Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Denmark and Slovakia release rosters for friendlies

The United States will have their hands full when they face Denmark and Slovakia a couple weeks from now.  Both teams finished top of their respective UEFA World Cup qualifying goups and have the added benefit of playing on home soil.  That coupled with the US missing key players through injury or the MLS playoffs and you get a couple good games against physical teams who can and will take advantage of opportunities.



Here is the Denmark roster:
GK: Thomas Sorensen (Stoke City), Stephen Andersen (Brondby)
DF: Daniel Agger (Liverpool), Lars Jacobsen (Blackburn), Michael Lumb (AGF Aarhus), Per Kroldrup (Fiorentina), Simon Kjaer (Palermo), William Kvist (Copenhagen)
MF: Christian Poulsen (Juventus), Jakob Poulson (AGF Aarhus), Michael Silberbauer (FC Utrecht), Soren Rieks (Esbjerg), Thomas Enevoldsen (FC Groningen), Thomas Kahlenberg (Wolfsburg)
FW: Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax), Jesper Gronkjaer (Copenhagen), Johan Absalonsen (Odense BK), Jon Dahl Tomasson (Feyenoord), Martin Jorgensen (Fiorentina), Morten Rasmussen (Brondby), Soren Larsen (Duisburg)



Here is the Slovakia roster:
GK: Jan Mucha (Legia Warszawa), Dusan Kuciak (Vaslui), Lubos Kamenar (Nantes)
DF: Radoslav Zabavnik (Terek Grozny), Marek Cech (West Bromwich Albion), Martin Petras (Cesena), Martin Skrtel (Liverpool), Jan Durica (Lokomotiv Moscow), Peter Pekarik (Wolfsburg), Kornel Salata (Slovan Bratislava)
MF: Miroslav Karhan (Mainz 05), Marek Hamsik (Napoli), Marek Sapara (Rosenborg), Jan Kozak (Slovan Bratislava), Zdeno Strba (Skoda Xanthi), Dusan Svento (Red Bull Salzburg), Miroslav Stoch (FC Twente), Kamil Kopunek (Spartak Trnava), Vladimir Weiss (Manchester City), Jaraj Kucka (Sparta Praha)
FW: Robert Vittek (Lille), Stanislav Sestak (VfL Bochum), Erik Jendrisek (Kaiserslautern)

As you can see, plenty of talent to worry about.  Here are my best guesses at who Bob Bradley will bring, I'll name 23 for good measure:

GK: Tim Howard (Everton FC), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa FC), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF)
DF: Carlos Bocanegra (Stade Rennais), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Edgar Castillo (Tigres UANL), Jonathan Bornstein (CD Chivas USA)
MF: Michael Bradley (Borussia Monchengladbach), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Jeremiah White (AGF Aarhus), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Freddy Adu (Belenenses), Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro SK)
FW: Jozy Altidore (Hull City FC), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Kenny Cooper (1860 Munich)

Mainly our European contingent with the MLS playoffs in full swing and perhaps Bob will give them a break following long regular/post seasons + WC Qualifying.  Along with Bornstein, Casey and Donovan (the only three necessary MLS players we need for friendlies) players who could get the call if their teams fail to make it to the MLS playoffs are:
Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy)
Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew)
Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo)
Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo)
Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo)
Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)
Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake)
Sacha Kljestan (CD Chivas USA)

Other MLS players who could get a call:
Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas)
Heath Pearce (FC Dallas)
Cory Gibbs (Colorado Rapids)
Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards)

Other abroad players who could get a call:
Mikkel Diskerud (Stabaek)
Bryan Arguez (Hertha Berlin)
Dominic Cervi (Glasgow Celtic)
DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers)
Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers)
Michael Orozco (San Luis)
Luis Robles (Kaiserslautern)
Frank Simek (Sheffield Wednesday)
Marcus Tracy (Aalborg BK)
David Yelldell (TuS Koblenz) 

Of course we're expecting the actual roster by Friday...stay tuned.

UPDATE:
The game against Slovakia will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel at 10am EST and the Denmark game will be shown on ESPN2 at 2:30pm EST.  Awesome how we can get this done in Europe but not in Central America...hmmmm.

Monday, November 2, 2009

US U17 team beats the UAE, moves into the sweet sixteen, will face Italy


This is a commentary from ESPN's Brent Latham.

KANO, Nigeria -- If the round-of-16 matchup between the United States and Italy at the Under-17 World Cup (Wednesday, 10 a.m. ET, ESPN360.com) were to be decided in terms of soccer history, it would be over before it began. If the match turned on the number of international superstars produced by each country, the quality of the professional league or World Cup finishes, there would be no need to take the field.

Luckily for Wilmer Cabrera's American team, none of those factors will count Wednesday in Kaduna. And the U.S. will have good reason to believe it can at least give the Azzurrini a serious run for their money. Games at the youth level have little to do with soccer history or resume, and looking at the facts from play thus far in Nigeria -- without taking into account the color of the jerseys -- the Americans should stand a good chance to execute their game plan and knock off the youth version of the world champions.

Many will heavily favor Italy on reputation alone. Those who do obviously haven't been paying much attention to this tournament so far.

"You can see by the teams that have already been eliminated, like Brazil and Holland, that any time you come to a world championship, it is very challenging, and this match is no different," Italian coach Pasquale Salerno said.

An analysis of play in Nigeria to this point suggests the Americans might have the upper hand on the Italians in a few areas that could be pivotal. The Americans have created vastly more goal-scoring chances than the Italians through three games and have seen much more of the ball.

Italy managed seven points from three matches in topping Group F, but in typical Italian fashion, none of those points came easily. The Azzurrini struggled with Algeria in their opening match, taking all the points on a late second-half goal by substitute Federico Carraro. They then had to stage a second-half comeback to knock off Korea before Sunday's scoreless sleeper with Uruguay elicited boos from an irritated crowd.

