The Soccer Thread

[USSoccer]

Patrick Viera in at NYC FC. I hope someone asks him what they're planning to do with their targeted allocation money or who they like with their first round pick of the super draft.

 

Ruud Gullit 2,0

[wolf stansson]

Hype train.

Hopefully already being at Tottenham, he can avoid the Adu syndrome.

 

 

[wolf stansson]

Some good quotes about Klinsmann and player development in here:

http://www.espnfc.com/team/united-states/660/blog/post/2708235/klinsmann-and-usmnt-face-questions-over-youth-policy

[wolf stansson]

That's a pretty solid summary there. Seattle's lack of midfield depth beyond Alonso has hurt them the last 2 years.

Sigi is definitely back and the Sounders are shopping Alonso.

http://www.sounderatheart.com/sounders-trades-transfers-rumors/2015/11/12/9724718/osvaldo-alonso-trade-rumor

 

I'm sure Lagerway has a plan in mind, but that's not where I expected them to start.

[wolf stansson]

Pretty interesting article about Nagbe, who seems to have more in common with Landon Donovan than just style of play.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/nov/13/darlington-nagbe-soccer-enigma?CMP=share_btn_tw

[USSoccer]

That's a pretty solid summary there. Seattle's lack of midfield depth beyond Alonso has hurt them the last 2 years.

Sigi is definitely back and the Sounders are shopping Alonso.

http://www.sounderatheart.com/sounders-trades-transfers-rumors/2015/11/12/9724718/osvaldo-alonso-trade-rumor

 

I'm sure Lagerway has a plan in mind, but that's not where I expected them to start.

 

Problem: Your midfield gets overrun every playoff, meaning you have no link to your strikers and your defense gets exposed

Solution: Shop your best midfielder.

[wolf stansson]

Interview with Sunil about Jurgen. Most of it is predictable BS, but I liked this part:

Jurgen seems to find scapegoats and place blame. He seems to want to deflect. Is it something you’ve noticed and does it bother you?

“Noticed and discussed. Everyone has their own style. In the end, he’s the coach, but we’ve talked about some of those issues, for sure.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2015/11/13/u-s-soccer-boss-sunil-gulati-address-range-of-issues/?postshare=6511447453860106&tid=ss_tw

[wolf stansson]

Starting XI: Guzan; Yedlin, Cameron, Besler, Ream; Zardes, Jones, Bradley ©, Johnson; Wood, Jozy

 

Bob? Bob Bradley? Is that you?

 

Speedy RB, Stay at home LB, double destroyer CM, inverted wingers and two up top? 2010 back again.

[wolf stansson]

AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[USSoccer]

Fire him at halftime

[CubInOK]

Well, USL keepers can shut us down. May as well let USL players score against us too.

[wolf stansson]

Yedlin is a klinsy out sleeper agent.

[wolf stansson]

Gyasi sucks. If I felt like it, I'd find the post in this thread from 2012 where I said he had the first touch of a cinder block.

It hasn't improved.

[wolf stansson]

We suck.

[USSoccer]

This team is booty

[wolf stansson]

Miazga, Nagbe and Morris in one sub. Hot.

[UMFan83]

I love that I'm watching this and I see the OF stands and say "that's where Soler hit one of his dongs in the playoffs"

 

Ok back to Klinnsman hating

[CubInOK]

I love that I'm watching this and I see the OF stands and say "that's where Soler hit one of his dongs in the playoffs"

 

Ok back to Klinnsman hating

I hate it for the same reason. Soccer really shouldn't be played in baseball stadiums. Fans end up far away from the match when it is.

[wolf stansson]

If you care about US Soccer, I recommend hitting play on this before reading further, just to get the full effect:

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-fc-yahoo/jurgen-klinsmann-calls-usmnt-criticism--immature--and--wrong-233753333.html

 

In his two-minute, 42-second response to a question about what he has learned about World Cup qualifying in CONCACAF, Klinsmann chose to address the growing concern and criticism over his national team program after a string of disappointing results from the senior side down to the Under-17s. And in his defiance, he gave himself and his coaching staff a collective pat on the back for the progress that has been achieved during his four years in charge.

"I think we can be proud of ourselves in what we've done so far, the last couple of years – in ALL age groups. I think this is what a lot of people unfortunately forget quickly. Because suddenly we came out of the Group of Death in Brazil, I don't know, people now expect maybe miracles, expect you to get easily into the final four of a World Cup or final eight, or have our Under-20s win the World Cup in New Zealand or our Under-17s win the World Cup in Chile. And that's not gonna happen. Because this is only a process that over many, many years will hopefully one day end in big, big successes.

"All of our programs made big strides, made big steps forward, and this is something where our coaches like a Tab Ramos and Andi Herzog with the 23s right now or even a Richie Williams [with the Under-17s] that was eliminated in the first round in Chile – which was the most, by far the most, difficult group he was in – and now we're going through a tremendous learning experience and brought our players to another level in their individual stages. So this is pretty cool to see. I think the Under-20s with Tab [had an] outstanding World Cup in New Zealand [but] lost it on a penalty shootout against the world champions in the quarterfinals.

"So when you hear a lot of people talking some things are going wrong because you lost maybe two or three games recently, then that's a bit immature (laughs). That's simply wrong. There's a lot of work ahead of us in all our areas but there's also a lot of excitement because our players are hungry for improvement. And hopefully, with that game [a two-legged playoff against Colombia] the under-23s have in Brazil, the second one will do maybe even a result that's better than the first one. But even if not, they're making strides."

 

Me RN:

http://www.thegifspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/o7x1oEZ.gif

 

 

To recap:

Despite terrible results, great progress is being made. Despite playing a regressive style and not getting the most out of his talent, great strides are being made. If you're critical, you're an immature soccer fan and wrong.

 

 

Oh, and:

And hopefully, with that game [a two-legged playoff against Colombia] the under-23s have in Brazil, the second one will do maybe even a result that's better than the first one. But even if not, they're making strides."

 

These comments were made after a comprehensive 2-1 loss where the US was up a man. Yesterday, the second game he referenced? US lost 5-1 in a complete tactical dismantling.

 

 

As always, Jurgen's failures are actually triumphs and we are naive and stupid for not realizing that. This egomaniacal charlatan is immune to criticism and incapable of improvement. What a waste of two world cup cycles, if not more. Unbelievable.

[wolf stansson]

This is great, great news for the mnt.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/11/17/vancouver-whitecaps-kekuta-manneh-months-away-acquiring-us-citizenship-sets-sights

[bukie]

Honduras already in trouble after no points in two games.

[shnsajax]

Happy to see Zlatan in the Euro's.

[wolf stansson]

Gyasi Zardes tied the record for most caps by a player in their first year which is weird because he's bad.

[wolf stansson]

A tie is the perfect Klinsmann result. Bad enough to be inexcusable, good enough to offer plenty of excuses.

[wvcbxl]

So Belgium v Spain gets cancelled, Radja Naingolan decides to have dinner at the Radisson in his home town with some friends and other hotel guests fearful of more terrorists call the cops because he looks/acts suspicious. :rotfl: :rotfl:

Luckily, he was a good sport about it (Radja's the guy with the cap) and posed for a pic with the intervening policemen.