OT - USA Soccer

[wc1934]

USA- Brazil "friendly" starting now.

70,000 in attendance.

Can Klinsmann work some magic?
WC qualifiers to start in June.

[ultraman6970]

Male or female???

Remember the sucker at the radio when Klinsman showed up in the local team as a player like 5 years ago, he didn't even know who in the world klinsman was... the worse thing is that he was interviewing him.

In which channel and time i can see the game? do you know?

[rwsaunders]

Male or female???

Remember the sucker at the radio when Klinsman showed up in the local team as a player like 5 years ago, he didn't even know who in the world klinsman was... the worse thing is that he was interviewing him.

In which channel and time i can see the game? do you know?

ESPN 3 on the web.

[Louis]

Male or female???

If he's talking about Klinsmann it must be the men.

[Ken Robb]

USA men beat Scotland a few days ago.

[tele]

Even the young Brazilians look pretty impressive.

[Louis]

Even the young Brazilians look pretty impressive.

They've been playing since they were in the womb.

[vav]

TELEFUTURA "Spanish channel"

[jds108]

Espn2 on Comcast hd right now...

[ultraman6970]

Just saw half of the game... the brazilians are a really bad team. If this was the last good brazilian team they could have done like 6 pops w/o any problem. Brazil doesnt have any good defense since many many years ago.

The USA needed more luck but as usual they went to the offensive in the last 10 min of the game and started playing how they should have. Deep shoots and stuff... not a bad team but they played good football the last 10 mins.

[ultraman6970]

We can't watch latino channels, their TV is really really bad... so bad that i can't stand more than 5 minutes of it and then I move to something else.

TELEFUTURA "Spanish channel"

[majl]

We can't watch latino channels, their TV is really really bad... so bad that i can't stand more than 5 minutes of it and then I move to something else.
You're watching a soccer match so how is the programming any better elsewhere?? Plus the Spanish language commentary is so much more lively and engaging, even if you don't understand it.

[Ken Robb]

They've been playing since they were in the womb.
"I felt the baby kick--and he applied top spin".

[ultraman6970]

The problem is that I understand it pretty well, so well that i dont want to even hear it again. The guys are pretty bad IMO, have seen and heard way better comments than the ones in telecraptura tv channel and others from miami tv stations for example. Not even talk about regular programming...

Argentinians, brazilian, chileans tv and radio football comments are pretty good, specially radio ones. But USA latino tv stations football stuff is really bad...

Glad you dont understand them, really :D



You're watching a soccer match so how is the programming any better elsewhere?? Plus the Spanish language commentary is so much more lively and engaging, even if you don't understand it.

[BobC]

Bleah, 180 degrees out from the Scotland match.

1. The Brazilians really highlighted one serious weakness in our back 4 with all that high pressure. Wow. Lots of work to done there. Also Gooch & Boca are no longer a good combo. One of the CDs has to be quicker. Boca is the leader out there, so I suspect that Gooch has to go. He looks lost out there.
Where was Ream & Whitbread? Lichaj? DeMerit?
2. Gomez was the one bright spot. So was Cherundulo. Bradley was good in spots. He needs to be the bigger destroyer we all know and love.
3. Where was Donovan for entire spans of the game? He disappears way too much.

[Viper]

Watching USA Men's soccer is like watching Lucy place the kick for Charlie Brown; I watch USA Women's soccer for two reasons a). they kick arse b). they are hot.

:stripoffjersey:

[FlashUNC]

Gooch hasn't been the same player since he tore up his knee a couple years back. Shame too.

Gomez had a nice game, but at 30, he's clearly not the future for the national team. Bradley set a pretty high bar for Klinsmann, I'm curious whether Jurgen can get this team to the next level.

[nebraskacycling]

Watching USA Men's soccer is like watching Lucy place the kick for Charlie Brown; I watch USA Women's soccer for two reasons a). they kick arse b). they are hot.

:stripoffjersey:

I definitely watch USA women for these reasons also. It's nice to watch the USA winning; which sometimes the men do... but rarely.

[brownhound]

Bleah, 180 degrees out from the Scotland match.

