The Soccer Thread

[shnsajax]

Donadoni is also not a good manager.

 

van Basten on the other hand could become a great manager.

[MPC]

what a huge, huge win for the dutch. not only does it put them in the driver's seat for the group, but it was also a statement game with it being totally dominated.

[shnsajax]

watching it now. The 1st goal should without question count. Actually great job by the refs for not calling what everyone else thought was an offsides.

[shnsajax]

The 2nd goal was executed about as perfect as any team could ever do. That pretty much showed everything that the US needs to learn how to do.

[TruffleShuffle]

Donadoni is also not a good manager.

 

he might not be the manager much longer if italy flames out in the opening round. italy does not accept failure from the azzurri.

 

two questions for the people in this thread who know more about soccer than i do:

 

1. what are sweden's chances of making it out of their group?

 

2. this one requires some background. while in italy eight years ago (2000), my two friends and i stayed in a five star hotel in the italian town of viareggio. my best friend steve, his mom's best friend from high school is an exotic car dealer and had stayed in this hotel that had a pool which, while in it, made it look like you were going to swim from the pool right into the mediterranean. as an aside, this guy also wrote ferrari to tell them that steve had purchased a $120,000 ferrari, so that we could go tour the ferrari factory in modena. he was a good person to know. the rest of our trip consisted of backpacking and staying in hostels and mediocre hotels.

 

anyway, we asked the concierge at our hotel - some way hot blonde woman from switzerland - where we might go for dinner the night that we were in town. she assumed that we were wealthy given that we were staying in this $400/night hotel, and made reservations for us at a place in portofino, which is a ridiculously beautiful and wealthy resort town on the sea. it was like $50 each for dinner, which was about what we were spending each week on food. she mentioned to us that she had also set up a big-time soccer player for dinner there, and that we might see him. he came toward the end of dinner - we knew it was him because (a) his wife was extremely hot and had diamond earrings down to her shoulders, and (b) little kids were going up to him asking for his autograph. if i remember correctly, he played for one of the milan teams, and was of croatian or perhaps serbian descent.

 

this came up while talking with my friends over memorial day weekend. any ideas on who the mystery player might be?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Sweden has a decent shot at advancing. Spain is the class of that group, but any of the remaining three could take the 2nd spot.

 

Here are the rosters for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 AC Milan teams. Maybe Shevchenko?

[sethuel1]

Donadoni is also not a good manager.

 

he might not be the manager much longer if italy flames out in the opening round. italy does not accept failure from the azzurri.

 

two questions for the people in this thread who know more about soccer than i do:

 

1. what are sweden's chances of making it out of their group?

 

2. this one requires some background. while in italy eight years ago (2000), my two friends and i stayed in a five star hotel in the italian town of viareggio. my best friend steve, his mom's best friend from high school is an exotic car dealer and had stayed in this hotel that had a pool which, while in it, made it look like you were going to swim from the pool right into the mediterranean. as an aside, this guy also wrote ferrari to tell them that steve had purchased a $120,000 ferrari, so that we could go tour the ferrari factory in modena. he was a good person to know. the rest of our trip consisted of backpacking and staying in hostels and mediocre hotels.

 

anyway, we asked the concierge at our hotel - some way hot blonde woman from switzerland - where we might go for dinner the night that we were in town. she assumed that we were wealthy given that we were staying in this $400/night hotel, and made reservations for us at a place in portofino, which is a ridiculously beautiful and wealthy resort town on the sea. it was like $50 each for dinner, which was about what we were spending each week on food. she mentioned to us that she had also set up a big-time soccer player for dinner there, and that we might see him. he came toward the end of dinner - we knew it was him because (a) his wife was extremely hot and had diamond earrings down to her shoulders, and (b) little kids were going up to him asking for his autograph. if i remember correctly, he played for one of the milan teams, and was of croatian or perhaps serbian descent.

 

this came up while talking with my friends over memorial day weekend. any ideas on who the mystery player might be?

 

my guess is kahka kaladze. EDIT: I forgot Kaladze was on Dynamo Kiev until 2001. It was probably Zivonimir Boban.

 

And Sweden has an excellent chance as long as Zlatan ibrahimovic is fully fit and plays up to the standard he set this year for Inter Milan. Especially since Pavel Pogrebnyak (the player that walked all over Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup semis) is injured for Russia.

[TruffleShuffle]

Sweden has a decent shot at advancing. Spain is the class of that group, but any of the remaining three could take the 2nd spot.

 

Here are the rosters for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 AC Milan teams. Maybe Shevchenko?

 

thanks. it was Zvonimir Boban; the name sounded familiar and when i looked him up on wikipedia, some of the info (him being captain of the croatian team) came back to me. i don't know how good he was for milan, but he was there for a long time, so i'd assume that he was fairly popular. i know it was someone a little older (not in their early or mid 20s) because he was looked to be in his late 20s or 30s, was married and had at least two kids with him.

 

btw, i can't believe paolo maldini is still playing.

[sethuel1]

Sweden has a decent shot at advancing. Spain is the class of that group, but any of the remaining three could take the 2nd spot.

 

Here are the rosters for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 AC Milan teams. Maybe Shevchenko?

