10 pm on espn2...prime tivo target...Japan is a world cup quality opponent but i dont think they are going to bring any sort of a real squad...probably a B team made up of J-league players...

After reading a few articles about the game, it sounds like they're going to have most of their best players in the game. Should be a good match.

Jeff Carlisle has a nice article on ESPN. Will be the toughest test to date by far.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=358114&root=us&cc=5901

For any in the Houston area, the 1836 supporter's group is meeting at Richmond Arm's at 8PM for a group meeting and then sticking around to watch the game at 10PM. Any soccer fan is invited to both but if you just want to come at 10 to watch soccer with a group of fan, that's fine too.

There's an 1836 group? How many people show up wearing jerseys tonight? If the group is around 15, I'll put the over/under at 10.

I specifically am not wearing my Houston 1836 t-shirt for that reason. Our last meeting (which was also our first) had 26 people show up but I'm hoping for about 40 tonight. You can adjust your over/under accordingly.

[This message has been edited by Dre_00 (edited 2/10/2006 2:37p).]

What do y'all talk about at these meetings? Do players show up to get people excited about the upcoming season? Or is it more of a "I played for this club team" and "Yeah, I remember that guy from the days of playing with Longhorns '79?"

I'll be at the match tonight, bitсhes!
From what I've heard, Japan will have pretty close to a full-strength squad. Can't say the same for our team. If EJ plays, I'll be happy.

[This message has been edited by tool (edited 2/10/2006 6:22p).]

Actually, it's more of an excuse to get drunk, watch soccer, and think of R rated chants to direct towards FC Dallas. I mean seriously, who can't like that?

word on the tv is that this is a squad similar to the US team with just domestic players...but a much better test that canada and norway that is for sure

USA just scored second goal. 2-0 about 30 minutes in. Pope and Dempsey have goals, Twellman has both assists. Field is very slippery.

The ball is stupid. It's white with light yellow smears on it. Ball looks lopsided or deflated. Very hard to follow the ball for players and for fans.

I don't know much about Japan, not sure if this is their A-team. They definately look confused and overmatched.

Final: USA 3 Japan 2

Good game up until 70 minutes in when we got a little sloppy and let them back in. Twellman is completely changing my opinion of him.

ya that ball looks like it rolled through a puddle of urine...im not a fan...i was not a fan of our last 20 mins either...it almost over shadowed the good we did in the first 70 mins...twellman looked great...just about wrapped up his spot to germany i think

Yep, first 70 minutes were really, really good. Last 20 were ugly. The first goal to Japan was more of great play by them than bad USA play. The second goal was unforgivable. It came on corner kick. Conrad had the near post. Guy played corner and kicked it between Conrad and post. Poor play.

Ball looks like melted dreamsicle. I think it's a Nike ball. It makes the VaTech and Oregon football uniforms look sensible. I just can't believe they will play again with this ball.

Twellman has completely changed my mind as well. 4 goals and 2 assists in last two games.

[This message has been edited by birdman (edited 2/11/2006 8:18a).]

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twellman looked great...just about wrapped up his spot to germany i think

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Easy. I've been impressed with his last two games but he still hasn't performed against top international competition. He should get a call up for Poland and Germany and if he does well there, I think he'll pretty much guarantee a spot in Germany this summer.

And FWIW, it was Rolfe who had the post, not Conrad.

Just finished watching the game (I taped it). From what I could see, Twellman has secured a spot. Nice goal and playing with confidence.

As for the others:

Wolf - played a decent game. nice ball to twellman before he was taken out, but nothing spectacular.

Donovan - I thought he was really good out there. Could use some work on the corners and his scoring touch, but played great as an attacking mid.

Zavagnin - I don't think he even deserves to be out there. Poor game IMO.

Noonan - I'm kind of confused about him. Makes some nice plays, but seems to get a little too excited around the goal and make some bonehead plays and I wasn't very impressed with his crosses this evening.

Dempsey - Very impressed. Played a solid game and nice goal.

Dunivant - Good game. Serves a very good ball and should continue to get better.

