OT: Boneyard "Other Football" World Cup Thread

[whaler11]

You are just being a whiny bitch now. Good grief, who knew you were such Donovan fanboi as well lol.

I am way more excited to see Julian Green ride the pine than Donovan. And you need to just admit that he is off form. I don't care if he scored two goals in MLS yesterday. That means nothing.

Julian Green is a Bayern Munich property, which is all of the validation you need. He will be a star in the Bundesliga between now and the next WC.

I guess it's too bad the WC is next month?

So Wondo gets credit for his Earthquake play, but Donovan doesn't for the Galaxy - makes sense.

I guess there are a lot of Donovan 'fanbois' all over the world, since everyone but those rationalizing seem to understand his exclusion was personal and makes no sense beyond that.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Hey, hey...easy on the Italian team! Besides, the Portuguese national team practically INVENTED diving. They are the Greg Louganis of the soccer world.

As for how strong Portugal's team is; don't mistake not being able to put all the pieces together with the fact that they will be the unquestioned favorite in the game against us. Like I've said before, we have a puncher's chance in that game. It's too bad that we don't play them first, because I think they will be more difficult to deal with after their game against Germany. I'd hate for them to find their stride before playing us. I hope my boy Dempsey hangs 3 on them...

Spy cam of the Italian team practicing before the 2002 Cup sent to me by a Dutch Friend...

 

[UConnDan97]

Spy cam of the Italian team practicing before the 2002 Cup sent to me by a Dutch Friend...

The Italians don't wear black shorts. It had to be the Germans...

 

[ZooCougar]

I guess it's too bad the WC is next month?

So Wondo gets credit for his Earthquake play, but Donovan doesn't for the Galaxy - makes sense.

I guess there are a lot of Donovan 'fanbois' all over the world, since everyone but those rationalizing seem to understand his exclusion was personal and makes no sense beyond that.

Really? I don't see that the issue being "personal" being anything like a consensus opinion. It's consensus among the fanbois though.

 

[ZooCougar]

Hey, hey...easy on the Italian team! Besides, the Portuguese national team practically INVENTED diving. They are the Greg Louganis of the soccer world.

As for how strong Portugal's team is; don't mistake not being able to put all the pieces together with the fact that they will be the unquestioned favorite in the game against us. Like I've said before, we have a puncher's chance in that game. It's too bad that we don't play them first, because I think they will be more difficult to deal with after their game against Germany. I'd hate for them to find their stride before playing us. I hope my boy Dempsey hangs 3 on them...

Also, I've mentioned this probably a hundred times, but I was at that game in 2002. We flat out dusted them in the speed dept. Beasley and Donovan were awesome pushing the ball down the field on the sideline. And the goals were beautiful. Portugal got lucky with an own goal on our part.

Eventually the Portuguese cracked the code. If that game lasted 20 more minutes we would have lost.. That was the most amazing sporting event I ever attended. It was amazing to me how many Americans traveled to see the first round. There was some token Military attendance, but from talking to other Americans there they all traveled. Literally complete strangers were walking up and hugging eachother. On the way home we were hijacked by some friendly Brits who insisted that they get us drunk to congratulate us.

That being said, when Bruce Arena released the starting 11 for the Portugal game, he was pilloried by the nascent US soccer media.

I don't think Claudio Reyna, who was pretty much his boy even played that game. He was supposed to our true #10, and the USMNT struggled in qualifying without him.

 

[UCFBfan]

On a side note...Is anyone starting a BY World Cup pick'em? Anyone interested. I'd set it up if anyone is.

 

[OkaForPrez]

 

[whaler11]

On a side note...Is anyone starting a BY World Cup pick'em? Anyone interested. I'd set it up if anyone is.

Me and Jimmy Serrano are in

 

[whaler11]

Really? I don't see that the issue being "personal" being anything like a consensus opinion. It's consensus among the fanbois though.

Can't you do better than fanbois? I just watched a long ESPN roundtable on the treadmill (I figure if i can't go 90 JK might turn off my cable) - I'm sure that whole group is fanbois too because they have the same opinion - it's personal and there is no way he's not one of the 23 best. They even spent a good amount of time pointing out the hypocracy of JK - that spots have to be earned before littering his roster with players who have earned nothing.

 

[rich1122]

Should be interesting. We won the Gold Cup; sure Mexico was horrible this cycle but we won it convincingly. Yet, everybody is really down on the team. Hard to figure.

