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

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Jozy Altidore's right there giving the center official muck during the Dec. 21 game. :wink2:

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_new...after-goalie-retaliates-against-pitch-invader

pb-111222-mad-goalie-da-02.photoblog900.jpg
 
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Random stuff:

-ESPN's Rob Stone is heading to Fox Soccer/Sports

-Landon Donovan is returning to Everton on a loan. Love the move for both sides.

-USMNT plays two friendlies to start the 2012 season in January. Sat. 1/21 vs. Venezuela in Glendale, AZ and Wed. 1/25 vs. Panama in Panama City. This is generally referred to as Camp Cupcake as young guys get a shot early in the year to impress in camp and a couple friendlies (not official FIFA dates, so top players stick with their international club teams).

Roster for January camp:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (7): Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), A.J. DeLaGarza (LA Galaxy), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), George John (FC Dallas), Zach Loyd (FC Dallas), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (Chivas USA)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Benny Feilhaber (New England Revolution), Jeff Larentowicz (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (4): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), C.J. Sapong (Sporting Kansas City), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
 
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OHSportsFan9;2072862; said:
Random stuff:

-ESPN's Rob Stone is heading to Fox Soccer/Sports

-Landon Donovan is returning to Everton on a loan. Love the move for both sides.

-USMNT plays two friendlies to start the 2012 season in January. Sat. 1/21 vs. Venezuela in Glendale, AZ and Wed. 1/25 vs. Panama in Panama City. This is generally referred to as Camp Cupcake as young guys get a shot early in the year to impress in camp and a couple friendlies (not official FIFA dates, so top players stick with their international club teams).

Roster for January camp:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (7): Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), A.J. DeLaGarza (LA Galaxy), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), George John (FC Dallas), Zach Loyd (FC Dallas), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (Chivas USA)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Benny Feilhaber (New England Revolution), Jeff Larentowicz (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (4): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), C.J. Sapong (Sporting Kansas City), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
Click to expand...

Is it bad that I think we'll be more dynamic with a team like this? Beckerman, Feilhaber, and Shea are going to tear it up in the midfield. The forwards worry me, but hopefully Agudelo sees the most time out there so he can get as much International experience he can get.
 
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FIFA.com has a two-part interview with Klinsmann:

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1566711/index.html

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1566723/index.html

The most interesting passage in my opinion came in Part Two:

So, they need to make themselves better players?
It?s about empowerment. You can only get people to do better if you leave it up to them. Soccer is driven from the inside. It's a player's game no matter what the level. This is something that is hard for Americans to understand. Baseball, American football and basketball, to a lesser degree, are driven from the outside, by coaches and managers. You have playbooks and timeouts and all manner of things.

Do you think there is a problem of sporting culture to work past?
In football, there are 11 quarterbacks on the field, so to speak, and they need to improvise and change things all the time. And that?s why I need to develop players who push themselves. You have to go out and work on the things that you are weakest at, over and over, hundreds of times every day. Then it will become automatic.
Click to expand...
 
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To expand on what I thought was interesting about the quoted passage... I have long complained about US sides being slow of thought and narrow of vision when on the pitch. It seems they are always slow to make a run, pick out a teammate on a run, recognize space or the right thing to do with the ball at your feet in the attacking 1/3. I think the physical talent is there, I think the physical skills have been developed. It's the mental side of the game where the US lags behind the top footballing nations.

I had never looked at it from the perspective that Klinsmann presented it in though. Perhaps it is because I'm American that I didn't see it before - that the major American sports have maybe one person on the field or court at any one time who is responsible for making decisions, and everybody else plays to an assignment. The onus for decision-making exists mostly on the sidelines with coaches/managers.

The US team needs to get to a point where there are multiple people out there who are comfortable making decisions on the pitch, and are able of doing it quickly enough. Part of it is that the player pool hasn't been strong enough to afford that kind of luxury, but part of it may be due to the sporting culture in this country too.
 
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I just can't wait until the US and World Class football are used in the same sentence. Is that too much to ask for?

I know we're a ways off from being considered "world class", but one can dream.
 
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