 

thanks. it was Zvonimir Boban; the name sounded familiar and when i looked him up on wikipedia, some of the info (him being captain of the croatian team) came back to me. i don't know how good he was for milan, but he was there for a long time, so i'd assume that he was fairly popular. i know it was someone a little older (not in their early or mid 20s) because he was looked to be in his late 20s or 30s, was married and had at least two kids with him.

 

btw, i can't believe paolo maldini is still playing.

 

he was really, really good for Milan. one of the best midfielders of his era, for sure. And he was the captain of croatia in the 1998 world cup, where they finished third.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

ha ha ha ha

[wolf stansson]

David Villa is going to make himself a chunk of change in this tournament. 3 goals and did the work to set up Fabregas' header.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Russia's goal celebration was one of the most subdued I've ever seen.

[Exile on Waveland]

Sweden has a decent shot at advancing. Spain is the class of that group, but any of the remaining three could take the 2nd spot.

 

Here are the rosters for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 AC Milan teams. Maybe Shevchenko?

 

Sweden will advance. They generally play very well in tournaments. While they typically don't fare as well in the knockout stages -- especially against top flight competition -- they rarely get upset and often play superior teams to draws.

[wolf stansson]

Qualifying roster.

 

Goalkeepers- Tim Howard (Everton FC), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Dominic Cervi (out of contract),

 

Defenders- Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)

 

Midfielders- Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)

 

Forwards- Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)

 

Dammit, Eddie Johson.

 

Altidore better still be hurt. Dan Califf and Frankie Hejduk still have those pics of Bob Bradley with a goat and Michael Parkhurst apparently boned Mrs. Bradley.

 

 

BAH. I'm glad Kljestan and Freddy are there.

[YearofDaCubs]

So much for my Greece advancing :( It doesn't look good after this loss.

[shnsajax]

Motivation for the Austrian offense.

 

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=544984&cc=5901

[sethuel1]

Qualifying roster.

 

Goalkeepers- Tim Howard (Everton FC), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Dominic Cervi (out of contract),

 

Defenders- Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)

 

Midfielders- Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)

 

Forwards- Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)

 

Dammit, Eddie Johson.

 

Altidore better still be hurt. Dan Califf and Frankie Hejduk still have those pics of Bob Bradley with a goat and Michael Parkhurst apparently boned Mrs. Bradley.

 

 

BAH. I'm glad Kljestan and Freddy are there.

 

I'd take Cooper over Ching

[brinoch]

Seriously, how is it that Johnson still has a place on the USMNT roster? If you need someone to run around uselessly, pass the ball right back to midfielders, hit girlie headers, and generally bone an attack up, I'm your man. Heck, I can do a better job of boning the offense than can Johnson. But that's only because I'm NOT A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER. Loser.

[wolf stansson]

Me too.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Johnson has some value becuase of his speed.

 

Sure, it's frustrating to see him bone up a chance he could have put away with his lead feet and utter lack of a first-touch, but he also probably created that chance with his speed. Opponents have to respect that speed, and that helps take pressure off of our midfield.

 

He's not good, I'm certainly not saying that. But we honestly don't have anyone definitively better yet. I still don't understand why we are so abysmal at developing forwards.

[wolf stansson]

Johnson has some value becuase of his speed.

 

Sure, it's frustrating to see him bone up a chance he could have put away with his lead feet and utter lack of a first-touch, but he also probably created that chance with his speed. Opponents have to respect that speed, and that helps take pressure off of our midfield.

 

He's not good, I'm certainly not saying that. But we honestly don't have anyone definitively better yet. I still don't understand why we are so abysmal at developing forwards.

Eddie Johnson is not our best forward.

 

I'd rather take Altidore, Dempsey, Ching, Cooper, or Davies.

 

I say we cap Luciano Emilio.

[USSoccer]

Johnson has some value becuase of his speed.

 

Sure, it's frustrating to see him bone up a chance he could have put away with his lead feet and utter lack of a first-touch, but he also probably created that chance with his speed. Opponents have to respect that speed, and that helps take pressure off of our midfield.

 

He's not good, I'm certainly not saying that. But we honestly don't have anyone definitively better yet. I still don't understand why we are so abysmal at developing forwards.

 

None of this is correct. We have at least 4 better options. Altidore. Donovan. Demspey (despite this not being his best position, he's much better at it than EJ). Ching. Cooper. Davies. Adu, even, would be a better #9.

 

Johnson has speed, yes, but also has zero idea how to properly use it. He has no idea how to read an offsides trap, time his runs, or angle his runs. His first touch is godawful. His shot is as weak as hell is hot. He's terrible in the air. He's not a target guy. I could go on, and on, and on.

 

He shouldn't be an option. He's not even a Colaship-level player. He should be our 5th choice striker at best, and I swear to god if he finds the net against Barbados and anyone declares him "back" I'm going to blow a gasket.

[wolf stansson]

He has wasted more chances being offsides than anyone I've ever seen.

[Guest]

I say we cap Luciano Emilio.

 

Is that possible?

[wolf stansson]

I say we cap Luciano Emilio.

 

Is that possible?

I really don't know enough about the age 21 rule. I think since he never played for Brazil's youth teams he could be. It would essentially be the same way we were able to cap Preki when he was already old.