D-Nag’s USMNT Adventure

In the week or so prior to the MLS Conference Finals, there was an International break and, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you already know that, Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] got his first call-up to the United States Men’s National Team by Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann.  Nagbe played in both of the games the team played during the break, which were the first two matches on the road to qualify for the 2018 World Cup that will be held in Russia.

USMNT  W 6-1  St. Vincent & The Grenadines  •  Nagbe subbed on for Fabian Johnson for the final 22 minutes and played decently.  In my ratings system, he earned a 5.5 out of ten.  Not bad for his debut.  He kept the ball moving and made a couple dangerous passes.  He even took a corner.  All-in-all, a good start to his international career.

USMNT  D 0-0  @ Trinidad & Tobago  •  Nagbe got another 22-minute sub gig, this time in Port-of-Spain, coming on for defender Tim Ream, but playing an attacking/right midfield role.  He made less of an impact on this game than he did on Friday night, but that was partly due to the better quality of opponent.  Still, he did well and made some nice runs and did good work defensively to help keep T&T of the scoreboard.  I gave him another 5.5 out of ten.

I’m sure he’ll have worked out any jitters he had from representing his country for the first time.  Hopefully, he did enough to convince Klinsi to call him back into the team for the next pair of Qualifiers in March.  He looked good out there, and is our first National Team player since Justin Morrow got a January call back in 2013.

DARLINGTON NAGBE GETS A CALL UP TO USMNT!!!!!!

The moment we’ve been waiting for has arrived – Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] has been called up to join the United States Men’s National Team for its two upcoming 2018 World Cup Qualifiers.  The USMNT will play in St. Louis against St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday, 13 November and then in Port-of-Spain against Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday, 17 November.  Nagbe becomes the first of our guys to get called up since Justin Morrow [Shaker Heights/St. Ignatius] got the honor during the January camp back in 2013.

2013 – Week Five Report

No Crew or DC this weekend, which meant that only three of our guys were in action.  If all goes well, next week, that could triple to our as-of-yet-this-season considered “standard” six guys.  Here’s the scoop on how things went this past weekend for our guys:

COLUMBUS CREW

Josh Williams [Copley/Copley]  •  Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy]  •  No game this past weekend for the first team.  Kyle Hyland [Bay/Bay]  •  Came on in the 74th minute on Monday as the Crew reserves lost to the New York Red Bull reserves 3-2 at Montclair State University.  The Crew reserves are now 1-1 on the season, but don’t have another game on their schedule until May.  NEXT WEEK:  v Philadelphia Union, Saturday, 6 April, 5pm

MONTREAL IMPACT

And five games in, they fell.  After starting the season unbeaten through four matches, Montreal finally lost on Saturday, 2-0 at Sporting Kansas City, but the Impact is still in first place in the Eastern Conference.  Same story for our guys for this game, though.  The Impact will have a couple weeks to regroup from the loss, as they are idle next weekend.  Evan Bush [Concord/Lake Catholic]  •  Was the backup goalie/unused sub.   Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor]  •  Still out injured, so not in the team for this one.  NEXT WEEK:  no game next week

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Another come-from-behind performance for the Timbers on Saturday, as they drew 2-2 at Colorado.  Still no wins on the year for the Rose City bunch, but they’ve picked up points where last season they more than likely would have folded up and lost.  Not too shabby from the optimist’s point-of-view.  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward]  •  Started and played just the first half at forward, as he was subbed out at the break.    Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy]  •  Played all 90 at right back.   Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit]  •  Played all 90 at one of the attacking mid spots in Sunday’s reserve league clash with the Rapids reserves.  The match, a 1-0 loss, evens the Timbers JV’s season mark to 1-1.  Next Sunday, they host VSI Tampa Bay FC at 2pm.   NEXT WEEK:  v Houston Dynamo, Saturday, 6 April, 1030pm

DC UNITED

Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School]  •  No game this past weekend.   NEXT WEEK: @ Sporting Kansas City, Friday, 5 April, 830pm

