soccer soccer soccer

[UMFan83]

wooooooo

 

Brb putting all my money on the Chiefs

[USSoccer]

It'd be nice if UEFA bothered to make their draw seem marginally not-rigged.

[soccer10k]

It'd be nice if UEFA bothered to make their draw seem marginally not-rigged.

 

It's hilarious how predictable it was that Arsenal would get stuck with either Bayern or Real.

 

Last 7 years:

 

16-17: Bayern

15-16: Barcelona

14-15: Monaco

13-14: Bayern

12-13: Bayern

11-12: AC Milan (when they were still good)

10-11: Barcelona

 

I know they usually finish second so they're more likely to get a tougher draw but this is just getting absurd. Even in the group stage they get screwed over. Last year they draw Bayern (2nd hardest team they could get) and the two years before they draw Dortmund (and in 2013-14 they got Napoli as well).

[Ryne Ween]

too bad PSG sucks now or there would be 2 great ties.

[USSoccer]

Watching Cavani go 1/7 on sitters is always entertaining.

[shnsajax]

I always expect Arsenal to draw Barca or Bayern. No surprise, but this might be their best chance to beat them.

[Ryne Ween]

Chelsea breaking away. They could be 8 clear after the weekend. Conte is great.

[wolf stansson]

Conte is probably very valuable, but this obsession with managers in the Premier League is very annoying. They get way too much credit/blame. The media is just obsessed with sensationalizing these old, white men on the side lines. Driving me a little bit crazy.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Not a soccer fan, but the mls cup was on my ferry this morning

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161215/dfb10a80dc16a89d4743ce3d738bd7e5.jpg

[Ryne Ween]

Conte is probably very valuable, but this obsession with managers in the Premier League is very annoying. They get way too much credit/blame. The media is just obsessed with sensationalizing these old, white men on the side lines. Driving me a little bit crazy.

 

I agree that the EPL and top world football leagues have a very different way of handling managers. It's hard for me to grasp coming from an American sports basis.

 

Conte has done very well with Juve and Italy and now has Chelsea at the top. I guess it shows with guys like victor Moses having a huge impact under him.

[wolf stansson]

Two seasons ago, Mourinho and 85% of that Chelsea squad were one of the most dominant champs in that league's recent history and now Conte has them on top and it's all him?

 

No question Jose is a lunatic with a short shelf life but the difference between this team and last year's and the thing this team has in common with the 2015 team is a healthy Costa. The narrative is that it's all Conte. He's a great manager but managing is over emphasized in the current EPL narrative.

 

Anyway, remember when B Wood was a bust?

 

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[wolf stansson]

Bob Bradley out at Swansea.

[wvcbxl]

Bob Bradley out at Swansea.

 

:shock: after only 85 days.

[shnsajax]

Giroud might have just won goal of the year on Jan 1st.

[wvcbxl]

Ethan Horvath to Club Bruges (see my avatar :D )

 

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[jersey cubs fan]

Ethan Horvath to Club Bruges (see my avatar :D )

 

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Nice to see Jim Halpert getting some work

[wolf stansson]

Downton Abbey footman ass looking m-f'er.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

January camp roster: http://www.starsandstripesfc.com/2017/1/5/14174430/usmnt-january-camp-roster-announced?utm_campaign=starsandstripesfc&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

 

Exclusively MLS players, but no Dempsey.

 

GOALKEEPERS (5): David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Stefan Frei (Seattle Sounders FC), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Luis Robles (New York Red Bulls).

 

DEFENDERS (10): DaMarcus Beasley (Unattached), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Greg Garza (Atlanta United FC), Matt Hedges (FC Dallas), Taylor Kemp (D.C. United), Chad Marshall (Seattle Sounders FC), Keegan Rosenberry (Philadelphia Union), Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City).

 

MIDFIELDERS (12): Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Alejandro Bedoya (Philadelphia Union), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City), Jermaine Jones (Unattached), Sacha Kljestan (New York Red Bulls), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Kekuta Manneh (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Dax McCarty (New York Red Bulls), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Chris Pontius (Philadelphia Union), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC).

 

FORWARDS (5): Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution), Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy).

[wolf stansson]

I am instantly way more excited for USS press releases these days. Wonder why?

 

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2017/01/05/16/31/20170105-mnt-release-head-coach-bruce-arena-calls-32-players-for-january-camp

 

This is a very very good domestic based squad. I would swap Roldan for Pontius but I'm biased for sounders. Zusi ad a defender is an eyebrow raiser but January camp is where you do this kind of stuff, not qualifiers or tournaments, Jurgen.

 

Don't think Beasley or Wondo and some others make a full squad camp but I'm very satisfied with this roster. Looks like Brad Evans is a right back full time now with club and country.

 

Intrigued by Manneh, Frei and Bingham. Excited by Nagbe and Feilhaber.

[CubInOK]

Not sure if anyone here cares but NASL and USL are both now US Division 2 leagues.

 

I'd be surprised if there is a NASL 2017 season right now.

[shnsajax]

USL has been looking into Boise for a new team. Had a test run and almost 5,000 showed up. Bilbao played here last year during the basque celebration and drew close to 20,000. Hopefully it can happen and be a feeder team for Portland or RSL.

[CubInOK]

USL has been looking into Boise for a new team. Had a test run and almost 5,000 showed up. Bilbao played here last year during the basque celebration and drew close to 20,000. Hopefully it can happen and be a feeder team for Portland or RSL.

USL has too many MLS 2 sides in the league. Let the actual MLS 2 sides play in their own league. The 2s don't draw anyone to their home games and don't really add anything to the league.

 

Affiliates though, keep those. Getting an MLS team's youth players on loan has been pretty fun for OKC's team lately. Boise would benefit a lot from RSL, Seattle, or Portland feeding them players, but all 3 have 2nd teams set up.

[wvcbxl]

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Not a fan of this.

[soccer10k]

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Not a fan of this.

 

Yeah, this is stupid.

[Rex Buckingham]

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Not a fan of this.

 

Yeah, this is stupid.

 

Yeah, don't think we really need 16 more bad teams in the field. Also, seems to me that qualifying is way less important now for the better teams, more teams = less pressure to get in.