Still, that's the Italian modus operandi, and the pragmatic Italian team considered its first-round exploits a success.  "At this point, we're quite satisfied regarding the three matches we have played, above all the second match, which was the most important for us," said attacker Marco Fossati of Inter Milan.

The Italian game traditionally has been a counter-attacking one, and that has proved true for this young team as well. The Italians were outpossessed in all three of their group matches, ceding the ball to their opponents and staying organized in the back, then attacking at opportune moments.

The Italians based their squad around a solid defense that features Simone Sini of AS Roma and Michele Camporese of Fiorentina. When Italy does go forward, Fossati and Inter Milan teammate Lorenzo Crisetig provide silky ball control, attempting to link up with forward Giacomo Beretta. The growing AC Milan star is the Italians' principal goal-scoring threat, although their three strikes thus far have come through the Fiorentina triple threat of Carraro, Camporese and Pietro Iemmello.

On the other side of the possession spectrum are the Americans, who held the ball more than all three of their first-round opponents. Whether the U.S. succeeds in taking advantage of the possessions the Italians give it or falls into the counter-attack trap will depend largely on how well the Americans keep their defensive shape and avoid turning the ball over in compromising positions when they attack in numbers. Those are areas in which the Americans have improved during their three games in Nigeria.

After that comes the significant matter of ratcheting up that tepid finishing. Luis Gil, Stefan Jerome and Alex Shinsky all had chances to put the U.A.E. away Sunday but could not take advantage of clear opportunities, leaving the Americans to sweat out a close match. The more professional Italians are likely to punish that sort of waste in the clinical manner the Spaniards did in the Americans' first loss.

"If the opportunities we create can be finished, then we'll be happy, but we are going to keep playing and improving our level," Cabrera said. "We know we are going to have one of the top teams in front of us and it's not going to be easy."

Professionalism is perhaps the Italians' greatest advantage over the Americans. While Cabrera's players are mostly still affiliated with youth club teams back home, the roll call of the teams for which the Italians line up reads like a who's who of Serie A, with AC Milan, Inter, Roma and Juventus all figuring.

But the Americans have been through that name game before, and at this point in the tournament, it isn't likely to rattle them. Nor are the Italians, or their coach, selling the U.S. short.

"We will now focus on a very good, very strong team. No weak teams make it through to this round. It is hard at this round, and we will have to work to advance," said Salerno of the Americans. "They demonstrated by winning the [U.A.E.] game that they are in a good moment. They play really good football."

The quality of that football, and not their soccer pedigree, is what the young Americans will be counting on Wednesday. If they can erase the psychological disadvantage of facing the young Azzurri and play their game, the Americans' chances of advancing will be that much better.

LA derby ends in 2-2 draw














The first SuperClasico in the postseason lived up to the hype.  How it lived up to it is another matter entirely.  Defensive miscues on both sides led to three of the four goals.  Only the first goal, scored by Maicon Santos in the 5th minute wasn't aided by an opposing teams player.  Mike Magee pounced on a poor clearance in the box by Yamith Cuesta and slammed the ball past Zach Thornton to even the score at 1-1.  Los Angeles finally found their second goal in the 41st minute, again taking advantage of a mis-clearance from Chivas USA.  Beckham lined up for a Galaxy corner kick and sent a good ball toward the penalty spot that, after a few bounces in the area, fell to the feet of Maicon Santos just outside of the Chivas area.  Santos tried to clear the ball, but his effort took a strange bounce off his shin and ricocheted back toward the Chivas USA net.  Donovan beat Carey Talley to the loose ball and tucked a low shot from close range under Zach Thornton to put the Galaxy into the lead just before halftime.  Chivas USA started the second half exactly the way they started the first, attacking hard and scoring within five minutes of the opening whistle. It was substitute striker Galindo who capitalized this time, intercepting a backpass from Omar Gonzalez toward Ricketts from the right sideline and slotting home in an empty net to even the score in the 50th minute.  The final leg is Nov. 8 at the Home Depot Center.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

New England Revolution 2, Chicago Fire 1













The Revolution took the initiative at home and after conceding a Chris Rolfe goal in the 17th minute grabbed a 2-1 victory at Gillette Stadium through goals from Emmanuel Osei and Shalrie Joseph.  Chicago, who recently just learned that DP Cuauhtemoc Blanco will be leaving the team to join second division Mexican club Veracruz in the hopes of making the Mexican World Cup team, is a team in crisis.  They should've grabbed their playoff place much quicker than they did and a team who were early favorites to challenge for the MLS Cup this year will need a much better performance at Toyota Park on Nov. 7.  That game will be on Fox Soccer Channel.

Real Salt Lake 1, Columbus Crew 0


Real Salt Lake left it plenty late, but an 87th minute goal from Robbie Findley gave the home side a win heading into the second leg in Columbus.  A game full of chances for both sides, but the usual clinical Crew couldn't find a way past Nick Rimando.  I didn't post my picks for the playoffs on here, but I did pick RSL to topple the Crew because they forced their way into the playoffs and want to prove they're supposed to be there, and what better way to do it than by beating the defending champions.

Perhaps Columbus will perform better in the friendly confines of Crew Stadium, but the pressure will be on because with RSL's counter-attacking style through Fabian Espindola, Javier Morales, Yura Movsisyan and Findley, if they can grab an away goal I don't think Columbus will be able to recover.  The Crew had the added boost of Chad Marshall returning from a knee injury, but the USA international was helpless on Findley's goal. 

Game 2 is in 4 days and will be broadcast on ESPN2.