The Soccer Thread

[wolf stansson]

Inter-Roma and Atletico-Barca were incredible games today.

[Mark Priors Calves]

man utd won the highly prestigious league cup today.

 

they're still in the running for five titles this year, as they already won the almost as prestigious club world cup.

 

i'm not even sure what the the term is for pursing five pieces of silverware, "the penta"

[Guest]

man utd won the highly prestigious league cup today.

 

they're still in the running for five titles this year, as they already won the almost as prestigious club world cup.

 

i'm not even sure what the the term is for pursing five pieces of silverware, "the penta"

 

The League Cup recap on Soccernet called it a quintuple, I believe.

[wolf stansson]

The Daily Record with an article on Maurice Edu. I'm glad Mo has half of Glasgow half chubbed, but good lord this article is hyperbole central.

Most of all this quote from his college coach:

"He has the hardness of Keane, the elegance of Vieira and the skill of Essien."

Yikes. I had no idea Maurice was one of the best players in the world!

 

Link.

[USSoccer]

Holy hyperbole. Mo isn't anywhere near any of that.

 

Yet.

[wolf stansson]

Yet.

I'll streak through Mexico City painted in Red White and Blue if he ever becomes near as good as Essien.

[USSoccer]

Yet.

I'll streak through Mexico City painted in Red White and Blue if he ever becomes near as good as Essien.

 

I'd settle for him being as good as Mastroeni. I don't rate him that highly, really.

[sethuel1]

Yet.

I'll streak through Mexico City painted in Red White and Blue if he ever becomes near as good as Essien.

 

I'd settle for him being as good as Mastroeni. I don't rate him that highly, really.

ouch

[USSoccer]

Yet.

I'll streak through Mexico City painted in Red White and Blue if he ever becomes near as good as Essien.

 

I'd settle for him being as good as Mastroeni. I don't rate him that highly, really.

ouch

 

Mastro at his best was a pretty decent D-Mid.

[USSoccer]

Speaking of players I think arent any good, apparently that guy who used to wear the number 9 shirt for the 'Nats and had a ton of 'potential' and such had a good run out for his club team in Sheepsville, UK yesterday

[sethuel1]

Yet.

I'll streak through Mexico City painted in Red White and Blue if he ever becomes near as good as Essien.

 

I'd settle for him being as good as Mastroeni. I don't rate him that highly, really.

ouch

 

Mastro at his best was a pretty decent D-Mid.

Edu already has more passing ability than Mastro. I don't think they're that comparable, really. Mastro will undoubtedly be the bigger hardass

[USSoccer]

Prozone always had Pablo as one of our better passers

[sethuel1]

Prozone always had Pablo as one of our better passers

How does prozone grade passing? I've seen Edu put a couple of pinpoint longballs onto onrushing strikers that I can't imagine Pablo ever doing. Maybe I'm just biased against Pablo but I see him as much more of a "win the ball and outlet it to an open man" sort of player.

 

But then again, I know nothing about prozone. Enlighten me.

[USSoccer]

Prozone always had Pablo as one of our better passers

How does prozone grade passing? I've seen Edu put a couple of pinpoint longballs onto onrushing strikers that I can't imagine Pablo ever doing. Maybe I'm just biased against Pablo but I see him as much more of a "win the ball and outlet it to an open man" sort of player.

 

But then again, I know nothing about prozone. Enlighten me.

 

Prozone is a stat engine that tabulates completed passes, shots, etc. USSoccer.com typically posts prozone stats a few days after USMNT matches, and it's always somewhat interesting to see the results. (for instance, it rated Sacha K higher than I would have at first glance)

 

Now, prozone is flawed in that it doesn't make a distinction between an easy square ball or a cutting through ball (incidentally, its one of the metrics that rate Reyna highly), but considering Pablo was always a deep lying mid, a high pass % from him means more than one from a 'playmaker' like Reyna (who, as we know, liked to play square balls to death).

 

The thing that it seems to reveal about Pablo (i'm drinking, so my memory may or may not be flawed) is that he had a high completion percentage and a low giveaway percentage, which suggests he was either very efficient in his distribution out of the back, or he made a lot of high percentage passes which would artificially inflate his numbers.

 

Considering his usual role in the Arena system (supporting Reyna as a destroyer), a high completion percentage would indicate an efficiency beyond simply average at his position. He'd typically win balls in situations that would not immediately lend themselves to lame assed back passes and square balls. Thus, his numbers would be more easily taken at face value (contrasted with Reyna, who would have good numbers inflated by back pass after back pass, which, given his role were totally useless).

 

Add in his ability to frustrate and disrupt a midfield and you have a very useful player. I'd compare peak Pablo to Gattuso, in that neither have a obviously useful offensive game (although Pablo could shoot from distance fairly well) but both have a definite defensive value and the ability to make the link between the back 4 and the front 4 efficiently.

