Soccer Thread 2016-17

[Critch]

There was a minutes silence because two of the dead were Australian, I'd assume they'd have had a minutes silence for the Kabul and Tehran attacks too if there had been an Australian victim.

I'm going it's a non-story though. The Saudi players apparently didn't know it was happening and stopped walking about when they realized what was going on.

[ISiddiqui]

But it was an AFC World Cup Qualifier and victims in other Asian countries should have been honored. This isn't the first time that Muslims thought they were shrugged off in minute of silence honoring:

UEFA refuses minute of silence for Turkey’s Istanbul bomb victims at Euro 2016 — RT Sport

[Critch]

Looks like not observing the minutes silence was intentional:

Saudi Arabia footballers ignore minute's silence for London attack victims

[sovereignstar v2]

Let's do this

[RainMaker]

That should have been a yellow.

[RainMaker]

Not a good look in the 1st half so far. Should be down 1-0.

[sovereignstar v2]

C'mon Jozy, have to score there.

[MrBug708]

Pulisic!

[sovereignstar v2]

Limitless potential he has.

[Butter]

Pulisic is the first guy we've had since Dempsey that I really feel like is World Class. And now it seems like Dempsey is entering the twilight of his national career, he didn't look good last night.

Nagbe isn't too bad either.

If we could find a successor keeper to Howard, and stop playing Bradley we'd be in decent shape.

[BishopMVP]

Nagbe looking great linking the attack? Altidore with a beautifully weighted first time ball for the 2nd goal? I know it's Trinidad & Tobago, but it's so nice to see players from the MLS in the USA jersey playing with skill now that we got rid of that fraud and brought back a real coach who wants to play attacking soccer not just talk about it.

[MrBug708]

Brad Guzan; Tim Ream, Omar Gonzalez, Geoff Cameron; DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Kellyn Acosta, DeAndre Yedlin; Christian Pulisic, Paul Arriola; Bobby Wood

[BishopMVP]

What a play. Best thing Bradley's done in a US uniform since 2010, or ever?

Also, how Salcedo didn't get at least a yellow for those two fouls I have no idea. But it's nice to have a villain to root against!

[ISiddiqui]

What a fantastic point against Mexico at Azteca. And I loved how we had quite a number of chances. Bradley almost had another goalazo in the 2nd half!!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[digamma]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

And I loved how we had quite a number of chances.

We must have watched a different game.

Not a criticism at all, as I think you take a point there and run, but I thought it was pretty clear we were way into our shell and defending for our lives.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by digamma

We must have watched a different game.

Not a criticism at all, as I think you take a point there and run, but I thought it was pretty clear we were way into our shell and defending for our lives.

With the lineup Arena perplexingly put on the field there, I think you are thrilled with a point.

Guzan needs to be 5th string. We have to have a 19 year old that is better than this.

[cartman]

It think it was pretty clear that Arena stole a page of Mourinho last night and adopted his "park the bus and counter-attack" approach, which is a solid strategy for playing at Azteca. Which makes it all the more strange that the one US goal came from the goalie playing off his line, and the Mexico goal game off of a counter-attack immediately after the US nearly made it 2-0.

[MrBug708]

Bruce tinkers with the lineups like Jurgy did. The difference is that the players know what's expected of them come game time because they've practiced it. I had my doubts about that lineup, but it came through, even the carcass of DMB.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by digamma

We must have watched a different game.

We must have because we had 7 shots, including 2 or 3 headers from Gonzales that came very close and one off the woodwork from Bradley late. More real chances than I've seen at Azteca in a WCQ in a long, long time. (oh, FWIW, Mexico with all that possession only had 10 shots - only 3 more than the US).

FWIW, I don't see how conceding possession and moving forward on the counter means that the team didn't have chances to score...

[ISiddiqui]

Interesting stuff, Omar Gonzalez indicates that the players knew they would play a 3-4-3 against Mexico on the first day of camp:

Omar Gonzalez hails Bruce Arena's USMNT preparation while slamming Jurgen Klinsmann's - Goal.com

On the very first day of the U.S. national team's most recent camp, Bruce Arena wasted no time letting his team know his plan. With a trip to Estadio Azteca looming, the coach told his players he wanted to use a 3-4-3 formation to beat Mexico.

"I was relieved that I knew that early, for sure," Gonzalez said. "I've had three weeks to prepare for this game. It's just a different environment, and a different mentality you can take when you know three weeks out when you're going to play, how you're going to prepare.

