March International Friendlies - USA hosts Argentina, Paraguay

Discussion in 'Americas' started by agoo, Mar 16, 2011.

  1. agoo

    agoo Member

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    The 24 man roster is out for the friendlies scheduled for 3/26 (v. Argentina @ New Meadowlands Stadium) and 3/29 (v. Paraguay @ LP Field in Nashville).

    GOALKEEPERS-Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Tim Howard (Everton), David Yelldell (MSV Duisburg)

    DEFENDERS-Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Jonathan Bornstein (UANL Tigres), Timothy Chandler (FC Nürnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Vancouver Whitecaps), Oguchi Onyewu (FC Twente), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Zak Whitbread (Norwich City)

    MIDFIELDERS-Michael Bradley (Aston Villa), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Mikkel Diskeruud (Stabaek), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones (Blackburn Rovers), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)

    FORWARDS-Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore (Bursaspor), Edson Buddle (FC Ingolstadt)

    Whitbread, Yelldell, and Chandler are the newcomers to the squad. Yelldell and Chandler are both half German and have spent their entire playing careers over there. Both were born to American servicemen and German ladies. Chandler will be turning 21 on the day of the Paraguay match and plays left back and left wing for Nuremberg, where he has appeared eight times for the senior squad this year. Yelldell has bounced around the German second division. Whitbread has been in the lower levels in England after being a youth and reserve player with Liverpool.

    Here's what I see for lineups:

    v. Argentina
    ----------------------------------------
    -----------------Howard-----------------
    -Cherundolo-Onyewu--Bocanegra-Bornstein-
    -----------------Jones------------------
    --------Bradley----------Holden---------
    -Dempsey------------------------Donovan-
    ----------------Altidore----------------
    ----------------------------------------


    v. Paraguay
    ----------------------------------------
    -----------------Howard-----------------
    -Cherundolo--Ream----DeMerit--Chandler-
    -Feilhaber-----Edu---Bradley---Kljestan-
    ----------------Diskerud----------------
    -----------------Buddle-----------------
    ----------------------------------------


    I see Bradley going with the established XI for the match against Argentina, who will be looking to avenge a 0-0 draw in 2008, where Tim Howard had the match of his life with seven saves to keep a clean sheet in front of over 70,000 at a rainy Giants Stadium.

    Bradley experiments a bit with the match against Paraguay. Michael Bradley is the only to get two starts in my opinion as he's not playing a whole lot with Aston Villa at the moment. Zak Whitbread is likely to make a substitute appearance in the Paraguay match. I wouldn't be surprised to see Juan Agudelo to get off the bench in both matches.
     
  2. agoo

    agoo Member

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    Argentina:
    G: Mariano Andujar - Catania; Adrian Gabbarini - Independiente; Sergio Romero - AZ Alkmaar

    D: Nicolas Burdisso - Roma; Federico Fazio - Sevilla; Ezequiel Garay - Real Madrid; Gabriel Milito - Barcelona; Nicolas Otamendi - Porto; Marcos Rojo - Spartak Moscow; Pablo Zabaleta - Manchester City; Javier Zanetti - Inter Milan

    M: Ever Banega - Valencia; Fernando Belluschi - Porto; Lucas Biglia - Anderlecht; Mario Bolatti - Internacional; Esteban Cambiasso - Inter Milan; Javier Mascherano - Barcelona; Javier Pastore - Palermo

    F: Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli; Angel Di Maria - Real Madrid; Nicolas Gaitan - Benfica; Lionel Messi - Barcelona Eduardo Salvio - Benfica; Jose Sosa - Napoli

    Paraguay:
    G: Justo Villar - Valladolid; Diego Barreto - Cerro Porteno

    D: Paulo Da Silva - Real Zaragoza; Victor Hugo Mareco - Brescia; Marcos Caceres - Racing Santander; Antolin Alcaraz - Wigan; Aureliano Torres - San Lorenzo ;Dario Veron - UNAM Pumas; Miguel Samudio - Libertad

    M:Enrique Vera - Liga de Quito; Marcelo Estigarribia - Newell's Old Boys; Osmar Molinas - Olimpia; Cristian Riveros - Sunderland; Nestor Ortigoza - San Lorenzo; Celso Ortiz - AZ Alkmaar; Edgar Barreto - Atalanta

    F: Osvaldo Martinez - Monterrey; Oscar Cardozo - Benfica; Edgar Benitez - Pachuca; Lucas Barrios - Borussia Dortmund

    There are some bad motherfuckers stopping by for these friendlies. For the US, this is the first time that the full squad has been called in since October, due to the cancellation of the Egypt friendly.

