ShiftyPowers said:
I feel the exact same way. Except I think he IS bad. If we have to play Berhalter in the tournament, all I can think about is Agoos in '02.
He did lead and captain his team to promotion to the 1.Bundesliga this season. And he's not going to re-sign for them so that must mean he has other Bundesliga teams interested in him. On the other hand, he's slow and mistake-prone. Practically all my nightmares invovle Berhalter marking Milan Baros.
Does anyone else think we should drop Bease from the starting line-up? Suggesting something like that a couple of years ago would have been deemed heretical. However, his recent form - for both club and country - has been less-than-spectacular. He's playing well defensively because he's ridiculously quick and hustles back. But where did his 1-v-1 dribbling go? The Bease is turning into Frankie Hejduk before our very eyes. If both Reyna and O'Brien are healthy, I think he has to be dropped.
--------------Reyna--------O'Brien--------------
-----Donovan-----------------------Convey-----
Convey is just playing too well to keep him off the starting line-up. He's playing with confidence fueled by Reading's dream season. Even if O'Brien or Reyna aren't healthy, my guess is Bruce will plug in Mastroeni, rather than doing a diamond midfield:
----------------------Reyna---------------------
-------Beasley----------------------Convey------
---------------------Donovan--------------------
I think the Reyna-O'Brien-Donovan-Convey midfield with Johnson and McBride up top is the best we can do. Off the bench we'll have Dempsey as an attacking substitution and Beasley as more of a defensive substitution.