I listen to a lot of music.
There are many groups that sing so much but say so little. And once in awhile, there comes a song that just leaps out of your Ipod/Zune/Radio and tugs at your heart in the slightest way, but enough for you to notice.
You know.... those songs that makes you wish you were in high school again with your friends,songs that make you think about your first-kiss and brings back those other memories along with the nostalgic side-effect to boost.
Those are the songs I search for.
It's true, there are times where I just want to headbang my frustration out to some good punk track or some wild yet soft scream-o ,but mostly, I prefer the songs that make your eyes water a bit.
Tracks that seem more like a therapist that hypnotizes you. Transporting you to that exact moment in life, that you treasure so much.
Here are some bands and artists that do have the uncanny ability of this (at least for me):
1) Nickelback - these guys sing 2 type of songs - a) the ones that make you wish you were them (i.e. "Man I wish I could've done that")
b) songs that have you reminisce about your past.
2) Relient K - over the years there sound has changed, but they still keep the good'ol fashioned punk riffs coming. They've gone from "Life blows!" to "GET ME OUTTA COLLEGE!" to "I OWE IT ALL TO YOU LORD!", great group to listen to both when you're in a happy mood or when you're down on the ground....these dudes can really pick you up.
3) Switchfoot - they're a special group, because when their first album came out it gave you a sense of a man vs man conflict. It confronted you and yet, in a subtle way, managed to lift you up and give you hope....great pick me up songs with great vocals and nice riffs make for one well-blended group!
4) Emery - Don't be fooled by their occasional screaming, because it's not meaningless. With dueling lyrics and melodic magic, this group can make a song out of any situation that will have you head-bobbing, headbanging, crying or screaming in a span of 4 minutes. They're not a group to just listen to, but a group to pay close attention to, as they confront their listeners with the hard issues not usually addressed by any bands or groups and just throws it in your face. One of my personal favorite bands.
5) Anberlin - Great alternative rock group, with a mix of conflicting lyrics accompanied with soft yet aggressive music to happy and upbeat songs with great high-tempo drumming. The lead singer & main songwriter Stephen Christian has an unusually high voice that delivers the message in the way necessary. Love songs and memories told in the first-person takes you into Stephens life in a roller coaster of emotions and with lessons to learn as well. Another personal favorite of mine.
6) John Mayer - For some, this guy needs no introduction. For those who don't know......you don't know what you're missing. What defines John Mayer is not only his skill and mastery of his instrument (guitar) or his strangely whispery voice; it is his song-writing gift that he is able to get you to feel exactly the way John Mayer felt when writing that specific song. You can relate to his lyrics and so making him accessible and ordinary just like the rest of us. Top musician and great song-writer....makes him my number one music man.
Comment and tell me who speaks to you through the speakers of your car/room/ipod....wherever!
GBY!!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
LIFE - No coincidences, just an unknown plan.
Everyday, is a struggle for me.
Yet....I smile.
Yes, I smile because even though I may not have a cellphone or my own car and even though I may disagree a lot or a little with my parents or sibling.
Even when I get in a car crash, lose a job, hit my foot on the corner of my dresser cabinet in the morning. Even when I trip and fall, spill my milk on my new pants, forget to take the food after paying at a drive-thru restaurant.
EVEN AFTER i had a bad argument with my girlfriend or with my best friend. Even if I was stabbed in the back by my best friend and/or worse.....by my own family member.
Even though I got stopped by a cop and had to pay a ticket or I can't find my car keys, wallet, glasses and get late to work.
Even when i make bad decisions and suffer the consequence later, try to help someone and i end up getting hated by that person. When i don't feel understood or I'm in a bad mood. Even when i lose a close one that has been dear to me all my life, I end up separating from my friends after high school because we are no longer obligated to see each other everyday so everyone goes on to their different paths and set of to start their new lives. Even when, i have lost trust on those who lead this beautiful country I live in.....I was BORN in..... and call home.
When everyone is against me or I against the world. Even when I lose faith in my God, when I doubt and cloud my mind with useless clutter, having lost faith in myself and I feel lower than dirt.....
