What to do without Charlie

After the tragic news of Charlie Davies' car accident on Tuesday the 13th of October, Bob Bradley had to find a replacement for him in the lineup that took the field on the 14th against Costa Rica. He chose to reward Conor Casey for an inspired performance against Honduras 4 nights earlier, and Casey predictably came back down to earth. While it may be that Bradley chooses to go with this combination up top, he has 8 months to do some experimenting with the attack and he has quite a few options:

1) Altidore + Casey/Ching/Cooper: While I would argue that starting Davies and Altidore together was usually not the right option, Altidore is likely to be a fixture at striker in Davies' absence. This leaves an opening in the 4-4-2 to be filled by, most likely, one of these three big forwards. Casey and Ching are target men. Neither is particularly fast, both are strong, and both have shown that they can have a lot of success scoring goals in the MLS. Casey seems to have a better touch while Ching is more athletic. Either one could cause matchup problems against the sorts of defenses the US faces across CONCACAF, but European or African teams with tall, athletic defenders shouldn't have a problem handling either of them. Bradley will probably try at least one of the two in an upcoming friendly against the Danes in November. Kenny Cooper is also a big guy, but brings something a little different. He is only 24 (Casey and Ching are 28 and 31 respectively), and was already garnering attention from clubs around the world when he signed with Manchester United as a teenager, but he never cracked the first team. A year ago two European teams, Cardiff City in Wales and Rosenberg in Norway, tried to acquire him via transfer, and he now plays for 1860 Munich in the Second Bundesliga in Germany. He is a bit more of a finesse player, with a good shot.



2) Altidore + Dempsey: As I have previously noted, Clint Dempsey is a great soccer player who has had success in the EPL where he plays at a high level every week. Dempsey scored 4 of his 5 goals in the most recent round of World Cup qualifying before the Hex stage. A cynic might say that he scored against weaker competition, but he also notched 3 goals in 3 games against top-notch competition in the FIFA Confederations Cup. He scored the goal that put the US into the Semis late in the match against Egypt, after pushing up to the striker position after Benny Feilhaber came in for Jozy Altidore, and he put the nail in the Coffin of Spain, again after a late substitution of a striker (Charlie Davies) allowed him to push forward into the position that he likes to play. Those 4 early qualifying goals also came from the forward position. Dempsey has turned in some stinkers recently, and has looked mostly uncomfortable in the role Bob Bradley has carved out for him, while still playing well at Fulham. But he has always looked better when late game substitutions allow him to play more of an attacking role. With no shortage of midfielders, the US can certainly afford to lose his lackluster performances there, and would benefit greatly from the presence of an experienced attacking player alongside Altidore.



3) Altidore: There is nothing written in stone that says the US needs to play a 4-4-2. With lots of talented midfielders deserving playing time (Jose Francisco Torres, Stuart Holden and soon-to-be Jermaine Jones, for example), there is no reason the US can't play with 5 midfielders. The idea of Jermaine Jones playing the role of defensive stopper as a holding midfielder with Donovan and Torres possessing and distributing the ball and Stuart Holden streaking down the right side to pump dangerous crosses into the box for Altidore to run on to has a lot of US fans salivating. Bradley needs to pick a style that suits his players, and in recent games (against Honduras and Costa Rica, for example) the US has looked most comfortable when playing attractive, attacking soccer. We have a lot of players willing and able to play this type of game, and don't need to rely on defensive tackles turned into long balls and quick counterattacts for all of our offense.



These are the three most attractive options, but not necessarily the most likely. With Bradley completely unwilling to deprive his son of even one minute of playing time, he may move Michael Bradley up to forward (he has started there before) alongside Altidore if the glut of better players at Michael's position forces his hand. My solution would be to try to put the 11 most talented players on the field, and play the style that fits them best. These 11 players probably include Torres, Holden and (eventually) Jones, and probably do not include Bradley (the younger), Ricardo Clark or Benny Feilhaber (at least not all 3). These 11 players certainly DO include Jozy Altidore, who in the absence of Davies will be the focal point of the US attack going into South Africa in 2010.

Estamos en el Mundial!

If you're not excited yet for the World Cup, just listen to this Honduran Radio call of Jonathan Bornstein's goal to put Honduras into their first World Cup since 1982.