 

EDIT

 

The thing about Pablo is he would have a tendency to do exceedingly stupid things (like go studs up in the offensive third at the end of a half you dominated) but would execute his role very well. He's an extremely useful role player to have, and paired with a good offensive mid, is an asset.

 

What I see in Edu is an offensively limited player with defensive bite and a ton of athletic ability. My hope is he takes that defensive bite, and learns to make intelligent linking passes to a box-to-box mid or attacking wing in order to spring an attack. I see a ton of careless giveaways from Mo at the CONCACAF level. Elimiate those and learn some offensive savvy, and you have Pablo.

[wolf stansson]

I'll be honest, I've always loved Mastro. I don't want him when we're fielding our best squad or when I want them to play good football, but in the games when we're outclassed (Argentina last summer comes to mind) and we need to play some ugly, 10 men behind the ball soccer, he was money. He would have been great in a low-tier premiership or italian team.

[wolf stansson]

Mo is starting for Rangers again. Looks like he is in the squad for good.

[Exile on Waveland]

I'll be honest, I've always loved Mastro. I don't want him when we're fielding our best squad or when I want them to play good football, but in the games when we're outclassed (Argentina last summer comes to mind) and we need to play some ugly, 10 men behind the ball soccer, he was money. He would have been great in a low-tier premiership or italian team.

 

I'm a Mastro fan as well. Elegant he may not be, but he was generally quite useful. I'm optimistic on Edu, but him becoming a bit better Mastro wouldn't surprise or offend me.

[Mark Priors Calves]

not surprising, but it's official that donovan is coming back to the states.

[Jon]

According to the Red Card, Soldier Field will likely host the Gold Cup semifinals but not the final.

[wolf stansson]

Landon just got robbed.

 

Oddo crossed and Landon hit a blistering volley from about 10 yards out in the box and Hannover's keeper somehow got a strong enough hand on it to deflect it out.

 

Too bad. I would've liked him to get a goal in a real match.

[wolf stansson]

There is life yet in those limbs.

 

http://www.noshortcorners.com/

#1 - Don't look now, but Eddie Johnson has suddenly followed up a Man of the match show with his first Cardiff City goal... and my goodness, the club website is overjoyed about it!

 

 

I hope he doesn't play well enough to give more false hope to the MNT staff.

[USSoccer]

There is life yet in those limbs.

 

http://www.noshortcorners.com/

#1 - Don't look now, but Eddie Johnson has suddenly followed up a Man of the match show with his first Cardiff City goal... and my goodness, the club website is overjoyed about it!

 

 

I hope he doesn't play well enough to give more false hope to the MNT staff.

 

Apparently (according to the Sheep City fans on BS) EJ's goal was absolutely wildly celebrated by fans and teammates alike, and apparently his workrate has improved significantly, hence the wild celebration.

 

No goal scored against Doncaster has ever been cheered so much! Chants of 'Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!', the old folk that have sat around me in the Grandstand for many years now that I didn't even realise could stand stood to applaud; genuine joy. He deserves it. He ran the channels, held his ground, chased every ball, did everything asked of him. This is a different Johnson from the one that arrived here in August.

 

Great goal too - took the ball down on the right, ran along the edge of the box, and belted it with his left into the bottom left-hand corner. All-round superb.

 

Way too early to say, but if his workrate and skill level are improving, that's a good start.

 

http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/javaImages/6b/53/0,,10335~5460843,00.jpg

 

Also, Fulham hung with Man U for about 20 minutes and had a ball cleared off the line before the Red Devils stomped them 4-0. Clint played ok...but there was such a gulf of class between the two sides, even without Man U's 1st team playing.

[Jon]

For tomorrow's presale:

 

As a special benefit to our fans, U.S. Soccer has arranged for you to order tickets ahead of the general public for this historic FIFA World Cup Qualifier.

 

Your two-day private sale starts tomorrow (Tuesday, March 10) at 10 a.m. CT and ends late Wednesday night (technically Thursday, March 12, at 2 a.m. CT).

 

Ticket prices are $25 Endlines; $35 Corners; $45 Sidelines; $68 Midfield; $75 Club Sideline; $115 Club Midfield; and $150 Front Row Seats.

 

This private sale is only available online at: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0400425588551123

 

To participate, please select which group you would like to sit with and enter the corresponding password in the space designated on the Ticketmaster.com order page. Note that the password must be entered in UPPER CASE to take advantage of this special offer.

 

* General U.S. Fan Sections: X1FIRST

* Honduras Supporters' Sections: H9FIRST

[shnsajax]

Finally I am getting something :-)

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/031009dnspocowboyssoccer.1b64bbaf.html

 

Of course I will probably have Haiti vs. Nicaragua or some crap like that.

[wolf stansson]

I think I'm getting an El Tri game.