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US GAF: Support your national soccer team

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R

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Gamecocks625 said:
Again, they had the better team on the field...still sucks though. I would have loved for Landon's goal to be the final nail in the coffin, but Mexico just turned on their jets. They were definitely fun to watch and if I was a Mexico fan, I'd still be drinking the koolaid thinking they'll somehow take the Confederations Cup and World Cup 2014.
Click to expand...

We've already won the Confeds once. ;)

Sure, it was in Mexico, but I don't give a shit.
 
D

DominoKid

Member
Gamecocks625 said:
Mexico reminds me a little of Clemson fans. They won something decent back in the day and still think they are Spain 2.0 or Argentina reinvented.
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Clemson = England

they always go into the season/tournament on the back of a big hype train. "THIS IS OUR YEAR!" they start well. then at the first sign of adversity they wilt and a trainwreck of fail ensues. then they always drop the blame for the loss on an error or an unfortunate circumstance and claim that theyll win it next time. of course the cycle repeats itself when the next chance comes back around.
 
F

FuturusX

Member
DominoKid said:
Clemson = England

they always go into the season/tournament on the back of a big hype train. "THIS IS OUR YEAR!" they start well. then at the first sign of adversity they wilt and a trainwreck of fail ensues. then they always drop the blame for the loss on an error or an unfortunate circumstance and claim that theyll win it next time. of course the cycle repeats itself when the next chance comes back around.
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That's pretty much untrue. But keep believing that if you want. The English press, will BLAME the players and manager every single time.

But back to the actual issue at hand.

There's a lot to admire about the US national team but the truth is they are just an average national team at best. Playing in the CONCACAF zone is both blessing and a curse.

The good, you only really have to play to a high level against a single team, Mexico. Meaning the chance of winning a trophy (GOLD CUP) is high and qualifying for the World CUP is pretty much assured.

The bad, too many nothing games against small weak footballing nations. Good in CONCACAF, does not equal good on the world stage.

Twice in recent history the US has lost from strong positions (2-0 each time) in big games. There's a lot of heart there and a few players that can spark something. But when a good team decides to play, the US rarely has the answers.

I have to say the US should have been able to control that game better yesterday 2-0 is a nice lead. Even if the team you are playing has better attacking options and is generally a better team. Keeping a basic shape and having descent spells of possession should have made it a more difficult proposition for the Mexico team.

It could have been 6-2 quite easily.

US needs to find a consistent goal scorer, an actual striker, and quickly. Having more than one would a good thing.

Centre midfield pairing needs to be addressed immediately, Bradley is on his own out there. (Stuart Holden step forth my son, after you recover of course)

Defenders? Not sure how you find 4 defenders to replace the dead wood you have, good luck with that one.

Hopefully this loss is reality check for Bob Bradley.
 
R

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
You guys should try to do more to take part in CONMEBOL tournaments. Not only is Mexico a perennial invitee to Copa América, our clubs participate in Copa Libertadores (and in the past even won a Copa Sudamericana) too. Our football's quality improved a lot since we started doing that.
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
Regulus Tera said:
You guys should try to do more to take part in CONMEBOL tournaments. Not only is Mexico a perennial invitee to Copa América, our clubs participate in Copa Libertadores (and in the past even won a Copa Sudamericana) too. Our football's quality improved a lot since we started doing that.
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Um, USA was an invitee to the Copa America.

And then USA said "we're too good for this, we'll send the C team"

And now the team has been banned.

USA was an invitee to Sudamericana. And then they sucked at it. And now they dont get invited anymore.

And MLS teams have trouble against teams from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guatemala. Never mind mexico. Forget about Brazil.
 
E

Esiquio

Member
Anybody here ever been to a World Cup game? I'm going to start saving for a trip to Brazil starting in January, and I'm curious how much tickets run normally. Do scalpers pick most of them up, usually?
 
W

Wessiej

Member
He says he's learning Dutch...curious to see which club he is going. Going to guess PSV. Ajax wanted him a half year ago, but I didn't hear anything this time around.
 
S

Slappers Only

Junior Member
I attended my first Seattle Sounders game last week. 4-2 victory over the NY Red Bulls and the place was bananas. I hoisted a grown man over my head in celebration.
 
