The Soccer Thread

[CubInOK]

I actually came away totally unimpressed with the Mexican mids. Their feeds seemed pretty aimless and not very sharp. Chicharito seemed like he was constantly getting the ball with his back to the goal as well.

[wolf stansson]

Lol Mexico.

[wolf stansson]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/soccerusa/id/1294?cc=5901

Some good quotes from Howard and Gonzalez. Revealing about JK's decision to pair Cameron and Gonzo, which I was for, not that it matters. It's just odd that they had trained together ONCE and never played together. This brings all of our complaints here, and US fans and pundits complaints in the past about JK's odd roster selections home to roost. In a vacuum, each individual friendly or early qualifier where we'd pipe up with a "why is Goodson on this roster?" or "Why is Gooch on this roster?" or "Why is Bocanegra playing in a meaningless friendly and where is Omar Gonzalez?" didn't seem so bad, but on the tail end of a winnable or at the least, drawable, key qualifier where Gonzo and Cam paired together for the first time, it's very, very damning and very, very disappointing.

[Guest]

Pretty much the perfect results after our loss. Plus a good reminder on just how difficult the matches are going to be this cycle.

 

I'm torn. I love seeing Mexico held to a tie but they're probably going to qualify anyway. Jamaica's one we'll be competing with and that's one point that we're probably not going to get.

 

The other game, though, I completely agree. Too bad we couldn't get a draw today.

 

If this is the form Mexico is in, then dream big. Even an improved Jamaica is the easiest of their first 3 opponents, meaning there's a non-zero chance we can keep them at 1 point through 3 matches(2 at home).

[wolf stansson]

Pretty much the perfect results after our loss. Plus a good reminder on just how difficult the matches are going to be this cycle.

 

I'm torn. I love seeing Mexico held to a tie but they're probably going to qualify anyway. Jamaica's one we'll be competing with and that's one point that we're probably not going to get.

 

The other game, though, I completely agree. Too bad we couldn't get a draw today.

 

If this is the form Mexico is in, then dream big. Even an improved Jamaica is the easiest of their first 3 opponents, meaning there's a non-zero chance we can keep them at 1 point through 3 matches(2 at home).

This might be unfair, and it's definitely purely anecdotal, but it's worth mentioning that in the past when El Tri goes through some trouble, it usually snowballs before it stops. They're lucky they don't have two qualifiers in a row this month. It may carry over to next month's games.

[USSoccer]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/soccerusa/id/1294?cc=5901

Some good quotes from Howard and Gonzalez. Revealing about JK's decision to pair Cameron and Gonzo, which I was for, not that it matters. It's just odd that they had trained together ONCE and never played together. This brings all of our complaints here, and US fans and pundits complaints in the past about JK's odd roster selections home to roost. In a vacuum, each individual friendly or early qualifier where we'd pipe up with a "why is Goodson on this roster?" or "Why is Gooch on this roster?" or "Why is Bocanegra playing in a meaningless friendly and where is Omar Gonzalez?" didn't seem so bad, but on the tail end of a winnable or at the least, drawable, key qualifier where Gonzo and Cam paired together for the first time, it's very, very damning and very, very disappointing.

 

Yup. We wasted a year on retreads and now we're paying the price.

 

Also, and I'm too lazy to go onto Twitter to copy/paste, but the post game press conference featured JK tossing his players under the bus. That guy is going to lose the locker room, if he hasn't already with his idiotic beef w/ Jozy, his idiotic comments about LD and his totally stupid calling out of Clint in the NYT a couple weeks ago. This guy sucks.

[Mark Priors Calves]

Apparently, Bob Ley is reporting the USMNT was involved in a match that was fixed vs. El Salvdaor. He says the U.S. was not involved in the fixing.

[USSoccer]

If it was the home tie in the 2009 Hex, I know exactly what was fixed. That ref robbed the US of two goals.

[wolf stansson]

If it was the home tie in the 2009 Hex, I know exactly what was fixed. That ref robbed the US of two goals.

Holy [expletive], yes.

[Guest]

Awesome own goal by Gareth Barry. The best way to describe it is that he passed the ball perfectly into the corner of the net.

[shnsajax]

Awesome own goal by Gareth Barry. The best way to describe it is that he passed the ball perfectly into the corner of the net.

 

So he should get credit for a hat trick?

