The Soccer Thread

[wolf stansson]

Castillo is weak.

[wolf stansson]

Get ready for the time wasting.

[Guest]

Get ready for the time wasting.

 

There it is.

[wolf stansson]

Sports sucks.

[Guest]

Hey look, we squandered a bunch of chances early in another match and ended up with an unsatisfactory result.

 

I'm shocked.

[wolf stansson]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer-insider

Klinsmann is already being criticized by the manager of a club employing one of his key players. Alkmaar’s Gertjan Verbeek didn’t want his new striker, Jozy Altidore, called up for these two friendlies.

 

“I tried to stop it, but he was adamant,” Verbeek was quoted in this story. “It’s pure self-interest of a man who only one year has been a club coach [bayern Munich] and immediately fired. That says it all.”

[USSoccer]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer-insider

Klinsmann is already being criticized by the manager of a club employing one of his key players. Alkmaar’s Gertjan Verbeek didn’t want his new striker, Jozy Altidore, called up for these two friendlies.

 

“I tried to stop it, but he was adamant,” Verbeek was quoted in this story. “It’s pure self-interest of a man who only one year has been a club coach [bayern Munich] and immediately fired. That says it all.”

 

Wow.

 

I'll say this much-I'm still very skeptical of Klinsmann and his methods. Castillo and Orozco aren't international caliber. Rogers is barely MLS caliber.

 

We had a perfectly fine attack under Bob Bradley. Goals were never a problem, and now I hear people talking about "becoming an attacking side, possession oriented, derp derp blah". Attack isn't our problem. Defensive organization and tactics are our problem. We're not seeing these addressed. I saw basically Arena ball with an admittedly nice stretch of possession in the first half, but we were utterly bereft of ideas in the final third.

 

Now, some of this is personnel related-Dempsey and Bradley weren't there, nor was 'Dolo or Jones. However, that Costa Rica team was ass, and we shouldn't ever lose to a team like that at home.

 

Bob Bradley started out like 14-5-2 in his first year+ in charge. We outscored non Copa America opponents like 26-3. And that was when our attack SUCKED.

 

I'm concerned about this. There is time being wasted on fringe players right now. We have yet to look at the best CB prospects in our player pool. Donovan looks like a shadow of himself internationally, and I'm becoming increasingly convinced that not only was Bradley 100% correct to use him off the bench in the Gold Cup, but it's going to be a major concern by the time the Hex rolls around. Clint is going to still be a core player in 2014, but I'm not positive that Donovan will be.

 

Not only that, but Donovan is useless in the center of the pitch as the trequarista. He was bad back in 2004-6 in that role, and he's clearly not comfortable handling the ball in traffic. On the wing, he can use pace and take advantage of space not available in the center channel. It plays to his strengths. The center doesn't. Holden, Adu, Dempsey, Mix...those are guys in no particular order that you want in that trequarista type role. Not Landon.

 

I'm concerned. I'm concerned that we've looked like crap for a whole year, and that we don't seem to be making forward progress anywhere. I'm concerned that Klinsmann's statements about younger players mean that we won't see Gyau, Gatt, Mix, Lletget, and Renken anytime soon, and we need a serious infusion of young attackers. Look at Shea. That's who we need to give time to. Not effing Rogers and Castillo and Orozco.

[wolf stansson]

JK's roster selection and tactical experimentations have been odd enough that I'm not sure how much we can buy into results, but yes, I echo your sentiments. Donovan looked good at the top of the midfield diamond in the first half because it kept him involved, but his final touches were [expletive] and as other players tired he disappeared inspite of his role.

 

Also, jk's fondness for garbage players like Orozco, Rogers and even Torres is upsetting because we don't know if its because he cant call up all of the first choice guys yet or if they are actually part of his first team.

 

If they are still called in when Holden, Demps, Goodson, Jones and Bradley are available, we've got issues. Even so, Gonzalez, Marshall, Ream, John are all better MLS options than Orozco.

[USSoccer]

Torres is fine as a situational player but he shouldn't be thought of as a core guy. I don't rate Edu at all. I actually like Beckerman more as a player than Edu, but I don't think either one is international caliber and Kyle's finna get exposed in Belgishland Tuesday. Larentowitz is shite. Rogers is crap crap crap. Orozco is mediocre in a league full of mediocre defenders. Castillo is no better than Bornstein.

 

Results don't matter now but they sure as hell start to matter next summer, and for all the sunshine and rainbows and blowjobs that Klinsmann has been spouting, I do expect us to get results at home and begin to look the part again as the 1a team in our federation. I am 100% for experimenting and looking at players but it needs to be the right players. Not these scrubs.

 

If Bob Bradley lost 1-0 to a weakass Costa Rica with pretty much a B+ side he'd be crucified. If we looked that toothless, people would be out for blood.

[wvcbxl]

Fellaini, Hazard and Vertonghen are reported to be out (minor injuries) for the game.

[wolf stansson]

Fellaini, Hazard and Vertonghen are reported to be out (minor injuries) for the game.

Yeah this is an odd time for a friendly for your boys. EURO's looking bleak, club duty etc.

[wolf stansson]

WTF, ESPN? They switched it to ESPN 2 at the last second and I am apparently DVR'ing NASCAR at home right now. BS. I'm watching on ESPN 3 at work, but who knows how long I can do that without getting interrupted?

[shnsajax]

[expletive] I just realized that too. [expletive] DVR will be recording the wrong [expletive].

[shnsajax]

Why is Rogers still starting?

[wolf stansson]

Howard is a brilliant, brilliant shot-stopper. Say what you want about his positioning, in a scramble in front of the net, I'd take him over almost anyone.

