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American Soccer |OT| Life, liberty and the pursuit of the beautiful game

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C

Cystm

Member
I am finally in the top 10 for our fantasy league.

ib0Exu41QWCml2.png


My first three weeks:
DxX8eac.jpg
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T

The Culture Vulture

Member
ZZMitch said:
I am up to 2nd now! It gunna be real tough to catch Mr. Vulture though haha.
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Nah I've been treading water the last couple of weeks thinking about playing my wildcard next round to fix some issues with my team.

Chicago Fire look like shit this second half. They were actually the better club in the first.
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
The Culture Vulture said:
Nah I've been treading water the last couple of weeks thinking about playing my wildcard next round to fix some issues with my team.

Chicago Fire look like shit this second half. They were actually the better club in the first.
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If you're gonna play it I'd do it ahead of next week, most of the league is on a bye and teams will be decimated. Mine included :(
 
C

Cystm

Member
AT&T MLS All-Star voting update:

Goalkeepers
Nick Rimando Real Salt Lake 3,216 votes
Bill Hamid D.C. United 2,764 votes
Stefan Frei Seattle Sounders FC 2,745 votes
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Defenders
Omar Gonzalez LA Galaxy 6,040 votes
Matt Besler Sporting KC 5,561 votes
Brek Shea Orlando City SC 5,294 votes
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Midfielders
Kaka Orlando City SC 9,025 votes
Michael Bradley Toronto FC 6,644 votes
Benny Feilhaber Sporting KC 5,269 votes
Graham Zusi Sporting KC 4,824 votes
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Forwards
Clint Dempsey Seattle Sounders FC 10,972 votes
Obafemi Martins Seattle Sounders FC 5,291 votes
David Villa New York City FC 5,031 votes
Sebastian Giovinco Toronto FC 5,015 votes
Kei Kamara Columbus Crew SC 4,416 votes
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Bold: Cringe worthy, but that name recognition tho. Zusi hasn't even played most of the season. Pedro Morales or Fabian Castillo deserve the recognition more.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
US U20's face off against Ukraine tonight in the WC. A win or a draw will guarantee first place in the group. Kickoff is at 3am ET on FS1.




Also, the USMNT - Netherlands game is tomorrow. Kickoff is at 2:30 PM ET, and tv coverage is on ESPN, WatchESPN, UniMás, UDN.

Here's the roster:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), William Yarbrough (Club Leon)

DEFENDERS (7): Ventura Alvarado (Club America), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Michael Orozco (Puebla), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC), DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), Danny Williams (Reading)

FORWARDS (4): Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Jordan Morris (Stanfurd), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)
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C

Cornballer

Member
- MLS Analyst predicts the Gold Cup roster:

Some interesting picks in here. Full explanation via the link:

Here are a trio of ground rules:

I'm going to assume Jurgen learned his lesson from last summer and will bring adequate backups all over the field
I'm going to assume the de facto formation is a 4-1-3-2, though that does not mean it's the only formation the US will play
I'm going to be making the picks I think Jurgen will make, not the ones I'd make
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Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Nick Rimando (RSL), William Yarbrough (Club León)

Left Backs: Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Brek Shea (Orlando City)
Right Backs: DeAndre Yedlin (Tottenham Hotspur), Timothy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Center Backs: Ventura Alvarado (Club América), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City)

Defensive Midfielders: Danny Williams (Reading), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United)
Central Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Gedion Zelalem (Arsenal)
Wide Midfielders: Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt 04)

Forwards: Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders), Aron Jóhannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Jordan Morris (Stanford)
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Hopefully Jozy will be back as a replacement for the knockout rounds. We'll have to see if any of the younger strikers (Agudelo, Zardes) impress during the Netherlands/Germany games, too.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
US U23's miraculously progress to the 3rd place match at the Toulon Tournament after France beats The Netherlands 4-0 and Qatar wins. They'll play on Sunday. Not a bad result for a b-squad.
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Cornballer said:
US U23's miraculously progress to the 3rd place match at the Toulon Tournament after France beats The Netherlands 4-0 and Qatar wins. They'll play on Sunday. Not a bad result for a b-squad.
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I can't say I saw this coming, any word on who they'll be facing yet?
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Shea played a few games at left back for Orlando, but he's been moved further up the field since then. The player pool is in a position right now where almost all of the backs (Shea, F. Johnson, Yedlin, Chandler) are aggressive and more suited to play higher on the wing than as a traditional fullback.
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
ActStriker said:
Charlie Davies has had a career resurgence.