As a result of his late game heroics, Jonathan Bornstein has been invited by the acting President of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, to visit the country. If Bornstein accepts, is he recognizing Micheletti as Honduras' President, as the US and other members of the Organization of American States have refused to do?

I'd like to see him go, and then be admonished by Hillary Clinton.

USA 2 Costa Rica 2: Match Notes

A lot of things have gone wrong for the US Men's National Team (USMNT) over the past couple of days, with Charlie Davies' severe injuries sustained in a fatal car crash by far most painful. Between the news about #9, the lethargic start last night and Gooch's knee injury, it seems strange to be so excited about a 2-2 home tie against Costa Rica.

And yet, with the way the Yanks dominated through most of the first and all of the second half, tying Los Ticos in the 95th minute to stall their World Cup Qualifying dreams and put a good Honduras team (I'm a big fan of them this year) through, it's tough not to be excited about US soccer today.

The USMN could be forgiven for coming out a little flat. They had already punched their ticket to South Africa and were shaken by news not 48 hours earlier about the car accident that came very close to ending Charlie Davies' life and seemed at the time likely to end his career (it now appears likely that he will make a full recovery). And yet in a game in which Costa Rica desperately needed 3 points while the US needed zero, the US had the better of play from the opening whistle. It was a couple of defensive lapses that allowed Los Ticos to take a 2-0 lead, but 90+ minutes of dominating soccer that allowed the US to come back. So without further ado, a few notes on the player performances are in order.

Tim Howard 6: An unbelievable save in the 11th minute kept the game knotted at 0-0. It would have been nice if Howard could have saved the defense on that first goal, but he can't be blamed for conceding a point blank chance. He had no chance on the second goal. It is tough to put any blame on the keeper for those two. He would have earned a higher score if had been made to work a little more. Is there any keeper in the world that is definitely better than him? If so, I'm not aware of them.

Steve Cherundolo 6: Probably a better effort than Specter has turned in over the past 3 matches, and that's saying a little bit as Specter has been decent. It would not be the end of the world to see him win that spot from Specter, as the left back situation is much less secure and Specter plays on the left in the Premier League. The difference between Steve's performance tonight and the stinker he turned in against Mexico was night and day.

Oguchi Onyewu 4: Not Gooch's best game, as the lack of club playtime time seems to be catching up with him. He was beaten badly on the first Costa Rican goal. However, he is becoming more comfortable with the ball at his feet, and doing a better job of passing. I see progress for Gooch and the promise of greater things to come. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery. This grade is only so low because I expect much better.

Carlos Bocanegra 5: Another solid game turned in by Bocanegra after a somewhat shaky start. With Gooch out, we need the captain to step up and steer the ship in the back line. We are likely to not see him out on the left again for awhile.

Jonathan Bornstein 6: He has steadily improved in the left back position. That's nice to see of course, although I still would like to see Castillo get a shot at starting there in the World Cup, as well as Specter if Cherundolo works out on the right. The goal bumps him up to a 6 from a 5.5.

Stuart Holden 5: It shouldn't come as a surprise that he has not looked quite as strong playing entire games than he has coming off the bench for 20-25 minutes. He certainly had his moments, but he also had some awful touches and turnovers. I'm comfortable with him in either role (off the bench or starting) which is a compliment.

Benny Feilhaber 4: Benny certainly had the least inspired performance of them midfielders. He wasn't awful, but he once again did nothing to show that he deserves that starting spot. A few decent balls, a few bad turnovers, no dangerous chances created. His performance might have seemed worse than it was because Torres came on for him and showed why he should have started instead.

Michael Bradley 6: He passed well and took shots in the right places. Though his long distance shots didn't go in, he showed an ability to keep the ball low which both Donovan and Casey did not on their chances. He is most valuable to the US when he plays more of a holding, defensive role. Unfortunately for him, that is the role we all hope to see Jermaine Jones playing within the next couple of months.

Landon Donavan: Good as usual, but not great for the first time in awhile. He was a quiet leader when we needed one. This was the first game in a long time that Donovan didn't score or assist on a goal for the US.

Josy Altidore 7: Jozy deserves an assist for his 9th minute feed to Conor Casey after drawing a triple team of Costa Rican defenders, a chance that any striker over the age of 16 should have put away. Jozy was tenacious defending in the attacking third as well, causing obvious headaches for the Costa Rican back four. His size, speed and strength are all great, but what I'm convinced is his biggest asset, when he is able to harness it, is his freakishly long limbs. He can reach balls that other players can't, and he can push someone off the ball from like 3 feet away. Defenders were frequently left with no recourse but to foul him. He was unfortunately given a phantom yellow card that caused him to play verty cautiously for the rest of the match.