I remember ...... that HE loves me.
WHY? i don't know why. What did I do to possibly deserve such love.
When I feel like ALL that I have mentioned. I remember a song that comes to me from a poet:
"I'm here again before you, in humble prayer. You don't even half to answer.....just set your eyes on me my Lord. I just don't know what to think, and I don't even know how to express..... the fear and the wonder that is in me. I still do not know, you have yet to let me know, what you have seen me for you to love me. It's just that I can't find the reason of such WASTED LOVE........who am I, for you to love me so."
and when I remind myself of this........ I smile.
Yet....I smile.
Yes, I smile because even though I may not have a cellphone or my own car and even though I may disagree a lot or a little with my parents or sibling.
Even when I get in a car crash, lose a job, hit my foot on the corner of my dresser cabinet in the morning. Even when I trip and fall, spill my milk on my new pants, forget to take the food after paying at a drive-thru restaurant.
EVEN AFTER i had a bad argument with my girlfriend or with my best friend. Even if I was stabbed in the back by my best friend and/or worse.....by my own family member.
Even though I got stopped by a cop and had to pay a ticket or I can't find my car keys, wallet, glasses and get late to work.
Even when i make bad decisions and suffer the consequence later, try to help someone and i end up getting hated by that person. When i don't feel understood or I'm in a bad mood. Even when i lose a close one that has been dear to me all my life, I end up separating from my friends after high school because we are no longer obligated to see each other everyday so everyone goes on to their different paths and set of to start their new lives. Even when, i have lost trust on those who lead this beautiful country I live in.....I was BORN in..... and call home.
When everyone is against me or I against the world. Even when I lose faith in my God, when I doubt and cloud my mind with useless clutter, having lost faith in myself and I feel lower than dirt.....
I remember ...... that HE loves me.
WHY? i don't know why. What did I do to possibly deserve such love.
When I feel like ALL that I have mentioned. I remember a song that comes to me from a poet:
"I'm here again before you, in humble prayer. You don't even half to answer.....just set your eyes on me my Lord. I just don't know what to think, and I don't even know how to express..... the fear and the wonder that is in me. I still do not know, you have yet to let me know, what you have seen me for you to love me. It's just that I can't find the reason of such WASTED LOVE........who am I, for you to love me so."
and when I remind myself of this........ I smile.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Trouble brewin' for the USMNT
Sheesh..... It's been awhile but I'm back.
There's not much time but there's loads to cover. So I'll start of first with a BIG shout out to the miners in Chile who have been trapped 700km underground with temperatures reaching 87 degrees Fahrenheit for the past 2 months. Great top see them healthy and ALIVE most of all. Thank God for taking care of them.
Back to Soccer...
The US Men's National Team played Poland on Saturday the 9Th of October. I was watching this game and I was glad to see the debut of Jermaine Jones and displeased on seeing Maurice Edu next to Onyewu.
My question is WHY? Why Bob, should a great Defensive box-to-box midfielder like Maurice Edu be used as a Centre Back? I don't understand this decision especially when you have 2 center backs in the bench who NEED to gel with the current back four?
Fine, we're past that now. On to the (sort of) good.
Jermaine Jones made his debut provided an assist not just for us but for Poland too, by failing to clear a ball at the top of the 18.
But he played well defensively while tracking back and helping little Bradley when he got in a mess.
To me, the midfield lacked the spark that Landon Donovan provides. And it's ever more clear how crucial he is to the team. Stuart Holden was given the roll of the "play maker" but has not quite gotten used to that roll yet. Still his confidence, hard work and determination had him running all over and curving the ball with his set-pieces to dangerous areas (to the point of assisting Onyewu on the team's second goal).
Holden definitely has all the tools of being the next play maker equal to (maybe) Donovan. For the next 4 years we need to (slowly) start letting go of our veterans, to make way for the new blood that will eventually take our team to (hopefully) new heights during the 2018 and 2022 cycle.
