Did you see the game last night? Becks and Donovan assisted each other and scored. Mind you, they brought in Carlos Ruiz who injured his knee the second game of preseason. The main problem is the joke of player in Alan Gordon. He almost to funny watch when he gets a picturesque ball dropped in right over his head by Becks only to go 1v1 with the keeper and trip over the ball.
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US Soccer thread
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Did you see the game last night? Becks and Donovan assisted each other and scored. Mind you, they brought in Carlos Ruiz who injured his knee the second game of preseason. The main problem is the joke of player in Alan Gordon. He almost to funny watch when he gets a picturesque ball dropped in right over his head by Becks only to go 1v1 with the keeper and trip over the ball.
Watching the game last night I was actually surprised by the level of play (with the exception of the aforementioned Mr. Gordon 😛). It wasn't so different from what I see on FSC with middle-tier Serie A clubs or your average Sunderland v. Wigan match. 🙂
yea, MLS is better than people make it out to be. Remember this team didn't even qualify for the playoffs last year, and the Earthquakes didn't exist so these aren't even the cream of the crop when it comes to MLS. However, there is a gulf of depth between the EPL, La Liga, or Bundesliga.
When's the last time you watched a Bundesliga match? I love the German league for many reasons--they're in many ways the only shining example of how to run a league in Europe--but these days I don't think it belongs in the same conversation as the Premier League or la Liga. Did you see how Bayern Munich, the class of the Bundesliga, struggled at home against Getafe the other night? Getafe just plays better teams, week after week, and it really showed. In fact, right now I think you could remove Inter, Lyon, Milan (only because Kaka is back) and MAYBE Roma, combine the rest of Ligue 1, Serie A and the Bundesliga and have one big second division of European clubs.
To bring this back to US soccer: I don't think there's ever been an MLS game on TV in Europe so I don't really know where they're at in terms of development. How do you folks think the MLS teams would fare in my mythical pan-European second division?
Hey, leave the Galaxy alone. I'm grateful for them. Means we don't have to look at Abel Xavier's stupid fracking hair every week.
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You mean they televise League One matches because there's no way he'd get a game in the Championship at this point.
Badly. Some of the teams are decent, but the quality of the players is very uneven - most teams have some good players and a bunch of pub team-quality players.
I don't follow the European leagues closely enough to pass judgment, but I see MLS teams as slotting in somewhere between League One and the Championship in the UK - the better teams might be able to have some success against the bottom half of the Championship table but would not be good enough to progress beyond that. It's hard to say really, because MLS teams never compete outside the MLS except in the CONCACAF Champions Cup/Champions League, and they don't do well there (though I think the Galaxy won it once).
But they are getting noticeably better.
EDIT: I see lots of rumors bouncing around about Thierry Henri moving to the new MLS expansion team in Seattle. Some people are pretty excited about it, though I consider it about as likely to come true as the Ronaldo rumors.
I've caught some news here about both of these decisions, and they both seem like sound moves to me: Raul has been--at least for now--left off the intl. team altogether and, although the press in Madrid is pretty worked up, most pundits seem to say it's justified from the standpoint of both goals-per-minute and team chemistry. In fact, more folks seem to be surprised that the kid from Barca, Bojan Krkic, has been left off the roster (I thought he was a Serb, but apparently not).
In any case, the US-Spain friendly is only 6 days before Spain opens its Euro against Russia, so who knows how many minutes the Spanish stars will see anyway.
As far as Argentina, Tevez has been both ineffective and a bit of a delinquent in his most recent intl. activity--he is in fact suspended for the next WC qualifier for kicking a Colombiano for no good reason--and I think by leaving him off of the friendlies roster they're pretending to be tough on him when it doesn't really matter. The guy could use a month off anyway after a brutal Premier League season that doesn't end until tonight, so I'm sure he doesn't mind too much, and Argentina gets to look like they're punishing him...but talent talks a lot louder than discipline in this sport, and I'm sure he'll be back after the Ecuador suspension.
In other news, if anyone is interested and has good enough cable/satellite, the French Cup final between Lyon and Paris Saturday is going to be very, very special, for a number of reasons. Even if you just watch soccer to see fan violence and tear gas on the pitch--in other words, if you are the soccer equivalent of a hockey fight fan or Nascar crash fan--this one won't disappoint.
