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Burt Likko

Pseudonymous Portlander. Pursuer of happiness. Bon vivant. Homebrewer. Atheist. Recovering Republican. Recovering Catholic. Recovering divorcé. Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Ordinary Times. Relapsed Lawyer, admitted to practice law (under his real name) in California and Oregon. There's a Twitter account at @burtlikko, but not used for posting on the general feed anymore. House Likko's Words: Scite Verum. Colite Iusticia. Vivere Con Gaudium.

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8 Responses

  1. El Muneco says:

    Longtime USA fan (only after I moved last year did I finally throw out my videotapes of the 1994 WC, and I haven’t even had a [working] VHS player for years).

    Still not sure what I think about Klinsmann dropping Donovan. The Sounders are my local MLS side, and in the run-up I joked that they should take Yedlin over Evans to Brazil because he’s a true right back, which neither Evans nor Cameron are. I just didn’t expect them to do it.

    I’m hoping that Klinsmann realized that given the draw, the old standbys don’t have much chance of working, so he’s going to come up with a tailored high-risk, high-reward strategy for the particular opposition, then improvise something if they do happen to move on. Which probably means that they have an 80% chance of spontaneously combusting in spectacular fashion.

    And on a personal note, still crushed that Leyton Orient had a 2-0 lead in the League One playoff final at Wembley and let it slip to lose on penalties. Third time isn’t always the charm…Report

    • I have a very strong suspicion that’s exactly the strategy Klinsmann’s taking. I’m also a believer that Green’s surprising commitment to the US was precipitated by a promise that he’d make the roster this year. Which I’m ok with, mind you – the 23rd man isn’t exactly valuable anyhow.

      I decided that I’m wholly on board with dropping Donovan, who is either a wide player or a striker; if Klinsmann’s planning on sticking to the 4-4-2 Diamond for the most part, a winger probably doesn’t add very much value, which is presumably why Donovan was listed as contending for a spot as a striker, and specifically he was probably trying to grab a spot as Dempsey’s backup. With AJ playing the way he’s playing right now, I’d put AJ ahead of Donovan at that spot. And if the argument is just to have Donovan somewhere on the roster as a sort of “break in case of emergency” option, I’m not thrilled with that idea given his history with Klinsmann (which I’ve always thought was mostly Donovan’s fault anyhow, even when I was opposed to Klinsmann being the manager).

      And the 4-4-2 Diamond makes a pretty good amount of sense under the circumstances – MB90 and Jermaine Jones are clearly two of the best players on the roster, especially Bradley, but they’ve always had problems staying on the same page; this forces them to do so. It also puts Jozy and Dempsey in positions where they can cause the most trouble and best use their own respective skill sets. My biggest concern is with the demand it places on the right and left backs to coordinate their runs. But the defense is probably going to be a bit of a sieve against these opponents anyhow, so it’s probably best to just try to force them to play on their heels a bit.Report

  2. notme says:

    I’m waiting see if this WC is going to be a disaster given that it looks like not all the infrastructure will be ready in time.Report

  3. Please be aware that I am again offering up control of my Gravatar for six months as a prize to the winner (last time, Randy Harris declined to collect his prize). So if you’ve ever gotten pissed at me because of my enforcement (or non-enforcement, for that matter) of the comments policy, this is your chance for revenge.Report