The thought is sad for me, but it is inevitable that one day we won't see Donovan or Dempsey anymore after 2014 World Cup.
Yet, not all change is bad. Or is it?
That was the question on everybody's mind. Was the changes done to the starting lineup good or bad on Tuesday night. When USA faced Colombia, the formation was a modified 4-3-2-1 made to function like a 4-3-3.
Now, let me break this up for ya:
you have 4 defenders in front of the goal (that's the obvious). Then you have 3 midfielders....what do these 3 do... well, there's plenty that can be done here. Granted, you lose an extra midfielder but, you gain a forward. This allows for the 2 higher midfielders to supply the upper 3 in front of them, leaving 1 more withdrawn closer to the back 4 for defensive support.
just look at this picture below:
RB-----CB----CB----LB
----------CDM--------
---RCM----------LCM
RW--------ST--------LW
The back four = RB (Right Back), CB (Center Back), LB (Left Back)
The middle 3 = CDM (Center Defensive Midfielder), RCM (Right Center Midfielder), LCM (Left Center Midfielder).
The front 3 = RW (Right Winger), ST (Striker), LW (Left Winger)
now that you have a clear picture on the formation used. Let's analyze the lineup:
Jonathan Spector-----Clarence Goodson----Oguchi Onyewu----Heath Pearce
---------------------------Maurice Edu-------------------------
--------Michael Bradley-------------------Jemaine Jones--------
Stuart Holden---------------Jozy Altidore------------------Benny Feilhaber
Here you have 3 Defense-minded players in Edu, Bradley and Jones. All three specialize in Box-to-Box, tackling, tracking back and breaking up offensive plays from the opposing team.
Holden and Feilhaber are given the winger spots to primarily feed Jozy. In this formation the scoring responsibility here relies heavily on him. Yet, he has support from the right and from the left.
What went wrong on Tuesday? well, It's actually quite simple.
First of all, in the middle 3 there are supposed to be 1 mid that drops back and reinforces the back 4 and the other 2 feed the upper 3 forwards. As said before, Edu, Bradley and Jones are 3 defensive midfielder there tendency is, should and will always be.... to track back and help the back 4!
So this already disrupts and defeats the purpose of using the 4-3-3 formation. Now there is a gap in the midfield leaving the 2 wingers (Holden and Feilhaber) to track back and try to bridge the gap in the middle. So the wingers weren't being fed appropriately and were dropping back more and more.
The first half of the USA vs Colombia showed, just because it works for other teams....doesn't mean it'll work for ours.
Then again, it was JUST a "friendly" and Donovan (our most important play maker) wasn't present for us to truly view the formation with all our starters.
Honorable mentions:
Eric Lichaj was a beast on a mission. On his post-match interview he stated that he did not feel intimidated at all by the 8k crowd that night, since he is used to more hostile and energetic (not to mention numerous) fans of Aston Villa (a home match is easily over 20k) back over the pond. He definitely did not take long to make an impact and showed that the right back position has new depth.
With this I will go, and please comment and Follow MUA! if you like what you read. God Bles Y'all!
There's not much time but there's loads to cover. So I'll start of first with a BIG shout out to the miners in Chile who have been trapped 700km underground with temperatures reaching 87 degrees Fahrenheit for the past 2 months. Great top see them healthy and ALIVE most of all. Thank God for taking care of them.
Back to Soccer...
The US Men's National Team played Poland on Saturday the 9Th of October. I was watching this game and I was glad to see the debut of Jermaine Jones and displeased on seeing Maurice Edu next to Onyewu.
My question is WHY? Why Bob, should a great Defensive box-to-box midfielder like Maurice Edu be used as a Centre Back? I don't understand this decision especially when you have 2 center backs in the bench who NEED to gel with the current back four?
Fine, we're past that now. On to the (sort of) good.
Jermaine Jones made his debut provided an assist not just for us but for Poland too, by failing to clear a ball at the top of the 18.
But he played well defensively while tracking back and helping little Bradley when he got in a mess.