Anyone watching the U.S./England friendly right now? We're about 10ish minutes from half as I type this...
Not watching since I'm at work but the traditional lack of anyone who can score on the US seems to be its normal issue. I wish Altidore was playing.
I think both sides would say there was room for improvement. With that said, England won pretty convincingly and dominated possession. The defense held up to the non-existent American attack, and offensively was able cause a lapse or two in the back line to put the ball in the net twice. This isn't to say USA is a "walk-over". The defense limited England's chances, and made the opposition come with numbers to the goal to create chance. (with the exception of the gerrard score, of course) America's shortcomings were plentiful in the offense however.
After watching highlights and reading a few articles can someone answer me this. Why is Bob Bradley (or any coach outside of the MLS) have some sort beef with Freddy Adu? If you look at his quailities like his pace, his vision, his touch how can he not beat out the likes of Josh Wolf or Eddie Johnson. Granted Adu is not a full fledged striker, but isn't he Landon Donovan protege? If you look at the games he has subbed in, he has always brought a dynamic presence to his game and the team, and my question is why not do it from the start? After watching the game, Jozy and Freddy should have both started that game, and frankly, ANYONE could have contributed more than Wolff or Johnson in that game.
Now, I am not some sensationalist going goo-goo-gah-gah over all the hoopla they created as talented young soccer players, but only raising rational questions, and would love rational answers...thanks.
Now, I am not some sensationalist going goo-goo-gah-gah over all the hoopla they created as talented young soccer players, but only raising rational questions, and would love rational answers...thanks.
It's not terrible to have a good energy guy off the bench.
Although I will agree about Eddie Johnson. So much promise early on but at this point he's a big nothing.
Although I will agree about Eddie Johnson. So much promise early on but at this point he's a big nothing.
I realize a player looks much more energetic coming off the bench vs. someone who has been playing, but Adu has a natural ability to impose himself on the game and get himself involved that EJ or Wolff can't seem to figure out.
I think thats attributed to all the hype. When he was 15 people expected him to take over the game, and those expectations forced him to learn how to do get himself involved in the game.
Freddie Adu. So much promise and just... Nothing. Couple of nice touches last night but a couple of extremely way-ward free kicks which we're just plain awful.
He had trials at United as well. 😱 Benfica player now though, not a bad move.
He had trials at United as well. 😱 Benfica player now though, not a bad move.
US draws with Argentina after a phantom red card. The floor is now open for discussion of what the red card was for. My guess is every central american referee is required by FIFA to give at least 1 red card to a US defender at least once per game. Anyone remember WC 2006?
I'll try to breathe some life into this thread. 😀
Just went and saw the Columbus Crew play the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. I saw the Crew lose to San Jose a month ago in my first ever live pro soccer match. This time the Crew won 2-1 with a PK from veteran midfielder Schelotto and a great effort from our winger Emmanuel Ekpo. Good back and forth stuff for most of the game though the Crew missed two clear chances in the first half. After our second goal we dropped back and Colorado laid siege to the goal in a nervy final 20 minutes. We held on for the victory.
The quality of play was better than I expected and the atmosphere was pretty good, though the stadium was only a little more than half full. If I lived in town I'd have season tickets. I did get my jersey.🙂
Columbus are now second place, just behind Chicago in the table.
Just went and saw the Columbus Crew play the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. I saw the Crew lose to San Jose a month ago in my first ever live pro soccer match. This time the Crew won 2-1 with a PK from veteran midfielder Schelotto and a great effort from our winger Emmanuel Ekpo. Good back and forth stuff for most of the game though the Crew missed two clear chances in the first half. After our second goal we dropped back and Colorado laid siege to the goal in a nervy final 20 minutes. We held on for the victory.
The quality of play was better than I expected and the atmosphere was pretty good, though the stadium was only a little more than half full. If I lived in town I'd have season tickets. I did get my jersey.🙂
Columbus are now second place, just behind Chicago in the table.
Black and gold it would seem, not a million miles away from black and amber. Well done. 😉