N

n0n44m

Member
hmmmm

PSV seems to be on a spending spree right now with Mertens & Strootman from Utrecht, while they actually are in big financial trouble at the moment (even though the Dzsudzsák transfer gave them some breathing space). They also badly need reinforcements for their defense. But they do need a striker for sure.

Ajax ... I don't feel like a striker who scored 6 goals in the last 3 years in Europe is the type of player that the new management is interested in? Especially since they are banging on about developing their own youth players, and they've got a bunch of decent strikers and wingers coming up it seems. And they're currently buying the #1 striker from AZ

AZ are going to lose their #1 striker soon in return for some cash, and the pressure over there isn't that high ... seems like a good match to me

I hope PSV but I'd be surprised if they can offer any significant transfer fee :p

edit: or is it gonna be another loan?
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
platypotamus said:
If there was no offseason for the Sounders, we'd still be there in droves year round.
Click to expand...

Please. Look at the sounders attendance for US Open Cup games. Now imagine adding in an entire tournament involving only teams from the state. 16 teams, play each home and away, and then playoffs.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
jamesinclair said:
Please. Look at the sounders attendance for US Open Cup games.
Now imagine adding in an entire tournament involving only teams from the state. 16 teams, play each home and away, and then playoffs.
Click to expand...

Right, US Open Cup games are certainly not counted here, it's only showing attendance for official league games for both.
And what is the attendance like for all those other games in Brazil? Without providing some actual figures for number of games and attendance, I'm not sure what your point is...

The way it's most unfair imo is the Whitecaps, Timbers, and Impact attendance figures they have are meaningless.
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
xbhaskarx said:
Right, US Open Cup games are certainly not counted here, it's only showing attendance for official league games for both.
And what is the attendance like for all those other games in Brazil? Without providing some actual figures for number of games and attendance, I'm not sure what your point is...
.
Click to expand...

Think of baseball.

A billion games a year. Lets say each game averages 20,000.
Thats less than the Sounders! Baseball is dead!

Except 20,000 * a billion > 36,000 * 15


So with the Brazil example, theyre playing many more games, but the total attendance is probably higher. Even the most hardcore of fans have trouble going to two games a week....every week, for the whole year.

So Sao Paulo might average 14,000 for Serie A....but their Copa do Brasil match against Flemango might draw 50,000, and the Estadao against Corinthians might draw 60,000.

USA has nothing like that.

So what Im saying is that the stat is as meaningless as saying that the Sounders average more than the Lakers. It doesnt actually mean anything.

For tomorrow's US Open Cup match, LA Galaxy will play at home....at Titan Stadium in Fullerton. Capacity 10,000.

The Sounders will play at Starfire, with a grand total capacity of 4,500.

So this statement
platypotamus said:
If there was no offseason for the Sounders, we'd still be there in droves year round.
Click to expand...

Doesnt ring true.
 
D

daoster

Member
n0n44m said:
hmmmm

PSV seems to be on a spending spree right now with Mertens & Strootman from Utrecht, while they actually are in big financial trouble at the moment (even though the Dzsudzsák transfer gave them some breathing space). They also badly need reinforcements for their defense. But they do need a striker for sure.

Ajax ... I don't feel like a striker who scored 6 goals in the last 3 years in Europe is the type of player that the new management is interested in? Especially since they are banging on about developing their own youth players, and they've got a bunch of decent strikers and wingers coming up it seems. And they're currently buying the #1 striker from AZ

AZ are going to lose their #1 striker soon in return for some cash, and the pressure over there isn't that high ... seems like a good match to me

I hope PSV but I'd be surprised if they can offer any significant transfer fee :p

edit: or is it gonna be another loan?
Click to expand...

Seems like it's AZ: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/06/28/american-exports-dutch-club-az-trying-sign-altidore

It looks like signing him rather than loaning him too.

The Dutch league is a fairly open league...if Jozy can't score a couple of goals there, then.........
 
N

n0n44m

Member
daoster said:
Seems like it's AZ: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/06/28/american-exports-dutch-club-az-trying-sign-altidore

It looks like signing him rather than loaning him too.