To me, the midfield lacked the spark that Landon Donovan provides. And it's ever more clear how crucial he is to the team. Stuart Holden was given the roll of the "play maker" but has not quite gotten used to that roll yet. Still his confidence, hard work and determination had him running all over and curving the ball with his set-pieces to dangerous areas (to the point of assisting Onyewu on the team's second goal).
Holden definitely has all the tools of being the next play maker equal to (maybe) Donovan. For the next 4 years we need to (slowly) start letting go of our veterans, to make way for the new blood that will eventually take our team to (hopefully) new heights during the 2018 and 2022 cycle.
The thought is sad for me, but it is inevitable that one day we won't see Donovan or Dempsey anymore after 2014 World Cup.
Yet, not all change is bad. Or is it?
That was the question on everybody's mind. Was the changes done to the starting lineup good or bad on Tuesday night. When USA faced Colombia, the formation was a modified 4-3-2-1 made to function like a 4-3-3.
Now, let me break this up for ya:
you have 4 defenders in front of the goal (that's the obvious). Then you have 3 midfielders....what do these 3 do... well, there's plenty that can be done here. Granted, you lose an extra midfielder but, you gain a forward. This allows for the 2 higher midfielders to supply the upper 3 in front of them, leaving 1 more withdrawn closer to the back 4 for defensive support.
just look at this picture below:
RB-----CB----CB----LB
----------CDM--------
---RCM----------LCM
RW--------ST--------LW
The back four = RB (Right Back), CB (Center Back), LB (Left Back)
The middle 3 = CDM (Center Defensive Midfielder), RCM (Right Center Midfielder), LCM (Left Center Midfielder).
The front 3 = RW (Right Winger), ST (Striker), LW (Left Winger)
now that you have a clear picture on the formation used. Let's analyze the lineup:
Jonathan Spector-----Clarence Goodson----Oguchi Onyewu----Heath Pearce
---------------------------Maurice Edu-------------------------
--------Michael Bradley-------------------Jemaine Jones--------
Stuart Holden---------------Jozy Altidore------------------Benny Feilhaber
Here you have 3 Defense-minded players in Edu, Bradley and Jones. All three specialize in Box-to-Box, tackling, tracking back and breaking up offensive plays from the opposing team.
Holden and Feilhaber are given the winger spots to primarily feed Jozy. In this formation the scoring responsibility here relies heavily on him. Yet, he has support from the right and from the left.
What went wrong on Tuesday? well, It's actually quite simple.
First of all, in the middle 3 there are supposed to be 1 mid that drops back and reinforces the back 4 and the other 2 feed the upper 3 forwards. As said before, Edu, Bradley and Jones are 3 defensive midfielder there tendency is, should and will always be.... to track back and help the back 4!
So this already disrupts and defeats the purpose of using the 4-3-3 formation. Now there is a gap in the midfield leaving the 2 wingers (Holden and Feilhaber) to track back and try to bridge the gap in the middle. So the wingers weren't being fed appropriately and were dropping back more and more.
The first half of the USA vs Colombia showed, just because it works for other teams....doesn't mean it'll work for ours.
Then again, it was JUST a "friendly" and Donovan (our most important play maker) wasn't present for us to truly view the formation with all our starters.
Honorable mentions:
Eric Lichaj was a beast on a mission. On his post-match interview he stated that he did not feel intimidated at all by the 8k crowd that night, since he is used to more hostile and energetic (not to mention numerous) fans of Aston Villa (a home match is easily over 20k) back over the pond. He definitely did not take long to make an impact and showed that the right back position has new depth.
With this I will go, and please comment and Follow MUA! if you like what you read. God Bles Y'all!
Friday, August 13, 2010
(Soccer) Belated thoughts on the USA friendly
Welcome back everybody!!
I know this a little late, but I was caught up on several things so I had to postpone my post about the USA vs Brazil Friendly on Tuesday night.
It ended (unsurprisingly)with the USA losing 2-0 to a young but EXTREMELY talented and fun to watch Brazil squad that looked like the match was theirs before they even stepped on the New Meadowlands field.