Conor Casey 4.5: What goes up must come down. Come to think of it, Altidore deserves two assists on balls to Casey, the first of which Casey just missed, the second of which he let Donovan take (they can share the blame equally for that one). Casey still had a couple of nice give and gos, and I'm not convinced that Ching or Cooper are better options in the absence of Davies, but this performance did not earn him any gold stars.

Jose Francisco Torres 6.5: He came on in the 62nd minute and immediately began playing some pretty creative balls. There is an enormous difference between the passes he makes and the passes a lot of the other players make. He plays the ball quickly along the ground and delivers the ball directly to a player's feet, leading the player and hitting him in stride. There is a huge difference between this and what Michael Bradley, Stuart Holden, Benny Feilhaber, Clint Dempsey or Ricardo Clark bring to the table. Among US midfielders, only Donovan matches his passing ability. People will talk about Robbie Rogers' corner and Jonathan Bornstein's header, but let's remember that it was Torres who won the ball one on one deep in the USA end just as the 95th minute started, Costa Rica was in full possession of the ball and looking as if they would be able to kill the clock for the remainder of extra time. Torres saved the game.

Robbie Rogers 5.5: Rogers came on in the 69th, played fine, and gets an extra half point for assisting on the winning goal. He did do pretty poorly with a chance in the box in the 73rd minute.

Kenny Cooper 5: Cooper came on late, and with not too many minutes it's difficult to judge. When he had the ball, he didn't do anything wrong. He also didn't do too much to impress.

Blessing in disguise?

As you've probably read already, US "midfielder" Clint Dempsey will miss the match against Honduras, and is questionable for the game against Costa Rica. So if the US takes care of business in Honduras on Saturday, we won't see Dempsey in a US uniform again for probably a couple of months.

Clint Dempsey has scored 5 goals in 13 qualifying matches, which makes it sound like he is a big part of the attack, but this hasn't been the case over the last few matches, and really hasn't been the case since Bob Bradley decided that Dempsey is a mid-fielder (and has since started his own son at striker in front of him).


With Dempsey out, the obvious choice to replace him would be Holden, who has come on as a substitute late in games to play the right wing position and done nothing except play with a ton of energy on offense and defense and create a wealth of dangerous chances for the US attackers. However, Bradley could be forgiven for wanting the luxury of bringing a weapon like Holden on during the second half, and so may consider an option such as Benny Feilhaber (a poor man's Jose Francisco Torres) or Jose Francisco Torres himself. Torres could certainly play a role similar to the one that Donovan plays on the left side extremely effectively.

In a way this solves a bit of a point of contention among US fans. Supporters seem split over whether Dempsey, with some thinking he deserves to lose playing time to younger, hungrier players and some thinking he is still one of the US' best who still deserves a spot in the lineup. Now Dempsey won't have to be benched in order for us to see what Holden, Torres et al. can do in his absence.

The biggest beneficiaries of such a move might be young strikes Jozy Altidore and Charlie Davies. While the duo didn't blow us away during the last two qualifying games, they weren't given many chances by a US team that didn't seem very interested in stringing any passes together on offense or really working to create something. Torres and Holden are the types of players that can play accurate balls that give a striker a great chance to put one in the back of the net, and Davies and Altidore both possess at the very least a nose for the goal and the killer instinct to put a chance away when they get one. Here's hoping they get a couple of them come Saturday.

A few words about the roster

Bob Bradley unveiled a few days ago the 22 men he'll be taking into battle against Honduras next week, and there were few surprises. Though two crucial World Cup Qualifiers are probably not the place to experiment with new player combinations, the fact that the newly eligible Edgar Castillo is left off the roster is a little dissapointing.

In goal, of course, there are no surprises. Tim Howard starting with Brad Guzan backing him up is no surprise at all. It would seem to make sense to bring a third keeper (you can never be too careful), but that is unlikely to be an issue.