The Dutch league is a fairly open league...if Jozy can't score a couple of goals there, then.........
Click to expand...

then he really is terrible

but no I think he's a good match for them, they're probably aiming for the 4th spot with some minor success in Europe

He's quick and pretty strong from what I've seen, so he blends in well with the rest of the squad as the coach has an obsession with fitness/endurance hehe

and even the lower placed Dutch teams rarely go 100% defense so a striker has great opportunities almost every week

AZ started out a bit disappointing last season but were definitely one of the best teams in the 2nd half of the season, and they're always playing attacking football =]
 
P

platypotamus

Member
jamesinclair said:
The Sounders will play at Starfire, with a grand total capacity of 4,500.

So this statement


Doesnt ring true.
Click to expand...

You may be right, but I also think that those games, were they held at Qwest, and promoted/hyped/cheaper/whatever, there'd still probably be a pretty big crowd.

Unknowable, I guess
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
Mexican players sent home from Copa

Eight players from Mexico's Copa America team were handed six month suspensions for violating team training rules, the result of a scandal involving prostitutes visiting players at the team's hotel in Quito, Ecuador.

The Mexican team, in Ecuador preparing for the start of South America's championship, is made up of under-22 level players, including Barcelona's Jonathan dos Santos.

The younger brother of senior national team star Giovani, Jonathan is the most prominent player excused from the team for ethical violations and breaking team rules, according to the Mexican Football Federation. He is also accused, along with Nestor Vidrio, of leading the prostitutes into player rooms at Quito's Intercontinental Hotel.

The scandal was uncovered after various national team members reported the theft of iPhones and iPads from their rooms. According to AS.com, review of the security tape by hotel personnel showed players letting prostitutes along with the alleged robbers into their hotel rooms.

The players named are: Israel Jimenez, Nestor Vidrio, dos Santos, Marco Fabian, Jorge Hernandez, Javier Cortes, David Cabrera and Nestor Calderon. They will be replaced by Kristian Alvarez, Antonio Gallardo, Edgar Pacheco, Alan Pulido, Emilio Orrantia Ulises Davila, Diego de Buen and Oswaldo Alanis.
Click to expand...

lol
 
D

daoster

Member
jamesinclair said:
Um, USA was an invitee to the Copa America.

And then USA said "we're too good for this, we'll send the C team"

And now the team has been banned.

USA was an invitee to Sudamericana. And then they sucked at it. And now they dont get invited anymore.

And MLS teams have trouble against teams from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guatemala. Never mind mexico. Forget about Brazil.
Click to expand...

You know, this is amusing and it might be surprising, BUT....despite the weak competition, the GOLD CUP is our regional's tournament, not Copa America, and as such, winning it and putting the best possible team should be the priority. (Can we even force players away from their club for tournaments that AREN'T in our region?)

And this year Mexico is essentially sending a U-22 team (plus or minus some older players), which, for all intents and purposes...IS your "C" team (unless you think your U-22 players can win against the likes of a full strength Chile or Uruguay...).

And are you guys even sending the head coach, or is it still the assistant coach?

And I know CONMEBOL supposedly threaten Mexico for sending a U-22 team and not even sending the head coach, but from the looks of it...it's still a U-22 team, and if CONMEBOL don't "ban" you guys from the next COPA....well then....USSF can't really do anything about a CONMEBOL that doesn't have a consistent policy now, can they?
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
daoster said:
And this year Mexico is essentially sending a U-22 team (plus or minus some older players), which, for all intents and purposes...IS your "C" team (unless you think your U-22 players can win against the likes of a full strength Chile or Uruguay...).

And are you guys even sending the head coach, or is it still the assistant coach?

And I know CONMEBOL supposedly threaten Mexico for sending a U-22 team and not even sending the head coach, but from the looks of it...it's still a U-22 team, and if CONMEBOL don't "ban" you guys from the next COPA....well then....USSF can't really do anything about a CONMEBOL that doesn't have a consistent policy now, can they?
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Mexico was forced to send that team by CONCACAF and idiots in UEFA.

Its not by choice.

In 2007 USA could have sent their A- team, like Mexico (let a couple of stars rest). They didnt.
 
O

Oozer3993

Member
jamesinclair said:
Mexico was forced to send that team by CONCACAF and idiots in UEFA.