"Sometimes with Jurgen you wouldn't know until the day of the game," Gonzalez added. “It's just stressful, so with Bruce here taking that kind of approach here, it's been helping out a lot.

I am so glad Bruce Arena is our coach right now. 8 points from 4 WCQs is exactly what we need to do.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by cartman

It think it was pretty clear that Arena stole a page of Mourinho last night and adopted his "park the bus and counter-attack" approach, which is a solid strategy for playing at Azteca. Which makes it all the more strange that the one US goal came from the goalie playing off his line, and the Mexico goal game off of a counter-attack immediately after the US nearly made it 2-0.

Imagine if Wood doesn't fan on the point-blank shot in the box? It's potentially 2-0 and negates the counter that tied it. That may have been the "miss of the game" for the US. Heck, even if he airmails it over the net, atleast the D could reset. But a pure fan setup the counter.

All that said, it was enjoyable to watch the US play soccer (esp in a hostile place like Azteca). There was strategy and the players worked well together. They still need to close out better around the box, but they played like more of a unit. Intercepting passes, actually using some back passes to keep possession (I think those were banned under Jurgen) and kept their shape. I still can't believe we don't have better options than the old carcasses of Guzan and Beasley - but most of the team played well.

[ISiddiqui]

The amusing thing to me is if you read Mexican soccer forums (and I was just reading them on reddit), you'll see Mexican fans are PISSED. They want Osorio's head. They can't believe that Mexico only got a point against the US at home. I think that if you can make the opposing fans call for their coach's head, that was a good result.

[cartman]

Awesome story

Christos FC: The amateur soccer team, headquartered in a liquor store, that never practices and rarely loses - The Washington Post

[cartman]

Awesome story

Christos FC: The amateur soccer team, headquartered in a liquor store, that never practices and rarely loses - The Washington Post

[cougarfreak]

I watched FC Cincinnati upset the Columbus Crew 1-0 in the US Open Cup tonight. 30,160 attended, it was quite the atmosphere, great stuff!

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

I watched FC Cincinnati upset the Columbus Crew 1-0 in the US Open Cup tonight. 30,160 attended, it was quite the atmosphere, great stuff!

My wife and 15 year old were there as well. I was getting updates while I was at dinner out in Portland. With all the attendance records set by the club, I cannot see anyway they can justify not giving an expansion club to Cincy.

[rowech]

I guess this might be the start of a 17-18 thread but NBC has wrecked its coverage of the premier league.

[ISiddiqui]

Eh... they just made it the same as any other sport broadcast in the US - you have to pay for non-broadcast games.

[sovereignstar v2]

Would be more pissed if I still had DirecTV and access to the Extra Time channels that'll be nixed.

[kingfc22]

Just another way to claw back the money so cord-cutting is essentially the same as a cable sub....UGH

I can easily see other networks going this route with other content.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Just another way to claw back the money so cord-cutting is essentially the same as a cable sub....UGH

It was apparent since 'cord cutting' became a thing, it'd be just another form of cable. The content providers aren't changing after all.

I can easily see other networks going this route with other content.

All of them already do. Fox has Fox Soccer Plus (for $20 a month); MLB, NBA, MLS, NFL have non-broadcast packages for extra $; etc.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

It was apparent since 'cord cutting' became a thing, it'd be just another form of cable. The content providers aren't changing after all.



All of them already do. Fox has Fox Soccer Plus (for $20 a month); MLB, NBA, MLS, NFL have non-broadcast packages for extra $; etc.

Maybe there are more people that are watching than I believe are but I don't feel the numbers are strong enough for them to do this. Maybe they are.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by rowech

Maybe there are more people that are watching than I believe are but I don't feel the numbers are strong enough for them to do this. Maybe they are.

IIRC, when NBC moved cycling and motocross to paid tiers, they made a decent amount of money (I'd imagine there are few folks who subscribe to cable JUST for the Premier League). So I guess we'll see.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

My wife and 15 year old were there as well. I was getting updates while I was at dinner out in Portland. With all the attendance records set by the club, I cannot see anyway they can justify not giving an expansion club to Cincy.

All MLS owner-operators care about is $200m expansion fees and a brand new tax payer funded stadium. CFC's would have to be in Newport, but I think otherwise, there's a will here in terms of an ownership and a fan base that seems to fit way better than a lot of other potential expansion cities for MLS. Hope it works out.