1. The Brazilians really highlighted one serious weakness in our back 4 with all that high pressure. Wow. Lots of work to done there. Also Gooch & Boca are no longer a good combo. One of the CDs has to be quicker. Boca is the leader out there, so I suspect that Gooch has to go. He looks lost out there.
Where was Ream & Whitbread? Lichaj? DeMerit?
2. Gomez was the one bright spot. So was Cherundulo. Bradley was good in spots. He needs to be the bigger destroyer we all know and love.
3. Where was Donovan for entire spans of the game? He disappears way too much.

The back four problem is really a back two problem (two center backs), and that's really a problem of having one too few good CBs. With the Germans Klinsmann has brought in, we now have at least one good LB with Johnson and maybe another good RB with Chandler, if he comes back. We have several slot big CBs -- Bocanegra, Onyewu, Goodson -- but few quicker athletes. Maybe Ream will become that?

Whitbread is injury-prone and was just cut from Norwich because of it. DeMerit is too old and retired. Ream was given the opportunity to settle into Bolton this session. Lichaj is an outside back (right footed left back at Aston Villa), and likely given the same opportunity since there'll be new management at Villa. Picking up an injury against, say, Antigua would mean their whole year would be wrecked in England.

Frankly, the biggest problem in US soccer has been the failure to capture Rossi, now likely a non-issue since his injuries are likely to end his young career, and Subotic. With them, the US wouldn't be continually trotting out older warhorses (Onyewu) or trying out a series of unsatisfying forwards (Gomez, Findley, Wondolowski, etc.) Those are the two glaring weaknesses of the past six years and both of them would've helped a lot.

Bradley set a pretty high bar for Klinsmann, I'm curious whether Jurgen can get this team to the next level.

Klinsmann's already gotten the team to a higher level than Bradley. But this is about as high as it'll go. Beating mid-level Europeans and losing to the elite teams is what one would expect from a team hoving between #15 and #25, no?

[tele]

Gooch hasn't been the same player since he tore up his knee a couple years back. Shame too.

Gomez had a nice game, but at 30, he's clearly not the future for the national team. Bradley set a pretty high bar for Klinsmann, I'm curious whether Jurgen can get this team to the next level.
Bradley did set the bar pretty high, but Klinsmann's resume is uber impressive--but like a lot of former star athletes, can he translate those skills to players/coaching? Hope so, at least they are scoring more goals recently.

[brownhound]

Bradley did set the bar pretty high, but Klinsmann's resume is uber impressive--but like a lot of former star athletes, can he translate those skills to players/coaching? Hope so, at least they are scoring more goals recently.

Bradley did no more than Arena. His tactics were more 21st century, but ill-suited to the US.

So far, the stuff I've read from the players themselves suggest Klinsmann is in a different league in terms of preparation and tactics, which is the Americans' achilles heal.

[goonster]

I really enjoyed that game, and the scoreline does not do the U.S.'ians justice.

These were hardly the Brazilian scrubs. There were a few names that have not featured in European club soccer, but Neymar is busting that paradigm for his generation. Anybody who thinks that "Brazil don't do defense" must not watch Lucio or Thiago Silva on a regular basis. Brazil chose to play an extremely high line, to stunning results in the first half.

Final result aside, I was really impressed by this U.S. team. There is a lot of experience at top-flight Euro club teams in that side. Jones and Cherundolo both had really strong seasons. I must confess to never having seen, or heard of, Fabian Johnson, but he was tremendous. Michael Bradley is a guy they'll be building on for years.

Marcelo: what a ****. Like Felipe Melo, he's a guy that just can't be trusted not to self-destruct in heated games.

[brownhound]

These were hardly the Brazilian scrubs. There were a few names that have not featured in European club soccer, but Neymar is busting that paradigm for his generation. Anybody who thinks that "Brazil don't do defense" must not watch Lucio or Thiago Silva on a regular basis. Brazil chose to play an extremely high line, to stunning results in the first half.

Yes, and the US didn't have the speed up top (Gomez) to beat a high line. If Charlie Davies hadn't been a moron by being out after curfew and nearly dying in a car wreck, then the US would've had a decent forward with tons of speed. He was, the US doesn't, and now have to rely on slow guys (Dempsey, Altidore).

Final result aside, I was really impressed by this U.S. team. There is a lot of experience at top-flight Euro club teams in that side. Jones and Cherundolo both had really strong seasons. I must confess to never having seen, or heard of, Fabian Johnson, but he was tremendous. Michael Bradley is a guy they'll be building on for years.

