soccer soccer soccer

[UMFan83]

It sucks listening and reading people trying to talk their way into the US advancing out of the group.

 

And using 2014 as their reasoning.

[jersey cubs fan]

It sucks listening and reading people trying to talk their way into the US advancing out of the group.

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[wolf stansson]

It sucks listening and reading people trying to talk their way into the US advancing out of the group.

 

And using 2014 as their reasoning.

With any other coach, I'd be very confident in beating Costa Rica and Paraguay at home.

[USSoccer]

It sucks listening and reading people trying to talk their way into the US advancing out of the group.

 

And using 2014 as their reasoning.

With any other coach, I'd be very confident in beating Costa Rica and Paraguay at home.

 

Not with this coach. We've been ass in meaningful games for nearly 2 years. Our last (nearly) complete performance was Portugal, and you have to ignore the final 5 minutes of coaching boners to count that.

 

I don't see us generating nearly enough in the final third to beat Colombia or Paraguay, and CRC may be struggling, but on form they are at least not any worse than we are.

[Banedon]

https://vine.co/v/irMdgU253HU

[bukie]

There's really no such thing as a "group of death" in the Copa. Only thing that makes it slightly harder than any other group is having Costa Rica in it instead of Jamaica/Haiti/Panama (though, the US lost to Jamaca AND Panama just last year so it doesn't matter that much). They were always going to have a better CONMEBOL team and a worse CONMEBOL team in the group.

[bukie]

Four MLS teams against four Mexican teams in the CCL quarters. How many advance? I say one, and the timing of the games sucks for the MLS teams.

[USSoccer]

Four MLS teams against four Mexican teams in the CCL quarters. How many advance? I say one, and the timing of the games sucks for the MLS teams.

 

On paper, DC has the best shot and Seattle the worst.

 

I'd say one team advances. Seattle has the strongest team but the strongest opponent. RSL isn't very good anymore, especially defensively. LAG might be a train wreck this year with the 2006 World Cup all stars.

 

So smart money has DC advancing

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm at Century Link. Clint Dempsey is a bad man. Giving up that away goal suuucks.

[USSoccer]

I'm at Century Link. Clint Dempsey is a bad man. Giving up that away goal suuucks.

 

Clint had a strong first half, but no way should Evans and Marshall be playing a high line in general, let alone at the end of the half.

[USSoccer]

Clint again.

 

It's almost as though he's still the best attacking player in the pool. Eh, Jurgen?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

A few other assorted thoughts

 

- This needs to be included in the thread itself.

 

[vine]

[/vine]

 

- Morris looked pretty good, real good considering quality of opponent. He wasn't much in the air and has zero left foot, but he'll be dangerous in MLS. Even more so come summer when he's doing more reacting and less thinking.

 

- Sounders are going to have problems chasing the game. Without Martins they're in a weird spot where their Top 4 attackers are probably all starters, but none of them should regularly be playing 90 and their reserves are all completely unproven. Maybe when they get Torres back and Evans moves to midfield they'll be able to give guys a rest without needing to turn to Aaron Kovar.

 

- *dons homer hat* What a shameful bit of hackery that was by Club America. As a Liga MX team I was prepared for all the delaying and time wasting silliness, but for large chunks of the game their only means to stop possession was just to chop people that were stepping by. Just a garbage brand of soccer given what they're obviously capable of otherwise. Of course, given that the ref refused to give a yellow for anything less than an assassination on the field, that was probably a savvy strategy. 2 minutes stoppage at the end(2 goals+1 card+1 injury+much time wasting = 2?), carding Alonso for standing in the way of a free kick that CA did a dozen times, carding Ivanschitz instead of giving a rightful card when Alonso got horsecollared in stoppage. I didn't realize getting CONCACAF'd extended to MLS home matches. *removes homer hat*

[USSoccer]

The broadcast team said that the ref was 32 and had almost zero senior pro experience; the best thing on his resume was reffing a U17 Youth World Cup game.

 

And it showed; it's like persistent infringement wasn't a thing anymore. I think CA and Seattle ended with two yellow's each, which is ridiculous based on the amount of tactical fouling CA was doing.

[OleMissCub]

Soccer guys, answer this question for me because I really have no idea. I came across some snippet somewhere debating who the best American player ever was. Since it seemed like the article was suggesting that Bradley was our greatest player ever, I'll use him for this example. If he were French, or Spanish, or Argentinian, would he be a superstar there as well? I guess I'm just trying to figure out the disparity between elite American soccer players and elite International soccer players. Would our very best (Bradley or Donovan) be elite in other countries, or just really good?

[USSoccer]

Soccer guys, answer this question for me because I really have no idea. I came across some snippet somewhere debating who the best American player ever was. Since it seemed like the article was suggesting that Bradley was our greatest player ever, I'll use him for this example. If he were French, or Spanish, or Argentinian, would he be a superstar there as well? I guess I'm just trying to figure out the disparity between elite American soccer players and elite International soccer players. Would our very best (Bradley or Donovan) be elite in other countries, or just really good?

 

-Bradley's not even in the top 5 for greatest US players ever.

-Our top two (Donovan and Dempsey) were above-average players when looked at through a global lens. Good-to occasionally great. We haven't ever had a world class, transcendent player that could just walk into any of the top 10 teams.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

-Our top two (Donovan and Dempsey) were above-average players when looked at through a global lens. Good-to occasionally great. We haven't ever had a world class, transcendent player that could just walk into any of the top 10 teams.

 

I'm not really good for these types of evaluations, but peak Howard was probably close to that point, right? Bit of a different situation as keeper though.

[USSoccer]

-Our top two (Donovan and Dempsey) were above-average players when looked at through a global lens. Good-to occasionally great. We haven't ever had a world class, transcendent player that could just walk into any of the top 10 teams.

 

I'm not really good for these types of evaluations, but peak Howard was probably close to that point, right? Bit of a different situation as keeper though.

 

Peak Howard? Maybe, yeah. Although even he was never a top 10 guy in his prime. Elite athleticism. Poor technique. Off top of my head, Buffon, Cech, Casillas, Van der Saar, Lloris, Neuer and Valdes were all better than he was during his prime. He's in that next tier.

 

Peak Friedel was better than peak Howard in any event, and its a shame we wasted the 2006 cycle on Keller, who was the third best keeper in the pool by the time WC06 rolled around.

[USSoccer]

LOL Manchester United. Consonant FC just scored to go up 3-1 on aggregate. Now they need 2 just to force AET.

[soccer10k]

LOL Manchester United. Consonant FC just scored to go up 3-1 on aggregate. Now they need 2 just to force AET.

 

3-1 today for ManU right now so they're up 4-3 on aggregate. Still a terrible look against a team that hadn't played a competitive match since their last Europa group stage game in December before the first leg of this tie.

[soccer10k]

Liverpool-ManU and Tottenham-Dortmund in the Europa Round of 16.

[shnsajax]

I think I am happy that Infantino is our new overlord.

[Banedon]

I think I am happy that Infantino is our new overlord.

 

I was rooting for Tokyo Sexwale based on nothing but that completely amazing name.

[shnsajax]

I mean Infantino worked with Platini so that sucks, Salman and Ali are terrible as well. I don't know if he is the lesser of all the evils or not, but think he might be. Infantino know that FIFA is in need of a WC cash cow that Russia and Qatar won't be providing.

[wvcbxl]

I think I am happy that Infantino is our new overlord.

 

I'm just relieved it's not one of the others.

[shnsajax]

Tottenham and Arsenal both down at HT.