NOW.... even though the USMNT looked like they were vastly outclassed (which they were). We should not buy too much into this friendly. It IS a friendly not an OFFICIAL match but man, man, man! I really wish we could tie if not beat a weakened Brazil side!
Is that too much to ask people!? Really?! that we score at least once and not be made to look like fools in front of our "home" crowd every time. It also bothers me that we are the only National team incapable of filling up our "home" stadium with US supporters than the opposing team's supporters!
I'm fed up with that but w/e... that's what we US fans have to put up with apart from MANY other things that come with this sport... well in the US that is.
Yet, apart from the clinic Brazil put against the Nats. One thing was made clear to me.... and it's that is there is any position on the field that we don't have to worry about for at least 3 World Cup cycles.... it's the goalie position.
T. Howard though he conceded two goals had remarkable moments in the 1st half and Brad Guzan coming on in the 2nd half also had an extraordinary 45 minutes. He single-handedly prevented us to be severely humiliated Tuesday night. Let me tell you that there are national teams envious of the people we have between the pipes.
But let's move on....
Jozy - I don't know if you were trying to impress Besiktas or Villareal or WHOEVER, but you gotta play more relax buddy! Nice flair here and there but no effectiveness and no efficiency makes you look pretty....but USELESS! but no one will have use for a striker who can't score.
That's like having Cristiano Ronaldo..... without the goals. We need serious help up top, and we need to look into players like Lenhart or Najar, maybe even Pontius----HECK! why not Mike Grella or Lee Nguyen! they play abroad and they both look good and I believe they should get a shot!
Does anyone agree?
We need a striker NOW! we don't need new Donovans or Dempseys because I believe that S. Holden, R. Rogers, Bedoya or S. Kljestan have those spots that demand creativity covered, but we NEED (and I mean with URGENCY!) a new McBRIDE or WYNALDA, people that can score from far or close, near, left, right, volley or header Goals in.
we need people that can stick that ball in the NET 3 or five times consistently.
AND IF THEIR NOT SCORING, they are setting up plays. So that is my Christmas wish list Santa I don't care where it comes from as long as they do their job.
Comment y'all or contact me at Kennyalvarez123@GMAIL.COM or tweet me up - @kennyalvarez123
God Bless!
I know this a little late, but I was caught up on several things so I had to postpone my post about the USA vs Brazil Friendly on Tuesday night.
It ended (unsurprisingly)with the USA losing 2-0 to a young but EXTREMELY talented and fun to watch Brazil squad that looked like the match was theirs before they even stepped on the New Meadowlands field.
NOW.... even though the USMNT looked like they were vastly outclassed (which they were). We should not buy too much into this friendly. It IS a friendly not an OFFICIAL match but man, man, man! I really wish we could tie if not beat a weakened Brazil side!
Is that too much to ask people!? Really?! that we score at least once and not be made to look like fools in front of our "home" crowd every time. It also bothers me that we are the only National team incapable of filling up our "home" stadium with US supporters than the opposing team's supporters!
I'm fed up with that but w/e... that's what we US fans have to put up with apart from MANY other things that come with this sport... well in the US that is.
Yet, apart from the clinic Brazil put against the Nats. One thing was made clear to me.... and it's that is there is any position on the field that we don't have to worry about for at least 3 World Cup cycles.... it's the goalie position.
T. Howard though he conceded two goals had remarkable moments in the 1st half and Brad Guzan coming on in the 2nd half also had an extraordinary 45 minutes. He single-handedly prevented us to be severely humiliated Tuesday night. Let me tell you that there are national teams envious of the people we have between the pipes.
But let's move on....
Jozy - I don't know if you were trying to impress Besiktas or Villareal or WHOEVER, but you gotta play more relax buddy! Nice flair here and there but no effectiveness and no efficiency makes you look pretty....but USELESS! but no one will have use for a striker who can't score.