Yes, better play all around. They just need about five or six guys to replace veterans, some of which still have it (Cherundolo), some of which do not (Onyewu). The US is still thin enough that holes from a few injuries (Holden, Williams) or refusals (Chandler) can't be filled.

Marcelo: what a ****. Like Felipe Melo, he's a guy that just can't be trusted not to self-destruct in heated games.

Yeah, but really good, which I suppose is why he's a Real Madrid player. Simultaneously marked Donovan out of the game and controlled his entire side's attack.

[BobC]

Whitbread is injury-prone and was just cut from Norwich because of it.

Norwich cut Zak? Where did you see that? Admittedly he was injury-prone, but the times I saw him play on TV this past season he was fantastic.

Just found it. he is leaving.

http://www.canaries.co.uk/page/NewsDetails/0,,10355~2775462,00.html

[ultraman6970]

IMo in the back the us did well... medium field was ok the issue is that the guys in the front dont get any balls unless they get them in SOLO actions all the way from the back.

The US needs ball shooters to drop precision balls from the mid field to the front, and they need badly good Left Band and Right Band players to drop descent center shots, i think you guys call them left and right wingers. I did not see a single one at least in the second half, actually haven't seen a really good one ever. And in the game with brazil with the horrible defense they had a good left or right winger would have been a nightmare for them.

Americans have the potential and the physical condition to run the whole 90 minutes or more but they lack those 2 things I'm mentioning, w/o that they are just toasted playing against even weak teams that master those two things. The US tema has good touch when they are motivated and in the last 10 mins of the game, really fast and thats good but w/o good wingers they will suffer a lot specially with teams like brazil/germany or even with the mexicans that between you and me are pretty bad. A lot of heart i give them that.

[TMB]

Just to throw this thread off course ...

I was up early the other day and while having my coffee turned on the tube.

There was a show on about taking down a football stadium in Brazil soo that a newer, bigger stadium coould be built in time for the World Cup ( the people who blow up buildings have a really neat job!).

Anyway,

At the end of the show there was some discussion about the looming war between FIFA and Brazil. Budweiser is a major sponsor of the World Cup and sales of beer are outlawed at football matches in Brazil.

This should be interesting.

[goonster]

This should be interesting.
Not really, because FIFA (like the IOC) will get whatever it wants. You'll see.

[TMB]

Not really, because FIFA (like the IOC) will get whatever it wants. You'll see.

Possibly, but not without drama.

FIFA met with the president of Brazil who promised to fix the problem. Created a special law for the duration of the world cup, got it passed through parliament.

Then it went to the senate who tossed it and said "nope".

[djg]

Bleah, 180 degrees out from the Scotland match.

1. The Brazilians really highlighted one serious weakness in our back 4 with all that high pressure. Wow. Lots of work to done there. Also Gooch & Boca are no longer a good combo. One of the CDs has to be quicker. Boca is the leader out there, so I suspect that Gooch has to go. He looks lost out there.
Where was Ream & Whitbread? Lichaj? DeMerit?
2. Gomez was the one bright spot. So was Cherundulo. Bradley was good in spots. He needs to be the bigger destroyer we all know and love.
3. Where was Donovan for entire spans of the game? He disappears way too much.

Donovan is coming off a groin injury, no? Glad to see him get some minutes -- made an obvious difference.

I took the kids to the game and we had pretty decent seats. The serious weakness in our back 4 was named Onyewu -- looked dazed and confused for most of the game, and was at least partly at fault on at least 3 of Brazil's 4 goals. A couple of other disappointments, but OO really stood out.

I'd say that Bradley looked very good for most of the game -- certainly the second half and parts of the first.

Who was it that posted that "even" the young Brazilians looked strong? Well, yeah . . . I reckon that Neymar would look pretty darn good on anybody's under 21 squad.

Marcelo (maybe not so young -- 24?) was strong from end to end.

With a couple of exceptions, I thought our boys played good attacking ball for most of the second half. I had a good look right down the line at the header off the post and the shot picked right off the line by a defender (cannot remember who), not to mention Silva's miracle (for not being called) hand of the lord save on a ball headed into an open part of the net. Really, we could have had three or four -- which is not to take anything away from Brazil, which was the better team (too obviously so in the first half -- and just too damned beautiful here and there).

