Good news about Reyna injury?
The early reports are that Reyna suffered no significant muscle damage in his right hamstring last night against Morocco. A recent scan on Claudio's hammy showed "no serious damage" and US officials report that the prognosis is good. Reyna seems happy about the situation as well, calling the result "very good news."
But is it? Mooch Myernick doesn't seem so positive about the situation, stating flatly that Reyna "will be out for an extended period of time." That sounds WC-threatening to me, and also inconsistent with the other, more sanguine reports.
Moreover, while Captain America is, well, our captain, I've never been convinced that we're necessarily that much better off with him in the lineup. This is true, at least, when Mastroeni can step in and give us a performance like he did last night. I don't think we lost much if anything with Pablo in there that we would have had with Claudio in the same position. I'm no Reyna-hater and I'd slot him in at D-mid if healthy, but there are other players who I think are a lot more irreplaceable.
posted by DF at 2:57 PM
7 Comments:
Yeah, Mirarchi, we only lost a home game to Morocco 0-1. We're ready! Dream on guys! US: Dead in Group. Also, ps, Reyna's got a whole lotta international experience (and also a whole lotta injuries, too). Lots of kids gonna freak out and fuck up in the early group play.
3:20 PM, May 24, 2006
Yeah, Mirarchi, we only lost a home game to Morocco 0-1. We're ready! Dream on guys! US: Dead in Group. Also, ps, Reyna's got a whole lotta international experience (and also a whole lotta injuries, too). Lots of kids gonna freak out and fuck up in the early group play.
Yikes, let's see if it's possible to enumerate the things wrong with this...
First, no one's claiming that we're ready for the world cup, on this blog at least. Did you even read my post about the game itself? Hardly optimistic, though not gratuitously pessimistic either.
Second, you're probably right that our one-goal loss to Maroc in a friendly means we're dead in our WC group. After all, our smashing 3-0 victory over Austria in a pre-1998 friendly clearly presaged great success. Call Bruce and cancel the WC.
Third, there's virtually no correlation between Reyna's presence in our lineup and WC success. He played against Mexico in 02 and we won. He didn't play against Portugal and we won. He didn't play against Poland and we lost. He played against Germany and we lost.
Fourth, Reyna's replacement--Mastroeni--not only has international experience but was one of our stars in WC 2002, when he was brought in to replace an injured Reyna. I'd marginally prefer Claudio to Pablo, but since Mastro has done so well in so many pressure situations, I'm simply not that concerned about Reyna's injury. Now if Donovan got hurt...
3:43 PM, May 24, 2006
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3:49 PM, May 24, 2006
Dude, Reyna's played club ball in Scotland, Germany, and with at least 2 clubs in England ( Sunderland and Man. City). Okay, here's where you list your boy Mastroeni's great international club experience . . . Colorado! You're honestly comparing their international experience? Whoa.
The US can't score goals. Now who is the more likely playmaker, Reyna or Mastroeni? Also you can't just list game results, like you did, and pretend that's indicative of a players bearing in a game.
7:06 PM, May 24, 2006
Smellrat, I think you're a better novelist than a soccer analyst--when you're writing fiction your grasp of actual facts (or lack thereof) doesn't matter.
For one thing, my comment didn't seek to compare Mastro and Reyna in terms of international club experience, it merely pointed out that in the past Mastro has replaced Reyna in the World Cup due to injury and done an excellent job. Hence I'm cool with the idea of this happening again.
And as for the comment about CR versus PM as playmakers, this makes no sense because for the MNT they're both holding/defensive midfielders. Reyna didn't even play in an attacking position in the 02 WC, where he was a right-sided mid.
9:08 PM, May 24, 2006
Oh, I musta misunderstood you earlier. Now you're admitting that Masteroni's international experience pales in comparison to Reyna's? You sure didn't make that clear earlier.
Reyna has played a lot of roles in his career (how old are you?) and although he is known as a defender he is by no means restricted to that role. If the team needs it (and the US does) he can both score goals and set them up, and if you don't believe me then check your history. He is the greatest player in US history. Which ain't saying much.
9:29 PM, May 24, 2006
Reyna for A-mid, eh? I think smellrat may be Steve Sampson in disguise...
3:28 PM, May 25, 2006
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