OT - USA 1 Italy 0

[uconnbaseball]

Didn't watch (at work) but watching highlights it looked like Italy out shot/played USA. Either way we have one of the best goalies in the world and it was a step forward. (We've been on the other side a lot) It's good to see after the goal the USA's d held. This is just an exhibition and we were without our best player and with a new coach. UConnbaseball, saying that the USA is terrible is way wrong; yes they have struggled in some world cups but they have been successful in other tournaments and have beaten some of the best teams in the world.

I'm not sold on this team...not yet. The U.S. is on a nice winning streak for sure, but except for Italy the competition hasn't been impressive. We don't have the talent that many of the European countries do.

Maybe calling the team "terrible" was an emotional overstatement. I don't think "mediocre" is unreasonable at all.

 

[businesslawyer]

No. He is a more talented offensive midfielder than Jones or Torres (and certainly than Edu). He is probably not a 90 minute player at the national team level, but he deserves more run.

 

[-Huskiediehard-]

after the run in the 04 cup I thought by 2012 this team would be way higher ranked then 37 come 2012. And yes i think right know they are considered mediocre.

 

[uconnbaseball]

after the run in the 04 cup I thought by 2012 this team would be way higher ranked then 37 come 2012. And yes i think right now they are considered mediocre.

I believe they are ranked 31st in the country right now. The football/basketball/baseball first mentality of this country has really hurt us in soccer.

 

[progrocks]

yes

 

[progrocks]

With full health, we are starting to see some real depth. Bradley was the best player on the field today, really wonderful. Edu played his best game I have seen from him, a little sloppy, but always in the right place. The possession was skewed by us bunkering the last 20 and Italy throwing six fresh guys on the field during that time. They attacked, we kept it out of the net.

And if anyone is watching g this U23 game now, this is great. This is what JK wants to have us doing before long. Constant pressure. Hell, we have seen Altidore chase more in the last few games than the previous two years combined. I like it. But against better teams, if we get the lead, we will just try and hold on. It makes sense.

 

[Johnny Mac]

Dempsey had a hat trick in the EPL. Case closed.

If I'm not mistaken, Dempsey also had a hat trick in an FA Cup game this year too.

 

[ZooCougar]

That game was a good demonstration of how the better team will lose in the sport of soccer, if it fails to score a goal.

This is what I like so much about soccer, the better team just can't overpower the other.

The US was outshot, but this is pretty much always the case considering that we have to be a defensively oriented team that thrives on the counterattack. Playing like that is what got us to the quarterfinals in 2002 and that is the strategy that we should pursue..

 

[spsct]

Major fluke. Italy dominated the game. The USA is still terrible at this sport and has yet to win me over.

Awesome... Rather than commend them for hanging tough, without Landon Donovan, in Genoa, where the Italian national team has never lost, let's dismiss the game as a fluke.

 

[HuskyGooner124]

I'll certainly keep this win in perspective because it was only a friendly, but regardless of that fact, I'm still pumped!! And no doubt about it, Deuce is the man!

 

[Carl Spackler]

FYI - the U-23 team put a 2-0 beat down against Mexico last night too, and that U-23 team had at least one new player in their lineup, b/c at least one U-23 (Shea) got bumped up to the senior, A-team playing in Genoa yesterday.

Klinsman is doing quick work with USA soccer. I don't know why it's taken so long to put somebody in charge that has control of the entire thing all the way up and down the chain. Italy has never lost an international game in Genoa until yesterday. Ever. They were playing their regulars in that game in the second half. The Germans couldn't beat them there. The Brazilians couldn't. The Argentinians. Nope.

But a country the size of the USA? 350 million people? You can't find or, more importantly, TRAIN.....to develop and put together 23 athletes to build a world class soccer team? The rest of the world has had title to the world of that brand of football because nobody's been interested in really getting it organized in the U.S. The concept that the USA might be getting organized in building a national soccer program has got to have traditional powers aroudn the world getting nervous.

Great win yesterday. Great, great win.

 

[progrocks]

players who can not cut it in yurp and have to come back over to MLS do not have a place on the national team. It is that simple. He is like Brian Ching, nice but if you have to rely on someone at his level you are never going to actually do well. Both are left behind.

 

[UConnDan97]

players who can not cut it in yurp and have to come back over to MLS do not have a place on the national team. It is that simple. He is like Brian Ching, nice but if you have to rely on someone at his level you are never going to actually do well. Both are left behind.

Landon's in the U.S. and not Europe....so.....he must suck??