And for all of Brazil's talent and excellence (and the fact that, even in a friendly, they really wanted all the balls), Klinsman was right -- the officiating was terrible.

I dunno. Not entirely over it, but glad I could be there and share it with the kids.

[majl]

As a fan and critic of US Mens Soccer for over 20 years now, my gripes have always been and still remain:

- Player for player, we don't have the touch and precision of the world's elite soccer powers. Outside of a couple of highly skilled individuals in the likes of Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley is starting to come into his own as well, the rest are just not at the same level as their competition. I'm talking about the ability to play the ball in the air or on a run and have that first touch be so good that it immediately sets you up in an advantageous position. If you're on this thread, you're probably a football fan and watched the UEFA Champions League. In one of the semi-final matches between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, in a 5-minute span, Xabi Alonso (Spain) hit two balls in the air, all the way across the field and diagonally deep into the defense, perfectly placed onto the foot of a sprinting Angel Di Maria (Argentina). Di Maria then collected the ball with one touch out of the air and on both occasions, created very real scoring opportunites for his team. That's the sort of precision and touch we lack time in and time out.

- We have never had outside backs with both the speed and skill who can penetrate deep into the offensive half of the field and help create scoring opportunities. Think along the lines of Dani Alves (Brazil), Philip Lamm (Germany), or Sergio Ramos (Spain). These other elite powers essentially have two extra players who are offensive threats while our backs do little outside of playing defense.

Our players are strong, fast, and have heart and those are all attributes of the world's best. They just need to bring more to the table at the indivudal skill level. I wish MLS was played at a higher level so I could get behind it, but when I can watch La Liga or the EPL, it's just not the same.

[goonster]

In one of the semi-final matches between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, in a 5-minute span, Xabi Alonso (Spain) hit two balls in the air, all the way across the field and diagonally deep into the defense, perfectly placed onto the foot of a sprinting Angel Di Maria (Argentina). Di Maria then collected the ball with one touch out of the air and on both occasions, created very real scoring opportunites for his team. That's the sort of precision and touch we lack time in and time out.

1. A lot of good it did them, as I did not see Real in the final.

2. Xabi Alonso is currently the best in the world at doing exactly that and, not coincidentally, that's why he is a Champions League winner and reigning World Champion. So yes, the key to success for the U.S. national team is . . . "produce a generation of genuises"

3. Last night's game did not lack for "very real scoring opportunities". If every team had converted all of theirs, the final score would have been 4:4

[ultraman6970]

This is exactly what i was talking about, the american football lacks that type of game.. you can't cross the defence then drop bombs from outside with precision to the head and increase the chances to score. Never seen that type of game in the US team ever. always ball in the floor and corner shots. Is not bad but pretty much nobody plays like that no more and with the ball in the floor USA team has no chances against individualities specially if they play against sudamericans or spain and portugal.

Hope the german guy figures it out because with the game they have they wont able to get too far, the US team is lucky and have a lot of heart but against pure skill that doesnt count in the long term.

Just add the ability of drop precision shots in the area and the team will change a lot.

As a fan and critic of US Mens Soccer for over 20 years now, my gripes have always been and still remain:

- Player for player, we don't have the touch and precision of the world's elite soccer powers. Outside of a couple of highly skilled individuals in the likes of Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley is starting to come into his own as well, the rest are just not at the same level as their competition. I'm talking about the ability to play the ball in the air or on a run and have that first touch be so good that it immediately sets you up in an advantageous position. If you're on this thread, you're probably a football fan and watched the UEFA Champions League. In one of the semi-final matches between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, in a 5-minute span, Xabi Alonso (Spain) hit two balls in the air, all the way across the field and diagonally deep into the defense, perfectly placed onto the foot of a sprinting Angel Di Maria (Argentina). Di Maria then collected the ball with one touch out of the air and on both occasions, created very real scoring opportunites for his team. That's the sort of precision and touch we lack time in and time out.

- We have never had outside backs with both the speed and skill who can penetrate deep into the offensive half of the field and help create scoring opportunities. Think along the lines of Dani Alves (Brazil), Philip Lamm (Germany), or Sergio Ramos (Spain). These other elite powers essentially have two extra players who are offensive threats while our backs do little outside of playing defense.

