I was laughing so much reading this that I misspelled just about everything in my prior post. Quick question though. How many players on the Uruguay squad that beat Mexico in the WC are/were Manchester United and Barcelona material?? Forlan doesn't count-Already had a failed spell at United. I respectfully disagree with you calling Dempsey and Donovan 2nd tier players. (I conveniently left out Jozy since I agree on that).
Hey Ferrari...Thanks for finding the humor in my statement...I intentionally came off strong... but as to your question: Nowhere did I state that it in order to beat Mexico you need Manchester or Barcelona level talent... however, I do think that at an individual level the best of the US isn't at that level... Also do keep in mind that it takes lots of talent to become a world beater...hence only 7 teams have ever won the world cup (coincidentally Uruguay is one of them)....why else do you think Saudi Arabia hasnt won... they sure have the money to buy the best coach... but sadly they just cant buy the talent... Now to contradict myself...I also think that to be successful on the field you dont need to have the most skilled players...the players have to be just good enough so that there deficiencies talent wise can be made up by good team work etc... And that is where the coach comes in.
It's not bandwagonish. I literally learned the game of soccer from cousins, uncles and friends in Mexico since I was a 6-7 years old. Naturally they watched the Mexican National team play and I would join them. Makes sense, no? I learned about the game of basketball when I would sit at home in Houston with my step father watching Rockets games. So naturally the only basketball I know and invested in all my life, was the NBA and the team USA. You can't expect me in my adulthood to adopt another team when I have invested most of my life watching the NBA and team USA.
Not bandwagonish at all. The reason I'm so attached to the Rockets is because I would sit with my family and watch games with them. I did this so often that my love and obsession grew for them. Same thing with Mexico, all my family is from Mexico and they grew up watching Mexico which they passed down to me. I don't hate the USA team one bit and only wish that they also keep getting better, but I could never root for them over Mexico. Mexico is my team in soccer and I will always root for them. In regards to USA basketball, yes I root for them because I grew up watching the NBA and a lot of the players I enjoy watching have played for USA. I think it is only natural I root for them. There seems to be people that think it is treason that I don't root for USA in soccer, but its their fault for only being bandwagon fans and not actually caring for the USA nat team. On the other hand, I've hung around nothing but die hard mexico fans and they helped me appreciate the team. Besides, we love soccer in Mexico, hardly anyone here love soccer.
Well that's fair, nothing wrong with that. Yeah that's a good point. Not like the Mexican Basketball team is aired in the states (and probably not popular in Mexico?), so it is hard to root for players you don't know and aren't very familiar with. That's actually a good point. Most Americans are bandwagon fans for the soccer team. If they aren't doing good no one cares and talks about how USA doesn't care about soccer...but if they do make it far and show signs of making some noise (Like making it to the knockout stage in world cup) everyone gets invested into it here.
Was at the game and that was definitely a letdown after the start. That was an awesome atmosphere at the start of the game though it was obviously 95% Mexican fans. Only other thing I noted is what a piece of crap the Rose Bowl is. It's not even a big stadium and the only way they fit 93K in there is the fact that the seats are designed for 10 year old girls. Out at the concessions, they actually had 12" tube TVs and it looked like swap meet out there with the exterior facilities. Really? Wow ... how bout at least upgrade to a few LCD monitors?
Forlan blew at Man U about a decade ago, obviously he has improved his game sicne. But who is top tier-euro quality from Uruguay? Suarez, Forlan, Diego Godin is a very good player with Villarreal/Athletico, Martin Caceres was with Barca/Juve but was injured, Edinson Cavani who put up 26 goals in Serie A for Napoli probably counts.
Agreed...Bradley should be gone by weeks end...that dos Santos goal was a thing of beauty...Howard looked off...until next time...
I already mentioned the Forlan part. I don't understand why you're asking me the question. That's the exact same question I posed to monsieur ChrisBosh on here. (But he was only having a laugh with his initial post).