[Easy Mac]

That Cincy - Chicago game was fucking spectacular. Even my wife was into it, and she doesn't give 2 shits about soccer.

If you get a chance to watch it on ESPN3 replay, do so. Very well played, up and down 2nd half, great goalkeeping. The refs did everything they could to give Chicago the game.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

That Cincy - Chicago game was fucking spectacular. Even my wife was into it, and she doesn't give 2 shits about soccer.

If you get a chance to watch it on ESPN3 replay, do so. Very well played, up and down 2nd half, great goalkeeping. The refs did everything they could to give Chicago the game.

I just got back from the game. It was insane. I cannot believe the ref missed the hand ball in the box, and the offsides on the goal was questionable at best.

[Easy Mac]

On video, it was clear he was onside by a leg. And there's no reason to miss that handball from where the ref was. He just swallowed his whistle in the 90th minute.

[Neuqua]

I don't necessarily blame the ref for missing the offside because of the angle that they had it may have been difficult to make that call.

No idea how the offside was missed though.

[sovereignstar v2]

LOL

Clear as day elbow that deserves a red. They look at it with the video and it's a yellow. Why even do it when you have absolute knob heads in charge?

[RainMaker]

US just blew a 2-0 lead to a bunch of French Caribbean beer leaguers.

[digamma]

Well they won and it's not like it was our starters or probably even second team, but keep doin' you bro.

[RainMaker]

B, C, or D team. They still struggled mightily on home soil with a team that was losing to Curacao and French Guyana a month ago. Not a good look.

[Critch]

Not seen it mentioned and not sure if he deserves a "we hardly knew you" thread, but corrupt US soccer official Chuck Blazer has shuffled off this mortal coil.

[bhlloy]

Pretty terrible indication of how MLS is developing US players though IMO. Beer leaguers isn't an overexaggeration (3 of the 23 man squad not playing in the Martinique League) - an MLS youth academy should probably be winning that game comfortably, never mind a US team that is pretty much the MLS select

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Pretty terrible indication of how MLS is developing US players though IMO. Beer leaguers isn't an overexaggeration (3 of the 23 man squad not playing in the Martinique League) - an MLS youth academy should probably be winning that game comfortably, never mind a US team that is pretty much the MLS select

Or just a bad game. 2 offensive players who have developed in MLS/NCAA in Zardes & Morris were the closest thing to bright spots, while the worst player by far for the US was Guzan, but I'm not going to say the EPL is bad for player development. (And the most disappointing player on offense was the one in Agudelo who missed out on prime developmental time in his early 20's by chasing a European dream instead of staying in MLS & building off his success until he had a clear path to European PT.)

Fwiw, 12/23 players during the last qualifiers were MLS players, and 17/23 for the Spring ones, so calling this an MLS Select team is quite a bit of an exaggeration. (Though certainly some developed a lot in Europe, and there were a couple prominent injuries to Euro-based players in the spring.) But while we'd all love 23 Christian Pulisic's, I think the Gyasi Zardes/Juan Agudelo comparison shows that MLS has its positive elements, and can actually be better than just "going to Europe" without a clear plan.

[Critch]

Looks like Kyle Walker is going to move to Man City for 50million pounds.

If that goes through, a back four made up of the most expensive right back, left back and 2 centerbacks in the world would be Kyle Walker, Luke Shaw, John Stones and David Luiz.

In related news, transfer fees in the EPL are crazy.

[sovereignstar v2]

Already antsy for the season to start. We are going to pummel United. And if we acquire Sanchez, Jose might as well run and hide.

[sovereignstar v2]

Hope the Walker deal becomes 50m. It will have meant another EPL trophy and a champions league trophy as well.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

B, C, or D team. They still struggled mightily on home soil with a team that was losing to Curacao and French Guyana a month ago. Not a good look.

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Pretty terrible indication of how MLS is developing US players though IMO. Beer leaguers isn't an overexaggeration (3 of the 23 man squad not playing in the Martinique League) - an MLS youth academy should probably be winning that game comfortably, never mind a US team that is pretty much the MLS select

And yet, they drubbed Nicaragua a few days later and won the group. I think I'd chalk up the Martinique game as looking past them for about 8 minutes when up by 2.

[bhlloy]

When you say Nicaragua are you talking about the country of 6 million with all its national team players playing in what is essentially a semi pro league?

I dunno, with all the vast amounts of money in MLS and around US soccer I'd hope the national team has moved past getting excited about beating those kinds of teams. With a C,D or whatever you want to call it squad.