usmnt

congratulations to jones, lichaj, and brek shea on their callups

Oct. 9, 2010 U.S. Men vs. Poland 7 p.m. CT Soldier Field
Chicago, Ill. Fox Soccer Channel & Galavision
Oct. 12, 2010 U.S. Men vs. Colombia 8 p.m. ET PPL Park
Chester, Pa. ESPN2 & Galavision

Goin' to the Poland game w/ about 50 or so S8 folx including a bunch of Polish fans, should be fun.

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1310662.html?cid=rssfeed&att=

Germany coach Joachim Low is concerned that next week's UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier against Turkey in Berlin could be an away game for his side given the amount of Turks living in the German capital.

hi dere welcome to our world

That should be a terrific match - those are two fabulous attacking sides.

lol thought u were talking abt us and poland for a sec and was like Whut

http://www.blending-mashine.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/tumblr_krkj2njh001qzpwi0o1_500.jpg

a 4-2-3-1 is intriguing, tho I don't know if they can play like that yet

would be good to try and get more midfielders out there, our 1 strong suit

Ives had a 4-3-2-1 xmas tree posted with Jones, Bradley, and Edu as the 3... just call that one "the bone-cruncher"

btw Bradley on the late run to goal is one of my favorite sights to see w/ these guys

hi dere welcome to our world

yeah

also cosign on the potential of that game

just learned Lichaj's from Chicago and his parents are Polish immigrants

wish he would grow his hair back out
http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/unc/sports/m-soccer/auto_headshot/573906.jpeg

report on Charlie Davies' comeback and some o_O scar pics

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/5655430/soccer-us-forward-charlie-davies-talks-recovery-espn-magazine

lineup
4-5-1 w/ edu at centerback huh

Howard;
Cherundolo, Onyewu, Edu, Bocanegra;
Jones, Bradley, Holden, Dempsey, Feilhaber;
Altidore.

i'll be curious to see how high dempsey plays. and gooch is really ready for this, is he? wanna see lichaj at some point

Does anyone else think the US goal was offside? I'm heavily medicated with Nyquil and my eyes are burning but F thought it was.

from that camera angle it sure seemed so.

gooch is driving me crazy, booting it out of the back

bedoya for feilhaber, is that all we've got as far as possible forward-looking changes?

^wrote at halftime but could have said it later tbh

huh. jones looked good, physical, except for his fuckup. same with holden, great except for his fuckup. so many chances, both jozy's and the set pieces. thank god for tim howard

fun times, good seats, lots and lots of poles

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs368.ash2/64641_444156571895_509986895_5400916_6674090_n.jpg

they looked like a team with a bunch of guys who don't quite know how to play together yet, and I still am not sure if 4-5-1 is something they can pull off. jones/holden were fun to watch tho.

http://worldsoccerreader.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/JJwhiteboard.png

What do you guys do with those things?

nod sagely

i'm still trying to learn how to watch the game. i want to understand a midfielder's most common passing locations. i want to see passing lanes before they develop. this was jones' first game with us. does the visual representation match what i saw on tv? what doesn't the chart tell me (in this case, about his physicality) ? if i look at enough of these what patterns will i see? i have so much trouble comparing two players against two different teams, could this help?

where, how, and who did he link up with? (have to reach to remember the who) what was his average pass length?

i'm american, i love stats and charts, this chart may not tell me much but can we be so sure that the tenth or hundreth chart won't reveal something? we never know where tactical breakthroughs are going to come, who will see the game differently. i will stick to national type and hope it's us lol

^ could totally get behind this level of analysis for spurs, tbh. the analysis of what players do that works during a game. i bet mourinho is up to his neck in this shit.

I assume you meant Allardyce

easy mistake to make, that

I'm not knocking the concept either btw - if there's going to be some revolutionary development in the game (there only appears to ever have been two so far as I can tell) then I'm pretty persuaded that it'll come from some kind of synthesis of this and set-plays. I'm sure not going to be able to spot it though.

i think it's fair to speculate that improvement on a systemic level can come from the analysis of repeated actions

/banaka

what were those two revolutionary developments ismael ?

442, sam allardyce

I've written about them before, but basically:

(i) the Scottish passing game taking over from kick-and-rush around the 1880s; and
(ii) the whole pressing/offside trap/possession system of Ajax in the 1960s.

We're basically still exploring the world invented by (ii). There's a terrific book (Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson) looking at the development of tactics through the ages, not sure if it'll've reached your shores Jibe. There are lots of interesting innovations discussed in it, but those two seem to be the big ones. The others usually mostly happen every few years when one guy stands in a slightly different position, and everyone else gets confused

And that's my 10,000th post. It's been a pleasure, I'd like to thank my agent, etc.

congrats, it was worthy imo

ok thx. that book looks quite interesting, will try and get ahold of it as soon as my finances allow me to.

football finances thread

It's a great read, enlightened me to many things + helped me relate my hockey tactical knowledge to similarities on the pitch.

apparently Spector is starting tonight, should be a lot of other changes too

also lol @ < 10k tickets sold for this match, wtf

apparently Spector is starting tonight

GAAHHHHHHHH

we are mediocre huh. lucky for us colombia is so far too

i love edu's composure on the ball. he doesn't make me start drumming my fingers nervously in possession.
it seems like holden out wide takes away a lot of what's best about him: getting involved, cutting into passing lanes. you'd think the idea would be he'd send in crosses from out wide, but i don't think he's had a cross yet.

EJ for jozy? lichaj for spector (hey, he was only burned twice! not bad). any other changes?

lichaj looked good
ummm, other positives?

(we need to put it down on record that our first shot on goal was in the 55th minute)

I was at the Fire/KC game so I missed this. Doesn't sound like much of note. From the descriptions I've read/heard it sounded like a 4-3-3? Last time I saw that Costa Rica kicked their ass.

yeah i guess it was a 4-3-3, in the first half. jozy was so marooned and alone i'm tempted to call it 4-3-2-1. but i'm bad with formations. brek shea looked okay, not totally outclassed at this level with his first cap, so that's something. EJ came in at HT and edu went out (i think, i missed some) so the formation changed but i'm not sure how. the second half was better, dempsey with some spark, but yeah, you didn't miss much.

the pronunciation of Lichaj's name sounds exactly the same a "lihai" （厉害） which is a common slang word in Chinese that means "awesome."

same for (Luis) Figo in Italian (actually 'fico', but close enough) - any other examples?

in case there are any Brian McBride fans around... buy a shirt!

gooch goes after ibrahimovic after a dirty tackle

posted this in the italian thread but it makes more sense here:
http://i51.tinypic.com/2h6c8m0.jpg

btw congrats to Brian Carroll Logan Pause on callups, who the hell are you again?

guys with cool nicknames who got callups: Mix, Boss. bunbury needs a nickname

i think his twitter is TealBunB which isn't too bad, lil southern rap ref

Pause is the Fire's MVP from the last season. Good club guy, plays dmid, dunno why he's getting called for this exactly.

worthwhile stats
The average number of caps on the roster is barely eight. Only four members of the side – Guzan, Jonathan Bornstein, Clarence Goodson and Jonathan Spector – can claim more than 15 appearances in an American jersey. Aside from the six potential debutants, another five guys have fewer than eight caps to their names.

ppl seem to be either waaay pissed off at the inclusion of guys like Pause, Borchers, and Carroll or waaay excited about the inclusion of guys like Agudelo, Diskerud, Agbossoumonde, etc. (not using nicknames because their real names are pretty sweet imo)

the wild thing is Bornstein is going to captain this bunch

have bradley and holden ever played together in central midfield?