Its not by choice.

In 2007 USA could have sent their A- team, like Mexico (let a couple of stars rest). They didnt.
Click to expand...

No they couldn't.

Since 1995, though, soccer in the USA changed. In 1996, Major League Soccer was launched, and the dates of the Copa America conflicted with several games of the season.

The Copa América also interferes with teams in the European season. However, because it is the confederation championship for South America, clubs are mandated by FIFA to respect release requests by a player's country.

The same consideration does not apply to guest teams though.

"Trying to compete as one team in two competitions is a difficult prospect," the USSF head explained. "Copa América is not a mandatory competition for CONCACAF, and there is no international requirement by FIFA on clubs to release our players for it. If we can't take any European players - and we know how likely that is from the last go-around - it's not really worth taking part."

The simple truth is that many of the USA's future generation of national team players, those who could benefit the most from participating in the prestigious competition, do indeed play in Europe.

It does not matter if Benny Feilhaber is struggling for regular playing time with Aarhus, or Michael Bradley rides the bench. Their European clubs are not obligated to let them play for the USA.

An MLS-based squad is probably unlikely to do much better than the one the United States sent in 2007, which bowed out in the group stage.

That's the team Gulati referenced in his statement about "the last go-around".

It's not that the USA needs to regret having young prospects in Europe, but the reality remains that the drawback exists. The best young USA players in MLS are likely to join squads in Europe after a while. That's the route Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden and Sacha Kljestan have recently taken.

FIFA rules are not either/or. If Kljestan isn't chosen to the USA roster for the Gold Cup, the CONCACAF championship, it's not as if the USA could then choose him for the Copa America instead and expect Anderlecht, his club team, to comply.
Click to expand...


jamesinclair said:
Um, USA was an invitee to the Copa America.

And then USA said "we're too good for this, we'll send the C team"

And now the team has been banned.

USA was an invitee to Sudamericana. And then they sucked at it. And now they dont get invited anymore.

And MLS teams have trouble against teams from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guatemala. Never mind mexico. Forget about Brazil.
Click to expand...

Not true. First, the US could not bring their A team as I pointed out above. Second, I can find no evidence of the team being banned from the tournament. In fact, it appears they were considered to take Japan's place this year. Third, MLS teams have consistently held their own against Mexican teams in both SuperLiga and the CONCACAF Champions League despite having to fit the games in during their league schedule, unlike Mexican teams who are on their offseason during the tournaments. Not only have they held their own, MLS teams have won both tournaments.
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
Oozer3993 said:
Not true. First, the US could not bring their A team as I pointed out above. Second, I can find no evidence of the team being banned from the tournament. In fact, it appears they were considered to take Japan's place this year. Third, MLS teams have consistently held their own against Mexican teams in both SuperLiga and the CONCACAF Champions League despite having to fit the games in during their league schedule, unlike Mexican teams who are on their offseason during the tournaments. Not only have they held their own, MLS teams have won both tournaments.
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As I said, they could have done like Mexico and had an A- team, because some asshole european teams wont release their players. Most do, because the players want to play for their country, and the team wants their highly paid guy to be happy.

USA didnt even bother asking.

Look at their squad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Copa_América_squads#United_States

Note the caps. A bunch of newbies.

Then look at what Mexico took.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Copa_América_squads#Mexico

Basically, USA took what Mexico is being forced to do now, the under 23 team + 5 seniors.

USA actually declined the invite at first.

Note this:
"The United States had been invited every time from 1997 to 2007 but frequently turned down the invitation due to scheduling conflicts with Major League Soccer. However, on October 30, 2006, the US Soccer Federation accepted the invitation for participation in the 2007 tournament, ending a 12 year absence."

Thats not exactly a "lets do this!" attitude.



Also, at no point did I mentioned Superliga. I was talking about Sudamericana and the Champions League.

In the champions league, an MLS team reached the final and lost this year. RSL put up a good tournament.

The last appearance in the final was 2000 when the Galaxy won. They beat a team from Honduras, another MLS team, and then another team from Honduras. The games were all held in LA...no home-away format.

DC also won in 1998. The tournament was held....in DC.

So not exactly the best record there.

