US v Czech Republic Friendly

dammnit, i won't be able to catch this due to work travel but i do like the idea of all the youngsters in a match that means nothing...except to their futures

COUSA

 

Grobblefrazzit? You sneak a couple extra beers at lunch when I wasn't looking?

 

Some USMNT/Hyndman things from Twitter:

 

1) Hyndman on for the last 20 minutes!
2) Brek Shea is not good.

And how about this:

 

Rimando, wow!!!

2 very different halves owing to all of the subs. Impressed, in the first half, with the way we took it to a more experienced Czech side who were trying to tune up for the start of Euro qualifiers, and on the road. Mix stood out for me first half.

Second half was nervy with some frantic defending. Nick Rimando was a stud.

Hyndman looked ok. One bad turnover but won it back. Didn't appear out of his depth and his positioning looked good.

 

Great to see Hyndman get in the game.

Does "Hynd" rhyme with "wind" as in wind up or as in gone with the wind? The announcers were using the former and it didn't sound right to me.

 

Thus far, in this match and in Championship matches in which he's appeared, it's been pretty consistent with the former, "wind it up." Surprised me too, at first.

 

Just saw the highlights, so I can't comment on the overall effort, but was glad to see a win, deserved or not. Nice to see John Brooks stroll upfield with the ball and let loose with long range effort. That shows the confidence a youngster gets when he comes up big on the planet's biggest stage. Nice forechecking, to borrow a hockey term, by Mix to set up the goal. Thought the Czechs really should have scored on one of those chances in the 2nd half, but Rimando was both lucky and good haven't been a fan long enough to know what the goal is at this early point in the WC cycle, so if someone cares to weigh in, I'm in sponge mode.

 

Interesting. I agree that Clint will be a senior citizen in soccer years in '18, but Bradley? Is a 31 year old too old to build a team around? Plus, I would hope he would want to make up for what was, for him, a sub par Brazil. I'm under no illusions that it's not an extremely young man's game, but it seems a bit harsh to assume a great player would be past his prime at 31. And although I know Dempsey won't be "the man" in Russia, he's just ornery enough make the team and give us one or two more moments to savor...and maybe get us past the first round of the knockout stage. Four years is a long time, though. Just ask any Olympic athlete.

 

Don't want to pile on Brek , but he needs to come back to MLS with his tail between his legs. After he moronically flipped off his own supporters (Barnsley?) there isn't a snowballs chance in Hades any team in England will take him on another loan. A big issue is he was making a ton of cash w/Dallas by MLS standards and I can't see any team wanting to give a guy who seems more interested in his hair and his artwork than his game anywhere close to the $$ he was making.

I like Mixx, but he would benefit by putting on 10-15 lbs. of muscle.

 

I agree with you Jump. Barring injury or a drop in form, I fully expect the 2018 squad to be Michael Bradley's team with him as captain and the main man in central midfield.

Like Don said, at this stage it's all about auditioning the youth and seeing who you think will be able to make the jump to being part of the squad in 4 years. Once we hit qualifying and Cup games, you'll see the best available team at the time, with some of the better youngsters sprinkled in, likely as sub options.

I'm hoping Duece will be capable of filling a Miroslav Klose, super sub goal scorer off the bench role in 2018 but we'll see. Four years is a long time.

 

I agree with you Joe. I was just telling my friend that Mix needs some added toughness - something that would benefit from 10-15 lbs of muscle. I don't think the Norwegian league is helping in that respect. He has been really smooth on the ball and I've liked the added spark that he provided as a sub in some of the pre-World Cup matches. Still amazed that he didn't see the pitch in Brazil.