The Soccer Thread

[sneakypower]

why, that must only mean Jamaica's on an upward trajectory!

[wolf stansson]

We've lost to Jamaica twice ever. Both in the last 3 years.

There are so many terrible precedents set by this loss that it's crazy.

 

"@RyanRosenblatt: - Earliest Gold Cup exit since 2003 ✅

- First Gold Cup elimination by team not named Brazil, Mexico or Colombia ✅

 

Not great for the #USMNT"

 

"@Soccerwriter: Let me update that last tweet: The last time #USMNT lost to a Caribbean team on US soil in WCQ was 1968, a 1-0 defeat to Haiti."

 

"@MLSAnalyst: First time US have lost in QFs or SFs of Gold Cup to anyone from CONCACAF. Previous losses were Brazil x2 & Colombia. #USMNT"

 

"@ChrisRyan77: Jurgen doesn't write his own raps"

 

 

Really excited for the impending buck passing.

[wolf stansson]

Rob Stone can [expletive] right off talking about friendly results.

[USSoccer]

The Confederations playoff is going to be the excuse to let him keep his job. Sunil will hang his hat on that.

[wolf stansson]

I hope Mexico curb stomps everybody, beats us in the fall and Dempsey, Howard, Beckerman, Jones and Beasley retire. Only because Jurgen would resign before getting fired and that's the only shot we have of a real manager in 2018.

 

 

Those dudes are all old as [expletive] and he relies on all of them from degrees ranging from a lot to completely. We'd never get out of the group without Deuce and he's 32. He's my favorite athlete ever, but Jurgens entire regime has been about the idea of progress. Those dudes are ollllld.

Edited July 23, 2015 by wolf stansson

[Guest]

Rob Stone can [expletive] right off talking about friendly results.

 

The results under Jurgen are weird. He's had plenty of good results which can't be dismissed - winning in Mexico (albeit against their B team) and the wins in Europe - but has also had plenty of crap ones (two losses to Jamaica and struggling to beat Antigua and Barbuda in WCQ). In the 2014 WCQ, we were 1-1-1 at one point in the third round (the same round Mexico, which barely qualified for the WC, went 6 wins out of 6 in a group with Costa Rica). Meanwhile, we struggled with Guatemala, Jamaica and A&B.

 

I know it didn't matter because we likely finish second anyway but I'll never forgive him for allowing us to press up the field in the last few seconds against Portugal. One of the worst tactical oversights ever.

[Guest]

Also, I've never seen that handball on the GKer ever called and I'm sure it happens a couple times every single game.

 

Absolutely ridiculous call.

[wolf stansson]

He's had plenty of good results which can't be dismissed - winning in Mexico (albeit against their B team)

This is a perfect example of the faulty logic he hides behind. That was a) a friendly and b) an era of unprecedented run of Mexican failure in Azteca that multiple shitty teams exploited. It's impossble to credit him for that. Even if you wanted to evaluate a real result there, you look back to that draw in qualifying and it was on the back of Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler dominating. Where were they tonight? They were both great in the World Cup. They're in their prime. Whats the logic?

[Banedon]

He appeals to all the worst insecurities of the U.S. Soccer community

 

Can you explain what you mean here?

[USSoccer]

He appeals to all the worst insecurities of the U.S. Soccer community

 

Can you explain what you mean here?

 

American soccer fans have long had an inferiority complex to all things European. There's a massive cohort of them that hate MLS because it isn't the EPL, and when you have a World Cup winning German come in and start talking about how our mentality sucks and MLS sucks and all our players need to be in Europe, that got everyone half-hard.

[wolf stansson]

He appeals to all the worst insecurities of the U.S. Soccer community

 

Can you explain what you mean here?