I'm not sure, but I'm guessing no. Big Bradley seems to like Holden on the wing when he's in the game.

It's kind of weird how many capable central mids there are in the pool now.

well, how many are leading the premier league in tackles?

Truly. I'm excited for the Gold Cup tbh.

------------------------Findley---------------------------

Rogers--------------Bedoya--------------------Gaven

-----------------Pause--------Carroll-------------------

Bornstein-----Ream--------Goodson----------Lichaj

------------------------Guzan------------------------------

facepalm @ findley

omg missed u vuvuzelas

warms the heart

winning some tackles, a little more assertive so far than i'd figured

tim ream o nice.
<3ing goodson's beard

lichaj did so fuckin good there. also, thank g for guzan

Captain Guzan

was that ream with the catlike bounce-up after losing that tackle?

gaven has a pretty sick beard too

really excellent persistance from lichaj rogers and bedoya, each of them has run on and on at least once

not a bad half considering
thought they'd get walloped but they haven't been too far out of their depth. center of midfield seems like the weak link.
i have to gif a comical sucky bornstein moment
bob said maybe agudelo in at the half. bunbury. spector:( for yellow lichaj?

FUUUUUUCK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

slightly garbagey goal but f yeah

wonder what the BS fanbois who called this the "F" team are thinking atm

and now BOSS

http://i55.tinypic.com/2rqlm37.jpg

kids!

roster for January camp announced, avg age is about 23

GOALKEEPERS (4): Dominic Cervi (Celtic), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Matt Pickens (Colorado Rapids), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS (9): A.J. DeLaGarza (Los Angeles Galaxy), Sean Franklin (Los Angeles Galaxy), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy), Ugo Ihemelu (FC Dallas), Zach Loyd (FC Dallas), Ryan Miller (Halmstads BK), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Anthony Wallace (Colorado Rapids), Marvell Wynne (Colorado Rapids)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Eric Alexander (FC Dallas), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Sam Cronin (San Jose Earthquakes), Mikkel Diskerud (Stabaek), Jeff Larentowicz (Colorado Rapids), Dax McCarty (D.C. United), Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
FORWARDS (4): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Justin Braun (Chivas USA), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

article on SeanJohn, <3 this guy

http://yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=7228

Hope he can stay with the Fire a little longer, Euros are gonna take note of the dude for sure.

Yevgeni/Evgeni/Eugene Starikov joins the camp. is he any good?
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70646N20110107

he's young and plays far away. tomsk is in siberia for real. he's a zenit guy on loan, maybe will be sold. found some form at the end of this past RPL season. basically i have no idea but i'm looking fwd to seeing him.

when asked what he missed most about the USA, starikov said "skittles. they're not the same here." lol he is a kid.

I am intrigued by this guy too, but also in the former Germany U17 captain we seem to have sniped, Fabian Huerzeler. Second player listed in this article:

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/breaking-down-unknowns-rongens-u-20-team

gooch going on loan to twente, who are coached by his old coach from liege. would be nice if he was playing again
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/864044/milan-defender-oguchi-onyewu-joins-twente-on-loan?cc=5901

Let's hope so, we're going to need him to stop Chicharito in the Gold Cup.

wtf @ the chile match only being available on telefutura and espn3

I mean I like espn3 but cmon

wait when is this on?

10:30PM Eastern Saturday 1/22

wonder if jim in glasgow will be watching

sweet thanks.

nyt previews things nicely: http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/u-s-men-set-for-2011-debut/

nice to notice that my remote dvr controls online thinks that this event, titled 'futbol,' is not 'sports,' but that teen wolf, showing at the same time, is.

quality beard
http://i53.tinypic.com/awuq10.jpg

well this is disjointed

ream's beard is indeed quality, amish-style

bradley loaned to villa, hope he gets games

He looked right good at the world cup, surprised no other opportunities have opened up for him

Brad-Mad Villa

http://i54.tinypic.com/aym5v5.jpg

Lichaj loaned to Leeds

good stuff. najar on twitter asking what country he should play for was pretty lol

Is that where Grant Wahl said he got robbed in Honduras, so Najar should play for the US? I heard something about it, didn't realize it was on twitter.

bradley not in the villa squad again today, wonder if they are having trouble with the work permit?

er maybe not? differing reports as to whether he is on the subs bench or not

hey the u-17 boys play el salvador at 3 EST/noon pacific on espn3.
win and they're in the u-17 WC. lose and no.
the usa is the only country to qualify for every u-17 wc
this reads like a (poorly written) ad, but srsly, i've seen these boys a couple times and though there's maybe not a star (yet) there's some good dynamism throughout: a kid mobi fehr in back, this skinny fc dallas boy acosta at LB or RB. pelosi in the middle gets his head up and creates. one of the rodriguezes, esteban i think, looks like and plays like a man amongst boys

1-1 at the half. not a pretty game.
jamaican announcers>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>harkes & dellacamera

us wins 3-2, goes to semis and more importantly the u-17 WC in mexico this summer
10 yellows, 3 reds, lotta ugly

yay kids

must watch lolz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o73qnXFP7e8&feature=player_embedded

symmetry required stuart holden to get killed when charlie davies scored two goals in his first game in 2 years

new shirt for the friendlies this week

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p4zGH5wbuKI/TYtDUsGvpgI/AAAAAAAAB2s/iSw93Nx6jXE/s1600/NewRedShirt.jpg

us needs a new badge

be kinda cool if they just used this, fuck the tea party trying to take it

http://store.objectivo.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/f/i/file_25_11.jpg

fuck the tea party for everything they stand for imo but yeah

didn't nike incorporate the snake somehow before? like wrapped around a ball?

it's on the inside of the current jerseys, i guess
http://www.designlessbetter.com/blogless/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/yhst-96316601417599_2105_1874656.jpg

not sure if this is from nike or not
http://www.designlessbetter.com/blogless/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/51877829_d1662f9c67.jpg

i watched the game against argentina! what fun!

it really was!

missed this 'cause of MLS but saw some highlights, this agudelo kid better not be another freddie/jozy who takes off for yurp at the first opportunity and then stagnates on benches or in turkey

the paraguay game should be a good one for a nice quiet night in, hope to see some new blood out there

jozy looked OK, i thought

agudelo was like a fuckin ball magnet, though, and to my eyes looked like a player not-yet-seen in america. dunno if it was youth or what, but the dude seemed to ~want~ it more than a lot of the rest of the team, imo. way more aggressive.

kinda got the impression that the midfield and the D (esp) were pretty reluctant to really press the argies because they were afraid they would get juked one-on-one and that lil man would skip up to the goal and score. which seems...rational.

really like that nike US soccer logo, btw---would kinda like that style of ammurican sass to be reclaimed from the tea party

watching a watery stream in arabic--did two US defenders fall down on that paraguay goal?

yes, ream and demerit

I thought ream was good otherwise, as was bradley. unfortunately the game as a whole was boring as shit.

yeah, crappy game. sometimes ream with those pinpoint passes upfield...just wow, we don't have another defender like him. i was filling a friend in on the game, trying to find a positive, and that's what i ended up with.

jozy...

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/americans-abroad-report-card-part-1-the-top-of-the-class/

I think rating Dempsey at the top of the list is otm, not sure about the Spector pick. Bummer for Holden, I bet he would have been higher if not for getting hurt. It'll be interesting to see the bottom half of the list.

D for Bradley ... fair enough I guess, he hasn't played. Should be eager to take on Xavi & co. next month.

ladies and gentlemen, freddy adu

huh?

GOALKEEPERS: Tim Howard (Everton, England), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolves, England).

