I believe Bob Bradley needs some help, and I’m here for him.
What are my qualifications? I coached AYSO teams at Division 7 (kindergarten) and Division 6 (6-7 year olds), and I might even have put in a season or two in Division 5. Plus, I believe I had a winning record at least once.
Anyway, you don’t have to be Sir Alex Ferguson to see it’s time to swap a few lads out of the U.S. national team lineup in time for kickoff tomorrow vs. Trinidad & Tobago.
To wit:
–Jonathan Bornstein for Heath Pearce at left back. Bradley probably already is thinking this, because he called in his former Chivas USA player on Monday, just two days ahead of the T&T match. Heath Pearce has been a train wreck at left back, and that is Bornstein’s position.
–Tim Howard for Brad Guzan at keeper. Well, duh. The first-choice keeper for an upper-half EPL team over the second-choice Aston Villa guy? Easy. Plus, Guzan did little to inspire confidence in El Salvador, while Howard was serving a one-game suspension.
–Oguchi Onyewu for Danny Califf at inside right back. Another “well, of course” move. Gooch was nicked up in El Salvador but apparently is ready to go.
Then we have two less obvious moves. To Bradley, perhaps.
–Juan Francisco Torres over Sacha Kljestan at midfielder. The tiny Pachuca playmaker helped jumpstart the U.S. offense in El Salvador after Kljestan put on a turnover clinic. Yes, I know, T&T is a much bigger and more physical team than is El Salvador, but the Americans need an actual playmaker at midfield, and it’s time to give Torres a try.
–Jozy Altidore for Brian Ching at striker. Ching is tough and durable, but his skills are rudimentary, and his scoring touch is off, as we saw when he got a ball from Altidore about 6 yards from goal in extra time at San Salvador and managed to put it the only place where it wouldn’t be a winning goal — into the chest of the keeper. Let’s give Altidore a shot. He’s just as big. Maybe not as tough, maybe not as good at holding the ball up top, but he’s far faster and a superior athlete.
Funny, that a few days ago most of us were thinking the U.S. should have nine points after three matches, two victories at home and one on the road against, presumably, the weakest team in the six-nation World Cup qualifying tourney, El Salvador. But now the Yanks have four points and really, really could use three at home tomorrow — though it’s not at all the sure thing it seemed last week.
These lineup changes should help, Bob. You can thank me later.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Turner // Mar 31, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Rudimentary? Please.
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog and your coverage from El Salvador, but I think you’re off both with the overall point about Ching and especially with the specific term used.
Your opinion, that Ching should be replaced with a younger, faster athlete, is not uncommon, but one that has been proven ill-advised time and time again, as Ching continues to produce goals (scoring or setting them up) at every level on which he competes. But I can’t fault you for having an opinion.
Calling his skills rudimentary, however, is simply careless. Just because his skills involve gritty tasks like holding the ball up and playing with his back to goal do not mean they are any less evolved, less vital, or less effective than a flashy stepover or whatever else you had in mind.
You are more than entitled to your opinion, and I am glad you have a forum in which to voice it, but I respectfully disagree and take serious issue with your choice of language regarding one of the United States’ best and most consistent players.
2 Dennis Pope // Mar 31, 2009 at 3:37 PM
I’d like to see both Altidore and Ching up top with Donovan dropping to just above midfield. I also want to see Beasley on the back line. He’s more valuable, in my opinion, as a defender.
Altidore—Ching
Donovan
Torres—Hejduk
Bradley
Bornstein—Bocanegra—Onyewu—Beasley
3 bw // Mar 31, 2009 at 5:01 PM
Drop Beasely.
Altidore–Ching
Donovan — Torres — Bradley — Dempsey
Spector — Bocanegra — Onyewu — Hejduk
Howard
4 Luis // Mar 31, 2009 at 9:33 PM
I wouldn’t call Brian Ching one of the best Americans. Not even close. Consistent, yes, but not best. Landon Donovan and Tim Howard are in a class by themselves, followed behind Clint Dempsey (though he hasn’t shown a lot lately for the US) and maybe Oguchi Onyewu and/or Carlos Bocanegra.
