One FG and we're in the lead
methinks methomps needs to spend more time in a mivivan. :tongue2:
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methinks methomps needs to spend more time in a mivivan. :tongue2:
Always nice to lay an egg in the first game...they need to pull one back and then at least draw with Italy Saturday, or it could be 1998 all over again.
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This team should beat Ghana. They should draw with Italy, but they need a win there too. They won't beat anybody though if they keep playing the way they did today.
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Italy is pouring the pressure on Ghana. They only have one goal, but they've hit 9 shots on goal in the first 55 minutes. Looks like a matter of time today...and that we could be in trouble Saturday.
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sandgk
Watson, Crick & A Twist
Well I'm through 1 and a half of todays games, and here are my impressions:
Aussie's - played up in the end. Played like you have to when the breaks go against you and got a deserved win.
USA - man, and some were of the opinion that the Czechs were old, guess what its the American side that looks old and out of ideas, but for a shot that hits the post by Reyna (ironically, the 4th oldest player on the squad). Playing like you should not play when the odds stack against you.
US Soccer seriously need to look at getting young blood in there, build for the future. Move a whole bunch of the U-20 and U-23 forward, dig into the true youth squads - give them reps at a higher level.
Team chemistry is one thing, but having too many older players is a mistake.
Where is a fully developed Adu, or his equivalent?
Italy and Ghana next.
Aussie's - played up in the end. Played like you have to when the breaks go against you and got a deserved win.
USA - man, and some were of the opinion that the Czechs were old, guess what its the American side that looks old and out of ideas, but for a shot that hits the post by Reyna (ironically, the 4th oldest player on the squad). Playing like you should not play when the odds stack against you.
US Soccer seriously need to look at getting young blood in there, build for the future. Move a whole bunch of the U-20 and U-23 forward, dig into the true youth squads - give them reps at a higher level.
Team chemistry is one thing, but having too many older players is a mistake.
Where is a fully developed Adu, or his equivalent?
Italy and Ghana next.
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sandgk
Watson, Crick & A Twist
Italy and Ghana: Finally got through the bulk of that game. Italy is much as you would expect. Great skill mixed with dashes of stupefying slow play.
Ghana is a true Jekyll and Hyde team. The defence is damn close to criminally negligent - the goalie, mentally absent many times, then makes spectacular saves.
What Ghana does have in great quantity is speed up front, plus surprisingly good midfield play. They also show the lack of discipline so many African teams display.
Anyone can score on the Ghanian defence I feel - perhaps that is three points for the US. I wouldn't count on even a point from the game with Italy, not yet, the US simply has to show up on the field.
Ghana is a true Jekyll and Hyde team. The defence is damn close to criminally negligent - the goalie, mentally absent many times, then makes spectacular saves.
What Ghana does have in great quantity is speed up front, plus surprisingly good midfield play. They also show the lack of discipline so many African teams display.
Anyone can score on the Ghanian defence I feel - perhaps that is three points for the US. I wouldn't count on even a point from the game with Italy, not yet, the US simply has to show up on the field.
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the #5 world ranking was overstated, it's a fairly suspect poll in that regard. That being said, I don't think anyone expected this debacle.
sad day :(
sad day :(
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Buckeye513
Stable Genius
Having too many young and unexperienced players would also be a mistake. Look at how the African nations have fared thus far. The only team that's been successful with youth thus far is Holland, and that's mostly because nearly all of their squad plays against top-notch competition on a regular basis.
Today we started 5 players over the age of 30, one of which was Kasey Keller. I wouldn't say that we're fielding a team of senior citizens. To be honest, everyone but our veterans looked uninterested more often than not.
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sandgk
Watson, Crick & A Twist
No really, you think balance is what is needed? No kidding!
Balance is not really what they have though. Only 5 players over 30, gee, why does that NOT make me happy when 11 are on the pitch.
The US leans on those older players, particularly Reyna - and ask yourself this, how thin are the ranks when a player who barely makes it onto the pitch for Man City earns another cap for the US?
As for the the Dutch being the only team to succeed with youth, you mean in this tournament, so what about a broader or historical sense? (History Pele, Brazil, youngest ever player at World Cup then, Sweden, 1962. I would say that was stunningly succesful). Specific to this tournament, and in a broader sense, the reason you give for why the Dutch do so well in bringing along young talent is exactly what appalls me about the US system. Too freaking collegiate, too little early advancement. We need to be pitting those gifted 15 and 16 year olds against the Under-21s. We need a real minor league, not the present system. There is plenty of talent, there is insufficient talent development.
I'm hopping off the soapbox.
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Buckeye513
Stable Genius
And the other 6 are under 30, four under 25. I'd call that balance.
He started 23 games last year for Man City, 21 of which were in the EPL, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from.
I don't see how that's at all relevent. We're never going to see a squad made up of teenagers and 20-year olds like Brazil was able to produce in the '60s and '70s because of the physicality and speed of today's game.
And Sweden didn't even qualify in 1962.
You'll get no argument from me about the need for a better youth system, but there isn't "plenty" of talent for the USSF to work with. If you've watched our U-17 or U-20 team in the past couple of years, you would've seen that we're technically miles behind just about every big soccer nation in the world. Physically, all the pieces are there, as we're also faster than just about every big soccer nation in the world, but Americans just seem to lack that footballing brain that most Brazillians and Englishmen and Argentines possess. It's not really something that can be taught.
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