[Herndonite]

Should Agoos Start Against Poland

Has Jeff Agoos earned the right to start against Poland or has he done enough damage already?

 

[Kerry]

Hey Hern, why you be dissin' my main man GOOSE?
Yeah, he was the victim/volunteer for all the goals scored agin' us. That happens when you are the central defender. The own goal was not a groaner. It was just a tough deflection. Anyway, it had good pace on it. The PK was dubious. Like Dave Dir said, collisions like that happen all game long, there was no reason to call a PK. The goal was scored by his man. But where was another defender to double team this guy?

He's made some big defensive plays against both Portugal and Korea. Frankly, I didn't think was was going to be as good as he's been.

I say leave him on the field. Maybe pull him at 70 minutes against Poland.

 

[Lav]

no

he scored a goal for portgual, if he wasnt a US defender it would be one of the best volleys i have seen, such power and acccuracy.

his man scored 3 goals

and why would his guy need to be doubled, cant he handle him one on one

BENCH HIM!!

Lav

 

[mathiaslg]

What the U.S. needs, IMO, is the best man-marker possible. We need to mark Olisadebe out of the game, and that will greatly help in neutralizing Poland's offense. Carlos Llamosa is much better in this regard, and also has more pace than Agoos. As such, I would place Llamosa in the U.S.'s starting 11 at the expense of Agoos. However, I know Arena won't, so this is all academic.

 

[Herndonite]

What the U.S. needs, IMO, is the best man-marker possible. We need to mark Olisadebe out of the game, and that will greatly help in neutralizing Poland's offense. Carlos Llamosa is much better in this regard, and also has more pace than Agoos. As such, I would place Llamosa in the U.S.'s starting 11 at the expense of Agoos. However, I know Arena won't, so this is all academic.

Hmmm...Llamosa vs. Agoos in a foot race. That would be ugly! :tongue:

I don't think Llamosa would necessarily win.

 

[mathiaslg]

It would be a very ugly footrace, but Llamosa would win. Furthermore, he is better at positioning IMO. That is even more crucial.

 

[Oldplayer]

IMHO, Llamosa is an even biger liability than Goose. He is cut from the same cloth as Regis. Speedy but prone to brain fade. He got long-balled to death as I remember in the Dutch game. (Help me here. I think that was the game I was concerned with)

Anyway, The tying goal today was a group effort from the US side. The midfielders let the Koreans take target practice at our back line. It looked like a practice drill. . . S.K. mid takes ball, goes to side unhindered. Picks target man and sends service. . . Miss. . . try it again from the top until they get it right! As many attempts as they had, surely they were going to score one!

IMHO, Oldplayer

P.S. I agree, mathiaslg, Bruce will go with who brung him. That probably means Reyna, too.

 

[Oldsocfan]

The tying goal today was a result of yet another questionable call from the ref as Donovan got the ball first and then his feet tangled up with a Korean afterwards. We've seen something like that a thousand times with no calls but Herr Mier of course thought otherwise!

The ensuing free-kick found Ahn jumped in front of Goose and hit it with a glancing header, catching Friedel by surprise!

Poland has not scored a single goal yet, so it's hard to say how potent their offense may be against our D.

 

[Herndonite]

The tying goal today was a result of yet another questionable call from the ref as Donovan got the ball first and then his feet tangled up with a Korean afterwards. We've seen something like that a thousand times with no calls but Herr Mier of course thought otherwise!

In a rare moment of insight, I think Ty K. correctly noted that Donovan was whistled because it was a tackly from behind, even though he did get the ball.

 

[Herndonite]

IMHO, Llamosa is an even biger liability than Goose. He is cut from the same cloth as Regis. Speedy but prone to brain fade. He got long-balled to death as I remember in the Dutch game. (Help me here. I think that was the game I was concerned with)

Sorry my friend but I must disagree.

Llamosa is not speedy.

Llamosa does not suffer from brain fade in any comparable degree to Regis.

I don't even remember Llamosa being in the Dutch match, much less getting long-balled to death (though I could be wrong on this one).

