The game is coming up on Saturday and I know little to nothing about the opponent.

Does anyone have any information on what to expect as far as style of play and players to watch on the Scottish side?

A thread from BigSoccer on the game...

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=258984

I saw one of their World Cup qualifiers on FSC but that was back when Vogts was the coach so I don't think their tactics will carry over. Walter Smith has them playing much better. With Miller and Craig Beattie out, I'd say the three most dangerous players are Ferguson, Fletcher, and McFadden.

Maloney was good for me in FIFA 2005 when I took over Celtic after leading Wolves to a UEFA Cup spot the year before, if that helps...

Arena's roster has some surprises. I knew several players were unavailable due to injury or club conflicts but there are several people in here that shock me.

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard (Manchester United), Kasey Keller (Borussia Moenchengladbach).

Defenders: Gregg Berhalter (Energie Cottbus), Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jim Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege), Heath Pearce (FC Nordsjalland), Jonathan Spector (Charlton Athletic).

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (PSV Eindhoven), Brian Carroll (D.C. United), Benny Feilhaber (Hamburger SV), Eddie Gaven (MetroStars), Ben Olsen (D.C. United), Santino Quaranta (D.C. United), Kerry Zavagnin (Kansas City Wizards).

Forwards: Brian Ching (San Jose Earthquakes), Brian McBride (Fulham), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire), Josh Wolff (Kansas City Wizards).

Our back 4 and GK are solid. I'm really glad Heath Pearce is getting looked at. I think he could be a great asnwer at LB. Still don't think Lewis is a good option when you're playing WC teams.

But with that MF and F, we have a 1 out of a 100 chance to score a goal. Whose our playmaker and distributor in MF? Feilhaber has a great future but he's not even with Hamburg's first team. Up front, McBride is the only player that could scare Scotland. Chris Rolfe hasn't even been in a camp if I'm not mistaken, Wolff is getting up there and Ching is like a sucky version of McBride. With that team a 0-0 draw would be and achievement.

Dre,

I saw in your profile that you're in Houston. Do you know of any pickup games in or around the loop?

Not that I'm aware of. None of my friends are soccer fans so the only ones I see are the standard YMCA games close to my apartment complex. I've thought about joining just so I can play.

If I hear of/find one, I'll let you know.

dre- i see you like fifa 2005
have you played 2006

do you prefer winning eleven?

I here that the winning eleven game play is better but they don't have any real teams or players. That would be the big drawback for me over the Fifa series.

I don't own 2006 (I'm holding out because I'm hoping to get the Xbox360 in the next couple months) but I've played it a bit and the latest Winning Eleven. Winning Eleven has much better gameplay then 2005 but I'm with Sooner Born, I can't play a game that religiously that doesn't have the licenses. Winning Eleven does have the licenses for La Liga, Eredivisie, and Bundesliga but it leaves out a lot of basic stuff. For example, when you start a career, you have these mythical leagues that mix all the teams together so you can have "ManRed", Barcelona, and PSV in the same league. Very strange.

2006 has greatly improved the gameplay over 2005 even if it still isn't as good as Winning Eleven. Basic things like increased control over corners (it always bugged me how you only had three options) have been improved. Bottom line, if you're looking to buy one or the other, I'd buy 2006 over Winning Eleven. It beats Winning Eleven in almost every area and while the one that it loses in is rather important, 2006 is still pretty good at gameplay.

[This message has been edited by Dre_00 (edited 11/8/2005 4:39p).]

dre, so the team we field in conccaf and the original qualifiers is better than what we'll field in the WC?

No, not at all. But this friendly should not be considered as an indication of what our WC roster will look like. Arena is still very much in the evaluation mode for seeing who can and can't play at the international level. Wait till March to look at rosters for friendlies...those will give you a good idea of who's in and who isn't.

My guess is that Arena wanted to look at all the foreign based players, mainly the established ones but also wanted to take a look at some new talent. When Reyna, O'briena, Convey, and Lewis became unavailable and players like Donovan, Twellman, Demspey, and Ralston became unavailable because their teams are in the MLS Cup, he was forced to dig deeper into the player pool then he would have liked. I think the call-ups of Feilhaber, Rolfe, and Carrol are direct results of that and several of the other selections are second choice at their positions at best.

As a result, I think a draw would be a great result considering that the game is played in Glasgow (and Hampden Park is a pretty intimidating place) and the Scots are pretty much using their A-team.

[This message has been edited by Dre_00 (edited 11/8/2005 5:16p).]

i thought you were saying this lineup will be indicative of what we field for the WC.

SWEET Gaven got a call up. Just a question, don't we still have to cap Adu with the full national team or he can still play with Ghana?

I don't know if youth caps count as service to the National team but I highly doubt Adu would go back to Ghana to play.

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i thought you were saying this lineup will be indicative of what we field for the WC.

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Didn't mean to imply that. Definitely don't think that. I do think our offense will struggle immensely Saturday.

Adu does have to be capped with the full national team before it becomes offical. Youth team caps can be ignored if FIFA determines that the player has a legitimate claim to switch countries. Adu wouldn't have a problem doing so if he wanted to and while he was probably a little tempted with Ghana making the WC this year, he'll eventually be playing for the US at some point...unless Peter Nowak becomes the USMNT coach.

[This message has been edited by Dre_00 (edited 11/8/2005 10:56p).]

Starting lineup:

Keller
Dolo - Onyewu - Berhalter - Boca/Spector

Olsen - Zavagnin
Quaranta - Beasley

McBride - Wolff

That's easily an Arena starting lineup. Possible subs: I could see Conrad on for Berhalter, Spector for Boca or vice versa, Carrol for Zavagnin or Olsen whoever's playing worse or tiring, Ching for either forward, Gaven for Quaranta. I don't see Rolfe, Feilhaber, or Pearce getting capped this time, as that has been Arena's process of bringing new guys on slowly. I do like Arena's "new blood" callups though. I think Rolfe could be very useful in the future and think, of the new guys, he's one that could definitely play in this game. Don't forget he did score against AC Milan.

