[Soccer] US vs Spain & 2011 Gold Cup

Dos Santos is a poor man's Messi. That chip was amazing. I have my doubts he could do that again given the chance but wow what a goal.

 

Well, it's true.

Look at our team. A lot of our team are either immigrants or sons of immigrants from countries that care about soccer (Adu, Agudelo, Bedoya, Altidore, Onyewu, Edu). Then a few hispanics whose parents probably pushed them towards soccer. Do you think guys like barry sanders or Chris Paul even gave a thought to playing soccer? no chance.

 

I have liked him for a couple of years, he is very creative, putting him, Donavan and Dempsey on the pitch with Holden is really nice.

Our D was atrocious but a lot of that has to do with Mexico, they controlled the tempo, had much better build up, and Chicharito is amazing, love him at Man U, but he has such a knack for making that run that it puts amazing pressure on the USA.

That being said, Mexico's D was pretty danged bad too, Dempsey hit the cross bar and Bradley missed a wide open net, this game could have easily been 6 goals a piece.....

What an exciting match and that chip over Howard as he overcommitted himself.....amazing shot...simply skill to the extreme.

DD

 

Yeah, that's a dumb statement. The key to great international Futbol teams?

The kids go to team run soccer schools were they practice and do school work from the age of 12.

El Futbol et torna el que li dones.

 

The better team won. When you go up 2-0 in the early stages of a game, you play possession. A Bradley-coached team is too stupid to do that and instead resorted to the long-ball strategy that has been burning us for years. Mexico looked great and should make some noise in 2013.

US Soccer fans should be passionate about one thing from here on out: fire Bob Bradley. He is maxed-out. He is out-classed in every international game and has been for a long time. We have gotten by on luck, which in football is smoke and mirrors. A 2-0 victory against a sleepy Spain in South Africa was exposed by the 3-2 (after leading 2-0) loss to Brazil. Poor play in the World Cup was hidden by a weak group (England didn't perform and we had to come back against lesser opponents in Slovenia and Algeria) and Ghana exposed us when it really mattered. And, since then, we haven't done anything. We're lucky to play in CONCACAF, which is so weak that we always have a shot of reaching the final, but we are stagnant.

Jurgen Klinsmann is waiting. Please. For all of the talk of growing the sport in America, this is the kind of thing that turns people off and allows trolls like bigtexxx to laugh it up. Stagnation is worse for the growth of American soccer than a few temporary setbacks that would happen under a new coach. This team hasn't grown in years and the younger players are not getting the coaching they need to compete at the highest level.

 

I'm not laughing it up -- I was cheering for the US, but I can recognize that we're fighting with one hand tied behind our backs from a talent point of view.

 

Agreed. It is something we'll always have to play with. And, when you think about it, it's kind of amazing that we've been able to have any type of consistent international presence. As I said, a lot of that has to do with playing in CONCACAF where a lot of countries are passionate about sports other than soccer (Canada has hockey, we have the Big 3, Cuba has baseball, Jamaica has cricket and track, etc.) and countries that would never smell the World Cup if they played in UEFA get a shot.

 

BTW - Howard was pretty bad, he has been getting progressively worse, who is our next keeper?

DD

 

Not even sure. I think the defenders had more to do with it though. Howard has one more run in him I feel...at least I hope because I have no faith in whoever is behind him.

 

He was out of position a lot tonight, off his line....he usually keeps the team in it with some amazing saves but he was nowhere near any important saves tonight....and was out of position giving up the near post on the Berrera goal and on his knees not attacking on the 4th goal....

DD

 

Actually I bet he could.

 

It's more than just having better athletes. You still need soccer skill.

Look at early 2000's NBA. Great athletes, sorry skilled players. It was un-watchable.

They need to fix and tweak the soccer youth system. They have that IMG soccer academy, I'm sure it's doing fine, but I'm sure it could be better.


They need to reach out to urban areas, "ie the black kids" yeah I said it, and the Hispanics. You know, Asian people like soccer too.

 

Ah the horrible excuse!
You do know a lot of countries like France and even Germany have a significant number of players on their teams that are immigrants or sons of immigrants from other countries that care about soccer?

The issue isn't having guys like Barry Sanders or Chris Paul, the issue is coaching. Go have a chat with England supporters or those involved with that team. The best athletes play soccer and they still have issues w/the coaching those players get at an early age.

 

Not saying he didn't have a bad game. He did, he could have saved 3 of those goals. The first goal where it literally goes right past his shin and he looks at it going into the net, the 2nd goal where Lichaj deflected it to him and it bounced off his chest (could have clearly grabbed it) and the final goal by Dos Santos.

But still the defenders were very bad too but Howard had a pretty good tourney outside of this game.

I just think he has one more world cup run in him and if the Defenders could have stepped up this game and made it easier for him. Mexico was knocking on the door for the entire game, I remember saying at half that it was a miracle that Dos Santos didn't have a goal and lo and behold he got is.

 

Jurgen Klinsmann isn't waiting for sh#t. He needs to fix that mess in Toronto that he, Paul Mariner and Aron Winter are presiding over.
I'd love to see him take over the US team but the divide between him and the USSF seems to be too far.

I agree with you for the most part on Bradley but thats incorrect to say he's been out-classed in every international match and has been for a long time. I don't think i've missed a US match since I moved to this country. I've seen matches (prior to the WC and def.not against Euro competition) that Bradley has made excellent moves-selection wise, pre and in game tactics wise as well.
But yeah, it's time for the USSF to shake hands with him and part ways.

 

Agreed Jay, with that defense we needed a Herculean effort and we got one of his worst.

DD

 

They are doing that but it's easier said than done. Check out the US youth teams. The number of hispanic kids keep rising. The number of "black american" kids is increasing a little slower but still more impressively than things were in 1998.

 

With all due respect you're must be high!
First off the next/backup keeper is Marcus Hahnemahn. The US always has a solid pipeline of keepers and Nick Rimando, Brad Guzan, Robles in Germany are in the mix.

To say he's been getting progressively worse is beyond ridiculous.
Put any keeper behind the horrible selection mess that Bradley sr placed in front of Howard tonight and you'd probably get a similar result.

Take away Howard from his club side-Everton and watch Everton not even sniff the top half of the Premiership table.

There's nothing wrong with Howard. Matter of fact, he was as resigned tonight as I've seen him on the pitch in years. After a while he wasn't even berating and yelling at his defenders the way most keepers do each game. He knew it was a lost cause (probably as soon as Jonny Bornstein stepped on the pitch).

 

UGH. COme on now.

 

Fair enough, but he struggled at Everton some this season too....he was not as good this year as last.

DD