 

[Kerry]

Donovan clipped the guy in the heels and took him down. It was a good call. The coverage on the ensuing kick was poor. Agoos included. However, Goose has not been eaten alive by speedy forwards. If there were a clone of Pope on the bench, I'd pull Agoos. He's simply the best we got. Look for the Poles to come at him.

 

[Oldplayer]

llamosa

Okay, I haven't timed them. I'll defer to you guys about the speed of individual players.

Nonetheless, I swear Llamosa was in the lineup for one of the Nike series game. I thought it was he, not Pope, that was poor in the air and let the ball carry over him numerous times. Whatever, and whereever, I decided then and there that Llamosa was not the answer. At the time, I thought to myself, "damn." as he had been touted by some commentators as someone to turn to.

The Poles might well come at Goose. He will play OK, though, so long as we don't bunker down and have target practice again.

I'd like to score early and dishearten them!

Oldplayer

 

[Kluivert]

We've seen something like that a thousand times with no calls but Herr Mier of course thought otherwise!

I really hate this guy, he fucked with the Dutch NT and Barcelona on several occasions. He's a really lousy referee if you ask me :yuck:

 

[Deniz]

I voted to start berhalter.

I heard Arena was thinking about starting him for this match as well. I wish he would have.

 

[lilphenom]

What about masterouni ?? He is a very good man marker , very good in the air and has very good pace. He played very well agaisnt portugal, and I actually think we missed him in the korea game. I hate to say it because agoos really works hard , but he just cant get it done anymore , at least not for 90 minutes anyway. What can agoos do that masterouni cant do ???Sure agoos has 120 + caps , but he only has one more world cup cap then pablo. I say we take no chances , just because the poles are out doesnt mean they arent going to show up , they have nothing to lose at all. We have to get at least a point and hopefuly a win to possibly avoid the italians depending on what they do against mexico. I think Bruce will make the right decision. So far he has pushed all the right buttons , with the exception of not using the 3rd sub against korea. If he goes with goose then so be it , if not he knows what he is doing.

 

[Purple Cowboy]

I think we should bench him for the Poland match.

He has the knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and God forbid Emmanuel Olisadebe gets within 10 feet of him in a close game & he'll fall straight to the ground or allow an uncontested header for a goal (or pop it in himself).

Yes he's been a "rock" for us for years, but he is no good against class competition & despite his reputation to the contrary he has been out of position in any close match that means something for us in the past year.

I think we should give someone else (Mastroeni?) a shot so that we don't shoot ourselves in the foot.

 

[Oldsocfan]

Yeah, we have this discussion in another thread:

http://www.xtratime.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77893

By the way, how is our newly wed?

 

[Herndonite]

What can agoos do that masterouni cant do ???Sure agoos has 120 + caps , but he only has one more world cup cap then pablo.

A central defender needs to be mentally sharp as well as physically gifted. Agoos has over a decade of international experience compared to less than one year for Mastroeni. He and Pope have played side-by-side for the better part of 6 years so their understanding is excellent. And Agoos is an intelligent player with good anticipation.

True, he doesn't have Pablo's physical gifts, but his position requires more savvy than physical prowess.

I don't think he will be a liability against the rather slow Poles.

Don't get me wrong, I really like Pablo, but clearly Agoos has a lot to offer at that position that Pablo does not yet possess.

 

[Oldplayer]

Mark me down as another Pablo fan who wants Goose to start. Pablo doesn't need on the job training with this back line at this late date. His OJT was successful the other day in the middle. He should start their as a destroyer-midfielder against the Poles instead of Reyna IMHO.

Oldplayer

 

[Herndonite]

Arena's comments on Agoos

From today's Washington Post:

Arena also voiced confidence in veteran defender Jeff Agoos, who was outjumped by Korea's Ahn Jung Hwan in the 78th minute for the tying goal.

"It was a very good goal by the Koreans," Arena said. "Yeah, Jeff could have done a little bit better on the play. But to be very honest with you, he made a bunch of good plays in this game. At the end of the day you get singled out, but I think he had a pretty solid game."