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US GAF: Support your national soccer team

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C

CobbFC09

Member
Didn't get to catch the UWNT/New Zealand game tonight, but it must've been pretty disappointing to not be able to see Alex Morgan play given that it was the first time the U.S. women have ever played in San Francisco. Good crowd of 16,315 nonetheless.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
Apparently she was injured:

Forward Alex Morgan was unavailable for the match because of an ankle injury during training in the lead-up to the New Zealand game.
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Unfortunate, but nothing anyone can do about that...
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
This is interesting, for those who care about US soccer history:

The Dnepr difference
franklinfield.jpg


A few years ago, I heard Richard Groff, a longtime Pennsylvania soccer official, refer to a 1989 game in Philadelphia between the U.S. men’s national team and Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk, a Soviet first-division club, as a major turning point in American soccer. I was familiar with this game, since I had been working for a Philadelphia newspaper in 1989, and I was surprised by what Groff said. I had never thought of this game as being particularly remarkable. However, it only took a few seconds of listening to him to realize how right he was.

Groff’s point was that this game was a milestone in the United States national team’s ability to draw crowds in large stadiums. The game was played on Aug. 25, 1989 at Franklin Field (above), which at the time had a capacity of 52,000. It is the University of Pennsylvania’s football stadium, and it was built in 1922. From 1958 to 1970, it also was used by the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL as their home stadium. The largest crowd that it has had in recent years is 54,319 for the Penn Relays in 2010.

The 1989 game against Dnepr drew a crowd of 43,352 at Franklin Field. That doesn’t seem all that spectacular today, but in 1989, U.S. national team soccer was still something usually staged in small venues. The United States played four home games in World Cup qualifying that year. Two were at the St. Louis Soccer Park in Fenton, Mo.; one at Veterans Memorial Stadium in New Britain, Conn., and one at Murdock Stadium in Torrance, Calif. None of those stadiums held more than about 12,000, and the four games drew an average of 9,379 apiece. By the time the United States played its next World Cup qualifying cycle, in 1996 and 1997, it was playing home qualifiers in much larger stadiums like RFK in Washington, Foxboro in Massachusetts and Stanford in California.

...


Two years after the Dnepr game, the U.S. national team played Sheffield Wednesday of England in front of 44,261 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. In 2010, the United States and Turkey drew a crowd of 55,407 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, making Philadelphia the only city in which the U.S. national team has played in front of 40,000-plus crowds in three different stadiums.
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N

Nesotenso

Member
Shea got so minutes in today's Capital One Cup game. Game went to penalties after Stoke gave up late goals to a 10 man Birmingham City.

Also Bedoya started in a French league cup game today and scored the opening goal. Hopefully his goal gets him back into the starting eleven.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- US Soccer Interview: Klinsmann on Scotland, Austria Games: “These Are World Cup Tuneups.”
With the plan of bringing a roster of around 23 players, the U.S. coach may also use the opportunity in Europe to introduce some younger players to the Senior Team program. One player who has been in the media spotlight recently is 18-year-old Julian Green, a dual citizen of the United States and Germany. After careful consideration, Green will not be included on the roster this time around; a move Klinsmann says is in the best interest of the player.

“We are going to give Julian an opportunity to breathe,” said Klinsmann. “All of these conversations and attention can be a bit overwhelming for a young player, so we decided to take the foot off the pedal and let him focus on his work at Bayern. We had a great conversation. He’s a mature young man and he clearly has a bright future. I told him that when the time is right, the door is wide open.”
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C

Cornballer

Member
- Update on the Julian Green situation:
In speaking with sources close to the player, the main hang up was his ineligibility to play in the important friendlies and his reluctance to come into camp and simply train. Since he played last month for Germany's U19 team in a European qualifier he would need to file his one-time switch with FIFA even to play for the United States national team in a friendly. Such a switch, however, would permanently tie himself to the United States.

Filing the one-time switch is not something that Green is prepared to do at this point and he remains undecided between the teams.

As one source put it: "In no way has he closed the door on the American team."
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C

Cornballer

Member
- Wall Street Journal article on baseball viewership and its aging audience has this tidbit on soccer's young viewers in the US:
Kids age 6 to 17 represented just 4.3% of the average audience for the American and National League Championship Series this year, compared with 7.4% a decade ago.

Comparisons with the NFL are pointless. That behemoth of North American sports dominates nearly every demographic. But kids make up a larger segment of the television audiences for the NBA, NHL and even soccer's English Premier League than they do for baseball.