That's like having Cristiano Ronaldo..... without the goals. We need serious help up top, and we need to look into players like Lenhart or Najar, maybe even Pontius----HECK! why not Mike Grella or Lee Nguyen! they play abroad and they both look good and I believe they should get a shot!
Does anyone agree?
We need a striker NOW! we don't need new Donovans or Dempseys because I believe that S. Holden, R. Rogers, Bedoya or S. Kljestan have those spots that demand creativity covered, but we NEED (and I mean with URGENCY!) a new McBRIDE or WYNALDA, people that can score from far or close, near, left, right, volley or header Goals in.
we need people that can stick that ball in the NET 3 or five times consistently.
AND IF THEIR NOT SCORING, they are setting up plays. So that is my Christmas wish list Santa I don't care where it comes from as long as they do their job.
Comment y'all or contact me at Kennyalvarez123@GMAIL.COM or tweet me up - @kennyalvarez123
God Bless!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
How the formation SHOULD look like
Well, now that we know who is playing against a Brazil side with not many big names but not lacking in quality, we can begin to analyze on how we can setup the best 11 of 18 players called to the friendly at the Meadowlands.
Shall we begin......
The rosters (in case you haven't seen) goes as follows:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)
DEFENDERS (6): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
FORWARDS (3): Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Pachuca)
Let's start first with the formation. I personally have nothing against a 4-4-2... simply because it works out for us and if the right people are located into the right positions.... a lot can happen.
With that said...... I (Bob may disagree) would think we can do real well if we field the following players:
T. Howard
S. Cherundolo-------C. Bocanegra------C. Goodson------J. Bornstein
L. Donovan------------M. Edu---------M. Bradley---------B. Feilhaber
E. Buddle---------H. Gomez
There you have it..... Timmy (THE WALL) Howard is a sure lock... I mean that will always be a given until he retires.
Mr. Dolo you rock! this guy is awesome goes up and down all day and sends in great crosses here and there. To me he has to start along with my buddy Cap'n America. Boca needs no introduction he is strong and has great presence and we all know what this guy can do so expect him at Center D. Moving on to Mr. Goodson (the son of goodness). He is tall, strong, has the leap of a grasshopper and has the knack of using his head in all the right wayz, there is no doubting that this partnership can be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Bornstein to me has been the wild card. He can single handedly earn the other team a quick penalty against his team and a 1 goal deficit OR can actually PLAY like he is supposed to and prevent goals. Lucky for him that Bob doesn't give 2 flying bananas about what people say, cuz if it were on us.... he would've never worn a US uniform again. Yet, he proved to me and a lot of us out there wrong with a nice showing against Ghana and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
Johnny.....I have my eye on you!
Donovan on the right or on the left, quite frankly it doesn't matter to me where he is as long as he is placed in a place where he can roam freely and make his darting runs, cross into the box at will, give pin-point services with his awesome through-balls and just let all that soccer IQ unravel on the field. I can care less where you put him as long as he can do all that awesome stuff we love him for.
I think we all agree that the Edu/Bradley combo is just pretty sick. Bradley has quickly become one of the best destroyers i have ever seen for the US and Edu is similar to Bradley's style but adds his twist to the story by getting in the right place at the right time on set pieces. Sure, with Jones on the roster everyone will be boarding that plane 'till it crashes.... personally, I think that with Edu and Bradley growing with experience and the more time they get together will only increase the chemistry they have and along with that- their effectiveness and influence on the field.
Sorry Jones but your ship has sailed...
With DEUCE out, Feilhaber seems to be the only choice that makes sense to start on the left. I always thought of him as a Central Midfielder but Bob utilized this guy as a Left Mid through out the World Cup and I think I speak for the majority that the impact he had off the bench on the left was a very positive one. So Benny keep it up we need your Brazilian Ginga to come into effect Tuesday.
OK, so NO Altidore....but we have the next best thing in Buddle and Gomez. Edson is good, he is quality but we need to see his scoring streak extend to the international level. I loved his direct approach during the Australia friendly prior to the WC and I believe he'll score, simply because Donovan knows how to find him and Vice-Versa. Herc was an off the bench magician, but failed to do much in South Africa. Let's hope he keeps it simple and can find the net once or twice .... maybe thrice.
