The Soccer Thread

[wolf stansson]

Tottenham didn't get an easy draw with Inter, Bremen and FC Twente. The other three English teams should all roll through, though.

That's a fun group.

[shnsajax]

Tottenham didn't get an easy draw with Inter, Bremen and FC Twente. The other three English teams should all roll through, though.

That's a fun group.

 

ManU and Rangers should be fun too, well Rangers will probably get thumped but should be fun anyways.

[Mark Priors Calves]

I can't wait for the champions league to get going.

[wvcbxl]

Mascherano to Barca for 23 million euro is a done deal (pending a physical, of course)

 

He signed a four year contract with them.

[SpongeWorthy]

Is this Atletico Madrid - Inter game meaningful at all? I can't keep up with all these quasi-exhibition matches.

[Mark Priors Calves]

Is this Atletico Madrid - Inter game meaningful at all? I can't keep up with all these quasi-exhibition matches.

No, it's like the Community Shield in England.

[shnsajax]

Is this Atletico Madrid - Inter game meaningful at all? I can't keep up with all these quasi-exhibition matches.

No, it's like the Community Shield in England.

 

Pretty much, its the Champions League Winner vs the Europa League Winner. The timing of the whole thing makes it even more meaningless.

[Exile on Waveland]

Mascherano to Barca for 23 million euro is a done deal (pending a physical, of course)

 

He signed a four year contract with them.

 

With the circumstances of both Liverpool's finances and Mascherano's strike, that amount is unsurprising but still disappointing.

 

Though it looks like the Reds have signed Raul Meireles for 10.7 (doh: million) pounds.

[Brendan]

sorry if this is old news:

 

U.S. Soccer has met with former German team coach Jurgen Klinsmann about the national team coaching job, currently held by Bob Bradley, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.

 

The source indicated Klinsmann, who turned down the Yanks' job after the 2006 World Cup, met with U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati and said Klinsmann is interested in the position, but gave no other details.

 

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/5505040/klinsmann-gulati-discuss-us-coaching-job

[shnsajax]

sorry if this is old news:

 

U.S. Soccer has met with former German team coach Jurgen Klinsmann about the national team coaching job, currently held by Bob Bradley, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.

 

The source indicated Klinsmann, who turned down the Yanks' job after the 2006 World Cup, met with U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati and said Klinsmann is interested in the position, but gave no other details.

 

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/5505040/klinsmann-gulati-discuss-us-coaching-job

 

Nope very new, a little surprised this already happened with the meeting with Bradley having just happened on Thursday.

[shnsajax]

Only watched the 1st ten minutes so far but the Arsenal Blackburn game has had a great pace so far for both teams.

[Guest]

Someone forgot to tell Tottenham that they're in the Champions League this year and they were at home today, playing a team that had lost its first two EPL games 4-0 and 6-0 at their own park. Way to lay an egg.

 

Not the best of starts to the season for Spurs either. They blew 500 chances against Man City, settling for a draw, were hammered for 30 minutes by Young Boys and were lucky to only lose 3-2 in the first leg and now lose to a team that was outscored by 10 goals at home in its first two games.

 

On another note, kind of surprising that only Chelsea managed to start the EPL season with two wins. Every other team had at least a draw.

[wolf stansson]

Mark Hughes is a moron watch continues through week 3.

[wolf stansson]

Soon-to-be-capped Mix Diskerud with a lovely chip: http://fotball.aftenposten.no/eliteserien/article178373.ece

[wolf stansson]

Bradley re-upped through 2014.

 

Once again, Sunil Gulati manages to make something harder than it has to be all while making everyone involved look less professional.

 

Once again, Bob Bradley somehow finishes second choice behind Klinssmann and gets the job.

 

What a joke, USSF.

[shnsajax]

Bradley re-upped through 2014.

 

Once again, Sunil Gulati manages to make something harder than it has to be all while making everyone involved look less professional.

 

Once again, Bob Bradley somehow finishes second choice behind Klinssmann and gets the job.

 

What a joke, USSF.

 

How do we get rid of Gulati? Who does he work for? Is he voted into position?

[wolf stansson]

How do we get rid of Gulati? Who does he work for? Is he voted into position?

There's an election, but I doubt it's very democratic. He makes everyone involved way too much money to get voted out.

 

 

 

This summer has left me with blue balls as a US Soccer fan. The World Cup ended in a way it didn't have to. All the transfer speculation that went nowhere. The extension debacle with Bradley. It's been a weird combination of stimulating (the world cup, some good performances by important players) with no actual payoff.