Kids accounted for 9.4% of the NBA conference finals audience this year, compared with 10.6% a decade ago. They represented 9% of the NHL conference-finals audience in the spring. For Premier League soccer on the NBC Sports Network, kids are accounting for 11% of the audience.
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C

Cornballer

Member
Sciaretta noted that some German reports are saying that Cherundolo is still having some knee pain when training for Hannover. He's not training with the full squad and it doesn't sound good.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Regarding Julian Green, I would imagine a lot of it is because he can't play for the US without making a permanent decision whereas he can play for Germany for now without making a choice. It also negatively impacts his club career if he travels just to train with the US team. Given his age, it doesn't surprise me that he wants a little more time to think about it.
Nesotenso said:
I don't think Cherundolo is ever going to get a shot to make it in Brazil.
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It's not looking likely at this point. Too bad, though he's had a lot of good years with the USMNT. Time to start exploring other options - maybe Chandler will grace us with his presence at the upcoming friendlies. :p
 
N

Nesotenso

Member
Well we know where Green's dad wants to see him play. I would be shocked if Chandler is not called up for the upcoming friendlies. Hard to ignore him with his form.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
I think the Green situation is simple. Either the Germans told him that if he went to a US camp, he'd never get called in again at any level, or Bayern told him that they don't want him going to the US camp (either because they don't want him leaving the team right now when he doesn't have to, or because they don't want him playing for a national team that's halfway around the world... hopefully not the latter). I still think he ends up with the US eventually, but this is a big setback in terms of when he joins (it will be like either Fabian Johnson or Jermaine Jones, we better hope it's the former, and not Boyd/Brooks). As good as Green is, for the Germans it's comparable to Steven Beitashour going to play for Iran, the chances of him getting cap tied to Germany are slim.


Cornballer said:
Sciaretta noted that some German reports are saying that Cherundolo is still having some knee pain when training for Hannover. He's not training with the full squad and it doesn't sound good.
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If Chandler and Lichaj don't get called in now, I will knock over soccer magazine racks...
 
N

Nesotenso

Member
Altidore with a poor first half against Hull but that is the least of Sunderland's problems. They are down to nine men because of two poor challenges and their goal keeper had to replaced because of concussion symptoms.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Nesotenso said:
Altidore with a poor first half against Hull but that is the least of Sunderland's problems. They are down to nine men because of two poor challenges and their goal keeper had to replaced because of concussion symptoms.
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Don't forget the own goal!

Total disaster.

EDIT: Jozy subbed off at halftime as Poyet puts a few more midfielders in the game.
 
N

Nesotenso

Member
Yeah I think Altidore is done. Shame he might be known as someone who has failed at the bigger stage. Not good news for the national team as well.

what pisses me off about his game is that he is not the least be athletic. Dude cannot jump and head the ball to save his life. It is all about strength for him.
 
N

Nesotenso

Member
Yeah Kljestan has been surprisingly productive in terms of goal scored. But wish guys like him made the push to challenge themselves in a better league.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
You see no irony in declaring Altidore to be "done" and worrying that he will be known as a failure at the bigger stage, while suggesting that Kljestan challenge himself in a better league?
 
N

Nesotenso

Member
xbhaskarx said:
You see no irony in declaring Altidore to be "done" and worrying that he will be known as a failure at the bigger stage, while suggesting that Kljestan challenge himself in a better league?
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no, because at the very least you get to see what they are made of. But it would be nice to see ambition and drive after spending a season or two in a smaller league. I don't fault Jozy for that.

and the "done" conclusion was in reference to how the Hull City match was turning out with him coming off at the half. His work rate was bad in this match but he still wasn't the worst player on his side.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Hope he has a good run for a while. It's been tough seeing him struggle through the last few years.


In other news....

- Julian Green received a call up for the German U-19 team
- Junior Flores, currently training with Borussia Dortmund, has been invited to the US U-20 camp this month
 
S

Subitai

Member
C

Cornballer

Member
- A couple USMNT notes from Grant Wahl amidst some MLS news:
The U.S. national team gets together in Europe during next week’s FIFA window for friendlies at Scotland and Austria. But I hear Jurgen Klinsmann is not planning to call up any players that are still involved in the MLS playoffs. I’ve also learned that New York’s Tim Cahill will not be joining Australia for its friendlies either due to the MLS playoffs. Those decisions make sense when it comes to avoiding extremely long flights for players, and it shows you why MLS was considering staging playoff games during the FIFA window until the very last moment, when it turned out some players like Salt Lake’s Álvaro Saborío might get called up to their national teams, which is something that club teams are not allowed to refuse during an international window.

In other U.S. national team notes, I’m told not to expect any big surprises among the call-ups for next week’s games. And a source tells me that U.S. goalkeepers coach Chris Woods is still with the U.S. team even though he has missed several games recently, resulting in cameo coaching roles by Kasey Keller and Jeff Cassar. Woods’s main job now is as the goalkeepers coach at Manchester United, but he is expected to be with the U.S. team next week in Europe.
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C

Cornballer

Member
Kljestan with an assist and a good performance against PSG in the Champions League today until he takes a 2nd yellow for an unintentional handball and gets sent off.
 
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