......BMB...Donovan
..........JOB
Convey..Mastroeni..Reyna..Dolo
..Boca....Gooch....Pope
...........Keller


Sort of a 3-5-2. Mastro plays his usual defensive mid role with Reyna in front. Dolo also plays slightly back of the rest of the midfield to help shore up the defense, but makes his usual runs forward to set up crossing situations. Obviously, the back three stay put except on corners and maybe a few other setpieces, when Boca or Pope should be in there. Beasley can be substituted for Convey if needed. Dempsey can be substituted for Dolo late in the game for more offense if we really need a score.

This formation obviously has flaws. It's a risk, for sure, but I just don't see us beating a team like Czech Republic by being timid.

I think I've probably proven now why I'm not a coach, but this would be a really fun formation to watch.




And for those of you who just think it will never work with a three-man backline in the World Cup, I offer:

.......BMB...Donovan
...........JOB
Convey....Reyna....Dempsey
Lewis..Gooch..Pope/Boca..Dolo

My least favorite part of that formation is that there's no room for Mastroeni.

So my lineup is so bad that nobody will even bother to tell me that I'm an idiot?

Anything with Donovan up front is not going to work. It emphasizes his weaknesses and diminishes his strengths. Same with USA. Gimme more speed on the field.

Until tonight, none of the other forwards had stepped up and Donovan hadn't been doing anything spectacular from AM, anyway. That's why I was thinking he should go up there. Maybe it was just Donovan's familiar MO of only showing up when he thinks it really matters.

[This message has been edited by tool (edited 5/28/2006 7:00p).]

I agree, donovan is not effective up top. He may not continuously do spectacular things, but he does a good job of transitioning our attack all the time. I would really like to see a midfield of reyna, obrien, donovan, convey/dempsey...I think one of those two comes off the bench along with beasley...not too impressed with beasley anymore.