Our players are strong, fast, and have heart and those are all attributes of the world's best. They just need to bring more to the table at the indivudal skill level. I wish MLS was played at a higher level so I could get behind it, but when I can watch La Liga or the EPL, it's just not the same.

[brownhound]

FIFA met with the president of Brazil who promised to fix the problem. Created a special law for the duration of the world cup, got it passed through parliament.

Then it went to the senate who tossed it and said "nope".

Reigning thinking in the soccer world is that this is for domestic political consumption. Brazilians can't think that FIFA is pushing them around, so they drum up a strawman issue to make it look like they're standing up to FIFA. It gets people to not notice local corruption or incompetance, for example.

I'd say that Bradley looked very good for most of the game -- certainly the second half and parts of the first.

Who was it that posted that "even" the young Brazilians looked strong? Well, yeah . . . I reckon that Neymar would look pretty darn good on anybody's under 21 squad.

Marcelo (maybe not so young -- 24?) was strong from end to end.


Yes, it was a U-23 team, but featured many players who are tops in the world, including Marcelo, possibly the best left back in the world at Real, and Neymar, one of the 3 or 4 best midfielders in the world. This is the core of the Brazilian World Cup team.

As a fan and critic of US Mens Soccer for over 20 years now, my gripes have always been and still remain:

- Player for player, we don't have the touch and precision of the world's elite soccer powers. Outside of a couple of highly skilled individuals in the likes of Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley is starting to come into his own as well, the rest are just not at the same level as their competition...

- We have never had outside backs with both the speed and skill who can penetrate deep into the offensive half of the field and help create scoring opportunities. Think along the lines of Dani Alves (Brazil), Philip Lamm (Germany), or Sergio Ramos (Spain). These other elite powers essentially have two extra players who are offensive threats while our backs do little outside of playing defense.

Johnson was probably the only US player better than his individual opponent on the field, so there's one option. The other options at outside backs (Lichaj, Cherundolo, Chandler if he returns to the US fold) are are a solid step above the level of our center backs or forwards.

This is exactly what i was talking about, the american football lacks that type of game.. you can't cross the defence then drop bombs from outside with precision to the head and increase the chances to score. Never seen that type of game in the US team ever. always ball in the floor and corner shots. Is not bad but pretty much nobody plays like that no more and with the ball in the floor USA team has no chances against individualities specially if they play against sudamericans or spain and portugal.

Hope the german guy figures it out because with the game they have they wont able to get too far, the US team is lucky and have a lot of heart but against poor skill that doesnt count in the long term.

Klinsmann won't be able to increase the skill of players who are mostly fully formed pros. He'll at best be able to work with the pieces he has.

[alpsantos]

Great atmosphere at Fed Ex stadium last night despite US losing to a much better team.

Some sample photos from the game.

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~asantos/photos/20120530_USA_vs_Brazil_soc_04.JPG

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~asantos/photos/20120530_USA_vs_Brazil_soc_05.JPG

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~asantos/photos/20120530_USA_vs_Brazil_soc_12.JPG

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~asantos/photos/20120530_USA_vs_Brazil_soc_24.JPG

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~asantos/photos/20120530_USA_vs_Brazil_soc_27.JPG

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~asantos/photos/20120530_USA_vs_Brazil_soc_44.JPG

[majl]

alpsantos - those are outstanding pics! Thanks for sharing. Judging by your viewpoint and quality of the photos, I assume you are a pro? Great stuff!

1. A lot of good it did them, as I did not see Real in the final.

2. Xabi Alonso is currently the best in the world at doing exactly that and, not coincidentally, that's why he is a Champions League winner and reigning World Champion. So yes, the key to success for the U.S. national team is . . . "produce a generation of genuises"

3. Last night's game did not lack for "very real scoring opportunities". If every team had converted all of theirs, the final score would have been 4:4

And Barca was not in the finals either but you're not going to dispute the fact that they are arguably one of the best teams (if not the best) in the world. The Brazilians like to refer to it as the beautiful game. I don't think anyone plays it more beautifully than Barca.