DEFENDERS: Oguchi Onyewu (Twente, Netherlands), Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne, France), Steve Cherundolo (Hanover, Germany), Eric Lichaj (Leeds, England), Clarence Goodson (Brondby, Denmark), Jonathan Bornstein (Tigres, Mexico), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls).

MIDFIELDERS: Michael Bradley (Aston Villa, England), Maurice Edu (Rangers, Scotland), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Freddy Adu (Rizespor, Turkey), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Benny Feilhaber (New England Revolution), Jermaine Jones (Blackburn, England), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht, Belgium).

FORWARDS: Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore (Bursaspor, Turkey), Chris Woldolowski (San Jose Earthquakes).

really don't understand wtf the dread pirate rodgers is doing on this list esp since ale bedoya has been knocking in goals in sweden

i'm guessing he won't get a lot of playing time, but i like freddy.
would like to see jones and bradley sitting in front of the back four and then donovan adu and dempsey behind the striker

I like Freddy too and I want to see him succeed. He has done some good things since landing in Turkey. That formation could be awes if we had a real target forward, dunno if Jozy is that guy.

Bradley's bizarre dedication to Kljestan and Bornstein is weird, too. Wasn't Timmy Chandler supposed to be the new fullback hotness?

btw gonna be really interesting to see what the Gold Cup does to NYRB's season, they'll be losing a lot of players

lack of timmy chandler is alarming

SoccerInsider Steven Goff
Chandler? Bradley: "First real season playing at this level, it didn't make sense for him at this time, few minor injuries of late"

travismclark Travis Clark
by SoccerInsider
“@dan_bu: Nürnberg want Chandler to take a break, because he wouldn´t have any vacation, if he plays the Gold Cup.”

hm

fair enough, last run out for bocanegra and dolo as fullbacks then?

That's encouraging that Chandler is so central to the plans of a club that just finished 6th in the Bundesliga.

Diskerud is missing just 'cause the Norwegian season goes all summer, right? I hope he's still in Bradley's plans.

enh if summer seasons were a worry they wouldn't have all those non-Lando MLS guys, Diskerud is a good prospect but not exactly proven.

then again, lol Adu. and I'm still smh at Rogers being included at all.

and Wondo too -- one good MLS season yeah, but idk if he's an international quality forward, would have rather seen Bunbury and/or Herc Gomez

Speaking of Herc, what about JF Torres? He appears to be getting games at Pachuca, is he out of favor with the NT?

Aren't all of Pachuca's players for sale right now? They didn't have a very good tournament.

Well this is pathetic.

yuuup

admit howard's been entertaining at least xp

howard yelling 'where the fuck were you, man?' on the 3rd goal... I think at onyewu?

xp lol

i believe our very own call all destroyer is witnessing this bloodbath first hand. hope he remembered beer money.

Devoting the halftime show to a defense of Sepp Blatter is a nice touch as well.

damn that sucked.

jozy out

do we need a gold cup thread or can we keep it here/the concacaf thread?

I would say use CONCACAF thread. Where are these games going to be televised?

i awlays watch on telefutura/ telemundo

The CR/Cuba and Mexico/El Salvador games last night were on Univision. I think they might be streamed on concacaf.com too? Fox Soccer has some games too iirc but the Spanish-language channels will likely show every game.

i feel like tonight "matters"

hell yes it matters, no quotes needed

gotta be 3-0 or better

dont think this is showing anywhere in town :(

u can stream online for free @ concacaf.tv

heyo

ussoccer U.S. SOCCER
#USMNT lineup v Canada: Howard; Cherundolo, Goodson, Ream, Bocanegra (c); Dempsey, Bradley, Jones, Donovan; Altidore, Agudelo
30 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

http://discoveringdad.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/nervous-sweat.gif

timmy ream starting is a little out there, but gooch looked kinda shitty vs spain too

jozy in

great angle. keeper's fault, but still a good looking shot

yeah, he held it up nice but the keeper should have stopped it

gbx does the online stream have commentary? I don't mind watching en espanol but HD on the ol' monitor would be nice.

yup

bradley is a boss tonight. altidore with a goal. who knew?

teenage bradley used to train with nowak, armas, kubik, and stoichkov when his dad was coach of the fire, so of course he's going to be a boss

great save

jugador mas valioso de state farm: jozy altidore

timmy trending WORLDWIDE

i don't understand why timmy chandler is not in the roster. robby rogers? are you kidding me...

SoccerInsider Steven Goff
Chandler? Bradley: "First real season playing at this level, it didn't make sense for him at this time, few minor injuries of late"

― harlan, Monday, May 23, 2011 3:56 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

travismclark Travis Clark
by SoccerInsider
“@dan_bu: Nürnberg want Chandler to take a break, because he wouldn´t have any vacation, if he plays the Gold Cup.”

― harlan, Monday, May 23, 2011 3:57 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark

what shit.

ream isn't intl caliber. bet you jermaine jones doesn't play w/us again. bocanegra's done @ this level.

fire bob? never thought i'd become one of those guys.

I agree Jones was shitty, not so sure about Ream tho. Boca should be a CB if anything and not out wide. Wondo's miss was sad but they shouldn't have been in that position against a team like Panama.

This team really needs a Holden.

Aston Villa won´t sign Michael Bradley permanently. McLeish cancelled the deal today, although clubs agreed on terms before, acc. to "Bild".

aw fuck AV

still think he could be a good prem midfielder, and imagine what a midfield of him, jones, and a back-in-form holden would be like for the usa

hope he lands somewhere good, and would like to see the us play a 4-3-3 with that midfield and dempsey and donavan pushed up

http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2011-06-22/american-midfielder-beasley-signs-with-mexican-club

whenever i see this thread title i think its about the ninja turtles

excited for the final. i don't have any confidence in sasha starting vs mexico. if i were bradley, i would play a 4-6-0 with edu instead for the first 75 mins to combat giovanni & chicharito then pray dempsey could save us again. i've been impressed with bedoya so far, i wonder if he can play behind agudelo or dempsey?

this is the most otm thing I've read since the final

http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2011-07-01/firing-bradley-wouldnt-solve-us-soccers-real-problem

friendlies against Costa Rica and Belgium announced today btw

Jozy to AZ Alkmaar huh, I always figured he wasn't ready for a club like Villareal.

Bradley out

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-National-Team/2011/07/Bradleys-Tenure-Ends.aspx

http://bestanimations.com/Holidays/Fireworks/Fireworks-01-june.gifoh shi i hadn't seen this. breaking news on ilx dan m!http://bestanimations.com/Holidays/Fireworks/Fireworks-01-june.gif

feel like thread needs
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i5/herrlicher____alptraum/Natalie%20Dee/maracas.jpg

"further announcement friday" could they have someone lined up already? seems unlikely

didn't see that coming

Be nice if he came back to the Fire :D

but yeah now is the time to speculate on who the replacement will be

Klinsmann is the easy pick of course

only other name I see kicked around: Jason Kreis

lol comment on the Goff blog article about Bradley: "Fire whomever they hire!"

ok just read Marcelo Lippi rumor think I'm gonna shoot myself

Ives lists these dudes

Juergen Klinsmann
Guus Hiddink
Marcelo Lippi
Carlo Ancelotti
Rafa Benitez
Bruce Arena
Sigi Schmid
Jason Kreis
Claudio Reyna

Juergen Klinsmann - seems like he'll get the job
Guus Hiddink - yeah right
Marcelo Lippi - dunno
Carlo Ancelotti - more often than i should admit i think back to an interview where he said he was learning english. he had this shy smile about it, made him a real person. i like him and wish him well, can't imagine he'd end up here.
Rafa Benitez - only for the dmac lols
Bruce Arena - fucking hate this guy
Sigi Schmid - sumo coach, says he hasn't been contacted
Jason Kreis - 2015? or now. good guy at some point for us imo
Claudio Reyna - just got started Teaching The Youth. stick w/that for a bit

otm

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-National-Team/2011/07/Klinsmann-Named-Head-Coach-of-US-MNT.aspx

starting the "Fire Klinsmann" bandwagon right now b/c it's inevitable -- who's with me?