[Mark Priors Calves]

If it was the home tie in the 2009 Hex, I know exactly what was fixed. That ref robbed the US of two goals.

Possible because its allegedly multiple matches. But here's Deadspin's article with video on one of the matches in question.

 

http://deadspin.com/5983001/heres-the-us-mens-national-team-friendly-in-tampa-that-outside-the-lines-thinks-was-fixed-by-a-singaporean-crime-syndicate

[shnsajax]

Watching some of the Villa/West Ham game time and I still don't understand how Bradley never even got a chance with them. While it worked out for the best with him it's still confusing.

[Mark Priors Calves]

So what did you guys think of Gus?

 

I thought he found his rhythm after the first 10-15 minutes or so, and did fine after that. I'm not so crazy about Warren Barton, so I think he'd do better with a stronger analyst.

[Guest]

I thought he did alright - nothing special but not terrible by any means. He's not nearly as good as Ian Darke or some of the other English guys on FSC, but I didn't expect him to be.

 

Hopefully he improves as he calls more games.

[Guest]

Clint in the starting lineup against Lyon in the Europa League today.

[Guest]

Two more Bale goals, both on free kicks, the second of which came on basically the last kick of the game, gives Spurs a 2-1 win over Lyon in the first leg. Massive second goal.

[wolf stansson]

If you were building a team and had first pick in an EPL expansion draft, Bale has to be your pick right? Don't know if that says more about Bale or the lack of super-super stars in the EPL.

[Guest]

Off the top of my head, Aguero has to be in the conversation. Walcott also if you think he can continue his goalscoring rate from this year. But yeah, there aren't many.

 

I think it says more about Bale and how good he is at only 23.

[Exile on Waveland]

He's an expletive, but Luis Suarez. He just turned twenty-six (Aguero will turn twenty-five this summer, Bale twenty-four).

[shnsajax]

He's an expletive, but Luis Suarez. He just turned twenty-six (Aguero will turn twenty-five this summer, Bale twenty-four).

 

I would never ever ever start with Suarez. Not to mention he is a player that has to be surrounded by talent to make anything of it. I would start with van Persie over him even if he is 3 years older than Suarez. He has the look of the next Torres.

[Exile on Waveland]

He's an expletive, but Luis Suarez. He just turned twenty-six (Aguero will turn twenty-five this summer, Bale twenty-four).

 

I would never ever ever start with Suarez. Not to mention he is a player that has to be surrounded by talent to make anything of it. I would start with van Persie over him even if he is 3 years older than Suarez. He has the look of the next Torres.

 

I'd be reluctant to start with him because he's likely to be suspended a few games every year (and deservedly so).

 

That said, you think he has to be surrounded by talent? I'm not sure when that's even happened. Uruguay finished fourth in the 2010 World Cup and won the 2011 Copa America in Argentina (with Suarez named best player). Uruguay wasn't the fourth-most talented team at the World Cup or the most talented team at the Copa America. Suarez is second in the EPL in scoring on a crap Liverpool team that did not have another striker until the January transfer window. Seems to me he consistently has proven to do well without surrounding talent.

 

Just because people think him a villain doesn't make him less a player. He's brilliant.

[wolf stansson]

Put Gareth Bale at center (centre) forward and he'll score more goals than Luis Suarez guaranteed. Suarez would be #2 on my list, granted, but they play different positions and Bale is still more productive. Suarez is by far the superior passer and more intelligent on the ball, but Bale's physicality and dead ball skills set him apart.

 

I don't think there's a ton of talent disparity between Tottenham and Liverpool. I think you can put a majority of the credit for the 12 gap squarely on Bale's shoulders.

[Exile on Waveland]

Suarez would be #2 on my list, granted.

 

That's fine; I just meant he has to be in the conversation. He's one of the best few players in the league, easily.

 

But, no, Liverpool certainly has failed to live up to their talent-level (though I have hopes Sturridge will help change that . . . they were so dependent on Suarez to score).

[wolf stansson]

http://robbierogers8.moonfruit.com/

Robbie Rogers is

1. Gay

2. A Christian

3. Retiring

 

I sincerely hope #3 isn't related to the first two, because I think he had his best soccer ahead of him. If not in England, certainly back in MLS. He apparently took a job at Men's Health in London, which is a badass job for sure, it would just be a bummer if a player walked away from their prime because they didn't want to deal with being an out athlete. Understandable, but a bummer anyway.