Findley is a troubling case all too common in the Soccer world. He scores for his club, has great speed but can't manage for the life of him to do the same for his national team!?
Sound familiar? I'm not going to point any fingers....just say names ::cough:: Messi, Ronaldo ::cough:: sorry but I'm coming down with something...
Findley needs to pretend that he is playing in Real Salt Lake all the time, maybe that will get him to score for the USA. If this kid can somehow manage to do that we could be talking about the next big thing. Until then, i'll be hoping for Davies to show up one day and just amaze us with his tenacity, speed and (what our forwards are lacking lately) a nose for goal.
please feel free to comment below
OR contact me at my email Kennyalvarez123@gmail.com or my twitter @kennyalvarez123
God Bless to y'all and stay posted!
Shall we begin......
The rosters (in case you haven't seen) goes as follows:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)
DEFENDERS (6): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
FORWARDS (3): Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Pachuca)
Let's start first with the formation. I personally have nothing against a 4-4-2... simply because it works out for us and if the right people are located into the right positions.... a lot can happen.
With that said...... I (Bob may disagree) would think we can do real well if we field the following players:
T. Howard
S. Cherundolo-------C. Bocanegra------C. Goodson------J. Bornstein
L. Donovan------------M. Edu---------M. Bradley---------B. Feilhaber
E. Buddle---------H. Gomez
There you have it..... Timmy (THE WALL) Howard is a sure lock... I mean that will always be a given until he retires.
Mr. Dolo you rock! this guy is awesome goes up and down all day and sends in great crosses here and there. To me he has to start along with my buddy Cap'n America. Boca needs no introduction he is strong and has great presence and we all know what this guy can do so expect him at Center D. Moving on to Mr. Goodson (the son of goodness). He is tall, strong, has the leap of a grasshopper and has the knack of using his head in all the right wayz, there is no doubting that this partnership can be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Bornstein to me has been the wild card. He can single handedly earn the other team a quick penalty against his team and a 1 goal deficit OR can actually PLAY like he is supposed to and prevent goals. Lucky for him that Bob doesn't give 2 flying bananas about what people say, cuz if it were on us.... he would've never worn a US uniform again. Yet, he proved to me and a lot of us out there wrong with a nice showing against Ghana and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
Johnny.....I have my eye on you!
Donovan on the right or on the left, quite frankly it doesn't matter to me where he is as long as he is placed in a place where he can roam freely and make his darting runs, cross into the box at will, give pin-point services with his awesome through-balls and just let all that soccer IQ unravel on the field. I can care less where you put him as long as he can do all that awesome stuff we love him for.
I think we all agree that the Edu/Bradley combo is just pretty sick. Bradley has quickly become one of the best destroyers i have ever seen for the US and Edu is similar to Bradley's style but adds his twist to the story by getting in the right place at the right time on set pieces. Sure, with Jones on the roster everyone will be boarding that plane 'till it crashes.... personally, I think that with Edu and Bradley growing with experience and the more time they get together will only increase the chemistry they have and along with that- their effectiveness and influence on the field.
Sorry Jones but your ship has sailed...
With DEUCE out, Feilhaber seems to be the only choice that makes sense to start on the left. I always thought of him as a Central Midfielder but Bob utilized this guy as a Left Mid through out the World Cup and I think I speak for the majority that the impact he had off the bench on the left was a very positive one. So Benny keep it up we need your Brazilian Ginga to come into effect Tuesday.
OK, so NO Altidore....but we have the next best thing in Buddle and Gomez. Edson is good, he is quality but we need to see his scoring streak extend to the international level. I loved his direct approach during the Australia friendly prior to the WC and I believe he'll score, simply because Donovan knows how to find him and Vice-Versa. Herc was an off the bench magician, but failed to do much in South Africa. Let's hope he keeps it simple and can find the net once or twice .... maybe thrice.