What was his plan for getting 'the inner-city youths' into the game, again? I've forgotten.

Hasn't he been an advisor to an MLS team?

yah TFC lolz

this is good news, no?

i guess? not sure what his record as a coach of germany and bayern could really say about his potential with the us. but i hope they give him control and time to try his system, and i hope he's committed to the project.

Woah, well done you lot. Klinsmann gets the credit here for the renaissance of German football (not sure how accurate that is, but still) and it seems like he got across-the-board free rein for that project. If there's scope for something similar in the US, it could be spectacular.

now there's only the small problem of quality players

I'm just interested to see which high-potential young players he utilizes and in what formation. Dudes like Adu, Diskerud, Agudelo, Ream and Chandler. I hope to never see Bornstein or Kljestan again, doubt it'll actually happen.

One thing's for sure, if he doesn't get over the generational bump that currently exists we're gonna get fucked by Mexico for years to come.

seems to me the problem w us youth soccer is as much a scouting ish as it is a talent problem. we're a huge country and I would wager that as many or more kids here grow up playing soccer as, say, in England (before anyone spits anything on any keyboards, recall that we have six times as many ppl...it's not outlandish to think that for every six English ten year olds playing there's one American).

the diff is that no one is paying close attention to young American players. moreover, they don't know how.

just occurred to me that the best/fastest way to pull up young players isn't by trying to pimp the MLS or promise riches in Europe---it's university involvement. if the college game improves/gets a rep as an incubator for talent (like every single other major sport except for baseball...which has a system remarkably like European systems), then maybe we'll see some changes.

it actually makes sense, economically---soccer teams are cheaper to train and equip than football teams, and good uni scouting has to be cheaper than trying to create from scratch a youth system like you'd find at a major euro club. those things didn't happen over night.

isn't there an age problem w/ that tho?

yah i'm not sure how the college system can accomodate the sort of exceptional players you are hoping for

even jozy altidore, who was a promising but hardly prodigious sort, left for villareal at about 19

no different from the age problem in, like, bball or hockey or w/e

competition for ~scholarships~ (that is, a college education) is what drives a lot of youth development. most kids know that they'll never be pros, but they could get into a school they might not otherwise be able to afford.

aren't there already college soccer scholarships?

not sure college soccer makes enough money for athletic departments to justify a ton of scouting

the difference is that european teams aren't going to stop paying college age kids huge sums of money

yah i'm not sure how the college system can accomodate the sort of exceptional players you are hoping for

even jozy altidore, who was a promising but hardly prodigious sort, left for villareal at about 19

who cares

we have youth systems in place that produce amazing athletes already. why try and create feeder systems for less than 20 crappy American clubs when you can harness what's already in place. college sports fans obv care more about certain sports than others, but if a big state uni got a killer always-wins soccer team, ppl would support it because ppl love college sports (and go NUTS over them in a way that more closely resembles intl soccer fandom than any of our pro sports).

we have 3000+ univs. start telling kids they can get a BA/laid if they're good at soccer and you'll see results. right now the only hope young players have is the MLS (pays less than the job you ~might~ get with an education) or abroad (fat chance, you suck).

enough phenoms will bubble to the top to fill out our natl team

not sure college soccer makes enough money for athletic departments to justify a ton of scouting

of course they don't. but if we're talking about targets to strengthen the game in the US, I think college ball will be more sensitive than...better kids leagues? no need to reinvent the wheel here

are those incentives going to work with 7yr old kids? cuz unlike nfl/nba where there are players who didn't begin training til mid teens, elite ~soccer~ players have practised inane amounts from very young ages (xp)

lol, insane

the current crop of american players isn't any sort of disaster, they've been steadily improving and producing solid european top tier players like howard, bradley, dempsey.....there's a lack of really exceptional talents but sooner or later they will arrive

these sort of state-of-the-nation discussions about youth coaching are more apt for countries like england which have history/infrastructure/culture and still fail to develop players the equal of comparable nations

really talented bball players have been developing skills from childhood, maybe just not as 'formally' as some young soccer players

it just seems silly to me to assume that the best thing for the long-term health of american soccer is plucking really young kids out and, what, shipping them abroad to train with foreigners, where they will prosper in total isolation from the people that will eventually be their "fans"?

you mentioned that 19yo jozy went abroad---where do talented 19yo hockey players (who, incidentally, also start really really early...like 4-5yo) go? COLLEGE. if we focused on getting people interested in the college game, it could serve as the same sort of finishing school as it does for our other sports. if we focus more on developing young kids and putting them into farm systems either domestic or foreign that ~no one cares about or watches~ then we're developing players at the expense of developing the actual sport

*really* talented 19yo hockey players are in the nhl (but sure)

it's a chicken egg problem, of course, because as mookie said, no one watches college ball right now. i'm not sure what US Soccer could do to actually ~help~ improve the quality/profile of university teams, but i'm sure someone clever could think of something. and it would be way easier, cheaper, and more "american" than the alternative.

like, for real, if the NCAA soccer championships were televised and played in a biggish stadium, might that not attract interest in an "if you build it they will come" sorta way?

xp you know what i mean, dude

and again, the scholarship thing can't be stressed enough: there's loads of kids out there who are trying they're asses off to get improve their game because it might mean school---they already know they're not gonna be pro hockey players, but they might get some glory and a decent job afterwards

the scholarships already exist tho!

and it's sorta hard to justify any more athletic scholarships, for anything, when put in context of how our universities work

I think your argument hinges more on 'get people to care about college soccer' than anything else

that formulation is virtually ex-nihilo (xps)....even if the other conditions exist to make american college soccer desirable, the presence of foreign teams who regularly offer huge salaries to college age players will lure the best ones away

if the NCAA soccer championships were televised and played in a biggish stadium, might that not attract interest in an "if you build it they will come" sorta way?

that may well happen....but it will exist as an entertainment rather than an avenue for elite player development

ncaa baseball world series are televised and for the most part people don't care. even people who like baseball!

I think your argument hinges more on 'get people to care about college soccer' than anything else

― iatee, Friday, July 29, 2011 8:10 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

well sure! and in caring more about college soccer, HS/youth programs will get better. and yeah, sure, our top top players will get spirited away to foreign clubs, if the project is Get America To Care About Soccer in the long-term, then bypassing college level ball altogether seems sorta foolish.

should be a period in there

that's all very well but you seemed to be talking about Getting America Some Players Bettter Than Oguchi Onyewu

for raising the profile etc, sure

if in some counterfactual history europe had some equivalently popular NCAA, i'd imagine it would be good for football, maybe less so for universities

i was iphonin it and sort of developing a thesis on the fly. scouting/training youngsters intensively might get us some better players in the short run, but raising the profile will be better for soccer in the long run.

i dunno---i guess i've heard a lot of ppl on the internet say that the one thing that soccer needs to be magicked into a real sport is a world cup win, but we win olympic medals all day long and it's not like anyone cares about fucking swimming

This topic has been discussed to death and beyond on BigSoccer. Not saying we shouldn't talk about it here, just that it's been gone over and over and over by aspie US fans for years.