One random note, I think things are starting to get interesting with Olsen. It looks like Arena sees him as an experienced, smart, decently skilled player who can play the Dmid position like Mastroeni. If I had to guess I'd say that this is Olsen's last chance to really prove whether or not he has the legs for the international game. Also, I would have liked to see Chris Klein over Gaven. Maybe we'll see him in the next friendly.

dre - What you say pretty much goes with what I read on every other message board. People all agree that winning eleven has the best gameplay and that if they could get the premiership license it would be a no brainer. I would say 90% of people in the UK and Asia vote for Winning Eleven and define fifa as "rubbish"

people say that 2006 has closed the gap somewhat

winning eleven 9 will have arsenal and chelsea - maybe their first release on the new systems will be the ultimate game

Anyone have any info on the Rossi kid. I just heard about him last month and theres some hype about him? And i was hoping to see karbassiyoon, because i want to hear how to pronounce that name.

I'd like to see Spector get the nod at LB and see Bocanegra start in place of Berhalter. It makes sense since Spector has really only played LB for ManU and Charlton and Bocanegra has pretty much moved back to CB with Fulham. Other than that, I think your mids and Fs are pretty accurate and I agree that Pearce, Feilhaber, and Rolfe probably won't see much playing time. He might reward one of them in the last 5 minutes of the game if they had a good camp.

As far as Rossi goes, the last I heard is that he has great talent and potential, but its extremely unlikely that he ever plays for the U.S. He's currently with the Itlay U-19s and has his eyes on trying to play for Italy's full national team. Judging from his talent, I'd be surprised not to see him get capped for Italy in the run-up to the 2010 WC.

As if our offense wasn't looking weak enough. McBride is now out with a groin injury.

1-1

Looked good the first 20 minutes. Scotland controlled the next 25. Second half was uneven. US looked dangerous at times and McFadden gave the US troubles when he came on. A fair result, I'd say given the fact it was about our 7th choice team. One thing, I've learned in the run-up to the game is that the UK is completely ignorant in all things related to US soccer. If I hear one more time, that the US "has eyes on winning the World Cup" or hear them completely screw up players names, position, and ability (I saw multiple times that our 1st choice RB is apparently Chris Albright), I may have to go over there and kick some ass.

Overall I thought it was a pretty good game. I only watched the first half, though, due to the fact my beloved Aggies were on.

There was a point during the first half where the US's play was just beautiful to watch. They strung together about 5 or 6 "quick" passes to get the ball to an outside midfielder making a perfect run down the right side of the field. I was shocked that I was watching US soccer.

On the US goal, I know I'm a little biased but I felt if the ref was going to show a card it should've been a red one. It wasn't a hard foul or anything, but that seemed to fit the definition of obvious goal-scoring opportunity to me. Oh well, I'm not a 100% sure on that one, but it seemed like the ref needed to grow a pair on that call.

Wolff looked pretty dangerous at times, and Ching didn't do anything to hurt himself. Spector had some bad giveaways and seemed to have trouble with his touch all game (or at least the portion I watched). He did play very well defensively, though.

That's all I can think of right now.

[This message has been edited by CadeLBB (edited 11/13/2005 11:20p).]

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There was a point during the first half where the US's play was just beautiful to watch. They strung together about 5 or 6 "quick" passes to get the ball to an outside midfielder making a perfect run down the right side of the field. I was shocked that I was watching US soccer.

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I know the exact sequence that you speak of because I thought the exact same thing....couldn't help but smile.

I agree with most of what you said (including the red card, but lets face it, there's no ref in the world that has the cohones to pull out a straight red in the 8th minute unless the defender pulls out a tire iron and smacks Beasley in the knee.) but I think Ching proved to me that he doesn't belong on the pitch in international play. You didn't watch the second half (I was torn, but in the end decided to miss the 1st quarter of the A&M game to finish watching the game) so I can see where you are coming from, but he missed two free headers in the second half (didn't even put it on frame) and completely sucked at the one thing that he excels at...holding the ball and winning aerial challenges. I could count on one hand the number of 50-50s he won. Spector looked a lot better on the wing in the second even forcing a nice save late on with a bullet from about 20 yards out. I think Arena told him to get forward more in the second at he seemed to comply.

The only other players that really stood out for me was Gaven and Rolfe. Gaven was absolutely horrible. I forgot he was playing for a minute there. He should consider himself extremely lucky if he gets called in for the Norway camp. Rolfe, on the other hand, pleasantly surprised me. He didn't hesitate to take on the Scottish defenders and looked dangerous at times. Given our lack of options at the forward position, I think he gets another look against Norway. Hopefully, they can somehow pull of the win against Czech Republic Wednesday so that they bring their A team in January.

Cade: I used to be a referee, and under the laws I have no doubt that the play should have resulted in a red card. But as Dre pointed out, it's a very difficult call to make so early in the game.

More importantly, the match wasn't part of a competition and it doesn't do either team much good to play 11 v. 10 for 80+ minutes. The U.S. doesn't have many matches left before the WC and opportunities against European clubs are especially rare, so the ref wouldn't really have been doing us a favor by throwing the Scot out.

[This message has been edited by tool (edited 11/16/2005 11:10a).]

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The U.S. doesn't have many matches left before the WC and opportunities against European clubs are especially rare, so the ref wouldn't really have been doing us a favor by throwing the Scot out.

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Very good point.

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