    And Stuart Holden was taken off on a stretcher today after Jonny Evans took him out.
     
  3. EPJr

    EPJr Producer Staff Member Producer

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    Holden injured in Bolton's loss to Manchester United
    [​IMG]

    Stuart Holden has been enjoying a dream season for Bolton, which made his expected participation in the U.S. national team's upcoming friendlies a highly-anticipated storyline.

    That storyline looks like it will have to wait now after Holden was injured in Bolton's 1-0 loss to Manchester United on Saturday.

    Holden was taken off the field on a stretcher after a nasty tackle from Johnny Evans, who went in studs up on a 50-50 challenge that left Holden with a visible laceration and bruising on his left knee.

    Here is video of the tackle: http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_...n-boltons-loss-to-manchester-united.html#more
     
  4. agoo

    agoo Member

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    [​IMG]

    Stuart Holden is officially out after receiving 26 stitches to close the crevice caused by Johnny Evans.

    Steve Cherundolo and Zak Whitbread have also withdrawn due to injury. Eric Lichaj has joined the 21 remaining players. I would hope to see a couple other folks called in.

    Losing Holden is the big blow here as he was hopefully going to establish himself as the Claudio Reyna this generation of players desperately needs. The March friendlies don't really treat Holden well as Nigel de Jong broke Holden's leg a couple years ago and now this before he even gets to play. Perhaps Benny Feilhaber or Sacha Kljestan get a chance to go in that role. I'm just hoping that we don't see Edu, Jones, and Bradley as a central three because it hasn't worked in the past I wouldn't want to see it in the future.
     
  5. agoo

    agoo Member

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    Stuart Holden is out for six months.

    Its still not clear what the injury is, but Holden tweeted last night something about having bad news and this clearly qualifies.

    Of course, since a Man Utd player caused the injury, I'm awaiting one game added to the red card suspension and SAF talking about how he feels victimized by this.
     
  6. agoo

    agoo Member

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    Bob Bradley has said that he will not be calling anyone else in. So here's the new 22 man roster:

    GOALKEEPERS-Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Tim Howard (Everton), David Yelldell (MSV Duisburg)

    DEFENDERS-Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Jonathan Bornstein (UANL Tigres), Timothy Chandler (FC Nürnberg), Jay DeMerit (Vancouver Whitecaps), Eric Lichaj (Leeds United on loan from Aston Villa), Oguchi Onyewu (FC Twente), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)

    MIDFIELDERS-Michael Bradley (Aston Villa), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Mikkel Diskeruud (Stabaek), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), Jermaine Jones (Blackburn Rovers), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)

    FORWARDS-Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore (Bursaspor), Edson Buddle (FC Ingolstadt)

    Personally, I'd like to see Lichaj thrown in against Argentina, but him facing Lionel Messi probably isn't a good idea for his second cap. Looks like more Bornstein, who Messi can't run past in a straight line, which makes him a better option than Bocanegra.
     
  7. agoo

    agoo Member

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    1-1 draw with Argentina. An earned result after a wide-open second half. Argentina owned the first half, but the US went from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 and had the better chances in the second half. Chandler and Agudelo both played very well, with Agudelo getting the goal to draw level.

    Greg Seltzer points out that the US has gotten some decent returns against what he's calling the "top floor" of FIFA. In the last nine matches against Brazil, Argentina, Italy, England, Netherlands, and Spain, the US have a win and three draws, to go with the Confederations Cup final loss to Brazil where we were up 2-0 before crapping out and losing 3-2. That's 6 points from 9 matches with real shots at winning five of those nine. In the nine prior matches against the "top floor" (add in Germany this time), there was just one draw against Italy in the '06 World Cup.

    For the record, I'm sure that Seltzer includes Germany in the top floor, but the US hasn't played them since a friendly in 2006.

    I'm not sure how this compares to other nations in the second tier of FIFA, but you can really see progress happening.
     
  8. EPJr

    EPJr Producer Staff Member Producer

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    Player Ratings: US lackluster against Paraguay
    [​IMG]
    Chandler, Agudelo among the few bright spots in 1-0 loss


    A few players stood out amid a Red, White and Blue sea of frustration in the US national team's somewhat encouraging 1-0 friendly loss to Paraguay on Tuesday night.

    The hosts lost an early game of set piece pinball and never recovered, though not for a lack of trying. The USMNT repeatedly moved upfield only to forgo end product for the evening.

    US PLAYER RATINGS: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/player-ratings-us-lackluster-against-paraguay
     

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