with US Olympic coach Myernick:

On the Challenges of Group A:

Since we have gotten to Mexico there has been a lot of media coverage and all they have wanted to talk about is USA v. Mexico and all I wanted to think about was USA v. Panama. It’s our most difficult game because it is the first. We will be the away team during every game down here, not just because it is Mexico but because of the rivalry between the U.S. and Mexico.

I think the challenge is that we know that we have come here not on the mission of playing three games in five days but have come with the purpose of playing five games in 10 days. The physical demands of that are significant. We know that it is going to take all 20 players on the roster to make a contribution, and the preparation has been in that light.

We have given everyone significant playing time so that they are match fit. The spirit in the group is excellent. I can tell from the players that while they have put in a good effort in training, they really don’t want to train anymore. They want to get to the tournament and play.

On what Mooch expects from the are relatively inexperienced defenders:

I think we have a very good attacking group of players and a capable defense. I think the challenge of our defense is to stay intact and make defending their priority. I’m not expecting us to be the type of team that has defenders coming out of the back, joining into the attack, overlapping into the final third of the field, combining us with crosses, getting to the edge of the box and getting shots. We simply don’t have that makeup in our team.

I believe we have the type of defense that needs to stay at home, control their area of the field, dominate the forwards they play against and get he ball into the midfield to the players who can provide it to our forwards so we can be dangerous. We can all highlight our strengths. We spent a lot of time working on our defense as a unit, keeping them intact and making sure they control their area of the field. If you’re not that experienced, you need to keep the game as simple as possible.

On Honduras, who on paper would appear to be the toughest Group A challenge:

We’ve had a chance to scout Honduras. They recently played Mexico in Ft. Lauderdale. We scouted the game and we have videotape of the game that we’ve watched very closely. What’s nice about Honduras is we are going get to see them play twice in the tournament because we play them third in the group. We’ll have a good first-hand look at them.

On if the U.S. can win the tournament:

I think we have the capability of winning the tournament. I know it sounds a little cliché, but the goal of winning the tournament starts with Panama and in all honesty, we haven’t talked about any other opponents. We have not talked about Mexico, we have not talked about what we need to do in any other game except Panama. I can tell you this, our objective is to qualify for the Olympics. If we won the tournament, that would be a bonus.