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius]  •  Played 90 at left back as the Quakes attempted in vain to break the Houston Dynamo’s 34-game home unbeaten streak.  A first-half brace sent the home side on its way to the 2-0 victory that extended the streak to 35.  On the Dynamo’s first goal, Morrow came out second-best on a tackle near the side of the San Jose penalty area, before Boniek Garcia laid a ball across that was struck home by Will Bruin.  Who will be the team to give Houston its first home loss in their new BBVA Compass Stadium?  Hopefully, it’ll be a team led by several Clevelanders, instead of a team led by just one.  NEXT WEEK:  @ Vancouver Whitecaps, Saturday, 6 April, 1030pm

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe]  •  Still no game action for Walker as he recovers from foot surgery, but according to Galaxy Insider Adam Serrano, Walker trained with the first team for the first time on Monday.  That’s good news for him and for us!  Good news for his team – Landon Donovan is back!  He returned from his “sabbatical” to make a second-half appearance in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Toronto FC.  On Wednesday, the Galaxy will play the home leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Semifinal against Liga MX powerhouse Monterrey.  NEXT WEEK: CONCACAF Champions League Semifinal, leg 2 @ Monterrey, Wednesday, 10 April, 10pm

2013 – Week Four Report

Sorry for taking so long to get this out.  Wanted to wait until after both of the USMNT games before filing the report.  It’s still timely, though. Here’s the scoop on how things went this past weekend for our guys:

COLUMBUS CREW

From this blog’s point of view, nothing can beat a team victory in which our guys play a major role, i.e. score a goal or make huge saves, etc.  Last Saturday, we got just that in the Nation’s Capital.  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley]  •  Started at right back and played all 90 against DC United and scored the Crew’s first goal in a 2-1 victory.  He logged a stellar performance at the back and   Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy]  •  Started at left mid (or was it right mid?) and played 88 minutes of the match.  Oh yeah – he also scored the game-winning goal in that game with DC!  No big deal.  It was a decent finish, his well-placed rip, picking up the trash after a poor clearance by a DC defender.   Not only was it Speas’ first MLS goal, but it broke a 1-1 second-half deadlock and carried a bit of extra significance with it that he can explain in this post-game report.  Again, nothing better from our perspective than a Crew win with goals from both of our guys!  [Well… maybe if all three guys scored.  Might seem unlikely, but who knows what the future holds?]  Kyle Hyland [Bay/Bay]  •  Was not in the gameday 18 for the last Saturday’s win at DC, but Hyland did come on at halftime at left back in Tuesday’s Reserve League opener, a 2-1 win for the Crew Reserves over the Chicago Fire reserves.  The guys in yellow got a goal in each half and somehow survived the hackfest – Fire players picked up four yellow cards and one ejection (for two yellows) – to get their season going the right way.  NEXT WEEK:  no games this weeekend

MONTREAL IMPACT

Evan Bush [Concord/Lake Catholic]  •  Was the backup goalie for Montreal’s 1-0 win over visiting New York on Saturday.   Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor]  •  Still out injured, so not in the team for this one.  NEXT WEEK:  @ Sporting Kansas City, Saturday, 30 March, 830pm

PORTLAND TIMBERS

No games last weekend for the Timbers, but the fellas will get back after it this weekend at 5,280 feet above sea level.  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward]  •  All quiet for Nagbe last weekend.   Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy]  •  Same deal for Zemanski.   Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit]  •  It went unreported by this blog that the Timbers reserves opened up their season with a 1-0 win over the Seattle Sounders reserves on St. Patrick’s Day.  Nanchoff played all 90 of that match at one of the center mid spots.   NEXT WEEK:  @ Colorado Rapids, Saturday, 30 March, 6pm

DC UNITED

Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School]  •  Played 90 at left back in the 2-1 home loss to the Crew on Saturday.  After the Crew took an early 1-0 lead, the home side fought back to equalize, but the visitors got their winner in the middle of the second half.  It’s pretty fair to say that goalkeeper… indecision/technical errors… played a part in all three goals during the match.  Korb played decently throughout, and late in the first half, was involved in a play that ended up with the Crew’s Eddie Gaven getting carded for “simulation,” but maybe it was a foul?   NEXT WEEK: no games this weekend