 

[businesslawyer]

Landon's in the U.S. and not Europe....so.....he must suck??

No -- he said "yurp," not "Europe." When you use cool lingo, that means you can't be argued with.

 

[progrocks]

Landon's in the U.S. and not Europe....so.....he must suck??

not what i said. Landon has been here for the last decade. You could say he failed in Germany, but the issue was more maturity than skill. Munich and Everton were just loan deals. He loves living in LA and it seems he has no desire going anywhere else. Liverpool or Los Angeles, I can understand why one makes that call, but it probably has kept his ceiling lower than if he toughed it out in Germany to start with, better competition makes better players.

 

[UConnDan97]

not what i said. Landon has been here for the last decade. You could say he failed in Germany, but the issue was more maturity than skill. Munich and Everton were just loan deals. He loves living in LA and it seems he has no desire going anywhere else. Liverpool or Los Angeles, I can understand why one makes that call, but it probably has kept his ceiling lower than if he toughed it out in Germany to start with, better competition makes better players.

First, better competition only makes better players if you are on the field playing. He wasn't always playing at Leverkusen, and it was probably the best thing for his career and play to come back to the U.S., whether it was Los Angeles or not. Second, Benny Feilhaber wasn't playing at some top-flight establishment, let's be honest! It is a much better thing for him that he is playing with the Revs and getting a lot of field time (when he's not injured). He'll be in front of everyone to see, including Klinsmann....

 

[ZooCougar]

I'll take a solid MLS player who is used to playing 90 minutes over some "successful" European based player who gets very limited minutes; and some of these guys play for second division teams.

 

[Kgun7]

I agree with a portion of each of the last 3 posts. There is no clear answer for every single player. Donovan had his difficulties in Germany and came home to mature. However, could you imagine the lost growth if Dempsey had stayed in New England? And, in my opinion, the US is much better served using many others before calling in Feilhaber. The potential of Jose Torres or Danny Williams is too great to exchange for the stability you would get with Benny.

And to complicate matters further: What about players who had the potential to transfer to top global leagues, but MLS was unwillimg to sell them on the cheap ... like Twellman ...

 

[Carl Spackler]

Klinsman is taking the same principles that are used in Germany,and pretty much everywhere else in the world when it comes to building a national soccer team, and applying them to building a USA team for international competition. My understanding, that in the past, there really hasn't been anyone that's been allowed to have as much control over the entire national program, literally from the U-8's to the senior national team, as well as Olympic program, as Klinsman's got now.

If it can get media support behind, and get $'s flowing, the rest of the world should be very concerned. A country the size of the USA, with as many athletes as we can produce, it's really only been a matter of getting organized, and time, before the USA becomes an international "football" player.

Remains to be seen if it happens, but the groundwork seems to be being laid down right now.

Remains to be seen how it goes in long term, and this was, as many pointed out just a friendly match, the qualifiers that matter are coming up, but we get another test against Brazil in May before that.

So far - arrow pointing up for USA soccer, big time.

 

[The Funster]

I was not happy with the Klinsman appointment initially but if he can oversee a bottom to top approach I'd be willing to change my mind.

I agree Kgun7 in that each player needs to be evaluated individually in regards to where they will play, here or overseas.

 

[Waquoit]

I still think that the more we learn about what football does to a person long-term, the more futbol will grow.

 

[businesslawyer]

Klinsman is taking the same principles that are used in Germany,and pretty much everywhere else in the world when it comes to building a national soccer team, and applying them to building a USA team for international competition. My understanding, that in the past, there really hasn't been anyone that's been allowed to have as much control over the entire national program, literally from the U-8's to the senior national team, as well as Olympic program, as Klinsman's got now.

If it can get media support behind, and get $'s flowing, the rest of the world should be very concerned. A country the size of the USA, with as many athletes as we can produce, it's really only been a matter of getting organized, and time, before the USA becomes an international "football" player.

Remains to be seen if it happens, but the groundwork seems to be being laid down right now.

Remains to be seen how it goes in long term, and this was, as many pointed out just a friendly match, the qualifiers that matter are coming up, but we get another test against Brazil in May before that.

So far - arrow pointing up for USA soccer, big time.

I think we are far closer to being a "player" than many are believing. We have made it out of the World Cup three straight times that the cup has not been held in Europe. We have been unable to be successful only when the majority of teams in the field have a significant location advantage on us.

(And before anyone says that "home continent" should not matter, it shouldn't matter maybe but it does. The entire Western Hemisphere has won a total of one world cup in Europe, and I don't believe a European team has ever won in South America.)