[wolf stansson]

 

@fakebobbradley Bradley-worn sweatpants just went from eBay to Sotheby's, WORD!

about 1 hour ago via web

@fakebobbradley KAMMARMAN! Get me a megaphone!

about 1 hour ago via web

@fakebobbradley I feel all the love, even from you Bobby Convey. Thank you, thank you, thank you! The Sweats rides again!

about 1 hour ago via web

@fakebobbradley Able to defeats the Germans with one stroke of the pen! ....Stay thirsty my friends....

about 1 hour ago via web

@fakebobbradley Double the Findley, Double the Bornstein, DOUBLE THE FUN! Everyone ready? Away we go, Great Space Coaster-style....

about 1 hour ago via web

olds

@fakebobbradley YES WE CAN!

about 1 hour ago via DestroyTwitter in reply to FakeBobBradley

Retweeted by FakeBobBradley

 

@fakebobbradleyFOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! Suck it Klinsmann!

[USSoccer]

I'm honestly stunned at this. I literally did a double take when I saw the Soccernet byline.

 

I have to think either Klinsmann is the one who backed out or something really changed inside Soccer House to have made this happen. The people I know who should know were adamant that he would not be extended.

 

I am mixed on it myself. USSF again only apparently interviewed two guys...the same two guys from 4 years ago. Bradley had good results and improved, but the track record of 2nd year guys is poor.

 

In this cycle the main tasks are to rebuild the central defense, win next year's Gold Cup, and obviously qualify out of CONCACAF. Ironically, I think Bradley (or Arena, actually) are better suited at that first task than Klinsi would have been.

 

Will Bob evolve tactically from the narrow 4-2-2-2 we used? Will we see Holden used centrally? A flexible 4-5-1/4-3-3?

 

If he learns from his mistakes (as he did from Confeds to WC in regards to subbing), and the players don't tune him out, this could be a good thing.

 

Could.

[shnsajax]

I am mixed on it myself. USSF again only apparently interviewed two guys...the same two guys from 4 years ago. Bradley had good results and improved, but the track record of 2nd year guys is poor.

 

This is what I am worried about. Like you said will he adapt a new offense, will the young players develop, will this be like 1998 or 2006 all over again?

[wvcbxl]

Beasley moves from Glasgow Rangers to Hannover 96, where he joins Cherundolo.

[bukie]

According to the new proposed CONCACAF 2014 qualifying format, the US and Mexico may never actually meet in qualifying prior to the World Cup. That's not good for either squad.

 

EDIT: The system

 

1. Preliminary round (if needed) to trim the number of teams to 32.

2. 8 groups of 4 teams. Top two in each group through to the next round.

3. 4 groups of 4 teams. Top two in each group through to the next round.

4. 2 groups of 4 teams. If CONCACAF will have 3.5 spots, the winners of the groups will qualify directly to the World Cup, while the second placed teams will play-off against each other first, then against a team from another confederation (CONMEBOL). If CONCACAF gets 4 spots as they hope, the top two teams in each group will qualify to the World Cup.

[shnsajax]

According to the new proposed CONCACAF 2014 qualifying format, the US and Mexico may never actually meet in qualifying prior to the World Cup. That's not good for either squad.

 

EDIT: The system

 

1. Preliminary round (if needed) to trim the number of teams to 32.

2. 8 groups of 4 teams. Top two in each group through to the next round.

3. 4 groups of 4 teams. Top two in each group through to the next round.

4. 2 groups of 4 teams. If CONCACAF will have 3.5 spots, the winners of the groups will qualify directly to the World Cup, while the second placed teams will play-off against each other first, then against a team from another confederation (CONMEBOL). If CONCACAF gets 4 spots as they hope, the top two teams in each group will qualify to the World Cup.

 

That would leave more open dates to schedule friendlies, have to bulk up on some solid countries. I look forward to that one chance every 4 years at Azteca to pull off the upset and piss all over their fans.

[wolf stansson]

I can't decide which I'm least psyched about. The decreased margin for error or the chance that we could lose the Azteca trip.

[bukie]

I can't decide which I'm least psyched about. The decreased margin for error or the chance that we could lose the Azteca trip.

I'm mostly concerned that this is what the first round will look like (according to FIFA rankings):

 

GROUP 1A          GROUP 1B        GROUP 1C         GROUP 1D
1. USA            2. Mexico       3. Costa Rica    4. Honduras
16. Bermuda       15. Cuba        14. Guyana       13. Antigua and Barbuda
17. Barbados      18. Suriname    19. N. Antilles  20. St. Kitts/Nevis
32. US Virgin Is. 31. Aruba       30. Bahamas      29. British Virgin Is.

GROUP 1E          GROUP 1F        GROUP 1G         GROUP 1H
5. Canada         6. El Salvador  7. Panama        8. Jamaica
12. Grenada       11. Guatemala   10. Haiti        9. Trinidad and Tobago
21. Nicaragua     22. Puerto Rico 23. St. Vincent  24. Cayman Islands
28. Turks/Caicos  27. St. Lucia   26. Dominica     25. Belize

 

That's six games against drecks. Then there's a whole second round of more drecks (if seeds hold to form, second round would be like US/Jamaica/T&T/Bermuda). The unfortunate fact about CONCACAF is, there are maybe 7-8 decent squads, with just 2-3 quality squads in a given cycle (two of which are always Mexico and the US, since 2000 at least). There's no need to involve so many teams in the introductory qualification process.