twballgame9 {l Wrote}:2001Eagle {l Wrote}:He's been a central midfielder forever and against Belize was the first time I can remember him playing on the left side of the midfield. He played CM against Guatemala just last week, as he predominantly plays in the center of the field. JK might be giving him run there because we have a logjam in the middle of the field. See below write up from the Guatemala game:
After being largely exiled from the team for the past year, Jose Torres finally worked his way back into the squad on Friday night. However, he promptly failed to impress in his 45 minutes in the middle after being given the start.
With Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones and Geoff Cameron virtual shoe-ins for the roster and Maurice Edu, Danny Williams, Kyle Beckerman, Sacha Kljestan, Stuart Holden and Mix Diskerud fighting for the remaining center midfield spot(s), Torres is increasingly likely to be one of the odd men out.
I've only seen him play under Klinsmann because I only watch soccer when its the US team, and Bradley seemed to hate the guy. When Klinsmann first took over and before Torres was off the team for a while, I seem to recall him playing a lot of LW. I just looked it up - and article on ESPN from last August says that Klinsmann had tried Torres everywhere except for the position he plays for his club - "You have to give Klinsmann credit for not giving up. He's recently tried Torres in just about every role imaginable, save for the one he actually fills for his club, that being in the center of midfield." I had no idea what he played in Mexico.
Given the comments on the Guatemala game, and the way he played against Belize, maybe he's better suited for the wing.
From this July 5th Jeff Carlisle blog post (for ESPN and one of perhaps 3 US writers I like on soccer) it appears that JK has been experimenting with Torres on the wing:
Torres would gladly accept that scenario. The Tigres midfielder has slid down the midfield depth chart during Klinsmann's tenure, and he found himself on the outside of the roster that contested the World Cup qualifiers.
"It's tough, because everyone wants to be there and play every game, but sometimes that's part of soccer," he said. "It was my turn to watch the games."
The positional conundrum surrounding Torres has been even tougher than that of Holden. The Longview, Tex., native has long seemed to be a player for the middle third of the field, and spent much of the last club season with Mexican side Tigres playing in a holding role alongside Carlos Salcido, although there were moments where manager Tuca Ferretti urged him to push forward more.
Yet there are questions as to whether Torres possesses the defensive presence to play there at international level. The problem has been compounded in that when Torres was moved into wider positions, his performances have been uneven. Playing alongside a tough tackling presence such as Beckerman might alleviate some of those concerns and allow him to push forward into the attack a bit more. That's a facet of his game that Torres insists he'll reveal more of with Tigres this season now that he has his first campaign with the club under his belt. If he can do that with the U.S., it could very well be his ticket into getting back into the full squad.
Torres says his preference is to play in the attacking third, something he'll do more of this season at Mexican club Tigres. "Jurgen, he knows that in the midfield, that's where I like to be," he said. "I like to be on the ball, I like to go forward, I like to attack. But wherever he tries to play me, I'll just try to do my best."
I personally think he is too small, slow and weak defensively to be good enough to play at the highest level, such as in the World Cup Finals. That said, I will give you that he looked solid against Belize.
Coach hard. Love hard.