Pope - Very good game by the veteran. He's played really well this year.

Conrad - Good game, but I don't think he's done enough to earn a call up to "The Show." Onewyu, Boca, and Berhalter are all more viable options at this point.

Klein - Worst player on the field tonight for the US. Bad passes, bad crosses, and bad marking on Japan's first goal.

Hartman - Not much to do, and not much he could do on either goal.

Subs
Johnson - I like this kid, but he didn't have much to do as Japan was on the attack much of the time he was in.

Ching - never got in the flow.

Pearce - didn't play enough to warrant an evaluation but did have nice play near the end of the game.

Olson - not very impressive this evening.

Carrol - not in the game long

Agree with most you just posted.

Klein did look horrible. NOt just on defense but on offense as well. Kiss him goodbye.

Zavagnin - I didn't even remember he was out there until the second half when he got a quick touch on the ball. I can't imgagine that means he had a good game.

Conrad - maybe not this world cup, but looks like a solid defensive option moving forward from the Cup.

Klein definately stunk it up. Reminded me of some of Agoos performances in 2002.

Hartman is really unsteady with his kicks. Several times the US played easy balls back to him, but he panicked. Gave up too many possessions. Friedel and Keller are weapons with their feet, Hartman is a liability.

Pope is starting to make me eat crow. I'd given up on him at intl level. But he's done pretty good. Goal was bonus.

Ching is on his way out. I had high hopes for this guy, thought he would be the next target. But he just seems to wander around. Never in the right spot. When he gets the ball, he quickly squanders it.

Donovan - agree on the corners. We had around a 15/4 corner advantage but you wouldn't know it. Landon had several that were absolutely terrible. They just trickled to first defender.

Doesn't Bobby Convey serve a solid corner? He wasn't playing, but I'd like some other options.

I agree with most of what's already been posted. I have not had a chance to watch the recording yet, but I saw it live.

My observations after attending the match last night:

• Some of the best passing I have ever seen from a US team, especially in the first half. Great vision by a number of players.
• Twellman has a roster spot unless he just lays an egg in the Poland and Germany matches. I wasn't previously too high on him, but he has shown me a lot of great things in the last two matches. I hope he keeps it up.
• Donovan came to play last night, which he often doesn't do for a "friendly." I thought he looked really good. Some of the corners were questionable, but I think he was just having a bad night in that regard. That's not typical for him.
• Klein is not a right back, and it really showed last night. Easily the worst player on the field.
• Zavagnin was invisible basically the entire game. Not good for a guy who has been said to be on the bubble.
• EJ didn't get many touches, but when he did he looked a little rusty. I hope Bruce gets him some more playing time ASAP. A start would be nice if he is healthy enough.
• Pope was impressive, but he could have stayed in his position a little better.
• Defending, over all, was bad. It wasn't just in the last 20 minutes. Luckily we controlled the midfield for most of the match so as not to expose the backline too early. Dunivant makes a much better middie than fullback. As I already mentioned, Klein was just bad on the other side. Conrad was marginal. Pope defended well, but spent more of the first half crashing the goal than anything else.
• Dempsey took a beating, but kept getting back up and played well.
• Hartman is out of his league at this level. Luckily he's about 5th string, so we don't have to worry about him.

I watched Wolff a lot last night. I have not ever been a big fan of his, but lots of knowledgeable people keep telling me he makes things happen, does great things off the ball, etc. I'm sorry, but I still just don't see it. He's got good skill, but he doesn't have that sixth sense of where to be and how a play is going to develop. All great players have that. He had a few good plays last night, but there were a number of other times where he mistimed a run or was just late in understanding what the rest of the offense had in mind on how to develop the play. My opinion is that his desperation to turn in a good performance may be negatively affecting his play at this point. Still, if Bruce feels like he has to take four "true" forwards, Wolff is on the team, and I'm comfortable with that as long as he doesn't start.