Findley is a troubling case all too common in the Soccer world. He scores for his club, has great speed but can't manage for the life of him to do the same for his national team!?
Sound familiar? I'm not going to point any fingers....just say names ::cough:: Messi, Ronaldo ::cough:: sorry but I'm coming down with something...
Findley needs to pretend that he is playing in Real Salt Lake all the time, maybe that will get him to score for the USA. If this kid can somehow manage to do that we could be talking about the next big thing. Until then, i'll be hoping for Davies to show up one day and just amaze us with his tenacity, speed and (what our forwards are lacking lately) a nose for goal.
please feel free to comment below
OR contact me at my email Kennyalvarez123@gmail.com or my twitter @kennyalvarez123
God Bless to y'all and stay posted!
USA Roster Anounced for Brazil friendly
It's finally here!
The anticipated roster with some noticeable some new faces and old ones but overall not a bad way to go.
Here it is:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)
DEFENDERS (6): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
FORWARDS (3): Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Pachuca)
Let me know what you think below! Love it or Hate it1 it's all good to me!
The anticipated roster with some noticeable some new faces and old ones but overall not a bad way to go.
Here it is:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)
DEFENDERS (6): Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Étienne), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)
FORWARDS (3): Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Pachuca)
Let me know what you think below! Love it or Hate it1 it's all good to me!
Jozy Altidore has moved in with the TURKS!
If you're just waking up to your laptop or desktop and you just happen to have seen the update of Jozy Altidore's grand move to the Turkish side Besiktas. Then I am glad to confirm to you all that these reports are true (for now). Still there isn't anything concrete but it is almost 99.9% sure that he has moved out from Villareal to Besiktas on a long-term deal.
So I'm pretty excited......yeah I can't wait for the big guy to score.
Hey.... I hear ya! If you're not that excited just read this article (puts my doubts to rest at least). I think you'll have a different view.
ENJOY!
http://theshinguardian.com/2010/08/04/learning-about-what-jozy-at-besiktas-means/
You can email me at Kennyalvarez123@gmail.com or at my twitter - @kennyalvarez123
Feel free to comment love it or hate it, just let me know!
HOW IRONIC IS THIS MOVE TO TURKEY AFTER WATCHING THIS:
So I'm pretty excited......yeah I can't wait for the big guy to score.
Hey.... I hear ya! If you're not that excited just read this article (puts my doubts to rest at least). I think you'll have a different view.
ENJOY!
http://theshinguardian.com/2010/08/04/learning-about-what-jozy-at-besiktas-means/
You can email me at Kennyalvarez123@gmail.com or at my twitter - @kennyalvarez123
Feel free to comment love it or hate it, just let me know!
HOW IRONIC IS THIS MOVE TO TURKEY AFTER WATCHING THIS:
Welcome to my blog!
Hi,
I'm gonna introduce myself and the purpose of this blog.
First, i would like to start off with my name. My name is Kenneth Alvarez (I preferred to be called Kenny) and the purpose of this blog is to simply express my opinions to all the readers out there about Life whether it's mine, yours or everybody's for that matter, politics even though I might not even decide to write anything under that subject ever and last but not least....Soccer (where I'll be concentrating a good deal of my posts on).
So I hope y'all enjoy, dislike, hate, love, embrace, disagree, agree, sympathize with or not, give a damn, NOT give a damn but in the end i hope you come out with something after reading my posts.
God bless you ALL!
Kenny
I'm gonna introduce myself and the purpose of this blog.
First, i would like to start off with my name. My name is Kenneth Alvarez (I preferred to be called Kenny) and the purpose of this blog is to simply express my opinions to all the readers out there about Life whether it's mine, yours or everybody's for that matter, politics even though I might not even decide to write anything under that subject ever and last but not least....Soccer (where I'll be concentrating a good deal of my posts on).
So I hope y'all enjoy, dislike, hate, love, embrace, disagree, agree, sympathize with or not, give a damn, NOT give a damn but in the end i hope you come out with something after reading my posts.
God bless you ALL!
Kenny
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