Not going to happen. Gulati will never hire Klinsmann. He want's someone like Bradley that will follow direction. Besides, they'll view this as a successful tournament. It's the problem with US Soccer. Still looking for milestones when they should be looking for results.
I agree with you DD that Uruguay's defence in the world cup was pretty darn decent! They kept their team in the game most games and yet the team as a whole played very positive soccer....It was evident in the Mexico-US game that the Mexicans were struggling to hold their own in the back end. The reality is that the Mexican team just doesn't have the height to protect the goal against set pieces, nor were they particularly physical...I think that the Mexican team as a whole needs to find taller players on their defensive side..perhaps that is hard to do since most Mexicans are short and not exactly physical specimens much like the Asians like Korea or Japan!!!
Damn, these sent shivers down my spine... <iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j6G-5oXLK4Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Jd25xaEIFPs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I would say that Luis Suarez is Uruguay's top European player these days. The fact that Middle Eastern clubs are putting up high offers for Diego Forlan, after a down domestic season (despite being the best individual player in the World Cup), during Atletico's fire sale shows how interest in him is waning. Suarez has played well for Liverpool and, along with Andy Carroll, will hopefully be key to a resurgence there.
Sorry for the double post, but I meant to say that I fully believe Uruguay would have played in the World Cup Final last year had Suarez not been suspended for the Netherlands game. Forlan had some incredible play in that game, but Suarez up top would have pushed them over the edge (of course, discounting the Von Bronckhorst golazo that is the stuff of dreams).
I disagree. There's tons of players around the world-Brazil, England, etc that have the talent because they were kicking a ball instead of bouncing one. They didn't become professional even with the massive interest the game spurs in their country for a variety of reasons and one of them in some cases is coaching. It's not a given that if you kicked a ball from the start instead of bouncing one, you'd be a much better player at the kicking the ball sport instead of the bouncing the ball sport. The World Cup results last summer indicate that the English national team are definitely not a level or two above the USA.(I say that being a Three Lions supporter). The last time a soccer phenom came out of the USA? That depends on one's definition of Phenom. One could go with Agudelo(I disagree but some US fans thought prior to the GC that he was the bee's knees). An easy one is Freddy Adu. What happened? As opposed to how certain managers around the world and certain teams around the world wrap their star phenoms in metaphorical cotton wool and try to keep them grounded. That didn't happen in Adu's case. The worst decision ever was not signing with InterMilan and going with MLS. The coaching failed, him, the league failed, him and most importantly, he failed himself. It was a mess all around. But he was a phenom(Granted one not born in the USA). The last "phenom" before him, possibly Landon Donovan. In his case, Landycakes showed his feminine ways during his spell at Bayer Leverkusen as a youngster and returned to the cozy confines of Los Estados Unidos where he could blossom untested. I don't think passion has little to do with the success of national teams. Obviously that's a big thing but I feel coaching is just as, if not a little bit more important. Talking about popularity and passion is not an overnight thing. Just looking back to Saturday's result. I am hearing more calls for Bradley to be fired than I was last summer and definitely more than in 1998 under Sampson and the disastrous France '98 performance. Things keep developing, the passion is growing more and more and eventually I foresee a situation where in 2018, if the US fails at the knockout stage again or doesn't make it to the quarters or semi's, there will be polls on Sportscenter about firing the coach and more people in the country will be calling for the coach to be fired. It takes time and it will get there. I just think right now getting the coaching right is the first thing. The passion and popularity of the sport will get to a solid level soon enough.