The NCAA game is part of the problem as it currently stands. I don't believe it can be made into a solution, either. For one thing, they play with f'd up rules like unlimited subs. Their season is also crazily short compared to a real club season. That's why so many of the players go play for PDL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USL_Premier_Development_League) teams when they're not in school. Scholarships for soccer encourage the "JUST WIN" mentality among kids and parents where raw athleticism is favored over technical ability. That's fine as long as you're gunning for a free ride to school, but beyond that the lack of skill becomes apparent really fast. Out of the current best 11 of USA nat'l team players right now I can only think of one (Dempsey, who has a pretty amazing personal backstory anyway) that came up through the college ranks. I don't think he was in for more than a year or two before going pro. Pretty sure most everyone else either went through the Bradenton academy or grew up overseas and learned there.

The real answer, imo, is an expansion of the Ajax and other euro-style academy systems, something that is happening but still in its infancy. Bradenton is US Soccer's attempt at fostering that kind of environment, but it needs a wider network of clubs running the things with the sole goal of finding and developing players to really pay dividends on the world stage.

also nakh otm

well then

the american 'at least you get to go to college if you flame out' system seems...less evil than the euro-style academies

(I mean prob not w/r/t high profile ncaa football players, but that's another issue)

yeah, i think it's pretty sad how many kids here are thrown on the scrapheap with nothing to show for it

Yeah it's totally evil. One thing that has been a reason for optimism lately are NCAA eligibility rules regarding kids who play/develop in pro environments. Starting like last year they can still qualify for scholarships even if they've been playing w/ pros and I *think* even paid to play. Not sure on all the specifics but it's encouraging.

*changes to NCAA eligibility rules

But I mean if the discussion we're having is "how do we help kids who have good game get scholarships" than yeah, that's been happening. If it's "how do we develop cutting-edge players to go out and win big for 'Merica" then we're just kind of treading water.

The real answer, imo, is an expansion of the Ajax and other euro-style academy systems, something that is happening but still in its infancy. Bradenton is US Soccer's attempt at fostering that kind of environment, but it needs a wider network of clubs running the things with the sole goal of finding and developing players to really pay dividends on the world stage.

― keillor can folk anything. and he will, and has. (dan m), Saturday, 30 July 2011 19:57 (9 minutes ago)

did you read that long nyt piece on ajax' academy

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06Soccer-t.html

can't fault their effectiveness but the treatment of the rejected kids is pretty cold iirc

You can question the effectiveness of Bradenton / the USSF though, at least in getting the most promising kids. Rossi was maybe always headed back to Italy but it seems to me they could have had Subotić and Rogelio Funes Mori if not for various fuckups.

what, shipping them abroad to train with foreigners, where they will prosper in total isolation from the people that will eventually be their "fans"?
I don't see why this is a problem. If they succeed and join top teams in England, Spain, Italy their matches will be televised and they won't be in isolation anymore.

Yeah Bradenton is far from perfect, it seems to me like it was some idea they ginned up in the 90s and it did pay some dividends. The fuckups leading to losing Subotic et al are systemic and a lot of people are hoping that will end now that various coaches (the u-20s in particular) have been fired. The thing that Klinsmann wanted all along was top-to-bottom control, perhaps they've given that to him now.

Oh and I have read that NYT Ajax article and I fully agree it's cold as shit, not something that I would want to subject my children to if I were a parent. On the other hand it seems like a pretty foolproof method for getting results. :/

Here's a recent example of youth players getting signed early

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2011/07/chicago-fire-signing-gulley-as-homegrown-player.html

So basically it comes down to rights. The Fire have this kid on the roster, he makes a little bit of cash but he gets to train w/ pros in a pro environment and can play in reserve league matches w/o jeopardizing his college eligibility. If he makes it big, he can stay with the team and win games and eventually get sold if he's good enough. If not he can still go to school (and with some of the youth programs in MLS like Generation Adidas the league & sponsor will pay his way). It's a little less heartless than the Ajax model.

Yeah, the loosening of the rules for who qualifies as an amateur in the NCAA's eyes seems like a great idea.

Oh and after rereading part of the thread: The best hockey prospects play in major junior leagues and generally don't go to college. Only the real cream of the crop guys from college even get a sniff of the pros. It seems like a lot of goalies have been coming up through that route of late tho.

"Twice before, just the timing was not right. You know, I didn't feel right," said Klinsmann, who lives with his family in California. "And now it kind of came altogether and I felt, no, you know what, the comfort level is there. You know, the understanding of the job is there. I mean it needed maybe to grow in a relationship point of view a couple of years until I said, you know, this is OK. This is now kind of the mature moment for it."

he must have gotten sick of playing for an amateur side under an assumed name

so, klinsi's first callups, few surprises here

GOALKEEPERS (2):
Bill Hamid (D.C.United)
Tim Howard (Everton)

DEFENDERS (8):
Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne)
Edgar Castillo (Club America)
Timmy Chandler (FC Nürnberg)
Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96)
Clarence Goodson (Brondby)
Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis)
Heath Pearce (Chivas USA)
Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls)

MIDFIELDERS (7):
Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake)
Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Maurice Edu (Rangers)
Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04)
Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
José Torres (Pachuca)

FORWARDS (5):
Freddy Adu (Benfica)
Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls)
DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla)
Edson Buddle (FC Ingolstadt)
Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

fuck Ricardo Clark imo

whats the deal with TJ Delaney of FC Copenhagen? is he holding out for a place on the Danish team or not interested in playing for the us?

I've never heard of him but apparently he played for Denmark at the Euro U21 tournament this summer. What sort of a midfielder is he?

we've got a lot of midfielders tbh, it's everywhere else in the outfield we're lacking

like: shea, hamid, mexican-american dudes, adu
dislike: beas, buddle
clark is pretty o_O but I still think he has potential, has done well for frankfurt

hoping that some of those veterans are there to start working on finding the ethos/playing style that klinsmann has talked up in interviews, 'cause they're sure as shit not going to be around for 2014

asst. coaches are interesting too: martin vasquez who was at bayern and then got fired from fake chivas, also tab ramos

Could use some creative players in midfield, don't see any of the above providing that except maybe Torres and Shea. No Diskerud. I guess Teal Bunbury's been in a slump?

We are all Tab's Kids.

I think creativity in the mid will come from Adu & Torres in the short term. Can't wait to see Holden back in the lineup eventually. Diskerud is in the middle of his season, right? Bet he'll get the call vs Belgium.

boxall: i havent seen him play really so i dont know much about him. he came on against shamrock rovers last night but the game was already over really by that point. hes played for denmark u-21's as well though which probably makes him ineligible to play for the us.

no it doesn't. you can switch once if you haven't appeared in a senior, competitive match

Our singlemost failing, imho, is a lack of attacking flair and i don't see that changing here. We concede goals not just because our defense is shakey but because other teams know that our counteres and ability to press our attack aren't great. Donovan's OK and Buddle shows promise but w/o more killer instinct and finishing ability, we're merely chancers, albeit w/heart.

I'll take Agudelo all day over Buddle, personally. Possibly just grasping at Jozyesque straws with the kid, but he has shown a real willingness to take defenders on and go for every chance he gets.

Would take the actual Jozy over Buddle, easily, I can't believe he or Beasley are still in the picture.

I like Jozy but he needs some real experience and honing, nay, forging even.

He left MLS too soon imo.

Very possible. Where is he languishing on the bench, now?

Just signed with AZ in Holland, probably a good place for him tbh.

He's too flighty. I'd rather he'd spent his whole time playing for the RBs than ending up in boomvuk Holland

i think i won't watch tonight. it might get ugly.

what channel is showing this??

univision

us still lacking anyone in the middle to make something happen, opened up too easily at the back. juergen looks kind of bewildered on the sidelines. his smile during the national anthem was cute, though.