Ching isn’t even in the conversation.
5 Ryan // Apr 1, 2009 at 12:41 AM
If I had it my way, the US would come out like this against T&T:
———-Ching——–Altidore——-
Beasley—-Donovan—-Dempsey
—————-Bradley—————–
Spector–Boca–Onyewu–Hejduk
—————-Howard—————–
6 Ian // Apr 1, 2009 at 6:48 AM
Ching reminds me of the “old” U.S. style. He’s a big guy who’s supposed to be a target and set up people coming up the flanks. It’s just not the way the U.S. needs to play anymore. Donovan doesn’t play well in a target setup, as has been shown for both club and country.
Ching has a lot of supporters. I have never been one of them. If you’re going to go with big guy for direct target play, give me Kenny Cooper over Ching. Jozy showed his worth in El Salvador. So did Torres.
7 Turner // Apr 1, 2009 at 8:07 AM
Ian, you’ve got to be kidding me.
A. Landon Donovan is great running off of a target player; he and Ching were phenomenal together with the Earthquakes and have worked well with the U.S. too.
Cooper is big but he doesn’t know how to play like a target. He goes out wide and tries to take people off the dribble like a midfielder.
I do like the idea of starting both Altidore and Ching, with Donovan slotting in behind them. I think that gets the best players on the field.
8 Ian // Apr 1, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Turner,
Donovan’s great playing off a target player?! Maybe with the Quakes, but when have he and Ching ever seemed like anything but two people running opposite directions for the national team?
I’ve never seen this target/donovan connection. So many of his goals come not from a target player but from balls played wide, then built back to him in the center. or when he’s making diagonal runs with the nice through pass. it’s a fallacy.
Ching is that guy who looks like he should be great, but never is. and I’m sure I’ll be ripped more for the opinion, but what the hell. I don’t have to make the decisions anyway.
9 Guy McCarthy // Apr 1, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Altidore earned his keep tonight in Nashville.
Concacaf match of the day should go to Honduras-Mexico. Not sure if Telemundo was provoking intentionally – but they made Carlos Costly jugador del partido even though they showed slow-mo replays of the guy blatantly handling the ball twice – first time to set himself up for the opening goal.
Elsewhere in the world, Bolivia gets the Flat-Landers Award – when’s the last time anybody beat Argentina 6-1?
Earlier it looked a lot like North Korea scored first but the South Korean feed didn’t show an angle to confirm or dispell that notion. Anybody seen any still photos yet?
The Prez dodged a question on “european football” claiming he hadn’t been briefed – but he might know how to spell Jozy by tomorrow morning.
Drama, high jinks and comedy. This is why we love it.
Good lineup Paul. Bradley heard you where it counted.
10 Turner // Apr 2, 2009 at 6:55 AM
Ian … we could argue about it all day, but if you watched the game last night and you didn’t see Ching’s value, then there’s really no point. He didn’t score, and he didn’t get a direct assist, but he helped set up two of the three goals and he played well aside from that.
Here are some national team games where Ching/Donovan have worked well:
8/18/04 Jamaica 1-1 USA (Ching scores tying goal from Donovan assist)
9/4/04 USA 2-0 El Salvador (Ching, Donovan both score)
3/25/07 USA 3-1 Ecuador (Donovan hat trick)
6/24/07 USA 2-1 Mexico (Ching earns tying PK)
8/20/08 Guatemala 0-1 USA (Ching sets up Dempsey goal)
10/11/08 USA 6-1 Cuba (Ching starts play and dummies pass on Donovan goal, scores one of his own)
11 Ian // Apr 2, 2009 at 8:45 AM
Yeah, I’ll choose to agree to disagree, because I was waiting for the response today. I don’t think Ching did anything that 10 other players from the middle of the MLS ranks couldn’t have done.
And being on the field when good things happen isn’t the same as skill.
But yes, we will not agree on this.
12 joel es latest soccer news // Apr 3, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Left back is such a horrible position for the USA.
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