My point is that these players have the ability to create opportunities that many of the US players cannot. Doesn't mean that the US doesn't create scoring chances - sure they do and they did so last night. Couple of magical passes get strung together like Bradley to Johnson to Gomez, and bam, we're in the back of the net. But it doesn't happen often and consistently enough. People like to rag on Beckham because he is an easy target but if you have watched him play at all with the Galaxy, it becomes quickly evident that he's just at a different level than almost everyone else on the field (save for Landon). Not only in the precision of his passing but in his vision of the game.

I've been an ardent follower of US soccer since 1990 and I keep hoping that we will at some point spawn a new generation of players with real natural, creative talent - players that fill an entire roster, not just a couple of positions. Why don't we have more Donovans and Dempseys? How is it that countries with much smaller populations produce more, talented players?

[Louis]

What a load it must be to wear #10 for Brazil.

[djg]

1. A lot of good it did them, as I did not see Real in the final.

2. Xabi Alonso is currently the best in the world at doing exactly that and, not coincidentally, that's why he is a Champions League winner and reigning World Champion. So yes, the key to success for the U.S. national team is . . . "produce a generation of genuises"

3. Last night's game did not lack for "very real scoring opportunities". If every team had converted all of theirs, the final score would have been 4:4

Well, maybe, but having just touted our numerous 2d half scoring opportunities, I'd be inclined to count Brazil's shot off our post as a very real scoring opportunity too. The defense was beat, the keeper out of position, the ball well struck, and I really thought it was going in until it bounced off the post.

[wc1934]

[QUOTE=ultraman6970;1146954]Just saw half of the game... the brazilians are a really bad team. If this was the last good brazilian team they could have done like 6 pops w/o any problem. Brazil doesnt have any good defense since many many years ago.
QUOTE]

This is said tongue in cheek - you are kidding, aren't you? I hope so!
Wish we (usa) were as "bad".

Obviously we could not handle the initial pressure, but in the 2nd half when we switched to a 4-4-2 we faired much better. USA does have some promising young players - Gomez (should start instead of Altidore), Boyd seems fast and strong, Bradley is solid, Donovan and Dempsey mainstays etc
Only 5 players on the roster from MLS (one of whom is Donovan).
Embarrassing that we did not qualify for the Olympics, but I think we will surprise in the wc qualifiers.


Euro 2012 to start on June 8th - Tour in July and Olympics the end of July -
Can't wait!

[BobC]

I used to spend some time in the UK working and in talking to my English friends, some of them envy us in one respect -- despite their lack of out & out true soccer talent, the USMNT always "punch way above their weight." They are always gritty, organized, athletic & play with tremendous heart. Some of them wish their national side played more like us.

Overall, the strides we have made in the last 10 - 15 years have been pretty incredible.
- We now have players in most of the major Premier Leagues (I don't follow La Liga, so I don't know there)
- We EXPECT our USMNT team to make the World Cup every cycle.
- Look at Dempsey. He was voted #4 PFA in the EPL!!! That dude rocks.
- We have incredible keepers. Keller. Howard. Friedel. Some of the best in the world.
- We have a legitimate rivalry with Mexico (as opposed to getting dominated all the time in the past).
- The talent pool is getting bigger & better. No doubt in my mind the US is on the upswing in Men's Soccer.

[ultraman6970]

I'm no kididng... brazilian football is pretty bad (the word is inconsistent) since spain 1982, many has been watching and been fans of the sport since the 90's so there is a long travel of games and players that americans did not see playing besides bringing to PELE to the US when pele's game was just death, it worked to get people involved in the sport. But yes Brazil has been really inconsistent as a team since very very long time. If it wasn't for #10, #11 the brazilian team would have been dead. Those 2 were the key pieces of this whole team together with pato, all of the other players were just average, did not see a single one that was awesomely good. U get rid off those two and no more power in the brazilian team. Their defense is bad... just attack and attack and they will crack because they can't play 90 mins at the same pace. Play them in cold weather and brazil weights less than a pop corn bucket.

Argentinians play like 10 mins super ultra fast, until they get the goal and then everybody to the back to defend... clasical argentinian style, uruguay and paraguay stop the game with faults and more faults, if the other team allows them 5 mins they will score you 2 right away and then faults and more fault game again until the game is over, classical style from them. Peru, bolivians and chileans have a classic touch football with a lot of center shots, the problem is psychological with those 3 teams. They can have terrific players playing in europe but when they play for their own country their teams just sucks. Just like happens with England.