I am at a bar with a million screens and it's all baseball and one tv with the fukkin u20 bra v ksa game wtf

espn3 also.
lol half watching. all i've seen is weakness and chasing

it's on espn 2

bartender is pointedly ignoring me

this is infuriating

oh god and now some nu metal version of cinnamon girl is playing kill me

lol at espn2 for nearly missing that goal

created by usa's own neymar, break shea. what a haircut!

ref has completely swallowed his whistle

that haircut is ghastly

who's that other dude that looks like he's 16

the guy who scored the goal? robbie rogers

we have no one who can put a good ball on net from outside the box

how'd we end up w/ a guy who looks like he is in attack attack!

cmon, that is a red all day long

dude 4real

Leander Schaerlaeckens: The whole press box burst out laughing when the ref didn't pull out a red there.

we have no one who can put a good ball on net from outside the box

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, August 10, 2011 10:53 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

ricardo clark and kyle beckerman not gonna tick that box anytime soon

even when we have our actual team

jozy and dempsey maybe, but still very rare

at least our coach is ~handsome~

how'd we end up w/ a guy who looks like he is in attack attack!

^^^i lold

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/682561/KLINSMANNTANZ.gif

for costa rica and belgium...

GK-Tim Howard, Bill Hamid

D-Carlos Bocanegra, Edgar Castillo, Timothy Chandler, Steve Cherundolo, Clarence Goodson, Zach Loyd, Michael Orozco Fiscal, Heath Pearce, Tim Ream

MF-Kyle Beckerman, Clint Dempsey, Maurice Edu, Fabian Johnson, SachaKljestan, Jeff Larentowicz, Robbie Rogers, Brek Shea, Jose Torres

F-Juan Agudelo, Jozy Altidore, Teal Bunbury, Landon Donovan

my first thought: who the fuck is fabian johnson? answer: another german-american

Cherundolo was decent for Hannover at the weekend.

Has Chandler caught your eye at all pandemic, assuming you caught a Nuremberg match or two last season?

No he hasn't boxall, and Nuremberg haven't had a full game shown on TV yet this season. Will definitely keep an eye out and report back tho.

lil' bradley to chievo, guess it's good he has a place to play but idk about italy

Cherundolo was better than decent at the weekend. In fact he was v good indeed. Excellent positioning, good concentration, effective simple use of the ball, and one bone crushing but fair challenge. He doesn't (or at least didn't in this game) get forward much to lend support to the right winger however.

Chievo was the dullest, least creative team I watched at least twice last season, maybe Bradley could become prolific again like he was for Heerenveen a long time ago.

Cherundolo's well-liked by US fans afaik, but is part of the old guard that Klinsmann is responsible for phasing out. Chandler is supposed to be a more attack-minded replacement.

yeah cherundolo has been a rock for years

love cherundolo, but excited about chandler. liverpool has signed 18 year old californian Villyan Bijev. apparently he is a wonder kid, any one know if he will play for the us or choose bulgaria?

he's been involved w/ the US U-18 setup, called into some camps. i'd imagine if he keeps progressing and keeps getting called in (u-20s next) he'd stick with us.

according to avi creditor on sports illustrated, fabian johnson is "capable" of playing left back, but is ineligible for costa rica and belgium as they switch his registration.

is there any reason both howard and friedel wear number 24 for their clubs?

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/klinsmanns-confidence-game/

I like this.

loving the "afro-germerican" series on the offisde rules

http://theoffsiderules.blogspot.com/2011/09/afro-germerican-of-moment-andrew-wooten.html

really bummed for pontius, who broke his leg saturday - he's been dcu's best player for the past 2-3 months, got called up for the last couple friendlies, and seemed to have all the momentum toward breaking into the rotation

bradley in at egypt

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/egypt-names-bradley-as-new-coach/

Ecuador GK is wearing a backwards baseball cap w/ 'DirecTV HD' on it, bizarre.

I miss Bradley tbh

someone better fuckin do something worthwhile today

Any idea who's starting?

I saw a few predictions but nothing official.

Howard, Cherundolo, Goodson, Bocanegra, Chandler, Williams, Beckerman, Edu, Shea, Dempsey, Altidore

Ribery has looked like a World XI player this season, Cherundolo had better step up.

think cherundolo has been dropped for his last 2 or 3 club games, so either rusty or has a point to prove, or both i guess.

Some good defending happening.

Timmy!

no chance on that one

just a hoof up the middle really

so like under bradley we used to score goals once in a while, what happened?

wynalda is pissed

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/put-eric-wynalda-in-the-win-now-category/?ref=soccer

“It is always important to win. I don’t understand people who say it doesn’t matter. It always matters. And what are we developing? Are we developing into losers who can juggle the ball?”

USA lineup vs. Slovenia: Howard, Cherundolo, Goodson, Bocangra, Chandler, Beckerman, Bradley, Johnson, Dempsey, Buddle, Altidore

This is entertaining.

Awesome goal from Buddle!

I like this Fabian Johnson.

This had better be a better side than the one against France; both teams looked liked warmed-over baby-shit on Friday.

They look pretty attacking and dangerous but both teams have had a bunch of great chances, the pitch is so densely covered in fog it could get farcical.

Gooch still out on a groin strain, right?

Could be, he's not on the bench.

1-1 now.

woke up to see i'd missed us putting 3 past slovenia!?!

ooh just saw a replay of buddle's. lovely.
who drew the penalty that jozy put in?

I thought he won & scored it, could be wrong though.

I didn't see, but my friend who is paying attention said Johnson drew the PK.

anyone else going to the game saturday? i'm taking my sister to her 2nd ever soccer game.

i saw a gold cup b-team once (holden! adu! guzan!) but this is my first US friendly.

i'm more excited than i should be probably. haven't seen a game in person since november.

this'll be a bit of a B/C team as well tbh, but I'm sure it'll be fun. venezuela is bringing their domestic players mainly afaik. be nice to see a win.

Zusi! Sapong! Shea!

and brad freakin evans, jesus christ

shea should be a first teamer someday if he keeps it up

p. crazy read about usmnt players down mexico way (violence, carjacking, bribery, the whole 9 yards)

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20120119/usplayers-mexico/?sct=sc_t11_a2

explain wearing a horse head to a
game

well, it was a p awful game, anything to liven it up

watched zak whitbred defend pretty well against chelsea yesterday. will he get a call up in the future?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-18oQU73iCoU/T01Wf-ERNUI/AAAAAAAADDk/TqSjFXzgA0M/s1600/USAInItaly.bmp

good luck to the guys. pretty impressive record italy has against us. we are 0-7-3 with an aggregate score of 32-4.
think we'll see terrence boyd make his debut?

I would guess so, given that they yanked him out of u23 camp for this. He's already getting massively hyped a la Altidore and Agudelo.

1-Howard

2-Cherundolo 4-Goodson 5-Bocanegra (capt.) 3-Johnson

6-Bradley 8-Edu

7-Williams 10-Dempsey 11-Shea

9-Altidore

a half-empty stadium, the endearing italian whistles, ian darke's bloviations and dumb-as-shit sounding taylor twellman make this match a can't-miss!

surprisingly (occasionally) incisive at the front, shaky in the extreme at the back

pirlo is "not on facebook" thanks for that insight darke!

shea-johnson working the LH side have had their moments

Back at work - so I can't watch teh second half but flipping back and forth between Italy - USA and Eng - Ned, I thought at least the US game looked more entertaining.