MEXICO: GOLD CUP 2011 CHAMPS!!! I think he's talking about who owned the championship. Mexico was the current champion at the time of the post to which you replied. He meant to never underestimate the heart of a champion (Mexico, Gold Cup Champion 2009 and now 2011). :grin: [Sorry about the long post... it took me a while to think about all these points I'd like to discuss] Some people asked me if I thought that by being down 2-0 that we would lose the game. I felt like it would be tough to work up a steep incline, but I didn't lose hope the scores would come from Mexico. I was with a few peeps who know soccer... and they thought we were done. We noticed that both scores came from the side where Salcido was failing. Good thing he knew it too and so did 'Chepo' and switched him out for Torres Nilo. We also noticed Cherundolo limping just before winning the corner kick that would have Bradley score the first. We didn't know how he had gotten that injury, but it was noticeable. After he went out, it was also noticeable that Bornstein was either a step BEHIND or a bit out of place in his new position... I don't think Lichaj was playing there... someone pointed this out. I couldn't help but feel bad for Tim Howard and his effort in this game. For the first time in a long time, I didn't see him yelling loudly and effortlessly to his defenders. I did catch him saying "WTF is THIS? WTF is THIS?" on a replay... after a Mexican striker missed wide. Howard's crawling and swiping to no avail at Giovanni's dribbling in his box seemed just like what the game felt like for the U.S. Couldn't catch Mexico again. Giovanni was faster, Torrado was on target for most of his passes, and DeLaTorre's strategy and composure was just what was needed to overcome that deficit. ADU will be getting better for years to come. After he was causing havoc in the first 30 minutes of the game, it was up to TWO defenders to stop him... that may have cost us another score, but the other defenders and midfielders made up well in shifting over to Dempsey and Donovan. Too bad Agudelo wasn't in sooner... or it would have meant another score. It feels great to win this cup. Not only does it mean that we keep the Gold Cup again, but the representation in the world stage means a lot. Sure, we lost it in 2007, sure we probably wouldn't have beat Spain, but it's great to be back. In terms of "What can the U.S. do after this?" go, I don't believe that just changing Bradley will do much. The same team on the field or a better team needs just that bit of extra "touch" and skill on the ball in order to get past a defense such as Mexico's or even a tougher one like Argentina's or Germany's. I was actually beginning to like how the U.S. didn't play its usual score-and-play-D like in times past... where they have surprised teams who try to come back on them by playing long passes to a counter-attack. The second pass from Adu to Dempsey to Donovan was right on the money. Marquez was too slow to react to Donovan beating him to the ball after Juarez committed to Dempsey. GIOVANNI's GOAL was one for the ages... it just looks beautiful: It seemed like it took two years for it to finally drop. ferrari, I think I'm agreeing with everything you've been saying about MEXICO's passion for the game... and the passion for it from the get go. I root for MEXICO first, then for the USA, and then USA versus other teams but no way would I ever root for them against Mexico. I was born there, raised there, and then I came here and I have somewhat of a different tie than most dudes here. If I go to live to anywhere else, I probably will still root for those two teams. I wanted to ask you dudes: Would you have been happy if Lichaj had stuck his hand up to stop the goal (remember Suarez vs. Ghana?)? I know, they would have been a man down. AND NOW FOR THE FUN PART: Spoiler DaDakota, where are you, LIAR? Here is what you said about MEXICO: and Take a look at this: THREE wins in a row against your team by my "puny little" team. TWO of those wins are FINAL games of a cup. Total score 11-3 during those three games. So Mexico... what? DaDakota, you're a liar. LOL! :grin: Again, a lie. Don't need to help this team win, when this team scores FOUR goals in a row when down 0-2. Who looks like an OOMPA LOOMPA here? The guy in black, or the guy in ORANGE? Man, I'm never one to brag or kick a man down... but I'll make an exception for you... since you're talking about FLEAS, look at how many fleas we're catching with this jersey: Spoiler HUGE GOLD FLEA: This was your best post of this thread, sir. I'm glad I was rooting for the team that made you hate even more. That's what I wanted to hear, BANDWAGON fan. You hadn't been heard of in this thread until your team reached the FINAL game. What a loser you are. Thank you for this signature-worthy quote.
Is there a need for this? Why bring my family into this? You're lucky I don't take these insults so personally. There's from trash talking about football to insulting someone personally. Seriously, you're classless, DaDakota and I hope you learn a lesson from not knowing when to stop.
