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U.S. Men's National Soccer (Official Thread)

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I loved what I saw out of Onyewu, Chandler and Altidore tonight. Gooch and Jozy especially seemed to play HUNGRY, which were good signs.

All in all, I saw more positive than negative tonight, even though it was a loss. A lot of the guys who were negatives tonight are guys that seem likely to spend time on the bench or not even in camp once the games count. At the very least there's no way even half of those subs will be on the pitch at the same time once qualifying begins.
 
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Good for FOX, I suppose.

http://content.usatoday.com/communi...port-fox-wins-broadcast-rights-to-world-cup/1

This just tweeted by John Ourand of Sports Business Journal: Sources: Fox wins rights to '18 and '22 World Cups, outbidding ESPN and NBC.Writes Ourand:
The decision to award the rights to Fox is a shocking development, since incumbent ESPN was widely believed to be the front-runner to retain the World Cup rights.​
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Can't even recall the last time the World Cup wasn't on ESPN (every WC since 1990, at least).

I just pray the network doesn't stick with playing the "NFL on FOX" theme for soccer broadcasts like it's currently doing for EPL games on FOX (but this is seven years down the road, so imagine they'll be drastically different).

It would be hilarious to watch ESPN's soccer coverage slowly filter down (after 2014), since they lost the rights. It would mirror their Olympic coverage or stance. No Olympics on ESPN thru 2020 and no WC thru 2022.
 
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The World Cup was about the only thing ESPN did right. I'm actually a little disappointed in this.

Plus it now means that after Brazil, soccer is going to be treated like dog shit by ESPN. This could be a big setback for the sport in this country.
 
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jlb1705;2017175; said:
Plus it now means that after Brazil, soccer is going to be treated like dog [Mark May] by ESPN. This could be a big setback for the sport in this country.
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Yep. Pretty much the only thing that could keep the network's interest is getting the complete broadcasting rights (all of it) to the EPL and La Liga, Bundesliga or something (I'm conceding that ESPN will not keep MLS TV rights).

Other than that, it will be just like the network's coverage of the Olympics.

This is new territory for FOX, since it will honestly be the network's first time broadcasting the World Cup. I'm scared S-Less about seeing Frank Caliendo or Michael Strahan on a soccer broadcast (cross-promotion). I also do not really like Eric Wynalda or Curt Menefee hosting.

"Frank, How would John Madden give Team USA a pep talk?"
 
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CHU;2017180; said:
Yep. Pretty much the only thing that could keep the network's interest is getting the complete broadcasting rights (all of it) to the EPL and La Liga, Bundesliga or something (I'm conceding that ESPN will not keep MLS TV rights).

Other than that, it will be just like the network's coverage of the Olympics.

This is new territory for FOX, since it will honestly be the network's first time broadcasting the World Cup. I'm scared S-Less about seeing Frank Caliendo or Michael Strahan on a soccer broadcast (cross-promotion). I also do not really like Eric Wynalda or Curt Menefee hosting.

"Frank, How would John Madden give Team USA a pep talk?"
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While soccer may be new to FOX, it's not new to News Corp. In fact, most of the commentators that ESPN has been using have come from Sky Sports if I recall correctly. Those guys will have no reason to go on loan to ESPN during the World Cup when this deal takes effect, and will probably just end up on the FOX broadcasts in one way or another.

Hopefully something good comes of this. Maybe this will give FOX the impetus to fix the woefully horrible FSC.
 
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jlb1705;2017196; said:
While soccer may be new to FOX, it's not new to News Corp. In fact, most of the commentators that ESPN has been using have come from Sky Sports if I recall correctly. Those guys will have no reason to go on loan to ESPN during the World Cup when this deal takes effect, and will probably just end up on the FOX broadcasts in one way or another.

Hopefully something good comes of this. Maybe this will give FOX the impetus to fix the woefully horrible FSC.
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It can't be worse than Dave O'Brien (Oliver Kahn won the Golden Boot) and Marcelo Balboa in 06.

I watch Sky Sports News on FSC more than SportsCenter, and I'd take Millie Clode, Natalie Sawyer and Georgie Thompson over Bob Ley and Mike Tirico (at least to look at).

It would've been comical if FIFA denied the BBC the U.K. rights due to the BBC's reporting on all that mess with FIFA prior to the WC bidding. Actually, it would've been on-par with Sepp Blatter's tenure.

Co-worker said ESPN is going long and it's all part of a plan to acquire/merge with News Corp. prior to 2018 (he was kidding) :biggrin:
 
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I actually like Wynalda and Christopher Sullivan in the studio, and I like Sullivan in the booth for the CONCACAF games too. He's very technical, and being a guy that never played soccer, and wouldn't even give it a chance until a couple of years ago, a guy like Sullivan does a lot more for me than the Brits that only talk about history and other politics of the sport stuff. The Fox soccer report is nearly unwatchable though, and I try to watch the Sky Sports show, but I don't care about cricket and only care a very small amount about Rugby.
 
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22-man roster for upcoming friendlies against France, in Paris and Slovenia, in Ljubljana. Not thrilled about a few of the picks, but, whatever, I hope Klinsmann's plan works.
US NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Tim Howard (Everton/England)
DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers/Scotland), Timmy Chandler (N?rnberg/Germany), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96/Germany), Clarence Goodson (Br?ndby/Denmark), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin/Germany), Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis/Mexico), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon/Portugal)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona/Italy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham/England), Maurice Edu (Rangers/Scotland), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim/Germany), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04/Germany), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim/Germany)
FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar/Netherlands), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla/Mexico), Edson Buddle (Ingolstadt/Germany), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
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It'll be interesting to see these guys playing in season form. Brek Shea will be highly talked about in these games for English teams. I think Man U showing interest in him will only branch down to some of the other English clubs that could actually use a player like Brek. (QPR, Stoke, Newcastle maybe)
 
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I'm just glad the Federation is thinking long-term and realizing these are friendlies.

Wish some critics would realize that national teams usually train at 10 day clips, which makes it hard to completely change everything fast. It's not like club where you're training multiple times a week.

But that's still no excuse. Need to find a goal-scorer or finisher and the center-halves got beat over-the-top twice by France (maybe more) on pure speed (Goodson).

Like the experimentation with so many newcomers getting their first caps (the Germans like Fabian Johnson and Danny Williams) these past few months under Jurgen.

Qualification starts next year, so that's when it counts.
 
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I didn't watch the game, but I just watched the highlights. Wow that could be one of the worst defense's in the world. So bad. On the other hand, they took advantage of what was given to them. I like have 2 strikers up front so they can feed off each other, but that means it could leave you thin in the back in some situations. To even that out, they HAVE to be strong in those situations, and they lucked out it was against Slovenia and not against a top class opponent, because those teams will bury those chances in the back of the net. Defense HAS TO play stronger.
 
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