The english team in the paper was terrific and here is when I have to agree with BobC... the american team lacks in skill is just fixed with the hearth and unity as a team but that doesnt work all the time, if the game was only with the hearth the USA team would have won at least 3 world cups already. From yesterday clearly Donovan and Dempsey's time is gone. Terrific players but you can tell are not the same guys of a couple of years ago. Remember the last 10 or 15 mins they started playing pretty good and they changed somebody for a darn 2 meters tall tank that did not run. Maybe looking to contain somebody or a head shot? Did not get the change because with the brazilians a tank wont work, their skills with the ball are good so that change I did not get it. The guy touched the ball maybe 3 times and the game ended.

Personally the biggest USA next headache might be the canadians.

[QUOTE=ultraman6970;1146954]Just saw half of the game... the brazilians are a really bad team. If this was the last good brazilian team they could have done like 6 pops w/o any problem. Brazil doesnt have any good defense since many many years ago.
QUOTE]

This is said tongue in cheek - you are kidding, aren't you? I hope so!
Wish we (usa) were as "bad".

Obviously we could not handle the initial pressure, but in the 2nd half when we switched to a 4-4-2 we faired much better. USA does have some promising young players - Gomez (should start instead of Altidore), Boyd seems fast and strong, Bradley is solid, Donovan and Dempsey mainstays etc
Only 5 players on the roster from MLS (one of whom is Donovan).
Embarrassing that we did not qualify for the Olympics, but I think we will surprise in the wc qualifiers.


Euro 2012 to start on June 8th - Tour in July and Olympics the end of July -
Can't wait!

[brownhound]

I've been an ardent follower of US soccer since 1990 and I keep hoping that we will at some point spawn a new generation of players with real natural, creative talent - players that fill an entire roster, not just a couple of positions. Why don't we have more Donovans and Dempseys? How is it that countries with much smaller populations produce more, talented players?

If you've been an ardent supporter since 1990, you know the answer.

The US doesn't have 100 - 150 years of intensively built professional infrastructure that other countries have. We're on the same level as, say, Japan, Australia or Korea that are new to the game. You have a handful of raw talents (Donovan) and a handful of driven pros (Dempsey) but you need an infrastructure of hundreds of pro prospects at the age of 17 or 18 to make a top team. Places like Holland or Argentina have that.

Remind you of another sport?

Obviously we could not handle the initial pressure, but in the 2nd half when we switched to a 4-4-2 we faired much better. USA does have some promising young players - Gomez (should start instead of Altidore), Boyd seems fast and strong, Bradley is solid, Donovan and Dempsey mainstays etc.

When we started with 1 slow forward (Gomez), Brazil could shrink the field (i.e., play a high line) and pressure like crazy. When we switched to 2 up top with one fast foward (Donovan) Brazil had to start laying off or lese they could get beat with passes over the top. It was like playing football with one slow receiver and two tight ends: your safeties can cheat up and stop the run game because there'll be no passes up the middle.

[goonster]

Dempsey's time is gone.
There are quite a few clubs that disagree with you on this.

[djg]

I'm no kididng... brazilian football is pretty bad (the word is inconsistent) since spain 1982, many has been watching and been fans of the sport since the 90's so there is a long travel of games and players that americans did not see playing besides bringing to PELE to the US when pele's game was just death, it worked to get people involved in the sport. But yes Brazil has been really inconsistent as a team since very very long time. If it wasn't for #10, #11 the brazilian team would have been dead. Those 2 were the key pieces of this whole team together with pato, all of the other players were just average, did not see a single one that was awesomely good. U get rid off those two and no more power in the brazilian team. Their defense is bad... just attack and attack and they will crack because they can't play 90 mins at the same pace. Play them in cold weather and brazil weights less than a pop corn bucket.

Argentinians play like 10 mins super ultra fast, until they get the goal and then everybody to the back to defend... clasical argentinian style, uruguay and paraguay stop the game with faults and more faults, if the other team allows them 5 mins they will score you 2 right away and then faults and more fault game again until the game is over, classical style from them. Peru, bolivians and chileans have a classic touch football with a lot of center shots, the problem is psychological with those 3 teams. They can have terrific players playing in europe but when they play for their own country their teams just sucks. Just like happens with England.