Who had UCONN winning it all? One would think Brazil will win this easy, but I think that we will see some 5-12, 4-11 upsets this year. I can't wait.

 

[SubbaBub]

Also, I've mentioned this probably a hundred times, but I was at that game in 2002. We flat out dusted them in the speed dept. Beasley and Donovan were awesome pushing the ball down the field on the sideline. And the goals were beautiful. Portugal got lucky with an own goal on our part.

Eventually the Portuguese cracked the code. If that game lasted 20 more minutes we would have lost.. That was the most amazing sporting event I ever attended. It was amazing to me how many Americans traveled to see the first round. There was some token Military attendance, but from talking to other Americans there they all traveled. Literally complete strangers were walking up and hugging eachother. On the way home we were hijacked by some friendly Brits who insisted that they get us drunk to congratulate us.

That being said, when Bruce Arena released the starting 11 for the Portugal game, he was pilloried by the nascent US soccer media.

I don't think Claudio Reyna, who was pretty much his boy even played that game. He was supposed to our true #10, and the USMNT struggled in qualifying without him.

Reyna was named to the WC best XI team in 2002 and until Landon and the 2010 generation came along was easily the best US outfield player in history. I believe he was injured before the Portugal game and sat out.

 

[UConnDan97]

Should be interesting. We won the Gold Cup; sure Mexico was horrible this cycle but we won it convincingly. Yet, everybody is really down on the team. Hard to figure.

Who had UCONN winning it all? One would think Brazil will win this easy, but I think that we will see some 5-12, 4-11 upsets this year. I can't wait.

Don't mistake being down on the team with the country's expectation that Portugal and Germany are the favorites in the group. That's like saying that people are down on Ghana, which is probably the best team in Africa.

But here's the kicker: In soccer (unlike basketball, where 1-2 players can take a game over), you can't have weak spots. That's why from 1930 to the present day, there have only been 8 countries to ever win the trophy (Italy, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, England, France, Spain, Uruguay). We might see a "5-12" type of game in the group stage, but typically, the cream rises. Let's hope the cream this year comes from United States dairy farmers...

p.s.
I had UConn winning it all. Of course, I have UConn winning it all every year. I've been right 4 times.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Fwiw, the longest odds you can find in vegas right now on the usmnt to win the cup are 15:1. A lot of us did quite well on uconn's 50:1 odds.

 

[ZooCougar]

Reyna was named to the WC best XI team in 2002 and until Landon and the 2010 generation came along was easily the best US outfield player in history. I believe he was injured before the Portugal game and sat out.

You would be remebering incorrectly I do believe.

 

[SubbaBub]

You would be remebering incorrectly I do believe.

Don't mess with the bull, son.

"With U.S. captain Claudio Reyna sidelined with a strained right quadricep, Pablo Mastroeni held his own at defensive midfielder, earning his first World Cup appearance in just his 11th career cap."

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...-half-goals-holds-on-for-huge-3-2-win-in-2002

 

[SubbaBub]

Fwiw, the longest odds you can find in vegas right now on the usmnt to win the cup are 15:1. A lot of us did quite well on uconn's 50:1 odds.

Those are horrible odds, definite homerism. I'd be a buyer at 25:1

 

[SAMCRO]

Spy cam of the Italian team practicing before the 2002 Cup sent to me by a Dutch Friend...

I think Mexico practices that technique too.

 

[whaler11]

http://pic.twitter.com/6GSZwAJ5cN

Tuesday 11

 

[SubbaBub]

http://pic.twitter.com/6GSZwAJ5cN

Tuesday 11

That left side looks wide open.

 

[whaler11]

Scratch Dempsey for Wondo.

Groin strain.

 

[BlueMAB]

Bradley has been terrible tonight. Good grief.

 

[ZooCougar]

Don't mess with the bull, son.

"With U.S. captain Claudio Reyna sidelined with a strained right quadricep, Pablo Mastroeni held his own at defensive midfielder, earning his first World Cup appearance in just his 11th career cap."

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...-half-goals-holds-on-for-huge-3-2-win-in-2002

Regardless, the so called experts were critical of Arena's lineup and they were dead wrong.

 

[ZooCougar]

This game is hot garbage.

 

[Jimdish255]

Surprised we're not playing inspired soccer.

 

[ZooCougar]

I like the physical play. This team is physical. Nice to see #10 score.