120 Fahrenheit: The 2009 Republic of Texas Team
March 4th, 2009 . 12:52 pm . By: Buzz CarrickBack in 1998 I ran a little bit on this site about a US States Cup Championship. The idea was that each state in the US field a mini-national team and play a World Cup style States Cup. Since then SBI has put out a Team New Jersey a few times and challenged each state to come up with a team. Inspired by Ives and by some recent posts from FCD fan Cowtown, I decided to take a look at the Republic of Texas team again. Hey, with FC Dallas out of town this is the kind of filler you get. I last looked at the team two years ago and things have changed a bit since then. Rather than make you go back and read it, I’ll recap most of it again. 1998 Republic of Texas TeamI opted for a 3-5-2 back then because of the abundance of quality midfielders.
Defense: Tom Sohen (Chicago Fire, Frisco, Texas) Midfield: Esmundo Rodriguez (San Jose Clash, Dallas, Texas), Kirk Wilson (Dallas Burn, El Paso, Texas) Forward: Gabe Jones (Dallas Burn, Georgetown, Texas), Eric Kvello (New York/New Jersey MetroStars, Houston, Texas) Goalkeeper: none Notes: That was a pretty solid team for 1998 as the midfield was very good. The defense while mostly young was led by a proven winner in Agoos and Texas had some serious pace up top. Poor research on the bench in thinking Tom Sohen was from the Dallas area because MLSnet listed his home town of Frisco. He was born in Chicago so in hindsight he shouldn’t have counted even though I just had him on the bench. 2007 Republic of Texas TeamI’m gonna go back to a 4-4-2, just cause I like that shape better and the defenders have vastly improved.
Forward: Kyle Brown (RSL, Southlake), Jamie Watson (RSL, Coppell), Mike Sambursky (ex-Houston, Katy), Andre Akpan (Harvard & US U20, Grand Prairie), Midfield: Josh Gardner (Seattle Sounders, Houston), Arturo Alvarez (FCD, Houston), Jonathan Villanueva (UVa, Grand Prairie), Jared Jeffries (US U17, Dallas), Stephen McCarthy (Santa Clara, US U20, Colleyville) Defense: Drew Moor (FCD, Dallas), Ricky Lewis (ex-DC, Dallas), Jay Needham (PR Islanders, Ft worth) Omar Gonzalez (Maryland, Dallas) Keeper: ouch Notes: Texas sucks at producing keepers. After Mark Dodd it’s horrible even to today. The defense had some serious pace and attacking flavor, the offense did too. The trouble spot is central midfield which is very slow in both Hernandez and Nguyen. 2009 Republic of Texas TeamOnly a few changes in the past two years, mostly in midfield. The front line remains intact and there is some shuffling in defense. Keeper is still a disaster, outside of that one spot this team is crazy good.
Forward: Davy Arnaud (KC Wizards, Nederland), Jamie Watson (FCD, Coppell), Andre Akpan (Harvard & US U20, Grand Prairie), Sam Garza (Denver, US U20, Highland Villege), Felix Garcia (Houston, Laredo) Midfield: Brek Shea (FCD, College Station), Corban Bone (Wake Forest, Dallas), Lee Nguyen (V-League, Richardson), Jonathan Villanueva (UVa, Grand Prairie), Jared Jeffries (Clube Bruge, Dallas), Stephen McCarthy (Santa Clara, US U20, Colleyville) Defense: Nick Garcia (San Jose, Plano), Jose Burciaga Jr, (NA, Duncanville), Jay Needham (Alta IF, Ft worth), Scott Jones (PR Islanders, Dallas) Keeper: Matt Wideman (ex-SMU, Fairview) Notes: Cooper and Dempsey is a no-brainer up top. I’d love to put Clint at right midfield, but all the insane talent in the Texas midfield we have the luxury of putting him high. The attacking midfield talent is simply ridiculous. Both in the lineup and on the bench it’s truly stacked and young to boot. I was trying to find a hard as nails holding mid to go with all that talent and the best I can find, thanks to Cowtown, is Vidal who we don’t know all that much about. I did consider putting Drew Moor in there with Nick Garcia next to Omar Gonzalez in back. On defense Texas has crazy pace wide, has MLS experience in the middle, along with the immense size and strength in the rookie Gonzalez. If Texas needed some more experience Garcia could go in for Gonzalez or Moor, perhaps putting the defense first Moor wide right instead of the flyer Ihemelu. Best keeper I can come up with is SMU’s starter Craig Hill from San Antonio or their keeper of a few year’s ago Matt Wideman who was our desperate ion choice last time. Man am I tempted to list Mark Dodd even though he’s 43. Claim PolicyI didn’t claim Ramon Nunez, Chris Gbandi, or Alejandro Moreno. Since they are not American citizens, except for Gbandi, it wouldn’t be fair to claim them as I did with Cooper. Gbandi has at least become a citizen, but has been capped for Liberia so he’s out. Since Stuart Holden and Kenny Cooper both play for the US and claim Texas as home, both are eligible for Texas. Edit: a jersey. 17 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brek Shea of College Station & FCD?
Oh geeze..
did you add him? If he was there before & I just missed him, my bad
I added him.
This would be an awesome winter thing. The final match could be a week or two before the start of the MLS season, with the US having a week or two celebration of both the cup and league. Awesome.
Time on your hands Buzz?
just noticed that jose burciaga, jr apparently has no team. umm…don’t we need a LB? should FCD be making his phone ring?
Marco Vidal is with Indios currently.
no Felix Garcia from Laredo, Dynamo.
So much better than what I came up with. Like I said on BigSoccer, I think this team could compete CONCACAF-wide (and maybe we could convince Dario Sala to be the keeper).
tt, Club de Futbol Ciudad Juarez is commonly known as Indios or Los Indios de Juárez
felix I will add.
Kyle Brown from Southlake, Austin Aztex
You’d realyl take Gonzalez, a rookie and completely unproven, over Garcia?
Yes, Garcia has lost a step and has limited range. the rookie is a risk but he’s quicker, taller, stronger, dominate in the air, and with that back line the loss in expereince is no big deal.
since it’s all fantasy anyway.
What a team!!!!!
Get me a jersey!!!
Nice lineup. There are plenty of good players from Texas.
Solid midfield, but Dominic Mediate might have been solid off the bench when healthy
I’d pick Tyler Deric over Craig as keeper.