Zavagnin is a defensive midfielder...he isnt really going to get into the offensive flow so he will most likely seem invisible...he might actually get the call to the WC because if armas never gets to 100% he is the only backup to mastreoni at defensive mid...Arena always has a defensive midfielder in the game when we play a team that will have any sort of decent offense so im sure he will take two to the WC...

I have to disagree with you somewhat. I understand the nature of the position just fine; I played that position for a couple of seasons myself. But Mastroeni always makes his presence felt when he's there. Besides, when your team is dominating as much as we were in the first half, a d-mid SHOULD be getting in on the attack.

Most of the times I've seen Zavagnin, he's been decent to good. Last night he just wasn't in the game for some reason.

I do agree, though, that Bruce will probably take Zavagnin to the World Cup.

Since we have more backs than usual(Pope, Cherundolo, Onyewu, Gibbs(if healthy), Hedjuk, Berhalter, Vanney, Bocanegra), do you think it is possible that Arena takes one extra of those guys that can also play defensive mid in a pinch instead of Zavagnin?

I'm also comfortable with Wolff off the bench as an energy guy, but I hope he never starts a World Cup game for us.

As a current offensive central midfielder, I can tell you the only person who gets a similar amount of touches is the defensive midfeilder. The ball should be continually flowing through one of us, and he for sure shows back a lot when we have possession on the back line. He may not make his "presence" felt in the offensive flow as often, but almost every run of possession starts with one of us.
I'd also take conrad over berhalter, because the only thing berhalter has goin for him is his physical prowess on headers(which also leads to him getting boneheaded fouls).

Tool, you seem like you have a good amount of soccer knowledge, but I disagree with you somewhat on Wolff. He may not seem as dangerous becaause, for whatever reason, he doesn't finish well consistently. But the guy is one of our more dangerous and creative forwards we have, with the ball at his feet. As of now, he's one of the guys that would be a great player if he could finish, because he does everything up to that point extremely well.

PatAg, ideally you'd want to run the game through your center mids, but Bruce has shown that when he uses a player like Mastroeni, Zavagnin, or Armas they're there to get in passing lanes to break up plays and to try to mark the other team's A-mid out of the game. They usually give the ball up in one or two touches to Donovan or the outside mids who then either tries to get it to Donovan, take it up the wing, or pass to a forward. The exception is when O'Brien or Reyna are playing. When they play they normally play as a holding/defensive mid that supports the A-mid and sometimes gets further into the attack. So, due to the fact that if everyone's healthy we have Mastro, Reyna, and O'Brien that can all play that position it's fairly certain that Zavagnin's sorry ass won't be in Germany.

As for Wolff, I like everything about his game except for the fact that he can't finish worth a damn. That really confuses me as to his worth. His job is to score goals and he never does. The only reason I really hold him in a higher regard than say, Chris Rolfe, is because he was fairly successful last World Cup. I don't mind him being on our roster as the 4th or 5th forward behind McBride, Twellman, EJ, and Donovan(who'd play forward in a pinch).

Most of you who are claiming that Wolff can't finish must have only followed (or looked at the box score) in his last few caps. He has scored plenty of crucial goals at the club and international level before having ACL surgery in 2003-2004. (Specifically in qualifiers against Mexico and Costa Rica in 2001 and in the Gold Cup Final in 2002). He had one assist in limited appearances and minutes at the 2002 World Cup (experience). I think we all agree that in Germany we'll see these 4 up top and starting will be McBride with whoever is hot (EJ, Twellman, Wolff). Therefore, for those of you that are questioning Wolff, he has proven himself to Bruce and the team, with his ability to create in the final 3rd, get behind defenders with speed, and finish.

No offense, but those are some pretty terrible arguments, BtotheRob.

Everyone has already agreed that Wolff is probably going to be on the WC squad. I think he'll be there (1) because we simply don't have any other forwards, and (2) he is second only to McBride in competition experience.

I think most of us are also aware of Wolff's record with the national team. He has finished better at times in the past, but off the top of my head I think he has 8 or 9 goals in ~45 caps. That's simply not enough production for someone to expect to be a starter on this team. And keep in mind that his recent scoring percentage is quite a bit lower than his overall numbers.