While the Superliga is held in the mexican off season, those teams also play in Libertadores, Champions League and Sudamericana...all held during the regular season.


Chivas actually played a Mexican Playoff game in Mexico, and a Libertadores game in south america on the very same day a couple of years ago (they used 2 teams).
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
Univision, Fox Soccer Score Record Ratings With Gold Cup Final

Fox Soccer's English-language telecast on Saturday June 25 scored with 954,000 viewers on average, according to Nielsen data. That shattered the network's previous record of 418,000 watchers for Chelsea-Liverpool, "Game Before the Game" presentation on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011.
U.S.- Mexico delivered a 1.43 household coverage area rating, becoming the Fox Soccer's first telecast to surpass the 1.0 mark, and almost doubling its previous ratings high of a 0.77 for the 2009 Gold Cup final.

The Gold Cup final also delivered record ratings for the network among males 18 to 49, earning a 1.65 rating and 383,000 of those watchers,and with persons 18 to 34, generating a 1.64 and 194,000 viewers. Officials said that was Fox Soccer's highest key male audience of all time and that deliveries beat ABC, CBS and NBC in impressions in that age group from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. (ET) on June 25.

As expected, the Nielsens were a lot higher for Univision, which averaged 7.98 million viewers for its Copa Ora championship match coverage on Saturday night. That delivery, which included 4.7 million persons 18 to 49, displaced Univision's June 22 semifinal airing of Mexico's 2-0 overtime win versus Honduras, which drew 7.1 million, as the broadcaster's most-watched primetime sportscast. The June 25 game now ranks at the network's third most-watched sporting event behind the 2010 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match between El Tri and Argentina, which drew 8.7 million viewers, and Spain's 1-0 win over The Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa.
Univision's presentation of the final made the U.S. Spanish-language media leader tops in all of TV on Saturday night.
Click to expand...
 
R

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
The FIFA Ranking has been updated.

4oU4a.png


feelsgoodman.jpg
 
L

leroidys

Member
Regulus Tera said:
The FIFA Ranking has been updated.

4oU4a.png


feelsgoodman.jpg
Click to expand...

Slightly ahead of Norway, Greece, and Japan.

lol.


(not sour grapes - Mexico is leagues better than USA at this point in time. But FIFA rankings have always been shit. You know this, I know this.)
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
ten minutes...

U.S. Under-17 Men vs. Germany Under-17 Men
Estadio Corregidora; Queretaro
June 30, 2011 @ 4 p.m. ET
ESPNU, ESPN3.com, Galavision
 
P

Pre

Member
Announcement regarding Bob Bradley coming "later this week."

So probably tomorrow. I suspect Gulati is reaching out to Klinsmann to see if he'll take over, and if not the announcement will be a vote of confidence in Bradley. Otherwise he would have come out and said we're not making a coaching change.

I like Bob Bradley, but I wouldn't be opposed to bringing in Klinsmann and see what a fresh perspective could do for us.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
Six ways to fix American soccer

1. Admit there is a problem

Before it can be fixed, there must be an admission that it is broken – something the power brokers of American soccer have been loath to do.

The national team also lost to Panama – Panama – in Gold Cup group play and was underwhelming in its victories. And before that, it won one of eight games since the 2010 World Cup.

The under-20 team failed to qualify for the U-20 World Cup out of arguably the planet’s weakest region.

The under-17 team just lost to Uzbekistan and tied New Zealand 0-0 in the U-17 World Cup in Mexico.

The U.S. women’s national team, with more high-level players than the rest of the world combined, nearly didn’t qualify for the World Cup and is at its most vulnerable point in the program’s history. The women’s U-20s were knocked out in the quarterfinals – their earliest exit ever – by Nigeria. The U-17s failed to qualify.

Yeah, there might be a problem.

2. Fire Bob Bradley
Click to expand...

That will solve everything!
U-17s getting destroyed by Germany right now? Also Bradley's fault.
 
G

Gamecocks625

Member
With the diversity of ethnicity in this country, I would think we would be absolutely killing it at the international level. Seriously, there HAS to be enough talent in this country to field a kick butt team.

But then again, I'm just a fan so I really have no idea what I'm talking about.
 
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