Knowing that, he would've been called in by now if he was in contention for the Gold Cup.
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I agree that he deserves a call up over Wondo, I'd have left Morris with the u23's to bring Davies along as well.


ActStriker said:
Klinsmann has been playing him there.
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Heath also played him there to start the season before moving him up to midfield due to the overcrowding going on in the center. I imagine Orlando will try and pick up a leftmid who plays a little wide so they can move Shea back.
 
A

Arials

Member
B-Dubs said:
About who I expected, I just figured we might know for sure. That'd be pretty crazy if it was Mexico.
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Mexico would require China (0 points, thrashed in all games) to beat England and Morocco to beat Mexico. Not happening.

It'll probably be US U23 vs England U20 (which is also effectively a B team due to the U21 Euros taking priority) in the third place play off with Mexico U23 (A?) vs France U20 A in the final.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Yikes, U20's got ripped 3-0 by Ukraine last night. Sounds like the defense was pretty bad and Hyndman missed a PK. They'll likely play Colombia in the next round.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
US - Netherlands is this afternoon.

Greg Seltzer was at practice for most of the week and had the following observations.

Of interest:
If what I've seen holds up, expect (right to left) Chandler, Alvarado, Brooks and Shea starting along the back line against the Netherlands. Those wide backs best get buckled in now, they are going to be put to work by Oranje. Meanwhile, there seems to be a tight competition between Beckerman and Williams to assume the No. 6 role in front of them. Along with Bradley, Johnson and Morales also looked like line-up material for Friday. Not entirely sure about the forwards, but I'd guess Jóhannsson will also start.
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Guzan looks sharp. He made a couple of diving saves so good, not one player ooh-ed or aah-ed; they all just kinda said a quick "oh shit" under their breath and got back to hard work.

And Guzan is especially riding Brooks, from a vocal keeper standpoint. Compliments, criticisms, requests, situation info... the netminder was constantly in the young LCB's ear. In other words, the Hertha hotshot is being groomed to be a leader at the back during these two forthcoming friendlies, and Guzan is playing Lee Ermey's character. That's some sneaky leadership in and of itself. Big Brad II is a real pro.
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Watching Bradley drop those patented mid-range angled lob passes all over the final third is fun-damental. They aren't just pretty and pretty effective, they make defenders turn effectively, which is not always the easiest thing to do with guys like Altidore, Dempsey, Green, Johnson and Yedlin making the runs.

Let's keep this simple: make defenders turn a lot and you will create more chances overall. They don't like resetting their view on the fly and Bradley lobs produce that effect even when they don't work. It also produces the effect of leaving defenders unsure of how long they get to just stand and face the attack. Make defenders think and chew gum at the same time, and suddenly more things will open up.

And this, to me, is yet another of the many opportunity cost reasons that Bradley belongs in the No. 8 role. He's in better range for his best killer pass with one more target ahead. Does he create 1-2 nice chances playing further up as the lead playmaker? Sure, but he would already do that stationed a bit deeper. Look back at his international career. It's not really an offensive net gain when he slides up to No. 10, but it's definitely a defensive and possession loss.
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More via the link.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- MLSSoccer: Bruce Arena thankful Omar Gonzalez was allowed by USMNT to stay with injury-plagued LA Galaxy
Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena, who guided the national team from 1998 through the 2006 World Cup, asked for whatever help might be available ahead of Saturday's home game against the Vancouver Whitecaps, and Klinsmann was willing to work with him.

“Basically because of a shortage of players, they understood it would be difficult for us to let a defender go because we've had about three defenders the last couple of games ...,” Arena said. “We couldn't afford to let a defender go right now.”

Gonzalez was ready to go.

“One day I was on the roster, and I was going to those friendlies in Europe, and the next day I find out I'm off the roster because we're so shorthanded on the backline,” the big center back said. “Definitely understand the situation. I was excited to go play in those games, but I didn't dwell on [the decision to leave me home] too much because I wanted to make sure to be mentally right for the Galaxy. I understand the situation, and I moved on.”
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Sounds like he's still very much in the mix for the Gold Cup.
 
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