He's a big name, he's a global legend, he gets coaches like Joachim Lowe to say things like "the U.S. are becoming really dangerous" when in reality we're as dangerous as we've been for 13 years but because people pay attention to Jurgen, they're paying attention to the U.S. He says the right things about playing attacking soccer, developing players to play at the highest level in Europe and overhauling the youth development system to be like it is in Germany and other "real" soccer countries. In reality after playing for some of the biggest clubs Americans have ever played at, his regime has seen a mass migration to MLS rather than the stated desire for their players to be in the champions league.

 

The reality is that the teams he coaches are more conservative and have less flair than any teams under Bradley and Arena. Him being famous and winning a World Cup doesn't make any of our players famous. The Sunil Gulati's who want to make money and amass credibility and power through celebrity, the fans who love big clubs in Europe or just want US players with higher FIFA scores all coveted Jurgen for years because he was glamorous, European soccer royalty regardless of the ample evidence that he wasn't actually a good coach. Bob Bradley wasn't sexy. Bruce Arena wasn't sexy. That's true, but their teams were prepared and played to their strengths. They delivered on their expectations. Jurgen just doesn't.

[Guest]

Bob Bradley wasn't sexy. Bruce Arena wasn't sexy. That's true, but their teams were prepared and played to their strengths. They delivered on their expectations. Jurgen just doesn't.

 

That's not entirely true. Arena needed embarrassing refereeing in the South Korea-Portugal game just to make it to the knockout stage of the 2002 WC because we bombed against Poland. In 2006 we had a tough group but couldn't win a game (bad refereeing didn't help, though we still got stomped by the Czech's). And we had a weak group in 2010 under Bradley and still needed an injury time goal to advance. I know bad refereeing cost us the game winner against Slovenia and an earlier goal against Algeria but we frequently started slowly under Bradley and were fortunate to overcome it in the 2010 WC. And we also got a gift of a goal against England that allowed us to win the group. And then we laid an egg early against Ghana and had to fight back again.

 

I'm not defending Jurgen. I wouldn't mind in the least if he was fired. But I don't think we've played any better or worse under him than we did under Bradley or Arena. And maybe that's your point. That we haven't played any better but people are making it out that we have because of a few results in friendlies. Which is a totally fair point that I agree with 100%.

[wolf stansson]

I don't think we've played any better or worse under him than we did under Bradley or Arena. And maybe that's your point. That we haven't played any better but people are making it out that we have because of a few results in friendlies. Which is a totally fair point that I agree with 100%.

Yeah, I guess that's my point. I was on board with firing both Arena and Bradley. Ultimately my biggest frustration with Jurgen is his unearned status as untouchable. There was pressure on the other coaches. There was accountability. I don't see it with Jurgen.

[USSoccer]

1-0 Panama and the jackass El Tri fans just threw a bunch of crap at the Canaleros, hitting one of them in the head.

 

F those guys.

[KaiserCesar]

While incredibly disappointing, this result is not too shocking. This team needs to do better against teams that bunker and counter, both offensively and defensively.

 

I'm lukewarm on the competitive successes of the Klinssmann era - winning the hex, beating Ghana, Gold Cup win over Panama. None of those outweigh the way this tournament went and there needs to be a change if there is going to be improvement.

[wolf stansson]

Well Mexico is [expletive] their shorts and a 16 year old NYRB II player named Tyler something lit Chelsea the [expletive] up so there are still good things about soccer.

[USSoccer]

What a joke of a call

[wolf stansson]

OF COURSE

[KaiserCesar]

That's a GD joke.

[Guest]

Might as well ban both from the final. US-Jamaica rematch.

[wolf stansson]

The gold cup rules so hard. This is the best tournament. This is so stupid.

[USSoccer]

-I hope Panama walks off

 

-It's pretty bad that the US couldn't even get in a position late for Jamaica to get CONCACAF'd

[wolf stansson]

If CONCACAF is serious about being the best, someone will tell Deuce to run out and power bomb Guardado through the Spanish announcers table right before the PK.

[Guest]

This is amazing. Never seen a delay like this before.

[shnsajax]

Since I can't find the game what's going on?