Ando

http://www.mlssoccer.com/all-star/news/art...-twitter-ballot no zips so far, lets pick it up!

Anthony Ponikvar clearly dreamt of being a backup keeper while looking like a complete gump

I don't think the kid's awful, or anything, and I'm sure he has at least an MLS future to look forward to. If you're expecting him to be Perry Kitchen, though, then I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

To be fair, I've only seen him play once, but from what I've seen I'm not all that impressed with Souders. Great composure, and seems to have all the mental attributes that you would want from a 17 year old kid, but technically he just isn't there. His distribution in particular leaves something to be desired.

My mind is still blown by this whole thing. I get that Speas probably was a little too direct of a player for Porter's tastes, but we didn't have a non-Nagbe forward last year that was as strong at holding the ball up as Ben. Unless Chiu or Holmes are decidedly better at that than Ben is, then we're a much weaker team up top.

Any plans for the Panama game tonight? I'm shooting you an email in case you don't see this in time. I planned on joining AO Akron awhile ago, but never got around to it. Any chance I can sign up tonight?

Went with Rimando Kitchen, Ream, Demerit, Soares Najar, Pontius, Beckham, Donovan Davies, Bunbury doesn't make much sense formation-wise but I couldn't not vote najar

There's so many players I want to vote for but can't really (Najar, Montero, Wondo, Henry, others) this is too difficult

Assuming a 442, I'm thinking --------------------Rimando----------------- --Kitchen----- Ream ---- DeMerit ---Danso??--- Donavon-----Pontius----Feilhaber----Beckham --------------Bunbury------Davies------------- not voting yet, Need to think the backline over (gotta figure the outside backs out, maybe shift Kitchen to centerback), and I'm not sure about DRo The ballot doesn't seem great, as it looks like you could choose anyone regardless of position. Inevitably, it seems like the balloting will result in the highest vote-getters all being attackers edit: Gonna vote pontius over derosario

Steve Z interview I don't usually like these sorts of things, because MLS columnists are usually incapable of asking interesting questions, but Zakuani gave good answers Kinda wish he would have been more specific on what specific technical stuff he's trying to add to his "repertoire" but it's still more enlightening than most such videos

Kofi giving Brek Shea the business

Is the Barley house usually where the Akron AO chapter watches matches? I don't see an Akron chapter on the website, and I'd be interested in joining for sure

I kinda disagree First of all, Agudelo showed in this game anyway, that he can do more than be a target man for the last ball. He checked back a number of times and actually both strikers were often further back, playing through to bedoya on a number of occasions. Also, Teal has a lot of technical skill in terms of finishing I think you aren't giving him credit for: See the turn he made in the South Africa match. The shot wasn't great, but the turn itself was brilliant. In any regard, I'd say pegging Agudelo as an absolute target striker and Teal as an absolute holding forward is a bit erroneous And for as encouraging as the stuff we've seen from both of them has been, neither can realistically be said to have a ceiling as high as Jozy's. When/if he gets his act together, that kid is gonna be scary. I don't see TBB or JA surpassing him in the pecking order by 2014 by a long shot Though I definitely think I'd place the both of them somewhere in the top 5 of the US forward depth chart for future world cup teams

Here's TSG's recap: http://theshinguardian.com/2011/01/23/game...le-1-bunbury-1/ Probably more insightful analysis than the ESPN one, though the player ratings are mostly similar Just watched it on ESPN3 this morning I'm probably not quite as high on Dax this game as everyone else, a little higher on Jeff Larentowicz, and a bit lower on Mix's play as well, but basically agree on all the other fronts. Liked the way Lloyd played, even though he was pretty terrible on the card play man of the match for me was either Teal or Agudelo

Speed plays well in the back, especially in Porter's system with the wings pressed so high. Imagine a faster Kofi. Scary stuff for other teams

The only way I don't see amps reuninting with Steve Z in seatle is if sounders opts for Rooney. I sort of doubt that'll happen (he doesn't seem to be a top 10 talent, from all the reports I've read), but Rooney's stock did rise quite a bit during the combine.

What's our backline gonna look like next year? It seems with Mattocks returning, Speas probably starting, plus Genovesi seeing substantial time not to mention Jimmy Tulloch and now this Chieu (sp?) kid from texas, I think we've got plenty of depth up top. Where I haven't gotten the same impression of depth is all along the defensive line. I like Barson, but he was probably the weakest link back there, and he's our only returner. Not that I think Barson's incapable in any way - No, I'd say the issue is more finding guys who can play outside and come forward like Caleb likes them to - Any word on players like that? We picked up Gallego - what's the profile on him? Is he a center back, does he play outside, what? You guys think we're sticking to a 4-4-2 again or no?