July 3rd, 2007 . 11:45 am .
By: Chamo Jones
Moor and McCarty representing the USA news
U.S. faces a must-win game against Poland – ESPN Soccernet – Doug McIntyre
To help breach that stout Polish back line, look for U.S. coach Thomas Rongen to make at least one lineup change. Dax McCarty probably will replace Danny Szetela in the midfield, as he did in the second half against Korea. Szetela had the lone U.S. goal last time out, but Rongen wasn’t satisfied with his possession play (not something Szetela’s known for) or his ball-winning ability (something he is).
Rongen says he has been impressed with McCarty’s ability to link the defense to the front line with club team FC Dallas; McCarty’s form as a rookie in MLS earned him a recall to the U-20s after being left off the qualifying roster earlier this year. The former UNC star didn’t play his best game against Korea but likely will get another chance, this time as a starter.
Copa America: Paraguay 3, USA 1 – Goal.com
Drew Moor had a solid performance in his debut for the US national team keeping everything in front of him defensively and serving several dangerous crosses at the other end of the field. Unfortunately, he will most remember this play…
But the best chance to equalize fell to Drew Moor, who earned his first cap. With only a few minutes to go, the FC Dallas right back was left unmarked in the six-yard-box and had a free header off Clark’s cross from the left. But he couldn’t get any purchase on his shot and the ball was easily saved. The failure ostensibly knocked the wind out of the Americans.
The weekend that was
Davis: Back lines get realigned – MLSnet.com – Steve Davis
FC Dallas 0, Houston 0
Man of the match: In a largely defensive match, the honors will go to a defensive midfielder. Richard Mulrooney never let FCD’s Juan Toja out of his sight, either marking quickly once FC Dallas gained possession or accounting for him as a nearby Dynamo man locked on. The result: Toja had his quietest match this year.
Bigger picture: Not a whole lot going on in the seventh scoreless tie in MLS this season. (For all the soccer critics, that means just eight percent of MLS matches as of Saturday had been goalless draws.) Dominic Kinnear made a somewhat bold call by reinserting Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario into the lineup, despite a five-game winning streak while they were away. As assistant manager John Spencer said after the match: you can’t punish guys and drop them from the team because they made their national teams.
Pressure point: Ramon Nunez has found himself planted firmly on the FC Dallas bench. Nunez was Steve Morrow’s first choice playmaker to begin the season. But he was too predictable – consistently looking to shoot from distance instead of spreading the ball around more – and now can’t even seem to find minutes as a substitute.
Misc stuff
From the where are they now file, Shawn McGee is working hard selling tickets for SMU…
Categories: Blog.
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