[Mark Priors Calves]

WTF, ESPN? They switched it to ESPN 2 at the last second and I am apparently DVR'ing NASCAR at home right now. BS. I'm watching on ESPN 3 at work, but who knows how long I can do that without getting interrupted?

This is the second time in a month that ESPN has done this too.

[CubColtPacer]

WTF, ESPN? They switched it to ESPN 2 at the last second and I am apparently DVR'ing NASCAR at home right now. BS. I'm watching on ESPN 3 at work, but who knows how long I can do that without getting interrupted?

This is the second time in a month that ESPN has done this too.

 

No shock that they delayed showing the second live event until the first one is done. In this case, I don't see how it's ESPN's fault that they have had so much rain in Atlanta.

[apete6]

WTF, ESPN? They switched it to ESPN 2 at the last second and I am apparently DVR'ing NASCAR at home right now. BS. I'm watching on ESPN 3 at work, but who knows how long I can do that without getting interrupted?

This is the second time in a month that ESPN has done this too.

 

No shock that they delayed showing the second live event until the first one is done. In this case, I don't see how it's ESPN's fault that they have had so much rain in Atlanta.

 

That and Nascar likely will get better ratings than an international friendly vs. Belgium. And that's not even counting the unemployed Nascar fans likely to be home on Tuesday afternoon.

[wolf stansson]

WTF, ESPN? They switched it to ESPN 2 at the last second and I am apparently DVR'ing NASCAR at home right now. BS. I'm watching on ESPN 3 at work, but who knows how long I can do that without getting interrupted?

This is the second time in a month that ESPN has done this too.

 

No shock that they delayed showing the second live event until the first one is done. In this case, I don't see how it's ESPN's fault that they have had so much rain in Atlanta.

They're supposed to change their policies so they will benefit only me.

[Mark Priors Calves]

WTF, ESPN? They switched it to ESPN 2 at the last second and I am apparently DVR'ing NASCAR at home right now. BS. I'm watching on ESPN 3 at work, but who knows how long I can do that without getting interrupted?

This is the second time in a month that ESPN has done this too.

 

No shock that they delayed showing the second live event until the first one is done. In this case, I don't see how it's ESPN's fault that they have had so much rain in Atlanta.

They're supposed to change their policies so they will benefit only me.

Yeah, I like soccer and I don't like Nascar. Therefore, ESPN is wrong.

[shnsajax]

WTF, ESPN? They switched it to ESPN 2 at the last second and I am apparently DVR'ing NASCAR at home right now. BS. I'm watching on ESPN 3 at work, but who knows how long I can do that without getting interrupted?

This is the second time in a month that ESPN has done this too.

 

No shock that they delayed showing the second live event until the first one is done. In this case, I don't see how it's ESPN's fault that they have had so much rain in Atlanta.

They're supposed to change their policies so they will benefit only me.

Yeah, I like soccer and I don't like Nascar. Therefore, ESPN is wrong.

 

They could just regionalize it. NC, SC, Georgia get nascar, everyone else gets soccer.

[Guest]

WTF, ESPN? They switched it to ESPN 2 at the last second and I am apparently DVR'ing NASCAR at home right now. BS. I'm watching on ESPN 3 at work, but who knows how long I can do that without getting interrupted?

This is the second time in a month that ESPN has done this too.

 

No shock that they delayed showing the second live event until the first one is done. In this case, I don't see how it's ESPN's fault that they have had so much rain in Atlanta.

 

It's ESPN's fault because they had a block from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with nothing to show because the U.S. Open tennis matches which were supposed to air there were cancelled. So rather than have two things on channels they weren't supposed to be, ESPN could have switched NASCAR to ESPN2 and left the soccer game right where it was, thereby not screwing over tons of people who recorded the game on ESPN but couldn't switch because they were at work.

[CubColtPacer]

WTF, ESPN? They switched it to ESPN 2 at the last second and I am apparently DVR'ing NASCAR at home right now. BS. I'm watching on ESPN 3 at work, but who knows how long I can do that without getting interrupted?

This is the second time in a month that ESPN has done this too.

 

No shock that they delayed showing the second live event until the first one is done. In this case, I don't see how it's ESPN's fault that they have had so much rain in Atlanta.

 

It's ESPN's fault because they had a block from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with nothing to show because the U.S. Open tennis matches which were supposed to air there were cancelled. So rather than have two things on channels they weren't supposed to be, ESPN could have switched NASCAR to ESPN2 and left the soccer game right where it was, thereby not screwing over tons of people who recorded the game on ESPN but couldn't switch because they were at work.

 

And what happens to the NASCAR fans who were recording the race on DVR and suddenly it switches right before the end of the race? They have the same argument. It doesn't make sense to switch the event that is going to have higher ratings and is near the conclusion for the lower rated event that is just beginning.

[Guest]

Because the NASCAR race wasn't supposed to be on at that time anyway. Move that race over and make the NASCAR people switch the channel. I had to do the same thing with a tennis match either Sunday or Monday that started on CBS but their coverage was done and the rest was aired on ESPN2.

[CubColtPacer]

Because the NASCAR race wasn't supposed to be on at that time anyway. Move that race over and make the NASCAR people switch the channel. I had to do the same thing with a tennis match either Sunday or Monday that started on CBS but their coverage was done and the rest was aired on ESPN2.

 

Maybe, although this was a little different of a situation then tennis coverage where they aren't contractually obligated to cover any individual match.

 

Anyway, the schedule was very tight. With the NASCAR race starting at 11:00 there was a decent chance it was going to run into soccer even if there hadn't been a small rain delay. I understand the frustration, but this happens anytime there are two sporting events scheduled back to back like this. Usually, the earlier event gets the priority unless the later event is considered much more important. And in this case, NASCAR was both the first event and also probably considered the more important one.