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Though he didn’t get to play in either match, Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius]  • did get called up for the two US Men’s National Team World Cup Qualifiers this past weekend.  On Friday, the Yanks defeated Costa Rica 1-0 in Denver and on Tuesday, the team went down to Mexico City and achieved an historic 0-0 draw in el Estadio Azteca.  The experience that Morrow gained by being a part of those two games will surely serve him well in the future, both at the club level and also – hopefully – later this summer if he gets called into the team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.  Without Morrow, San Jose beat Seattle 1-0 at home.  Nice to see their depth along the backline.  NEXT WEEK:  @ Houston Dynamo, Saturday, 30 March, 830pm

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe]  •  Still out recovering from surgery.  Saturday, the Walker-less Galaxy beat Colorado 1-0 at home.  On Tuesday of this week, the Galaxy made its visit to The White House to receive congrats for winning the 2012 MLS Cup from President Obama.  NEXT WEEK: @ Toronto FC, Saturday, 30 March, 2pm; CONCACAF Champions League Semifinal, leg 1, v Monterrey, 3 April, 10pm

 

** A note from the blogger **  From this post forward, I’m going to attempt to include photo credits, if I’ve snagged a pic of one of our guys from some other website.  Not doing so is essentially stealing, and that ain’t too cool.  Retroactively, I’d like to apologize to any photogs whom I’ve ripped off in the past.  That being said, no photo credit will mean that either I took the pic myself or that I did a “screen capture” from a game on TV.  Korb photo, courtesy of USA Today Sports Images    Speas photo, courtesy of the Columbus Crew

USMNT v Costa Rica Preview

If you’re a follower of this blog, you know by now that the San Jose Earthquakes’ left back Justin Morrow (Cleveland/St. Ignatius) was called in to the US Men’s National Team camp for the next two World Cup Qualifiers – Friday v Costa Rica (10pm on ESPN) and Tuesday @ Mexico (1030pm on ESPN).  There’s been a lot of debate and discussion among the various soccer media about the the group that Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann has brought together for these two matches.  Combined, the six defenders called in have 12 appearances for the USMNT.  From our perspective – our Morrow-centric perspective – it’s unimportant which “regulars” are injured or out-of-form.  What’s important is that Morrow DID get called in and that he must have impressed the coaching staff during his time with the USMNT in the January training camp.  Evidently, they thought enough of him to bring him back in and – unless the media guesses correctly – he just might start, or at least play in, one or both of these crucial matches for the squad.

Did anyone out there vote for Morrow’s strike in Columbus for MLS Goal of the Week?  It wasn’t a Darlington Nagbe juggle-n-volley, but it was decent.  It’s nice anytime a defender can get nominated, right?

If you’d like to hear what the fellas on two of the MLS podcasts had to say about Morrow being called in and about the group in general – ExtraTime Radio‘s Greg Lalas is in favor of the move – then give a listen – it’s the 18 March edition you want.  On March to the Match, Jonah, Matt and Matt discuss the team’s prospects in these two games.

Last but not least, it’s significant that folks are talking about how much the Earthquakes will miss Morrow during his time away.

Morrow Article in Cleveland Plain Dealer

I guess all it takes to get some good soccer coverage in The Plain Dealer is for a player to make it to the United States National Team.  In today’s edition, there’s a nice story on Justin Morrow.  Check it out here.  Don’t forget, kickoff is 830pm EDT on ESPN2, live from BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas.

Morrow invited to USMNT January training camp

On Sunday, the US Men’s National Team released the list of 25 players invited to its training camp later this month that will be capped off by a friendly with Canada in Houston on 29 January.  The most important name on that list (to us and our readers) is that of Cleveland’s own Justin Morrow.  The St. Ignatius and Notre Dame grad was an All-Star at left back for the San Jose Earthquakes this past season, and his steady play for the 2012 Supporters Cup Winners caught the eye of USMNT boss Jurgen Klinsmann.  US Soccer has a bio page for him, but there’s not much on it at this point.  Check back soon to see what they put up there.  Morrow is the first Clevelander to be invited to a USMNT training camp since Brad Friedel (Bay Village/Bay) retired from international soccer back in 2005.