DEUCE

johnson cross to jozy in the box, holds of his man and then lays off to dempsey for the goal, nice play

Nice!

from what I've seen so far johnson is gonna end up being the new lb

boyd is in with 10 or so min left

holy shit we win

end of the second half reminded me of the game against spain from the confeds cup, just manic defending

Did they just park the bus in front of goal or did they try to counter at all?

a couple attempts at countering, including one 2-on-2 with boyd and dempsey where it was pretty obvious only boyd had any gas in the tank, but mostly a lot of blocking shots and clogging up the front

brian mcbride and mike piazza chillin in the stands

for the obsessed among us, us u-23 vs mexico u-23 (friendly) here

and on Telefutura, I've just discovered

33' agudelo steams in and heads a corner 1-0
35' adu shoots from outside the 18, 2-0

we have a name for this, dos a cero

love gyau running with the ball

is he #11?

yeah, that's gyau

saw the end of this in a bar, shouted "dos a cero" and startled some people

didn't see the goals but thought gyau, agudelo, and adu all looked good. diskerud too.
really liked the senior team's new kits. though the us still needs a new badge.

watching some highlights this morning I started feeling some real hope for some of these dudes, can't wait to see a few more of them integrated with the senior team

hadn't realized that az is in first place in the netherlands (and jozy is their leading scorer). has there been an american on a league winning side in europe before?

Edu and Beasley won the SPL with Rangers iirc. Gooch with Standard Liege in Belgium, maybe?

good call. beasley also won twice with PSV.

Demerit's Watford won promotion but I don't think they actually finished top of the Championship.

Did Man Utd not win the league when Timmy was there then?

no, he was there for three seasons, arsenal chelsea chelsea winners.
he won a fa cup and a league cup.

http://blogs.thescore.com/footyblog/2012/03/06/bandini-how-michael-bradley-became-chievos-captain-america/

his game has visibly risen since moving to italy

el equipo de todos

god damn pathetic

this fucking team

Am I wrong or is this mostly the same group that failed to qualify for the U20 world cup? Unreal.

http://theoriginalwinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Legends-Game-Flyer2.jpg

has anyone deserved to go bald as much as clint mathis? kinda love that idiot.

The United States, which, will be coached by Curt Onalfo, will feature Ian Feuer, Cobi Jones, Paul Caligiuri, Thomas Dooley, Eric Wynalda, Roy Lassiter, Chris Klein, Cle Kooiman, Ted Eck, Clint Mathis, Alexi Lalas, Jovan Kirovski, John O'Brien and Brian McBride.

Mexico, meanwhile, will be coached by Carlos Reinoso and will trot out Jorge Campos, Claudio Suarez, Ramón Ramírez, Martin Zúñiga, Mariano Trujillo, Zague, German Villa, Alberto García Aspe, Ramon Morales, David Oteo, Luis Hernández, Joel Sánchez, Eduardo Missael Espinoza, Chima, Jesús Olalde, Jared Borgetti and Francisco Palencia.

no Blanco :( guess it's not a big enough payday

Not sure if Fabian Johnson has been involved in the US team this year, but he scored a super goal for Hoffenheim midweek.

About 6.00 mins in

http://youtu.be/-Ns5lXNIvAY

http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1043145/533027_10150790949863941_32421823940_9381208_1177782620_n.jpg

lots of people seem to hate it, I don't

I like it!

always thought that would be an obvious scheme, and it has been done before right? it looks nice, but i was liking the sash ok too.

The sash always kind of irked me - it reminds me too much of South American tinpot dicator wear somehow. I like the hoops more than I expected.

so the sash is still there, just barely.
are there other national teams that wear hoops?

http://www.soccerbyives.net/.a/6a00e54ef2975b88330167653721b6970b-pi

barely sash is worse imo

i've loved the hoops as a kit design, would be stoked if we snaked it from the rest of the world first (DONT TREAD ON ME)

chandler begging out again

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/usa/story/tim-chandler-sends-clear-message-to-jurgen-klinsmann-usmnt-051512

I don't really like Ives Galarcep as a writer but I think he is totally otm here

scottish taboard.com poster on the entrance of beckerman

Posted Today, 01:43
Now there even bringing on a homeless guy. Thats just taking the pish.

Oh dear.

scottish poster otm

bradley goal was tasty. usa looking good despite the lack of competition.

We looked pretty good but, man, did Scotland look bad.

http://imgon.net/di-QLL5.gif

daaaaaamn

psyched for will ferrell tbrr

fuck sake scotland, i was looking at a match report there thinking maybe they fielded a weakened team, and while there's some players missing it's a fairly "strong" (in relative terms) first XI.

It's maybe the most depressing cold-hard-footy-truth I can remember. At least taking humpings from Portugal or Holland, you knew they were always secretly our betters, we just beat them sometimes. But Scotland and the US weren't ever in the same class when I was little, and they're certainly not now.

i have the good fortune of not caring all that much about the national team,but even vaguely following the team and feeling goodwill towards it has became painful.could easily see scotland not make a world cup in the next 20,30 years,and they used to be almost perennial participants.

hercules v hulk!

Some positives to take from this I guess, except for the defending. Fabian Johnson a greater threat from left-back than most of the attackers. I like Bradley-Jones-Torres in midfield, don't see what Edu offers though.

Brazil no. 10 Oscar looks like a real talent.

sucks so much that holden got injured and can't replace edu in this midfield, think if he could bring his 2010-2011 bolton form to the team they'd be really tough

the defense would still be a problem against solid competition, but yeah holden jones bradley would be great.

most interesting thing about that game was canada's new shirts, oh and the bizarre goal called back

here's an argument for what edu offers

Having deployed the 4-3-3 Jurgen Klinsmann long advocated to great effect against both Scotland and Brazil, moving the ball around with gusto and creating chances by the bushel, the U.S. went back to a 4-4-2 – or a 4-4-1-1, or whatever – against Canada.

This formation undermined the progress the U.S. has made. In the pre-Klinsmann dark ages, a 4-4-2 with two deep central midfielders perennially put the Yanks on the back foot, making them a counter-attacking team forced to absorb a great deal of pressure in hopes of being granted a chance or two to break away. In Klinsmann's 4-3-3, the U.S. can usurp much more possession, involve its full backs and free up two of three central midfielders to join the attack and orchestrate from the inside of the field. But by removing the Number 6, usually either Maurice Edu or Kyle Beckerman, a knock-on effect disturbed much of the team, negating the extra center forward it put on the field. Without a man to cover for them, central midfielders Jermaine Jones and Bradley were forced to hang back more, preventing them from crowding the opposing midfield in its own half and distributing. This, in turn, forced the deep striker, Clint Dempsey, to fall back and help out on defense, making him easy to mark out of the game. The advanced striker, Gomez, thus became isolated and the wingers, Jose Torres and Landon Donovan, were insufficiently involved and advanced, blocking the path of the wing backs to push forward.

By taking out the holding midfielder for a trequartista, in other words, Klinsmann made his side a much more defensive one than before. The effect was noticeable, as the U.S. mustered only the rare chance and had trouble commanding the midfield. LS

10 yrs ago today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj6orSJ8JUE

us 0-0 against antigua at half time (penalties and set pieces don't count against countries like this). mexico have scored two against guyana, i think they are way better than us right now.

I hate these uniforms. They look like they're ready to go swimming in the late 19th century.

And though they should have scored when the ball hit the crossbar, I don't feel like there are many goals going to come from open play.

love these uniforms. want usa to own hoops in the international game.

landycakes refusing to shoot

But hey! Antigua can score from open play.

onyewu. gosh.

I'm sorry, but unless all the players grow handlebar mustaches and wear straw boaters during introductions those unies are hideous.

do you feel this way about all hoop uniforms?

not opposed to boaters and mustaches, btw

<3 Herculez

actually wrote that before the goal

I think it's the red & white, and the really poor way they're doing the number box or whatever you want to call it. It doesn't look too bad upthread without the numbers.

