Thread: United States National Team

Originally Posted by US_Spurs_Fan

Its hard to believe Freddy is still a U-23, he has been around forever.

Yeah I know, so is Jozy which is weird.

He's not doing to bad, he has a shot at the double and Europa. So I guess that's considered a treble? I don't think he'll win the Europa with the teams remaining.

The manager of AZ is a bit of a tool, he's pretty unfair to Jozy imo and I'm not just saying that because he's American. He's pretty bias toward Benschop, who's a good player but Jozy has been good when he gets opportunities, he needs matches though for consistency. Jozy has been a bit unlucky too, he had a brace off the bench a couple matches ago which normally would be good but the player he replaced Benschop had a hat-trick, lol.

By all accounts Ream had a good debut for Bolton.

Checking on Bolton boards, the fans seem to like him. Some funny things said though like how they admire his "pace". Maybe that's compared to Cahill who is pretty slow. Ream has some pace but you rarely ever see it in matches, which is one of my gripes with him. He's one of those players that doesn't know how to use all his tools.

Actually Ream is a good technical defender, positionally, tackling, vision and a very good passer. His problems are strength and concentration, he can improve in both areas that but he has some work to do. I think Ream would be a great in Italy where technical ability gets you a long way. That would have been the better move both for him and the NT. I'd take Ream over that mug Kjaer at the moment, own goal/defensive lapse/penalty conceding specialist.

Gringo Report: Ocegueda chooses US over Mexico | MLSsoccer.com

OMG, A left-back chooses the US over another country he's eligible for, the world is going to implode.

We already lost Danny Potts to England, fair enough. Cant criticize him for making that decision, A) It's England and B) Loose ties to the US.

Adam Henley I think it's looking like he's going to play for Wales. He has family that want him to play for the US but the one person who matters, his mom, wants him to play for Wales. His mom says he prefers playing on the right anyways even though he can and has played most his football on the left.

So now we're onto Ocegueda from Riverside, CA. Plays for @Javi 's club Tigres, who have a few Americans coming through the ranks. I haven't seen him play, at least he's training in a professional environment at Tigres at a young age.

Originally Posted by AmericanHotspur

But I think we could start seeing a trend in this, with all the youth success of the Mexico U-20, U-17 teams some Mexican-American kids may choose the stars and stripes, more opportunity to get some playing time. That can only be a good thing.

I think Torres may help too, sort of like the Jackie Robinson of Mexican-Americans. I know he's not the first to choose the US over Mexico but he's an good example to current Mexican-Americans having to make that decision especially the ones playing in Mexico. I mean Torres chose the US and it hasn't been bad for him in Mexico. The call him El Gringo but I think he likes nickname, everyone calls him El Gringo now. To be fair it's not like the Mexican-American version of Chicharito choosing the US, who knows how they'd react to a player that good. I think a good number of Americans would give Rossi a tough time if he ever ends up in the MLS.

P.S. I forgot Greg Garza. Also Castillo but he hasn't been great for the US when he's played. I'm not sure because I haven't seen them play a ton of matches but people suggest that Ocegueda has the most potential. Garza is highly rated too.

I really like the look of this American guy who plays for Dynamo, Geoff Cameron? I believe he's played virtually everywhere for them, Used to call himself a midfielder but now is a defender?
Big lad, can header, can tackle, can actually pass too and scores the odd goal! For a big lad he's not that slow either

Hows he getting on with the national team? If he is at all even.

Originally Posted by Irish Yid Pavlyuchenko

I really like the look of this American guy who plays for Dynamo, Geoff Cameron? I believe he's played virtually everywhere for them, Used to call himself a midfielder but now is a defender?
Big lad, can header, can tackle, can actually pass too and scores the odd goal! For a big lad he's not that slow either

Hows he getting on with the national team? If he is at all even.

Yeah he's a good player.

I like him but I think he's pretty far down the pecking order, especially because Klinsmann seems to have a bias against MLS defenders that aren't Tim Ream. He's played in the most recent friendlies which because of the European calender is being used as sort of a test for domestic based players. Besides the red card which was ridiculous he was alright. I'm not sure if that's enough to unseat any of our other defenders 100% healthy, and the red doesn't help.

If I had to rate US CB roughly off the top of my head.

Oguchi Oneywu (even though he came off injured today)
Carlos Bocanegra
Omar Gonzalez
George John
Daniel Williams (utility)
Zak Whitbread
Tim Ream
Clarence Goodson
Gale Agbossoumonde (Boss) <---- Could possibly be the best of the bunch in 4 years
Ike Opara
Geoff Cameron
AJ Delagarza

The order could change daily but that's roughly how I see them atm, and I know I'm forgetting a few.

The upcoming season in the MLS will be great because the quality imo has taken a slight step up and a lot of the young CB's start for there clubs. I think we'll have some more clarity after this season.

Also there's Perry Kitchen who's a DM/CB. I think he's going to be a great player with some time to develop. He's not stricty a CB though, he reminds me a bit of De Rossi when he's playing that hybrid DM/CB role like he did today against Parma.

Originally Posted by BlueCrew LA

Gringo Report: Ocegueda chooses US over Mexico | MLSsoccer.com

OMG, A left-back chooses the US over another country he's eligible for, the world is going to implode.

We already lost Danny Potts to England, fair enough. Cant criticize him for making that decision, A) It's England and B) Loose ties to the US.

Adam Henley I think it's looking like he's going to play for Wales. He has family that want him to play for the US but the one person who matters, his mom, wants him to play for Wales. His mom says he prefers playing on the right anyways even though he can and has played most his football on the left.

So now we're onto Ocegueda from Riverside, CA. Plays for @Javi 's club Tigres, who have a few Americans coming through the ranks. I haven't seen him play, at least he's training in a professional environment at Tigres at a young age.

Lol they made a big story out of a little thing, BUT he is a good prospect for the future and I know Tigres will bring him up well if he stays with the club. I would have this guy ahead of Salcido even at his young age, it will be interesting seeing him play for the US.

The USMNT is cursed.

Holden and Gooch two players who had very bright futures now who knows.

Recently Gonzo gets hurt on his first duel, in his first training session for Nurnberg.

Now Robbie Rodgers first match for Leeds, arguably should have played a few times before and gets a pretty bad concussion. Knocked out cold on the field.



I can list a few more, ridiculous our luck.

Brek Shea got sent off in a U-23 friendly against FC Dallas, lol. Irony......

It ended 2-1 Shea and Opara the scorers for the USMNT.

Originally Posted by AmericanHotspur

I'm really trying to provide some original content for this thread, but it's just too hard! Like, I went on yanks abroad and other sites and I knew about this game but BlueCrew is just too quick...

Either way good to see Ike playing and scoring.

Feel free man.

I just post things that interest me that you guys might like.

I think we'll have plenty to talk about coming up here with big friendlies, World Cup qualification and of course the Olympics.