. . .

Personally the biggest USA next headache might be the canadians.

[QUOTE=wc1934;1147643]

Honestly? Sure Brazil have had their ups and downs over the years but this just seems too far off to be serious. You won't even credit Marcelo's contribution (and ability) after 3 or 4 people in the thread reminded you of his presence in the game?

Canada?

[BobC]

There are quite a few clubs that disagree with you on this.

Agree. The Deuce was on fire at Fulham this year. he is hitting his stride right now. From what I understand he is carrying an nagging injury.

My money is that Clint goes to Chelsea, esp if Torres & Drogba leave the Blues.

From what I understand Landon is slight injured too. But historically his issue is not physical. He is soooooo talented, but seems to just disappear from long stretches.

[majl]

If you've been an ardent supporter since 1990, you know the answer.

The US doesn't have 100 - 150 years of intensively built professional infrastructure that other countries have. We're on the same level as, say, Japan, Australia or Korea that are new to the game. You have a handful of raw talents (Donovan) and a handful of driven pros (Dempsey) but you need an infrastructure of hundreds of pro prospects at the age of 17 or 18 to make a top team. Places like Holland or Argentina have that.

Remind you of another sport?
Great post - you nailed it.

I often wonder if the top athletes of our time (guys like MJ, Kobe, Deion, and all their contemporaries) were driven at a young age to play soccer instead of basketball or football, if the US would be able to field a team that could play at the level of the elite soccer powers.

[brownhound]

Great post - you nailed it.

I often wonder if the top athletes of our time (guys like MJ, Kobe, Deion, and all their contemporaries) were driven at a young age to play soccer instead of basketball or football, if the US would be able to field a team that could play at the level of the elite soccer powers.

Hard to say.

Your point is one argument.

The other is that American top athletes aren't especially top, we just believe them to be because they only play American sports, win American awards, are lauded in American press which is digested by American fans.

Frankly, we have 300 million players divided amongst about 3 top team sports and a plethora of other team and individual sports. Just compare to, say, cricket, which is the primary sport of about 1.6 billion people. Can you name a cricketeer? I can't, but given the population pool, I imagine there are athletes every bit as good as Peyton Manning or ARod. But that's not an American thing to say.

I once read an interesting article that attacked the accepted belief that MJ was the world's top athlete. It deconstructed the argument piece by piece based on how many 6'8 or taller people there are in the US between ages 18 and 35. In the end the conclusion was that he was the equivalent of the top athlete among about 1200 people, so basically the same population pool as my high school.

That all being said, whenever I hear something along these lines, I notice it's said by fans or writers, not athletes. Athletes know that to be good at even one sport is incredibly hard. You never see some athlete say something dumb like "Yeah, since I just won the NBA Championship, I think I'll go win a gold medal in swimming AND gymnastics and then win the Giro d'Italia because to be an American basketball player means I'm the world's best athlete." No, that's something ESPN would believe.

[wc1934]

[QUOTE=ultraman6970;1147694]I'm no kididng... brazilian football is pretty bad (the word is inconsistent) since spain 1982.

Now I know you are kidding.
There have been 7 World Cups since Spain (1982), and Brazil won 2 of them.
Italy also won 2, and Germany, France and Argentina 1 apiece.

Funny how we both watched the game but have diametrically opposite opinions. Guess that is what makes the world go round.

[BobC]

You'll know US soccer has really arrived when you see kids playing pickup soccer games in their front lawn instead of throwing the football or playing basketball in their driveway.

[nebraskacycling]

You'll know US soccer has really arrived when you see kids playing pickup soccer games in their front lawn instead of throwing the football or playing basketball in their driveway.

I see this all the time, but typically these kids can not afford soccer shoes or even a correct sized ball for their age; much less go to college or have any proper training.

[brownhound]

You'll know US soccer has really arrived when you see kids playing pickup soccer games in their front lawn instead of throwing the football or playing basketball in their driveway.

You'll know US soccer has arrived when it has players who play at teams like Manchester United or Barcelona and are not on the US National Team. Like Brazil.