I've seen some decent hoops - like Celtic's green and white. The red & white really reminds me of old time swimmers.

Nicely done there by Herc.

pretty sure you've never seen a color photograph of late 19th century swimmers

The takeaway I've got from the last few weeks of friendlies and this qualifier is that Onyewu shouldn't be playing.

agreed

You're right on photos - I've only seen them in paintings and the actual garments.

wonder if ream/john/gonzalez or even whitbred will get a call anytime soon

have you been to a swimming museum of some kind?

Went to a turn of the century fashion exhibit with my wife back in the 90s.

sounds cool

hey terrence boyd is officially an american!

It was a very cool exhibit.

On centerbacks: \tThere has to be someone besides Onyewu. Anyone, really. I like George John, but he's too slow for internationals. But his positioning is much better.

i'd just like those guys given a chance to play.

Our CB problem is real, if you look at the youth nt rosters there are few natural defenders.

I agree. Gooch has proved he shouldn't play, so someone else needs their shot at it.

so why hasn't whitbred been called up?

or john?

There are dudes in MLS who could step up and get a shot, Anibaba for the Fire and Opara at SH come to mind. I think Cameron is a lost cause.

Whitbred is "injury prone". Think he was released by Norwich?

because he's apparently made of white bread and just as hardy. He seems to pick up injuries regularly. Plus he likely wouldn't play now because I think he's out of contract and wouldn't risk it.

xpost

Er, Opara at SJ above. Stupid phone.

hmm didn't know that. hope klinsmann calls up some new guys soon. the rest of the team is looking fairly solid (not great tonight) but the defense is pretty poor.

i haven't been watching but fuck this team anyway

srsly

usa v mexico next week at the azteca? how the hell did I sleep on this?

what's acceptable? 3-1 and not totally overrun?

given that I've read mo edu is being tried at cb I'm going to say 3-1 might be optimistic

would like to see boyd get a goal and seanjohn make a crazy acrobatic save but I'm not holding my breath

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/grant_wahl/08/14/us-mexico-exhibition/index.html

dunno if I would call mexico a contender at the world cup just yet, but it's hard to argue with a lot in this article. they've come a long way since 07 even.

Had never seen Peralta until the Olympic final but he was impressive. I'm pleased Andres Guardado has moved to Valencia, he was too good to be playing in the second division last season.

Looking forward to tonight, with trepidation.

I'm reading a lot of talk on twitter etc where people are straight bashing some of the n00bs that got called up, saying they don't deserve to be there b/c it's Mexico, and nothing is more important than beating Mexico. WTF? What about finding new starting CBs that aren't 30+ years old? What about putting some real pressure on these kids in a game that doesn't _really_ count and seeing who steps up? The beating Mexico at all costs myopia is what partially got the team in the state it's in to begin with.

a not-very-full azteca, weird

I forgot this was tonight.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1299513/donovan.gif

Holy shit

nutty goal!

also
USA USA USA

That ought to silence the naysayers who didn't want Brek on the squad.

Howard's a beast.

Tim has been unconscious, couple of those late saves have caused my heart to skip a beat

Wow. 75 years of futility by the wayside.

HOLY SHIT

WOW

:D

does this mean we get mexico's gold medal?

The Mexico excuses are already flying I'm sure, but without irony, and without jingoism, let me say:

USAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSA

sweet!

herculez gomez ‏@herculezg

Contentos por que sabemos que le ganamos a un muy buen equipo, en unos de los lugares mas difícil de todo el fútbol. Saludos

from maurice edu

https://o.twimg.com/1/proxy.jpg?t=FQQVBBhMaHR0cDovL2Rpc3RpbGxlcnlpbWFnZTYuaW5zdGFncmFtLmNvbS83ODNhYjliOGU3NTExMWUxOWI2NDIyMDAwYTFlOTVkOF83LmpwZxQCFgASAA&s=2e57wWKsTTwANDrlZMOwbPJzG3eQOQLMhkzIppQEjjs

lol at the oxygen tank

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/jamaica-strategy-opponents-come-kingston-them-high-then-212052612--sow.html

The U.S. will play Jamaica in a World Cup qualifier at the National Stadium in Kingston on Friday -- a place known to opponents as The Office since "no one wants to go to the office." But as Tropigol.com explains, this isn't your typical office (unless you work at High Times magazine):

That atmosphere can be a bit intimidating and quite unique for international sports since there's the pungent scent of marijuana that has been known to permeate from the crowd. During the 2001 World Cup qualifiers, U.S. players said they could smell the drug as a cloud of smoke hovered over the crowd on a sunny Saturday June afternoon.

"They say when they come there, they smell marijuana," [Jamaican midfielder Dane] Richards said.

sounds like a good time imo

How was your day at the office?

Munchy.

A mate of mine was at the Nou Camp to watch Barca back in '04, he was taken back by the amount of fans smoking weed in the stands beside him.

squad looks a little thin without bradley and donovan

Howard
Dolo Boca Goodson Johnson
Jones Torres
Corona Dempsey Shea
Altidore

?

the fat man in jersey predicts the following, more likely imo

-----Shea------------Altidore--------------Gomez----

---------------Edu--------------Jones------------------

--------------------Beckerman-------------------------

Johnson---Bocanegra----Cameron-------Cherundolo

---------------------Howard-----------------------------

btw this is on beIN SPORT which afaik not everyone gets, might want to check yr provider if you're planning to watch it

also ray hudson NOT calling the match ;_;

he was taken back by the amount of fans smoking weed in the stands beside him

this is gonna sound corny as fuc but here goes: i've been getting high (outside) and going to sounders games by myself for about a year and i CANNOT believe how much more, tactically, i've gotten out of the games. off the ball movement, width, 1v1 matchups, tactical shifts, all are more clear. and yeah it could be that i'm going by myself (not concerned if gf/friend is bored), watching more in total, whatever, but man, i suggest it, one hitter quitter and sit and ~~watch~~.

when we went to the grand opening of red bull arena in 2010 there were some massive bluntz circulating in the stands. in retrospect I can't believe we didn't get thrown out/arrested.

didn't get a lot out of that tactical-insight-wise beyond "damn I wish we had joel lindpere" and "oh shit we are going to suck this year".

yeah i bet its better than getting drunk and shouting at players and the ref! (this is great fun too tho)

Any acidheads want to weigh in?

o man that'd be horrible imo

weed and sport are great if you tend to be analytical

looked like they were playing after a bong session outside of the first minute

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/usa/story/jurgen-klinsmann-may-be-problem-to-team-struggles-usa-national-team-091012

The hour is still early and the sample size small. But with just four points from three qualifiers and advancement into the fourth qualifying stage no longer straightforward, the realization dawns that the match might not be as hoped for and the marriage not guaranteed to always be a happy one.

Congratulations on finally becoming a football nation

we're gonna become the scotland of this hemisphere if we aren't careful

The American Outlaws ‏@AmericanOutlaws

We're during a stadium-wide display from the 9th-11th minute during tonight's game. Everybody stand and wave your flag and and/or scarf!

:/

Going to be one of those games, I think.

Zusi was surprisingly good
Jones is looking lamer by the game
Too bad it's taken Herc 30 years to get to this point
1-0 when needing a win is acceptable of course and they hit the frame at least 3 times, but it still seems like they are capable of so much more

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma7w8duCQa1ry6fnao1_400.gif

context

i wish gifs had AP style annotations

USMT soccer forward Clint 'Deuce' Dempsey performs inderminate facial gestures towards Jamaican counterpart