A few other points:

• Past performance (as in several years ago) doesn't mean much, especially with the talented youngsters emerging on this team. Just because he has done good things in the past doesn't mean he's the best man for the job now.
• Pointing out that he was better BEFORE surgery mostly hurts your case, as it provides an explanation for his decreased production and suggests that he may never return to his previous form.
• Club performance can get you a chance on the national team, but it's really irrelevant once you get there. If you don't produce on the national team, someone else gets a chance (or, at least, they should).
• Wolff's problems finishing are not confined to just his past few caps. He has scored exactly 3 goals since 2002 (one of which was a PK against Scotland), despite playing in a large percentage of the US matches.
• Again, regardless of Wolff's production in the decent past, he has not done much in the past couple of years. Why should anyone expect that to change in the World Cup? I certainly hope it does change, and I think Wolff is capable of being a great player up front, but I'm not holding my breath expecting anything great from him in Germany.

To me, Wolff is the embodiment of my frustrations with the USMNT over the past few years: they control the ball and move it well, even dominate games, but just can't put the ball in the back of the net.

Now we are seeing some new guys showing some creativity on the attack and actually scoring goals. Wolff does other things quite well, but scoring is the bottom line, and I think this team does accomplishes that better right now without Josh Wolff.

with the whole wolff debate keep in mind alot of people were knocking twellman for his finishing at the national team level before these last two games...Wolff is solid forward cant deny that but all that really matters is who is hot when it counts...if you ask me who should start a year ago I would have said w/ 100% certainty that it should be EJ...now i may still believe that but not with a 100% certainty...also i see us using a defensive midfielder along with reyna when we play teams like italy and the checks

I am simply validating Josh Wolff's presence in Bruce Arena's mix for those that may have only followed or remembered the last year or so. As I said before, I believe that McBride will start in Germany along with whoever is hot or plays into Bruce's strategy.
I do think experience on the international level (qualifiers/WC's) and what Wolff has done 2000-2002 is important. I'm not calling him a WC starter now, nor will I if he scores 2 goals against Guatemala. Again, I simply believe he has earned a roster spot in Germany.

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if you ask me who should start a year ago I would have said w/ 100% certainty that it should be EJ...now i may still believe that but not with a 100% certainty

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That's exactly where I am right now. If EJ can prove he's healthy and his form is anywhere near where it was before, then he should start.

I also agree that Twellman still has some things to prove, but with the limited options we have at that position I think he's secured a roster spot.

Will try this again when I get a website that doesn't suck.

[This message has been edited by Dre_00 (edited 2/13/2006 10:03p).]

Dre, the stats on that site aren't always up-to-date, and even when they are they are of questionable accuracy.

I happen to know, for instance, that Wolff scored against Jamaica and Scotland (the pk) in 2005. I looked here: http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/usamen2.html and found that he scored against Grenada in 2004.

FWIW, I'm pretty sure he has more than 41 caps, too.

Well son of a *****. There goes my argument...****ing US Soccer.

Well according to that site he has 8 goals and 3 in the last two years. Still not exactly lighting it up.

[This message has been edited by Dre_00 (edited 2/13/2006 10:07p).]

Does anyone have a reliable site for this kind of info?

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Well son of a *****. There goes my argument...****ing US Soccer.

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Although the USSF is, indeed, incompetent, the site you used was run by the players' union. Remember the big labor dispute? I don't think they'd like being confused with the federation.

I honestly don't know whether my link is any more reliable or not.

[This message has been edited by tool (edited 2/13/2006 10:35p).]

www.sams-army.com has the same stats for Josh, 41 caps and 8 goals all-time. EJ, 7 goals in just 12 caps...I sure hope he regains form.

This appears to be one game behind as it shows Eddie Pope with 75 caps and I think he got that in the game against Norway...Japan was his 76th right? Donovan and Pope got their 75th cap against Norway if I remember correctly.

[This message has been edited by randy828 (edited 2/14/2006 1:13p).]