In defense, Bradley largely went with the guys who have been playing there recently. Oguchi Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra are locks to start in the middle on defense with Jay Demerit out, and Jonothan Specter is likely to see another start at either right back (where he has been starting for Bob Bradley) or left back (where he has been starting for West Ham), a position at which the US sorely lacks depth. The other start outside back slot will go to Steve Cherundolo or Jonathan Bornstein. Jimmy Conrad and Clarence Goodson will also be available. Noticeably absent, as I already mentioned, is talented Mexican-American left back Edgar Castillo. While it would be reasonable to point out that Castillo has never played with the USMNT before and how is hardly the time to thrust him into the starting lineup, it is worth noting that, though Jimmy Conrad has 26 caps, he has yet to play in the US World Cup Qualifying campaign either. Goodson, for his part, has played in exactly one such game: a 2008 contest against Guatemala. Conrad has played in three games for the national team since 2007 (two in this summer's Gold Cup that featured almost no USMNT regulars), and Goodson has played in 6 total. Both did a good job in the Gold Cup and earned their call-up, but would giving minutes to either one of them be less of a mistake than giving minutes to Castillo?

In the midfield, Bradley has the usual suspects, and this was an easy choice. Landon Donovan and Stuart Holden have impressed in every performance they have had recently. Donovan will start both games will Holden, unfortunately, may not. Also probably starting will be Michael Bradley, who brings little to the table except a willingness to shoot and being the coach's son. Ricardo Clark and Benny Feilhaber certainly deserve to be in the 22, but the fact that one of them will be starting over Jose Francisco Torres (also on the roster) is a little depressing. Most writers include Clint Dempsey among this group, because tmidfield is where Bob Bradley has been playing him (despite his scoring goals for the USMNT being highly correlated with him playing forward). Giving him a start at striker would not be a bad idea. Rounding out the midfield is Robbie Rogers, who won the spot with a good performance in the Gold Cup.

Up top, Charlie Davies and Jozy Altidore will both be hoping to start both games. As likely as that seems, they've only started a couple of qualifiers together up there, and neither have gone particularly well. As I've already indicated, swapping one out for Dempsey in the starting 11, then bringing the other on as a sub in the second half, would be a great move. Rounding out the attackers are a trio of players that every US soccer fan is hoping won't see much playing time: Brian Ching, Conor Casey and Kenny Cooper. These are three guys that play well for their club teams, and certainly do everything they're asked in Bob Bradley's "kick the ball as far as you can and then let the strikers try to get their head on it" system, but they are not players that belong on a world class national side.

So no surprises, just a bit of dissapointment that Bradley once again went with some pretty marginal, uncreative players (Goodson, Conrad, Cherundolo, Bornstein, Cooper, Ching and Casey) instead of guys that have a real chance to make an impact for the national team in the near future (Castillo, and maybe even Freddy Adu who didn't look half bad today for Belenenses).

How to watch USA vs. Honduras on October 10th in Boston

As you might have read here or here, the crucial upcoming World Cup Qualifying match between the USA and Honduras, to be played in San Pedro Sula, will not be shown via broadcast television in the United States. It will, however, be available on closed circuit television. I didn't even know what that was before visiting Wikipedia, but essentially it's the same sort of thing you see building security guards staring at 24 hours a day. The important thing, though, is that you can't get it in your house. Not even as pay-per-view. The only option is to go to a bar or restaurant in your area that has contracted with Integrated Sports Media to show the game.

The game will be shown at a few bars nationwide (emphasis on few). For example, US Soccer has issued a statement along with a list of official US Soccer bars nationwide carrying the game. If you can't make it to any of the three bars listed on that site, you can go here to find all five that will be showing an English language broadcast. It you can't make it to any of those five, check this list of almost two-hundred bars and restaurants that have bought the Spanish language feed.

I've check ited, and the options for people in the Boston area are pretty slim.

The best option by far is Club Lido, which is near the Wonderland T stop (Blue line) at 1290 North Shore Road in Revere.

Other than that, there are Bella Villa Bar, Tu Casa, and Las Palmas, all of which are in Chelsea and not near any T stops (although there are bus lines that run through the area).

And finally, according to that list there is something called New Wonderland at 72 McKinley Street in Revere (close to the Blue line), though it has no online presence (not even a review that I can find). Also according to that list, there is something called Latinos Cafe at 296 County Street in Fall River, which is exactly where Victories actually is, which is nowhere near Boston.

Does anyone have more up-to-date info than this? Anyone in the Boston area that reads this, what are your plans for the game?